Category Archives: NATO

General Dynamics has been awarded a NATO contract to bring the alliance to cloud-based IT.

Under the five-year NATO Communications and Information Agency contract, which has a potential value of $140 million, General Dynamics will "deliver the most significant upgrade to the organization's technical infrastructure in decades," according to a General Dynamics news release.

"General Dynamics will partner with the NCI Agency to implement a fully-modern, private cloud-based infrastructure that will improve the operational efficiency and effectiveness of NATO's IT enterprise," the company said. "This will be accomplished through a series of IT modernization phases, including: updating obsolete IT infrastructure; implementing NATO-wide continuity and disaster recovery capabilities; clarifying service levels in cloud computing terms; enhancing information security measures; increasing operational agility by enabling the dynamic reallocation of resources; and reducing [operation and maintenance] costs through the streamlining of management and operations."

General Dynamics will also "implement multiple Service Operations Centers that will enable real-time command and control of NATO-provided IT services. Work on this contract will be based in Belgium and performed across many of the 28 NATO member nations."

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General Dynamics brings NATO to the cloud - C4ISR & Networks

RUAG Aviation integrated a pilot assistance and helicopter safety solution on the Airbus Helicopters EC635, on behalf of the Swiss Air Force, for use in recent North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-sponsored trials. The goal of the international trials cited technology-testing for enhancing safety during helicopter operations in limited visibility environments.

Held at lggialp, Switzerland, the NATO trials focused on degraded visual environments (DVE) caused specifically by snow or whiteout conditions. The Swiss DVE whiteout trials operated out of the Swiss Air Force helicopter base in Alpnach, Switzerland, where RUAG Aviation also maintains an independent Center of Excellence for helicopter maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO).

The DVE trials ran from Feb. 20 to 23, 2017.

The NATO DVE trials were held in the interest of technology and knowledge sharing, across international borders, on solutions specifically designed to improve safety and mitigate risk for both pilots and helicopters. RUAG Aviation became a key player in the NATO whiteout trials, integrating the pilot assistance and helicopter safety system in use during the event into the EC635 platform belonging to the Swiss Air Force. This helicopter acts as a capability demonstrator and will be used for further live tests.

The Sferion based solution initially developed by Airbus DS Electronics & Border Security GmbH is specifically configured to be integrated into any helicopter platform.

Amid prototypes and various research projects, this integration showcased the vast and thorough helicopter systems and engineering expertise amassed by RUAG Aviation from our continuing work on behalf of the Swiss and German Air Forces, as well as for helicopter emergency services (HEMS) and civil operators, said Claudio Zeiter, team leader commercial helicopter services, RUAG Aviation. We are pleased to have been able to make such a significant contribution to these DVE whiteout trials and allow the international community to experience precisely how systems and technologies can interact to provide improved visualization and enhanced safety for both pilot and machine during DVE conditions.

DVE is widely-recognized as a significant issue, concerning the entire helicopter community, public and private. It is one of the pressing issues which RUAG Aviation addresses in its function as an independent aircraft services provider and systems integrator for military and civil operators worldwide.

Civil operators can rely on outstanding engineering support, benefiting from the companys European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification as an approved Part 21J Design Organization (DOA) and decades of system integrations expertise for business jet, business and HEMS helicopter, as well as military aircraft platforms.

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RUAG integrates pilot assistance and safety solution on EC635 for NATO DVE flight trials - Vertical Magazine (press release)

The strange and opportunistic partnership between Turkey and Russia was on full display in the Black Sea this week, as the two sides conducted joint naval exercisessure to irk NATO.Newsweek:

Russias Black Sea Fleet joined the Turkish navy in the strategic body of water, which has been a source ofheightened tensions due to parallel military exercisesby Russia and members of NATO, of which Turkey was a part. []

As part ofthe drill, ships ofthe two countries practiced exit froma naval base, joint maneuvering and communication, aswell asrepelling an attack ofa small-sized high-speed target, an inspection operation, search forand rescue ofa person inthe water, Trukhachev told reporters, according to RussiasSputnik News.

