US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Jura said:

pardon me, why did you mention 40 km?

Click to expand...

Pentagon: Suspect in Benghazi attack captured by U.S. forces
Jun. 17, 2014 - 12:39PM |


By Julie Pace
The Associated Press
FILED UNDER
News
World News
WASHINGTON — A Libyan militant suspected in the deadly Sept. 11, 2012, attack on Americans in Benghazi has been captured and is in U.S. custody, marking the first apprehension of an alleged perpetrator in the assault that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Obama administration officials said Ahmed Abu Khattala, a senior leader of the Benghazi branch of the terror group Ansar al-Sharia in Libya, will be tried in U.S. court. He was captured by U.S. forces on Sunday and is being held in an undisclosed location outside of Libya, according to the Pentagon press secretary, Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said the capture makes clear that the U.S. is fulfilling its pledge to bring to justice those responsible.

"The capture of Abu Khattala is not the end of that effort but it marks an important milestone," Carney said.

Stevens was the first U.S. ambassador to be killed in the line of duty in more than 30 years.

Last year, the U.S. filed charges against Khattala and a number of others in a sealed complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Washington. However, until now, no one had been arrested in the attack in which a group of militants set fire to the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi.

The Obama administration has come under intense criticism from Republicans for being unable to apprehend those responsible for the attack.

According to a U.S. official, the operation that captured Abu Khattala was planned over a long period of time and executed by U.S. special operations forces. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to disclose sensitive details by name, said the operation was conducted in conjunction with the FBI.

In the immediate aftermath of the stunning attack, political reaction formed along partisan lines that hold fast to this day.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and others said President Obama had emboldened Islamic extremists by being weak against terrorism. But the public still credited Obama with the successful strike against al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden a few months earlier in Pakistan.

The accusation that took hold was a Republican charge that the White House intentionally misled voters by portraying the Benghazi assault as one of the many protests over an anti-Muslim video made in America, instead of a calculated terrorist attack under his watch.

Obama accused the Republicans of politicizing a national tragedy. He insists that the narrative about the video protests was the best information available at the time.

After 13 public hearings, the release of 25,000 pages of documents and 50 separate briefings over the past year and a half, the arguments are the same.

Abu Khattala’s capture was first reported by The Washington Post.

Click to expand...

Prospect of new Iraq fight turns hawks into doves
Jun. 17, 2014 - 03:06PM |


By Donna Cassata and Bradley Klapper
The Associated Press

FAST Marines, U.S. soldiers arrive at the U.S. Embassy compound in Iraq
WASHINGTON — The prospect of the U.S. military returning to the fight in Iraq has turned congressional hawks into doves.

Lawmakers who eagerly voted to authorize military force 12 years ago to oust Saddam Hussein and destroy weapons of mass destruction that were never found now harbor doubts that air strikes will turn back insurgents threatening Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government and Baghdad.

Fears of Mideast quagmire and weariness after a decade of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan loom large for even those who talk tough on national security. More than 6,000 Americans died in those wars, which cost a trillion dollars.

As President Obama mulls his next step, there is little unanimity in Congress on what the United States should do despite some Republican voices — most notably Sen. John McCain — loudly calling for air strikes and stepped-up military action. The sectarian violence between the pro-government Shiites and Sunnis adds to congressional uncertainty.

Obama will discuss the situation in Iraq with House and Senate leaders of both parties at the White House Wednesday. State Department and Pentagon officials will hold closed-doors briefings with lawmakers over the next couple of days.

“Where will it lead and will that be the beginning or the end?” Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said, when asked about air strikes. “We don’t know that. This underlying conflict has been going on 1,500 years between the Shias and the Sunnis and their allies. And I think whatever we do, it’s not going to go away.”

Shelby was one of the 77 Senate Republicans and Democrats who voted to give President George W. Bush the authority to wage war. Casting the strong bipartisan vote on Oct. 11, 2002, were Democratic Sens. Joe Biden of Delaware, Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Harry Reid of Nevada.

“After a decade of war, we’ve all had enough,” said Reid, the Senate majority leader.

“It was one of the worst votes I ever cast,” added Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, another who voted yes. Asked about what the vote means more than a decade later as the U.S. ponders intervention anew, Harkin said: “It is weighing heavily on my mind.”

But Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who also voted for use of force in 2002, said that vote would have no effect on her thinking this time. She declined to say if she supported military action. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, another Democrat who authorized military action in Iraq the last time, also wouldn’t give his opinion.

Senators of both parties appeared almost unanimous in their view that al-Maliki should leave power, even as many called for assistance to his government in battling the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant insurgency.

