Current Events in the Americas

In the news, but they're not novelty news: http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/NGC-In...5468/#more-5468 But in retrospective, the case is worst. I remember to read some time ago the same thing in Norman Polmar & K.J. Moore "Cold War Submarines" about the very bad welding in Los Angeles and Ohio classes, giving for the Ohio class SSBN a test depth of 300 meters and for Los Angeles/Providence/San Juan SSN a test depth of only 290 meters (in consecuence, both classes only capable of intermediate depth in the PC game scale), compared with the gived test depth in the same book for the previous Thresher/Permit and Sturgeon classes of 400 meters (both classes capable …

From Navy Times Carrier numbers, budget issues await Obama By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer Posted : Monday Jan 5, 2009 6:32:07 EST Affordability remains high on the list of requirement and acquisition challenges in the coming year, the Navy’s top weapon buyer said last month. And according to one congressional source, 2009 could also see a lively debate on whether the Navy truly needs 11 carriers. Sean Stackley, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, offered several keys to his service’s goal of affordability during a Surface Navy Association luncheon Dec. 11 in Washington. Design and program stability is ke…

From DefenseNews U.S. Navy To Stand Up New 4th Fleet By mark d. faram Published: 24 Apr 13:33 EDT (09:33 GMT) The U.S. Navy will create a 4th Fleet headquartered at Naval Station Mayport, Fla., and will tap a two-star SEAL officer to lead it, according to a Pentagon announcement April 24. Rear Adm. Joseph Kernan, head of Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, Calif., has been chosen to command the new fleet. Kernan will take control of both 4th Fleet and the current Naval Forces Southern Command, the Navy component of U.S. Southern Command. The command will oversee maritime operations in Central and South American waters, and is similar to the comman…

Analysts: Air power crucial upon new threat By William H. McMichael - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Jan 15, 2008 6:19:03 EST If the U.S. were to face a new conventional threat, its military could not respond effectively without turning to air power, officials and analysts say. That is the ultimate upshot of the war in Iraq: a response elsewhere would consist largely of U.S. fighters and bombers — even, perhaps, some degree of nuclear strike — because so many ground troops are tied up in Operation Iraqi Freedom. And that leaves at least some senior U.S. leaders and analysts crossing their fingers. “I believe that we, as a nation, are at risk of mission…

JSF program faces steep cost overruns [Me: eek! and even more delays] By Kimberly Johnson - Staff writer Posted : Saturday Mar 15, 2008 7:49:23 EDT The Joint Strike Fighter program is facing $38 billion in cost overruns and could be delayed by more than two years, according to a government report urging defense planners to re-evaluate the program. The delays could affect the Navy’s schedule for the carrier variant of the plane. The service is already facing a fighter-jet gap with F/A-18 Hornets projected to die out before they’re replaced by the JSF. Service officials say they plan on buying more F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets to bridge the gap. The almost $1 t…

Nice article on the B-1B Lancer ... The Bone is back ... and from the article, a link to a pretty cool video:

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

Hard-kill anti-torpedo defensive system apparently full deployed in USS George H Bush (and apparently the sensors and warning elements lacking the hard-kill elements in other five carriers, not very clear the article on this point): http://www.scout.com/military/warrior/story/1711759-us-carriers-deploy-new-torpedo-defense-system

From Marine Link [excerpt]

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…

CV32: For anyone not already aware, this was the tragic crash that claimed the life of mil blogger Carroll LeFon (aka Neptunus Lex): From Flight Global [excerpt]

Navy Decides to Buy V-22 Ospreys for Carrier Delivery (Breaking Defense)

