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Japan, U.S. reach deal on Okinawa land return
Futenma relocation set in 2022
Apr. 5, 2013 - 03:51PM |


Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, shakes hands with U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos at their joint announcement April 5 at Abe's official residence in Tokyo. Japan and the U.S. agreed on plans for returning to Japan land adjacent to Kadena Air Base on the southern island of Okinawa that is now used by the U.S. military. (Issei Kato / AP pool)

The Associated Press

TOKYO — Japan and the U.S. said Friday that they have agreed on plans for returning to Japan land near Kadena Air Base on the southern island of Okinawa that is now used by U.S. troops, in an effort to balance local concerns with support for the countries’ military alliance.

A statement issued by both sides characterized the plan as a realignment and consolidation of U.S. forces in Okinawa.

“Recognizing the strong desires of Okinawa residents, this consolidation plan is to be implemented as soon as possible while ensuring operational capability, including training capability, throughout the process,” it said.

Okinawa was invaded by U.S. forces in World War II and has had an American military presence since. Tensions over land use, crimes committed by military personnel and disruptions by military flights on the heavily populated, semi-tropical island have been building over the years.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos announced the agreement Friday.

“This is a very important event for reducing the impact of our bases in Okinawa, but at the same time maintaining the long-term sustainability of our bases and our ability to achieve peace and security in the region and the defense of Japan,” Roos said.

The plans call for eventually returning more than 570 hectares (1,400 acres) of land near Kadena. The various facilities and land are being returned to Japan as replacement locations become available and troops are transferred out of Japan.

It also includes separate timetables and arrangements for relocating the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station in the Okinawan city of Ginowan beginning in fiscal 2022. The original plan for relocating Futenma to another location, Nago, by 2014 was put off due to local opposition.

Abe said the agreement demonstrated that both sides recognized the need to reduce the burden imposed on Okinawa by the Japan-U.S. alliance.

“We will follow this plan intending to do our best to realize the return (of Okinawan land) as soon as possible,” he said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the agreement marked an important step in America’s efforts to maintain an “effective U.S. force presence in the region while reducing our footprint on the island of Okinawa.”

“Now more than ever it is essential that the United States maintain a geographically distributed and sustainable force throughout Asia that can provide for the protection of Japan and our other allies, and U.S. interests,” Hagel said in a statement.

An earlier agreement called for setting detailed plans by late 2012 for returning facilities and land to Okinawa. But progress was slowed by funding cuts that delayed relocating troops and facilities to Guam and families of U.S. service members to South Korea.

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Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.

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Fort Bliss to build biggest solar farm in military
The Associated Press

FORT BLISS, Texas — Fort Bliss will start construction of the largest solar energy farm in the U.S. military.

Once completed, the 20-megawatt solar farm is expected to power all of the 1st Armored Division headquarters and most of East Fort Bliss.

Gen. Dana Pittard, the commander of Fort Bliss, is scheduled to announce Friday the Army Corp of Engineers authorization for El Paso Electric to launch the project. It’s the first time the Army is partnering with a local utility on a renewable energy project of that size.

In a statement, Fort Bliss said the new project will reduce the base’s carbon footprint and be a step toward fulfilling the Army’s goal of using 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2025.

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First Rapid Prototype Torpedo Warning System Testing On Board CVN
Story Number: NNS130321-12
3/21/2013
By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Samantha Thorpe, USS George H.W. Bush Public Affairs

USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH, At Sea (NNS) -- USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) and Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) PMS 415's Surface Ship Torpedo Defense (SSTD) team began at-sea testing and data collection of the Rapid Prototype Torpedo Warning System (TWS) and Countermeasure Anti-Torpedo (CAT) system, March 19.

This marks the first aircraft carrier employment of the TWS, which was installed during the ship's recent planned incremental availability (PIA) period.

The TWS was streamed in order to collect acoustic data and fine tune the system. The SSTD team, led by PMS 415 Program Manager, Capt. Moises DelToro, has worked on this high priority Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) system in order to be operational for CVN 77's upcoming deployment. Capt. DelToro and the SSTD Team have been extremely impressed and grateful for the support, enthusiasm, and professionalism shown by the ship's crew members during the testing and install period.

The TWS/CAT was previously tested only on board smaller ships, such as destroyers, but in 2011 Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), Adm. Jonathan Greenert, approved the system for use on board aircraft carriers. USS George H.W. Bush was chosen to be the first to test and operate this rapid prototype system.

According to Brad Robinson, TWS/CAT fleet liaison, the at-sea testing is a major milestone.

