The US Naval Academy and US Military Academy football teams faced off in their 115th meeting on Saturday.

The schools' rivalry is one of the most unique in college sports. Though fiercely competitive, Army Cadets and Navy Midshipmen understand they're playing for the same team: Team USA.

Midshipman Second Class Jeffrey Martino, a junior at the Naval Academy, took photos at last weekend's game. We've republished them with his permission.

The Army-Navy game is the hallmark of one of the longest, most heated rivalries in college football. The U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Military Academy football teams have played each other since 1890.

2014 was Navy's year to host the game, and they threw down at M&T Bank Stadium. Both Academies make the transportation arrangements to get each of their more than 4,400 student bodies to the game.

A Naval Academy midshipman finds his bus and prepares to make the early morning ride to Baltimore, Maryland. Attendance is required of all students.

It was a military bake sale of sorts.

For the first time in history, the US military auctioned off some of its surplus Humvees to the public.

And truck-lovers responded in kind, paying as much as $41,000 for the iconic military vehicle that entered service in the mid-1980s and spawned a commercial version called the Hummer in the 1990s.

It was replaced in the 2000s by bigger, more blast-resistant trucks known as MRAPs during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In all, the online auction house IronPlanet Inc. on Wednesday auctioned 25 of the vehicles on behalf of the Pentagon's Defense Logistics Agency, netting a total of $744,000.

Bidding started at $10,000 and escalated quickly, indicating a high level of interest from buyers for the light-duty utility trucks, even though they can't be driven on roads and can only be used for off-road purposes.

The lowest winning bid was $21,500 for a 1989 AM General M1038 Humvee HMMWV, while the highest bid was $41,000 for a 1994 AM General M998A1 Humvee HMMWV, according to the website. The acronym stands for High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, pronounced "Humvee." The average successful bid was about $30,000.

The auctioned Humvees, made by AM General LLC, had long been retired by the Army. In fact, they were sitting, gathering dust on a lot at Hill Air Force Base in Utah, according to an Army Times report.

The DLA has about 4,000 of the surplus vehicles, which have some sort of defect, Army Times reported.

Whichever ones aren't transferred to local law enforcement agencies will be offered to IronPlanet for public auction, he reported, despite lingering controversy over the militarization of police departments across the country.

The trend was highlighted earlier this year by the tactical response to protests following the shooting of an unarmed teenager by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

On its website, the manufacturer notes that it doesn't sell Humvees — or parts — to the general public.

"The Humvee was designed for a military mission and was not designed to meet civilian safety standards," it states.

"AM General does not endorse nor support the sale of these military vehicles to the general public or private entities. AM General further opposes any use of these military vehicles by individuals or entities outside of the military context for which the vehicles are designed. AM General does not sell the military vehicle or service parts for the military vehicle to the general public."

The company has built almost 300,000 Humvees for the U.S. military and its allies.

The civilian version reportedly came about after Hollywood actor Arnold Schwarzenegger saw a convoy of the vehicles while he was filming a movie and approached company officials about building a version that he could drive around.

General Motors later bought the brand and build the vehicles until 2010.

While AM General no longer makes Humvees for the US Army or Marine Corps, the vehicles still roll off its production line in South Bend, Indiana, for such customers as the Army National Guard and international clients including the government of Iraq.

The Humvee's vulnerability to roadside bombs was exposed during the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2004, in response to questions from troops who said they were adding scrap metal to vehicles to better protect themselves from so-called improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld famously said, "You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time."

The Pentagon ended up adding more armor to Humvees, but, under a rapid-acquisition effort headed by Rumsfeld's successor, Robert Gates, spent far more money – close to $50 billion – buying a fleet of about 25,000 Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles, or MRAPs, to better protect troops outside the wire. Humvees were relegated to transporting troops within well-fortified bases.

The Army last week officially began the next round of competition to build a replacement to the iconic Humvee. The service released a request for proposals, or RfP, from companies that want to manufacture production models of the so-called Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, or JLTV, designed to replace about a third of the Humvee fleet.

SEE ALSO: China just tested a long-range ballistic missile that can carry multiple warheads

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The case of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who disappeared from his Afghanistan base in 2009 and was returned to the US earlier this year, is now in the hands of a General Courts Martial Convening Authority.

