Stanford 'International Security in a Changing World' course goes online

http://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/news/popular-international-security-course-goes-online-global-audience

“But unlike our Stanford students – you won’t have to take a final exam.”

New free online course, woohoo!

"Homework" for this weekend. Or maybe even from this evening onwards.

Battle for Singapore - NHB heritage tours - Sime Road - The Hellfire Tour

This was Hellfire corner

Attended 4 of the tours organised by the National Heritage Board (NHB).

https://www.nhb.gov.sg/NHBPortal/What'sOn/BattleforSingapore

Struggled to find time to write proper full blog posts about each tour, so will highlight good blog posts by others, then add comments and photos below.

Sime Road - The Hellfire Tour

Synopsis

Stretching from Sime Road to Bukit Brown cemetery, the Hellfire Tour takes you to the scene of General Yamashita’s strategy for the Japanese Imperial Army to crush the defending British forces in the Battle for Singapore. The site also marks the former combined Operational Headquarters of the British Army and Royal Air Force during World War II and later became the internment camp for Allied Forces POWs after the fall of Singapore. Take a walk with Jon Cooper as he relates the stories of the soldiers who fought amongst the gravestones and the civilian internees who spent their years of captivity in the Sime Road camp. 

Guide:

Jonathan Cooper

Project Manager, Researcher and Battlefield Archaeologist at The Changi Museum

Postgraduate student, Centre for Battlefield Archaeology, Glasgow University

Read this blog post for a good account of this tour

http://singapore-trails.blogspot.sg/2015/02/battle-for-singapore-heritage-tour-sime.html

Additional points

Jon is a great guide, painting a vivid picture of the landscape, and engaging the attendees. It wasn't a "spoon-feeding" session; as we walked down Sime Road, he started asking "what is old?", to encourage us to see and evaluate our surroundings. Some items were pre-war, some were post-war.

Jon is the one wearing the jungle hat

There was a short discussion on the Syonan Jinja, at the 2 NHB commemorative boards at the "Hellfire" junction. Several of us were keen to know exactly how to reach the location. Google around and you will find a few blog posts on this.

We were told about a civilian internee, who as a young girl, stayed at the Green House [the building with the rotunda]; she later revisited Singapore a few years ago.

Maps from the WW2 period were distributed to help us orientate ourselves and also discuss on features; Jon highlighted markings on the map, indicating tunnel entrances dug by the Japanese forces; the link was quickly made to the intricate tunnel network at Iwo Jima; Jon also highlighted that the tunnel network was not completed.

I asked if the British also had underground facilities for its Combined Operations Headquarters. Jon said yes, but their locations were unknown [would be great to find these facilities].

We also walked to the boundary between the SICC golf course and the MacRitchie Reservoir [a.k.a. where the 4.8km cross country route turns from the forest onto the road]; there we were shown some depressions, which may have been slit trenches dug by the Suffolk regiment, and also the possible final resting place of one of the KIA soldiers. [some British POWs (David Nelson and the Bureau of Record and Enquiry) kept a detailed record of soldiers killed, and their burial locations, so that their remains could be recovered after the war]

Just before we did a little "bashing" to see the supposed slit trenches

We ended the heritage tour near the entrance of Bukit Brown, looking at Hill 130, and "reliving" perhaps the one & only tank on tank engagement during the campaign.

Jon concluded by showing us the artifacts found at the Adam Park Project, and asking us to consider participating in preserving our heritage.

Will post on the other 3 heritage tours soon.

Continuity and Change: The Nature of Future Armed Conflict

http://youtu.be/kZ5cDdposJc

IISS-US Policy Makers Series
Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster
Director, Army Capabilities Integration Center and Deputy Commanding General, Futures, US Army Training and Doctrine Command
Chair: Dr. Eliot A. Cohen
Robert E. Osgood Professor of Strategic Studies, Johns Hopkins SAIS
Council Member, International Institute for Strategic Studies
IISS-US, Washington DC
Thursday February 19 2015, 10:30am-12pm EDT/3:30-5pm GMT

-------------------------

Watched the live stream yesterday. Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster spoke well, taking on questions with aplomb.

