SPY SATELLITE GROUP CAN'T GET LIFTOFF

The National Reconaissance Office -- the government agency in charge of all U.S. spy satellites -- is a mess, Aviation Week reports.

Morale is in the toilet, with too many people asking the snoops to do too many things with too little money.

To make matters worse, the agency hasn't put any large spy satellites into orbit in five years, according to the magazine. (Although there have been other big launches, notes a Defense Tech pal in military intelligence.)

The latest launch, scheduled for last week after 18 months of delays, has been put off again. The earliest the satellite -- likely a 100 foot-plus "folded eavesdropping antenna," the magazine says -- will be launched is September 6. But the Air Force notes that date could easily slip.

NRO director Peter Teets fried circuits earlier this year when he suggested that the U.S. should actively deny the use of space for intelligence purposes to any other nation at any time -- not just adversaries, but even longtime allies.

U.S. TRICKED BY IRAQI DISINFO?

The hunt for Saddam's WMD is going so badly that U.S. officials are starting to wonder whether they've been tricked by Iraqi double-agents, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Former Iraqi operatives have confirmed since the war that Hussein's regime sent "double agents" disguised as defectors to the West to plant fabricated intelligence. In other cases, Baghdad apparently tricked legitimate defectors into funneling phony tips about weapons production and storage sites.

"They were shown bits of information and led to believe there was an active weapons program, only to be turned loose to make their way to Western intelligence sources," said the senior intelligence official. "Then, because they believe it, they pass polygraph tests ... and the planted information becomes true to the West, even if it was all made up to deceive us..."

One U.S. intelligence official said analysts may have been too eager to find evidence to support the White House's claims. As a result, he said, defectors "were just telling us what we wanted to hear."

Hussein's motives for such a deliberate disinformation scheme may have been to bluff his enemies abroad, from Washington to Tehran, by sending false signals of his military might. Experts also say the dictator's defiance of the West, and its fear of his purported weapons of mass destruction, boosted his prestige at home and was a critical part of his power base in the Arab world...

The current focus on Iraqi defectors reflects a new skepticism within the Iraq Survey Group, the 1,400-member team responsible for finding any illicit arms. In interviews, several current and former members expressed growing disappointment over the inconclusive results of the search so far.

"We were prisoners of our own beliefs," said a senior U.S. weapons expert who recently returned from a stint with the survey group. "We said Saddam Hussein was a master of denial and deception. Then when we couldn't find anything, we said that proved it, instead of questioning our own assumptions."

CLOUDY, WITH A CHANCE OF THEFT

Could law enforcers one day forecast crime like the weather? Wired magazine says yes. Of course, they say yes -- in bright orange 72-point type -- to everything techno, so who knows...

CLASSIFIED SPENDING DOUBLES

Pentagon spending on "black," or classified, projects has almost doubled since the mid-90's, the Washington Post says. Relying on this think tank report, the paper notes that such outlays are now at their highest levels -- $23.2 billion -- since 1988.

"But unlike the 1980s, when it was widely known that the 'black' budget was going to the development of stealth aircraft such as the B-2 bomber and F-117 fighter, the uses of the classified accounts today are far murkier," according to the Post.

"This is an administration that likes to play I've got a secret," Globalsecurity.org's John Pike tells the paper. "The growth of the classified budget appears to be part of a larger pattern of this administration being secretive."

THERE'S MORE: "A large part of the increase in the DoD black budget is due to the surge in intelligence spending," Steven Aftergood, who heads the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy, tells Defense Tech.

"There has been a significant thrust towards 'recapitalization' of intelligence, including new initiatives in overhead reconnaissance (spy satellites), NSA modernization, etc."

WEAPONS-GRADE URANIUM AT IRAN NUKE PLANT

"U.N. inspectors have found traces of highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium at an Iranian nuclear facility," the Associated Press is reporting. "The find heightened concerns that Tehran may be running a secret nuclear weapons program."

Sure does.

