War Is Boring

U.K.
Veterans charity the Royal British Legion has cut all ties with British tabloid newspaper News of the World after it emerged that staff employed by the newspaper may have hacked the voicemail accounts of relatives of servicemen killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The revelation is the latest in a string of controversies surrounding the newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News International and its practices of hacking mobile phones of celebrities and victims of crime or disaster.

The forces charity said it was “shocked to the core” by the allegations and that it would be reconsidering its links with other News International publications such as The Sun and The Times.

by PETER VINE Libya As the battle for Tripoli looms, France has begun air-dropping assault rifles, machine guns, RPGs and even Milan anti-tank missiles to rebels in the mountains south of the Libyan capital. Whether this fits U.N. Resolution 1973 is a serious debate, with France insisting that it is simply arming civilians to protect [...]

Britain
If you thought relations between Britain’s military and the previous government were bad, you haven’t seen anything yet. U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday lashed out at critics in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force who complained of low morale due to almost 14 years of constant operations. Matters came to a head when the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, warned that current operations were “unsustainable.” When asked about the comments at a press conference on Downing Street, Cameron remarked, “There are moments when I wake up and think, ‘You do the fighting, I’ll do the talking.’”

NATO
A collection of small to medium nations forever cutting back on defense budgets and simply unable rather than unwilling to take part in major operations, due to a lack of kit and major munitions shortages. That’s how U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates described NATO this week in a major valedictory speech.

America in Europe
The United States is to push on with cuts to its forces stationed in continental Europe. Plans call for a gradual reduction of American forces in Europe from 42,000 to 37,000. This cut is smaller than what previous defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld had called for, but more than what service chiefs want.

Iran
Spanish authorities uncovered a big sanctions-busting deal this week after raids in Barcelona and Madrid. The bust concerns the export of nine Bell-212 helicopters to Iran and chopper parts to Venezuela. The aircraft could be converted for military uses and thus are banned by U.N. sanctions. Furthermore, the parts were being exported to Venezuela without the proper permits. The total value of the choppers and parts comes to well over 100 million Euros.

Libya
Events are starting to move quickly in North Africa, with a visit by the most senior American official yet to the rebel leadership — as well as reports of the French dispatching 12 attack helicopters on May 17 to the region to assist rebel forces. The force was dispatched on the amphibious assault ship Le Tonnerre. Now it appears that Britain intends to send attack helicopters, too.

Black Sea
The start of a new Great Game? America is slowly easing into the area around the Black Sea after inking an agreement with Romania to use Mihail Kogalniceanu Airport and the port of Constanta to transit men and material to Afghanistan and elsewhere. Look beyond the headlines, however, and you see what else the agreement contains, such as: missile interceptors for Deveselu air base as part of the international Anti-Ballistic Missile shield.

Libya
Getting an update on the progress of the small British, French and Italian mission in rebel-held Libya is proving difficult as the rebel administration and the advisers’ respective governments keep under wraps the whole program to transform the rag-tag rebel army.

Eurofighter Typhoon/Dassault Rafale
India is a step closer to choosing a candidate for the medium multi-role combat aircraft order. Dropping bids from America, Russia and Sweden, the final shortlist includes EADS’s Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault’s Rafale. The two companies have been asked to extend their bids to the end of the year where a winner will be chosen.

Russia
The long saga continues. Will the Russian army become professional or not? It is an issue that has dogged the military long before the wall came down. Currently Russia operates a mixed system of professional and conscripted soldiers. Conscription has been described as one of the biggest human-rights scandals in Russia. In dedovshchina, or “rule of the grandfathers,” conscripts are forced to beg, steal and even donate blood to bring in money for their unit. Those who desert are so affected by the experience that they often go on violent rampages. And if that weren’t enough, there are on average over 1,000 non-combat deaths a year within the Russian military.

by PETER VINE Libya Stalemate continues on both fronts of the Libyan conflict. Rebels forces have been unable to break out toward the oil ports of Brega and Ras Lanuf, while pro-Gaddafi forces continue to besiege the western port of Misrata. Pro-Gaddafi forces have attacked the port area of the city with rocket and mortar [...]