C-130's have been doing drops for decades. They have a practice range at Eglin Air Force base for this very thing.
Biden announces US will build pier on Gaza shore for large-scale aid delivery
- Thread starter binsfeldcyhawk2
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They also have dirt strips they practice with on the reservation. Just drove past the one next to Bob Sikes Rd on the way to Niceville Saturday.
Because they are smart enough to realize that anything they take in there goes directly to Hamas.
I think it's more to do with the fact that Israel has nuclear weapons, and Israel is a little bit crazy.
Democrats join Republicans in wanting more answers on Biden’s Gaza pier
Sen. Richard Blumenthal says he has “very serious questions about how the construction will be done, with the assurance of safety to our troops.”
Man, I’d like to have been a fly on the wall when they brainstormed this then asked the military.
“Can you build a pier into Gaza?”
::military officer ‘can do’ attitude activates::
“Can we? Hell yeah, we can. I can build you a pier into Antarctica! When do you need it by?”
I want to know who in the room dreamed it up, and who spoke up to suggest maybe it was a bad idea.
It’d be an interesting conversation to listen in to….
From everything I’ve read they’re going to rely on the Israelis for security around the pier. So I think the speculation that US troops will be in a precarious position is a little overblown. The administration knows US casualties when building this would be a political disaster so I’m thinking the safest location and the one Israel will be able to provide the best security for will be picked.
Having said that…it will be a juicy target for jihadists.
Give an example for comparisons sake.
Lacking that…I think the main difference would be that Gaza is pretty densely populated and it’s an active combat zone.
Might be difficult to keep suicide bombers away from the pier…especially if it gets flooded by civilians looking for food.
The Israelis will have to keep a very strict perimeter. (Which would bring them in for criticism by human rights groups and the Hamas supporters) In depth as well…probably a couple miles out at least from the pier.
For starters, any American base.
I'm not sure why you think this spot will be so hard to protect. Do you think they establish a perimeter and then let random people through?
Efforts need to be made to provide humanitarian relief in the area.
So you think the security concerns at the Gaza pier will be the same as at any US base?
Are you trolling or are you just a moron?
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I think the precautions they will take will make it similar. Have you forgotten about the US base that was bombed in Iraq? It will have danger no matter what.
Are you objecting to this plan because of the danger you perceive or because you're just a moron?
I didn’t object to the plan.I think the precautions they will take will make it similar. Have you forgotten about the US base that was bombed in Iraq? It will have danger no matter what.
Are you objecting to this plan because of the danger you perceive or because you're just a moron?
So I guess you’re a two time moron in this thread 😂😂😂
They've had nuclear weapons for 60 years. If they were going to nuke their neighbors, they would have by now. They are certainly not going to drop a nuke in their own backyard.
Israel has agreed to provide security for the temporary pier the U.S. military is planning to build in Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid to civilians on the brink of famine, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the plans.
Under the plans being discussed, which have not yet been finalized, the Israel Defense Forces would establish a “security bubble” to protect the U.S. personnel building the pier as well as the individuals involved in offloading and distributing the aid, said one of the officials, both of whom were granted anonymity to speak about sensitive discussions.
Under the plans being discussed, which have not yet been finalized, the Israel Defense Forces would establish a “security bubble” to protect the U.S. personnel building the pier as well as the individuals involved in offloading and distributing the aid, said one of the officials, both of whom were granted anonymity to speak about sensitive discussions.
Haven't seen any reporting on the progress of the pier. I wonder if the idea will be silently scuttled...
Surprised this hasn’t been really reported on.
Original timeline was for the pier to be completed at the end of April.
www.navytimes.com
Original timeline was for the pier to be completed at the end of April.
Navy ship underway for Gaza pier mission suffers fire, returns to US
The cargo ship 2nd Lt. John P. Bobo suffered a fire in its engine room Thursday, forcing it to return to Florida, the Navy said.
www.navytimes.com
Construction has not begun on US pier for Gaza, but Pentagon says it’s ‘on track’ to open in coming weeks
It was originally projected to be complete next week FWIW.
Construction has yet to start on a temporary floating pier off Gaza’s coast, but the Pentagon expects it will be ready to flow new aid into the war-torn Palestinian enclave in the coming weeks, the Defense Department’s top spokesman said Tuesday.
