11 October 2017

Release of latest US Army Field Manual FM 3-0

I was doing staff course in Defence Services Staff College in 1993-94. Euphoria of the first gulf war was continuing. The power of technology on a highly depleted force was on full display. Nobody can deny US Military's penchant for inventing new jargons. At DSSC people were reading newly published Field Manuals like FM 100-5 Operations. Fashionably it was called as 100 dash five!There were other documents like Rand Corporation Report on India's Strategic Culture and Indian Air Force. Though we were unable to produce this kind of documents there is or was no dearth of critics. Nobody says what the Americans say are correct. But at least produce those kind of documents. I have earlier said if you give peanuts you get monkeys. In Indian Think Tanks you get senior retired service or foreign service officers. It is too much to expect from them to produce such documents.


However character of warfare changes, And changed quickly. The adversaryies adopted, did nor fight US Force on Force and US got entangled in long drawn affairs like Iraq and Afganistan. US Armed forces coined LICO, Asymmetric Warfare,Irregular, unconventional, SASO, OOTW followed by 4GW, long was, small war, Hybrid war, Grey area war and now multi domain battle and many more. Two Colonels of PLA wrote on Unrestricted War. Indian Army borrowed from Israel and published a doctrine called sub conventional warfare. There were other terms like proxy war et al also.

US Army updates its Field Manuals regularly within 3 to 5 years. The eagerly awaited Field Manual FM 3-0 has just been published.From a 60 - 70 odd page document it has become voluminous 364 page document. Nowadays they also publish ADP 3-0 and ADRP 3-0 as supporting documents.

In a recent AUSA Conference US Army has published their draft concept of operations, US Army Chief is taking some drastic steps for readiness, acquisition and their communication networks.

It will be interesting to see what our all talk no action fauz does on the concept, doctrine front.

The foreword to this newly released document says :

“Today’s operational environment presents threats to the Army and joint force that are significantly more dangerous in terms of capability and magnitude than those we faced in Iraq and Afghanistan. Major regional powers like Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea are actively seeking to gain strategic positional advantage. These nations, and other adversaries, are fielding capabilities to deny long-held U.S. freedom of action in the air, land, maritime, space, and cyberspace domains and reduce U.S. influence in critical areas of the world.”
“In some contexts they already have overmatch or parity, a challenge the joint force has not faced in twenty-five years.”

That assessment appears in the Foreword to the newly updated US Army Field Manual 3.0 on Operations that was officially released today.
The Field Manual describes the conduct of operations in the new environment, with notably new material on the cyber and space domains.
“Threat operations [by adversaries] in cyberspace are often less encumbered by treaty, law, and policy restrictions than those imposed on U.S. forces, which may allow adversaries or enemies an initial advantage,” the manual states.

The unclassified field manual was released along with two supporting volumes:

ADP 3-0. Operations, Army Doctrine Publication, October 2017, and
ADRP 3-0. Operations, Army Doctrine Reference Publication, October 2017

Last week, Secretary of Defence James Mattis issued a memorandum to all military personnel and DoD employees warning against leaks of classified or otherwise restricted defense information.

“It is a violation of our oath to divulge, in any fashion, non-public DoD information, classified or unclassified, to anyone without the required security clearance as well as a specific need to know in performance of their duties,” he wrote.

How The Kautilyan Nearly Lost Us Siachen

Jay Bhattacharjee

In most democracies in recent years, many public figures, comprising politicians at all levels, senior civil servants and functionaries, including military officers, have shared their experiences and memories after hanging up their boots. The Whitehall lot started this trend in the mid-1950s and their counterparts across the Atlantic followed suit.

1971 War: Battle of Shakargarh Bulge

By Maj Gen Sukhwant Singh

The Shakargarh bulge juts out like a tongue from the main landmass of Pakistan between the Chenab and the Ravi. It southern portion rests on the Ravi, the northern runs parallel to the Shivalik range, leaving a narrow segment between the international boundary and the hills, and its tip points towards Madhopur headworks and the Pathankot military base beyond. The main road and rail communications between Pathankot, Samba and Jammu run very close to the border throughout. In the south, the sensitive areas of Amritsar, Batala and Gurdaspur in Punjab state lie within easy striking distance across the Ravi.