From Navy Times December 14, 2006 Attack sub Rickover to be inactivated today By William H. McMichael Staff writer Crew members of the Los Angeles-class submarine Hyman G. Rickover prepare to tie up Oct. 11 at Naval Station Norfolk, Va., after the boat’s final deployment. Rickover will be inactivated today. — MCSN Kelvin Edwards / Navy NORFOLK NAVAL STATION, Va. — The 22-year-old attack submarine Hyman G. Rickover will be inactivated Thursday during a ceremony at its home port of Norfolk Naval Station, the Atlantic Fleet Submarine Force announced. The ship’s sponsor and widow of the late Adm. Rickover, retired Cmdr. Eleonore Rickover, will attend the 1 …

Find Navy Times article here Navy orders 8 new Virginia-class subs By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Dec 23, 2008 7:03:14 EST As expected, the Navy announced on Monday a $14 billion contract to buy eight new Virginia-class submarines. The fixed-price incentive, multiyear procurement contract was awarded to General Dynamics Electric Boat, lead shipyard for the Virginia-class submarines. Electric Boat’s facilities at Quonset Point, R.I., and Groton, Conn., share equally in building the submarines with Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding’s Newport News shipyard in Virginia. In making the announcement, Rear Adm. William Hilarides, program execut…

An image of the enlarged Virginia-class Block V SSN on page 32 of the report, with a characteristic "hump" in the elongated section abaft the sail, probably with the new 4xVPM (Virginia Payload Module, each capable of 7 cruise missile-size weapons, for a grand total of forty (12 previously fore the sail+28 in the 4xVPM) weapons in VLS): https://news.usni.org/2016/11/03/document-report-congress-virginia-class-submarine-program-5-2

Pg. 3 An SR-72? Lockheed Martin's New Mach-6 Spy Plane By Vago Muradian Ten years after the U.S. Air Force retired the SR-71 spy plane, Lockheed Martin's legendary Skunk Works appears back at work developing a new Mach-6 reconnaissance plane, sources said. The Air Force has awarded Lockheed's Advanced Development Projects arm a top-secret contract to develop a stealthy 4,000-mph plane capable of flying to altitudes of about 100,000 feet, with transcontinental range. The plan is to debut the craft around 2020. The new jet--being referred to by some as the SR-72--is likely to be unmanned and, while intended for reconnaissance, it could eventually tra…

Navy, General Dynamics to discuss LCS next week Staff writer - Staff writer Posted : Friday Sep 21, 2007 9:19:13 EDT The Navy and General Dynamics are expected to meet next week to discuss the Littoral Combat Ship program. GD spokesman Kendall Pease confirmed the Navy had asked for the meeting but provided no further details, other than to say a specific date had not been set. Other sources, however, said the meeting was to discuss slowing construction on LCS 4, the second ship GD is building at its Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Ala. A construction contract for the yet-to-be named ship was awarded in December, before cost growth on the first ship being b…

See Ethics & International Affairs It is Philip Coyle, after all, so we shouldn't be surprised by his conclusions, but ouchie!

From DefenseNews Posted 09/10/07 21:39 Third Time Could Be the Charm for LPD Program By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS PASCAGOULA, Miss. — With the U.S. Navy still smarting from the unsatisfactory delivery of two amphibious ships, Northrop Grumman has put a special emphasis on making sure the third ship avoids the pitfalls of its predecessors. If early returns are any indication, the shipbuilder and the Navy might be third time lucky. The USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19) carried out its initial builder’s trials in mid-August in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship returned Aug. 16 to Northrop’s Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula flying two brooms — a traditional “clean sweep” symbol represe…

From DefenseNews Containers, Motherships and Multimission Modules - Boxes as the U.S. Navy's New Vision? By CMDR. GREG PARKER Published: 8 March 2010 Last month, the Navy's first Littoral Combat Ship, USS Freedom, began its inaugural deployment to the Caribbean Sea and South America. Designed to address the Navy's capability gap in the "green water" near the world's land masses, or littorals, the LCS represents a change in naval design philosophy from mission-specific ships to a multi-function concept that has begun to pervade the service from top to bottom. With its interchangeable modules - large boxes resembling rail cars tailored for specialized missions…