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The State Department so badly managed a $1.2 billion contract for Iraqi police training that it can't tell what it got for the money spent, a new report says. Because of disarray in invoices and records on the project — and because the government is trying to recoup money paid inappropriately to contractor DynCorp International, LLC — auditors have temporarily suspended their effort to review the contract's implementation, said Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart W. Bowen Jr. Bowen had been trying to review a February 2004 contract to DynCorp awarded by the State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics...

Mysteries still surround Israel’s air strike against Syria. Where was the attack, what was struck and how did Israel’s non-stealthy warplanes fly undetected through the Russian-made air defense radars in Syria? There also are clues that while the U.S. and Israel are struggling in the broader information war with Islamic fundamentalists, Tel Aviv’s air attack against a “construction site” in northern Syria may mean the two countries are beginning to win some cyberwar battles. U.S. officials say that close examination of the few details of the mission offers a glimpse of what’s new in the world of sophisticated electronic sleight-of-hand....

Polaris Industries Inc. has completed first production of and received orders from the US Department of Defense for its newest military vehicle, the MV800 4X4 ATV. The MV800 is Polaris’ first vehicle featuring a new 760cc, 30kW (40 hp) twin-cylinder 4-stroke engine utilizing a newly developed air-assisted direct-injection combustion system.

The McArthur, at Nauticus in Norfolk on Tuesday afternoon, is owned by Blackwater and has been outfitted for disaster response and training. Bill Tiernan/The Virginian-Pilot Related: Iraqi Prime Minister disputes Blackwater version of attack Special ReportBlackwater: Inside America's Private Army NORFOLK As it tries to weather a worldwide storm of negative publicity, Blackwater USA is hoping to find a little love this week on the Norfolk waterfront.The Moyock, N.C.-based private military company is hosting an invitation-only open house today and Thursday on board the McArthur, a training vessel recently acquired by its new maritime division.The ship is docked adjacent...

QUANTICO, Va., Sept. 12 (UPI) -- The top defense contractors' latest product advancements are set to be showcased at the Modern Day Marine Military Exposition in Virginia. U.S. Marines are about to see the latest at the world's largest military equipment and systems exposition, the 2007 Modern Day Marine Military Exposition at Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Va., Oct. 2-4. Modern Day Marine Military Exposition is co-sponsored by Marine Corps Systems Command and the Marine Corps League. Exposition officials say almost 400 companies will showcase their products for a current military environment where there is a renewed emphasis on the expeditionary...

(AP) Three American defense contractors kidnapped by Colombian rebels pleaded in an interview for authorities to negotiate their release and not risk a rescue, saying they would likely die in the attempt. The interview by a Colombian journalist was the first since the men were captured after crash-landing their plane in the jungle-covered mountains of southern Colombia in February. “I don't want to die. I don't want anybody dying trying to get me out of here,” Keith Stansell, one of the captives, said in the interview, which was taped in July but will get its first public airing Wednesday when...

LEXINGTON, Mass., Aug. 31 (UPI) -- BAE Systems said this week it has won a contract to design and develop new night-vision goggles for the U.S. Army. The company said it won the contract to create new digitally enhanced night-vision goggle for the U.S. Army’s Enhanced Night Vision Goggle program. "This next-generation goggle will use digital imagery to improve soldier mobility and situational awareness under all lighting conditions and in the presence of battlefield obscurants," BAE Systems said in a statement Monday. "The helmet-mounted goggle will digitally combine video imagery from a low-light-level visible sensor and an uncooled long-wave infrared...

SAIC Inc. began work on supply management of chemicals, packaged petroleum, oils and lubricants for the Defense Department under a contract valued at as much as $6.2 billion after a protest of the award was denied. SAIC said yesterday that it was informed Aug. 15 that work may continue following a ruling on the challenge by the Government Accountability Office. The order was awarded May 2, and a protest was lodged by PWC Logistics Services Inc., a Kuwait-based global logistics company, GAO attorney Michael Golden said today. SAIC, a military contractor specializing in computer services, has had the contract with...

BURLINGTON, Mass., Aug. 7 (UPI) -- iRobot Corp has won $17.5 million in orders for its iRobot PackBot systems for the U.S. armed forces. "The U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation on behalf of the Robotic Systems Joint Project Office at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., and the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) both placed orders for iRobot’s combat-proven military robots. iRobot expects to complete delivery by the end of January 2008," the company said in a statement last month. "The initial PEO STRI contract was awarded under the Naval Air Systems Command’s (NAVAIR) contracting authority. PEO STRI...

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Northrop Grumman has won a $635.8 million U.S. contract to carry out at-sea carrier launches and recoveries with a fixed-wing unmanned air system. The program will involve Northrop Grumman's X-47B unmanned air system, or UAS, and will be the first set of trials with such a system ever carried out at sea, the company said in a statement Friday. "The Navy's program, known as the Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D), will demonstrate the capability of an autonomous, low-observable air vehicle. The UCAS-D effort will mature critical technologies, reduce unmanned air system carrier...

