US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

USN incident in UK

Peronally I think this news source is making a big deal out of nothing. The USN ship is not identified in this article.



US NAVY DECLARE WAR ON CLYDE FERRY
Exclusive By Cara Page
THE skipper of a tiny Clyde ferry feared his boat was going to be blown out of the water by a US warship yesterday.

The Kenilworth was sailing from Kilcreggan to Gourock when the American threatened to open fire.

The US ship had just set out from the nearby Faslane Navy base when it radioed the warning.

A source said: "The ferry skipper was just toddling across to Gourock when he got a call on the radio.

"A departing US naval ship warned, 'Unidentified vessel approaching on my starboard side, please identify yourself. If you fail to do so, we will open fire on you with live ammunition.'"

The source added: "The skipper got a real fright and radioed him back, saying he was just a wee ferry.

"If you've got a big battleship loaded with guns bearing down on you and threatening to shoot, it's quite scary."

The incident happened at 9.40am on the first day of a massive international training exercise - Operation Neptune Warrior - off the west coast of Scotland.

The first phase involved ships and submarines fighting off simulated terrorist attacks by small boats and jetskis manned by Royal Marines.

But unknown to the US crew, the Kenilworth, owned by Clyde Marine Services, was also in the vicinity.

In addition to threatening to blow it out of the water, the US ship also ordered the Kenilworth, built 70 years ago, to give it a wide berth of 1000 yards.

The shaken skipper put as much space between him and the warship as he could in a 10-minute crossing.

The messages were broadcast on VHF channel 16, which is the international calling and distress frequency.

Naval operations normally take place on secure channels which other maritime traffic cannot listen in to.

The source said: "A warning like that should not be broadcast on Channel 16 unless it is a real situation."

The ferry, carrying around a dozen passengers, arrived safely in Gourock before continuing its timetable.

A spokeswoman at Faslane confirmed the incident but said it was unclear who had been threatened.

She said six ships left the Clyde, including a US destroyer and frigate.

She said: "One of the US ships challenged a vessel to identify itself and its intentions and used channel 16 correctly for navigational safety reasons.

The ferry identified itself and was requested to keep a 1000-yard clearance which it complied with.

"The warship then issued a warning, threatening to take action. But it's unclear who they were trying to identify, as there were a number of ships nearby.

"The ferry heard this and identified itself. But channel 16 was wrongly used.

It should have been on an excercise frequency."

But she insisted: "There was absolutely no danger to the ferry or its passengers."

She said Commander Don Chalmers, the deputy director of the Joint Maritime Operational Training Staff, who organised the excercise, had apologised to the skipper.

She added: "All participants have been briefed on the correct procedures, to make sure it doesn't happen again."

A spokesman for the Clyde Coastguard said: "We are reviewing the incident and looking at radio logs."

US and Russia to hold joint military excercise



MOSCOW – A joint Russian-U.S. military exercise that was postponed amid opposition from nationalist parties will go ahead in 2007, Russian Defence Ministry officials said on Tuesday.
More than 200 U.S. servicemen, including 60 carrying firearms, had been due to take part in the Torgau-2006 joint training in central Russia in late September.

Russia postponed it indefinitely on Sept. 5, saying there was no law allowing the presence of U.S. military on its soil. Nationalists threatened protests if the exercise went ahead, saying it was a sign of creeping U.S influence.
A defence ministry spokeswoman said on Tuesday: 'Torgau has been delayed until 2007.'

Another Defence Ministry official said a law to allow U.S. soldiers into Russia would be adopted.

'The agreement will of course be ratified, there's no doubt about that,' Deputy Head of International Military Cooperation at the Ministry of Defence, Yevgeny Buzhinsky, told a news briefing.

Parliament has so far not ratified last year's Partnership for Peace Status of Forces (SOFA) agreement signed with NATO to facilitate the movement of alliance forces in Russia and of Russian troops in NATO member states.

