24 Jul 14. LCS to Conduct Test of Norwegian Missile.The littoral combat ship USS Coronado will get a chance at an historic LCS first this fall when it launches a surface-to-surface missile in tests off Southern California. The US Navy confirmed this week that the Coronado is scheduled to test-launch the Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile (NSM) off Point Mugu, California, where the Naval Air Warfare Center maintains an extensively-instrumented missile range. The test will follow a successful NSM launch July 10 from the Norwegian frigate Fridtjof Nansen during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises near Hawaii. The frigate fired a single NSM at the decommissioned amphibious ship Ogden and scored a direct hit. The NSM is a 13-foot-long weapon already in service aboard Norwegian warships and with Polish defense forces in a land-based, truck-mounted version. A helicopter-launched version is under development, and the company recently announced it was working on a smaller, submarine-launched variant. Kongsberg has been aggressively targeting the US Navy as a potential NSM customer. The LCS, although planned to carry the non-line-of-sight missile, has been without a missile system since the US Army cancelled NLOS development in early 2011. The Navy recently decided to begin development work to adapt the proven Hellfire missile to naval use for the LCS. The NSM, in the 500-pound class of missile, is significantly larger than the Hellfire, in the 100-pound class. The smaller missile could essentially be a placeholder until a more effective weapon can be identified. While there have been calls in the service to develop new surface-to-surface missiles, the US Navy emphasized the upcoming NSM tests are not in response to a specific requirement. (Source: Defense News)
25 Jul 14. The Senate this week confirmed President Barack Obama’s nominees for four key military posts:
— Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., to be commandant of the Marine Corps, succeeding Gen. James F. Amos;
— Army Gen. John F. Campbell, Army vice chief of staff, to be commander of the International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces Afghanistan, succeeding Dunford;
— Navy Adm. Bill Gortney, commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, to be commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, succeeding Army Gen. Charles H. Jacoby Jr.; and
— Army Lt. Gen. Joseph L. Votel, to receive his fourth star and serve as commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, succeeding Navy Adm. William H. McRaven. (Source: US DoD)
24 Jul 14. Democrat threatens to block arms sales to Iraq. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) is threatening to block arms sales to Iraq if the Obama administration does not provide more information about military options in the country. The Senate Foreign Affairs Committee chairman on Thursday asked a top official on Iraq policy about the initial assessments by U.S. military advisers on the ground and was told the findings are still being sorted out. “As I said, the assessments came in last week. They’re dense. They’re significant. And so, we’re still working through those,” said Elissa Slotkin, acting principal deputy undersecretary of Defense for policy. “After we have done that … the secretary and the chairman will make informed recommendations to the president,” she said. That answer didn’t satisfy Menendez. “Are you going to be able tell us anything more than what I read in The New York Times?” Menendez asked, referring to a report last week that said the assessments cautioned that U.S. advisers would be at risk from extremists. President Obama last month authorized sending 300 military advisers to Iraq to assess the country’s security situation, its military forces, and the threat from the Sunni extremist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Officials say there are no plans to make the assessments public. Slotkin cautioned against reading too much into a “leaked half-report,” drawing another sharp response from the