Current Events in the Americas

To be deployed in October 2013 in USS Ponce, operational from 2014. Other candidate to employ it: LCS, now it's clear why ... Laser range: 1 or 2 nm , perhaps up to 10 nm in years to come .... After the range data, I think we don't need more comments ... http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/R41526.pdf

Initially Upbeat USAF Budget Request Turns Dour Long Term (Aviation Week) U.S. Navy Budget Takes $10.7 Billion Sequestration Hit (Aviation Week) DoD 2014 Request is $52B Over Spending Caps (DefenseNews) The Army Has It Worst 2.0: Readiness Shortchanged $13.7 Billion (AOL Defense)

Part 1: Preparing for a First Deployment (Defense Media Network)

Navy DDG-51 and DDG-1000 Destroyer Programs: Background and Issues for Congress (pdf, Congressional Research Service)

US to demolish obsolete ICBM launch facilities (Jane's)

US Navy may add conformal fuel tanks to F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fleet (Flight Global)

US Navy weighs halving LCS order (DefenseNews)

US to boost BMD (DefenseNews) U.S. To Bolster Missile Defenses To Counter N.Korea Threat: Source (Aviation Week)

Time to change America's atomic arsenal (The Diplomat)

A pretty good article on a subject that probably not a lot of people are aware of. The Bermuda Triangle of Space: The High-Energy South Atlantic Anomaly Threatens Satellites (DefenseNews)

Excerpt from abstract here: Link to full report (pdf)

A short but concise article in Mer et Marine (in French) about the US Navy, by Bernard Prézelin, editor of Combat Fleets of the World: http://www.meretmarine.com/fr/content/focus-lus-navy-toute-puissante-pour-de-nombreuses-annees-encore

Brazil To Get Its First Nuclear Subs (DefenseNews)

Lockheed awarded $6.9 billion F-22 upgrade contract (Flight Global)

DOD Inspector General's report: Assessment of the USAF Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AIB) Report on the F-22A Mishap of November 16, 2010

US Navy Missile Defense: The Vision Realized ... a series of articles about US Navy missile defense, yesterday, today, and tomorrow (from Defense Media Network) Part 1: The Transition From Guns to Missiles Part 2: Building and Deploying the US Navys Missile Fleet with Urgency Part 3: Getting Surface-to-Air Missile Development Started Part 4: The Three Ts Talos, Terrier, and Tartar Part 5: Building an Aegis Fleet Part 6: The Tipping Point Part 7: The Vision Realized - The evolution of Aegis BMD

AIM-120D still troubled as Nammo comes aboard (Jane's)

F-22 Raptors need helmet-mounted cueing system to take full advantage of AIM-9X (Flight Global)

More than Submarine versus Submarine (USNI Proceedings, February 2013)

From Enterprise to Enterprise (USNI Proceedings, February 2013)