British Forces Hand Over Control of Last Base in Afghanistan

     British forces Sunday handed over formal control of their last base in Afghanistan to Afghan troops, ending combat operations in the country after 13 years which cost hundreds of lives.

The Union Jack was lowered at Camp Bastion in the southern province of Helmand, while the Stars and Stripes came down at the adjacent Camp Leatherneck — the last US Marine base in the country.


All NATO combat troops will depart Afghanistan by December, leaving Afghan troops and police to battle Taliban insurgents on their own.

The huge joint base built in the desert near the provincial capital Lashkar Gah was the most important installation for the NATO mission in Afghanistan.

Between 2010 to 2011, it housed almost 40,000 foreigners including sub-contractors.

Hundreds of US Marines and British troops are set to leave Helmand soon, though the precise date has not been revealed for security reasons.

In a ceremony Sunday the Afghans took formal control of the base, despite already being present in a portion of it. The British and US flags were lowered, leaving only Afghanistan’s national flag to flutter in the breeze.

Britain’s Defence Secretary Michael Fallon paid tribute to his nation’s role in fighting the Taliban.

A total of 453 British troops and 2,349 Americans were killed.

“It is with pride that we announce the end of UK combat operations in Helmand, having given Afghanistan the best possible chance of a stable future,” he said in a statement from London.

Many facilities such as pipelines, buildings, roads and even office furniture remain in place, with the US alone estimating $230 million worth of equipment is being left behind.

Cautious Optimism
Marine Gen. Daniel D. Yoo, regional commander, said the Afghan army is now now capable of taking over the reins.

“I’m cautiously optimistic they will be able to sustain themselves. I know from my experience that they have the capability and the capacity if they allocate the resources properly,” he said.

“We’re very proud of what we’ve accomplished here,” added the officer, who was among the first Marines on the ground in autumn 2001, when a US-led coalition toppled the Taliban who had been in power since 1996.

Gen. Sayed Malook, who leads the Afghan forces in the region and has now established his quarters in the base, said the camp would become a military training center and house 1,800 soldiers.

“I’m certain we can maintain the security,” he said Sunday. Asked about the departure of the NATO troops, he said: “I’m happy and sad. I’m happy because they are going to their home, I’m sad because they are friends.”

At Camp Leatherneck troops busied themselves with packing up, sorting out what medical equipment will go and what will remain.

Cpl. Ruf Stevens, in charge of vehicle transport, returned to his hut with his assault rifle in one hand and a guitar he found in a dustbin in another.

“I just think we got the job done. It’s a dirty job but pride comes with it,” he said.

The operational command center, a small room in a wooden hut filled with surveillance screens and computers, is seeing out its final days.

Surveillance has picked up little in the way of insurgent activity in recent days as the yearly fighting season comes to an end.

After Camp Leatherneck and Bastion, the most important NATO bases will be at Kandahar, Bagram, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif.

There are now about 40,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, down from their 2011 peak of around 140,000.

A residual force of around 12,000 soldiers including 9,800 Americans and 500 Britons will remain after December as part of a security pact signed by new president Ashraf Ghani.

Their role will be training Afghan troops and counter-terrorism.

Selex, Raytheon Compete To Supply IFF System to UK

Defense News

      Raytheon UK and Selex ES are going head-to-head to supply a new identification friend-or-foe (IFF) system for the British military, the Ministry of Defence announced.

The two companies have each been awarded £5.1 million (US $8.2 million) assessment phase contracts to provide the new NATO-mandated Mode 5 IFF system for British military aircraft, warships and battlefield vehicles.


The MoD will select the winning contractor to provide a new generation of equipment aimed at reducing blue-on-blue engagements after the conclusion of yearlong competitive studies.

A final contract award is expected in 2016

“Mode 5 IFF represents the new standard for all military transponders and interrogators which will be used by NATO countries using modern modulation, coding and cryptographic techniques,” said Defence Procurement Minister Philip Dunne.

“It is an essential piece of kit for future operations and interoperability with our allies. This study is an important step forward in bringing this capability to our armed forces,” Dunne said.

