Free Republic

We've already raised enough to cover our operating costs for the current quarter and are now working on the new equipment fund!! Less than $6k to go!! We're planning on replacing some of our aging and unreliable equipment and beefing up our system before the general elections. Hope to pay for half of it this quarter and the rest next quarter. Woo hoo!! Let's get 'er done!! No matter who gets the nomination or eventually wins the election, we're going to need FR more than ever to hold their feet to the fire!! We need FR and FR needs you!!...

The Defense Ministry has ordered Israel Aerospace Industries and Elbit Systems Ltd. to cancel the sale of advanced intelligence equipment to Turkey, Channel 10 News reported on Thursday. According to the report the canceled deal, which was signed in 2009 and is worth $140 million, was for the sale of an advanced infrared camera and associated equipment. The reason for the cancelation, according to the report, is the diplomatic row between Israel and Turkey. All defense-related exports by Israeli companies require the approval of the Ministry of Defense, the report noted, but the cool relations between the two countries have...

Americans sweltered today in the scorching heat in what was officially the hottest day of the year in scores of cities across the country. The heatwave covered a million square miles, affecting 141million Americans. New York's Manhattan experienced the hottest ever July 22 recorded, with an overwhelming 104-degree temperature in Central Park. The Washington DC region continued to be smothered in heat and humidity with temperatures reaching 102 degrees but with a heat index of more than 120 - hotter than Death Valley at daybreak

I participated in a Bloggers Roundtable with the Director of Strategic Effects and United States Forces – Iraq Spokesman Major General Jeffrey Buchanan. I was tail-end Charlie and was surprised that no one asked about the US Excess Defense Articles [EDA] equipment delivery or the external defense training programs for the Iraqi Army [IA] before I did. I was hoping someone else would ask so I could move down my list of questions. It was obvious the General was primed for these 2 topics. One interesting item was that a joint "Intelligence and Operations Center" is being established to coordinate...

An anonymous email making the cyberspace rounds is so upsetting that its author was correct to hide his name. The “Changes Are Coming” email details the demise of our post office, our newspapers, check writing systems, books and music as we know them along with the end of Cable TV and network systems as now constituted. But the harshest caveat bearing down on America is our demise due to deindustrialization. The email reports that “Tens of thousands of factories have left the U.S. in the past decade alone. Millions upon millions of manufacturing jobs have been lost. . .the U.S....

After getting frustrated out of the lemons his problems gave him, David Miller made his own corporate lemonade. Due to the frustration of always having to call technical support to solve his own frequent hardware problems, he started taking the initiative to educate himself.

Iran has been able to smuggle advanced technological equipment to its uranium enrichment plant in Natanz via a complex smuggling route based in Dubai, the Sunday Telegraph reported on Sunday. According to the report, an Iranian company has purchased control systems from one of Germany's leading electronic manufacturers. The deal was negotiated with a Dubai trading company, which in turn sold Iran a range of electronic equipment for use at its enrichment facility, the British website reported. The report comes amid growing concerns that though Iran claims its nuclear program has only peaceful aims, Tehran is in fact working toward...

Warhead making equipment was removed before IAEA inspection. VIENNA — UN nuclear inspectors revisiting an Iranian laboratory suspected of involvement in a nuclear weapons program discovered that equipment has been removed, diplomats said Friday. Senior officials within the International Atomic Energy Agency are concerned that the removal was part of a cover-up. The equipment can be used for pyroprocessing, a procedure used to purify uranium metal used in nuclear warheads.

NHS bosses are refusing to let cancer patients be treated with potentially life-saving technology – endorsed by senior doctors – at a hospital which has just spent £3m on it. The Mount Vernon cancer hospital in London has become the first NHS hospital to buy a CyberKnife machine, which delivers radiotherapy with pinpoint accuracy. It is better at targeting tumours than conventional radiotherapy, less damaging than surgery and can treat some patients whose conditions would otherwise be untreatable, say leading oncologists. But the east of England strategic health authority's specialised commissioning group (SCG) has banned NHS patients from its region...

