A UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter being operated by B Company, 43rd Assault Helicopter Battalion, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, lifts off after having a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV) sling loaded to it by Soldiers on the ground assigned to Dog Company, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 4th Infantry Division and Lithuanian Land Forces Soldiers assigned to the Grand Duchess Birutė Uhlan Battalion (BUB), during exercise Uhlan Fury being held at the Gen. Silvestras Zlikaliskas Training Area, Pabrade, Lithuania, Aug. 10, 2015. The U.S. units are in Europe as part of Atlantic Resolve, a demonstration of continued U.S. commitment to the collective security of NATO and to enduring peace and stability in the region. U.S. Army Europe is leading Atlantic Resolve enhanced land force multinational training and security cooperation activities taking place across Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Bulgaria to ensure multinational interoperability, strengthen relationships among allied militaries, contribute to regional stability and demonstrate U.S. commitment to NATO. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. James Avery, 16th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)

That’s because the US Army chose Oshkosh Defense to manufacture about 55,000 joint light tactical vehicles (JLTVs) that will become the successors to Humvees and mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles (MRAPs). The initial contract awarded to Oshkosh on Tuesday is for $6.7 billion and 17,000 vehicles. The total contract, valued at up to $30 billion, could provide the Wisconsin-based company with work through 2040.

The new offering provides underbody and side-armor protection similar to a tank’s, but retains the on-ground and in-theater mobility of an all-terrain vehicle. The vehicle’s reduced weight allows it to be transported by Chinook helicopters and amphibious vessels, a feat that was largely impossible with MRAPs.

Thousands of MRAPs were purchased in response to the traditional Humvees’ failures to sufficiently protect troops from the widespread use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by Iraqi insurgents in the mid-2000s. It was not unusual for soldiers to stack sandbags on the floors of the vehicles for added protection — and still have to contend with canvas for doors. The introduction of the MRAP solved the protection problem, though it came at the expense of battlefield mobility.

“Our JLTV has been extensively tested and is proven to provide the ballistic protection of a light tank, the underbody protection of an MRAP-class vehicle, and the off-road mobility of a Baja racer,” John M. Urias, president of Oshkosh Defense, said in a statement.

The new vehicle reflects the military’s various needs in modern warfare — protecting troops from roadside bombs, traversing mixed terrain quickly, transporting vehicles within and between combat theaters.

The Humvee, which has been the military’s go-to vehicle for decades, was born in 1979, when AM General began early design work on the M998 Series high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle — or HMMWV, pronounced “Humvee” — to replace the legendary Army Jeep. In 1983, the company was awarded an initial contract worth $1.2 billion to make 55,000 Humvees.

The Humvee has since accompanied troops in Panama, the Persian Gulf, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. But now the mainstay military vehicles are being sold off by the dozen, with the bidding starting at $7,500.

In the early ’90s, AM General began production of the Hummer, the Humvee’s commercial spinoff. General Motors later assembled, distributed, and marketed the vehicle before it was discontinued. The last new Hummer was sold in 2010.

The Pentagon dismissed the Humvee’s original manufacture’s design concept for the JLTV, along with an offering by Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor.

Lockheed Martin said in a statement that it was disappointed that the Army and Marine Corps did not select its design.

“We believe we presented a very strong solution and await the customers’ debrief to hear more detail regarding the reasons behind this selection before making a decision about a potential protest,” the statement said.

If the defense goliath chooses to protest the Pentagon’s decision, the Government Accountability Office, which has a forum to resolve disputes over awards of federal contracts, will review the military’s decision.

AM General also expressed disappointment in the decision and is “considering all available options,” a company spokesman said in a statement.

The competition to win the multi-billion dollar contract began in 2012. Each competitor provided 22 prototypes for the JTLV program. These were then tested over a 14-month period.

“I am tremendously proud of the JLTV program team,” Heidi Shyu, the assistant secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, said in the announcement. “Working with industry, they are delivering major improvements in protected mobility for soldiers and have succeeded in executing a program that remains on-budget and on-schedule.”

Oshkosh is scheduled to begin manufacturing the vehicles in the first quarter of 2016 so the Army can start getting the trucks in the field by 2018.

