NEWS IN BRIEF
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EUROPE
10 Jan 10. Islamists cancel Wootton Bassett protest plans. A radical Islamic group has cancelled plans to hold an anti-war march through a town famous for honouring the UK’s servicemen and women killed abroad. Members of Islam4UK had planned to march through Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, to honour Muslims killed in the Afghanistan conflict. The government had been considering outlawing the group, which is said to have extremist links. (Source: BBC)
03 Jan 10. Afghanistan: OP HERRICK. A Private from 1st Bn The Royal Anglian Regiment was killed as a result of an improvised explosive device blast in Southern Nad e-Ali on 3 Jan 10. UK deaths since the start of Operations on 7 Oct 01 thus rose to 246, of whom 213 were killed as a result of hostile action. (MoD, 3 Jan 10.)
From 1 Jan 06 to 15 Dec 09, 1,034 UK personnel were Wounded in Action and 2,893 were aeromedically evacuated. (MoD, 8 Jan 10.) From 1 to 15 Dec 09 the figures were 16 and 44.
RN personnel destined for Afghanistan are trained at the RN Pre-deployment Training and Mounting Centre, Portsmouth. Some 240 RN personnel are serving in Afghanistan, from across the Navy. (MoD, 4 Jan 10.)
“We have not received any reliable intelligence on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden for a number of years.” (Defence Secretary, 5 Jan 10.)
Talon bomb disposal robots have not yet been deployed in Afghanistan. No foot patrol is conducted without a handheld metal detector. (Ministerial Answer (MA), 6 Jan 10.)
As at 22 Dec 09 there were eight nursing and one medical civilian agency staff employed in the UK hospital at Camp Bastion. (MA, 6 Jan 10.)
The Kajaki dam is producing around 33 MW of power, benefiting at least 200,000 people. (MA, 7 Jan 10.)
Personnel of No 1 RAF Protection Wing from RAF Wittering are now defending Camp Bastion from insurgents and protecting aircraft using the Airfield. (MoD, 7 Jan 10.)
The MoD confirmed that a major new offensive is about to be launched, to clear the Taliban from the
Nad e-Ali area. Over 1,000 British troops and at least 2,000 US Marines will be supporting Afghan National Army soldiers for the Operation. (MoD, 8 Jan 10.)
Comment: NATO claims that ISAF still consists of 43 nations although three (Armenia, Jordan & the UAE) are currently not deploying any troops. As at 22 Dec 09, ISAF numbers had increased by 12,700 (from 22 Oct 09). Details are at page 3.
(Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 10/02, 10 Jan 10)
08 Jan 10. A400M flies for third time. The Airbus Military A400M airlifter has flown for the third time as the flight-test programme for the type picks up pace after the year-end break. In a two hour 25 minute sortie from Seville, Spain on 7th January the test crew concentrated on
exploring flight in different aircraft configurations. The aircraft, known as MSN1, has now completed x hr y min total flying. Test pilot Michel Gagneux became the third pilot to fly the aircraft, supporting aircraft captain Nacho Lombo. Airbus head of flight operations Fernando Alonso also flew on the aircraft for th