Pentagon extends travel restrictions to end of June
US Secretary of State, Mark T Esper, has extended the stop move order for all DoD personnel until 30 June, to minimise the risk of spreading the COVID-19 coronavirus.
The measures apply to military and civilian personnel, as well as military families.
According to a DoD statement released on 20 April, the decision was taken ‘to protect US personnel and preserve the operational readiness of our global force’.
The DoD added that it ‘now has procedures in place to allow for additional waivers and the resumption of travel for several categories of travellers that were previously suspended including deployments’.
Despite more than 761,000 cases and 40,000 deaths from coronavirus across the US, small-scale public demonstrations against the US lockdown have been held in at least 18 states including Colorado, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
More from Defence Notes
-
“Engage with the operational problem”: how software innovation can boost UK defence
In Conversation… Shephard’s Andrew White talks to Zafer Şen, CEO and co-founder of OBSS, about the future of command-and-control software in the age of artificial intelligence, and his company’s ambitions in the UK defence market.
-
“Capital follows confidence” as defence courts private money
Outside investment and the direction in which venture money flows may reveal what defence will buy years before formal programmes begin.
-
Canada’s new military drone marketplace targets rapid acquisition pipeline
The Department of National Defence expects initial contracts to deliver thousands of uncrewed systems, but has yet to establish the quantities, capability mix or deadline behind Ottawa’s promised tenfold expansion.
-
Ukraine turns legacy Kongsberg land turrets into semi-autonomous USV weapons
The company told Shephard that Ukraine is operating modified Protector weapon stations originally supplied for armoured vehicles, with human operators authorising engagements from hundreds of kilometres away.