Poland to boost defenses by training student volunteers
Poland’s Defense Ministry is starting a new program to boost the nation’s defenses by offering military training to university student volunteers.
Poland has been making efforts to increase its defense capabilities amid security concerns raised in the region by Russia’s military activity. It is upgrading its military equipment, some of which dates back to communist-era, and increasing its manpower, which was scaled back since the 1989 ouster of the communist regime.
“Poland’s armed forces are faced with this very serious task of rebuilding their personnel reserves,” Deputy Defense Minister Michal Dworczyk said on the ministry’s website.
Dworczyk and education officials signed an agreement Aug. 21, just weeks before neighboring Belarus and Russia hold a major military exercise in Belarus that is to involve over 12,000 troops.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is to visit alliance troops this week that are based in northeastern Poland, close to the border with Belarus. NATO and U.S. troops were deployed to Poland earlier this year in response to Warsaw’s concerns over Russia.
Poland’s latest defense project aims to put some 10,000 volunteers through theoretical and practical training this academic year, increasing Poland’s reserve military force.
Poland has also launched a new volunteer military structure, the Territorial Defense Force, which is to number some 53,000 in 2019. AP
Officials end search for missing helicopter crew in Hawaii
A massive ocean search for five soldiers who disappeared after a helicopter crash last week ended Aug. 21 after no signs of life were spotted.
Crews from the Army, Coast Guard, Navy and local agencies in Hawaii searched around the clock. Strong currents moved the wreckage into a deep-water search area that spanned 72,000 nautical miles (115,873 kilometers).
Maj. Gen. Christopher Cavoli says the five soldiers who represent the best and brightest of America have not been found.
1st Lt. Kathryn Bailey of Hope Mills, N.C., was among the missing. Chief Warrant Officer 3 Brian Woeber of Decatur, Ala., and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Stephen Cantrell of Wichita Falls, Texas, were also on the helicopter.
Also missing are Staff Sgt. Abigail Milam of Jenkins, Ky., and Sgt. Michael Nelson of Antioch, Tenn. AP
Boeing, Northrop get contracts for nuclear missile work
The Air Force said Aug. 21 it has awarded contracts to Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. for work that could lead to replacement of the nation’s intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The contracts are part of a planned overhaul of the U.S. nuclear arsenal that will cost tens of billions of dollars.
The Air Force said that it gave Boeing a $349 million contract and Northrop Grumman a $329 million award to advance the technology needed to replace the Minuteman III missiles that date to the 1970s. The Air Force wants the work done in August 2020.
A third bidder was Lockheed Martin. A Lockheed spokeswoman said the company was disappointed, and looked forward to being briefed about the decision by the Air Force.
Boeing and Northrop Grumman will compete for a much bigger payoff in 2020, when the Air Force picks a single company for the engineering, manufacturing and design work on the nation’s intercontinental ballistic missile system.
The Air Force estimated last year that it would cost $62.3 billion to replace the Minuteman III fleet. The Pentagon’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office has estimated that it could exceed $85 billion.
The Air Force solicited bids last summer to begin work on replacing the ground-based Minuteman III missiles and air-launched nuclear cruise missiles, in what amounted to calling for a rebuilding of the nation’s nuclear weapons arsenal.
Pentagon officials have said that the Minuteman III might not defeat air defenses that are predicted to exist in 2030 and beyond. But arms-control advocates have said the Air Force could save billions by extending the life of existing missiles instead of building a new system.
Both Boeing and Northrop Grumman have been involved in the ICBM program for decades.
Chicago-based Boeing has built long-range missiles for the Defense Department since Minuteman I in the 1960s. It said its work on the missile-replacement effort will be done in Huntsville, Ala.; Ogden, Utah; Heath, Ohio; and other locations.
Northrop Grumman, which is based in Falls Church, VA., has integrated technology in ICBM systems. AP