The current Mode 4 standard equipment used by the British is supplied by Raytheon.

Britain to speed up Typhoon upgrade for Iraq campaign

Telegraph

EurofighterTyphoon and C-27J Spartan

     The Ministry of Defence is speeding up plans to upgrade the RAF’s Typhoon jets with precision missiles in case they are one day needed to bomb Isil fighters in Iraq.

Defence sources said Britain’s role in the unexpected campaign against Islamist militants had exposed a shortage of ground attack jets which will only get worse as the RAF’s ageing Tornado planes retire.

Only Tornado GR4 fighter-bombers are fitted with Britain’s highly accurate Brimstone missiles which are considered critical to the campaign against Isil forces who have swept across Northern Iraq.

Commanders say the missiles are unique among the coalition forces and envied by America for their ability to hit moving vehicles, while minimising civilian casualties with a small warhead.

The MoD announced earlier this year it planned to fit the missiles to Typhoons by 2019 so they can take over the Tornados ground attack duties when the jets retire that year.

But RAF chiefs have now warned the unexpected extra burden of the Iraq campaign on its shrinking fleet of combat jets means they may soon struggle to field enough planes carrying the £105,000 missiles.

The Government has already given a one year reprieve to a squadron of Tornado GR4s which had been due to be axed early next year.

The MoD is now in talks to speed up the upgrade, but defence analysts say it could still be 2017 before the Typhoons are ready.

Howard Wheeldon, a defence analyst, said: “It’s a pity this decision was not made a long time ago. Typhoon will not be fully air-to-ground capable until 2019, and that’s really too far out.

“It isn’t just about bunging Brimstone on the aircraft. Even if it went really well, I think 2017 would be the earliest that it could really be operational.

“It was only six months ago that the Defence Secretary was saying we would not be fighting any more conflicts abroad in the near future. Things have changed a lot since then with Iraq, while we are still in Afghanistan, as well as Nigeria and the Falklands.

“They don’t have the capacity to do that. This is a realisation that we need to be able to operate more than one campaign.”

Air chiefs have also warned that the strain of the seven or eight hour round trip to bomb Isil targets from the Tornados base at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus will increase the wear and tear on the ageing planes.

Ministers have admitted the Iraq campaign could take several years. The US-led coalition has already launched hundreds of air strikes in both Iraq and Syria, but Iraqi forces have been unable to capitalise on the onslaught to drive back Isil, also known as Isis or Islamic State.

Typhoons were designed in the 1990s as air-to-air combat fighters to defend Britain’s skies against enemy planes, rather than for ground attack.

The RAF has begun taking delivery of upgraded planes which can drop the Tornados’ Paveway IV guided bombs.

An MoD spokesperson said: “We have already deployed a number of Tornado GR4s to support coalition operations against Isil in Iraq.

“Whilst we constantly review our options, there are no plans to deploy Typhoon to Iraq as the GR4 provides the optimum capability for the operation. Although work is under way to evaluate the integration of Brimstone missiles with the Typhoon aircraft, no firm decisions have been made.”

IAF to hold exercise with UK and France in 2014

Indian Air Force will conduct two joint air exercises , christened “Indradhanush” with the UK and “Garuda” with France, in 2014 with a gap of six months, sources said. The last exercise was held in 2010.    

       While the “Garuda” exercise with the French Air Force is likely to take place in the IAF base in Gwalior, the exercise with the Royal Air Force may happen in the RAF base in Waddington. Venue of the 2010 edition of “Indradhanush” was Kalaikunda, while “Garuda” was held in Istres, France.
         The exercises assume additional significance in the IAF training schedule after the last minute cancellation of “Exercise Red Flag” in July at the US Air Force (USAF) base in Nevada, sources said. The USAF has abandoned plans of holding the exercise citing budgetary constraints. Conceived after the Vietnam war, “Red Flag” is the world’s most challenging air-exercise that provides air force pilots with realistic combat experience. Participation in the exercise was earlier restricted to close US allies, but was extended to India after bilateral relations between New Delhi and Washington improved in the last decade.