November 23rd Weekly Update

SHIP LOGS & EXERCISES:

Ship & Group Locations Checked & Updated (November 18 to November 24)

ACTIVE EXERCISES:

COUGAR 2012 (October to November) @ Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas

• (Nov 19) Albanian President visited Illustrious during final phase of ALBANIAN LION off Vlore, Albania (Royal Navy )
• EXERCISE COMPLETED

CARAT 2012 (October to December) in WESTPAC

SHIP LOGS:

HMS Dragon (DDG)

• (Nov 20) off SW Wales for FOST training, training for humanitarian aid ops (Royal Navy )

HMS Illustrious (CV)

• (Nov 19) Albanian President visited Illustrious during final phase of ALBANIAN LION off Vlore, Albania (Royal Navy )

HMS Montrose (FFG)

• (Nov 22) Visited Algiers, Algeria for 2-days (Royal Navy )

HMS Northumberland (FFG)

• (Nov 20) visiting Crete after COUGAR 2012, preparing for Indian Ocean deployment (Royal Navy )

RFS Shaposhnikov TF

• (Nov 21) TF in Andaman Sea, plans to visit Mumbai, India and hold joint naval exercise (Rusnavy.com )

RFS Varyag (CG)

• (Nov 22) Def Min Shoigu visits Pacific Fleet HQ Vladivostok, and Cruiser Varyag (Rusnavy.com )

USS Eisenhower CSG

• (Nov 21) CSG to be recalled home early, and will then redeploy early in 2013 to allow Nimitz time to make unscheduled repairs (US Navy )

USS Greeneville (SSN-772)

• (Nov 19) visiting Singapore, currently on WESTPAC deployment (US Navy )

USS Hawaii (SSN-776)

• (Nov 20) returns to Pearl Harbor, WESTPAC deployment ends, remove from log (US Navy )

USS Iwo Jima ARG

• (Nov 17) ARG visiting Rota, Spain (US Navy )
• (Nov 20) in Atlantic off Gibraltar, media reports ARG returning to Mediterranean for possible ops in Israel (Debka )

USS Mt. Whitney (LCC-20)

• (Nov 19-21) visiting Monaco for National Day celebrations (US Navy )

USS Peleliu ARG

• (Nov 20) CNO visits USS Rushmore (LSD-47) in Arabian Gulf (US Navy )

USS Washington CSG

• (Nov 18) completes ammo off-load (US Navy ), Airwing completes fly-off
• (Nov 20) returns to Yokosuka, Japan, completes second half of it's 2012 deployment (US Navy )

GROUND UNITS LOGS & EXERCISES:

US Ground units logs updated per DOD reports, up to (November 18 to 24) (DOD News Releases )

France, UK, Russia, China Army logs updated per various news releases and open sources

ACTIVE EXERCISES:

• None Noted

UNIT LOGS:

FRANCE

• (Nov 20) France pulls it's last 500 troops from Kapisa, Afghanistan, ending it's combat support operations in Afghanistan. About 1,500 troops remain to recover equipment in theater, and 500 remain in a training role at Kabul's airport (Telegraph ) ...ORBAT Updated in Ground Units log

US

• 1^st Infantry Division, 4th Brigade – KIA at Paktia Province, Afghanistan (Nov 16)

NEWS that makes me go Hmmmm......

AFGHANISTAN

• (Nov 20) Russia and Afghanistan plan expanded relations and projects after NATO leaves in 2014, and are actively pursuing the TAPI gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to India and CASA-1000 electric line from Tajikistan to Pakistan (Pravda )

ISRAEL

• (Nov 18) Pres. Obama demands IDF ground op delay to give cease fire negotiations a chance after Egyptian talks fail (Debka )
• (Nov 20) IDF drops fliers on Gaza City warning residents to leave the eastern outskirts, signaling a soon coming ground op (Debka )
• (Nov 21) Egypt and US broker cease fire
• (Nov 23) IDF forces fire on Palestinian protesters on Gaza border, killing one for attempting to breach fence (RIA Novosti )

MALI

• (Nov 19) UK denies it's planning to send troops to Mali in combat role, but is considering small training role (IB Times )
• (Nov 21) MUJAO kidnaps another french citizen in SW Mali. To date seven french hostages are in MUJAO hands (Yahoo )

N. KOREA

• (Nov 23) US detects NK preparing for missile launch (Bloomberg ) (Yahoo )

SYRIA

• (Nov 21) Syrian Jihadi rebels are in standoff with Kurdish PKK fighters in Ras al-Ain, near Turkish border (Yahoo )
• (Nov 22) Syrian Mujadeen rebels capture the Mayadeen army base in Deir el-Zour; Rebels also captured Aleppo's economic hub after capturing the nearby base for Syria's 46^th Regiment, and the Syrian AF destroy the last rebel field hospital in Aleppo (Huffington Post )
• (Nov 23) this week Turkey requested Patriot missiles be deployed on border with Syria, NATO and Russia discuss (Yahoo )