THERE'S MORE: "Now it appears that Iran's rapid progress toward a nuclear weapons capacity came thanks to substantial assistance from Pakistan," says Josh Marshall, citing this report. "Add that to the fact that we now know that North Korea's progress along the uranium-enrichment track (as opposed to plutonium) was similarly the product of key assistance from Pakistan. If we're looking for the unstable Islamist-leaning state which has nuclear weapons and is the chief proliferator of nuclear technology to other unstable rogue regimes, we've found it: Pakistan."

U.S. SOLDIERS USING IRAQI GUNS

G.I.s in Iraq have a new weapon of choice: Iraqi AK-47s.

"The soldiers (of the 4th Infantry Dvision) based around Baqouba (Iraq) are from an armor battalion, which means they have tanks, Humvees and armored personnel carriers. But they are short on rifles," the Associated Press reports.

A four-man tank crew is issued two M4 assault rifles and four 9mm pistols, relying mostly on the tank's firepower for protection.

But now they are engaged in guerrilla warfare, patrolling narrow roads and goat trails where tanks are less effective. Troops often find themselves dismounting to patrol in smaller vehicles, making rifles essential.

"We just do not have enough rifles to equip all of our soldiers. So in certain circumstances we allow soldiers to have an AK-47. They have to demonstrate some proficiency with the weapon ... demonstrate an ability to use it," said Lt. Col. Mark Young, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Infantry Division.

It's great that our soldiers have been able to adapt themselves to the situaiton they've found themselves in. But there couldn't be a clearer example of how poorly their Pentagon bosses prepared for the Iraqi afterwar.

THERE'S MORE: "I don't think it's fair to call the use of the AK by dismounted mechanized forces in Iraq poor planning by the Pentagon. Armor crews have always been under-gunned in the US military," writes Defense Tech pal Wyatt Earp. "The Army needs to do what the Marines do, which is give everyone an M-16 (rifle) as well as supply more M-203s (grenade lanuchers) to the units and start handing out MP-5s (submachine guns) and more Combat Shotguns."

AND MORE: "The surprising -- shocking? -- part of this article is that highly trained tankers are being dismounted to patrol on foot and in humvees. What better testimony to the US Army's need for constabulary-type units, maybe modeled on the US Constabulary formed in 1946 to police the occupation of Germany," replies one member of the JO Forum.

AND MORE: "It's not just the rifles," Phil Carter adds. "Let's think of all the things that a regular civilian police force would have -- hand-held radios, shotguns, flexcuffs, handcuffs, batons, shields, etc. Then let's compare that to what an armor battalion has -- less than one M16 per soldier. These units are having to buy tons and tons of equipment to become more like cops."

AND MORE: Maybe it's just a coincidence, but the Army has just announced that it's speeding up the development of a potential replacement of its assault weapons.

REPORT: STRYKERS = SITTING DUCKS

"The Army's new state-of-the art infantry vehicle slated to make its combat debut in Iraq in October is vulnerable to the kind of rocket-propelled grenades now being used by Saddam Hussein's guerrillas, a consultant's report charges," according to the Washington Times.

The Army, which rebuts the report's findings, plans to send 300 Stryker armored vehicles and 3,600 soldiers to Iraq. This first Stryker brigade will help put down the resistance that has killed more 60 American troopers since May 1. It will also be a preview of a lighter, more mobile Army for the 21st century.

But a report prepared for Rep. James H. Saxton, New Jersey Republican, says the vehicle is ill-suited for such warfare.

"Poorly armored and entirely vulnerable to RPGs," states the report, prepared July 18 by consultant Victor O'Reilly.

Stryker has had a long history of controversy -- even before its first deployment. During the Millennium Challenge 2002 war game, for example, soldiers complained that the Stryker was susceptible to flat tires, couldn't hit targets on the run, and would get unbearably hot inside -- 120 degrees and higher.

RADIO TAGS DRESSED UP AS BIOSENSORS

The struggle over Orwellian homeland security measures is highlighted in two fascinating Wired News articles today:

* "More and more people are becoming suspicious of radio-frequency identification tags -- tiny transmitters that track the whereabouts of products with stunning accuracy. So the food industry is adding biosensors to the tags in a bid to present them as terrorism-fighting tools."

