ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Click to see the full-size image On January 10 th ,  the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) released  images showing a Manned and Unmanned Teaming Limited Operational Assessment (MUM-T LOA) at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center (MUTC), Indiana, performed by the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. According to the release: “The MUM-T LOA aimed to effectively combine robotics, sensors, manned/unmanned vehicles, and dismounted Marines with the goal of achieving greater mission effectiveness through enhanced situational awareness, greater lethality, improved survivability, and logistics sustainment.” There were 25 total events, with the oldest photograph dating from March 11 th , 2018 and the most recent November 14 th . Click to see the full-size image Click to see the full-size image Click to see the full-size image Click to see the full-size image Click to see the full-size image Click to see the full-size image Click

Click to see full-size image The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced that their security forces had captured four foreign terrorists during a special operation in northeastern Syria. “The captured cell played a key role in planning and carrying out many terrorist attacks in al-Tabqah and al-Raqqa,” the US-backed group said in an official statement released by its press center on January 11. The terrorists were identified as: -Omro Ozon Oghlo, a Turkish citizen; -Muhammad Jawad Khan, a Russian citizen; -Osmat Atayef, a Russian citizen; -Abdul- Raquf Torany, an Afghan citizen. Three days ago,  the SDF announced that its units captured eight foreign fighters of ISIS  during the ongoing military operation against ISIS in the middle Euphrates River Valley. Prior to that,  five terrorists fell in the hands of the US-backed group  while they were trying to attack refugees in the same region. A recent report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) revealed that

A screenshot from www.alwatanonline.com At least five British soldiers were killed in a rocket attack by ISIS in Syria’s eastern province of Deir Ezzor,  according to a January 9 th  report by Syrian Arabic-language newspaper al-Watan. The attack targeted the al-Shaafah village in Abu Kamal district of the province and several more soldiers were injured and airlifted to the coalition hospital in Hasakah, in northeastern Syria, according to the report. As of the morning of January 10 th  there has been no confirmation on the side of the UK, but if true that would make it the second attack on British troops by ISIS within days. On January 6 th ,  two British Special Forces soldiers were injured  in an ISIS attack, also in Deir Ezzor. A member of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was also reportedly killed in the attack. A Ministry of Defense spokesman said: “We do not comment on special forces.” Thus, if there is an actual remaining British Special Forces operati

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, who is a former Boeing employee, has reportedly been extremely critical of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter in private meetings, according to a report by  Politico  citing anonymous witnesses of several exchanges. His alleged constant bashing of Lockheed Martin’s handling of the program and claims that Boeing would do better have raised concerns whether he is showing bias. Shanahan, who spent 31 years at Boeing before joining the Pentagon in mid-2017, has signed an ethics agreement recusing him from weighing in on matters involving Boeing. “But that hasn’t stopped him from praising Boeing and trashing competitors such as Lockheed Martin during internal meetings,” according to two anonymous former government officials cited by Politico. Shanahan reportedly called the $1 trillion F-35 stealth fighter “f—ed up,” saying that Lockheed “doesn’t know how to run a program.” “He is said to