British SAS Troops have entered Iran

The Times reports that SAS commandos have entered Iran and engaged in combat with gun runners.

Obit: Colditz escapers Lockwood and Goldfinch

The Daily Telegraph has obituaries for Captain Kenneth Lockwood and Flight Lieutenant Bill Goldfinch both of whom were prisoners of war at Colditz Castle during the Second World War. Lockwood was one of the first six British prisoners to arrive at the castle and assisted many escape attempts. Goldfinch was the designer of the famous Colidtz glider.

Armed Robots

Danger Room has a blog post with picture and a video of a new American armed robot that may be deployed to Iraq.

They also have a posting about the US Navy's plans for unmanned ships.

The cost of equipping a soldier

The Seattle PI has an article about the costs of equipping a US soldier. In World War II it cost 170 US dollars (in 2006 money) to equip a soldier, in Vietnam is cost $1,100 and today it costs $17,500. Obviously none of these figures include training - just the equipment the soldiers (presumably infantry) carry with them.

Jamming IEDs

The Washington Post has a long article about the American's battles with IEDs, in particular their efforts with jammers. Developing and operating the jammers seems to be a tri-service affair with even the Navy getting involved.

How the Israeli's got into Syria

A blog at Aviation week has some information about how the Israeli's penetrated Syrian air defences during their recent air strike. It seems that the aircraft they used, which were not stealthed, were equipped with a system that could hack into the Syrian Radar system and prevent the planes from being noticed.

via Danger Room

Blog post: More thoughts on COIN

The Torch has a blog post where he an copies article from an American blog about terms that should be avoided or used when one is involved in a counter-insurgency operation against Islamic opponents. The author feels that some of the terms used "help legitimize the Islamic Terrorists and Insurgency actions in the eyes of the Islamic world". He provides some very interesting examples.