In one sense, this is a dynamic that has been obvious for a while:Turkey is restless and Russia is happy to be a flirt. Erdogan, for his part, has been fanning the flames of anti-Western sentiment at home leading up to the bigreferendumon expanding the powers of the Presidency. Doing war games with Russia serves similar domestic needs: it signalsthat Turkeyhas geopolitical options outside Western institutions, and that Erdogan has global clout. For Russia, the drills providea golden opportunity to pick at growing schism between NATO allies.

At the end of the day, everyone concernedknows that there are strict limits to the relationship between Russia and Turkey. (Its already a Potemkin friendship.) But games like this are not without consequence.Themistrust being generated is real, and will impact the Alliance going forward.

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Turkey and Russia Troll NATO in the Black Sea - The American Interest

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is telling NATO allies it is time to pay up.

Fox News , KXVA 2:04 PM. CDT April 03, 2017

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson went to his first NATO meeting and gave U.S. allies some homework.

Secretary Tillerson issued an assignment to U.S. allies, requesting that countries failing to meet the NATO defense spending threshold offer a plan on how theyll honor that commitment.

The first is ensuring that NATO has all the resources, financial and otherwise, that are necessary for NATO to fulfill its mission, Secretary Tillerson said.

Secretary Tillerson gave them less than two months. The deadline is May 25 the next NATO leaders meeting.

In 2014, NATO leaders agreed to move towards a target of spending two percent of the size of their countries economies on defense. The U.S., United Kingdom, Poland, Greece and Estonia are the only five NATO countries reaching that target. There are 28 nations in NATO.

As for the U.S. response if NATO countries fail to spend more on defense, State Department officials refuse to say.

Germany is already pushing back on the U.S. request. Reuters reports German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel responded: Two percent would mean military expenses of some 70 billion Euros. I dont know any German politician who would claim that is reachable nor desirable.

He argues security is more than military spending.

Before reprimanding NATO allies on spending, Secretary Tillerson opened his remarks to his international counterparts stressing the U.S. commitment to NATO is strong and this alliance remains the bedrock for transatlantic security a message of relief for some.

I remember at the beginning of the [Trump] presidency, they were saying NATO is not so important anymore, it is not the key for security. Now we see that the United States says, No, it is cornerstone of transatlantic alliance.

Secretary Tillerson also warned Russia that NATO is fundamental to countering both non-viloent, but at times violent, Russian agitation and Russian aggression.

He gave a very strong message stressing that the United States is together with Ukraine in fighting the Russian aggression.

Ukraines foreign minister also says Tillerson promised the United States would maintain sanctions against Russia until it honors ceasefire agreements in Ukraine.

NATO leaders are also discussing counterterrorism efforts, defeating ISIS and cyber security.

And there are substantial questions of strategy to address those challenges like how much the Trump Administration would consider working with Russia to defeat ISIS and the future of Syria and whether President Bashar al Assad will be part of it.

2017 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

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NATO Budget Debate: April 3 - myfoxzone.com

WASHINGTONNATO has delivered 160 sets of counter-IED equipment to Iraqs Ministry of the Interior on Sunday, the alliance announced in a news release.

The equipment, financed by NATOs Defence Capacity Building Trust Fund, will be used by Iraqs security forces to curb terror efforts to harm both military personnel and civilians with improvised explosive devices.

One of our best tools in the fight against terrorism is training local forces, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Friday. [T]his equipment will help save lives."

Contents of counter-IED equipment delivered to Iraq by NATO on March 26. Photo Credit: NATO In July 2015, at Iraqs request, NATO agreed to provide defense capacity-building support in countering IEDs; explosive ordnance disposal and demining; security sector reform; and military medicine and civil military planning among other issues.