ISIL has conquered several cities in Syria and Iraq. The administration is sending almost 300 American forces in and around Iraq to help secure U.S. assets.

“I support almost anything that would curtail” ISIL, said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. “That’s a very dangerous situation.”

McCain, who spoke by telephone over the weekend with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, said not many forces would be needed for an effective operation in Iraq and they’d only be for close air support. He said no combat troops are needed, but some personnel should be on the ground to identify targets for air strikes.

“That would be a handful of probably special forces, forward air controller people,” he said, expressing frustration that the administration hasn’t done more.

Among the newer senators, Mark Kirk, R-Ill., expressed support for air strikes, but Tim Scott, R-S.C., had his doubts.

“The president’s comments about he doesn’t know who to strike doesn’t give me ‘a warm and fuzzy,’” Scott said. “The option should remain on the table, but clarity should come first so that I can have an understanding and appreciation. If they don’t have an understanding and appreciation, I certainly don’t have one.”

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who voted for the war authorization in 2002, wanted to learn more about the administration’s plan.

“The question is whether air strikes can be targeted enough that they don’t kill innocent people,” she said.

The Senate’s top Republican, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said Obama must offer a strategy and act quickly to provide the Iraqi government with assistance before “every gain made by the U.S. and allied troops is lost.” He didn’t outline a specific course of action.

Click to expand...

General: U.S. hikes surveillance on Pakistan border
Jun. 17, 2014 - 09:07AM |


By Lolita C. Baldor
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan says the U.S. has increased its surveillance over the Afghan-Pakistani border since Pakistan began pounding a militant stronghold with airstrikes, but so far officials have not seen any militants fleeing the latest offensive.

Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford told The Associated Press in an interview that the U.S. was not coordinating military operations with Pakistan along the border, but officials have increased the amount of intelligence-sharing with the Afghans. He said the Afghan troops and U.S. forces in that region were ready for any effects of the strikes, including extremists seeking refuge in Afghanistan.

The U.S. has long pressed Pakistan to root out Taliban militants who have found safe haven in the lawless tribal region of North Waziristan, along the Afghan border, and used it as a staging area to launch attacks against Afghan and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Dunford said officials have seen Pakistani families crossing the border to escape the military airstrikes that have pounded the country’s northwest since Sunday.

“The Afghan forces as well as our forces are fully prepared to deal with the second-order effects of the Pakistani operations in North Waziristan,” Dunford said in an interview from Afghanistan. He added that officials were still trying to determine how many Pakistani families have fled into Afghanistan to escape the violence, but it was difficult because many relocate to families in the southeast and northeast.

More broadly, Dunford expressed increased confidence in the Afghan security forces, and said he did not believe that the military collapse playing out in Iraq would occur in Afghanistan once U.S. combat troops leave.

He said the U.S. fully expects to get a bilateral security agreement with Afghanistan’s government that will allow up to 14,000 U.S. and NATO troops to remain in the country next year to advise the Afghans and conduct counterterrorism missions. The U.S. left Iraq after the government in Baghdad refused to agree on a security arrangement.

“I don’t see, at least today, the divisive politics that obviously resulted in the situation in Iraq playing out here in Afghanistan,” said Dunford. “We’re encouraged by the fact that we will have a bilateral security agreement. I’m encouraged by the fact that we have multiethnic (presidential) tickets.”

Sunni militants are advancing across Iraq, taking control of several cities in the north and moving toward Baghdad, while roiling Sunni-Shiite ethnic tensions. In the face of the brutal al-Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, some Iraqi security forces have fled.

The failure of the Iraqi troops to hold off the ISIL, just three years after American troops left the country after eight years or war, has led some U.S. leaders to question whether the same slide into chaos and insurgent control will happen in Afghanistan.

Dunford said that while Afghan military leaders at times expressed frustration with President Hamid Karzai, including his decisions to limit close air support missions or other partnered operations with NATO troops, “not once was there a hint that they wouldn’t follow his direction.”

Noting the deteriorating situation in Iraq, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said President Barack Obama was “about to make the same mistake in Afghanistan he made in Iraq.”

Asked what can be done to prevent that from happening, Dunford said the U.S. and NATO need a signed security agreement so they can continue to train and advise the Afghan security forces, and the next president “needs to have an inclusive government” and reach out to all the ethnic groups in the country.

He said there was less violence during Afghanistan’s runoff presidential election over the weekend than during the initial voting in April. And he added that, overall, the level of violence in Afghanistan this month is lower than the same time last year.

