US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

By Sui-Lee Wee

3 hours ago

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Wednesday confirmed an incident between a Chinese naval vessel and a U.S. warship in the South China Sea, after Washington said a U.S. guided missile cruiser had avoided a collision with a Chinese warship maneuvering nearby.

Experts have said the near-miss between the USS Cowpens and a Chinese warship operating near China's only aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was the most significant U.S.-China maritime incident in the disputed South China Sea since 2009.

China's Defense Ministry said the Chinese naval vessel was conducting "normal patrols" when the two vessels "met".

"During the encounter, the Chinese naval vessel properly handled it in accordance with strict protocol," the ministry said on its website (

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"The two Defense departments were kept informed of the relevant situation through normal working channels and carried out effective communication."

But China's official news agency Xinhua, in an English language commentary, accused the U.S. ship of deliberately provocative behavior.

"On December 5, U.S. missile cruiser Cowpens, despite warnings from China's aircraft carrier task group, broke into the Chinese navy's drilling waters in the South China Sea, and almost collided with a Chinese warship nearby," it said.

"Even before the navy training, Chinese maritime authorities have posted a navigation notice on their website, and the U.S. warship, which should have had knowledge of what the Chinese were doing there, intentionally carried on with its surveillance of China's Liaoning aircraft carrier and triggered the confrontation."

Washington said last week its ship was forced to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

The incident came at a time of heightened tension in the region following Beijing's declaration of an air Defense identification zone further north in the East China Sea, which prompted protests from Washington, Tokyo and Seoul.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday said maritime disputes between countries should be resolved peacefully through arbitration though the United States would speak out when a country, such as China, took unilateral action that raised the potential for conflict.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Kerry and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has been equally critical of the air Defense zone, should stop harping on the issue.

"The show the relevant parties have put on is enough. They should give it a rest. If they really care about this region's peace, they should ... stop fomenting trouble," she told a daily news briefing.

China's Defense Ministry said, however, there were "good opportunities" for developing Sino-U.S. military ties.

"Both sides are willing to strengthen communication, maintain close coordination and make efforts to maintain regional peace and stability," the ministry said.

The Liaoning aircraft carrier, which has yet to be fully armed and is being used as a training vessel, was flanked by escort ships, including two destroyers and two frigates, during its first deployment into the South China Sea.

Friction over the South China Sea has surged as China uses its growing naval might to assert a vast claim over the oil-and-gas-rich area, raising fears of a clash between it and other countries in the region, including the Philippines and Vietnam.

The United States had raised the incident at a "high level" with China, according to a State Department official quoted by the U.S. military's Stars and Stripes newspaper.

Beijing routinely objects to U.S. military surveillance operations within its exclusive economic zone, while Washington insists the United States and other nations have the right to conduct routine operations in international waters.

China deployed the Liaoning to the South China Sea just days after announcing its air Defense zone, which covers air space over a group of tiny uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that are administered by Japan but claimed by Beijing as well.

(Additional reporting by Hui Li and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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Wolrd Maritime News said:

The Navy will christen its newest littoral combat ship, the future USS Milwaukee (LCS 5) in a ceremony at the Marinette Marine Corporation shipyard in Marinette, Wis., Dec. 18 at 1:15 p.m. CST.

Sylvia Panetta, wife of former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, will serve as the ship’s sponsor. Panetta will officially christen the ship Milwaukee.

Milwaukee was named in honor of the largest city in the state of Wisconsin and will be the fifth to bear the city’s name.

“Milwaukee’s christening serves as a tribute to this great American city, but also to the hard working people of Wisconsin and our nation’s entire industrial base,” said Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. “LCS is one of our most important platforms and represents the future of the Navy. Our commitment to this program remains as steadfast as that of those who helped build this great ship.”