NATO trained more than 350 Iraqi security officers in Jordan in 2016. At the Warsaw Summit in July, NATO allies agreed to expand this training into Iraq. NATO advisers have been leading the training in Iraq since January.

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NATO counter-IED equipment delivered to Iraq's Ministry of the Interior - DefenseNews.com

Published time: 3 Apr, 2017 13:59

Russian comedy deserves a wider airing around the world, but that is not something US taxpayers should be paying NATO's professors to study. It is a ridiculous project, says investor and writer Charles Ortel.

NATO's Strategic Communications Center has published a report into Russian comedy programs. According to researchers, humor is being used as a tool of propaganda aimed at national and international audiences.

One of the conclusions is that Russian comics depict leaders in a negative light to discredit them. The investigation claims George W. Bush is often portrayed as unintelligent and widely hated, while the current US president is depicted as a madman and French President Francois Hollande as "dim-witted."

Investor and writer Charles Ortel told RT that this is absolutely outrageous NATO spends its resources on this ridiculous project."

If we recall, it was last week that Secretary of State Tillerson informed the NATO countries that they are going to have to shoulder their fair share of military expenditure which many have not done over more than a decade funding NATO. And now we find out that NATO gets together and decides to spend our scarce resources on this ridiculous project, Ortel said.

I am sure Russian comedy deserves a wider airing around the world, but that is not something the US taxpayers should be paying professors and others to study, he added.

When you look behind the public figures of NATO, what you discover is that historically when you go way back, it is the UK and the US that provide the bulk of the military force and the bulk of the money toward NATO, Ortel told RT.

And now with Brexit in process over the next two years and with global economic slowdown and problems around the world, Ortel said he would hope these profligate governments, the EU and the UNwould take a hard look at how our money is spent because, after a while, you run out of money.

Why are the stewards of the public purse burning money? asks Ortel.

He says he would hope that Donald Trump and the federal branch of the US government is serious about making sure that NATO and the UN and US branches of government spend taxpayers money wisely only on services that are really worthwhile.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

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'NATO's stewards of public purse burning money studying Russian jokes' - RT

NATO summits normally deal with global threats such ISIS, Afghanistan and Russia.

But when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson heads to his first NATO meeting in Brussels on Friday, America's allies will be focused on what they see as the danger posed by the White House itself, according to experts.

Washington's partners in Europe will have President Donald Trump "at the front of their minds," according to Keir Giles, an associate fellow Chatham House, a think tank based in London

Trump caused alarm by once calling NATO "obsolete" and suggesting he wouldn't protect its members against Russian aggression unless they upped their military spending.

Furthermore, Trump's tweets saying that "Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO and the United States" led many to question whether he understood the alliance's funding model.

All of which will likely come to a head at the summit, according to analysts who said NATO members will likely seek assurances from Tillerson that Trump has their back.

"There is real concern about whether the Trump presidency really does not understand how NATO works and what the implication of that might be," said Giles at Chatham House. "It would be very surprising if they did not want to sound Tillerson out about that."

As the world's most powerful military, the U.S. is the de facto head of NATO. Its members are advised to spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense, and in return there has always been an acknowledgement that America would defend them in the face of an attack.

However, most of these countries now spend less than 2 percent. And while past U.S. administrations including President Barack Obama have urged countries to up their contributions, Trump is the first to openly suggest breaching the principle of collective defense.

That notion caused "astonishment" and "agitation" among Europe's leaders, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said.

"It will be the job of someone like Tillerson to reassure them that the United States remains committed to NATO," said Jonathan Eyal, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

So far, Tillerson has done little to calm fears and initially planned to skip the summit, which originally clashed with Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. To compound the perceived snub, Tillerson said he would find time to travel to Russia for meetings even as the FBI investigates whether Trump's campaign colluded with a Russian government-backed operation to interfere with the election.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks at the Meeting of the Ministers of the Global Coalition on the Defeat of ISIS on March 22 at the State Department in Washington. Cliff Owen / AP

In an about-turn, the State Department announced Saturday that Tillerson would attend the NATO meeting after it was brought forward to later this week a rescheduling that would have required consensus among all 28 NATO member countries.

