Current Events in the Americas

Thousands of problems found on amphib ship InSurv notes 5,564 ‘cards’ aboard San Antonio. Crew contends with ‘incomplete’ ship By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer Posted : Saturday Apr 21, 2007 7:55:28 EDT The amphibious transport dock San Antonio has been at sea more than half of the past year — more than 200 days — performing a long series of trials to certify that the Navy’s newest amphibious ships can perform their missions as designed. Now the Navy is getting down to some details left aside when the “gator” Borei class was delivered from its builder in July 2005 — which involve actually finishing the ship. But it’s a long list of details: 5,564 “…

Tight budget forces Navy to put squeeze on sub But analysts say subtracting Dolphin will only add to costs By Steve Liewer UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER August 28, 2006 Navy budget cutters are about to achieve what flood and fire could not: sink the Dolphin submarine. Less than a year after completing a $50 million project to repair and upgrade the San Diego-based research vessel, the Navy will decommission it Sept. 22. It is the country's last diesel-electric sub. Pentagon officials say the Dolphin's age and uniqueness caught up with it, making it expensive to operate and maintain. The research vessel is based at Point Loma. Axing the Dolphin will sav…

From Navy Times April 29, 2005 Time is up for Grim Reapers By William H. McMichael Times staff writer OCEANA NAVAL AIR STATION, Va. — The F-14 Tomcat is fading into the sunset. And so are the Grim Reapers. The Navy’s only Tomcat training squadron will be gone for good by mid-September. The squadron has trained its last new Tomcat pilot. Training continues but only for a few veteran, senior fliers going through post-shore duty refresher training before returning to the fleet. From a late-1990s high of more than 60 jets and a personnel roster that topped 1,000, the squadron is down to nine jets, 70 enlisted sailors, 25 officers and about 100 civilian cont…

U.S. Navy: Time to Bring Back the S-3 Viking? (The Diplomat) The S-3 was (is) an extremely versatile asset. I find it hard to disagree with the sentiment of this article.

Time to change America's atomic arsenal (The Diplomat)

From Armed Forces Journal, April 2011 issue

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

Navy Times Video

US Navy's transition from Prowlers to Growlers proceeding smoothly Good DEW Line blog article on the transition, with photos.

Los Angeles Times February 28, 2006 Troubled Aircraft Nearly Battle-Ready By Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. — The Marine Corps plans to send the troubled Osprey aircraft into combat within a year and is activating a squadron of the tilt-rotor planes this week. "Obviously, due to operational concerns we don't want to tell exactly when they will deploy," said spokesman Master Sgt. Phil Mehringer at Marine Corps Air Station New River in North Carolina, where the squadron will be based. "But it's certainly going to happen in the near future. Definitely, within a year." The Osprey, which takes off and lands like a helicopter and flies like an airplane, has had …

From Ares Blog TSSAM Settled, Is A-12 Next? Posted by Robert Wall at 4/3/2009 7:59 AM CDT The long-running legal saga over the Pentagon’s cancellation of the TSSAM stealthy cruise missile is over. Could it pre-sage a settlement for the A-12? Northrop Grumman has announced the end to two cases between it and the government over the Tri-Service Standoff Attack Missile, which the Pentagon announced Dec. 9, 1994 would be cancelled. Northrop began the development program in1986 under a fixed-price, incentive fee contract. The decision was part of a slew of program adjustments the Clinton Administration made on that day, including restructuring the RAH-66 Coman…

Colombia says Russian bombers violated at least twice his airspace: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/06/us-colombia-russia-airspace-idUSBRE9A504020131106

From Flight Global DATE: 22/09/09 SOURCE: Flight International RAF Typhoons arrive for Falkland Islands mission By Craig Hoyle Four Eurofighter Typhoons from the UK Royal Air Force have arrived at Mount Pleasant airport in the Falkland Islands, where the type will soon replace the service's Panavia Tornado F3 to deliver air defence services. The Typhoons left RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire on 12 September accompanied by a spare aircraft, and were flown to the South Atlantic with support from in-flight refuelling aircraft. The fighters have been drawn from the RAF's 3 Sqn, but left the UK without unit markings. Pictured shortly before its departure fro…

U.S. Army To Lockheed: Stop Working On ACS By GOPAL RATNAM defensenews The U.S. Army asked Lockheed Martin to stop work on the $879 million Aerial Common Sensor program contract for a new spy plane after a review found that continuing the current effort would delay the program by two years and lead to additional costs. In a Sept. 14 statement, the Army’s Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM), Fort Monmouth, N.J., said Lockheed had 60 days to resolve problems that company officials found in June. “Although we're issuing a stop work order, it is important to note that we’re not terminating the contract at this time,” said Edward Bair, the Army’s progra…

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…

U.S. House Panel: Cap DD(X) Buy at 2 DefenseNews At about $4 billion per ship, the U.S. Navy’s DD(X)/DG 1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer is just too expensive, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett said. So on April 2, the House subcommittee that Bartlett heads passed legislation to limit the program to just two ships. That means $2.6 billion for the 2007 defense budget to buy one ship and begin detailed designs for a second. But after that, no more. “That is my wish,” Bartlett explained after the unanimous vote by the House Armed Services projection forces subcommittee. [ MORE ]

U.S. LCS Counts Down to Major Deployment (DefenseNews) Including a pic of the intended paint scheme for the deployment.

Bloomberg.com January 17, 2006 U.S. May Arm Subs With Conventional Warheads For Quicker Strike By Tony Capaccio The Pentagon wants to spend up to $500 million through 2011 to replace nuclear warheads with conventional warheads on some submarine-launched ballistic missiles, according to budget documents. The purpose is to allow quicker preemptive attacks on deeply buried enemy command centers or stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. U.S. submarines carry ballistic missiles that fly at supersonic speeds, faster than those launched from land- based silos or airplanes. ``This weapon would give the U.S. global, conventional preemption -- a first-stri…

The drama called the US defense budget saga, can be likened to a poorly cast and predictably-plotted soap opera! Here's the source: http://defensenews.com/story.php?c=AME&amp...49668&s=SEA Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the US shipbuilding industry is getting a high priority in our national defense. What I'm saying is - its overrated. Two flavors of LCS (which are white elephants). The Danish experimented with "multi-purpose" warships and found they didn't work. The Virginia class SSN, while nice is not the best platform for the job. UW is shifting from the deep blue water of the oceans to the littoral. It's like taking a race horse and strapping it to a log…

U.S. sub may have toured Canadian Arctic zone 'We don't have any idea what's going on up there': expert Chris Wattie, National Post Published: Monday, December 19, 2005 A U.S. nuclear submarine cruised through the Arctic Ocean last month -- probably passing through Canadian territorial waters -- but the federal government is refusing to say whether it gave permission for the voyage. However, experts say it is highly unlikely Canada was even notified of the USS Charlotte's northern tour, which included a Nov. 10 stop at the North Pole, because it has no way of tracking what goes on beneath the Arctic ice. And that could threaten Canada's claim to hundr…