WASHINGTON, April 7, 2010 – The Army is now 35 percent complete in its effort to move equipment and materiel out of Iraq as part of the U.S. withdrawal from that country. Thousands of vehicles and equipment that have returned from Iraq wait to be retrograded in a 3rd Army lot in Kuwait. The base receives hundreds of trailer-sized containers a week, filled with everything from medical supplies to ammunition. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Monte Swift   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Lt. Gen. William G. Webster Jr., commander of 3rd Army, spoke April 2 during a Pentagon...

Russia will use domestically-built arms and purchase military equipment only in those fields where there are flaws, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin has said. "The national defense sector will shoulder the production of most arms. The purchase of military equipment abroad will be made only in those fields where there are flaws," Ria Novosti quoted Vladimir Popovkin as saying to Ekho Moskvy radio on Saturday. The deputy defense minister said there were "flaws" in the production of sophisticated arms, including unmanned aircraft. He said this year Russia’s defence ministry would import drones and that work was already in progress...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16, 2010 – The United States recently donated a number of water trucks, field artillery cannon and patrol boats to the Pakistani government, according to U.S. State Department news releases. The United States donated five fast-patrol boats to Pakistan's Maritime Security Agency at the Karachi shipyard Feb. 13, 2010. The U.S. government also recently donated field artillery and water trucks to the Pakistani military. The U.S. government is set to donate four more fast boats to Pakistan later this year. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Four water trucks were provided to the Pakistani Army’s special...

U.S. Air Force members of the 407th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron take down a tent structure that had previously been used within their compound at Ali Air Base, Sept. 30. The squadron has been downsizing and consolidating materials and equipment to send to U.S. war fighters in Afghanistan. Photo by Airman 1st Class Scott Saldukas, 407th Air Expeditionary Group. ALI BASE — The 407th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron here is preparing for the drawdown of U.S. forces by inventorying materials and equipment for possible use elsewhere. Soon after arriving in June, the 407th ECES completed an inventory of all items...

THE 207 faces of our Afghanistan dead are stark reminders of the bloody war we are fighting. Each represents a sacrifice made for democracy and freedom in the name of Britain. Yet, to its shame, our Government doesn't seem to want to face up to the fact we are in the middle of a savage conflict. Our leaders are pretending the war isn't happening. Today, The Sun asks the Government and Gordon Brown: Where is your leadership? As the hearses carrying our heroes are saluted in silent Wiltshire streets, Mr Brown and his ministers are missing in action. There is...

Paris - The top pilots' union at Air France demanded on Wednesday that European airspeed monitors be replaced by US-made models across the airline's fleet after a new malfunction was reported this month. An Airbus 320 equipped with new speed probes made by European electronics giant Thales was flying from Rome to Paris on July 13 when the sensors, known as pitot tubes, broke down, Air France said late on Tuesday.

January 26, 2009 Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/January/09-nsd-064.html Former Oak Ridge Complex Employee Pleads Guilty to Unlawful Disclosure of Restricted Atomic Energy Data WASHINGTON – Roy Lynn Oakley, 67, a resident of Harriman, Tenn., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Knoxville, to count one of an indictment charging him with unlawful disclosure of Restricted Data under the Atomic Energy Act, in violation of 42 U.S.C., Section 2274(b). The guilty plea was announced today by Matthew G. Olsen, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and James R. Dedrick, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of...

KNOXVILLE, TN—On Thursday, June 18, 2009, in U.S. District Court in Knoxville,Tenn., U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan, Jr., sentenced Roy Lynn Oakley, 67, of Harriman, Tenn., to six years in prison for trying to sell parts of uranium enrichment equipment that he had stolen from a U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) facility in Oak Ridge. Oakley had illegally taken this equipment while employed at a building formerly known as the K-25 plant. The K-25 building, now known as the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), was operated by DOE as a facility to produce highly enriched uranium used in the...

WASHINGTON, May 7, 2009 – Equipment critical to both domestic and warfighting missions and aircraft essential to guarding the nation’s air sovereignty remain areas of concern for the National Guard. Army Maj. Gen. Raymond W. Carpenter, acting deputy director of the Army National Guard, and Air Force Lt. Gen. Harry M. Wyatt III, director of the Air National Guard, prepare to testify before the House Armed Services Committee’s air and land forces subcommittee, May 5, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. That was the message Air Force Lt. Gen. Harry...

