Current Events in the Americas

Miami Herald March 30, 2006 U.S. Defends Its Naval Exercise Amid talk by President Hugo Chávez of a planned attack, the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela said a naval exercise in the Caribbean was no cause for concern. By Associated Press CARACAS (AP) -- The U.S. ambassador to Venezuela downplayed the planned deployment of a U.S. aircraft carrier for naval exercises in the Caribbean amid claims by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez that his nation must prepare for a possible U.S. invasion. The Doral-based U.S. Southern Command this week announced that the USS George Washington -- along with a destroyer, cruiser, frigate and a 60-plane air wing -- would cond…

DoD: Forces still ready for other conflicts By William H. McMichael - Staff writer Posted : Friday Apr 6, 2007 6:19:48 EDT U.S. forces have “enormous power and capacity” despite the demands of the war in Iraq and could defeat any potential enemy, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs said Thursday. “There’s zero doubt about the outcome,” Marine Gen. Peter Pace said at a Pentagon news conference with Defense Secretary Robert Gates. “It would simply take us longer than we would like.” Pace acknowledged that the war’s demands, with units spending a year or less back home before being redeployed, mean that troops get “well-trained” for the war but do not get train…

Find it here. MEU BLT Preps for Nighttime Boat Raids Marine Corps News | Lcpl. Bryan A. Peterson | September 25, 2006 Kin Blue, Okinawa, Japan - More than 100 Marines and sailors with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit's battalion landing team rehearsed boat landing raids Sept. 11 at Kin Blue. The daytime rehearsals helped prepare the A Company Marines and sailors of 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, for a difficult nighttime operation at Camp Schwab later that day, according to 1st Sgt. Tracy Offutt, the company first sergeant. "We need to be able to sustain our capabilities in over-the-horizon small boat amphibious operations," Offutt said. "Practicing d…

From Flight Global DATE: 12/05/09 SOURCE: Flightglobal.com Boeing: Airborne Laser test aims to defy 'stunt' and 'one-shot wonder' labels By Stephen Trimble A Boeing official says the YAL-1 Airborne Laser (ABL) will seek to pre-empt critics of the programme's first shootdown test scheduled later this year by choosing a deliberately difficult engagement scenario. Both the first shoot-down attempt and a follow-on test will engage targets simulating the design and trajectory of short range ballistic missile (SRBM), Boeing Michael Rinn told reporters attending a week-long media tour. To engage a relatively low-altitude SRBM, the 747-400F-based ABL's megaw…

From Flight International DATE: 04/08/08 SOURCE: Flight International US Navy discloses three-year, 36-aircraft buy for P-8A By Stephen Trimble The US Navy clarified today that it will order 36 Boeing P-8A Poseidons during the first three years of production, perhaps further opening the door to accelerating the in-service date by one year. The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) disclosed the purchasing plans for the first three low-rate initial production (LRIP) lots from 2010 to 2012 on the Federal Business Opportunities web site. NAVAIR expects to order 10 aircraft in fiscal 2010, followed by 12 in FY2011 and 14 in FY2012. Advance procurement funds…

From Navy Times ‘We still have a little fight left’ Carrier leaves Norfolk for the last time, heads to Boston By Mark D. Faram - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Feb 27, 2007 12:18:24 EST Aboard the USS John F. Kennedy —The aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy didn’t look like a ship about to be decommissioned as it left Norfolk, Va., on Sunday. And that’s just the way the crew wanted it. Pulling away from the pier and heading out of Hampton Roads into open water, one “Big John” crew member was happy to have quieted the rumor mill. “We heard the waterfront rumors, and many here expected us to limp in, leaking fluids and looking like a garbage scow,” sai…

At last some of punch, USS Coronado fires NSM: http://www.defensenews.com/article/20140724/DEFREG02/307240028/LCS-Conduct-Test-Norwegian-Missile

From Flight International JSF team rejects dedicated EA-35 By Graham Warwick USMC looks at 'plug-and-play' electronic alternatives The US Marine Corps is looking to raise the electronic attack capability of its Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, but will not build a dedicated "EA-35" jamming version, says deputy commandant for aviation Lt Gen John Castellaw. Just last year, the JSF team was studying an EA-35 variant, but Castellaw now says: "We are moving away from dedicated platforms. We get a designed-in [electronic attack] capability with the AESA [active electronically scanned array radar], and there are other opportunities we will be pursuing."…