* An unusually diverse colation of Washington power players -- including the NAACP, the ACLU, and the ultra-conservative Americans for Tax Reform -- is working together to stop CAPPS II, the Transportation Security Administration's controversial airline passenger screening system.

FAA OK'S DRONES IN CIVILIAN SKIES

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used around the world to fertilize crops, monitor weather, and patrol borders. But here in the U.S., the drones haven't gotten much of a workout in civilian life. The problem hasn't been the technology. It's been the regulations.

The Federal Aviation Administration doesn't want unmanned planes crashing into piloted ones. And so the agency have been extremely cautious about giving drone operators licenses to fly. For example, NASA recently wanted to test out a UAV for monitoring forest fires. But the FAA wouldn't allow the flight to go forward.

That's why it is particularly significant that the FAA last week gave the U.S. Air Force permission to routinely fly Global Hawk surveillance drones in civilian airspace. It's the first COA ("Certificate of Authorization") given to an unmanned system.

"Previously the USAF was required to file a detailed flight plan with the FAA at least 30 days in advance," New Scientist reports. "Now the majority of the red tape has been cut making it possible for an unarmed Global Hawk to 'file-and-fly' even on the same day. The first use of the new COA will be a flight to Germany in October."

(via Robots.net)

POLITICS SINKS EXPLORATION OF ANCIENT WRECKS

They came flush with cash, packed with cutting-edge equipment, and were led by the field's best-known figure -- the man who discovered the Titanic.

But a high-profile exploration of ancient shipwrecks has ended suddenly, with one of its central goals abandoned.

Excitement ran high when Robert Ballard -- the legendary underwater explorer who found the Titanic, the German battleship Bismarck and John F. Kennedy's PT-109 -- announced his summer mission off the shores of Turkey and Egypt.

It wasn't just that Ballard and his crew were going to explore some of the oldest shipwrecks ever found during this $7 million mission. They were going to do it with the first robot ever designed for deep-sea archeology and with watch commanders directing parts of the expedition from thousands of away.

"In 1981, I sketched out a vision of the future of undersea exploration," Ballard said before the expedition began in August. "And it's exactly what we're going to do in a week."

But international politics have a way of overwhelming ambitious goals and sophisticated technologies. After scrambling to straighten out visa problems in Turkey, which kept his crew stuck on a dock for two days, Ballard ran into a roadblock from the government of Egypt.

Although the researchers say several of their most important aims were met, including successful tests of their mechanical archeologist, named Hercules, the entire Egyptian portion of the expedition had to be scrapped.

My story in today's Chicago Tribune explores how this ambitious adventure to the depths went awry.

RATIONS TASTE BAD? MAKE 'EM SMELL PRETTY

The food may still taste like road kill. But if a new program from the U.S. Army works out, GIs' rations won't smell quite so bad.

The Natick Soldier Center is working on a project to make rations more palatable to grunts by embedding savory aromas into the food's packaging. If the food smells better, the thinking goes, the soldiers will be more likely to eat their MREs, or Meals, Ready to Eat, and will be better able to carry out their grueling tours of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

The effort -- tongue-pleasingly titled Active Package Olfaction to Increase Soldier Acceptance of Field Rations -- could ultimately affect more than soldiers' appetites, however. Smells have been known to influence people's perception, energy and ability to learn. This project might be the beginning of a military foray into aromatherapy.

There's more on this strange project in my Wired News article.

LOS ALAMOS PAYS UP

Los Alamos National Laboratory: zero. Whistleblower: $1 million.

That's the score after the University of California agreed Wednesday to pay former lab investigator Glenn Walp nearly $1 million for being wrongfully fired last year. The school manages Los Alamos on behalf of the U.S. Energy Department.

But the out-of-court settlement was more than a personal victory for Walp, a former Arizona state police chief hired to look into allegations of fraud, corruption and lax security at the world's most important nuclear facility. Government watchdogs say the settlement could encourage other potential whistleblowers to step forward and speak their minds.

"For a whistleblower case with a contract with the government, it's an incredibly large settlement," said Louis Clark, executive director of the Government Accountability Project. "And it sets a very good precedent, too."

My Wired News story has more.