BAGHDAD, April 21, 2009 – Clearing rubble at the northern end of the Baghdad International Airport runway, soldiers of the 277th Engineer Company leveled the ground to expand the safety distance zone. Army Pfc. Eric Salinas, left, explains controls and maneuvers in the cab of a bulldozer to his Iraqi army counterpart through an interpreter on Victory Base Complex in Baghdad, April 16, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Howard Alperin  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. But in addition to working on the project, the soldiers also imparted their skills and knowledge as heavy-equipment operators to their 6th...

An Iraqi student dances with an Iraqi flag during graduation from a Heavy Equipment Operator's Course funded by the Coalition at the Adl Sports Center in Kadamiyah, March 5. Photo by Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell, Multi-National Division – Baghdad. BAGHDAD — There was a large celebration March 5 at the Adl Sports Center in Kadamiyah, where 150 Iraqi students graduated from a Heavy Equipment Operator's Course that began Dec. 4. These students are the first to graduate from the course, said the contracting officer representative for the project, 1st Lt. Justin Casey.  “They learned to operate dump trucks, street sweepers,...

On the face of it a layer of orange jelly may not sound the best way to protect a soldier's head from high velocity bullets and shrapnel.But the British Army's standard-issue combat helmet is set to be upgraded with a liner made from gooey miracle gel, which responds to a sudden impact by locking instantly into a solid form - absorbing huge amounts of energy harmlessly.A UK-based technology company was today celebrating a £100,000 contract from the Ministry of Defence to develop its D3O shock-absorbing gel to help save the lives of British troops fighting on the frontline in Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9, 2009 – Army officials are creating a new way to field force-protection products, such as mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles, to speed their delivery to deployed soldiers in Iraq. Army Pfc. Joshua Hunter, a quick reaction force gunner with the 10th Mountain Division, speaks with a mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle driver during training at Camp Victory, Iraq, Jan. 1, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Amber Emery  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. As equipment comes available, it’s shipped to Iraq immediately and tested to see how it incorporates with the mission, officials said. The “fieldings” are geared...

Arms & The Manpower by: Amanda Busse, January 25, 2008 Analysts predict that equipment shortages in the military may become a source for debate in the upcoming 2008 Presidential election. As America enters its fifth year in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is a growing need to replace “worn out” equipment, according to Brad Curran, Senior Industry Analyst for Frost and Sullivan. Both the need for new equipment and calls to expand the number of military personnel have led to increased projected spending in the Department of Defense budget for 2008. Analysts at Frost and Sullivan assert that spending is expected...

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr. Jasim Jaffar, participated in an event Dec. 30 to distribute soccer equipment donated by the Colorado Rush Soccer Club of Littleton, Colo. The equipment's distribution to about 100 grateful young Iraqis took place in Zawar Park in Baghdad. Mr. Phil Reeker, Counselor for Public Affairs, represented the United States Embassy in Baghdad, and Col. Guy Beougher represented Multi-National Force - Iraq. According to Minister Jaffar, the soccer equipment has thus far been distributed to the Iraqi Legal Union in Baghdad, as well as to youths in the neighborhoods of Al Umal,...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2007 – Highly experienced Afghan pilots soon will take to the skies in newly acquired aircraft as part of a concerted effort to accelerate progress of Afghanistan’s nascent air corps, a coalition commander said today. Air Force mentor Master Sgt. Michael Stoller (second from right) works with members of the Afghan National Army Air Corps at the Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan. Stoller is a vehicle maintenance craftsman and is deployed from Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. Photo by Master Sgt. Jim Varhegyi, USAF  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “When you look at the country...

World-class equipment and top-rate logistics are playing a vital part in helping British troops bring stability to some of the most hostile parts of Afghanistan. Report by Jason Impey. For those troops on the front-line in Afghanistan equipment and logistics play a vital part in helping them achieve their mission as they take the fight into the Taliban's heartland in order to help rebuild a nation's shattered infrastructure. Supporting more than 7,700 troops from all three Services as well as thousands of vehicles and machines is an immense task and conditions in the southern Afghan deserts in and around Helmand...