Littoral combat ships are fast, agile surface combatants optimized for warfighting in the highly trafficked near-shore regions of the world against asymmetric “anti-access” threats. Through its innovative design, LCS can be reconfigured for surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, and mine countermeasures. This versatility enables Navy to provide warfighters with the most capable, cost-effective solutions to gain, sustain, and exploit littoral maritime supremacy.

The launch and christening of LCS 5, and the recent launch of LCS 6 from the Austal USA shipyard together mark a milestone for the littoral combat ship program. These are the first two littoral combat ships built from start to finish using serial production processes. Serial production is important because it allows the Navy to reap benefits such as improved cost structure per vessel and reduced construction time.

The Navy has incorporated much of the knowledge gained in the build, test and operation of LCS 1 and LCS 2, the lead ships of the class, into follow-on ships.

Milwaukee will be 388 feet in length and equipped with four axial-flow waterjet engines, which will improve performance and move nearly half a million gallons of seawater per minute which will propel the ship to speeds in excess of 40 knots.

The first USS Milwaukee was a double-turret ironclad river monitor built for Civil War service. A St. Louis-class cruiser, the second USS Milwaukee (C-21) was lost in 1916 while attempting to free a submarine that had run aground. The third USS Milwaukee (CL-5) was an Omaha-class light cruiser, which served through World War II in the Atlantic, and the fourth USS Milwaukee (AOR 2), a Wichita-class replenishment oiler, was decommissioned in 1994.

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Sikorsky eyes federal budget amid uncertainty over combat rescue helicopter
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By: JON HEMMERDINGER WASHINGTON DC 10 hours ago Source:

Comments from US Air Force officials about a new fleet of rescue helicopters have left Sikorsky fearing the service’s third attempt in almost 15 years to upgrade its rescue aircraft fleet may again fall through.

In recent days, senior Air Force leaders have both stressed the importance of the search and rescue mission – calling it part of the service’s “fabric” — and lamented the realities imposed by federal budget cuts.

Sikorsky, which with partner Lockheed Martin could be awarded a roughly $7 billion rescue helicopter contract next year, says the message isn’t overly positive.

"I'm not overly optimistic based on the comments we've received over the last couple weeks," David Morgan, Sikorsky's director of Air Force programmes, tells Flightglobal. "If they don't award a contract in March it would be the third time we have expended a considerable amount of resources... on a competition without results."

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Sikorsky's proposed combat rescue helicopter (CRH). Sikorsky

In November the government announced Sikorsky, the only remaining bidder for its combat rescue helicopter (CRH) programme, could be awarded a contract in the second quarter of fiscal year 2014.

But the government warned the 14-year contract was “based on budget availability” in future fiscal years and will depend on President Barack Obama’s next budget review.

The company had bid to build a 112 CRH-60 aircraft, a modified version of its H-60M Black Hawk helicopter.

Partner Lockheed would produce mission equipment and the “survivability suite” of electronics that protect the aircraft from hostile threats.

Sikorsky says the CRH-60 will have increased payload, wider rotor blades, improved ability to hover out of ground effect and 20% more cabin space.

CRH-60 is a good deal, Sikorsky adds, because the contract stipulates that the development and production costs will not change.

MIXED MESSAGES

But comments from Air Force officials have been mixed in recent weeks, raising doubts about the programme’s future.

At a 13 December press briefing at the Pentagon, Air Force chief of staff General Mark Welsh called the search and rescue mission “part of the fabric of the Air force”, and said the programme is one “we must have at some point.”

But Welsh and other Air Force officials stressed that budget cuts mean the Air Force can’t have everything.

"It’s a programme we must have, but we're talking about lots of things that we must have," Walsh says, adding that the Air Force’s top priorities are Lockheed's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Boeing's KC-46 tanker and the new long-range strike bomber (LRS-B) programme.

At the same briefing, acting secretary of the Air Force Eric Fanning says “investment dollars... are going to be precious and we’re going to have to prioritise them.”

He clarifies, however, that the Air Force has more options than just “awarding the [CRH] contract this year or killing it.”