WAR OF THE WORMS

Which is worse: a "bad" worm, designed by hackers, or a "good" one, created by security companies to squish the nasty infection?

The answer, according to the Washington Post, is unclear.

A computer worm designed to protect against another infection brought down some computer networks yesterday and infiltrated others, including that of Air Canada and the $6.9 billion U.S. Navy-Marine Corps intranet.

The "Welchia" worm attempts to remove the worm of last week, known as "Blaster," but dramatically slows networks. If it is successful in deleting Blaster, the new worm attempts to download and install a patch from the Microsoft update site and reboots the computer.

Symantec Corp., an Internet security company, designated the worm a "Level 4" threat -- the second-highest -- because of reports of severe disruptions on corporate networks. Unlike a virus, a worm doesn't require a program or file to latch onto in order to disseminate.

Wired News has more.

R&D MONEY FLOWS TO DEFENSE, HOMELAND SEC'Y

Scientists: looking to get your work funded by the government? Then you better make damn sure to connect it somehow to defense or homeland security.

"The House has allocated more than $125 billion in fiscal 2004 for federal research and development efforts, an $8.4 billion increase over current funding," Global Security Newswire notes. "Of that $8.4 billion increase, however, 99 percent is set to go to the Pentagon, Homeland Security and the NIH (National Institutes of Health)."

The analysis is taken from an American Association for the Advancement of Science report, released yesterday.

According to the report, the Homeland Security department will get about a $1 billion in R&D money -- an increase of 60 percent or so. But that's peanuts compared to the Pentagon's research budget: $66 billion in fiscal 2004, an increase of more than $7 billion from this year.

The Newswire says that "most of the additional funding will go toward Pentagon weapons development programs, such as missile-defense efforts."

WONKS: AL QAEDA WON'T TURN OUT THE LIGHTS

So, was the great blackout of '03 a sign that Osama is about to shut down the power grid?

Phil Anderson, a homeland security guru at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, doesn't think so.

Last fall, Anderson helped put together a high-level simulation, "Silent Vector." In it, the bad guys unleashed multiple attacks on America's "energy infrastructure."

"We looked at a hit on the power grid for Silent Vector," Anderson tells Defense Tech. But the strike was ruled out, "because it was well within the realm of the too hard to do."

"It would require dozens of substations being blown up to shut all of the power down," he adds.

If that's the case, how did last week's blackout happen so easily, so suddenly?

"It's a complete mystery to me," Anderson says. "It doesn't jive with any of the research we've done."

THERE'S MORE: Slate's Fred Kaplan doesn't think Al-Qaeda could cause another power grid shutdown, either. He cites a Gartner simulated attack on the lights, done for the Naval War College. Like Anderson, those wonks thought it would take "the physical destruction of key transmission bottlenecks" in order to turn the power off, Kaplan says. They also believed that such strikes would have to be accompanied by cyber-attacks.

That's becoming less and less possible, Kaplan notes, relying on a ZDNet article for evidence.

"Invading key nodes of the electrical network, whether by hacking or whacking, is very difficult and getting harder."

AND MORE: A Qaeda-linked group is taking responsibility for the blackouts, according to WorldTribune.com.

AND MORE: "I'm scratching my head over this group of stories," says one Defense Tech reader. "In June 1997 the NSA did a No-Notice Interoperability Exercise known as Eligible Receiver. While the report is still classifed, what little has come to light is that the 30+ members of the red team using open source tools found off the Internet had the capability to shut off the power in nine major cities, not to mention taking over several U.S. Commands around the globe and at the Pentagon."

Many people, however, have dissed Eligibile Receiver as a boogeyman, used to hype up the "cyber-terror" threat.

A NEW RECORD!

A Defense Tech secret admirer just broke the site's donation record by ponying up fifty bucks to support our scrappy little organization. Many thanks, you -- and you know who you are.

Now, the rest of you, go do likewise: click on the "Make a Donation" button, so Defense Tech can get a back-up power generator for the next time the lights go out!

CHEM INCINERATORS CONKING OUT?

On Saturday, the Associated Press reports, the Army "fired up its first chemical weapons incinerator near a residential area and destroyed a Cold War-era rocket loaded with enough sarin to wipe out a city."

