Current Events in the Americas

From Marine Link [excerpt]

From DefenseNews Posted 03/15/07 23:12 Navy to LCS Shipbuilders: Control Costs or Else By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS U.S. Navy Secretary Donald Winter announced March 15 he was lifting a stop-work order on a new Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), but he made it clear that once new cost figures are set to finish the ships, he expects shipbuilders to end the excessive cost growth that has threatened the LCS program. “We’ve determined we need to take a number of steps,” Winter told reporters during a Pentagon news conference. The chief elements are: • Renegotiating the construction contract for LCS 3, the second ship under construction by a Lockheed Martin team. The stop-work…

1st Osprey squadron to deploy By Trista Talton - Staff writer Posted : Thursday Apr 12, 2007 11:13:40 EDT JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — Commandant Gen. James Conway is expected to announce Friday the first deployment of an MV-22 Osprey squadron, according to a Pentagon release. Until then, officials are remaining mum on where Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, based at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., will deploy. The squadron is expected to deploy late summer or early fall this year. In early March, the squadron wrapped up several weeks of integration training with Camp Lejeune-based Marines. Part of the training was to get the Osprey more exposure to…

From Navy Times Big E preps for final combat deployment By Philip Ewing - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Sep 21, 2010 10:56:09 EDT ABOARD THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER ENTERPRISE — Sept. 24 marks 50 years since this ship’s launch and champagne christening ...

Successful Test of an AIM-9X Missile by a Raytheon-Led Team Demonstrates Potential for Low Cost Solution in Littoral Joint Battlespace Monday February 6, 10:10 am ET Yahoo TEWKSBURY, Mass., Feb. 6, 2006 /PRNewswire/ -- A Raytheon-led team successfully launched an AIM-9X from a stationary, vertical platform last November. The missile successfully locked on after launch and hit its target in a test of its potential launch from a submarine. The test was conducted for the Naval Sea Systems Command at the U.S. Army's McGregor Test Range in New Mexico Nov. 19, 2005. A successful test firing matures the technology that will provide the Navy with a new capability when …

Analysis: How plans that don’t add up hurt fleet By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday May 27, 2008 11:18:34 EDT When Navy officials tell Congress they have confidence in their shipbuilding cost projections, lawmakers don’t believe them. When flag officers say they’ve got enough money for maintenance, fleet sailors wonder why high-tech warships aren’t combat-ready. When top admirals say they have a new maritime strategy, analysts struggle to match it with the shipbuilding plan. When business strategies override operational needs, officers wonder whether they are war fighters or executives. Navy leaders are suffering from a credib…

Bataan preps for Osprey shipboard deployment By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer Posted : Thursday Feb 26, 2009 12:24:47 EST ABOARD THE AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT SHIP BATAAN — At sea, amid icy winds several miles off the coast of North Carolina, David Kouskouris is among the first sailors to lay hands on the Corps’ MV-22 Osprey. “We, as deck handlers, have to understand how this aircraft moves around the deck,” said Kouskouris, a senior chief aviation boatswain’s mate (aircraft handling) (AW/SW) and the flight deck chief for the Bataan. “Before, we only had computer-generated models. Now, we’re taking into account things like human error and wind conditions,” he e…

From DefenseNews Posted 07/10/07 20:58 Brazil To Invest $500 Million in Nuclear-Powered Sub By REUTERS, BRASILIA Brazil will invest $500 million to revive a long-stalled navy project to build a nuclear-propelled submarine, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said July 10. “We are going to apply the necessary resources to conclude this project,” Lula said at a nuclear research facility in Sao Paulo state. The project requires 1 billion reais ($500 million) invested over eight years, he said. A nuclear-powered submarine could patrol the vast waters off Brazil’s coastline more effectively, Navy Commander Adm. Julio Soares de Moura has said. Brazil has five conve…

From Air Force Times Test of massive bunker-busting bomb a success Staff report Posted : Thursday Mar 15, 2007 17:26:47 EDT The Defense Threat Reduction Agency successfully conducted the first explosive test of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator conventional weapon Wednesday at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., according to a press release from the agency. The 30,000-pound penetrating bomb — which would be the largest in the Air Force’s inventory — is designed to defeat hard and deeply-buried targets such as bunker and tunnel facilities. The test consisted of a conventional weapon placed within a test tunnel, not dropped from the air. “This demonstration…

From Aviation Week Northrop Apparently Lands NGB Prototype May 28, 2008 Bill Sweetman/Aerospace Daily & Defense Report Northrop Grumman received contracts totaling more than $2.5 billion for secret aircraft programs in the first quarter of 2008, strongly supporting reports and indications that the company has won a U.S. Air Force contract to build a prototype for the Next Generation Bomber (NGB) program. First-quarter results issued April 26 state that Northrop Grumman “was awarded approximately $2.6 billion for restricted programs during this period.” The results showed a comparable increase in backlog for the company’s aircraft business, the Integrated…

