Good Wednesday Morning
A bit of history and some tidbits.
.Regards.
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Today in Naval History
August 5
1832 USS Potomac, becomes the first U.S. Navy ship to entertain royalty, King and Queen of Sandwich Islands.
1858 The last bit of cable is laid by USS Niagara and British ship Agamemnon to complete the first trans-Atlantic cable. Niagara's boats carried the end of the cable ashore at Brills Mouth Island, Newfoundland, and the same day Agamemnon landed her end of the cable at England. The first message flashed across August 16 when Queen Victoria sent a cable to President James Buchanan.
1864 Rear Adm. David G. Farragut successfully navigates through a deadly torpedo field Confederates lay in order to block the channel into Mobile Bay. During the battle, Farragut gives his famous quote, Damn the Torpedoes, Full speed ahead!
1882 The first US Navy steel warships (USS Atlanta, USS Boston, USS Chicago and USS Dolphin), are authorized by Congress, beginning the New Navy. Subsequently known as the A, B, C, D ships, they are built at Chester, Pa. USS Dolphin is commissioned first in 1885, followed by USS Atlanta (1886), USS Boston (1887), and USS Chicago (1889).
1921 The Yangtze River Patrol Force is established as a command under the Asiatic Fleet. The force serves in the area until December 1941 when the force is disestablished with many of the ships captured, or scuttled, and the crews taken prisoner by the Japanese.
1944 USS Barbel (SS 316) sinks Japanese merchant passenger-cargo ship, Miyako Maru, off Tokuno Jima while USS Cero (SS 225) attacks a Japanese convoy off Minanao and sinks oiler, Tsurumi, in Davao Gulf. Also on this date, PBY aircraft sinks small Japanese cargo vessel No.2, Eiko Maru, off Taoelahat.
1990 Operation Sharp Edge begins, with the Navy and Marines evacuating U.S. citizens and foreign nationals from Liberia during its civil war.
Thanks to CHINFO
Executive Summary:
•Trade press reported on CAPE director nominee John Whitley's comments on the Navy's shipbuilding plan during his SASC confirmation hearing.
•National media report that the Navy SEALs have suspended ties with the privately-owned Navy SEAL Museum.
•Trade press also reported on the Navy's participation in Operation Nabokov 2020 in the Arctic.
This Day in history
5 August
1391 Castilian sailors in Barcelona, Spain set fire to a Jewish ghetto, killing 100 people and setting off four days of violence against Jews.
1762 Russia, Prussia and Austria sign a treaty agreeing on the partition of Poland.
1763 Colonel Henry Bouquet decisively defeats the Indians at the Battle of Bushy Run in Pennsylvania during Pontiac's rebellion.
1815 A peace treaty with Tripoli--which follows treaties with Algeria and Tunis--brings an end to the Barbary Wars.
1858 The first transatlantic cable is completed.
1861 Congress adopts the nation's first income tax to finance the Civil War.
1864 The Union Navy captures Mobile Bay in Alabama.
1892 Harriet Tubman receives a pension from Congress for her work as a nurse, spy and scout during the Civil War.
1914 The first electric traffic signal lights are installed in Cleveland, Ohio.
1914 The British Expeditionary Force mobilizes for World War I.
1915 The Austro-German Army takes Warsaw, in present-day Poland, on the Eastern Front.
1916 The British navy defeats the Ottomans at the naval battle off Port Said, Egypt.
1921Mustafa Kemal is appointed virtual ruler of the Ottoman Empire.
1941 The German army completes taking 410,000 Russian prisoners in the Uman and Smolensk pockets in the Soviet Union.
1951 The United Nations Command suspends armistice talks with the North Koreans when armed troops are spotted in neutral areas.
1962 Actress Marilyn Monroe dies under mysterious circumstances.
1964 President Lyndon Johnson begins bombing North Vietnam in retaliation for the Gulf of Tonkin incident and asks Congress to go to war against North Vietnam.