But less than a week into its operation, the incinerator at the Anniston Army Depot in Alabama has run into trouble, according to local press accounts. It's been shut down twice -- once for a hydraulic fluid leak, then for a problem with the machinery that cools the exhaust filters.

About 190 M-55 rockets, filled with nerve agents, are in the facility awaiting processing, says the Anniston Star.

"More than 661,000 munitions containing nerve and blister agent are stored in concrete bunkers at the depot. The Army plans to burn them in the $1 billion incinerator over the next several years."

THERE'S MORE: "The U.S. Army has stopped burning some chemical weapons at its Tooele, Utah, incinerator while it investigates an incomplete burn of M-55 rockets filled with VX nerve gas during test last week," Global Security Newswire reports. And the service has also decided to delay the destruction of VX at the Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana. The facility, expected to be ready in October to dispose of the stuff, now won't be prepared to do so until January, at least.

YOUR BODY, DIGITIZED BY DARPA

Heart, lungs, and liver, nerves, veins and bones -- the Pentagon wants to digitally recreate every element of a soldier's body, and embed it all on a chip in the soldier's dog tags.

Officials at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, claim that sometime in the future this Virtual Soldier program could help battlefield medics make quicker, more accurate diagnoses of combat trauma. And that should help save soldiers' lives.

The program's effects wouldn't be limited to those in uniform. Everyone, DARPA managers assert, could one day carry around an electronic copy of his or her anatomy -- maybe as soon as 10 years from now.

"Every single person in the United States will have an electronic medical record," said Dr. Richard Satava, manager of the Virtual Soldier program and professor of surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle.

"But it's not going to be written," he said. "It'll be an animated, visual representation, based on our own anatomy, our own physiology. And it will change over time."

My Wired News article delves deeper into this new, far-out DARPA project.

THERE'S MORE: While privacy advocates are, for the moment, not particularly spooked by the Virtual Soldier effort, Satava sees connections between his program and more controversial DARPA projects, like LifeLog.

LifeLog's goal is to capture what a person sees, hears and reads, and in order to create a kind of computerized, surrogate memory. Paired with a holomer, LifeLog would say "not just what did I do, but what was my health," Satava said. "It's part of the infrastructure to make (the LifeLog) program more meaningful."

AND MORE: Automakers run crash tests on the desktop before they slam SUVs into the wall; oil companies do mock drilling electronically before dig in the ground. Medicine, on the other hand, still experiments on the living.

One of the goals of Satava's Virtual Soldier program is to change that by creating an army of digital test subjects that can be subjected to new drugs, new medical procedures -- even new weapons.

"You could test reactions to a new vaccine on a million soldiers over a 20-year time in one week," Satava said.

AND MORE: Taylor Mudge -- a former combat medic in Vietnam, now a software entrepreneur -- isn't so sure medics will find the Virtual Soldier program helpful.

"We all look pretty much the same (inside) at that age," he writes. So a picture of a wounded soldier's insides might not be immediately valuable.

"Once the soldier gets to a hospital this info could be more useful," Mudge adds. Doctors in civilian emergency rooms might also benefit from having their patients' electronic anatomies at the ready.

BOTS TO PROTECT BASES?

Slithering snakebots and mechanical wall-crawlers were among the technologies demonstrated in San Antonio last week as Air Force officials gathered to look for ways to improve base security. This Air Force news release has details from the event.

(via /.)

SENATORS WANT POINDEXTER'S SHOP CLOSED

John Poindexter's resignation was not enough, two Senators critical of DARPA are saying. They want the agency's entire Information Awareness Office -- the groups of minds, lead by Poindexter, who came up with the terror trading floor and the Total Information Awareness database effort -- closed for good.

"I am still determined to shut the entire program this fall," Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) told the New York Times. "I want to close the Poindexter umbrella."

Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND), added, "The issue wasn't Poindexter. The issue was preposterous ideas that in some cases threatened the privacy of the American people."

Poindexter's resignation letter became public yesterday. You can read it here.

MISSILE ARREST FISHY

It sounded, at first, like a big break in the anti-terror fight: a British man, arrested in Newark for trying to sell a shoulder-fired, Russian SA-18 surafce-to-air missile.