It is now up to Gen. Mark Milley, commander of US Forces Command, to decide whether no further action is to be taken, or if Bergdahl faces charges in courts martial, the Pentagon said in a statement on Monday.

"The Army cannot discuss or disclose the findings of the investigation while disciplinary decisions are pending before commanders," Maj. James Brindle said.

At the time of his disappearance, Bergdahl was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division. Some members of Bergdahl's former unit accused him of deserting.

The Army wrapped up its investigation into Bergdahl's disappearance in October, then handed it off for review. At the time, investigators said they found no evidence that Bergdahl aided the Taliban during the five years he was held by them.

Bergdahl has been assigned to US Army North at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, since July.

Bergdahl was handed over to the US in return for five senior Taliban leaders who had been held at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Bryant Jordan can be reached at bryant.jordan@military.com

SEE ALSO: Pakistan now plans on executing hundreds of terrorists

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Ever wondered what it looks like to jump from a US Air Force C-130 with the 82nd Airborne Division?

This stunning footage, posted by the 82nd Airborne Division on its Facebook page, provides a hint.

Based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the 82nd Airborne Division is a U.S. Army airborne infantry division specializing in parachute assault operations into denied areas.

Here are some of the highlights of the video, which give a first-person look at an entire jump over a wintry landscape.

Here's the entire video:

SEE ALSO: Here's what it's like to parachute into a baseball stadium

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AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A gunman fatally shot one person and then killed himself in an incident on Tuesday at a U.S. Army facility in El Paso, Texas, a senior U.S. Army official said.

The names of those who died were not released. The shootings took place at a veterans' clinic at the William Beaumont Army Medical Center in the western Texas city.

"The alleged shooter is dead and we have one casualty. That casualty is deceased," Major General Stephen Twitty, the commander of Fort Bliss, told a news conference.

The facility, which is part of Fort Bliss, had been on lockdown for several hours.

Local news reports said one of those shot in the attack was a doctor at the VA facility, citing a preliminary investigation provided by officials, including U.S. Representative Beto O'Rourke's office.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the men and women at the El Paso VA clinic," O'Rourke said on his Facebook page.

Video from the scene showed numerous police cars and emergency vehicles, while at least one helicopter flew overhead. 

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Lisa Maria Garza in Dallas and Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Sandra Maler and Peter Cooney)

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The past year has been a busy time for the US Army. 

US soldiers remained engaged in operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan and took the lead in multi-national training exercises throughout the world. Army veterans received high honors during a memorial to the 70th anniversary of the Normandy Invasion, while one Afghanistan veteran received the Medal of Honor.  

The Army compiled a year in photos to show what they were doing 2014.

These are some of the most amazing photographs of the Army from the past year.

In March, members of the US Army Parachute Team conducted their annual certification test.

The past year saw the first instance of the Spartan Brigade, an airborne combat team, training north of the Arctic Circle. Here, paratroopers move to their assembly area after jumping into Deadhorse, Alaska.

Elsewhere, in Alaska's Denali National Park, the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, hiked across Summit Ridge on Mount McKinley to demonstrate their Arctic abilities.

US Army weapons officials will not evaluate an improved version of the service's Cold War-era 9mm pistol, choosing instead to search for a more modern soldier sidearm.

In early December, Beretta USA, the maker of the U.S. military's M9 pistol for 30 years, submitted its modernized M9A3 as a possible alternative to the Army's Modular Handgun System program — an effort to replace the M9 with a more powerful, state-of-the-art pistol.

The improved M9 features new sights, a rail for mounting lights and accessories, better ergonomics and improved reliability, Beretta USA officials said.

But by late December, it was all over for Beretta's engineering change proposal for the M9. The Army's Configuration Control Board decided not to evaluate the M9A3, according to a source familiar with the decision.

The move clears the way for the Army to release a pending request for proposal that will launch the MHS competition.

Program Executive Office Soldier would not comment for this story until Army Public Affairs has approved a statement, PEO Soldier spokesman Doug Graham said Thursday night.

The Army began working with the small arms industry on MHS in early 2013, but the joint effort has been in the works for more than five years. If successful, it would result in the Defense Department buying nearly 500,000 new pistols during a period of significant defense-spending reductions.