Trump is correct about allies not paying sufficient dues but the problem is not new, according to Eyal at RUSI.

"The question over contributions is as old as the alliance itself," he said. "Washington is right to feel impatient, but the reality is that the 2 percent is not god-given, and Trump should be focusing on allies making progress on spending rather than an immediate jump to 2 percent."

For Germany to increase military spending to the recommended level from its current position of 1.2 percent would cost it an extra $30 billion on top of what it's already spending on defense, according to Eyal.

"The only way that Europe is going to reach its targets is if they are reassured about the American commitment toward them," Eyal added. "You will not get the Europeans to spend more if there are questions about America's commitment."

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NATO Summit Will Likely Have Tough Questions for Tillerson ...

President Trump gave German Chancellor Angela Merkel a staff-created bill for NATO defenses estimated at $377 billion, The Times of London reported on Sunday.

Trump reportedly handed Merkel the invoice during her trip to Washington, D.C., earlier this month.

The Times estimated the bill at 300 billion pounds, which is just over $377 billion at current exchange rates.

The concept behind putting out such demands is to intimidate the other side, but the chancellor took it calmly and will not respond to such provocations, a German minister told the newspaper.

The White House disputed the reports on Sunday afternoon, telling The Hill the story is false.

A spokesman for the German government also denied the claim on Monday.

Trump during his presidential campaign railed against the NATO alliance and has called for member countries to increase defense spending to support the organization.

The Independent reported that the invoice listed a total, as estimated by Trump's aides, to cover Germanysunpaid contributions.

In 2014, NATO countries pledge to spend 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense. The Independent reported that Trump told aides to calculate how much German spending fell below that 2 percent mark in the past 12 years backdating the invoice to when Merkel's predecessor was in charge then add interest.

In a joint press conference with Merkel during her visit, Trump told reporters that he emphasized the United States commitment to NATO and the need for allies to increase defense spending.

Updated Monday at 1:14 p.m.

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Trump handed 300B NATO 'invoice' to German chancellor ...

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson this week holds his first meetings with the full roster of NATO partners, and aides say he will make a concerted effort to press member states to increase their defense spending.

Tillerson was en route to the Turkish capital of Ankara on Wednesday, where he will also discuss strategy in the fight against Islamic State militants in Syria with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish officials. An offensive to retake the city of Raqqah looms, and Turkeys role could be crucial.

From Turkey, Tillerson on Friday will be in Brussels, headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, for talks with foreign ministers of the other 27 member nations, including Turkey. NATO moved the meeting from April to Friday after Tillerson initially said he would not attend because of a scheduling conflict.

The Trump administration has been sending mixed messages on NATO, with the president frequently dismissing its importance, while his top Cabinet members pledge 100% support for the alliance that has been the foundation for peace in the West since World War II.

If NATO allies are expecting soothing words from Tillerson, however, they may be in for a disappointment. While he will say the United States remains committed to NATO, he will emphasize that countries must pay more.

Its no longer sustainable for the United States to maintain a disproportionate share of NATOs deterrence and defense budgets, a senior State Department official said, referring to the portion paid by the U.S. as a burden. We need the allies to do more.

The official, who briefed reporters ahead of Tillersons trip on condition of anonymity, refused to say what steps the administration would take if countries dont spend more. President Trump has hinted he would not comply with the NATO commitment that all nations go to the aid of any member under attack, and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, at a security meeting in Munich, Germany, last month, warned that the U.S. could moderate its commitment.

In 2014, all members of NATO agreed to allocate, by the year 2024, 2% of their GDPs to defense spending, and from that budget dedicate another 20% to military equipment and capabilities such as weapon systems, intelligence and so forth. (No money is actually owed to the United States, despite Trumps erroneous assertion.)