But the arrest is not what it seems, Slate says.

The key figure in the plot never got his hands on a live missile. Instead, undercover police posed as both sellers of the missiles and as the intended final buyers: After the FBI heard from an informant that an aspiring arms dealer was trying to get ahold of Russian missiles and sell them to AQ (Al-Qaeda), the feds arranged to have Russian police sell the guy a disarmed missile. The missile was then shipped to the U.S, "with help from the federal authorities." At that point, feds posing as AQ operatives bought the dummy missile from the guy, then cuffed him.

THERE'S MORE: The missile-selling suspect, Hemant Lakhani, is being held without bail. He's been charged with "providing material support to terrorists and of acting as an arms broker without a license," according to the Times.

LASERS TO ZAP S.A.M.s?

Portable, shoulder-fired, surface-to-air-missiles (SAMs) are becoming an increasing concern among Washington policy-makers. Just last week, the New York Times reported that U.S. officials were travelling to aiports around the globe, looking for ways to minimize the missile threat to commercial planes. The inspections will likely lead to nuts-and-bolts-type changes, like tightened police patrols along planes' takeoff routes.

Arms-maker Northrop Grumman is pushing a higher-tech solution, according to Jane's Defence Weekly (subscribers only). The company wants to equip airports with deuterium-fluoride chemical lasers that can zap missiles with a lethal energy beam.

The project, Hazardous Ordnance Engagement Toolkit (HORNET), is an outgrowth of Northrup's work on the Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL) anti-missile system for Israel and the U.S. In tests, the fixed version of that laser has been able to knock down katyusha rockets -- the arms frequently used by the Hizbullah terrorist group.

THERE'S MORE: "I just hope they don't put any of those zappers at the airports I fly in and out of. With ideas like this, we don't need to worry about terrorists taking down airliners, those lasers could be doing it for the terrorists," said one Defense Tech reader, who, trust me, speaks with authority on these matters.

The time to engage a portable shoulder-fired SAM near an airport is so short that the zappers would have to be on automatic all the time. Shades of the Patriot incident in Iraq with the U.S. Air Force F-16. At least the F-16 could (and did) fire back!

Now maybe what we need are high power lasers on board commercial airliners so they can fire back when accidentally engaged by these zappers.

I'm just kidding, but from your article, I don't think Northrup is.

NAVY TO AUCTION KEY ASSIGNMENTS

The Navy has embarked on a revolutionary move to staff its hardest-to-fill positions: open them up to online auction. The Wall Street Journal has the scoop (subscription required):

For decades, when the Navy needed to fill an unpopular job in a distant place, it simply ordered a sailor and his or her family to move.

Recently, it took a different tack. To keep skilled sailors in the service -- which entails keeping their families happy -- Navy officials put some of those out-of-favor jobs up for online auction, a la eBay. Among the first to bite was Petty Officer 1st Class Elishaine Moses. He offered to take a job in Yokuska, Japan, but only if the Navy was willing to bump up his salary by $350 a month.

He doesn't want to live in Japan. Nor does his wife. But they figured an extra $350 a month would go a long way toward a down payment on a house. "My No. 1 goal in life right now is to save enough money to build a house," his wife, Shana Moses, says.

The online auctions are one piece of a new Navy plan to unleash the power of the free market on its personnel system. Under the old system a Navy personnel officer, known as a "detailer," filled all of the Navy's jobs by searching through a database for a sailor whose rotation date and skills matched up most closely with an upcoming vacancy. "The old system was Stalin-like," says Rear Adm. Jake Shuford, who is in charge of the redesign.

In the new system, sailors will be able to bid on jobs that no one wants. Ships with vacancies also will be able to bid for sailors that they really want. The Navy is even considering allowing sailors who are particularly good at their jobs to apply for positions that would traditionally go to higher-ranking officers...

Navy officials say they have no choice if they are going to persuade skilled sailors and their families to stay in the service. Although sailors are re-enlisting at record rates, the service is still short on troops trained in critical high-tech specialties such as cryptography, information technology and medicine. As the Navy replaces its current fleet with new ships, which rely heavily on automation to reduce the number of sailors on board, these technically adept sailors will be in even more demand.

