Senior US Defense Department officials are expected to present three budget-cutting scenarios to the defense secretary when they wrap up a wide-ranging review of military strategy at the end of this month, according to sources.
The Pentagon will request that Congress approve a budget for combat operations of about $79.5 billion, the least since 2005, as U.S. troops withdraw from Afghanistan, according to administration officials/…/
Military analysts, meanwhile, are calling for the Pentagon to invest in more advanced technologies for special operations forces. A new study by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said AFSOC’s reliance on a C-130 based aviation fleet ignores the combat environment that the U.S. military will face in the future.
When they deploy to combat zones, special operations troops bring along a multitude of gizmos. Besides basic line-of-sight radios to communicate with their peers, they need devices to connect with other U.S. government agencies and allies. They also have satellite receivers, smartphones, tablets and custom terminals to upload streaming video.
When President Barack Obama hosts Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House on Thursday, their talks about Syria will have a fresh urgency. On Saturday, car bombings in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli killed at least 50 people. The Erdogan government blamed the Bashar Assad regime in Damascus for the attack.
/…/The Army, Marines and Special Operations Forces (SOF) “significantly contribute to the activities central to influencing the ‘human domain’ short of war” the paper states. “Such as peacekeeping, comprehensive military engagement, security force assistance, building partner capacity, and stability operations.”
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