Iraq Airstrikes Ineffectual
Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River economic community. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Leader’s owners or staff.
The US-led airstrikes in Iraq have hardly dented the core of the ISIS group’s territory after two months, reports AP. Extremist fighters hide in urban areas to elude the airstrikes and have even succeeded in taking new territory. In Syria, days of airstrikes have been unable to stop militants on the verge of capturing a strategic town on the Turkish border. This lack of success highlights the weakness of aerial attacks, both manned and unmanned, because there are almost no allied forces on the ground able to capitalize on the strikes and take back territory from the militants.
The Washington Post provides an in depth cybersecurity report covering topics such as hacking ethics and the cybersecurity viewpoints of government and business leaders. The report includes video clips from Cybersecurity Summit 2014.
Tricare will stop mailing letters to patients informing them of changes to their coverage or eligibility for military health programs, according to Navy Times. Starting this month, the DoD will send postcards to patients informing them that there is a change, and then they will have to log into a Pentagon website, milConnect, or call their Tricare regional contractor to find out the details.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been struggling since 2012 to develop rules for safely integrating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) into US airspace, and needs to release a comprehensive set of regulations as the private UAV market explodes, according to the Washington Post. The FAA estimates that, within a decade, private UAVs will constitute a $90 billion industry and 2014 sales of consumer UAVs are forecast at $84 million and 250,000 units. The FAA now promises rules for small drones will come later this year.
A majority of experts, including industry leaders, engineers, weapons buyers and military leaders agree that an ongoing problem with defense acquisition is the DoD’s own acquisition workforce, reports Government Executive. Without better training and recruiting of the professionals who manage large weapons contracts, and effective incentives to reward smart decision-making, the Pentagon will continue to overspend for too little return.
Ms. Liz Kaszynski is one of ten trained and certified Lockheed aerial photographers and has taken a number of fantastic photos of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, reports Business Insider. She is required to undergo the same training as a pilot and choreographs F-35s, F-16s and F-22 performing incredible maneuvers mid-flight.
A new milestone was achieved in the interoperability of helicopters and unmanned aircraft systems that allows AH-64E Apache attack helicopter pilots to control the payloads, sensors and flight of unmanned aircraft systems, reports UPI.
The US approach to electronic warfare must change due to a proliferation of potential targets, according to Breaking Defense. Historically, the military and Congress have focused on a small number of high-profile systems but now there are cellphones in every hand, including the Taliban who are using them to coordinate military operations. The electromagnetic spectrum has become a mass of confusing signals emitted by everything from iPhones to advanced anti-aircraft missile batteries.
Congress and the DoD are still reviewing a ban on selling tobacco products on military bases and ships in an effort to cut high smoking rates, but critics argue the move would be unfair to service members who already are making significant sacrifices, reports Politico.
