NATO Secretary General doorstep at the G7 Foreign Ministers, 18 APR 2024 - YouTube

House Speaker Mike Johnson's 61 billion dollar aid package for Ukraine is scheduled for a vote on 20 April 2024.It has strong bipartisan support.

NATO'S Artillery Drills of the Year:Dynamic Front 22

NATO Exercise Dynamic Front 22 has run from 6-24 July 2022 at the Grafenwoehr Training Area,Germany.Participting in the premier artillery drills were some 3,000 troops from 19 Allied and Partner nations:Bulgaria,Czech Republic,Estonia,Finland,France,Germany,Georgia,Greece,Italy,Kosovo,Poland,Romania,Slovakia,Slovenia,Spain,Turkey,the UK and the US.DF 22 aimed to improve NATO Allies' and Partners' ability to execute multi-echelon fires,as well as tests interoperability of both tactical and theatre-level fires in a live environment.It was led by the US Army's 56th Artillery Command and directed by U.S. Army Europe and Africa.* DF 22 was based on Artillery Systems Cooperation Activities (ASCA) software.The software creates one consistent line of communication digitally,linking artillery Command and Control systems in real time,nullifying language and speeding up signals.The exercise allows for controlled access throughout NATO'S operations systems,thus unifying and strengthening the joint force.Working together,the Allies and Partners display their capabilities in multi-echelon fires,deploying together,connecting on the same network and communicating with the same software as they develop solutions for strategic and tactical fires interoperability.ASCA takes fires data from one Ally and translates between the different Allied fires systems.In DF 22,Allies processed fires missions from a NATO Corps down to the tactical level.Connected fires contribute to the ability to deter any threat to NATO.ASCA enables delivering massed fires onto a given location.* German Bundeswehr Soldiers of Artillerie Bataillon 131 used Panzer 2000 self-propelled howitzers.To fire them,they dismounted from the tracked vehicles and pulled a lanyard to discharge the ammunition.Finnish troops participated mainly in an observer capacity,gathering information as to how they might contribute to further iterations of Dynamic Front.

War On ISIL:Battle of Mosul Imminent in Northern Iraq

According to the UK Defence Minister Michael Fallon,military cooperation agreements on the Battle of Mosul,Iraq were finalised on 23 September 2016;encirclement operations will begin in the next few weeks;and Mosul,the largest ISIL bastion in Iraq,will be liberated from ISIL in the next few months.*
Special Operations Forces from undisclosed Operation Inherent Resolve coalition countries are already conducting covert operations behind enemy lines.*
Logistics hub for the massive campaign is Qayyarah Air Base about 40 miles/60 km of Mosul.It was recaptured from ISIL in July.It's been reconfigured to handle military transport planes,providing a direct supply line to the OIR coalition members in the Mosul area,instead of having to truck supplies 185 miles up from Baghdad.
The US and French Armies have emplaced artillery systems on the base.Their mobile howitzers can range out half the distance to Mosul;while their artillery rockets can strike the city itself from Qayyarah in less than 20 seconds with high accuracy.*
About 22,000 Iraqi Security Forces,including Army and Special Operations Forces and backed by thousands more Kurdish Peshmerga,paramilitary or tribal militias,are poised to execute the battle plan with coalition close air support against the approximately 3,000-4500 ISIL militants that remain within Mosul along with 500,000-700,000 civilians.They have fortified the city with untold miles of trenches,each three meters deep by 2 meters wide.Some of the trenches have been filled with oil.*
Qayarrah Air Base is closed to the media.As the battle progresses,a new air base will be established next to Mosul to support combat operations even more readily.

Special Report:More US Marines Headed for Iraq - Updated

On Saturday,19 March,US Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Louis F. Cardin,27,of Temecula,California,was killed in a rocket attack by ISIL militants on his small outpost near Makhmur,Iraq,south of the ISIL stronghold of Mosul.Several other Marines were wounded in the barrage.In response,the US is sending an additional detachment from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit,Camp Lejeune,North Carolina.This is being done following consultations with the Iraqi government.The size of the detachment is undisclosed.*
Mosul is a city of a million people and its recapture is a major goal of Operation Inherent Resolve,the multinational anti-ISIL effort to which both the US and Iraq belong,along with many other NATO and Middle Eastern allies.*
SSGT Cardin was a member of the 2nd Battalion,6th Marine Regiment,26th MEU.He was providing force protection fire support at a recently established coalition fire base near Makhmur in Northern Iraq.His is the second combat death in OIR,and reminds us of the risks our men and women in uniform face every day.Our thoughts and prayers are with the service members involved,their families and their coalition teammates who will continue the fight against ISIL with resolve and determination,Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement on 19 March.*
Update:According to US officials,the fire base is called Fire Base Bell.It has about 200 Marines and an artillery battery.The artillery is to protect US and allied forces who are based nearby on a train,advise and assist mission;but also to help the Iraqi Security Forces in orchestrating their buildup to the Battle of Mosul.The plan is that,eventually,the US Army will assume control of Fire Base Bell,as the Battle of Mosul draws nearer.*
Thursday,the Marines of Fire Base Bell helped the ISF launch their Mosul campaign by firing illumination rounds so the ISF could see the ISIL militants;then the Marines opened up with artillery shells to assist the ISF in recapturing several villages near Makhtour from the Islamist extremists,which was indeed accomplished.