"We are able to put this array into the water and collect valuable data to enhance our software and make it a much more reliable alert system when it goes on deployment," said Robinson. "We are collecting noise and acoustics that we were unable to previously collect."

Over the next few months, CVN 77 will continue to test the TWS/CAT, allowing Sailors an opportunity to increase their knowledge of the system and ensure safe operation in the future.

"Our sonar technicians (surface) are learning how to work and use the system this week. We're really excited to have it on board," said Cmdr. Andrew Walton, the ship's operations officer. "While the NAVSEA team is embarked they'll be able to make adjustments for future operation based on the lessons learned."

USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) is currently completing training qualifications.

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Air show officials to fight cuts on Hill
Apr. 6, 2013 - 10:00AM |

Four members of the Air Force Thunderbirds perform an Echelon Pass during the 2012 Barksdale Air Force Base Defenders of Liberty Air Show in 2012. (Staff Sgt. Chad Warren / Air Force)

Staff writer, Staff writer Air Force Times.

After the cancellation of Air Force Thunderbirds and Navy Blue Angels appearances because of budget cuts, air-show officials are fighting back, all the way to Capitol Hill.

The International Council of Air Shows Inc. has taken the unprecedented step of hiring a lobbying firm to explain to Congress the importance of air shows and the economic boost they provide to communities.

“The air show industry in the United States of America is threatened with extinction,” council president John Cudahy said.

Mandatory budget cuts grounded the Air Force’s Thunderbirds demonstration team during the air-show season. Air Force bases across the country also canceled their scheduled air shows.

The firm, Van Scoyoc Associates, will lobby for “air shows regarding sequestration-related issues,” according to a document filed in the Senate. The move was first reported by the Center for Public Integrity.

The council estimates this year’s air-show cancellations will result in the loss of $1 billion to the communities.

“This will not only drive many air shows out of business permanently, it will also have a devastating impact on the communities in which they are held,” Cudahy said.

Lobbying on behalf of the air-show organization will be former Senate aide Jennifer Cave, who also worked as a special assistant to the National Security Council and the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Michael Shupp, a retired Marine colonel and former Marine Corps director of legislative affairs for the House.

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Boehner rejects Obama's budget; DoD budget in political limbo
Apr. 5, 2013 - 01:21PM


Republican House Speaker John Boehner on Friday slammed President Barack Obama's coming 2014 budget plan for not cutting federal spending deeply enough while proposing more new revenues. (AFP)

By John Bennett, Staff writer Military times

WASHINGTON — Republican House Speaker John Boehner on Friday slammed President Barack Obama's coming 2014 budget plan for not cutting federal spending deeply enough while proposing more new revenues. For the defense sector, the Ohio Republican's stance shows the Pentagon budget remains caught in an ideological struggle over domestic programs and tax rates.

Boehner's critical statement came after reports surfaced that the budget blueprint the Obama administration will send to Congress next week will propose Social Security and Medicare changes, including $400 million in savings from the former.

The Obama plan will also propose further slashing the federal deficit by $1.8 trillion. The Obama administration's spending plan would trim future Pentagon spending by only $100 billion in 10 years, $400 billion less than mandated under sequestration. It calls for the same amount in domestic cuts.

The White House's budget will propose replacing the twin $500 billion defense and domestic sequestration cuts with other federal spending cuts and new revenues by again raising tax rates on the wealthiest Americans and by closing corporate tax loopholes.

Most congressional Republicans and Democrats also say they want to find a package of deficit-reduction measures that would replace the sequester cuts. Obama and lawmakers from both parties, almost all in the Senate, are in talks about the kind of “grand bargain” fiscal package needed to turn off the sequestration cuts.

Congressional Democrats largely support Obama's plan, though many want fewer federal spending cuts and more revenues; Republicans oppose any further revenue increases, saying additional deficit-paring steps should be achieved almost entirely via spending cuts — though some GOP lawmakers have not entirely abandoned the idea of closing corporate tax loopholes.

White House officials say the backbone of their 2014 budget plan, set to hit Capitol Hill on Wednesday, is the final proposal the president presented to Boehner in late December as part of the infamous “fiscal cliff” negotiations.White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters last month that Obama had made clear to Boehner and other GOP lawmakers that the December deficit-reduction plan, which Boehner rejected and then immediately left the cliff talks, “remains on the table and available to be taken up.”

But on Friday, Boehner again rejected it.

“The president and I were not able to reach an agreement late last year because his offers never lived up to his rhetoric,” Boehner said. “Despite talk about so-called balance, the president's last offer was significantly skewed in favor of higher taxes and included only modest entitlement savings. He said he could go no further toward the middle, and that's why his last offer was rejected.”

