Survey By 'Action On Armed Violence' Finds Syria Took Over From Iraq In 2012 As World's Worst Country For 'Explosive Violence'

Civilian Casualties From Explosive Weapons Rise 26% In A Year -- The Guardian

Survey by Action on Armed Violence finds Syria took over from Iraq in 2012 as world's worst country for 'explosive violence'

The number of civilians killed and injured by explosive weapons such as car bombs, mortars, landmines and grenades increased by 26% last year compared with 2011, figures released on Friday show.

Civilians accounted for the large majority – 78% – of the 34,758 people killed or wounded by such weapons, a unique survey of nearly 3,000 incidents reveals. Syria took over from Iraq as the country affected most by what the report calls "explosive violence". An increase of almost 800% in civilian casualties was recorded in Syria in 2012.

Many other countries were also affected, says the survey, drawn up by the British-based charity Action on Armed Violence.

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Update #1: How does Afghanistan compare to the world's other conflicts? -- The Guardian
Update #2: Explosive death toll in Syria increases by a quarter -- The Telegraph


WNU Editor: The Action on Armed Violence website is here.

A Quarter Of The World’s Nuclear Aircraft Carriers Will Soon Be In The Arabian Sea

Arabian Sea: Center Of West’s 21st Century War -- Intel Daily

A quarter of the world’s nuclear aircraft carriers will soon be in the Arabian Sea.

The Nimitz class nuclear-powered supercarrier USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in the region on October 17 to join the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, which in turn had arrived there on June 18 as part of a regular rotation.

The Charles de Gaulle, flagship of the French navy, the country’s only aircraft carrier and the sole non-American nuclear carrier, will soon join its two U.S. counterparts. The U.S. possesses half the world’s twenty-two aircraft carriers, all eleven supercarriers (those displacing over 70,000 tons) and eleven of twelve nuclear carriers.

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My Comment: With much of the world's oil supplies passing through this region, it is only natural that the world's navies will be present in this region.

The Use Of Tasers Comtinues To Be Studied By The US Military

Hit Me With Your Best Shock! -- Defense Tech

Everyone knows Marines run to the sound of the guns. But to the silent jolt of a Taser?

Yes. Absolutely. Oorah! was replaced with “Taze, me, Bro!” at Marine Corps Base Quantico recently, as Marines lined up to be zapped.

Of course, during the Tasing there wasn’t much of anything coherent said, just screams or loud grunts.

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My Comment: Some of the guys clearly have too much time on their hands.

Platoon-Level 'Cloud' Lets Soldiers Swap Data, Increases 'Network Lethality'

Better Connectivity A unit-level "cloud" will allow soldiers in the field to communicate vertically up the chain of command, as well as with other ground and air units operating nearby for seamless sharing of intel, orders, and other data. U.S. Army

From Popular Science:

There's no question that the U.S. military is operating at a very high technological capacity, but the tactical edge that commanders have back at HQ doesn't always translate to grunts in the field. That gap is closing however, as the Army recently networked two distant infantry units together in a mobile "cloud," allowing them to trade video imagery, voice commands, text messages and other data between between them as they operated, as well as with far-flung command posts.

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The Changing Shape Of Warfare

U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Oscar De Lira sits on a light armored vehicle in the morning sun prior to live-fire training at a gunnery range area near Camp Buehring, Kuwait, Aug. 17, 2009. De Lira is a light armored vehicle driver assigned to Weapons Company, Battalion Landing Team, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit. The unit is ashore conducting sustainment training in Kuwait and serving as the theater reserve force for U.S. Central Command. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Justin M. Martinez

Some Radical Changes In Warfare Just Took Place -- Strategy Page

August 25, 2009: One of the more amazing, and underreported, aspects of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, are the dramatically lower casualties compared to Vietnam, and previous 20th century wars. The casualty rate (adjusting for the number of troops involved) in Iraq was a third of what it was in Vietnam. It's even lower in Afghanistan.

There are also differences in the types of casualties. For example, in Vietnam, bullets caused 38 percent of the deaths. In Iraq, it was only 19 percent and 27 percent in Afghanistan. The Iraqis are notoriously bad shots, even though the urban battle space in Iraq was very similar to Vietnam. There is more of a tradition of marksmanship in Afghanistan, despite (or probably because of) the frequently longer distances involved. The superior body armor has made life much harder for enemy marksmen, as chest shots are now frequently useless.

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My Comment: I can only assume that technological advances in robotic and surveillance systems will also help to expedite these trends even more.