Current Events in the Americas

HMCS Chicoutimi ready for sea trials in Island waters after three years of repairs (Times Colonist)

From Defense Aerospace Northrop Grumman Celebrates Ceremonial Steel Cut and Facilities Grand Opening for CVN 21 Aircraft Carrier Program (Source: Northrop Grumman Corp.; issued Aug. 11, 2005) NEWPORT NEWS, Va. --- Northrop Grumman Corporation has reached its first construction milestone in the life of the new-generation aircraft carrier, CVN 21. The company cut one of the first pieces of steel, a 15-ton plate for a side shell unit of CVN 78, the first ship of the CVN 21 program. Design work on the CVN 21 is underway at Northrop Grumman's Newport News sector, with the full construction contract anticipated in 2007. Advance construction began in 2005 to allow…

From Defense Aerospace Issue Brief: The Slow Death of American Air Power (Source: The Lexington Institute; issued Jan. 16, 2007) By Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D. Now that America has an Islamo-centric security posture, any danger that doesn't fit within the counter-fundamentalist framework tends to be ignored. That's sort of ironic, since the biggest military threats to democracy in the last century came from atheists. Five years into the "global war on terror," the evidence suggests that Islamic radicals are real good at blowing each other up, but not so good at projecting power abroad. As long as western nations maintain halfway decent domestic security arr…

Ship’s visit shows how British sailors live By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer Posted : Thursday Apr 19, 2007 16:59:08 EDT NORFOLK, Va. — The important stuff first: British sailors are issued three cans or “tins” of beer after work every day. The snack machines dispense Cadbury chocolate bars. A normal lunch is curry and rice. And when a British ship comes into port, the crew’s rugby team goes ashore to scrounge up a game with the locals. This week and into next, the English amphibious assault ship Ocean is to be in Norfolk for the city’s Azalea Festival, and its crew has been hosting a variety of visitors during its stay. At 667 feet long and 22,500 tons, O…

From Defense Aerospace Iranian Influence, Terrorist Links, Threaten Latin American Security (Source: US Department of Defense; issued March 17, 2009) WASHINGTON --- Iran is increasing its presence in Latin America, and Hezbollah, a terrorist organization it sponsors, is making inroads in drug trafficking in Colombia, the commander of U.S. Southern Command told Congress today. Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis told the House Armed Services Committee he shares concerns expressed by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates about Iranian activity in Central and South America. Iran has opened six embassies in the region during the past five years and is promoting Islamic acti…

The test and practical use is based in the active radar seeker capability of SM-6: http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/here-another-big-reason-why-americas-mighty-missile-defenses-19795

From Defense Aerospace Coast Guard Plunges Into Deepwater (Source: Project On Government Oversight; issued April 18, 2007) This just in -- Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal is reporting: Under mounting pressure from Congress, the Coast Guard has decided to remove Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) and Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) from overseeing the service's troubled modernization program, and assume the role itself, according to people familiar with the matter. The Coast Guard is expected to announce the restructuring of its 25-year, $24-billion Deepwater program on Tuesday, a day before the next in a series of Capitol Hill hearings into the delays program to …

From DefenseNews [excerpt] CV32: The 'black sheep' of the USAF family being sacrificed?

From Navy Times San Francisco heads to yard By Christopher Munsey Times staff writer The attack submarine San Francisco, damaged during a collision with an undersea mountain earlier this year, departed Guam Aug. 17 for a surface transit across the Pacific for permanent repairs at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington. San Francisco will make a stop in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii during its voyage back to Washington, said Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis, spokesman for Commander, Submarine Force Pacific. Including the time spent in Hawaii, the transit is expected to take “a few weeks”, Davis said. San Francisco will not submerge during the transit, but will make the …

Seawolf arrives at new base in Bremerton The Associated Press. Posted : Monday Jul 23, 2007 21:42:21 EDT BREMERTON, Wash. — Serenaded by a five-piece Navy band and greeted by balloon-toting children, the fast attack submarine Seawolf arrived at its new base Sunday. Seawolf was nudged into the pier by tugboats, the first of two fast attack subs to arrive at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton from Groton, Conn. With a crew of 140, the 353-foot sub is the first to be based in Bremerton, although many others have visited the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for maintenance, overhauls and repairs. Chief Petty Officer Arnulfo Salinas, winner of the traditional first kis…