Afghanistan: A Historical Analysis of Mission Command and its Effect on our Current Security Environment


In “Afghanistan: A Historical Analysis of Mission Command and its Effect on our Current Security Environment” (Landpower Essay 17-2, September 2017) the authors examine the use of mission command—and the failure to use it—in two battles in the adjacent provinces of Paktia and Khost in Afghanistan. While the details of the Second Battle of Zwahar in the 1980s provide ample evidence of the catastrophes and embarrassments that occur when the principles of mission command are ignored, events that occurred in 2002 in the Shahikot Valley point to the contrasting phenomenal successes that can be gained when mission command is actual put into cooperative practice. 


Russian hackers stole US cyber secrets from NSA: reports

By DUSTIN VOLZ and JOSEPH MENN 

Russian government-backed hackers stole highly classified US cyber secrets from the National Security Agency in 2015 after a contractor put information on his home computer, two newspapers reported on Thursday.

Are Catastrophic Disasters Striking More Often?

by Jay L. Zagorsky

No sooner had Hurricane Harvey’s record rains receded from Houston and neighboring cities than the residents of Florida began bracing for a wallop from an even more powerful storm. Following that another category five hurricane, Maria, ravaged the Carribean. And hurricane season hadn’t even peaked yet.


Russia Wends Its Way Toward an Exit in Syria


Since it first entered the conflict in 2015, Russia has changed the course of the Syrian civil war. The country managed, along with Iran, to turn the tides of battle back in the Syrian government's favor. And now that it has, it is looking for a way off the battlefield. Moscow doesn't want to be stuck in the Syrian conflict, but neither does it want to lose gains it has made there in solidifying its presence in the country and establishing itself as a critical influence in the region.

Saudi King, in Russia, Seeks Warmer Ties With a Longtime Foe

By IVAN NECHEPURENKO and BEN HUBBARD
Source Link

MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia warmly welcomed King Salman of Saudi Arabia under the gleaming chandeliers of the Kremlin on Thursday, signaling a rapprochement between two longtime rivals who have faced off in some of the world’s thorniest conflicts.

Making Broadband a Priority Makes Education Better

By Nate Davis

It is no secret that our country’s bridges, roads, railways and airports must be improved. Rebuilding our transportation infrastructure is critical to commercial and economic growth. But digital access in the internet age is just as important as the expressway needed for daily commutes and shipping goods.

Britain, divided

by Matt Rota 
Source Link

A country divided; that’s how Britain has felt since last year’s vote to leave the European Union. Remoaners versus Hard Brexiteers, all shades of gray abandoned. But what if Britain was literally, physically divided?

The Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish have spent the months since the referendum grumbling about London’s approach to Brexit. Some even predict the union could be rent asunder as a result, with the Scots leading a domino effect of independence.

Time is running out for nonviolence — or Trump — to save Tibet


The Tibetan movement is at a crossroads, facing increasing Chinese oppression and a shortage of international attention and support. If the international community and the United States continue to ignore one of the last and most afflicted nonviolent resistance movements, the implications will reach far beyond the Tibetan Plateau.

Computer virus hits US Predator and Reaper drone fleet

NOAH SHACHTMAN

The virus, first detected nearly two weeks ago by the military’s Host-Based Security System, has not prevented pilots at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada from flying their missions overseas. Nor have there been any confirmed incidents of classified information being lost or sent to an outside source. But the virus has resisted multiple efforts to remove it from Creech’s computers, network security specialists say. And the infection underscores the ongoing security risks in what has become the US military’s most important weapons system.

Cryptocurrencies: How hackers and fraudsters are causing chaos in the world of digital financial transactions

Jemima Kelly

Mr Wasyluk and his colleagues raised bitcoins for a new tech venture and lodged them in escrow at a company running a cryptocurrency exchange called Moolah. Just months later the exchange collapsed; the man behind it is now awaiting trial in Britain on fraud and money-laundering charges. He has pleaded not guilty.

Quantum Computing by Rajeev Chauhan


1. QUANTUM COMUPTING: Evolution and Potential In Information Security Compiled by: Aar Cee

Quantum computing studies theoretical computation systems (quantum computers) that make direct use of quantum-mechanical phenomena, such as superposition and entanglement, to perform operations on data…..Wiki

Here's Google's biggest secret to not failing at security

By Matt Asay 

Security is broken for most enterprises. However, Google shows a better way.

Can we all agree that securing the perimeter of an enterprise's IT assets—through firewalls and such—doesn't work and needs a reboot? In 2009, a series of highly-publicized cyberattacks, likely carried out by a nation-state, made global headlines. Afterwards, the common response was for enterprise security teams to bolster their network perimeter defenses, effectively buying more firewalls and VPNs.

