Current Events in the Americas

Heron, Reaper and Hermes 900 Compete for Canadas Arctic mission (Defense Update)

For use with Google Earth: UCS Nuclear Weapons Complex map

Navy To Begin Arming Subs With Ship-Killer Missile (Breaking Defense)

UK prime minister rebuffs Argentina over Falklands (BBC News)

Corps looks to add armor to AAVs By Kris Osborn - Staff writer Posted : Wednesday May 23, 2007 6:18:23 EDT The Marine Corps is considering adding armor upgrades across the entire fleet of Assault Amphibious Vehicles, service officials said Tuesday. Plans for greater armor protection and survivability on the AAV are being evaluated, in part, due to delays with the Corps’ next-generation Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. “We have been putting together possible upgrade packets,†said Brian Prosser, Program Manager, Assault Amphibious Vehicle Systems, Marine Corps Systems Command. Now in its system development and demonstration phase, the EFV fielding date w…

US Army retires final Kiowa Warrior (Jane's)

US Army Weapon Systems Handbook 2011 (PDF): download here

MSNBC blog Basically, the US hasn't passed its FY 2011 budget yet and has been operating on "continuing resolutions" since 1 October. The current resolution ends on 4 March. This is having a military impact, as the latest issue of AIR International points out; some procurement stuff can't be started.

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 Aviation Week U.S. Considering Shooting Down Satellite Feb 12, 2008 By David A. Fulghum U.S. officials are studying the possibility of shooting down the errant Lockheed Martin intelligence satellite that was launched into space for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The concern is that the spacecraft carries a full tank of hydrazine - a toxic propellant - that would have been used to reposition the satellite in orbit. Government analysts say the odds are that the tank will crack open during re-entry or than it will land in the ocean, which makes up 70% of the area where the breaking up satellite might land. There also is concern in some quarters …

Source: Defense Budget - Priorities & Choices January 2012 (PDF is attached) Okay boys and girls, it looks like the final cuts to the US Defense budget have been made and it ain't pretty. Here's the mountain tops above 10,000ft version ... No Ford class CVN slip ... but the sub force won't get two VA class for a year. Marines won’t be happy with L class cuts/slips LCS and JHSV both got slammed pretty hard on the budget mat, with major program cuts. "To ensure sufficient resources to protect these strategic priorities, we will reduce the number of ships by slowing the pace of building new ships and by accelerating the retirement of some existing sh…

From DefenseNews U.S. Delays Missile Launch over Canadian Safety Concerns By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, OTTAWA The United States has agreed to delay a missile launch planned for next week after Canada voiced concerns that rocket debris could fall on offshore oil platforms, Defense Minister Bill Graham said April 7. The U.S. Defense Department’s decision was taken after Newfoundland Prime Minister Danny Williams ordered the evacuation of hundreds of oil workers in his Atlantic coast province ahead of the launch, planned for April 11. Canada “strongly urged” the United States to postpone the launch due to concerns that debris from the Titan IV rocket, which was …

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 Flight Global's DEW Line blog [excerpt]

Aircraft Procurement Plan, FY 2012-2041 (PDF, 25 pp)

Initially Upbeat USAF Budget Request Turns Dour Long Term (Aviation Week) U.S. Navy Budget Takes $10.7 Billion Sequestration Hit (Aviation Week) DoD 2014 Request is $52B Over Spending Caps (DefenseNews) The Army Has It Worst 2.0: Readiness Shortchanged $13.7 Billion (AOL Defense)

CV32: Interesting take on a perceived shift in priorities in the US DoD/budget ... From Defense Program Begins to Swing Back Towards "High-End" Conflicts

The December 2008 issue of Air Forces Monthly has a supplement called "US Fighters: A Briefing on the USA's Fighter Capabilities", which in turn contains a current inventory of US armed forces' fighter aircraft types. I thought I'd share those numbers here: OA/A-10A Thunderbolt II Delivered: 714 (from October 1975) Current: 236 Losses: 103 Converted: 120 Withdrawn: 79 Stored: 176 A-10C Thunderbolt II Delivered: 120 (reached IOC in September 2007) Current: 120 Losses: 0 Withdrawn: 0 Stored: 0 On order: 220 F-15A Eagle Delivered: 365 (from January 1976) Current: 46 Losses: 46 Withdrawn: 96 Sold: 24 Stored: 153 F-15B Eagle Delivered: 59 (fr…

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…

From Aviation Week [excerpt]