Fallon resigns as Mideast military chief

The top U.S. military commander for the Middle East resigned Tuesday amid speculation about a rift over U.S. policy in Iran. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that Adm. William J. Fallon, whose area of responsibility includes Iraq, had asked for permission to retire and that Gates agreed.

Gates said the decision, effective March 31, was entirely Fallon’s and that Gates believed it was “the right thing to do.”

Fallon was the subject of an article published last week in Esquire magazine that portrayed him as opposed to President Bush’s Iran policy. It described Fallon as a lone voice against taking military action to stop the Iranian nuclear program.

“Recent press reports suggesting a disconnect between my views and the president’s policy objectives have become a distraction at a critical time and hamper efforts in the Centcom region,” Fallon, who is traveling in Iraq, said in a statement issued by his U.S. headquarters in Tampa, Fla.

“And although I don’t believe there have ever been any differences about the objectives of our policy in the Central Command area of responsibility, the simple perception that there is makes it difficult for me to effectively serve America’s interests there,” he said.

President Bush praised Fallon in a statement. “During his tenure at Centcom, Admiral Fallon’s job has been to help ensure that America’s military forces are ready to meet the threats of an often-troubled region of the world, and he deserves considerable credit for progress that has been made there, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Bush said.

Top U.S. military officer concerned about China

The top U.S. military officer in the Pacific voiced new concern on Tuesday about China’s rapidly growing military and said the United States has only a limited understanding of Chinese military intentions.

Navy Adm. Timothy Keating, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that China’s build-up would require Taiwan to improve its own defenses to deter potential aggression from the Chinese mainland.

“Sustaining stability across the Taiwan Strait is a top priority. Vital to preserving this current stability is a credible Taiwan self-defense capability,” Keating said in written testimony released at a committee hearing.

“I remain concerned about Chinese double-digit growth in annual defense spending and investment in systems which threaten Taiwan and our own capabilities,” he said.

Russia says US warships off Lebanon are not helping to resolve political crisis

Russia told the U.N. Security Council on Monday that the presence of U.S. Navy warships in the Mediterranean off the coast of Lebanon was not helping resolve the political crisis in Lebanon.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the current council president, said he raised the U.S. deployment at a closed council meeting on implementation of the U.N. cease-fire resolution that ended the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon in August 2006.

“We pointed out the fact that basically all Lebanese political forces expressed their concern about that, including the government of Prime Minister (Fuad) Saniora, and we have said that such acts were bringing up some unwanted historical analogies,” he said.

“So we did not see it as a constructive contribution to the situation in Lebanon,” Churkin said.

Jet Fighter Costs to Hit $1 Trillion

The cost of buying and operating a new fleet of jet fighters for the U.S. military is nearing $1 trillion, according to a congressional audit that found the program dogged by delays, manufacturing inefficiencies and price increases.

Released Tuesday, the report from the Government Accountability Office offers a sobering assessment of the ambitious effort to deliver a modern series of aircraft known as the F-35 Lightning II to the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.

Tasked by Congress to conduct an annual assessment of the program, the GAO said costs have gone up by $23 billion since last year alone.

Close to $300 billion is needed to acquire 2,458 aircraft for the three services and another $650 billion will be needed to operate and maintain the fighters that are expected to be flying well into the 21st century, the report says.

Operating costs, projected at $346 billion just a few years ago, have been driven upward by changes in repair plans, revised costs for depot maintenance, higher fuel costs and increased fuel consumption.

The GAO’s auditors said they expect development and procurement costs “to increase substantially and schedule pressures to worsen based on performance to date.”

No vessel is safe from modern pirates

Pirates are not just mythological characters with peg legs, parrots and pistols. They now carry AK-47s and use speedboats to rule the high seas of the world. 

Robbery of the high seas is not confined to 18th-Century history and literature or Hollywood films – it is still very much alive today.

Ninety percent of the world’s trade is still moved by sea, so it is not surprising that piracy against cargo vessels remains a significant issue.

It is estimated that seaborne piracy costs the world tens of millions of dollars a year.

Piracy peaked in 2003 with 445 attacks around the world and since then, they have more or less steadily come down.

Although attacks have decreased from the early 1990s, Rupert Herbert-Burns, a maritime security expert at Lloyd’s Intelligence Unit, says piracy is still a worrying problem.

“Attacks rose by 14% towards the end of last year, largely due to attacks off the Horn of Africa, specifically in Somali waters or in the territorial waters off Somalia,” he said.

Pirates Swarm Around Bulker

UP to 20 fast craft made an unsuccessful attempt to board a bulk carrier underway in Indonesian waters in the Celebes Sea on 4 March. According to the latest ICC International Maritime Bureau weekly report the ship was approached from a distance of about 4 nautical miles by between15 and 20 speed boats at speeds of 30 to 40 knots from all directions. Some came as close as 5 metres from the vessels’ stern.

The vessel raised the alarm, increased speed, crew mustered, manoeuvred in a zigzag course and implemented anti piracy measures. The master broadcast a security message on VHF Ch 16 and contacted the piracy-reporting centre. Seeing the crew’s response, the speedboats moved away and regrouped near a fishing trawler in the vicinity.

Meanwhile, among other reports from the IMB, robbers boarded a tanker at Lagos light house anchorage, Nigeria. Two robbers armed with knives attacked, injured and robbed the duty watchman. The other watchman, nearby, informed the bridge and tried to assist the watchman. The alarm was raised and the robbers jumped overboard and escaped. The masters’ attempt to contact port control was futile.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 and is filed under Acquisition Policy, Armed Forces, China, Indonesia, Lebanon, Maritime Strategy News, Navy, Piracy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.