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Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey exchange pleasantries before testifying in front of the Senate Committee on Armed Services about U.S. counter ISIS strategy. (Matt Yurus / Medill NSJI)

WASHINGTON – Turkey and the U.S. agreed to a deal in late July that might lead to an ISIS-free zone along the Syrian-Turkish border while allowing the U.S. to launch airstrikes against the marauding jihadist organization from Incirlik Air Base in Southern Turkey.

There is not a plan in place, however, to create this buffer or safe zone, as it is often called. And Obama administration officials are reluctant to call what they expect to be a roughly 60-mile long and 40-mile deep area that nearly reaches Aleppo a safe zone.

The administration refers to this as an “ISIL free zone so that it would not have the perception of a safe zone protected as a no-fly zone,” said Ömer Taşpınar, a professor at the National War College and expert on Turkey. To implement a no-fly zone, the U.N. must pass a resolution, and Russia and China would veto it, and Iran would view it as a hostile act, according to Taşpınar.

Taşpınar pointed out that the agreement did not detail the type of zone that would be created. The Turkish media, however, has been reporting that the U.S. has finally agreed to a safe zone. So in this sense, it has been a public relations strategy, he added.

There are a lot of loose ends and potential complications, he said. The Turkish forces are hesitant to deploy ground troops without the protection of a U.S. and coalition-enforced no-fly zone. The Obama administration has refrained from sending in a sizable U.S. led ground force, instead choosing to train indigenous fighters, and these moderate Syrian rebels are too weak to police the area.

In early July, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter told the Senate Armed Forces Committee that only 60 moderate rebels were in training, a force “much smaller” than expected. He expected that number to improve, however, saying that as the U.S. learns more about the opposition forces and builds relationships recruiting will become easier. More recently, The Washington Post reported that Jabhat al-Nusra captured U.S.-backed Syrian rebels earlier this month — five of whom were directly trained by U.S. personnel. U.S. officials said that many more members of the Syrian rebel forces have returned to Turkey.

Taşpınar noted that this area is too small to house millions of Syrian refugees. There are roughly 4 million Syrians displaced in neighboring countries, according to a USAID report. More than another 7 million and 12 million are internally displaced and need humanitarian assistance, respectively, in Syria.

What this zone does is break the Kurdish plan to “establish a Kurdish enclave,” he said. The Turks along with the U.S. consider the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a terrorist group.

The same report from The Washington Post quoted Yezid Sayigh, a senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, as saying, “I don’t think we will see anything approaching what even resembles a safe zone” in Syria.

To accomplish this there will have to be access to electricity, water and shelter along with medical facilities.

The U.S. recently sent six F-16, or “Fighting Falcons,” and an additional 300 personnel to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. These aircraft were sent to carry out attacks over northern Syria and close the border after Turkey agreed to the deal.

It has been roughly a year since the coalition began airstrikes in the region. U.S. intelligence agencies estimate that ISIS has the same amount as fighters as it did then, between 20,000 and 30,000.

WASHINGTON — Roughly 50 demonstrators rallied in front of the Pakistani embassy Friday in Washington, D.C., many demanding that Congress stop U.S. financial support of Pakistan, a country that they and others accuse of supporting the Taliban.

“I object to any kind of military support going to Pakistan when they have shown a pattern of behavior that has put American lives in danger by supporting the Taliban either directly or indirectly,” said Bilal Askaryar, an Afghan-American graduate student at American University and the protest’s primary organizer.

The protest’s impetus was the Afghan government’s announcement in late July that the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, died in a Pakistani hospital in April 2013, according Askaryar. It is almost certain that Omar had lived in hiding in Pakistan, like Osama bin Laden, according to multiple reports.

The protesters, many of whom were Afghan-Americans, also wanted to highlight recent terrorist attacks in Kabul and the recent civilian death toll in Afghanistan.

“[It] is increasingly baffling that we are sending billions of dollars of aid to Pakistan,” Askaryar said.

But a State Department spokesperson in an email noted that the Pakistani military in December successfully targeted Adnan Shukrijumah, a senior al-Qaida leader who was accused of plotting to blow up the New York subway. They also detained and deported to the U.S. Muhanad Mahmoud Al Farekh, an American citizen who was charged with providing material support to terrorists, earlier this year.

