The Bloggers’ Roundtable this morning interviewed Mr. Michael Ritchie, Director of the Command Interagency Engagement Group (CIEG), that is coordinating the US relief efforts to Georgia.

Operation “Assured Delivery” is the military mission to assist the hundreds of thousands of Georgians affected by the recent Russian invasion. For a detailed account of the events leading up to the invasion, please see Michael Totten’s piece, reported from Georgia. It will surprise you.

Mr. Ritchie was asked to address reports out of Georgia that the USS Dallas, the large Coast Guard cutter, was turned away from the Georgian port of Poti by the Russians.

He was able to confirm that no ships had been scheduled to dock in Poti, due to damage at the port and to the Russian roadblocks surrounding the city. The decision was made to be prudent and route naval vessels to the southern port of Batumi. The McFaul is there and has been off loaded with dispatch and without problem. We are not assisting the Georgians with infrastructure at the port. They are handling the aid shipments easily.

There is an assessment team in Poti, according to Ritchie.

I asked about the C-9 that had been flying in supplies. Ritchie denied that the United States was using that aircraft for medical evacuations and stated that we were not engaged in any medical evacuations from Georgia.

Mr. Ritchie discussed the significant number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in the relief effort. USAID, the European Command, the State Department and the NGOs are working in partnership to assist the Georgians.

Transcript [PDF]

GORI, Georgia (Aug. 25, 2008) A Russian missile lies largely intact in the master bedroom of a home in Gori. Residents of the embattled city have begun to return and have commenced the work of cleaning up their city following the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia. The Department of Defense deployment is part of a larger United States response to the government of Georgia request for humanitarian assistance. This effort is being coordinated by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Jim Hoeft/Released)

FAS:

The road-mobile SS-X-26 is the second attempt to replace the `Scud’, since the first attempt, the Oka SS-23 SPIDER, was eliminated under the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The operational requirements for the SS-26 are probably similar to those of the original SS-23. One of the major questions concerning the program is the missile’s range, which is almost certainly less than the 500 km range limit established by the INF Treaty. The SS-26 may include a longer range (greater than 400 km) variant for the Russian forces, and a shorter range (less than 300 km) variant for export.

The new TEL is probably based on the new BAZ-6909 family of trucks, first publicly displayed at a commercial transport show in Moscow in August 1995. Two missiles are carried on each launcher, though the delay between firing each round is unclear. The new TEL is apparently based on the the 9P71 Oka TEL, though the new SS- X-26 TEL has been designed with the INF Treaty in mind, with several external changes that clearly differentiate the two vehicles to prevent treaty compliance problems. The nose of the vehicle has been extended forward, the chassis lengthened, and the access door arrangement has been changes. The tactical parameters of the two vehicles are probably similar.

In 1996 Russian television reports depicted the first launch of the SS-X-26, which is a direct evolution of the SS-23 Oka. It appears probable that new features will be incorporated into the design. The SS-X-26 appears to have several different conventional warheads, including a cluster munition warhead, a fuel-air explosive enhanced-blast warhead, a tactical earth penetrator for bunker busting and an electro- magnetic pulse device for anti-radar missions. Given the relatively small warhead, improved terminal precision is a major system requirement, which could be achieved by active terminal sensor such as a millimetre wave radar, satellite terminal guidance using GLOSNASS, an improved inertial platform, or some combination of these approaches.

Weapon description corrected.

Pictures of the U.S. military’s relief effort for the Republic of Georgia are now in the Flickr gallery:

LINK

Capt. John Moore, commodore, Combined Task Force (CTF) 367, greets local residents and receives flowers shortly after the arrival of the guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul (DDG 74) to the port of Batumi. CTF-367 is the lead maritime component for the humanitarian assistance mission to the people of Georgia. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Eddie Harrison/Released)

Pictures of the U.S. military’s relief effort for the Republic of Georgia are now in the Flickr gallery:

LINK

The U.S. military has delivered more than 1 million pounds of humanitarian relief supplies to Georgia.

As of Aug.22, 36 missions had been flown by Air Force C-17 Globemaster III and C-130 Hercules transport aircraft as well as Navy C-9 Skytrain, C-130 Hercules and C-40 Clipper aircraft, U.S. European Command officials said.

Two U.S. ships are on the way, with nearly 95 tons of humanitarian supplies to be taken to eastern Georgia. Guided missile destroyer USS McFaul left port in Souda Bay, Crete, Aug. 21, loaded with 72 pallets of relief supplies. Coast Guard Cutter USCGC Dallas departed the next day with 50 pallets. The 378-foot-long high-endurance cutter is home ported in Charleston, S.C., and is currently operating with the U.S. 6th fleet based out of Naples, Italy.

“Everyone has done a wonderful job of pulling together to help the people of Georgia, and we look forward to continuing to do our part to support these efforts,” Navy Rear Adm. Steve Romano, EuCom’s director of logistics and security assistance, said.

EuCom headquarters here is coordinating sustained airlift and maritime support for the humanitarian effort.

DoD

The Coast Guard cutter Dallas and the the guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul are enroute to Georgia by sea, having been granted permission to transit the Straits by the Turks.

Pictures of the U.S. military’s relief effort for the Republic of Georgia are now in the Flickr gallery:

LINK