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2007 – The National Guard force is second to none in terms of the quality of its people, but severe equipment shortfalls are keeping it from being fully ready, the chief of the National Guard Bureau told Congress today. Army Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum urged the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee to support the fiscal 2008 National Guard budget requests to ensure the Guard can continue serving as the country’s “21st century Minutemen and -women.” Guard forces deployed overseas are “superbly equipped and superbly trained, … and we want for nothing,” Blum told the subcommittee. But...

WASHINGTON, April 7, 2007 – One of our greatest blessings as Americans is that we have brave citizens who step forward to defend us, President Bush said during his weekly radio address today. “Every man or woman who wears our nation’s uniform is a volunteer, a patriot who has made the noble decision to serve a cause larger than self,” Bush said the day before Easter. “This weekend, many of our service men and women are celebrating the holidays far from home.” Noting that men and women in uniform deserve the gratitude of every American, Bush stressed military members...

New equipment for troops in Afghanistan By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent and George Jones Last Updated: 1:18am GMT 27/02/2007 The British force in Afghanistan is to be substantially reinforced with armour and artillery as commanders prepare themselves for a major Taliban offensive, it was announced yesterday. But other Nato countries have come in for severe criticism after failing to provide a second battle group at a time when the country's security hangs in the balance. Warrior armoured fighting vehicles are to be sent to Afghanistan The British reinforcements will include, for the first time in Afghanistan, Warrior armoured vehicles and...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1, 2007 – The combination of available money and around-the-clock work is enabling the Army to increase the pace of refurbishment of equipment that’s damaged or worn out from service in Afghanistan and Iraq, senior military leaders testified before a joint U.S. House committee on Capitol Hill yesterday. Gen. Benjamin Griffin, commander of U.S. Army Materiel Command, shows Army Secretary Francis Harvey a metal vehicle track that was to soon have new rubber tread applied to it at Red River Army Depot, in Texarkana, Texas, on Jan. 25, 2006. Army equipment that’s been worn or damaged during...

Boosting U.S. troop levels in Iraq by 21,500 would create major logistical hurdles for the Army and Marine Corps, which are short thousands of vehicles, armor kits and other equipment needed to supply the extra forces, U.S. officials said. The increase would also further degrade the readiness of U.S.-based ground forces, hampering their ability to respond quickly, fully trained and well equipped in the case of other military contingencies around the world and increasing the risk of U.S. casualties, according to Army and Marine Corps leaders. "The response would be slower than we might like, we would not have all...

Emergency stockpiles in Israel meant for storing US army equipment in Middle East opened in Israel's favor during last Lebanon war WASHINGTON - The American Congress gave Israel financial and security encouragement when the Senate and the House of Representatives gave their approval to double the emergency equipment the United States stores in Israeli stockpiles. Within the next two years the Americans will fill the military emergency stockpiles in Israel with double the equipment they now hold. In addition, the US will allow Israel to use the remainder of the US's monetary guarantees given to them that have not been...

TOKYO, Aug. 25 — Five executives of the Mitutoyo Corporation, a precision instruments maker, were arrested today on suspicion of illegally exporting equipment to Malaysia that could be used in making nuclear weapons. Japanese television broadcast video images of police raiding the company’s headquarters in the city of Kawasaki. A spokesman for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police said the president of the company, Kazusaku Tezuka, 67, and four other executives were taken into custody. The case turns on what the police said were shipments of advanced measuring devices that were sent to an unspecified recipient in Malaysia in late 2001 without...

METULLA, Israel - Israeli soldiers returning from the war in Lebanon say the army was slow to rescue wounded comrades and suffered from a lack of supplies so dire that they had to drink water from the canteens of dead Hezbollah guerrillas. "We fought for nothing. We cleared houses that will be reoccupied in no time," said Ilia Marshak, a 22-year-old infantryman who spent a week in Lebanon. Marshak said his unit was hindered by a lack of information, poor training and untested equipment. In one instance, Israeli troops occupying two houses inadvertently fired at each other because of poor...