From Defense Aerospace E-3 Sentry Celebrates 30 Years in Air Force's Fleet (Source: US Air Force; issued April 4, 2007) TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --- It all started 30 years ago -- March 23, 1977, to be exact -- when the first E-3 Sentry touched down on Oklahoma soil. The arrival of aircraft tail number 75-0557 began a new era for the 552nd Airborne Warning and Control Wing, and for air surveillance. To celebrate the occasion, wing officials conducted an arrival ceremony the next day and invited the base and local community leaders to help welcome the new aircraft. The story of the E-3 goes back to April 1975, when a systems integration demonstrati…

US Navy Sizes Up Future Does the Navy have the right strategy and resources to meet future threats? by Ted McKenna Aug. 19, 2005 eDefense The US Navy still wants to fight the Battle of Midway, some critics say. Does it have the money to field a fleet that can, though, as well as fight the "global war on terror"? A growing percentage of the world's population lives in littoral areas, near the water, often in poverty and amid ethnic strife. The Navy must prepare to fight conflicts in such areas and wants to be fast and flexible in deploying forces, vehicles, and other assets on shore. As senior officers in the service point out, the Navy must prepare i…

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…

Important article, I think: https://m.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2018-05/how-we-lost-great-pacific-war

Anchorage Daily News April 4, 2007 Pg. B3 International Force To Fight Mock Battles Over Alaska In Exercise ANCHORAGE -- More than 1,300 military personnel are arriving in Alaska this week to take part in multinational combat training. Members of U.S., French and Australian air forces will take part in Red Flag-Alaska, a series of training exercises that include war games with allies and mock enemies. The event kicks off Thursday and continues through April 21 at Eielson and Elmendorf Air Force bases. The effort will involve at least 10 simulated combat missions involving actual flying times over Alaska terrain, Senior Master Sgt. Charles Ramey w…

Navy decommissions last coastal minehunters By Zachary M. Peterson - Staff writer Posted : Sunday Dec 16, 2007 9:00:05 EST The Navy bid adieu to its last four Osprey-class coastal minehunter ships Dec. 1, leaving the service to rely on 14 Avenger-class minehunters and the nascent Littoral Combat Ship program to fill the niche mission of surveying shallow coastal waters for mines. The decommissioning ceremony was held at Naval Station Ingleside, Texas. The ships — Black Hawk, Cormorant, Kingfisher and Shrike — were capable of clearing harbors and other coastal waters of various types of underwater mines. The ships were commissioned between 1996 and 1999. T…

Navy’s First Operational MQ-4C Triton Squadron Stands Up This Week (USNI News)

From DefenseNews Posted 09/24/07 14:53 U.S. Missile Defense Agency Budget Funds ABL By TURNER BRINTON The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee fully funded the Missile Defense Agency’s Airborne Laser (ABL) for 2008, likely keeping the program on track for a critical test in 2009 in which the modified Boe¬ing 747 aircraft will attempt to shoot down a target missile. The House trimmed $50 million from the White House’s $548.8 mil¬lion request for the futuristic weapon system in its version of the 2008 defense appropriations bill. The Senate marked up its version of the bill Sept. 12. The House and Senate armed services committees had recom¬mended slashing $250 m…

Carrier Deployment First for E-2D, Last for SH-60F (Seapower)

Lexington Institute on "The Dumbest Weapons Decision of the Decade" Posted 19-Sep-2006 09:36 Defense Industry Daily With all of the recent C-17 related purchases by NATO, Canada, et. al., a reader drew our attention to a recent piece by military analyst Loren Thompson at the Lexington Institute think-tank in Washington, DC. Pulling no punches, it's titled "The Dumbest Weapons Decision of the Decade." People from other countries often underestimate the role of think tanks in Washington, because there are no comparable players in their own countries. That's a big mistake. American academia's growing irrelevance means that the policy agendas and talking points of …