Current plans call for the Army to purchase more than 280,000 handguns from a single vendor, with delivery of the first new handgun systems scheduled for 2017, according to PEO Soldier officials. The Army also plans to buy approximately 7,000 sub-compact versions of the handgun.

The other military services participating in the MHS program may order an additional 212,000 systems above the Army quantity.

The effort is set to cost at least $350 million and potentially millions more if it results in the selection of a new pistol caliber.

Beretta USA officials said they have not received official notification of the Army's decision.

"Obviously, they didn't take a whole lot of time on this," said Gabriele De Plano, vice president of military marketing and sales for Beretta USA, reacting to the news of the Army's pre-Christmas decision after the M9A3's December 10 unveiling.

Army officials "didn't ask a single question; didn't ask for a single sample" for evaluation, De Plano said.

The Army maintains that the M9 design does not meet the MHS requirement. Soldiers have complained of reliability issues with the M9. One problem has to do with the M9's slide-mounted safety. During malfunction drills, the shooter often engages the lever-style safety by accident, Army weapons officials say.

The M9A3's "over-center safety lever" can be configured to act as a de-cocker, a change that eliminates the accidental safety activation, De Plano said.

As part of the joint requirement process for MHS, Army weapons officials did a "very thorough cost-benefit analysis" that supported the effort, Army weapons officials said. The old fleet of M9s is costing the Army more to replace and repair than to buy a new service pistol, officials said.

The M9A3 is not a perfect pistol, De Plano says, but the Army should at least evaluate it.

The M9 pistol can be "improved for hundreds of millions less than a new MHS pistol," De Plano said. "We can sell them this new pistol for less than the M9 pistol."

Beretta currently has an open contract for M9s that the Army awarded in September 2012 for up to 100,000 pistols. Deliveries of about 20,000 have been scheduled, leaving 80,000 that could be ordered in the M9A3 configuration for less than the cost of the current M9, De Plano said.

"Why not do a dual-path like they have done in other cases," De Plano said.

The Army was determined to do just that when it set out to search for a replacement for the M4 carbine. The service launched a competition to evaluate commercially available carbines while, at the same time, it evaluated improvements to the M4.

In the end, the service scrapped the competition and ended up adopting the M4A1 version used by special operations forces.

"They could explore this," said De Plano, by ordering 10 M9A3s. "What's the downside?"

SEE ALSO: The Pentagon doesn't know how it's going to fund its next generation of submarines

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Former General David Petraeus's 2012 adultery scandal may end up costing him more than just his job as CIA director.

Citing anonymous government officials, the New York Times is reporting that federal prosecutors with the FBI and the Department of Justice have recommended that Petraeus be charged with a felony for providing classified information to his mistress and biographer, Paula Broadwell, who was also an Army Reserve officer.

Petraeus has been under investigation for unauthorized leaks related to the affair and Broadwell's book since the scandal broke. Holder was supposed to decide on charging Petraeus by the end of last year. But the legal process has unfolded slowly, with the retired general showing "no interest in a plea deal that would spare him an embarrassing trial," according to the Times.

The charges would represent a stunning turnabout for the celebrated former US commander in Iraq and Afghanistan and one of the military's major proponents of counter-insurgency doctrine. As the Times puts it, Attorney General Eric Holder now has to decide "whether to seek an indictment that could send the pre-eminent military officer of his generation to prison."

Petraeus abruptly resigned as CIA director on Nov. 10, 2012 after admitting that he had carried on an extra-marital affair with Broadwell the year before. For someone in a less sensitive position in government, such marital indiscretions aren't necessarily a career-ender.

But for the director of the US's top intelligence agency it's nothing less than a national security risk. The affair could have provided potential blackmail fodder to foreign intelligence agencies while raising the possibility of just the kind of security breach Petraeus may now be charged with. After all, once classified information is in the hands of a single unauthorized individual, it can leak even further, the people beyond the intended recipient. And as CIA director, Petraeus security clearance was virtually limitless.

The Petraeus scandal quickly took on a tawdry aspect as news of the affair broke in the days after President Barack Obama's re-election. It turns out the adultery was exposed because Jill Kelley, a friend of Petraeus who lived near US Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida and was active in local military support circles, had allegedly received threatening emails from a jealous Broadwell that she later reported to the FBI. The resulting investigation uncovered Petraeus's affair with Broadwell and ended the retired general's career in government.