WASHINGTON, August 2, 2006 – Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld disputed recent assertions today that the Army is declining in readiness due to equipment shortfalls. “The truth, as anyone in the Army leadership will tell you, is that the Army today is vastly better than it was two, four, six or eight years ago,” Rumsfeld told Pentagon reporters at a news briefing. “It has much more equipment, much better equipment, and it’s better trained and more experienced,” he said. “It is a better Army.” All units deployed to Iraq meet one of the top two readiness levels, “C1” or “C2,”...

Excavating equipment stands ready to be received by Iraqi essential services employees at Forward Operating Base Prosperity Sunday. Story and photo by Pfc. Jason Dangel4th Brigade Combat Team,4th Infantry Division BAGHDAD — The 4th Infantry Division’s Infrastructure Coordination Element, donated about $2 million worth of excavating and clean-up equipment to essential services departments from the Rasheed and Karradah Districts in Baghdad Sunday. The equipment, purchased from funds seized from former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, will now be used to help restore quality of life for citizens in these Baghdad districts. Each district received a backhoe/loader, a pickup truck, and a...

WASHINGTON, July 24, 2006 – A group of golf enthusiasts plans to donate golf clubs, balls, tees, mats and other golf equipment to servicemembers at Camp Taji, a military base in Iraq. U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Abdul Mercado inside his living quarters at Camp Taji, Iraq. Soon Mercado and others at his base will have golf equipment donated by Golfers 4 Freedom. Courtesy photo    U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Abdul Mercado, 36, of 4th Battalion, 42nd Field Artillery, has been playing for 13 years. For the past eight months he has been deployed to Camp Taji and hasn't been...

/begin my translation"Ten Iranian Missile Engineers Visited N. Korea" (Sankei reports)  U.S. Sec. of State and Japanese Foreign Minister, "N. Korean missile issue should be resolved through dialogues." (Tokyo = Yonhap News) Shin Ji-hong correspondent = Ten Iranian missile engineers recently visited N. Korea, and the purpose of their visit is apparently to join the launch preparation for the long-range Taepodong-2 missile, according to Sankei Shimbun (of N. Korea) quoting U.S. government figures and military sources on N. Korea. According to the sources, the (Iranian) delegation to N. Korea are made up of senior engineers for missile development at Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and they went into N. Korea via Beijing. Their immediate mission could...

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2006 – To successfully prosecute the war against terrorism, the U.S. military needs additional funds to maintain its equipment, the Army chief of staff told Congress yesterday. "To prevail in the long struggle we are now engaged, we must maintain our readiness by resetting those who have deployed through a disciplined, orderly reconstitution of combat power," Army Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker said before the House Armed Services Committee. "Our soldiers' effectiveness depends upon a national commitment to recruit, train, equip and support them properly." Equipment "reset" actions include repair and replacement of worn hardware. "In simplest terms,...

This truck represents the 8,567 new trucks the Afghan National Police recieved recently. The vehicles will be dispersed to Afghan National Police stations throughout Afghanistan. (Insert) Afghan National Police officers pose for a photo with one of the new trucks donated to the Afghan Minister of Interior. Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan photos by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class William Townsend Afghan National Police Receive New Equipment The Afghan National Police also recently received new uniforms, ammunition, and new weapons of all types including rocket propelled grenade launchers to Kalishnikov machine guns. By Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan,...

6/27/2006 - ALI BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- Firefighters here have received nearly $10,000 in donated equipment that will improve the Airmen's comfort and protection, thanks to the help of several nonprofit organizations, families and friends. Firefighters received the ballistic liner suspension system, an upgrade to the Kevlar helmet. "Most of today's Kevlar helmets were designed to protect soldiers from gunfire and flying debris," said Tech. Sgt. Paul Jacques, 407th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron, who served as the point of contact for the donation. "These upgrades make a good helmet significantly better." Additional benefits include making the helmet more comfortable and...

BALAD, Iraq — The U.S. military has begun sending thousands of battered Humvees and other war-torn equipment home as more Iraqi units join the fight against insurgents and American units scheduled for Iraq duty have their orders canceled. In the last four months, the Army has tagged 7,000 Humvees and 17,000 other pieces of equipment to be shipped to the United States to be rebuilt. They then will be distributed among active and reserve units at home, or possibly returned to equip Iraqi security forces. The military said the shipments will result in a reduction in the amount of U.S....