F-35 Selected Acquisition Report (SAR), 31 December 2010

From Defense Aerospace Navy Terminates Littoral Combat Ship 3 (Source: US Department of Defense; issued April 12, 2007) Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter announced today that the Department of the Navy is terminating construction of the third Littoral Combat Ship (LCS 3) for convenience under the Termination clause of the contract because the Navy and Lockheed Martin could not reach agreement on the terms of a modified contract. The Navy issued a stop-work order on construction on LCS 3 in January following a series of cost overruns on LCS 1 and projection of cost increases on LCS 3, which are being built by Lockheed Martin under a cost-plus contract. …

From Army Times Report: JCAs cut from Army budget By Sam LaGrone - Staff writer Posted : Wednesday Apr 29, 2009 11:51:28 EDT The Joint Cargo Aircraft is no longer joint. Army funding for the C-27 Spartan — the small tactical airlifter intended for both the Army and the Air Force — has been stripped from the budget, a defense official familiar with the decision said Monday. The Air Force will retain its 38 planes under the revised plan, but the Army, which wanted 40 C-27s to replace its aging C-23 Sherpas, will receive none. The 40 Army planes were to be assigned to the Army National Guard, many to districts at risk of losing their Guard missions due …

Thought this was a story from the Onion when I first heard it ... http://www.globalnews.ca/arrow%2Bcould%2Bfly%2Bagain/6442711404/story.html

From Defense Aerospace Protection the Top Priority with Tank Acquisition (Source: Canadian Department of National Defence; issued April 12, 2007) Canada has reversed an earlier decision to retire its tank force, and will deploy Leopard IIs in Afghanistan this summer. (Dutch MoD photo) QUEBEC CITY, Quebec --- The ongoing commitment of Canada’s New Government to the safety of Canadian Forces members engaged in deployed operations was front and centre today when the Honourable Gordon O’Connor, Minister of National Defence, the Honourable Michael Fortier, Minister of Public Works and Government Services, and General Rick Hillier, Chief of the Defence Staff, confi…

From Air Force Times Tanker decision made By Kent Miller, Gayle S. Putrich and Pierre Tran - Staff writers Posted : Friday Feb 29, 2008 19:35:04 EST After months of deliberations — and more than one delay — the Air Force has finally decided who will build the service’s new refueling tankers. Northrop Grumman and European partner EADS beat out presumptive favorite Boeing for the Air Force’s $35-40 billion, 179-plane tanker deal, Air Force officials said. The bigger size of the plane was the crucial factor, they said. It represents the first of three deals that could eventually be worth as much as $100 billion over 30 years to replace almost 600 tankers. Comp…

From Defense Aerospace Op-Ed: Killing The President’s New Helicopter Wastes $8 Billion (Source: Lexington Institute; issued June 2, 2009) Four months into his first (and possibly only) term, President Barack Obama is beginning to grasp the severity of the government's fiscal crisis. Washington is spending $5 billion per day it does not have; the bond market is signaling that it will demand much higher interest rates to absorb all the debt the Treasury needs to place; the dollar is weakening; and the outlook for the administration's ambitious domestic agenda is dimming. The White House is rethinking how to reform healthcare and searching for savings in entitle…

From Military.com: http://www.military.com/news/article/secon...ml?ESRC=navy.nl Buddha

From Aviation Week Raptor Scores in Alaskan Exercise By David A. Fulghum and Michael J. Fabey 01/07/2007 09:51:16 PM As the F-22 begins its operational life, interest has turned to assessing just how well suited the stealthy Raptor is to its role as the premier air-to-air fighter, while taking a peek at some of the surprises for pilots and maintenance crews as they explore what the aircraft can do. As part of the research for this series of articles on the F-22, Michael Fabey flew in the back seat of an F-15D while the Eagle and Raptor pilots demonstrated their aircraft's capabilities in the air-to-air ranges at Tyndall AFB, Fla. (For additional details of the R…

From Jane's Dispute increases over Falklands oil drilling 17 February 2010 The executive order signed by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner stated that prior permission from the Argentine government would be required for all ships transiting Argentine ports or crossing Argentine jurisdictional waters en route to the Falklands, which remain the subject of a 177 year-old sovereignty dispute between Buenos Aires and the UK. An interdepartmental commission including representatives from several ministries would be created to enforce the decree, according to Aníbal Fernandez, Argentina's cabinet chief. Argentina has also warned oil companies operating in the Fal…