But the possible charges shows that there's a deeply serious side to this soap opera, with a sitting CIA director possibly violating his security clearance, thus proving that the affair had the potential to endanger US national security.

Business Insider reached out to Robert Barnett, the lawyer Petraeus hired in the aftermath of his resignation, for comment. He declined to comment.

SEE ALSO: The US Army is looking to develop a next-generation pistol

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The top US commander in Afghanistan says he could recommend extending the mission and maintaining US troops in the country, Army Times reports.

“I’m taking a look and assessing every day based on the enemy situation, based on how much we’re getting done with the Afghans, how they’re progressing on their lines of effort, how the [Train, Advise and Assist mission] is going, how the government’s coming along, [and] if we can really get after the objectives that we set,” said Gen. John Campbell, commander of the Resolute Support mission, during an interview Jan. 15 with Army Times.

There are about 10,600 US troops in Afghanistan today; plans call for that number to drop to 9,800 by May 1 and 5,500 by the end of the year. It’s too early to say, Campbell said, if he’ll ask for permission to keep more troops in theater.

“Do I need to go back in and say do we need longer or do we need that glide slope? I’ll continue to work that with my chain of command at [Central Command] and the Joint Staff,” he said. “We just got to Resolute Support, and we have another fighting season to go through. We’re just learning at this reduced level. I think in the next couple of months I’ll be able to make that call.”

Gen. Campbell highlighted several different threats facing Afghanistan in the interview with Army Times. Those threats include:

•  Islamic State: The terrorist group is recruiting in Afghanistan and could spread its message throughout the country.
• Taliban: The Taliban still remains a threat in the country. The group continues to carry out high-profile attacks.
• Afghan National Security Forces: The Afghan army and police still have a lot of work to do before they are capable of maintaining stability in the country. Corruption remains rampant among the force.
• The training mission: The United States continues to close “seams and gaps” that need to be worked out. According to Army Times, “the Resolute Support mission is focused on eight essential functions,” including budgeting, transparency, strategy and policy planning, and intelligence capabilities, among others.

SEE ALSO: Two Yemenis will stand trial for terrorism in New York

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The US military wants to upgrade its stable of combat choppers.

One possible model for future combat aircraft can take off and land vertically, and then fly like a traditional airplane.

Bell's V-280, which combines a combat helicopter's fuselage with tilt-rotors, would basically be a Black Hawk that can adjust its thrust to fly like a fixed-wing aircraft once it's airborne.

The US is keenly interested in developing this kind of capability. Right now, aviation companies are competing to win contracts for the Joint Multi-Role (JMR) helicopter program, a selection process that will unfold until 2017 and help the US Army select a new multi-purpose aircraft. The V-280 could fit the bill.

The V-280's is an early stage of development and tilt-wing aircraft have an uneven record. Making the tilt-wing viable was a decades-long undertaking for defense researchers.

That work resulted in the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey that is currently flying for the US military, although 30 people were killed in crashes during the plane's decade-long testing period.

The Bell's V-280 is a somewhat simpler aircraft, though. It uses fixed engines with moveable rotors and drive shafts; in the case of the Osprey, all three of these are moveable.  

Ideally, tilt-rotor aircraft marry the maneuverability of a helicopter — which needs far less space to take off and land than any fixed-wing aircraft — with the speed and range of a plane. Bell's fact sheet on the V-280 indicates it could carry four crew and 14 passengers, with a range of up to 800 nautical miles, beating the Black Hawk's range by nearly 500 miles.

That would make the V-280 especially suited to evacuating injured soldiers. The aircraft could travel a considerable distance and land in inhospitable terrain.

The V-280 also has the advantage of being able to travel on its own to conflict zones. For one-way trips, the plane's range goes up to 2,100 nautical miles, making the V-280 "strategically self-deployable," or independent of massive transport vehicles. 

Bell's fact sheet on the V-280 emphasizes its role as a support and transport aircraft rather than one designed for combat.

But in 2010, the Army's program executive officer for aviation envisioned a new "joint multirole helicopter" that would have a "light attack scout variant." Bell may have plans to showcase a mock-up of the vehicle (like the one in the tweet below) in "alternating attack/MEDEVAC [medical evacuation] configurations" at an aviation summit in March, Bell communications manager Andy Woodward told Business Insider.