Only five nations have met the spending goal, according to the State Department, with several others close. The Trump administration wants the countries to redouble efforts.

Absolutely, the official said, the administration is pushing allies to do more, faster. Absolutely no apology for that.

Most NATO countries agree they should spend more on defense but many note they contribute to regional security in other ways and have also provided troops to U.S.-led military operations from Afghanistan to Libya. They are concerned that Trump does not appreciate the value of the alliance.

NATO members live and die on the pledge of mutual defense, said a German official based in Washington who asked not to be identified in order to be able to speak candidly. Without that guarantee, Europeans will remain nervous.

Tillersons talks in Turkey will be similarly delicate. In Syria, Turkey wants the Trump administration to make a clean break from reliance on Kurdish militias ahead of any offensive to take Raqqah, Islamic States self-declared capital. The U.S. considers the Kurdish groups among the most effective combatants against the militants, but Ankara sees many as merely an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization based in southern Turkey.

The Trump administration needs Turkeys cooperation but also acknowledges differences over this key issue. U.S. officials say a so-called isolation phase for Raqqah, with several hundred U.S. troops moving into the area and backing local militias, was being accelerated.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has offered Turkish special forces to the battle for Raqqah but only if the Kurds are sidelined. Tillerson is not expected to make that concession, aides said.

A State Department official said Tillerson also anticipates Turkey will raise the case of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric living in Pennsylvania whom the Erdogan government blames for a coup attempt in the summer. Turkey is demanding Gulens extradition, a request that is slowly wending its way through the Justice Department with little chance of being granted any time soon. The official did not say what Tillerson would tell the Turks, but the administration position has been that the request must run its course.

It was recently revealed, however, that Trumps former national security advisor, Mike Flynn, discussed with Turkish officials the possibility of removing Gulen from the U.S. without waiting for the judicial process to end. The conversations took place in September, when Flynn was serving as an advisor to the Trump campaign. He has denied doing anything illegal.

The Gulen case has badly soured relations between Washington and Ankara, which Tillerson hopes to repair. The tensions prompted Erdogan to turn increasingly to Russia, even though Turkey is a NATO member.

Russia will be on the agenda in both Ankara and Brussels. Europe and many in the U.S. military are warning vehemently against weakening NATO at a time of increasing Russian belligerence.

A resurgent Russia has turned from partner to antagonist, NATOs supreme Allied commander, U.S. Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, testified before Congress this week. However, he added: Russia does respect NATO. Its one of the reasons that theyre trying to undermine NATO and fracture it.

At NATO on Friday, Tillerson and his counterparts will be joined by representatives from the newest country about to join: Montenegro. The U.S. Senate voted this week to approve tiny Montenegros application, one of the last of the member states to do so. The inclusion of Montenegro, once a part of Yugoslavia and under the former Soviet Unions sphere of influence, is seen as a challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who seeks to exert control over parts of Eastern Europe.

Special correspondent Umar Farooq in Istanbul, Turkey, contributed to this report.

tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com

For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter

An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of NATO's supreme Allied commander, Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, as Scaparotti.

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Tillerson will push NATO allies to 'do more, faster' - LA Times

BBC News

Fallon and Mattis discussing Nato spending BBC News Nato members will be "shamed" into spending more on the alliance, defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon has said. Ahead of talks with his US counterpart James Mattis, Sir Michael said too few of the 28 members were meeting Nato's annual 2% defence ... UK and US demand that other NATO states match their defence spending in bid for "fairer burden sharing"Mirror.co.uk Britain and US tell NATO allies to 'raise their game' on defense spendingReuters UK defence role lies with US, not EU, says Michael FallonThe Guardian Sky News Australia -Press TV -RT all 113 news articles »

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Fallon and Mattis discussing Nato spending - BBC News