Feral Jundi

Monday, August 22, 2011

Libya: US, NATO Concerned About Libya’s Stockpile Of Weapons

Filed under: Libya,Weapons Stuff — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 3:54 PM

You know, I congratulate the Libyan rebels for taking Tripoli and that victory is significant. But as the rebels continue to take more territory, and they come upon the weapons caches of the old regime, there is a big concern here that those weapons will make their way into the black market. Stuff like chemical weapons or MANPADS in the hands of islamic militants comes to mind. (estimates are at around 20,000 of these shoulder fired missiles in Libya’s stockpiles)

In Iraq, securing the ammunition storage facilities after the initial invasion was non-existent. There was just too much going on and not enough resources. Eventually units were able to secure these depots, but not after they were ransacked. And then as everyone remembers, much of those ransacked munitions were used by the insurgency to attack the coalition.

The other thing to remember is that it was contractors that came in and cleared those depots of munitions. The CMC program that the Army Corps of Engineers ran in Iraq is what I am talking about. So the question I have is who in the rebel command is in charge of securing the ammunition depots in Libya as terrain is taken, and is this effort even coordinated?

My other question is do we know who these rebels are and who they do business with?  I posted about this when the war first kicked off, and also made the point that a huge number of suicide bombers from Libya made their way to the Iraq battlefield back in the day.  Jihadists are in Libya and who knows what they have been able to grab during the chaos of this war.

Going back to the idea of who will help secure or remove munitions in Libya, it will more than likely be a contractor.  I don’t know if it would be a US contractor, but someone close to France or Italy might have a shot. Or those countries might reach out to specific contractors of other countries to help get this done. But to me, this is just one of many dilemmas to focus on as Libya transitions. Hat tip to Jack Murphy over at Kit Up for putting together that photo below. –Matt

Edit: 08/23/2011- I wanted to post this story in regards to contractors cleaning up these munitions. We are already contracting with MAG and the Swiss Foundation for Mine Clearance to find and clean up munitions.

 

This photo came from Kit Up's Jack Murphy. Notice the SA -7's?

 

U.S., NATO concerned about Libya’s stockpile of weapons
08/22/2011
Washington (CNN) — The U.S. and NATO have been quietly talking to National Transitional Council officials for the last several weeks about securing Libya’s remaining stockpiles of mustard gas and other weapons material in the event the Gadhafi regime fell, U.S. officials confirm. Topping the list of worries is Libya’s stockpile of mustard gas.
“The opposition forces are being asked to keep track of what’s going on” with both weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the regime’s inventory of surface-to-air missiles, a NATO official said.
“We have had direct eyes on the storage facilities” of the WMD for some time, the official said, including the use of satellites, drones and other surveillance aircraft.
The official also confirmed that intelligence personnel from the U.S. and other countries have been in Libya in recent weeks to help maintain security at various sites, although he could not confirm Western personnel are currently at those locations. “Individual nations have folks on the ground,” he said.

(more…)

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Iraq: Aegis Defense Contractor Robbie Napier Killed, Others Wounded And Killed In Separate Incidents

Filed under: Industry Talk,Iraq — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 1:11 AM

   I had no idea that this happened several weeks back, and there is nothing on the Aegis company website or Army Corps of Engineers website about this death, or even the other attacks. Supposedly another contractor was killed by a sniper, and others severely wounded, but there is nothing in the news about it.  If a reader could please pass on the news link to the death related to that sniper, I will definitely make an edit to this post.

   The other deal with this, is that I found out about this because of a story a blogger put together, who also happens to be a contractor and artist.  Perhaps he can come over and fill in some of the blanks.  Good on him for at least writing the story up on this, because if it wasn’t for him, I would have never have known. I also checked the icasualties site, and others, and I could not find anything at all about these deaths. Yet again, if the Army Corps of Engineers or Aegis Defense posted a press release about this, I could have blogged about this awhile back–but there was nothing. (someone please correct me if I am wrong on this, but I found nothing in my searches)

   With that in mind, if you are reading this and you are seeing no attention at all about a security contractor death in your company, or a death you heard about somewhere else, please let me know and I will put it up on the blog.  I have a multitude of media folks reading FJ, and I will definitely get the word out.  These are our fallen brothers, and their deaths mean something.  But if know one knows that they were killed, other than their family, then no one will ever have an idea about that sacrifice.

   Iraq is also at a very interesting point in the war.  We are at the end there, but make no mistake about it, things are still dangerous and just because the media is not reporting it, doesn’t mean it is not happening.  With the draw down, it requires a lot of road work.  We are moving all this stuff out of theater, and contractors are going to be the guys doing it all–much like we were the ones that helped to bring it all in.  And as we see Iraq take more of the security duties, and Coalition forces take less, the possibility for attacks only increase, because the insurgency feels it has a better chance of getting in a punch or two as we are leaving. Watch yourselves out there. –Matt

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Wakefield bomb blast victim had just delivered baby

20 March 2010

By Stuart Robinson

A SECURITY contractor was killed in an explosion in Iraq just three months after delivering his baby daughter in the kitchen of his home.