This concept mock-up of the Bell V-280 Valor is really pretty. Could replace the Apache and Blackhawk #avgeekpic.twitter.com/0V8vcLDKWq

— Oregon Aero, Inc. (@OregonAero) January 16, 2015

"The V280 is indeed a combat aircraft, capable of assault, attack," Woodward said. "It's marinized, so it can work in sea environments."

The military is also considering adding firepower to the V-22 Osprey, yet another instance of developing the offensive capability of a tilt-rotor aircraft.

Bell's biggest competitor for the Army contract is Boeing, its partner in the development of the V-22 Osprey.

Boeing has partnered with Sikorsky, creator of the Black Hawk, to create three aircraft based on the latter company's X2, which in 2010 beat the world record for helicopter speed at 260 knots — or 299 miles — per hour (although that record has since been broken). The X2 gets its motive power from a tail-mounted propeller instead of just the rotors relied upon by conventional helicopters.

This video show the Sikorsky X2 warming up before beating the world record for helicopter speed in 2010. 

Andy Woodward told Business Insider that "We will be flying a V-280 by September of 2017."  

SEE ALSO: Here are the "X-Planes," some of the most secretive and ambitious aircraft ever built

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US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who disappeared from his base in Afghanistan in 2009 but was released last year in a prisoner swap with the Taliban, will be charged with desertion, according to NBC.

The television network, citing senior defense officials, said the charges could come within a week.

According to NBC News, Bergdahl will be charged with leaving his outpost in Afghanistan in June of 2009  in order to "avoid hazardous duty or important service," apparent grounds for a charge of desertion.

NBC's source adds that because Bergdahl allegedly left his post "in the middle of a combat zone, potentially putting the lives of his fellows soldiers at risk," he will be charged with desertion rather than being simply away without leave, or AWOL, which is a lesser charge.

Curiously, NBC is reporting that " charges will apparently not allege that Bergdahl left with the intent never to return." But this is one of the the legal components of desertion, as former Judge Advocate General lawyer and South Texas College of Law professor Geoffrey Corn told Business Insider on June 2, 2014, shortly after the prisoner swap that secured Bergdahl's freedom after nearly five years in Taliban captivity.

As Corn said, a desertion conviction could depend on proving that Bergdahl "quit his unit with an intent to remain absent permanently — and he had to have that specific intent." An established intent to return to one's unit makes it more difficult to attain a conviction for desertion. Bergdahl had left and then returned to his outpost without permission on several occasions before he was abducted, suggesting that he might not have intended to stay away permanently. 

The US exchanged 5 Taliban detainees for Bergdahl's freedom in a controversial prisoner swap in mid-2014. 

SEE ALSO: The Afghan Air Force is so short on planes that it's using "flying tractors" to fight the Taliban

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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) - A former US Army prosecutor who supervised sexual assault cases has been found guilty by a military jury at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, of charges including rape, forcible sodomy and assault, the Army said in a statement.

Major Erik J. Burris, 39, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, dismissed from the service and ordered to forfeit all pay and allowances at the end of a court martial that concluded on Sunday, the military said.

The Army released few details about the case. His crimes occurred between 2010 and 2012 and involved multiple victims, Major Crystal Boring, a Fort Bragg spokeswoman, said on Tuesday.

She would not say whether any of the victims were fellow members of the service, saying it was against Army policy "to comment on information that may reveal the identities of sexual assault or minor victims."

Burris told a California television station last year that the accusations against him were false and had been made by an estranged relative.

Burris had pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him.

The Pentagon has cracked down on military sexual assault in recent years after a spate of high-profile incidents sparked public outrage and demands for action by the president and Congress.

At the time Burris was charged, he served as chief of military justice for the Army's 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, Boring said. The supervisory role included overseeing prosecutions of various types of cases, including sex crimes.

A court-martial panel this week found Burris guilty of two counts of rape, one count of forcible sodomy, four counts of assault and one count of disobeying an order from a superior commissioned officer.

He was found not guilty of charges including other alleged instances of assault, sexual assault, forcible sodomy and communicating a threat, the military said.

(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Sandra Maler)

SEE ALSO: REPORT: Bowe Bergdahl will face desertion charges

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It's pretty cold in parts of Turkey right now.