NEW THEORY CRACKS OPEN THE BLACK BOX OF DEEP NEURAL NETWORKS


EVEN AS MACHINES known as “deep neural networks” have learned to converse, drive cars, beat video games and Go champions, dream, paint pictures and help make scientific discoveries, they have also confounded their human creators, who never expected so-called “deep-learning” algorithms to work so well. No underlying principle has guided the design of these learning systems, other than vague inspiration drawn from the architecture of the brain (and no one really understands how that operates either).

Not all clouds are created equal: a comparison of Google Docs and Microsoft Word Online - Report


What happens when teams switch to Google Docs from Microsoft Word Online? They can share documents in nearly half the time, see real-time edits 96% faster and cut down on errors by 88%. Get more findings and how-tos in this detailed report by Principled Technologies, which compares the performance of collaboration and productivity tools included in G Suite and Microsoft Office 365.


Sixteen Years, But Who’s Counting?


Consider, if you will, these two indisputable facts. First, the United States is today more or less permanently engaged in hostilities in not one faraway place, but at least seven. Second, the vast majority of the American people could not care less. 

Nor can it be said that we don’t care because we don’t know. True, government authorities withhold certain aspects of ongoing military operations or release only details that they find convenient. Yet information describing what U.S. forces are doing (and where) is readily available, even if buried in recent months by barrages of presidential tweets. Here, for anyone interested, are press releases issued by United States Central Command for just one recent week:

Tomorrow Soldier: How The Military Is Altering the Limits of Human Performance

BY PATRICK TUCKER

Imagine a group of volunteers, their chests rigged with biophysical sensors, preparing for a mission in a military office building outfitted with cameras and microphones to capture everything they do. “We want to set up a living laboratory where we can actually pervasively sense people, continuously, for a long period of time. The goal is to do our best to quantify the person, the environment, and how the person is behaving in the environment,” Justin Brooks, a scientist at the Army Research Lab, or ARL, told me last year.

Junk News on Military Affairs and National Security


Social media provides political news and information for both active duty military personnel and veterans. We analyze the subgroups of Twitter and Facebook users who spend time consuming junk news from websites that target US military personnel and veterans with conspiracy theories, misinformation, and other forms of junk news about military affairs and national security issues. 

Macron’s European Defense Doctrine

By Daniel Keohane

“A sovereign, united, democratic Europe.” This is the vision French President Emmanuel Macron outlined in a landmark speech on September 26, at the Sorbonne in Paris. Calling for a more united and democratic EU is not new. However, for a leader from a major country to passionately assert that European integration reinforces national sovereignty, rather than diminish it, is refreshing.

Marines test 3D-printed small drones

By Richard Tomkins

A 3D printed drone is tested by a U.S. Marines. The system Marines recently tested was designed by the U.S. Army Research Lab with the goal of providing specific tools to soldiers as they need them in the field. 

Army Tests Strykers With Artificial Intelligence

Scout Warrior

Army weapons developers recently completed a "proof-of-principle" exercise with Stryker vehicles using wireless devices, faster computer processing speed, cloud technology and artificial intelligence to expedite vehicle health monitoring and anticipate future needs for the platform. 

Abe suggests civilian control of military in Constitution clause


In a public debate pitting leaders of eight political parties against each other ahead of snap lower-house elections on Oct. 22, Abe said that explicitly mentioning the SDF in the Constitution as proposed by the LDP "would not change the relationship between the Defense Ministry and self-defense officials."

THE BATTLE FOR CATALONIA

BY MATT GOULDING

I’m not sure what country I woke up in this morning. I mean that both literally and figuratively. Not only is Catalunya’s future as a region of Spain seriously in doubt after Sunday’s referendum on independence, so is the very notion of what country Spain is trying to be.

Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, How We Learned Not To Care About America's Wars

October 8, 2017

Even though the article was buried at the bottom of page eight of the September 28th New York Times, it caught my attention. Its headline: “Russia Destroys Chemical Weapons and Faults U.S. for Not Doing So.” In a televised ceremony, wrote reporter Andrew Higgins, Russian President Vladimir Putin “presided over the destruction of his country’s last declared chemical weapons on Wednesday.” The U.S. and Russia had, it seems, long ago agreed to do so by 2007, before pushing the date back to 2012, and then 2020. The Russians have now beaten that deadline by three years while, according to an unnamed State Department official quoted by Higgins, the U.S. “remains committed” to doing the same by... “the end of 2023.”