Russian and U.S. soldiers took part in Torgau exercises in Russia and Germany in 2005.

Moscow's ties with NATO have been strained by the prospect of ex-Soviet Ukraine and Georgia joining the alliance.

Russian leaders acknowledge the right of the two countries, which have made a U-turn from their traditional dependence on Moscow, to join any international organisation.

But Russia sees NATO's overtures to Ukraine and Georgia as a potential threat to national security and a sign of the alliance poaching in what Moscow sees as its sphere of interests.

Russia-NATO military exercises have carried on as normal since the Torgau war games were postponed.

Nationalists described the Torgau exercises as an attempt 'to put a key Russian region on a NATO map'. They threatened to hold nationwide protests and

I personally think Turkey should go with eurofighter typhoon due to political reasons, but they are picking JSF

LONDON (AFX) - Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul has signalled Turkey's intention
to buy 100 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in a multi-billion dollar procurement
project, Turkish newspapers reported.
Gonul told Turkish reporters during an official visit to the United States
that Turkey and eight other countries involved in the F-35 project would sign a
memorandum of understanding by the end of November.
"Nine countries, including us, will sign it," newspapers quoted Gonul as
saying.
The minister was speaking after talks with US Defence Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld and his deputy Gordon England on topics ranging from combating
terrorism to the Turkish military's procurement projects.
The Turkish media reported before Gonul's trip that the Turkish Air Force
had chosen the F-35 in a project to buy 100 new generation combat aircraft to
replace the F-16, F-4 and F-5 aircraft currently used.
Gonul said the project would span the next 30 to 40 years and be worth an
estimated 11 to 12 bln usd.
He said the first plane would be delivered to Turkey in 2014.
The F-35 is being designed and built by a team led by US the firm Lockheed
Martin and is funded by a consortium of nine countries: the United States,
Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, Turkey, Australia, Norway and Denmark.
The first F-35s are expected to become operational in 2012.
The other option in the Turkish procurement project was the Eurofighter
Typhoon, built by a consortium of British, German, Italian and Spanish aerospace
manufacturers.

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Military newspapers call for Rumsfeld to resign

I will drink to that!

Four military newspapers to call for Rumsfeld's removal



By STEVE STONE , The Virginian-Pilot
© November 4, 2006 | Last updated 2:24 PM Nov. 4

Four newspapers serving the military community will call for the replacement of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in an editorial to be published Monday.

"We say that Rumsfeld must be replaced," Alex Neill, the managing editor of the Army Times, said Friday night in a telephone interview. "Given the state of affairs with Iraq and the military right now, we think it's a good time for new leadership there."

The editorial, which also will appear in the Navy Times, the Marine Corps Times and the Air Force Times, was written by senior managing editor Robert Hodierne, based on a decision of the publications' editorial board, Neill said.

The international papers, which circulate widely in Hampton Roads, are published by the Military Times Media Group, a division of the Gannett Co. Inc.

"The editorial says that Rumsfeld has lost faith with the military leadership, with Congress, with the public in general," Neill said.

The timing of the editorial, coming on the eve of mid term elections, was coincidental, Neill said. "The military - our readers - follow a chain of command," Neill said. "They are going to follow orders, so we don't get into trying to say who they should vote for, not vote for or any of that."

Rather, "President Bush came out and said that Donald Rumsfeld is in for the duration... so it's just a timely issue for us. And our position is that it is not the best course for the military" for Rumsfeld to remain the Pentagon chief.

President Bush said Wednesday he wants Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney to remain until the end of his presidency.

Neill said he is uncertain how troops will react.

"I think we'll hear from both sides," he said. "It will be interesting to find out if it swings significantly one way or the other."
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Rummy prepares to hand over the reigns of the US DoD to Spiderman and CAPT. America!!!

US and Japan conducting joint excersise



Japan, U.S. plan joint air, naval drills from Thurs

REUTERS

12:23 a.m. November 7, 2006

TOKYO – Japan and the United States said on Tuesday they will hold joint air and naval exercises for a week from Thursday in waters and airspace around Japan.
The exercises come at a time when the international community is trying to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions.