Ex-Marine and father-of-two Robbie Napier, 36, from Wakefield, died after the explosion this month.

On Friday, his grieving father told the YEP that just last Christmas he had returned home and delivered his baby daughter at his family home in Stanley.

An inquest in Wakefield into his death heard that Mr Napier was a front seat passenger in the front of a three-vehicle convoy on March 10.

Coroner’s officer Anthony Lancaster told the hearing: “Mr Napier sustained fatal injuries in an explosion of a detonated explosive device.”

The court heard that following the explosion in Baghdad Mr Napier was taken to a nearby base but was pronounced dead a short time later.

(more…)

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Iraq: The Coalition Munitions Clearance Program–Successes and Changes

Filed under: Iraq — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 11:30 PM

   This is a prime example of an all civilian operation, and what it could accomplish if done right. Every aspect of this was civilian, from the munitions destruction, to the security, to the logistics and camp management, to the surveillance of the camp perimeter–all of it civilian.  The only part not civilian was one Army Corps of Engineers guy watching over the whole thing, and that was it! Pretty radical if you ask me, and this was only the first generation of the concept.  Imagine if this same model was optimized, and retooled for let’s say Afghanistan?

    Also, will the media ever recognize the significance of this camp?  How about the sacrifice of contractors for this program?  A good number of contractor deaths in Iraq, came from the mobile teams at the various sites.  How about the sacrifices made by the local nationals or other expats that were a part of this project?  ACE made this public announcement late last year, and I am sure they would love to answer more questions about the project, and it’s impact on Iraq.

    But back to the statistics, because they speak for themselves.  Destroying old munitions is dangerous and tedious work, and the sheer magnitude of this operation boggles the mind.  346,000 short tons of munitions destroyed?  Amazing.  Now imagine if we applied the same concept of these camps and mobile teams, to road building in Afghanistan, or for what Tim was talking about with his The Yellow article?  But first it would require the war strategists out there to take a second look at this model of doing business, and ‘build that snowmobile’ for Afghanistan.

    On a side note, the concept of a Combat Outpost is interesting to me, because in essence, that is what these CMC remote camps were.  They were camps protected by Hescoes and set up right next to the work site and local populations. The CMC remote camps, were Combat Outposts.

    So with that said, when I hear stories about how soldiers are stuck doing camp duties, as opposed to out patrolling, I think to myself–why not use civilians to run your Combat Outpost? We are used for the big bases, but why not use us for these smaller bases in order to increase the combat effectiveness of our troops?  For an extensive collection of articles about the concept of the Combat Outpost, check out the Captain’s Journal story about the subject. –Matt

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Ordnance cleanup mission changes in Iraq 

 By Debra Valine, U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville

November 21, 2008

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has accomplished its mission of mobile ordnance cleanup in Iraq, and will now move operations to a stationary location near Baghdad.

In a change of mission ceremony Nov. 21 in Iraq, the Coalition Munitions Clearance (CMC) Program ended, and the effort to destroy unusable munitions became the Coalition Munitions Disposal (CMD) Program.

Under the CMC Program, mobile teams traveled the country destroying caches of enemy ammunition. The operation was managed by the Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville.landmine check

“The ammunition sites that were a concern have all been cleared and the ammunition depot has been turned over to the Iraqi army for their control and operation,” said Bill Sargent, Huntsville Center’s CMC and CMD program manager.

The new CMD mission will involve a centralized collection point for disposing of unserviceable U.S. ammunition and unexploded ammunition recovered by the field units during their operations. The site will also destroy any caches of munitions found and brought to the site.

“During the past five years, and through the successful partnership with U.S. Army Central and Huntsville Center, this $1.5 billion program destroyed more than 346,000 short tons of explosive remnants of war at 51 clearance sites, denying the enemy the use of these hazardous materials for improvised explosive devices that would have caused untold loss of life and property,” said Col. Rock Donahue, director, Multi-National Corps-Iraq, Engineers.

At the height of the program, 18 mobile teams were operating in Iraq to support the CMC mission, and local national labor and subcontractors were hired at each of the 51 clearance sites.

An estimated 600,000 tons of enemy ammunition was captured following the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. This deadly harvest had to be disposed of, and in July 2003, Huntsville Center’s Ordnance and Explosives Directorate received the Captured Enemy Ammunition disposal mission. CEA provided assistance in the controlling and disposing of massive stockpiles of munitions in Iraq.

The CEA mission evolved into the CMC program and the Depot Operations Program in February 2006. The CMC program was tasked with the subsurface clearance of previously destroyed ammunition sites in Iraq, while the Depot Operations Program was tasked with standing up and operating two ammunition depots for the newly-formed Iraqi army.

Story here.

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