1974 President Richard Nixon admits he ordered a cover-up for political as well as national security reasons.
1981 President Ronald Reagan fires 11,500 striking air traffic controllers.
1992 Four police officers are indicted on civil rights charges in the beating of Rodney King.
1995 Croatian forces capture the city of Knin, a Serb stronghold, during Operation Storm.
1997 The mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Ramzi Yousef, goes on trial.
2012 A gunman in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, opens fire in a Sikh temple, killing six before committing suicide.
1962 |
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Thanks to Niseguy for adding his input to the Manhole cover story
Skip,
As you know I worked 24 years at NASA. The story of the manhole cover is utter and complete BS.
Even if it made it up the shaft, if would be on a constantly decreasing speed unless under the gravitational forces of another celestial body. Steel etc would have been vaporized in short order. Probably in the first 1/2 second.
Believe what you want, but this is BS. Now the DoD had a thing called Thunder well. Which looked at something like this but it never passed the smell test.
Niseguy
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Thanks to Dutch
Subject: Dawn of the Woke
From the net…courtesy of Paul and JC …
https://www.wsj.com/articles/dawn-of-the-woke-11596385455
Dawn of the Woke
Joe McCarthy was a B-movie monster. Today's cancel culture is more like a zombie apocalypse.
By Lance Morrow
August 2, 2020
Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy speaks in Washington.
I was a Senate page boy for a couple of summers in the early Eisenhower years. Joe McCarthy was in full cry. I would ride in the Senate elevator with him sometimes or sit near him in the toy monorail subway car that runs between the Capitol and the Senate Office Building. He had black smudges under his eyes and a hearty Elks Club way with the tourists he encountered in the halls of the Capitol. He wore rumpled dark-blue suits and gravy-catcher ties, and from time to time he would emit a mirthless chuckle (heh heh heh). If you got close, he gave off a whiff of last night's whiskey.
Years later, that smell—stale, heavy—merged in my mind with the moral odor of McCarthyism, a sour American memory. Saint Thérèse de Lisieux, the Carmelite known as "The Little Flower," was said to have emitted a strong scent of roses at her death—"the odor of sanctity." Joe McCarthy produced the opposite effect.
So does the cancel culture, which is the 21st century's equivalent of McCarthy's marauding. The country's myriad cancelers emit the odor not of sanctity but of sanctimony, and of something more ominous: the whiff of a society decomposing.
What's happening on the American left—with surreal rapidity, like the fall of France in 1940—is sinister. Wokeness and the cancel culture represent not idealism but virtue gone clinically insane. Look up the word hysteria: "a psychological disorder whose symptoms include . . . shallow, volatile emotions, and overdramatic or attention-seeking behavior."
The indignant woke, who imagine themselves to be righteously awake and laying the foundations for a more just and humane world, ought to pause—to draw back for a moment, and consider the possibility that they are, as it were, fast asleep, caught up in strange, agitated dreams: that they have become a mass joined in a cult of self-righteousness, moral vanity and privilege. One of these days, they will have to be deprogrammed and led back to the real world. Woke institutions will need to be fumigated.
The woke are especially obsessed with two areas—sex and race. In their dream, nature's basic working arrangement—sex, male and female, the business of procreation that ensures the survival of the species—dissolves in a frolicsome alphabet soup of identities; human meaning works itself out not in the mind, not in thought or art, but in the territory that lies south of the navel, in restless genital experiments. Men become women on their own say-so, and may bear children, if they choose: Death to the one who denies it! Even pronouns have become narcissistically discretionary.
As for race: In the eyes of the woke—and in most media accounts—this summer's eruptions (protests, demonstrations, riots, precinct-house occupations, and the "summer of love" in Seattle's "occupied protest") have been "overwhelmingly peaceful." It's not really true, but the woke are addicted to the meme of their own harmlessness, and so they will it into truth. Destruction, in fact, has been extensive—and inexcusable. Those hardest hit have been residents and shopkeepers in black and other minority neighborhoods that are left in the wreckage after those who did the damage—among them many white anarchists and antifa people—have gone back to their parents' basements.