From DefenseNews U.S. Tries Putting Patriots on F-15s By KRIS OSBORN U.S. fighter jets laden with Patriot missiles may one day help shoot down incoming ballistic missiles, Lockheed Martin officials said. Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control is working with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to put Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles under the wing of an F-15 fighter, said Mike Trotsky, the division’s vice president. The firm is working under a contract from 2005 worth roughly $2 million. A new contract, expected to be worth about $3 million, will start work with other fighter planes. “We’re looking at the F-16. F-22, F-35, F-15,” said Trotsky. De…

From Aviation Week New Bomber To Focus Heavily On ISR Dec 17, 2009 By David A. Fulghum The U.S. Air Force’s ISR chief says a new bomber design will be more about intelligence gathering and non-kinetic weapons than about bombing. The arsenal of this “long-range, ISR/Strike” aircraft may eventually include directed energy and network attack, says Lt. Gen. Dave Deptula, deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). Directed energy weapons under development by the Pentagon include a range of lasers and devices that produce pulses of high-power microwaves. Other non-kinetic capabilities include the attack of enemy sensors with…

Extra Red Flag week allows for more missions Find the Air Force Times article here. By Erik Holmes - Staff writer Posted : Monday Jan 19, 2009 5:49:29 EST In the most significant change in its more than 30-year history, the Red Flag aerial combat exercise held at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., will expand from two to three weeks for the exercise that begins in late February and will include a greater emphasis on close-air support missions. The changes will allow Red Flag to more closely represent how a modern war likely would unfold, said Lt. Col. Paul Johnson, deputy commander of Nellis’ 414th Combat Training Squadron, which runs Red Flag. “Red Flag ha…

From The Diplomat [excerpt]

Just learned the ARC is planning three additional hulls of their 80m 20 de Julio class offshore patrol vessel (OPV). The ships are based on the Fassmer 80-meter design. This will bring the class up to a total number of five when completed. FWFS, Greg Emerson, DM1(SW), USN-Retired Renton, WA, USA

Navy Ohio Replacement Sub Class to Be Named for D.C. (USNI News) The Columbia class.

Just when things couldn't get worse for the LCS program ... From DefenseNews Posted 04/25/07 22:34 Fire Strikes New U.S. Navy Ship By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS A fire broke out on board the U.S. Navy’s littoral combat ship (LCS) USS Freedom early April 25, damaging a ship that already has had more than its share of problems. The Freedom is under construction at Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wis., under a program managed by Lockheed Martin. The ship, launched in September, is about 80 percent complete, said Diana Massing, a spokesperson for Lockheed. The fire, which burned for nearly an hour, broke out about 5:30 a.m. in a starboard-side berthing compartment in…

AH-1Z/UH-1Y Complete Developmental Testing Here (Source: US Navy via Bell Helicopter; issued March 1, 2006) NAVAIR PATUXENT RIVER, MD --- The H-1 Upgrades Program, which is replacing aging Marine Corps UH-1N and AH-1W aircraft with upgraded and 84-percent identical UH-1Y and AH-1Z aircraft, completed developmental testing Feb. 17. Currently, the program is preparing to enter Operational Evaluation as well as to start a third Low-Rate Initial Production lot. Two of the five developmental test aircraft have already been transferred to the operational test squadron and are being used to train the Marines who will conduct the operational evaluation…

Lockheed's AMDR

Bloomberg.com December 14, 2005 Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor Ready for Combat, Air Force Says By Tony Capaccio Lockheed Martin Corp's F-22A Raptor stealth fighter, the most expensive fighter plane ever built, is ready for wartime operations, the Air Force's top combat commander said today. “If we go to war tomorrow, the Raptor will be with us,” Air Combat Command General Ronald Keys wrote of a plane that's weathered congressional and public debate on its relevance post-Cold War. The Air Force says it needs at least 381 Raptors but the Pentagon plans to buy only about 180 though 2010. Lockheed already has delivered 56. Boeing Co. is the top subcontractor.…

From Defense-Aerospace Pentagon Contract Announcement (Source: US Department of Defense; issued June 27, 2006) Lockheed Martin Corp. Maritime Systems & Sensors, Moorestown, N.J., is being awarded a $197,644,515 cost-plus-incentive-fee/award-fee modification under a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for construction of one Flight 0 Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). The LCS will be a networked, agile, and high-speed surface combatant with versatile war-fighting capabilities optimized for littoral missions. Work will be performed in Lockport, La. (63 percent); Moorestown, N.J. (36 percent); and Arlington, Va. (1 percent), and is expected to…

Will succeed ADM Mullen on 30 September