The U.S. shares a “common enemy” and a “common cause,” and “stands in solidarity with the people of Pakistan and all who fight the menace of terrorism,” the spokesperson said.

As he stood outside the Pakistani embassy, and in an earlier phone interview, Askaryar argued that Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and military academies are “incompetent” when it comes to dealing with the Taliban. In some cases, he said, he believes officials are complicit with the Taliban because they might know where the Taliban are located, for example, yet do nothing to stop them.

“So instead of the Taliban getting weaker, they manage to retreat across the border and come launch their attacks against U.S. troops and innocent Afghan civilians,” he added.

According to a New York Times report, Pakistan promised Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani that Omar’s successor would not be named on Pakistani soil. Days later in Quetta, however, a new Taliban leader – Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour – was named. Mansour’s deputy comes from the Haqqani network, which is closely linked to ISI, Pakistan’s military intelligence service, according to .

Attacks over a four-day span in the Afghan earlier this month left close to 70 people dead, sparking Ghani to ask Pakistan officials to attack the Pakistan’s Taliban havens.

The United Nation’s mid-year report on Afghanistan found that within the first six months of 2015, the Taliban was responsible for nearly 5,000 civilian casualties, including more than 1,500 deaths.

Pakistan is a top beneficiary of U.S. aid. According to a May 2015 Congressional Research Service report, Pakistan has received more than “$20 billion in economic, security and humanitarian aid, and military reimbursements.”

The U.S., under both the Bush and Obama administrations, has considered a relationship with Pakistan vital to combating terrorism.

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WASHINGTON – Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno holds a press briefing Aug. 12 at the Pentagon before he retires from service.

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President Barack Obama defended the Iran Deal at American University in Washington, D.C. Wednesday. “Now, we have before us a solution that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon without resorting to war,” he said.

In a 2-to-1 decision this June, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia dismissed the judgment against Ali al-Bahlul, who was convicted in a military commission proceeding of conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism. The court found that offenses like conspiracy, which are not recognized as international war crimes, must be tried in domestic courts, where evidentiary standards are higher and proceedings are public.

This goes against the Military Commissions Acts of 2006 and 2009, signed by Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, respectively.

The court found that “it was beyond Congress’ power,” Chief Prosecutor Brig. Gen. Mark Martins said at a media briefing, “to make conspiracy, inchoate conspiracy, triable by a military commission.”

Martins was in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba earlier this month for another detainee’s pretrial hearings.

When the military appealed last month, it asked the full court, as opposed to a three-judge panel, to rehear the case.

The military argued in its appellate brief that the court should hear the appeal, in part, because its decision overrode the authority and judgment of two presidents and two Congresses.

The ruling dismissed relevant Supreme Court concurring opinions, including Justice Kennedy’s note in Hamdan I that Congress, not the court, is in a better position to determine the “validity of the conspiracy charge.”

The military also pointed out that those who conspired to kill President Abraham Lincoln and the World War II Nazi saboteurs, for example, were convicted in military commissions.

In this case, the accused published various recruiting materials, including a video celebrating the bombing of the USS Cole and transcriptions of the 9/11 pilots’ “martyr wills,” which are propaganda statements released by terrorists before a suicide mission.

Bahlul’s only regret — not being a key player in the 9/11 attacks — stated explicitly in the military’s appellate brief, was not disputed.

In 2008, the military commission sentenced him to life in prison. The U.S. Court of Military Commission Review affirmed the finding in 2011 before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned it in June.

“There is a pretty strong principle that we don’t litigate stuff ahead of the judge,” Brig. Gen. Martins said, confirming that the Court’s decision would be an issue in upcoming military hearings, though he would not give any specifics.

In 2014, Martins charged Abd al Hadi al Iraqi with conspiracy to commit acts of terror. Hadi is considered a high-value detainee, and is accused of planning and ordering attacks that killed at least eight U.S. service members in Afghanistan.

Hadi’s pre-trial hearings are scheduled to resume in August but a trial date has not been set. Martins said he did not know whether or not Navy Capt. J.K. Waits, the judge presiding over Hadi’s case, would wait to apply the Bahlul finding until after the appeals process is final.

While both Bahlul and Hadi are being held in Guantanamo, President Obama is reportedly in the final stages of closing it down, as he promised to do in his campaign for president back in 2007.

