“BAE has also informed the Marine Corps that the MCT-30 version for the Marine Corps will be a lighter weight version of the Stryker system and use the Mk44 gun which is common with US Navy applications instead of the XM813 gun used on Stryker."
"This base transfer occurred amid force protection concerns sparked by escalating tensions between the United States and Iran and its proxy militias, which CJTF-OIR said led to an acceleration of the long-term transfer plan."
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that the Taliban were honoring the agreement in terms of “not attacking U.S. and coalition forces, but not in terms of sustaining a reduction of violence."
“We had a good conversation. We’ve agreed there is no violence. We don’t want violence. But we’ll see what happens. They are dealing with Afghanistan. We had a very good talk with the leader of the Taliban,” Trump said on the South Lawn of the White House.
Turkish air and artillery assets have since retaliated against the Syrian army by pounding the regimes armored and truck-mobile rocket artillery systems.
Over the last week the U.S. military and several geographic combatant commands have had to make a number of difficult decisions from DoD school closures to the suspension of an exercise over the rapidly spreading virus.
Col. Sonny Leggett, a spokesman for U.S. Forces Afghanistan, tweeted early Thursday morning that airstrikes on Wednesday killed three ISIS fighters in Kunar Province and forced 34 ISIS militants to surrender to Afghan forces in Tswokey district.
Gen. Mark Milley, the Joint Chiefs chairman, told lawmakers Monday at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the defense budget that the Pentagon needs to look at whether the Sinai mission “is still a valid mission” for U.S. forces and whether the peacekeeping operation “still makes sense” to address rising near-peers.
“We are committed to reducing the violence but will not hesitate to defend our forces, Coalition forces, or our Afghan partners. Pointless attacks on checkpoints and needless violence should cease completely."