Boehner and other congressional Republicans want much deeper domestic entitlement cuts, with the speaker charging Obama has not proposed any federal spending cuts.

“In the end, the president got his tax hikes” in the January cliff deal “on the wealthy with no corresponding spending cuts,” Boehner said.

The $980 billion in new cuts in the White House's 2014 plan would replace the remaining nine years of scheduled across-the-board sequestration cuts, but it proposes no further cuts to offset the $580 billion in new revenues it proposes. That angers GOP budget hawks, especially in the House, who believe the biggest national problem is the amount Washington spends on the federal government.

“At some point we need to solve our spending problem, and what the president has offered would leave us with a budget that never balances,” Boehner said.

White House surrogates took to the Friday morning news talk shows to cast the coming Obama 2014 budget as a politically moderate blueprint. Boehner, however, sees it differently.

“In reality, [Obama has] moved in the wrong direction,” Boehner said, “routinely taking off the table entitlement reforms he's previously told me he could support.”

The speaker also panned the president for a plan that proposes entitlement reforms that would be “held hostage for more tax hikes.”

As has been the case since the August 2011 Budget Control Act passed, some kind of agreement between Republicans and Obama on entitlement reforms and taxes is needed to turn off the defense sequestration cuts. And that means, to use Boehner's words, the annual defense budget again is being “held hostage” as that ideological debate heats up once again.

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NAVAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY, Bahrain (NNS) -- No one was injured when an F/A-18F Super Hornet crashed into the water while operating near USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) in the North Arabian Sea, April 8.

Search and Rescue (SAR) swimmers from an SH-60F of HS-5 "Night Dippers" recovered the two aircrew and safely delivered them back to the carrier.

The two aircrew, from VFA-103 "Jolly Rogers" based in Virginia Beach, Va., safely ejected from their jet when it incurred an engine failure at 12:20 p.m. local time.

Eisenhower is homeported in Norfolk, Va., and is on a scheduled deployment to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts.

This incident is under investigation.

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A new precision-guided weapon that Boeing will provide to the U.S. Navy will fundamentally change anti-submarine warfare by incorporating technologies never before used on an anti-submarine weapon.

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Boeing's HAAWC will combine the wings originally designed for the Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) and the tail assembly (including guidance kit) from the Joint Direct-Attack Munition (JDAM)

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On April 3, 2013, off the U.S. coast, French Navy’s newest frigate FREMM Aquitaine conducted a Replenishment at Sea (RAS) alongside USNS John Lenthall (T-AO-189), a Henry J. Kaiser-class fleet replenishment oiler, and USS Stout (DDG-55) a Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer.

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SAN DIEGO — The Navy has canceled the remaining 2013 performances of the Blue Angels, officials in Coronado announced Tuesday. The flight demonstration squadron will continue to train to maintain flying proficiency at its home station in Pensacola, Fla., until further notice.

A spokesman for Naval Air Forces Command in Coronado said that the move is in line with current Defense Department policy that states that outreach events can only be supported with local units at no cost to the government.

"This is one of many steps the Navy is taking to ensure resources are in place to support forces operating forward now and those training to relieve them," said Lt. Aaron V. Kakiel, assistant public affairs officer.

The Blue Angels are a frequent performer at the Miramar Air Show. But a spokesman for Miramar Marine Corps Air Station said that doesn't mean the popular show, usually held in early October, is canceled. Maj. Carl Redding said that as of now the air show is still being planned.

The Navy had warned that the Blues would be grounded if the sweeping federal budget cuts known as sequestration went forward.

The Navy intends to continue aerial demonstrations in the future as the budget situation permits, Kakiel said.

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thecheeto said:

US Navy to deploy laser to USS Ponce in 2014. As long is the treat is slow, it seems to work...

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SAN DIEGO (July 30, 2012) The Laser Weapon System (LaWS) temporarily installed aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey (DDG 105) in San Diego, Calif., is a technology demonstrator built by the Naval Sea Systems Command from commercial fiber solid state lasers, utilizing combination methods developed at the Naval Research Laboratory. LaWS can be directed onto targets from the radar track obtained from a MK 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapon system or other targeting source. The Office of Naval Research's Solid State Laser (SSL) portfolio includes LaWS development and upgrades providing a quick reaction capability for the fleet with an affordable SSL weapon prototype. This capability provides Navy ships a method for Sailors to easily defeat small boat threats and aerial targets without using bullets. (U.S. Navy photos by John F. Williams/Released)

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