Return To Afghanistan

Sky1
Ross Kemp is back! The 2nd series starts 1st Feb 2009.

Fighting Ghosts

CBC.ca | The National | Special Feature
A series of short videos, shot by a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan.

PC-21 flight test: fast learner

Flight International
A very detailed account of the characteristics of the PC-21 trainer aircraft, which is incidentally operated by RSAF.

Holes give edge to new MoD armour

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment |
What a brilliant idea. Using holes to provide more edges for deflection of incoming rounds...

War in Gaza - The ground offensive

Israel started its ground offensive over the weekend. opswarfare has been monitoring the news and offers a few quick comments on how the war may develop.

Israel

• The first attack was launched at night. As mentioned in a previous post, the IDF will possibly exploit their technological advantage in night-vision, by choosing to conduct major combat operations at night
  
• Many news media have shown photos and videos of White Phosphorus airburst rounds, most likely because of its dramatic looks. This is a good sign that the IDF is using smoke to reduce the defender's advantage in urban warfare. Smoke allow IDF troops to move from building to building without being easily targetted by snipers in buildings
  
• Photos and videos of Self-Propelled Howitzers (SPH) probably mean the usage of SPH as a cheap (plus safe and reliable) way to deliver smoke munitions
  
• Most of the armoured vehicles shown were uparmoured armoured personnel carriers (APC) (as compared to Merkava Main Battle Tanks (MBT). opswarfare presumes that the IDF realises the limited use of MBTs in urban combat,
  
• The first Israeli casualty 22 year old also provides insights into IDF operations. Staff Sergeant Dvir Emmanueloff, 22, was from a Golani combat engineers unit. This is classic Western/Israeli doctrine, with full-time combat soldier leading the front assault, with to provide time for reservists to prepare. Also, combat engineers are often first into battle to clear obstacles.
  

Hamas

• During the first day of ground operations, unconfirmed news quickly spread of a IDF soldier being captured. This turned out to be untrue. However, it is likely that Hamas will adopt kidnapping tactics to try to get the upper hand
  
• Several news stories have mentioned that many IDF troops were injured by sniper fire. This is classic urban warfare defensive tactics, and Hamas will use this to the max. Hunter-killer teams (rifle sniper and anti-tank operator), first popularised in the Chechnya war, is a possible counter to IDF armour convoys. Chechen rebels inflicted heavy casualties by shooting at the commanders in open hatch, and/or disabling the first and last tanks in a convoy (and then slowly finishing off the tanks in the middle).
• Several Israeli news sites are keeping tallies of Hamas rocket fire into Israel, almost using it like a barometer. Hamas will possibly exploit this by concentrating its resources on firing rockets, instead of directly engaging IDF troops.
  

UK steps up helicopter training exercises

Flight International
An informative article with lots of tidbits on training and operations. An example below

Desert operations are particularly harsh on the Merlin (below), which must have its Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca RTM 322 engines inspected by boroscope after every 30 landings. An engine change can be performed in the field within 2-3h, if necessary.

War in Gaza

A few quick thoughts on the military campaign (and a bit on the political front)

Israel

1. An air campaign (as currently waged by Israel) will have limited effect on underground Hamas facilities
2. Israel may have the tools (i.e. bunker busting bombs), but accurate intelligence on key underground facilities (e.g. command & control sites, rocket storage areas) may be hard to come by
3. The Israeli military is likely to achieve short term military objectives (stop rockets raining down on border towns) but may possibly aggravate long term security (suicide bombers, border post raids)
4. So, security measures at borders will have to be stepped up, including monitoring of rocket material from other countries
5. Limited land incursions (see below also) should be armour-centric, to reduce troop casualties, and should be attempted during the night to exploit Israel's technology advantage (specifically night-vision here)
   

Palestine (or Hamas)

1. Hamas may have pre-planned procedures in place, designed to automatically kick-in if Israel attacked
   
2. Top priority is survival. Go underground and sit tight. Activate emergency food and water resources
   
3. Second priority will be to attempt rocket launches, if possible
4. Paradoxically, this may accelerate the ending of this campaign, as this (the ability to continue launching rockets) will show the ineffectiveness of the military solution
   
5. Israel is not likely to attempt another large-scale land invasion (e.g. Lebanon 2006) for fear of heavy casualties
6. To reinforce this, limited incursions by Israel (very likely already ocurring) must be strongly countered by Hamas
   
7. This can be assisted by encouraging local civilians to report sightings of Israeli incursions, as most Hamas forces would most likely be huddled down in underground sites, and not be able to spot the incursions
   

Political issues

1. Sadly, the military option currently being pursued will likely not resolve the lasting issue of Israel & Palestine
   
2. Both sides have internal issues, i.e. Hamas vs Fatah, Livni vs Olmert
3. The fact that the Israeli elections are approaching is very likely the reason for the Israeli offensive
4. The other factor is Obama. The Israelis want to pacify the situation (and hopefully be in a better bargaining position) before President Obama "forces" both sides to sit down and talk

Note: The above points have not been thoroughly thought through (about 30 minutes of brainstorming), and include quite a bit of speculation... opswarfare will be tracking the conflict closely to see if predictions above are valid or not.

Update: 31st December 2008

The ARES blog has just reported on the use of bunker buster bombs by the Israel Air Force.

Serial No. 3817131

RACHEL PAPO
This is a series of powerful photos, showing the life of women in the Israeli military service.

Militants torch Afghan supplies

BBC NEWS
Another piece of news that highlights the increasing sophistication of the forces that are fighting the US & ISAF forces in Afghanistan. This attack on the logistics chain also shows a desire to fulfil military objectives, and not just to create terror, when attacking targets. It's almost as if the terrorists are countering counter-insurgency efforts by switching to "conventional" warfare...

Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference

Conference website
Another landmark has been reached on cluster munitions, with the document now open for signing. opswarfare hopes that this convention will be as successful as the Mine Ban Treaty.