That indicates to Morgan that the Air Force knows it needs new rescue helicopters, but just doesn’t know when it will be able to afford them.

“It’s a matter of timing,” Morgan says, adding that the programme’s future should clarify by early February 2014, when President Obama is expected to release his budget proposal.

The Air Force did not immediately respond to questions about how a lack of funding in fiscal year 2015 will affect the CRH.

Morgan says Sikorsky also doesn’t know, but fears the service may need to start from scratch.

“In effect, CRH will be cancelled,” he says.

THREE ATTEMPTS

Like other military programmes, the Air Force rescue aircraft replacement programme has deep roots, as does Sikorsky’s involvement.

In 1999, the service identified a need to replace its HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopters, also a Sikorsky product, with an aircraft with improved range, speed and cabin space, Morgan explains.

The service completed an options analysis in 2002 and began funding its 141-aircraft "personnel recovery vehicle" programme in 2004.

In 2005, it renamed the programme CSAR-X, short for "combat search and rescue."

Sikorsky bid to build the HH-92 Superhawk, a version of its civilian S-92 helicopter, and Lockheed bid its VH-71 helicopter, but in November 2006 Boeing won with its HH-47, a new version of the Chinook.

But the Air Force cancelled the award following a successful protest by Sikorsky and Lockheed, and reissued a request for proposal (RFP) in 2007.

Before proposals were received, that competition was also successfully protested.

The Air Force then cancelled the CSAR-X programme and launched a third effort — the CRH programme — to find a replacement aircraft using currently-available technology, Morgan says.

The pre-solicitation notice and RFP for that programme went out in 2012, but this time Sikorsky was the only bidder.

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Industry Relieved Budget Deal Averts Shutdown
By Kerry Lynch [email protected], Michael Bruno [email protected]
Source: AWIN First

December 19, 2013
Credit: Architect of the Capitol
Senate passage of the budget deal on Dec. 18 comes as a relief to general aviation advocates worried that a prolonged impasse could have led to another costly government shutdown in January.

Senate passage, by a 64-36 margin, sends the bill to the White House to be signed into law. The House passed the so-called Ryan-Murray budget framework earlier this month before recessing until January. The two-year budget agreement does not fix the nation’s deficit problems, but represents a modest agreement that would provide a framework with smaller cuts and tax increases over the next two years.

“We know that difficult budget negotiations are a reality of our time, but another government shutdown would be an unwelcome development for the business aviation community,” says National Business Aviation Association Ed Bolen. He maintains the industry is disproportionately harmed by a shutdown.

“The aviation industry is among the country’s most heavily regulated industries, so when government services are reduced or eliminated, our industry feels the impact more acutely than others do,” he told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee earlier this month, detailing the harm from the closure of FAA’s Registry during the 16-day October shutdown. “Imagine if no citizen of the United States could buy or sell a car, purchase or refinance a home, or if the sale of other critical goods came to a complete and grinding halt – that’s what basically happened in business aviation.”

Bolen welcomed the budget framework brokered by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), saying, “This legislation should allow us to avoid another industry-damaging shutdown for the near term.”

The Aerospace Industries Association called the October government shutdown “perhaps the greatest challenge to general aviation in 2013,” resulting in the furlough of more than one-third of FAA’s employees and halting deliveries of 150 aircraft worth $1.9 billion.

The legislation is expected to significantly soften the effects of sequestration, curbing the extent of the cuts. But how that plays out with individual agencies has yet to be determined. It could help avoid another situation in which FAA must issue rolling employee furloughs or close a majority of the contract towers. But cuts are expected to remain a reality in the next few budget seasons, and FAA likely will continue to face tight budgets and difficult choices.

AIA, whose members faced deep cuts both on the civil and defense side, welcomed the effort to blunt sequestration’s effects. “While a broader budget deal that would have eliminated sequestration altogether would have been ideal, we recognize the leadership and significant efforts of Senator (Patty) Murray and Congressman (Paul) Ryan that went into reaching this agreement that passed both chambers with overwhelming support,” the association says.