Took down notes while the session was ongoing; hope to distill the talking points in a future post.

Think strategic, fight tactical

http://kingsofwar.org.uk/2015/02/televised-salvation/

A quick response to the 3 questions asked in the link above.

1. What are the terms of a strategic narrative to defeat the extremist movements who trade in barbarity?
2. Do we need to reconsider how we use military forces? Is force their most effective capability?
3. Are American and Western political audiences willing to sacrifice life and treasure to defend others?

First posted on Twitter.

• re: Televised Salvation; [1] don't forget the tactical; we can also use these broadcasts to trace useful intel on ISIS #CCLKOW
• re: Televised Salvation; [2] we should be mindful that many soldiers "didn't sign up" to conduct these "soothe & cuddle operations" #CCLKOW
• re: Televised Salvation; [3] as long as there are soldiers willing to sacrifice life and treasure to defend others, that is enough #CCLKOW

Check & balance

Cameron to check arms export licences to Russia
The Commons Committees on Arms Export Controls report shows the importance of having checks and balances.

The military nuts forum has a thread which crowdsources the appearance of singapore-made weapons in interesting locations.
http://militarynuts.com/index.php?showtopic=424

Not ideal, but the situation is not likely to improve, until Singaporeans understand the impact of selling weapons to countries which may misuse them.

Some info on the arms trade below.
http://www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/ArmsTrade/

3 PARA Airborne in Africa

Just spotted a new documentary series, showing the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, training in Kenya.
http://forces.tv/topic/3-para-airborne-africa-0

Episode 1 below
http://forces.tv/87495148

Libya stirs again

U.S evacuates embassy in Libya amid clashes
http://mobile.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/07/26/us/politics/ap-us-us-libya.html

Did a quick search for keywords, in this case, the Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response.

This was the new task force that was formed in the aftermath of the deadly attack on the US mission in Benghazi.

So was quite glad to find photos on DVIDS.
http://www.dvidshub.net/image/1465711/sp-magtf-crisis-response-supports-military-assisted-departure-tripoli

Reading between the lines

Defense.gov News Article: U.S. Sends More Marines to Romania, Navy Vessel to Black Sea http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=121959

With the crisis in Ukraine, it is understandable that the US would want additional assets in case of an emergency.

Incidentally, the Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response (SP-MAGTF CR) was set up specifically to deal with this kind of scenario, after the death of the US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens.

Military Ground Vehicle Trends

Jane's
Short but informative video from Jane's.

Didn't know about

1. Russia's new Main Battle Tank (MBT) [link]
2. Netherlands retiring it's MBTs [link]

Wonder if MBTs of the future will morph. We already see heavy Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) like the Namer, which point to a possible reframing of the classic firepower/protection/mobility mix.

One additional factor to consider is situational awareness. Future platforms will need to have sensors that help the tank crew "see better". With urban warfare more and more likely in future conflicts, future platforms will need to be able to defend and fire back at elevated targets [read: thicker top armour and guns with high elevation].

The End of the German Euro Hawk Programme

The Implications for Germany and NATO

Another project cancellation. opswarfare missed this, when the cancellation was first announced in June 2013. The article above provides a good summary of the reasons for cancellation, and the follow-up.

The reasons given for this decision included great difficulties and enormous additional costs (500–600 million euros) linked to the procedure of admitting the UAV for use in German general airspace outside the segregated airspace (i.e. strictly defined areas). 

This will be necessary if this kind of UAV is to be used in Germany (and in Europe) due to the fact that German (and European) airspace is used intensely. 

According to information from the German MoD, the problems concerned lacks in the technical documentation provided by the US company. 

The press reported that there were probably also some technical problems with the prototype, namely problems maintaining contact between the UAV and the ground control station, as well as Northrop Grumman’s unwillingness to provide sensitive technical data and the lack of an automatic anti-collision system.