WASHINGTON - A Raytheon Co. satellite-guided artillery shell, the first weapon of its kind, killed a top al- Qaeda leader in Iraq, the U.S. military said. The firing of two new 155mm “Excalibur” shells was part of a combined Army and Air Force assault July 14 on a meeting house in Arab Jabour south of Baghdad directed against the leader, Abu Jurah, and 14 associates, U.S. forces said today. Raytheon, the world’s biggest missile maker and Southern Arizona’s largest employer, developed the Excalibur with Bofors Defence of Sweden. The statement e-mailed from Baghdad said Abu Jurah was “the top target”...

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- The Boeing Co. said Tuesday it has won an $18 million U.S. Marine Corps contract for new ScanEagle ISR systems. Boeing described the ScanEagle as "a long-endurance, fully autonomous unmanned aircraft." The unmanned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or ISR aircraft "has been used by the Marines since July 2004, the U.S. Navy since September 2005 and the Australian Defense Forces since November 2006. During that time, ScanEagles have flown more than 4,600 sorties and 50,000 flight hours, including 34,000 hours with the Marine Expeditionary Forces," the company said. Boeing said the ScanEagle was developed...

WARRENVILLE, Ill., Aug. 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. Marine Corps ordered 755 more Category I Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles from International Military and Government LLC. International is a subsidiary of Navistar International Corp. The contract, for the delivery of the vehicles by the end of February 2008, is valued at approximately $414 million. The additional order brings the total number of MRAPs to 1,971 from International for a cost to the military of more than $1.045 billion. MRAPs are designed to protect troops from improvised explosive devices and other roadside bombs. "The urgency to rapidly deliver these life-saving armored...

Saudi Arabia has acquired a Massachusetts firm that is a leading supplier to the U.S. military. The state-owned Saudi Basic Industries Corp. has purchased GE Plastics from General Electric for $11.6 billion. Based in Pittsfield, Mass., GE Plastics, with 11,000 employees, develops and manufactures plastic polymers, composites and polycarbonates used in U.S. military platforms, including fighter-jets, submarines and engines. "SABIC's intention is to grow globally," SABIC chief executive officer Mohamed Al Mady said. In May 2007, SABIC announced the acquisition of GE Plastics, regarded as the largest transaction ever completed in the United States by a Gulf Cooperation Council state,...

MARIETTA, Ga., Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Lockheed Martin announced Tuesday it has won a new $5 billion order from the U.S. Air Force to build 60 more F-22 Raptor fighters. The total value of the company's contract with the USAF is now worth $7.3 billion. The aircraft will be built through 2011 "at a rate of 20 per year, with deliveries starting in late 2008," Lockheed Martin said in a statement. "The multi-year contract allows us to generate savings for the taxpayer and continue to deliver the most capable aircraft in the world to the men and women defending our...

Federal authorities on Monday arrested an Army major stationed at Fort Sam Houston on charges that he took almost $10 million in bribes and expected $5.4 million more on military contracts he had rigged. A handful of agencies, including investigative arms of the Justice and Defense departments, arrested Maj. John Cockerham, 41, and his wife, Melissa, 40, in the pre-dawn hours Monday as the couple returned to Fort Sam Houston from Louisiana. They appeared later in federal court in San Antonio, where a judge ordered them held without bail pending a bond hearing scheduled for Wednesday. Melissa Cockerham is accused...

General Dynamics Land Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, has delivered its first Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles to the U.S. Marine Corps from Anniston, Ala., less than 120 days after the company received its first production order for the new product. The vehicle's unique, V-shaped hull is designed to deflect the force of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast away from the vehicle, keeping soldiers inside safe and alive. General Dynamics and its our partners, Force Protection, Anniston Army Depot and local subcontractors, are engaged in building these vehicles while increasing its combined production capacity to deliver...

Raleigh — U.S. soldiers and Marines stationed overseas could in the near future be operating heavily armored, high tech vehicles designed to counteract deadly improvised explosive devices and mines that are built in North Carolina. Force Protection Inc., a South Carolina-based firm, said Thursday that it would build an assembly plant for “Cheetah” armored vehicles in Person County. The facility will cover 430,000 square feet. Force protection expects to produce some 2,000 Cheetahs at the plant in 2008. Construction of the plant will lead to 270 jobs, and the company will invest $31 million in the facility, Gov. Mike Easley...

NEW YORK, June 26 (Reuters) - Boeing Co. (BA.N: Quote, Profile , Research) on Tuesday named retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones, the former head of U.S. and NATO forces in Europe, to its board. The appointment is the latest in a line of retired senior armed forces and Pentagon leaders joining defense contractors, underscoring the tight relationship between U.S. arms makers and buyers. Boeing, which is the No. 2 U.S. defense contractor behind Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT.N: Quote, Profile , Research), said Jones' appointment was effective immediately. Jones, 63, is a decorated Vietnam War veteran with a 40-year military...

It’s a big, evil secret behind the U.S. invasion of Iraq - a 100,000 strong mercenary force that the Bush administration has hired to do the U.S. government’s riskiest and dirtiest operations. It works behind the scenes and is virtually above the law. Its name is Blackwater USA -- and it’s a private army with a license to kill. More evil still is the fact that Blackwater USA is run by a multimillionaire Christian fundamentalist who has also bankrolled President Bush’s election campaigns. And what makes the whole exercise so frightening is that American mainstream media - supposedly the champions...