The agreement did raise taxes on aviation – more than doubling the passenger security fee to $5.60. Airlines for America (A4A) had vigorously opposed the change. “It’s inappropriate for Congress to use airline passengers as an ATM when it needs more money,” A4A President and CEO Nicholas E. Calio had said in a statement.

Absent from the agreement, however, was any change in business aviation depreciation schedules. The White House and key Democrats have dangled the “corporate jet tax loophole” as one of the key tax increases that needed to be made to help resolve the budget deficit. As recently as November, Murray was said to have a “list” of key tax increases, including an extension of the business aircraft depreciation schedule from five to seven years.

The agreement also does not include any change in the aviation excise tax or new user fees. The $100 user fee, strongly supported by the White House, surfaced during initial budget negotiations more than two years ago.

But that does not mean those proposals are dead. Noting the White House has offered up those proposals in its budget requests in recent years, “We fully expect the administration to come out and propose that again,” General Aviation Manufacturers Association President and CEO Pete Bunce says.

And while the budget agreement buffers sequestration over the next two years, it does not end sequestration. Nor does it soften the cuts after 2016. This sets the stage for another budget showdown in two years.

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Navy Times said:

President Obama has tapped Vice Adm. Michelle Howard to be the Navy’s vice chief of naval operations, a historic nomination that, if confirmed, would make Howard the first woman and first African-American to hold the Navy’s No. 2 post. She would also be the first black woman to attain four-star rank in the Navy.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced Howard’s nomination in a Friday news release that also disclosed two other high-profile nominations: Adm. Mark Ferguson, the current VCNO, to be commander of Naval Forces Europe-Africa and Allied Joint Forces Command in Naples, Italy, and Rear Adm. Joseph Mulloy to be the chief of naval operations for integration of capabilities and resources, a position that comes with a third star.

Howard, a surface warfare officer, is a 1982 Naval Academy grad who has commanded the amphibious dock landing ship Rushmore and Expeditionary Strike Group 2. She has a master’s degree from the Army’s Command and General Staff College, according to her official bio.

“These proven leaders have consistently shown the ability to guide our U.S. Navy during dynamic times and I have the utmost confidence they will continue to do so in their new roles,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in a statement after the nominations were announced Friday. “They are prime examples of why people are our Navy's greatest asset.

“The diversity and breadth of their knowledge, experience and training will help ensure our Navy and our international partnerships remain strong long into the future,” Mabus said.

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(Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) has won a contract valued at up to $562 million to provide nine months of support, logistics and modifications for the stealthy F-22 fighter jet, the Pentagon announced on Friday.

The contract, which includes reliability and maintainability upgrades, runs through September 30, it said in a daily digest of major weapons contracts.

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navyreco said:

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Half a billion for 9 Months of support... and (some) people say the JSF is expensive?

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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Gunfire hit three U.S. military aircraft trying to evacuate American citizens in a remote region of South Sudan that on Saturday became a battle ground between the country's military and renegade troops, officials said. Four U.S. service members were wounded in the attack in the same region where gunfire downed a U.N. helicopter the day before.

The U.S. military said three CV-22 Ospreys — the kind of aircraft that can fly like a helicopter and plane — were "participating in a mission to evacuate American citizens in Bor." A South Sudan official said violence against civilians there has resulted in bodies "sprinkled all over town."

"After receiving fire from the ground while approaching the site, the aircraft diverted to an airfield outside the country and aborted the mission," the statement said. "The injured troops are being treated for their wounds." It was not known how many U.S. civilians are in Bor.

After the aircraft took incoming fire, they turned around and flew to Entebbe, Uganda. From there the service members were flown to Nairobi, Kenya aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 for medical treatment, the statement said.