“What we’ve seen is that the Taliban have been unable, right now, to maintain any kind of momentum against the Afghan security forces,” said Dunford. “What’s remarkable about that is, number one, the Afghan forces are in the lead and not us. And, second, the Taliban indicated a very strong intent to disrupt the elections and to increase the level of violence prior to the elections, and we simply didn’t see any surge in violence.”

He added that there was growing divisiveness and frustration among the Taliban.

“We’ve seen some mistrust develop between the Taliban senior leadership and the rank-and-file fighters out in the provinces,” Dunford said. “I think the morale of Taliban fighters has been affected adversely as a result of the lack of success.”

The U.S. has announced it will leave about 9,800 troops in Afghanistan at the end of this year. Of those, 8,000 will train and advise the Afghans, and the rest would conduct counterterror operations. NATO countries will contribute another 4,000 or more troops.

Click to expand...

U.S. sanctions al-Qaida operative in Yemen
Jun. 17, 2014 - 11:21AM |

By Lara Jakes
The Associated Press
FILED UNDER
News
World News
WASHINGTON — The State Department has designated as a global terrorist an al-Qaida leader accused of plotting to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Yemen.

The official designation on Tuesday freezes all U.S. assets of Shawki Ali Ahmed al-Badani and bans any Americans or U.S. businesses from dealing with him.

Al-Badani is believed to be a leader and operative for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Yemen.

Aside from the 2012 embassy plot, he’s been linked to a suicide bomber who killed more than 100 Yemeni soldiers in a May attack that same year.

It’s also believed al-Badani had a role in a threatened but vague plot that caused 19 U.S. embassies to close across Africa and the Mideast last summer.

Al-Badani is already on Yemen’s most wanted terrorist list.

Click to expand...

Sikorsky sets internal first flight goal for S-97
By: STEPHEN TRIMBLEMIAMI Source: Flightglobal.com 04:18 6 May 2014
Sikorsky has set an internal goal to fly the S-97 high-speed helicopter by 1 December to kick-off a demonstration aimed at securing a military customer for the self-funded project.

A computer display inside the S-97 final assembly hangar on 5 May showed the S-97 is "209 days to first flight," allowing for the event to occur no later than 1 December on schedule.

Sikorsky opened the doors to the S-97 production hangar to reporters as part of the rollout ceremony for the CH-53K King Stallion.

The hangar revealed the mostly composite airframe of the S-97 is almost fully assembled, with wiring and some avionics systems. But the aircraft still misses a transmission and drive train, including a General Electric CT7 engine, coaxial rotor and pusher propeller.

Sikorsky plans to power-on the S-97 electrical system by the end of May, once all the wiring is completed.

The S-97 is designed to be twice the weight of the high-speed Sikorsky X2 prototype that was retired in 2012 after achieving speeds over 250kt in level flight.

Sikorsky launched the S-97 – with an estimated $200 million price tag, including supplier contributions – to open a new market for military and perhaps later civilian high-speed helicopters.

The S-97 is aimed initially at replacing the Boeing MH-6M Little Bird fleet operated by the US Special Operations Command. The US Army also has a requirement for an armed aerial scout, although it plans to divest the Bell Helicopter OH-58 Kiowa Warrior fleet.

Click to expand...

Sikorsky passes power-on milestone with high-speed S-97
By: STEPHEN TRIMBLEWASHINGTON DC Source: Flightglobal.com 18:50 16 Jun 2014
Sikorsky is one step closer to first flight of the high-speed S-97 prototype helicopter later this year after passing the power-on milestone in the assembly process.

Activating on board power means the cockpit displays and control display unit have been integrated into the aircraft, the company says.

The first prototype aircraft is now about halfway through the assembly process, Sikorsky says.

The next several weeks will be focused on completing the checkout of the rest of the electronic equipment, including avionics and flight controls.

Sikorsky and several development partners, including United Technologies Aerospace Systems, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Honeywell, have invested “a couple of hundred million” dollars to build and demonstrate the S-97.

Sikorsky plans to demonstrate the aircraft’s capabilities to the US military in 2015. The company has identified a need to replace the US Special Operations Boeing MH-6M Little Birds.

The S-97 is based on the propulsion concept that Sikorsky proved was feasible with the X2 demonstrator.

Propelled by a rigid rotor coaxial system and pusher propeller, the fly-by-wire X2 achieved speeds over 260kt.

The S-97 is designed to achieve operational speeds over 200kt while carrying weapons and room for six passengers.

Click to expand...

​

Naval Today said:

The hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH19) departed for the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2014 exercise in Hawaii, June 16.