North Korea agreed to return to stalled six-party talks on ending its nuclear weapons programme last week, about three weeks after Pyongyang staged its first nuclear test.
The U.S. Navy said it would send about a dozen warships for the drills, including the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier and the USS Shiloh, which is equipped with the high-tech Aegis radar system and SM-3 missiles intended to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles.

About 90 Japanese warships and 170 aircraft will take part in the joint naval exercises with the United States in waters including the Sea of Japan, the Japanese defence ministry official said.

The official said the exercises were being held to ensure close security coordination between Japan and the United States.

'The joint naval exercises between Japan and the United States are not aimed at any specific country or region,' the official said.

The U.S. Navy said in a statement that the exercise was 'designed to improve both Naval Forces' capabilities for coordinated and bilateral operations in the defence of Japan.'

RUMSFELD RESIGNS!!

Rummy is out! I cannot stand that man... Robert Yates a cronie(my words) of the Bush family will now lead the US DoD. Pres Bush just confirmed this on US Tv.



WASHINGTON - Republican officials said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is stepping down. Word came a day after the Democratic gains in the election, in which Rumsfeld was a focus of much of the criticism of the Iraq war.

Earlier today, a spokesman for Rumsfeld said he'd given no indication that he would step down in the wake of Democratic election gains. The spokesman said Rumsfeld would work with Congress on Iraq but added that the focus on stabilizing the country will remain the same.

In the days leading up to the election, President Bush said he wanted Rumsfeld to stay on as defense chief until the end of Bush's second term.

To learn that US Sec of Defence Donald Rumsfeld has resigned within 24 hours of the Republicans losing control of the Congress, comes as no surprise whatsoever.

Politics is an opportunist business, you do deals when you must but never when you dont need to. For the last six years Rumsfeld and his colleauges have been living in Hog Heaven, they have had a perfect patsy for President and control of both houses, they have been able to force through their agenda without effective opposition and enjoy a level of power usually associated with Medieval Eastern Potentates.

Now the party is over and Rumsfeld, an old man already, has had decades of working in Political deadlock during the Ford, Reagan and Bush senior years and has obviously had no desire to go back to it.

I will not miss him, but this is a hollow victory and one in which he goes out on a high.

Will he be alone in leaving? I doubt it, in fairly quick succession I think you will see most of the old guard, Cheney etc, step down. Like Rumsfeld they have had their Swansong so why bother to stay? It also gives a chance to some new faces to establish themselves on the National scene in time for 2008.

Will he be alone in leaving? I doubt it, in fairly quick succession I think you will see most of the old guard, Cheney etc, step down.

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Cheney won't step down. He was elected Vice president of the US. Not appointed. The only US vice president to resign was that crook Spiro Agnew of the Nixon regime. If by chance Cheney did resign that would leave the VP slot vacant and make Nancy Pelosi next inline for the presidency if Prez. Bush died in office. She,Peloisi, is a left wing nut case. But in January she will become Speaker of the house which makes her third in line to be President.

I cannot speculate on any other cabinet members resigning at this time. Would C.Rice step down? I don't know.

Your overlook of politics is right on the money in the other aspects you mentioned.

On Newsnight, one American politician pointed out that a lot of Republicans will be annoyed by this. Not because he was fired, but because he was fired only after the defeat. What they want to know is why he couldn't have been kicked out beforehand - it might have saved their jobs, they will think.

FuManChu said:

On Newsnight, one American politician pointed out that a lot of Republicans will be annoyed by this. Not because he was fired, but because he was fired only after the defeat. What they want to know is why he couldn't have been kicked out beforehand - it might have saved their jobs, they will think.

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He quit he was not fired there is a difrence. When i Quit a job it means I am the one who wants out when I get fired from a job it means they found out what i was doing to your burger