All the Army and Navy troops needed to build the temporary dock and an about 1,800-foot floating causeway from the Mediterranean Sea into northern Gaza have arrived in the region, Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters at the Pentagon. Even with construction of the makeshift port — known as a Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS — not started, Ryder said the Pentagon was confident it would be operating “by the end of this month or early May.”
The operation is meant to provide a new way to deliver badly needed aid into Gaza. The World Health Organization has warned some 2.3 million inhabitants face extreme hunger that could become a full-blown famine by next month amid the war launched by Israel in response to Hamas militants’ surprise Oct. 7 assault on Israelis.
Ryder has said the JLOTS operation could deliver some 2 million meals per day to Gaza.
“All the necessary vessels are within the Mediterranean region and standing by … to begin construction when we’re given the order to do that,” he said. “There is a process and procedure that will have to be followed … and our planners have worked through the details of all the things one would expect [but] we’re on track at this point to implement that operational capability” in the coming weeks.
Ryder did not say Tuesday precisely how long it would take troops to build the port once construction begins.
President Joe Biden first announced the JLOTS operation would begin to bolster U.S. efforts to deliver aid to Gazans on March 7 during his State of the Union speech. One day later, Ryder said the JLOTS would be operational within about 60 days.
The Army last month sent four ships from the 7th Transportation Brigade at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., toward the Mediterranean to spearhead the operation. The Navy also deployed two ships to help in the construction of the pier. One of those ships, the USNS 2nd Lt. John P. Bobo was forced to return to the United States last week after suffering an engine room fire.
That incident does not appear to have altered the Pentagon’s planned timeline for the pier’s construction, according to Ryder on Tuesday.
Construction has not begun on US pier for Gaza, but Pentagon says it’s ‘on track’ to open in coming weeks
Construction has yet to start on a temporary floating pier off Gaza’s coast, but the Pentagon expects it will be ready to flow new aid into the war-torn Palestinian enclave in the coming weeks, the Defense Department’s top spokesman said.
US military begins construction of pier off Gaza for complex and dangerous aid delivery mission
The United States has begun construction at sea of the temporary pier intended to help deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, the Pentagon said on Thursday, with the ultimate goal of delivering up to 150 trucks of aid per day to the starving population there.“US military vessels to include the USNS Benavidez have begun to construct the initial stages of the temporary pier and causeway at sea,” said Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder at a briefing Thursday.
A senior military official confirmed later on Thursday that “we are on track to begin delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza from the sea in early May,” which will begin at the equivalent of 90 trucks per day of aid and then “quickly scale up” to 150 trucks per day once full operational capacity is reached, the official said.
The official said the US military is prepared to execute the mission “for several months,” but emphasized that there will be no US boots on the ground in Gaza — something President Joe Biden ruled out when he first announced in March that the pier would be built. Instead, the Israel Defense Forces will partner with the US military to anchor the causeway to the shore in Gaza “on day one,” the military official said.
A US Army engineering unit has been training an IDF engineering unit in recent weeks on how to anchor the causeway to the shore, the official said. The IDF has also agreed to provide a security perimeter on the ground in Gaza “over a fairly wide area” where the aid will be offloaded, the official added.
But US troops will be several hundred meters from the Gaza beach as they operate the system, known as Joint Logistics Over the Shore, or JLOTS, and potentially within range of rockets or missiles fired from terror groups from Gaza. An unidentified group fired mortars on Wednesday at the site on Gaza’s coastline where the aid is expected to be offloaded, but the military official said they don’t assess that the attack had anything to do with the US’ pier mission.
“We’ve factored in all the variables to maximize force protection,” the official said, adding that US Navy destroyers currently in the eastern Mediterranean “will be complementary” to the overall mission.
Dire humanitarian situation
The pier’s construction comes as the humanitarian situation in Gaza has become dire, a senior administration official said Thursday.“The entire population of Gaza, 2.2 million people, is facing acute food insecurity and more than half of the population in northern Gaza is facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity,” the official said, warning that the numbers will increase “significantly” without intervention.
The official confirmed that USAID will be working with the UN to distribute the aid once it reaches Gaza. CNN reported last week that following weeks of diplomatic wrangling, the Biden administration secured an agreement with the UN World Food Programme to distribute aid from the pier.