BUHRIZ, Iraq (May 1, 2006) – Capt. John McFarlin owes his life to the Army Combat Helmet. While McFarlin’s unit recently responded to attacks on an Iraqi police station in Buhriz, he was hit in the helmet with a shot from an AK-47. “I was suppressed for a moment and then I got back up" and returned fire, said McFarlin of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Band of Brothers’ Military Transition Team who oversees the 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division. A day after the attack, McFarlin was still sporting the damaged helmet. He...

Iraqi police officers using a forklift to move forensic processing equipment received from the 988th Military Police Company, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, to help the Iraqi police track down criminals and terrorists involved in crimes. U.S. Army photo by 988th Military Police Company CSI: Iraq Iraqi Police Receive Forensic Equipment By U.S. Army Pfc. Edgar Reyes2nd Brigade Combat Team4th Infantry Division FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq, April 13, 2006 — The 988th Military Police Company, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, delivered new forensic equipment to the Iraqi Criminal Investigative Service crime lab March 25....

U.S. soldiers at Camp Taji, Iraq, move excess vehicles, or stay-behinds, to a commercial transportation company, which will transport them to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. The vehicles will be repaired, refitted and redistributed to Reserve and National Guard units in the United States. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Brent Hunt Raider Brigade Turns In Excess Equipment Because the equipment is no longer used, maintaining the equipment toArmy standards requires valuable resources that could be used in the fight. By U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Brent Hunt 1st Brigade Combat Team 4th Infantry Division CAMP TAJI, Iraq, April 4, 2006 —...

f you're traveling one of the toughest bus routes on Earth you might want to be in a vehicle tough enough to take everything thrown at it. That bus is called a Rhino Runner and it's a cross between a local metro bus and a tank. One route the Rhino Runner runs is what’s called “Route Irish,” the local name for the highly dangerous road between the secure Green Zone in Baghdad and the Baghdad Airport. There were so many ambushes, Improvised Explosive Devices, and insurgent attacks on this route that only helicopters were used for some time and State...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2006 – The Defense Department announced today the revision of a memorandum on the policy and procedures for the reimbursement of privately purchased protective equipment for Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. The new memo, which was signed Feb. 10 by David S.C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, incorporates the original guidance published on Oct. 4, 2005, expands the list of reimbursable equipment, and extends the eligible purchase period for reimbursement. The full reimbursable equipment list now includes: Complete ballistic vests; Most component parts of ballistic vests, including side-plate body armor;...

Iran plant 'has restarted its nuclear bomb-making equipment' By Con Coughlin, Defence and Security Editor, in Washington (Filed: 11/02/2006) Iran's controversial Natanz uranium processing plant has successfully restarted the sophisticated equipment that could enable it to produce material for nuclear warheads, according to reports received by Western intelligence. An aerial view of the Natanz plant In the past few days Iranian nuclear scientists have reportedly restarted four of the centrifuges required to produce weapons-grade uranium, and have begun feeding them with uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas, a key component in the production of nuclear bombs. This crucial development follows Iran's decision...

CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq (Feb. 10, 2006) -- Thousands of pounds of equipment travel from base to base on a daily basis in Iraq. This being home to the 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward), it is often the center of activity, processing gear to forward operating bases. Tracking all this equipment can be an arduous task, but with the help of the portable deployment radio frequency identification tag kit made by Savi Technologies Incorporated and the Marines of Marine Air-Ground Task Force Distribution Center, the of tracking these shipments is made a little easier. First Lieutenant Scott E. Beatty, an operations...

Survivors Praise Body, Vehicle Armor to House Subcommittee By Donna MilesAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Feb. 1, 2006 – Three soldiers just back from Iraq -- including two who credit personal and vehicle armor with saving their lives -- traveled to Capitol Hill today to tell Congress that when it comes to protecting troops, more isn't always better. "We're here to say we're pretty happy with what we have," Brig. Gen. Karl Horst, the 3rd Infantry Division's assistant division commander for maneuver, told the American Forces Press Service before appearing at today's House Armed Services Committee's Tactical Air and...