Current Events in the Americas

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 …

Officials Discuss Executive Agency for UAVs (Source: US Air Force; issued April 14, 2007) WASHINGTON --- Air Force officials invited Defense representatives to the Pentagon April 13 to discuss the Air Force's proposal to assume executive agent responsibilities for medium- and high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles. The proposal was put forward March 5 in a memorandum to senior Defense officials from Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley. The memorandum stated the Air Force's desire for executive agency of the UAVs, and also indicated its desire to discuss the proposal with other service and combatant command representatives, said Col. …

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 Air Force Times ‘The Airman’s Creed’ issued By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer Posted : Thursday Apr 19, 2007 9:10:30 EDT Through 60 years of flying and fighting, there has been something missing from Air Force tradition — an official creed for airmen. This week that changed. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley and Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Rodney McKinley are issuing “The Airman’s Creed” as part of wider range of initiatives to encourage a “warrior ethos” in airmen. “When you look at our new Air Force creed and you say; ‘I am an American airman. I am a warrior. I have answered my nation’s call’ — imagine at basic military tra…

Coast Guard to decommission troubled 123s By Patricia Kime - Staff Writer Posted : Wednesday Apr 18, 2007 7:33:57 EDT The Coast Guard will decommission eight recently built patrol boats because the ships suffer from hull deformations and other problems that would be cost-prohibitive to fix, officials said Tuesday. The decision to scrap the ships — eight 123-foot Island Class patrol boats that were refurbished between 2003 and 2005 — is the final nail in the coffin for the long-beleaguered program. The vessels were never fully operational and their troubles became central in a debate over the Coast Guard’s handling of its Deepwater modernization program. C…

Pearl Harbor may get amphib group By William Cole - Gannett News Service Posted : Tuesday Apr 17, 2007 16:29:19 EDT Hawaii didn’t get the Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group, but planning is underway that could bring a smaller cousin — an amphibious assault ship and its escort ships — to Pearl Harbor, officials said. An amphibious ready group “is almost as good as getting an aircraft carrier,” said Loren Thompson, a defense expert with the Lexington Institute in Virginia. “It’s fewer personnel, but it’s an entire war-fighting package of ships and aircraft.” Such a ship grouping typically has at its core a carrierlike assault ship with helicopters an…

Showdown Ends in Cancellation U.S. Navy Scraps LCS 3 After Dispute With Lockheed By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS DefenseNews The U.S. Navy’s abrupt decision to cancel construction of a Lockheed Martin Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) leaves many wondering what it means to Lockheed, the LCS program, shipbuilders, service acquisition and the fleet itself. Navy Secretary Donald Winter, who has pledged to use any method at his disposal to hold down shipbuilding costs, has repeatedly urged industry to modernize and find new ways to build ships. But shipbuilders are digging in, tired of the badgering from Navy officials and lawmakers alike. They say too little attention is giv…

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 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. …

Report: Sailors killed while tethered to sub Rough seas also threatened to sink ship By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Apr 10, 2007 10:56:16 EDT Two sailors from the attack submarine Minneapolis-St. Paul were killed Dec. 29 off Plymouth, England, after being washed overboard in rough seas that soon threatened to sink the ship, according an investigative report released Monday under a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Navy Times. Senior Chief Electronics Technician (SS) Thomas K. Higgins, 45, chief of the boat, died in the accident, along with Sonar Technician 2nd Class (SS) Michael J. Holtz. A third sailor, Sonar Technician 1st C…

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…

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…

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…

Argentina planned to blow up warship in Gibraltar during the Falklands War By Graham Keeley in Barcelona Published: 04 April 2007 TheIndependent It was a spy story with a plot out of James Bond. During the Falklands War, Argentina planned to blow up a British warship in Gibraltar. The main protagonist was a former left-wing guerrilla turned spy who specialised in mine attacks on warships. A Spanish film-maker, Jesus Mora, has made a documentary about Operation Algeciras. For many years, no one in authority would admit the plot existed but Mora got the former Spanish prime minister Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo and the chief of the Argentine navy at the time, Admira…

From DefenseNews Posted 04/02/07 10:41 Is New U.S. Destroyer Unstable? Experts Doubt Radical Hull; Navy Says All Is Well By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS As the U.S. Navy is poised to award the first construction contracts on its new multibillion-dollar DDG 1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer, experts in and outside the Navy say the radical new hull design might be unstable. Given just the right conditions, some say, it could even roll over. At least eight current and former officers, naval engineers and architects and naval analysts interviewed for this article expressed concerns about the ship’s stability. One former flag officer, asked about DDG 1000, responded by puttin…

From Aviation Week JSF Juggling Engine, Cost, Schedule and Weight Issues Apr 1, 2007 By Amy Butler and Robert Wall The Joint Strike Fighter's price is expected to increase 4% due to Pentagon funding cuts. And if Congress reinstates development of a second engine for the stealthy aircraft, the cost could rise further. The increase could amount to more than $6 billion over the life of the massive, 3,000-aircraft program. But cost is only one of a flurry of issues ahead as development work moves into high gear. All three F-35 JSF versions will face key hurdles in the coming months, with program officials trying to keep the Lockheed Martin-led industrial team fr…

From DefenseNews Posted 03/28/07 18:15 Lawmakers Offer Ships That U.S. Navy Is Reluctant To Accept By WILLIAM MATTHEWS Some in the U.S. House of Representatives want to buy the Navy 12 new ships next year, not just the seven the service requested in the 2008 budget proposal. But when asked by appropriators in the Senate “what number is prudent,” the Navy’s top officer suggested maybe eight. After complaining for years that its fleet is shrinking and that its shipbuilding budget isn’t big enough, the Navy finds itself in the awkward position of having to turn down an opportunity to dramatically increase shipbuilding. One problem is that U.S. shipyards would be…

McCaffrey: Military ‘in peril’ By Sean D. Naylor - Staff writer Posted : Wednesday Mar 28, 2007 9:21:33 EDT The Iraq war has left the U.S. military “in a position of strategic peril,” retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey has warned in the wake of a recent trip to Iraq. “The majority of the Iraqi population [sunni and Shia] support armed attacks on American forces” while “U.S. domestic support for the war in Iraq has evaporated and will not return,” McCaffrey writes in a memo to colleagues at the U.S. Military Academy, where he is an adjunct professor of international affairs. He says the United States and its allies must focus on a strategy aimed at a politi…

Command readies assault on terror Web sites By Jim Michaels - USA Today Posted : Wednesday Mar 28, 2007 6:34:42 EDT The U.S. military has been quietly developing capabilities to attack enemy computer networks, including hacking into terrorist Web sites, military officials and experts say. The move comes as al-Qaida and other groups fighting in Iraq and elsewhere have expanded their activities on the Internet and increased the sophistication and volume of their videos and messages. Much of the material is designed to raise money and recruit fighters for Iraq. “You should not let them operate uncontested” on the Internet and elsewhere in cyberspace, said Ma…

Navy Lacks Plan to Defend Against `Carrier-Destroying' Missile YahooNews Tony Capaccio Fri Mar 23, 12:18 AM ET March 23 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Navy, after nearly six years of warnings from Pentagon testers, still lacks a plan for defending aircraft carriers against a supersonic Russian-built missile, according to current and former officials and Defense Department documents. The missile, known in the West as the ``Sizzler,'' has been deployed by China and may be purchased by Iran. Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England has given the Navy until April 29 to explain how it will counter the missile, according to a Pentagon budget document. The Defense …