But the Turkish special forces has made the most of the winter weather by setting up a special military training camp for fighting in the snow. 

Photographer Mehmet Emin Gurbuz was given special access to the five-day training camp in Bolu, located in the north of the country. 

Training was held in Bolu, 200 kilometres north of Turkey's capital Ankara.

The training lasted five days, from Jan 22-27.

The average temperature in January is around 0 degrees C, but at nights it can go as low as -10 degrees C.

It's pretty cold in parts of Turkey right now.

But the Turkish special forces has made the most of the winter weather by setting up a special military training camp for fighting in the snow. 

Photographer Mehmet Emin Gurbuz was given special access to the five-day training camp in Bolu, located in the north of the country. 

Training was held in Bolu, 200 kilometres north of Turkey's capital Ankara.

The training lasted five days, from Jan 22-27.

The average temperature in January is around 0 degrees C, but at nights it can go as low as -10 degrees C.

Separatists battling government troops in east Ukraine plan a general mobilization and aim to boost their fighting force to 100,000 men, one of their main leaders said on Monday.

Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying the mobilization would take place next week.

"A general mobilization is planned in the DNR in 10 days. Ten thousand men will be called up," RIA news agency quoted Zakharchenko as saying in the city of Donetsk, though he did not make clear how the mobilization would be enforced.

"The joint army of the DNR and the LNR will be 100,000 men strong," Interfax news agency quoted him as saying, referring to the neighboring self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic.

"Mobilization is the first stage; there will be volunteers first and we will see what to do next".

Zakharchenko, who was elected in a vote in November that was not recognized by Kiev or the West, did not say how many separatists were currently fighting in east Ukraine.

Kiev, NATO and Western governments say they have evidence that Russia has sent troops and weapons to back the separatists but Moscow denies this. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko put the number of Russian troops in the east last month at 9,000.

Fighting has increased in eastern Ukraine in the past few weeks and hopes of easing the situation faded after peace talks collapsed on Saturday. Kiev has also mobilized more troops because of the surge in fighting.

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President Obama has unveiled his budget for the 2016 fiscal year. Included in this $4 trillion budget is the Pentagon's proposed budget of $585 billion for the coming year. 

The Pentagon's funding proposal includes a $534.3 billion base budget that could be capped at $500 billion due to sequestration, with an additional $50.9 billion in additional war funding for Afghanistan and counterterrorism operations.  

The Pentagon's proposed budget for 2016 represents a 6% increase in purchasing power from the previous year, in after-inflation dollars. 

Here are a number of highlights of the Pentagon's proposed budget, according to Jeremy Herb and Austin Wright of Politico.

Naval vessel procurement

The 2016 budget dedicates $107.7 billion to the procurement of new hardware. Of that, the Navy will spend $11.6 billion in a nine-ship procurement package.

This package includes three Littoral Combat Ships, two Virginia-class attack submarines, two destroyers, an oiler, and an amphibious transport ship. 

The F-35

The multi-billion dollar F-35 program looms large in the proposed 2016 budget.

The Pentagon will request the procurement of an additional 57 F-35 fighter jets at a cost of $10.6 billion. 

Air Force programs

Aside from the F-35, the Pentagon is requesting additional funding for its KC-46A tanker program, the development of a next-generation long-range bomber, and the procurement of additional MQ-9 Reaper drones.

All together, these programs would have a price tag slightly over $5 billion.  

Increased services budgets

The Pentagon's budget includes an increase in the base budgets of the military services. The proposal for 2016 would see the Air Force's budget increase $16 billion to $152.9 billion, the Navy's budget would increase $11.8 to $161 billion, and the Army's budget would increase $7 billion to $126.5 billion. 

Continuing the fight against terrorism

The 2016 budget contains funding to continue operations against terrorist networks around the world. The budget includes $5.3 billion for the continuation of Operation Inherent Resolve against ISIS in the forms of surveillance, airstrikes, and the training of Iraqi and Syrian forces. 

The Department of Defense would also receive $2.1 billion to facilitate partner building exercises and carry out joint operations against terrorist networks around the world.  

SEE ALSO: The Pentagon budget gives a skewed idea of how much the US really spends on defense

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Current procurement and acquisition plans have left the US Army's helicopter fleet in an increasingly untenable position, Breaking Defense reports. 

