US Navy: Chinese hackers attack

According to Federal Computer Week, the US Naval Network Warfare Command claims that Chinese hackers are continually attacking American military computer networks.

Canadian sub prepares for arctic mission

The Chronicle Herald has an article about the preparations being made by the submarine HMCS Corner Brook to travel to the arctic. The article expresses concern about the lack of under-ice sonar.

I like the quote about what icebergs sound like:

"When you pour a glass of 7-Up and hold it up to your ear, that’s sort of what they sound like"

General Afghanistan articles

Two articles about the Canadian troops in Afghanistan:

The first from the Vancouver Sun is about a number of local soldiers, regulars and reservists. I particularly like the title of the article: We went because we wanted to go, and we're glad we went

The second, from the Edmonton Journal, is about female soldiers: Women 'outside the wire'

New US Army Uniforms save on dry cleaning

The New York Times has an article about the US Army's new uniforms. The elimination of the need to have them dry cleaned has pleased the troops (though not the owners of dry cleaning stores near to bases) but they aren't all happy about the use of Velcro to attach all badges.

Officers with PhDs

The Washington Post has an article about a group of American officers with PhDs who are advising General David Petraeus, the new U.S. commander in Iraq who himself has a PhD. I met an American Air Force officer on a plane once and he told me that US officers need a Masters degree to be promoted to Major / Lt Commander and a PhD to be a General / Admiral.

Canadian Rangers

An article on canada.com about an exercise with the Canadian Rangers in northern British Columbia.

C-17 purchase

I don't usually mention stories that are all over the news but I thought I should mention the official announcement of the Canadian Force's purchase of four C-17 cargo aircraft. There are articles at the CBC and CTV.

Several interesting things here. Firstly the CF are getting the first plane in August because the US Air Force has agreed to let Canada go ahead of them in the line for aircraft coming out of the factory. Secondly, the CF is buying the engines separately from the aircraft. This seems to be a common practice and apparently is cheaper than having Boeing buy them.

High-Speed Vessel

A photo of aUS Navy catamaran tied up to the dock in Pearl Harbour. HSV-2 Swift is a leased vessel being used to evaluate new technologies.