Word: cargo
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...still enormously valuable in current conflicts. The search-and-rescue helicopter and communications satellite programs are clearly useful even in peacetime; missile defense as it now exists is a system that is only effective against erratic, small actors such as North Korea, which just launched another missile; and cargo planes are desperately needed to support the wars and humanitarian efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Additionally, as another illustration of the inconsistency of these cuts with Obama’s policies, the C-17, a cargo plane now being cancelled, is specifically cited by Obama on his administration website...
...aegis of reducing “wasteful spending” and favoring weapons for Iraq and Afghanistan over so-called “Cold War” systems, the administration will cancel further procurement of the world’s best fighter aircraft, end production of its most versatile cargo plane, do away with the flagship military communications satellite program for the next decade, scrap several major missile-defense projects and a search and rescue helicopter project, and significantly delay or cancel many U.S. Navy shipbuilding programs...
...shipping industry may still be debating whether to provide weapons to the crews of merchant ships plying the pirate-infested waters of the Indian Ocean, but the U.S. military has no such dilemma about how to protect its cargo. As it prepares to ship a lot of firepower halfway across the world, it is taking steps to make sure a specially-designated container ship doesn?t fall into the wrong hands...
Such "prepo" shipments have always been well-guarded. But the ship's contents could make a very tempting target for the pirates. The manifest lists a cargo of missiles and bombs with a TNT equivalent or "net explosive weight" of 6,383,281 lbs - around a quarter of Hiroshima's A-bomb destructive power. It includes 11 containers holding 15,751 lbs of spontaneously flammable munitions like white phosphorous. In total around 80% of the cargo, or 1,300 containers, will be crammed with explosives. (See a brief history of pirates...
Getting to Diego Garcia is likely to take ships through or near waters inhabited by pirates - and the hijacking of this ship would dwarf the Somali pirate hijacking of the Saudi tanker last year. To protect this cargo, at least 15 Navy personnel, known as an Embarked Security Team, will be bunked aboard the container ship. "That's half a platoon strength onboard and they will be packing an awful lot of ammo and huge amount of firepower," says one ex-special forces soldier. "They will be Navy Seals with side arms and MP5Ks [compact submachine guns] for close quarters...