An official in the region who insisted on anonymity to share information not made public said the Americans did not tell the top commander in Bor — Gen. Peter Gadet, who defected from the South Sudan military this week — that they were coming in, which may have led to the attack. The U.S. statements said the gunfire was from unknown forces.

South Sudan's military spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer, said that government troops are not in control of Bor, so the attack on the U.S. aircraft has to be blamed on renegade soldiers.

"Bor is under the control of the forces of Riek Machar," Aguer said.

The U.S. Embassy in Juba said it has evacuated at least 450 Americans and other foreign nationals from Juba this week and had hoped to begin evacuations from Bor. The U.S. Ospreys were hit one day after small arms fire downed a U.N. helicopter in the same state.

View gallerySouth Sudan conflict
An SPLA soldier walks away from a vehicle in Juba December 21, 2013. African mediators sought on Sat …
The U.N. on Friday sent four helicopters to extract 40 U.N. peacekeepers from a base in Yuai, also in Jonglei, U.N. information officer Joe Contreras said. One helicopter was fired upon and executed an emergency landing in Upper Nile state, he said. No casualties occurred during the incident.

South Sudan's information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, said that South Sudanese ground troops, backed by the country's air force, are fighting rebels in Bor, an effort to retake the state capital they lost earlier this week.

"There is fighting going on in Bor town, yes, because since morning they have continued to attack the civilian population," he said, talking about renegade troops. "They have gone as far as not respecting the U.N. compound."

He said fighting started early Saturday after reports came in that rebels there were shooting indiscriminately at civilians.

"The bodies are sprinkled all over the town," he said. No death toll could be estimated, he said.

South Sudan President Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, said this week that an attempted coup triggered the violence now pulsing through South Sudan. He blamed the former vice president, Machar, an ethnic Nuer. But officials have since said a fight between Dinka and Nuer members of the presidential guard triggered the initial violence late Sunday night. Machar's ouster from the country's No. 2 political position earlier this year had stoked ethnic tensions.

The violence has killed hundreds and has world leaders worried that a full-blown civil war could ignite in South Sudan. The south fought a decades-long war with Sudan before a 2005 peace deal resulted in a 2011 referendum that saw South Sudan break away from the north, taking most of the region's oil wealth with it.

Lueth described Machar as "the rebel leader," saying the forces that control Bor believe they are fighting on his behalf. Machar's whereabouts remain unknown, but he has said in recent interviews that he is in hiding somewhere in South Sudan.

An International Crisis Group expert on South Sudan told The Associated Press on Friday that rebels have taken control of at least some of South Sudan's oil fields, an issue that could bring Sudan into the conflict. South Sudan's oil flows north through Sudan's pipelines, providing Khartoum with much needed income.

The U.N. Security Council on Friday said the weeklong violence could affect neighboring countries and the entire region.

Kenya announced it was sending in Kenyan troops to evacuate 1,600 Kenyans stranded in South Sudan, many of them in Bor.

U.S. President Barack Obama earlier this week dispatched U.S. troops to help protect the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Juba. The U.S. Embassy organized at least five emergency evacuation flights to help U.S. citizens leave the country. Other countries like Britain, Germany and Italy also helped citizens evacuate.

Mediators from East Africa continued to try to help negotiate a peace. Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry said Saturday that they have held "productive" talks with Kiir and that consultations were continuing. Kiir has agreed to "unconditional dialogue" to try to stop the violence.

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Air Force Brat said:

JSF is VERY EXPENSIVE, the F-22 is VERY GOOD, much better than the JSF as a platform on platform go, but the JSF is raptor light, but it will be stealthy, and it will be good, just not up to Raptor standards, these mods will upgrade the Raptor to do lots of necessary things until JSF is up and running. wish we had 250 more to pay to modify. Brat

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Equation said:

It looks like the Ospreys and its crew took a hit, but keeps on ticking. No death and no plane crash. That is always good news.

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