US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

asif iqbal said:

The unit at Moron Air Base in Spain is a temporary home with a more permanent base to be found inside Africa

Click to expand...

PanAsian said:

This may well be childish humor on my part, possibly brought out through allergy meds, but did I read that airbase name right? Moron?

Click to expand...

Report: Chinese hackers breach top weapons designs
Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY11:55 a.m. EDT May 28, 2013
The charge by a defense panel comes a month before visit by China's president to California.


(Photo: Northrop Grumman via AP)
Chinese hackers have gained access to the designs of many of the nation's most sensitive advanced weapons systems, according to report prepared for the Defense Department and government and defense industry officials,The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

The compromised weapons designs include, among others, advanced Patriot missile system, the Navy's Aegis ballistic missile defense systems, the F/A-18 fighter jet, the V-22 Osprey, the Black Hawk helicopter and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The confidential report was prepared by the Defense Science Board, a senior advisory group of government and civilian experts.

It does not accuse the Chinese of stealing the designs, but says that the designs of more than two dozen systems were compromised, the Post reported.

Report: Plans for Australia's top spy HQ hacked by China

Read: Unclassified report on hacking threat issued in January

The report comes a month before President Obama meets with visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping in California.

White House press spokesman would not comment Tuesday on specifics of the report, but noted that President Obama and his advisers have spoken often about cybersecurity as a key priority -- and key concern -- of the administration.

"It is an issue that we raised at every level in our meetings with our Chinese counterparts, and I'm sure will be a topic of discussion when the president meets with President Xi in California in early June," Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One, Politico reported.

It also coincides with reports in the Australian media that Chinese hackers had allegedly stolen blueprints for Australian's new spy headquarters.

An alleged breach of U.S. systems was noted in a public report issued by the advisory panel in January, but the section of the report listing the compromised weapons system remained classified until Tuesday. The public version had warned that the Pentagon is unprepared to counter a full-scale cyber-conflict.

The Chinese government has insisted that it does not conduct *cyber-espionage on U.S. agencies or companies, and government spokesmen often complain that Beijing is a target of U.S. cyberattacks, the Post notes.

Click to expand...

The Associated Press

TOKYO — A U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter crashed off the southern Japanese island of Okinawa early Tuesday after the aircraft developed problems in flight. The pilot ejected and was recovered safely.

The F-15, flying out of Kadena Air Base, went down in the Pacific about 115 kilometers (70 miles) east of Okinawa, the military said in a statement.

Lt. Col. David Honchul, the chief spokesman for the U.S. Forces, Japan, said the pilot was recovered safely after a search by U.S. and Japanese rescue crews. After he ejected from the plane, the pilot remained in contact with the rescuers. He was rescued by a Japanese air force helicopter.

The cause was under investigation. The pilot’s name had not been released. The U.S. military said he was in stable condition and being evaluated at a military hospital on Okinawa.

The U.S. military has about 50,000 troops based in Japan, about half of them on Okinawa. Kadena Air Base is one of the largest U.S. airbases in the Asia-Pacific region. The F-15 was attached to Kadena’s 18th Wing.

The crash was the first for an F-15 based at Kadena since January 2006.

Click to expand...

By Fabiola Sanchez
The Associated Press CARACAS, VENEZUELA — A Venezuelan police official says a military attaché at the U.S. Embassy has been injured in a shooting.

The official said that Roberto Ezequiel Rosas was shot in the right leg during an argument when he was leaving a night club in the Chacao district of Caracas. She said he was taken to a local hospital. His condition was not immediately clear.

The official spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to release the information publicly.

Embassy officials didn’t immediately answer requests for comment.

Crime is a serious problem for Venezuela, which has one of the world’s highest murder rates.

Venezuela’s government expelled two U.S. military attachés in March for allegedly talking to members of the country’s armed forces. Washington responded by ejecting two Venezuelan diplomats.

Click to expand...

TerraN_EmpirE said:

Take it or leave it that's the news

Click to expand...

Equation said:

Has the F-15 pilot been found yet?

Click to expand...

Jeff Head said:

From the article:

"TOKYO — A U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter crashed off the southern Japanese island of Okinawa early Tuesday after the aircraft developed problems in flight. The pilot ejected and was recovered safely."{/i]

Click to expand...

Equation said:

Has the F-15 pilot been found yet?

Click to expand...

Chinh News said:

Raytheon tests Anti-Chinese-Missile Missile
By Rich Smith
May 15, 2013

One of the biggest threats facing the U.S. Navy today is a new anti-ship ballistic missile recently fielded by China. Officially designated the "DF-21D," American military men have another name for it: the Carrier-Killer.

Weighing in at a massive 15 tons, the two-stage, solid fuel missile is 35 feet tall and nearly five feet across. With a range rumored to extend as far as 1200 miles, the DF-21D is designed to keep American aircraft carriers at a safe distance (from Taiwan) in the event hostilities ever break out, and to deny access to seas within striking distance of the Chinese mainland.

But in the ever changing arms race of tit meets tat, on Tuesday, Raytheon (NYSE: RTN ) turned the tables on China and announced test results that could (we hope) make the DF-21D irrelevant. Raytheon's solution is the RIM-162 ESSM "Evolved SeaSparrow," an improvement on the basic SeaSparrow air defense missile developed by Raytheon and General Dynamics (NYSE: GD ) . Its mission is to shoot down high-diving, missiles like the DF-21D.

"That's a hit!"

On Tuesday, Raytheon confirmed that in a weapons test at sea, the Evolved SeaSparrow successfully made "skin-to-skin" contact with a DF-21D surrogate, proving its ability to shoot down kill the Carrier Killer.

The company's next move will be to step up marketing of the air-defense missile to the U.S. Navy, and to allies abroad -- and Raytheon's wasting no time in doing so. In the same announcement in which it explained the intercept results yesterday, Raytheon's vice president for missile systems' naval and area mission defense, Rick Nelson, called the Evolved SeaSparrow "truly an international missile."

Whether Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and other U.S. allies in the region will take the hint remains to be seen. But when you consider that the missiles cost less than $1 million apiece -- yet are capable of protecting vital naval warships worth upwards of $1 billion (and anywhere as high as $13 billion for a Ford-class nuclear aircraft carrier), you have to assume a lot of countries are going to consider this product a very economical form of "insurance" against DF-21D "risk."

Click to expand...

Raytheon said:

ESSM Block 2 Risk Reduction: ESSM Block 2 upgrade is a cooperative effort between U.S Navy and NATO SEASPARROW Consortium Nations. ESSM Block 2 upgrade replaces the largely obsolete guidance section with a dual mode Active/Semi-Active X-Band seeker capable of defeating future threat capabilities within the existing envelope, including; smaller signatures, increased raid sizes, and adverse environments including countermeasures. Threat types include; advanced Anti-Ship Cruise Missile (ASCM)s, Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles (ASBMs), surface and asymmetrical threats.

Click to expand...

In May 2013, French Navy amphibious assault ship Tonnerre received escort from U.S. Navy guided missile cruiser USS Hue City, when crossing the Strait of Hormuz to reach the Gulf of Oman.

Following a French-Emirati amphibious training exercise off the shores of Abu Dhabi that took place in mid-May, the Tonnerre LHD left the Persian Gulf to join the Indian Ocean. On this occasion, the US Navy vessel provided escort to the French LHD and contributed to its security in this particularly sensitive area of operation. During the crossing of the Strait, three French student-officers, were tranfered onboard the american cruiser. French ship Tonnerre meanwhile welcomed two petty officers of the U.S. Navy.

Click to expand...