Michael Tracey, a journalist from Jersey City, N.J., returned from a monthlong tour of cities around the country, inspecting the damage. He reported, in an article on the website UnHerd: "From large metro areas like Chicago and Minneapolis/St. Paul, to small and mid-sized cities like Fort Wayne, Indiana and Green Bay, Wisconsin, the number of boarded up, damaged or destroyed buildings I have personally observed—commercial, civic, and residential—is staggering. Keeping exact count is impossible."
McCarthyism and the cancel culture—which is the military wing of wokeness—are most alike in their power to conjure fear. It was fear that kept McCarthy up and running for several years, and it is fear—of losing a job, losing an assistant professorship, losing one's good name, one's friends, fear of saying the wrong thing and bringing down ruin on one's head, fear not to sign a party-line faculty petition—that fortifies and sustains the cancelers.
What can be done? The gravest casualty of the 1960s was adult authority, which vanished from the land around the time of 1968's Tet Offensive. Ronald Reagan provided an apparition of authority for a while, but then Bill Clinton, frisking with an intern, restored the adolescent model. The best remedy for the cancel culture would be resistance by strong adult leaders—university presidents, newspaper publishers, heads of corporations and so on—capable of standing up to Twitter. But the odds are against such a miracle. The woke, like hyenas, hunt in packs, and those in authority are craven.
In time, McCarthyism burned itself out. The senator—censured by his colleagues in 1954—withdrew into alcoholism and died three years later. Wokeness will prove harder to kill than McCarthyism. McCarthy was a B-movie monster. Wokeness is a zombie apocalypse.
Mr. Morrow is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
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We are receiving a lot of stories from the past. They are great and I will try to catch up and add them to the list. Here are a couple
Thanks to Jim A., who flew for our Air Ambulance service before he went to work for the airlines … and no, we didn't get a Decathalon or Islander when we bought the FBO … about 20 years ago …
Ah, those formidable tail-draggers. When living in Victor decades ago, I thought I would supplement my income doing instruction, towing and scenics at the Driggs FBO. They had some pretty basic equipment. A normally-aspirated Twin Islander for their IFR air taxi. Really? That plane was so underpowered, it didn't have a VMC airspeed! Not such a great aircraft for the Tetons. They had some trainers, and a Bellanca they used for towing. "We need tow pilots. Let's get you checked out in the Decathalon." Among my 500+ hours of tricycle time, I had logged 1 hour of tail-dragger time, an aerobatic lesson in JHA's Citabria during my private-pilot training.
It was a tired plane. They could have used it as a model for one those animated airplane movies made a few years ago. During the walk-around, a few wing inspection panels were missing, no fuel sump. "Nah, don't have one. We fly it too much to need it." Omen. Red flag! Apparently I was still smitten with the prospect of a few dollars. Takeoff and air work were uneventful. Then came the landings. The wheel landings were fine. Ok, they were passable. We'd T&G before the tailwheel came to Earth.
That three wheel (stall?) landing got my attention, tho. After 'touching' down, that hunk of junk began to wonder off to one side of the runway. I stabbed a rudder pedal to correct, then that yellow beast suddenly got a mind of its own. It turned 90 degrees before running off the runway and down into the borrow. We bounced back up to runway, went back to the ramp and parked it. We saw two black streaks leading from the centerline of the runway off into cobbleland, testimony to my experience. Post flight walk-around indicated we had laid those tundra tires over far enough for the rims to touch tarmac and ground when we departed the runway. I'm surprised we hadn't broken a tire bead. I certainly had broken a sweat.
Of course, I felt like the tricycle pilot I was, unworthy of a tailwheel. Was this a job I really wanted? I was just hungry enough to go back there a few days later. My instructor met me and explained. Apparently, he had had the same experience a few days after my event. As a result of their less-than-standard maintenance standards, our runway excursions had been the result of a faulty tailwheel assembly (maintenance). If a large rudder input was applied the tailwheel, it would lock at 90 degrees until jarred loose. In my case, it occurred while bouncing through the borrow off the runway. Driggs was in my backyard, I decided I'd go somewhere else to log time.
