Israel Continues Ops in Gaza, Storms Hospital – US Continues Arming IDF

The New Atlas

Update on Israeli military operations in Gaza for November 15, 2023…

– Israeli forces have stormed Gaza’s largest hospital, claiming Hamas fighters are hiding in/beneath the facility;

– Israeli tactics appear to deliberately maximize regional and international outrage;

– The violence is aimed at pressuring regional governments to take action and trigger a series of conflicts that allow the US to reassert a previous conflict-based “security architecture” on the region;

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Lift off: Use of high-altitude platforms gain traction in US Army

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has for years experimented with high-altitude balloons and long-endurance, fixed-wing, solar-powered platforms capable of operating in the stratosphere. Now the service is pursuing prototyping efforts that could lead to programs of record, including one able to deploy launched effects.

Lift off: Use of high-altitude platforms gain traction in US Army

Related:

What The U.S. Army Plans For High-Altitude Balloons, Solar Aircraft

SMDC’s Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence actively works across the Pentagon to find high-altitude platforms, payloads and command-and-control capabilities for the service. This includes small, tactical balloons for payloads such as extended-range communications up to large, stratospheric balloons, according to a command fact sheet. In April 2022, for example, U.S. Army soldiers launched a Thunderhead High-Altitude Balloon System during exercise Balikatan 22 in the Philippines.*

*Flynn for balloons. Guess there is a different standard for the US gov?

Guerrilla Warfare Exercise In West Virginia Looks Heavily Influenced By Ukraine War

The latest iteration of the U.S. military’s Ridge Runner drills include Russian SAMs and apparent enemy suicide drone launch teams.

Guerrilla Warfare Exercise In West Virginia Looks Heavily Influenced By Ukraine War

Related:

European partners, allies converge in West Virginia for Ridge Runner Irregular Warfare Exercise planning

In addition to allies and partners previously mentioned, Ridge Runner will host observers from Taiwan, Georgia, Moldova, Hungary, Qatar, Romanian, and Canada during the event.

101st Airborne Still Deployed in Romania Simulating War With Russia

About 4,000 members of the US Army’s 101st Airborne Division are still deployed in Romania as part of a military buildup in Eastern Europe that President Biden ordered last year, as the Pentagon is still deciding whether to maintain current troop levels.

101st Airborne Still Deployed in Romania Simulating War With Russia

Related:

101st Airborne troops train for war in Crimea

Commando Network Coordinates Flow of Weapons in Ukraine, Officials Say

Commando Network Coordinates Flow of Weapons in Ukraine, Officials Say

As Russian troops press ahead with a grinding campaign to seize eastern Ukraine, the nation’s ability to resist the onslaught depends more than ever on help from the United States and its allies — including a stealthy network of commandos and spies rushing to provide weapons, intelligence and training, according to U.S. and European officials.

Much of this work happens outside Ukraine, at bases in Germany, France and Britain, for example. But even as the Biden administration has declared it will not deploy American troops to Ukraine, some C.I.A. personnel have continued to operate in the country secretly, mostly in the capital, Kyiv, directing much of the vast amounts of intelligence the United States is sharing with Ukrainian forces, according to current and former officials.

At the same time, a few dozen commandos from other NATO countries, including Britain, France, Canada and Lithuania, also have been working inside Ukraine. The United States withdrew its own 150 military instructors before the war began in February, but commandos from these allies either remained or have gone in and out of the country since then, training and advising Ukrainian troops and providing an on-the-ground conduit for weapons and other aid, three U.S. officials said.

But the agency’s [CIA] expertise in training is in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations*, former intelligence officials say. What Ukrainians need right now is classic military training in how to use rocket artillery, like the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, and other sophisticated weaponry, said Douglas H. Wise, a former deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and retired senior C.I.A. officer.

H/T: Western Officials Admit Ukraine Is Crawling With CIA Personnel

Related:

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Alaska: U.S. revamps army for Arctic war with Russia, China

Army poised to revamp Alaska forces to prep for Arctic fight

The U.S. Army is poised to revamp its forces in Alaska to better prepare for future cold-weather conflicts, and it is expected to replace the larger, heavily equipped Stryker Brigade in the state with a more mobile, infantry unit better suited for the frigid fight, according to Army leaders.

Alaska: U.S. revamps army for Arctic war with Russia, China