NAVAL BASE GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA — This isolated U.S. Navy base has many facilities and services to make life comfortable for the service members and their families stationed here.

That includes a radio and TV broadcast facility holding more than 22,000 reel-to-reel and vinyl records, valued at as much as $2 million.

But it’s not just any old music collection. This one, which includes a reel-to-reel of the Beatles anthology album and a recording of the “Good Morning, Vietnam” soundtrack, is rumored to house recordings that were never formally released.

“I believe this is one of the largest, if not the largest, collection in the Armed Services Network,” said Kelly Wirfel, base spokeswoman.

Alphabetized on wooden shelves, the records sit in square cutouts with their album track lists catalogued on index cards in nearby filing cabinets. Broken souvenirs, Radio GTMO apparel and other electronic equipment surround the treasure.

The Armed Forces Radio and Television Service reportedly last appraised the collection in 2007 and found that the only way to yield the maximum value of $2 million would be to auction the records and reels individually. But that’s impossible, since they’re government property, Wirfel said.

Radio GTMO, which has been on the island since the 1940s and in its present location since 1964, is the only source of American radio for American personnel on the base. It offers three stations — two play modern tunes and classic rock while the other is reserved for talk radio and news. The signal stops at the northeast gate, the entrance point to Castro’s Cuba.

The stations mainly play digitized songs, but the vinyl does come out for special events.

“We’ll play vinyl records during the radiothon (fundraiser) because we’ll get some really old requests,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Kevin Outzen, a disc jockey for the station.

“I’ve heard that Armed Forces Network would like those records back to be archived and put into a museum,” he added.

Wirfel confirmed that the military is working hard to digitize the collection with the intent of turning it over to AFRTS.

Adrian Cronauer, the Air Force DJ portrayed by Robin Williams in the classic film “Good Morning,Vietnam,” said the collection is a “tremendous resource, and it should be put in a collection somewhere, a museum, a record company.”

Radio GTMO also broadcasts television programming from the U.S., and was reportedly the first Navy television outlet to have live studio color capabilities. Jarod Collins, a petty officer and engineer at Radio GTMO, said the television signal comes in from satellites positioned in Europe on a six-hour delay.

“So instead of Game of Thrones coming on at 9 a.m., it comes on later in the afternoon,” Collins said.

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Abd al Hadi al Iraqi, a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, asked a judge on July 22 for new legal representation.

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Terrorist suspect Abd al Hadi al-Iraqi told a military court in Guantanamo Bay he no longer wished to be represented by two Marine lawyers — one of them had also defended another Gitmo detainee.

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Flags wave at Camp Justice in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where Abd al Hadi al Iraqi is scheduled to appear before a military commission Wednesday. (Matt Yurus/Medill NSJI)

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba — Monday’s pretrial proceedings for Abd al Hadi al Iraqi, a “high-value target” detained at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2007, were delayed Sunday after a closed-door meeting with prosecutors, defense attorneys and the judge.

The hearings, originally set to begin Monday, are scheduled to last two weeks. The Defense Department made it clear in a statement that the military judge was responsible for any decisions regarding scheduling.

“We thus will not comment on why he has delayed the start time of the first session on the record this week,” said Lt. Col. Tom Crosson, a DoD spokesman. He added that court proceedings likely would not start before Wednesday morning.

Such delays are not uncommon.

Another closed-door meeting will be held Tuesday afternoon to determine the schedule for the remainder of the hearings, which are due to conclude on Friday, July 31.

The Hadi hearing is expected to involve a variety of preliminary motions. The defense is expected to argue that the U.S. military commission does not have personal jurisdiction over the defendant and that certain evidence and out-of-court statements should be suppressed.

Hadi’s trial date has not been set. He is accused of being a high-ranking al-Qaida commander who allegedly conspired and ordered attacks that resulted in the deaths of at least eight U.S. service members in Afghanistan. He was captured in 2006 and held in CIA custody for at least 170 days before arriving at Guantanamo Bay.

At a meeting with reporters Sunday, Chief Prosecutor Army Brig. Gen. Mark Martins said he would not comment on the specifics of the motions.

“There’s a pretty strong principle that we don’t litigate stuff ahead of the judge,” Martins said.

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