That was my last tailwheel flight.
Did they still have those planes when you bought the FBO?
As always, edit, pass on, or trash as needed.
Jim
On Jul 31, 2020, at 10:22 AM, Rich Sugden M.D. <rsugden@tetondata.com> wrote:
Thanks to Shadow …
Back when I was just learning to fly at a little grass strip in North Carolina... the little FBO had an Aeronca Champ for rent... think it was a whole $6.00 an hour, wet. Locals airport bums were often heard to opine, that if you wasn't a tail dragger Pilot... Y'all wasn't a pilot! Well ego and the desire to be accepted... I decided to give it a shot. Think I had about 20 hours in tricycle gear airplanes. I was an up and comer... having soloed with around four and a half hours. Self assured, I boldly asked the owner for a checkout in the Champ. Al Blake who ran the FBO said he'd check me out. Now Al was a character... little guy, former motorcycle racer... with a thin mustache that would have been fashionable about 1923. Probably didn't weigh more than a 120 pounds soaking wet. Well he gave me about two minutes of ground school and then said, "Let's go fly". He did the preflight and got in the back seat. I jumped in front and looked around for all the switches.... mags, fuel, throttle, mixture, carb heat... and brakes... which weren't where they were on all the planes I'd flown up to then, on the rudder pedals... instead they were on the floor behind the rudder pedals. Hmmmm, that's different thought I? Al talked me through the start process, had the line boy to come over and give us a prop. Gave it a prime, opened the throttle a half inch or so... called "Mags Off" and the line boy pulled it through a couple of times and called for Mags on. I switched them on, he propped me and the little engine fired right up!
Somehow I made it to the end of the runway... checked my gages and did a Mag check and we were ready to go. Now this country airport had been carved out of a pine forest by the Forestry Service originally and was surrounded by pine trees. I line up and started my takeoff run and everything was so smooth, I couldn't believe it. The little airplane was magical... the controls were so light it was like it was flying itself. Al yells out, "OK, raise the tail" amazing it took the slightest touch of forward stick and the tail came right up and stabilized.... then he said, "Little more right rudder". I barely pushed on the rudder and she instantly reacted. Then he said, "Now rotate". I gave the slightest pull on the stick and we were airborne. I was thinking to myself... this is a piece of cake! He told me to turn down wind and set up for a landing (no stalls, turns or maneuvers, just stayed in the pattern... things were different then).
Anyway, as luck would have it... I greased it on every time. After the third landing, Al gets out and says... "Go have fun". He has me drop him off by the FBO, gets out and disappears into the office. I set up for my takeoff... and once I applied power... it was like I was in a totally different airplane! Instead of super light controls, now it seemed everything was totally different... nothing felt like it had before! The nose wandered, stick and rudders needed far more pressure than before and the nose was going all over the place. Finally I yanked it into the air... with my heart in my throat and beating like a drum! As I turned downwind I was wondering how the that little pussycat had turned into a beast! About midfield, it finally dawned on me... I just thought I was flying a pussycat... what had happened was I had a living, breathing, autopilot onboard for my first three landings and takeoffs! It was called an Al Blake!
That little bastard had been flying the airplane... not me. No wonder the controls seemed to move as if by thought. Right then, I decided to make my first solo landing in the Champ... a full stop. My former dear friend Corky Meyer (Bless his soul) had a saying that I think covers this next part. You see, there was this "Young Thing" I had accompany me to the airport, hoping to impress her with my aeronautical skills and she had been watching the whole event. Now my landing wasn't quite as smooth as my first three ( a 120 pounds and a soft hand in the rear seat, made a hell of a difference)... but on the ground I am... and that's where I intended to stay. Was gonna need a couple of laps around the beads and a little more courage before I was gonna try this tail dragger thing again. Anyway... I'm on the ground, stick back... and I look up and see "Young Thing", gleefully clapping her hands at my success.
