Thursday, Apr 03rd
Last update06:53:29 AM GMT
Military Glance
The United States has approved a $15bn deal to supply Saudi Arabia with the THAAD missile defence system, one of the most capable systems of its kind in the world.
If Congress does not raise an objection within 30 days, the deal will result in a massive windfall for Lockheed Martin, the world's biggest arms producer.
A fire during an amphibious assault vehicle training session left 15 Marines injured on Camp Pendleton in California, U.S. military officials said Wednesday.
A news release from the 1st Marine Division said the vehicle caught fire during land-based training at 9:33 a.m. Those injured belonged to the 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment and 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion.
Caps on troop levels in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria mandated by the Obama administration have led to an elaborate Pentagon accounting system that conceals thousands of troops from the public — one that is quickly unraveling as the Trump administration prepares to send more troops to the region.
With new plans to ramp up the war in Afghanistan, the military is finding it exceedingly difficult to maintain a practice that purposely doesn't count certain troops in the battle zone that military officials insist was not designed to be misleading but many critics now assert is at best an officially sanctioned charade.
Chelsea Manning, the transgender soldier released from military prison this week after serving seven years for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, posted her first post-prison photo on social media Thursday.
"Okay, so here I am everyone!!" she tweeted beneath a photo showing her wearing red lipstick and sporting a black top cut deeply in a V in the front.
Documentary filmmaker Tim Travers Hawkins shot the portrait photo, the ACLU told NBC News. Hawkins is shooting a documentary called "XY Chelsea" about Manning's adjustment to life after prison.
The U.S. Navy's new destroyer -- the USS Zumwalt -- has been sidelined in the Panama Canal after engineering problems.
"The timeline for repairs is being determined now," US Navy Cmdr. Ryan Perry said in a statement to CNN.
USS Zumwalt, which cost $4.4 billion to build, was on its way Monday to San Diego by the end of the year where it was to join the U.S. Third Fleet in the Pacific Ocean. It was projected to be fully operational in 2018.
Following the devastating British inquiry into the 2003 invasion of Iraq, American veterans and their families have warned that the US is liable to repeat the mistakes without a similarly comprehensive investigation.
The UK’s Chilcot inquiry was released on Wednesday, and while it is no secret in the US that the invasion was a failure, nothing so damning as the 2.6m-word British inquiry has been released by an independent US government body.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced Thursday that the military will no longer discriminate against transgender troops, knocking down one of the last barriers to service based on sex.
The move, nearly a year in the making, came despite last-minute concerns were raised by top brass about how to deal with the medical, housing and uniform issues for troops who are transitioning to the other sex.
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