Ashton Carter

While body counts are not a particularly useful metric of a military operation’s success, they can be a good indicator of how intense things have been on the ground.

In June 2016, The War Zone’s own Tyler Rogoway wrote an extensive and thought-provoking analysis of why the U.S. Air Force either had yet to show off a fleet of advanced, combat-capable unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAV), or didn’t have any at all.

"Passing the TPP [Trans-Pacific Partnership] is as important to me as another aircraft carrier," said former U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter two years ago, as the negotiations on the huge new free trade organization were nearing completion.

The United States defense secretary Ashton Carter has thanked his Turkish counterpart Fikri Işık for Turkey's contribution to the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

President-elect Donald Trump took aim on Dec. 12 at a second U.S. aerospace giant in as many weeks, this time attacking the F-35 stealth fighter and its "out of control" costs.     

The USA will deploy nearly 6,000 troops in Europe this winter, announced the US Department of Defense.

The additional anti-tank brigade that will be sent to Europe numbers 4,000 troops. The USA will deploy an additional 1,750 troops with the 10th mountain division.

Earlier, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter stated that the additional anti-tank brigade will arrive in February.

The United States is continuing to talk with ally Turkey on the role it will play in the operation to seize the city of Raqqa, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) main stronghold in Syria, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said on Nov. 2. 

A U.S.-led coalition fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) plans to launch operations within weeks to isolate the Syrian city of Raqqa as an offensive in Iraq's Mosul continues, Washington said hours after Ankara said the Raqqa operation should start after the end of the Mosul and Turkey's Euphrates Shield operations in northern Syria. 

The operation to liberate Syria's Raqqa from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) should start after operations to retake Mosul from jihadists and Turkey's Euphrates Shield Operation end, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said Oct. 31. 

Turkish police have detained a total of 81 militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in operations conducted in Istanbul, the southeastern provinces of Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa, the northwestern province of Kırklareli, and the eastern province of Erzurum.