Due to a lack of funding and next-generation rotary-wing aircraft, the US Army helicopter fleet is becoming increasingly outdated.

One helicopter, the CH-47 Chinook, was introduced into the fleet during the Vietnam War and is not set to be retired until 2065. 

“It’s going to be a 100-year aircraft because we don’t have a replacement," Maj. Gen. Michael Lundy said to the Association of the US Army. 

The other aircraft in the fleet — thousands of Apaches and Black Hawks — are newer than the Chinook. But they still face costly upgrades for engines, electronics, and critically needed sensors that would help make flying safer during adverse weather conditions. 

The Army estimates that approximately 600 Americans died in the wars in Afghanistan due to helicopter crashes arising from sand, snow, or dust kicked up by the vehicle's own rotors. This "brownout" and a lack of proper sensors leads to pilots becoming disorientated and crashing their helicopters. The number of deaths caused by such crashes surpassed the number of Americans killed in helicopters by enemy actions.  

Currently, a host of aviation companies are developing prototypes for the Army's Future Vertical Lift (FVL) helicopter. The Army is scheduled to make a decision on which FVL it will develop by 2017. But production is not scheduled to begin for the FVL until 2030 and there won't be a full brigade of the aircraft until 2037. 

This delay in procurement leaves the Army with a potentially serious operational hole. The helicopter fleet will continue to age without a viable replacement readily available. 

One solution to the problem is buried within the Army's proposed budget for the 2016 fiscal year. The Army has requested $473 million more over the 2015 budget to modernize the helicopter fleet as part of its Aviation Restructure Initiative (ARI). However, according to Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. of Breaking Defense, this solution is likely "dead on arrival." 

The ARI is incredibly unpopular. Aside from requesting additional funding, the Army also wants to strip the Army National Guard of all of its AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. The Guard's Apaches would replace the Army's  own OH-58 Kiowas which, having entered service in 1968, are on the chopping block to lower overall costs. 

This complex juggling act of reshuffling helicopters and requesting extra funding is unlikely to be accepted by Congress. But if the ARI does not pass, then the Army will continue to be stuck with an aging helicopter fleet without the necessary funds to modernize its decades-old vehicles until the next-generation of helicopters is ready to take to the skies. 

SEE ALSO: This tilt-rotor aircraft could be the future of the US Army's helicopter fleet

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NOW WATCH: The Taiwan Navy Just Unveiled A Stealth Missile Warship Dubbed The 'Carrier-Killer'

The US Army plans to slash another 15,000 from its active force while funneling more money into guided missiles and its Humvee replacement program in its fiscal 2016 budget request announced Monday.

The service's $147 billion proposed budget is about $2 billion less than the $149 billion the Army received in last year's budget.

It reduces the active force from about 490,000 to 475,000 soldiers and puts a priority on existing weapons systems such as the AH-64 Apache andCH-47 Chinook helicopters, Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, Stryker wheeled vehicle upgrades and Guided Multi Launch Rocket Systems.

A significant change in this year's budget is that the Overseas Contingency Account request is $20. 7 billion, compared to last year's $28.5 billion.

"The Army's 2016 OCO request is the smallest it has been in over a decade," said Maj. Gen. Thomas Horlander, the Army's Budget director.

The $56.2 billion personnel budget would result in a total force of 1,015,000 soldiers – 475,000 in the active, 342,000 in the National Guard and 198,000 in the Reserve.

In addition to reducing the active force from 490,000 to 475,000 soldiers, the Army would cut the National Guard from 350,200 to 342,000 soldiers. The Reserve's end strength would remain unchanged.

The Army also plans to reorganize its force structure to 30 active brigade combat teams compared to last year's budget plan for having 32 active BCTs by 2016.

If mandatory defense-spending cuts under sequestration take effect in 2016, the service would have to accelerate the drawdown of the active force by another 5,000 soldiers, according to budget documents.

The Army is asking for $23.1 billion in modernization funding, an increase of $2.5 billion over last year.

The Army plans on spending more than $1.4 billion to upgrade 64 Apache helicopters and $1.12 billion to upgrade 39 Chinook helicopters. The budget proposal does cut some aviation investment by spending only $187.2 million to buy 28 UH-72 Lakota Light Utility helicopters in 2016 versus the last year's buy of 55 Lakota's for $401.6 million.