"This isn't about creating a kinder, gentler Navy," says Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark of the shift to a free-market system. "This is about focusing on performance more than ever before."

(via JO Forum)

MAJOR U.S. DRILL CANCELLED

Every two years since 1981, the U.S. and Egyptian militaries have drilled together. But this year's "Bright Star" exercises have been cancelled; there just aren't enough American soldiers to go through with the maneuvers.

"This decision was made purely on technical grounds because of commitments we have in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in fighting the war against terrorism," Gordon Gray, the charge d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, told the Associated Press.

Talon News calls Bright Star "the largest and most significant coalition military exercise conducted by the Central Command." It's seen as a way to increase cooperation between the Egyptian and American militaries, and as a way to enhance Middle East stability. Over 70,000 soldiers were scheduled to participate in Bright Star.

According to a Defense Department statement, 49 of 182 exercises planned for the current fiscal year have been canceled or rescheduled.

SMART BOMB DEFENSES ON THE WAY?

You don't have to be one of the retired generals on cable TV to see how important precision-guided, "smart" bombs have been to the U.S. military's recent successes. Laser- and satellite-directed munitions have allowed U.S. forces to target individual buildings in Baghdad or Kabul, without harming the surrounding neighborhood.

But a German firm says it has developed effective countermeasures to at least some smart bombs. And it's about to sell these defenses on the open market, reports Jane's International Defence Review (article available only to subscribers).

The system, developed by Buck Neue Technologien, uses a series of 32 decoy rounds, all fired within seconds, to distract laser-guided munitions from their intended target. (Bombs directed by satellite, like the Joint Direct Attack Munition, wouldn't be affected.) The 81 mm decoys are filled with chaff, to stop radar-seekers, and red phosphor, to create a cloud that blocks infrared light.

40% of the nearly 20,000 smart bombs dropped in Gulf War II were laser-guided. Such weapons have always been susceptible to distraction. Rain, dust, and smoke all can keep the bombs from reaching their destinations.

Buck Neue Technologien has already built a version of their bomb defenses for navies. It's called Multi-Ammunition Softkill System, or MASS.

"We call (what MASS does) the Pamela Anderson effect," explains company CEO Armin Papperger, "which simply means that we lure the hostile missile system away from the actual naval target... Just like Pamela Anderson turns a man’s head, our decoys will lure the approaching missile away from the actual target."

Papperger tells Jane's that his company has been "approached by 'certain very wealthy people in Asia' who would have an interest in the capability offered by MASS to protect their homes against missile attack."

"TOXIC" PATENT FOR ANTI-TANK ROUNDS

The U.S. military has been tangling for years with environmentalists and Gulf War I veterans over depleted uranium (DU). The Pentagon uses the stuff in anti-tank warheads, because it's denser than lead. But many groups have claimed that DU is behind a range of illnesses, including the mysterious "Gulf War Syndrome." The Defense Department has consistently denied this.

Intrepid Defense Tech reader Darius has dug up the Army's 1981 patent application for what appears to be the anti-armor munitions. And it may give some ammunition (ouch!) to those opposed to DU. According to the application, the warhead's "lethal fragments may be made of... chemically toxic debris."

U.S. ADMITS NAPALM USE

"American pilots dropped the controversial incendiary agent napalm on Iraqi troops during the advance on Baghdad," according to the Independent. "The attacks caused massive fireballs that obliterated several Iraqi positions."

The Pentagon denied using napalm at the time, but Marine pilots and their commanders have confirmed that they used an upgraded version of the weapon against dug-in positions...

A 1980 UN convention banned the use against civilian targets of napalm, a terrifying mixture of jet fuel and polystyrene that sticks to skin as it burns. The US, which did not sign the treaty, is one of the few countries that makes use of the weapon. It was employed notoriously against both civilian and military targets in the Vietnam war.

The upgraded weapon, which uses kerosene rather than petrol, was used in March and April, when dozens of napalm bombs were dropped near bridges over the Saddam Canal and the Tigris river, south of Baghdad.

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