RIMPAC, officially scheduled for June 26 to Aug. 1, is the world’s largest international maritime exercise. This year, 23 countries, 47 ships, six submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are scheduled to participate.

“The purpose of Mercy’s participation in RIMPAC is to further Pacific Fleet’s goal of engagements across the Pacific Ocean,” said Capt. Jeffery Paulson, commanding officer of the Medical Treatment Facility aboard Mercy. “In our case, it’s to further health engagements where we have an opportunity to interact with many of our international partners.”

Mercy is traveling from its homeport of Naval Base San Diego to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, where it will train medical staff underway in casualty care. They will be simulating casualties and utilizing high-tech medical mannequins for training.

RIMPAC will be the first time at sea for many of the Sailors assigned to Mercy, which include a large group of medical officers and hospital corpsman assigned to Naval Medical Center San Diego.

This will be the first time that Mercy participates in RIMPAC, an exercise that began in 1971. RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity for participants to foster and sustain cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans.

Click to expand...

Jeff Head said:

Because a standard 127mm projectile fired from a Mk 45 127mm gun has a range of about 25 km. 40 km lengthens that range considerably, particularly when it is a guided munition like this.

And while it is not nearly as long a range as the LRLAP rounds for the AGS, 40km is still a very good distance and for those types of precision needs, they can fire these rounds (which are much cheaper) and preserve the LRLAP rounds for the much longer range needs.

Click to expand...

Jura said:

yeah the ship could stay above the horizon and pepper the beach but the price of an Excalibur shell is pretty high

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Click to expand...

Jeff Head said:

Yes, the Excalibur is a lot more expensive than the standard 155mm round.

But it is also a precision guided munition. If they ever start producing them in quantity...you will see the price drop.

It is still cheaper than the AGS LRLAP round.

Click to expand...

Sikorsky-Boeing select T55 to power SB-1 Defiant demonstrator
By: STEPHEN TRIMBLEWASHINGTON DC Source: Flightglobal.com 2 hours ago
A Sikorsky-Boeing team has selected a slightly modified Honeywell T55 engine to power the SB-1 Defiant, a high-speed, medium-lift rotorcraft demonstrator scheduled to fly in 2017.
The 4,000shp-class T55, which already powers the Boeing CH-47 Chinook, was selected as an off-the-shelf option for the demonstrator, says Pat Donnelly, Boeing’s director for the future vertical lift (FVL) programme.

The T55 rotor already has a variable-speed capabilitiy, but it will be expanded for the SB-1 Defiant, Donnelly says. The low-end of the speed range will be extended to about 85%, he says, adding that a turbofan variant of the T55 already operates at that speed.

“All we’re doing is altering the governor to operate at the lower ends,” Donnelly says. “That is something that’s not a technically-challenging requirement.”

The joint venture submitted its risk assessment on the SB-1 Defiant to the army last week after completing the preliminary design. A final design is scheduled to be ready by early next year.

Sikorsky-Boeing are among four bidders developing demonstrators under the army’s joint multi-role technology demonstration programme, which aims to prove the feasilbility of a high-speed rotorcraft to replace thousands of conventional helicopters.

A Bell Helicopter-Lockheed Martin team is developing a third-generation tiltrotor called the V-280 Valor. Karem Aircraft, founded by the designer of the original Predator unmanned air vehicle (UAV), is developing an optimum speed tiltrotor. AVX Corp, a start-up founded by former Bell engineers, is proposing a design powered by a coaxial rotor for lift and two ducted fans for forward thrust.

The army plans to select at least two of the bidders to build and fly demonstrator aircraft in 2017.

The SB-1 design builds on Sikorsky’s work developing a high-speed propulsion system using a coaxial, rigid rotor system with a rear-mounted propulsor for thrust.

Sikorsky has demonstrated the system in-flight with the X2 project, which achieved speeds over 260kt in level flight before the aircraft was retired. Sikorsky also is developing the S-97 Raider with the same propulsion system. The S-97 is be demonstrated to the army next year as a lightweight, high-speed alternative for special operations and armed scout missions.

But the biggest prize in the rotorcraft market is the potential FVL programme.

If the Sikorsky-Boeing team is selected for the possible FVL contract, the operational aircraft will be powered by a more advanced propulsion system under development by the US Army called the future affordable turbine engine (FATE), Donnelly says.

The army could still decide to upgrade its fleets of Boeing AH-64 Apaches and Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks. But if the army chooses to recapitalize the fleets with an all-new design, the FVL-Medium is the favoured approach.

Click to expand...