Situation Report: Birds fly to Japan; Jordan buys a new ride; Carter’s pick awaits; and more

By Paul McLeary and Ariel Robinson

So much money, such little time. In the first step toward acting on some of the ideas offered in the revamped U.S.-Japan defense and security guidelines released late last month when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Washington, Tokyo says that it wants to spend $3 billion to buy 17 V-22 tiltrotor Osprey aircraft from the U.S.

The State Department notified Congress of the potential sale on Tuesday, saying the deal “will greatly enhance the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s humanitarian and disaster relief capabilities and support amphibious operations. This sale will promote burden sharing with our ally and interoperability with U.S. forces.” (This last line comes almost word for word from the guidelines the two countries previously released.)

We say “potential sale,” but Congress rarely, if ever, turns down such requests, especially when it represents so much cash being pumped into the U.S. defense industrial base. And the folks over at Bell-Boeing, which makes the Osprey, probably support the deal.

The highly advanced, fast-moving bird had a rocky development history — killing 30 people in the 1990s during testing — but became a workhorse for the Marines in Afghanistan, and is currently flying in Nepal to deliver humanitarian relief after last month’s massive earthquake.

It’s worth noting that there have been years of protests by Japanese citizens angry over the U.S. Marines basing the Ospreys in Okinawa and flying them over Japanese territory. But the Japanese military is already pretty comfortable with the Osprey, even allowing U.S. Marines to land them on the decks of their ships during joint exercises.

More bang. More bucks. Not to be outdone, the State Department also told us Tuesday that the Jordanian Royal Family wants to buy a single Blackhawk helicopter for $21 million to ferry the family around their desert kingdom. But oh! It’s not only the royals. It will also provide lifts to “Jordanian officials, visiting Heads of State, and other dignitaries,” the announcement said. We suspect that Sikorsky Aircraft, which makes the helicopter, supports the deal.

And U.S. ammunition makers American Ordnance and AMTEC are probably pretty happy today after State announced Tuesday that Baghdad wants to buy $395 million worth of ammo, including 5,000 81mm mortars, and over 1 million grenades.

Who’s talking? We’re just going to note here, as we’ve been asking around about it, Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s continued search for a spokesperson almost three months after taking office. Carter forced out Rear Adm. John Kirby, who served as the spokesman for former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel until he left the first week of March after Carter said he’d rather have a civilian at the podium.

There have been plenty of rumors that Carter’s team has been striking out in finding someone for the job, but few are talking, either on or off the record. While the Pentagon hasn’t had a spokesman in over two months, that’s hardly unprecedented. Bob Gates waited four months before naming spokesman Geoff Morrell in April 2007, and he didn’t take over until June.

It’s Wednesday, friends, which hardly deserves comment other than it’s another day removed from the incessantly hilarious “May the fourth be with you” Facebook posts from old high school friends, and parents of your kid’s classmates. Let us know what’s happening out there: paul.mcleary@foreignpolicy.com or Twitter: @paulmcleary.

Busy day today: Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (for now) Gen. Martin Dempsey are set to testify before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee at 10:30 a.m. In a tough scheduling move, over at the Pentagon the Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work will accept a bust of Sir Winston Churchill from the U.K. defense ministry at the same time. But all of the 10:30 action will leave the floor wide open for Vice Adm. Jan Tighe, commander, U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and U.S. 10th Fleet, to hold a media roundtable at the Pentagon at 10:00 a.m.

Islamic State

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the weekend shooting in Garland, Texas. The White House says it’s too early to tell if the gunmen were, in fact, tied to the group. As Mark Hosenball and Ian Simpson report for Reuters, “investigators believed it was possible, if not likely, that IS played an ‘inspirational’ rather than an ‘operational’ role in the attack.”

Not only does the Islamic State claim credit for murderously stupid attacks that it likely had nothing to do with, but it has been building an arsenal of truly insane weapons to fight the Iraqi and Syrian governments, and their assorted Shiite and Sunni militias. Conflict News has a great rundown of some of the more ridiculous — and deadly —  of their creations.

The New York Times reports the Islamic State is stocking up on fertilizer smuggled through Turkey for use in roadside bombs. Ben Hubbard and Karam Shoumali quote one politician as saying ‘“As long as the Turkish people benefit from this — regardless of where it goes on the other side — it is a good thing.’”

Counterterrorism

What seems like a fairly familiar debate is occurring in Canada this week over anti-terrorism legislation that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is considering “an easy victory,” as John Barber reports in The Guardian.

Senator Mitch McConnell has refused to deal with the expiring Patriot Act legislation until the Senate has voted on Iran. However, Dustin Volz revealed in the National Journal Tuesday that “McConnell’s top deputy, Majority Whip John Cornyn, said a shorter reauthorization of the Patriot Act authorities could be in the works.”

Mexico

It’s a legitimately big deal that the New Generation Jalisco Cartel has shot down a Mexican Army helicopter, even if we aren’t reading a whole lot about it. “The criminal group was once an armed wing of the feared Sinaloa cartel, fighting turf wars with the Zetas and Knights Templar gangs, but it has emerged as a powerful force this year in its own right,” reports Agence France–Presse.

Russia

Russia and China are about to carry out live-fire training in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time, and are growing their bilateral trade relationship at a steady pace. Still, the Moscow Times complains bitterly that Russia is “playing second fiddle to Beijing,” mainly due to imbalance between the two nations’ economies.