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Scratch

Captain
U.S. Air Force Tanker Decision Made

After months of deliberations - and more than one delay - the Air Force has finally decided who will build the service's new refueling tankers.
Northrop Grumman and European partner EADS beat out presumptive favorite Boeing for the Air Force's $35-40 billion, 179-plane tanker deal, Air Force officials said. The bigger size of the plane was the crucial factor, they said. ...
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Well, finally the decision is there. And it's a major victory for EADS, esp after it's probs within Airbus (A380). Entering the US defence market on a big scale. And that's just the beginning of the tanker fleet modernization.
But then again, Boeing might decide to protest and GAO may act, esp since there's already political discontent not having given the contract to Boeing.
And with the big number of jets required anyway, there's still the possibility that the USAF may finally buy aircraft from both companies.
 
N

Norfolk

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Via LexisNexis News,
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, by Greg Torode, South China Morning Post, Friday, March 7, 2008:

The US is poised to ask China to allow the USS Kitty Hawk battlegroup to visit Hong Kong next month - the first such request since Beijing refused permission for the aircraft carrier to enter local waters for Thanksgiving last November.

US consular officials will formally pass a Pentagon request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong, giving more than the required 30 days' notice, sources say.

The Kitty Hawk and as many as six support vessels are expected before mid-April.

"This is something of a test ...Washington is confident there will be no problems this time but defence officials will still be watching closely to see how the request is handled," one source said. The Pentagon hoped the handling of the request would reflect recent efforts on both sides to smooth military relations and improve communications, this source said.
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More at the link. Let's hope that there is no repeat of last years' unpleasantness, and things go smoothly and without controversy.
 
bd popeye

bd popeye

The Last Jedi
VIP Professional
Norfolk;79371 Let's hope that there is no repeat of last years' unpleasantness said:
I agree. This would be the Kitty Hawks last port call on Hong Kong. Whereas it will be sent back the the US once it is relieved by the USS George Washington CVN-73 in the comming months.
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A

alwaysfresh

New Member
Is it true that the Green Zone is being bombarded by Mortars or rockets today?

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Finn McCool

Finn McCool

Captain
Registered Member
They've been getting it everyday for about a week, alwaysfresh. Mortars and rockets. The opposite side of the river from the Green Zone is East Baghdad, which is mostly Shiite territory, so the Mahdi Army can move around most of it without too much trouble. Sadr City, to the Northeast of the Green Zone, is within rocket range and its a no-go zone for US and Iraqi units, so the Sadrists don't even have to leave home to fire off rockets at the US Embassy. Of course those rockets aren't very accurate, so they're really just shooting in the general direction of the Green Zone and hoping to land a few lucky ones. More civilians have been killed by rockets that fell short or went too far than Americans and Iraqi government personnel killed by hits on the Green Zone. The US Embassy has plenty of bunkers, etc. and is reinforced. It's taken direct hits before. The stress must be pretty bad though.

The Air Force has blasted some rocket and mortar teams in the last few days. That hasn't seemed to do much. I would think that there would be some Hellfire-armed Predators orbiting Sadr City and other areas where rockets and mortars have been launched from. If I were in a position to make the decision, I would try to keep Apaches overhead in the areas where the launches are coming from. So the US could probably do more to stop these launches but both sides are holding back because both wish to preserve the fragile truce between the US and the Mahdi Army. Nobody wants to fight right now.
 
N

Norfolk

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"
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", by Shefali Rekhi, The Straits Times, Saturday, April 19, 2008 (via LexisNexis News):

THE United States' next president is unlikely to fight the dragon.

Or get close.

Instead, whoever wins election this year will try to ensure there is no dramatic change in ties with China, irrespective of whether he or she is a Republican or Democrat.

This is the view of Mr William Dobson, the managing editor of the US-based Foreign Policy (FP) magazine, who is on a visit to Singapore.
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More at the link. From the US perspective at least, the only really foreseeable potential for war between the US and China is of course over Taiwan; so long as this matter does not get out of control, then things are more or less okay. The recent KMT electoral victories have resulted in quite a sigh of relief on the eastern side of the Pacific. US policy has remained remarkably stable in some ways over the last generation or so, though it has been modified in some ways given the strains that have arisen over the last decade or so. Even if Taiwan is, in time, peacefully removed or nullified as a military issue between the US and China, other strains, including military ones, continue to build. And despite some eforts in Beijing to restrain some of those pressures, not least nationalism.
 
Finn McCool

Finn McCool

Captain
Registered Member
Norfolk said:
From the US perspective at least, the only really foreseeable potential for war between the US and China is of course over Taiwan; so long as this matter does not get out of control, then things are more or less okay. The recent KMT electoral victories have resulted in quite a sigh of relief on the eastern side of the Pacific. US policy has remained remarkably stable in some ways over the last generation or so, though it has been modified in some ways given the strains that have arisen over the last decade or so. Even if Taiwan is, in time, peacefully removed or nullified as a military issue between the US and China, other strains, including military ones, continue to build. And despite some eforts in Beijing to restrain some of those pressures, not least nationalism.
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Hillary Clinton has been engaging in some real China-baiting lately. She's not going to win though. McCain is a foreign policy pragmatist-I don't think that he'll doing anything too confrontational with China. Obama is unknown on this issue. He's never had any foreign policy experience, and he is somewhat populist, so I can see him causing some problems in the relationship on trade issues, or by making some "unecessary" comments on the Taiwan issue.
 
S

Scratch

Captain
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U.S. Navy Finds Glaring Flaws in 2 Surface Ships

Most of the missiles couldn't be fired, and neither could any of the big guns. The Aegis radars key to the ships' fighting abilities didn't work right.
The flight decks were inoperable. Most of the lifesaving gear failed inspection. Corrosion was rampant, and lube oil leaked all over.
The verdict: "unfit for sustained combat operations." ...
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Now that's disturbing. If two major surface combatants are in such a bad condition, I wonder what went wrong here.
 
N

Norfolk

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Scratch said:
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Now that's disturbing. If two major surface combatants are in such a bad condition, I wonder what went wrong here.
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Yeah, no kidding. The US Navy has a long, historical tradition of tight discipline, often far tighter than that of even the best world navies. Something very wrong seems to be going on here if this turns out to be systemic throughout the Fleet; at the very least, it makes one wonder about the leadership on those two ships. But, if the Navy is trying to cut back on crew sizes, then there's a whole lot more work for a whole lot less people. It could be that crews are breaking down under the workload. Crew numbers do matter, regardless of what paper figures say.
 
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