The Army will buy 372 Warfighter Information Network – Tactical systems, a sharp reduction from last year's purchase of 619 systems. But the budget invests $866.1 million in the program, compared to last year's funding level of $806.6 million.

The Army will spend $308.3 million to fund a second low-rate initial production contract for 450 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, a significant increase over last year's purchase of 184 JLTVs for $164.6 million.

The JLTV will eventually replace a portion of the Army's outdated Humvee fleet. The service plans to buy 49,000 JLTVs by 2041, Army budget officials said.

The budget funds the double-V hull upgrade to 62 Stryker wheeled vehicles at a cost of $667 million.

The Army also hopes to spend $268.6 million on 1,668 Guided Multi Launch Rocket Systems, compared to last year's buy of 774 of these long-range, precision strike missile systems.

Funding for science and technology programs such as the Joint Multi-Role Helicopter, High-Energy Lasers and alternatives to long-range precision fires remain roughly at fiscal 2015 funding levels.

SEE ALSO: The US military's helicopter fleet is desperately in need of modernization

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Five female soldiers have passed the pre-Ranger course at Fort Benning, Ga., making them the first women who will attend U.S. Army Ranger School this spring.

The five females successfully completed the Ranger Training Assessment Course, or RTAC, Jan. 30 alongside 53 males at the Army National Guard's Warrior Training Center at Benning.

The first integrated RTAC class began with 122 students: 26 women and 96 men.

"This first iteration of an integrated RTAC has provided significant lessons-learned as we conduct a deliberate and professional way forward to the integrated assessment in April," Maj. Gen. Scott Miller, commanding general of the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, said in a recent press release.

Three other RTAC classes will be held prior to the Ranger Course Assessment, which begins April 20. The final three RTAC courses with male and female students will be conducted Feb. 6-21, March 6-21 and April 3-18.

This historic pilot program and assessment comes amid increasing demand in recent years to open up to women all military specialties, including infantry. Army leadership is open to the idea, but insists there will be no lowering of standards.

The effort is the result of former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's January 2013 directive that all services open combat-arms roles to women that so far have been reserved for men. The services have until 2016 to make this happen.

Ranger School is a punishing ordeal designed to push combat leaders, both officers and sergeants, to their mental and physical limits. About half of all candidates fail to earn the coveted, gold and black Ranger tab.

RTAC was designated a pre-requisite for all women who wish to be part of the Ranger Course Assessment. The course is designed to improve the combat arms functional skills of officer and enlisted volunteers. It assesses eligible Army active duty, National Guard and foreign military soldiers on their ability to meet the challenges of Ranger School.

How female students will fare remains to be seen, but past studies have indicated they are likely more often to sustain injuries associated with combat training and combat than their male counterparts.

Historically, more than half of the soldiers who complete RTAC will successfully complete Ranger School, according to the release.

RTAC instructors were "impressed with the level of physical fitness and dedication of the majority of female volunteers," Lt. Col. Edmund "Beau" Riely, commander of ARNG Warrior Training Center, said in the release.

The two-week long RTAC consists of two phases. The first phase mirrors the assessment phase at Ranger School and is designed to assess a soldier's physical and mental abilities. During this phase, a student conducts a PT test, a swim test, land navigation, and a 6-mile foot march.

The second phase of RTAC is a field training exercise. It's designed to train soldiers on troop-leading procedures and patrolling, skills which will be used extensively during Ranger School.

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SZCZECIN, Poland (Reuters) - U.S. Army Europe commander Ben Hodges said on Wednesday the U.S. army will provide training to Ukrainian troops battling Russian-backed separatists in the country's east.

The training mission will start in March, with one battalion of U.S. soldiers training three Ukrainian battalions, Hodges said during a visit to a NATO base at Szczecin in north-west Poland.

"We will train them in security tasks, medical (tasks), how to operate in an environment where the Russians are jamming (communications) and how to protect (themselves) from Russian and rebel artillery," he said.

(Reporting by Wiktor Szary; Writing by Marcin Goclowski)

SEE ALSO: US Army commander for Europe: Russian troops are currently fighting on Ukraine's front lines

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