And that was when, as Corky would say.... "The genies of fate, urinated all over the best intentions of a young man"! My mind was now more on her, than the Champ. Now the Champ had these two "Chromoly" tubes that came down from the overhead and descended into the instrument panel for bracing. For some reason they caught my eye and then I went brain dead.... I was still rolling and the thought occurred to me, it would look cool if I reached up and grabbed them, like I was some hot shot WW II Ace. So I let go of the stick and reached forward and immediately, my left elbow pushes the throttle wide open! Holy Chit! The Champ reacted instantly and violently and makes a 90 degree turn to the left.... heading straight for the pine trees! I think that may have been the first time I learned as Youthly Puresome sez... "What heart tasted like"! My mind goes to warp speed, my heals are searching for the brakes, I'd pulled the throttle back... and I reached up and cut the Mags off. I finally found the brakes and stood on them as hard as I could... and finally slid to a stop about 20 feet from the trees!
Thank you God!
Now "Young Thing" was the only witness to my mishap, but besides being cute, she was also smart and had run into the FBO for help. Next thing I know, my autopilot, Al Blake, comes riding down the runway on his Indian motorcycle and asks what happened. There comes a time when it pays to be humble. I had no bravado left in me and told Al exactly what happened. He looked at me and then helped me pull the Champ back on the Runway... gave it a look over and says get back in and I'll give you a prop. It starts right up and Al says... "Take it back around again". I shook my head no and he comes back and says, "Do what I tell you, it's like being bucked off a horse... ya gotta get up and try again". I swallowed hard, taxied back to the end of the runway, took off, turned downwind and made a respectable landing and that was the end of my first taildragger experience.
Later, got pretty damn good at it... and in my hangar, amongst all the "Warbirds".... there was always a Piper Cub. I kept one because it reminded me of my roots... and was always just plain fun to fly. I think over the years, I gave more different people a ride in my Cub than any airplane I ever owned.
Shadow
P.S.
Oh, and "Young Thing"... Well that's another story....
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I was a VT-4 Instructor (LSO and Guns) in 1970 into 1971, then became the CNATRA LSO and T-2 Standardization Officer.
Louis, you are correct about the NFO Student getting an unexpected ejection seat ride. The SNA had flown T-2As in Meridian prior to reporting to VT-4. On a gunnery flight with his SNFO, he had an engine failure and ejected from the aircraft taking the SNFO with him. During the accident debrief, the SNFO stated one minute he was watching the scenery and the next with no warning was out of the aircraft descending in his chute. The SNA stated his instructor in Meridian had trained him that if you lose an engine you should eject which he did! Unfortunately, he was flying a T-2B with two engines and the second engine was still working upon impact in the water. Fortunately, he was excused from flight training to pursue a new career path.
Many fun stories from the past!
Demon (Tom Mitchell)
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for August 5, 2020 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
5 August
1911: Lincoln Beachey won the New York to Philadelphia race for the Gimbel $5,000 purse in 1 hour 50 minutes 18 seconds with one stop for fuel. (24)
1922: Lt Clayton Bissell began first model airway night flight from Washington DC to Dayton and return. (24)
1937: The XC-35, first aircraft with a pressurized cabin, made its first performance flight at Wright Field.
1944: FIRST ATTACK AGAINST PHILIPPINES. Night raids began when the 63d Bombardment Squadron from Fifth Air Force launched a single radar-equipped B-24 Snooper. It conducted an ineffective attack on the Sasa airdrome, north of Davao, Mindanao. (17)
1950: KOREAN WAR/MEDAL OF HONOR. Maj Louis J. Sebille, the 67 FBS Commander, died near Hamchang, Korea, when he crashed his severely damaged F-51 into an enemy position. Major Sebille received the first Medal of Honor for an USAF member in the Korean War posthumously. (16) (26) In the first SA-16 rescue operation of the war, Captain Charles E. Shroder led a crew in saving a Navy pilot who had crashed into the sea off the Korean coast. (28)
1951: Richard H. Johnson set a world record for single-place gliders, covering 535.69 miles from Odessa, to Salina, Kans.
1954: A production-model B-52 flew for the first time. (12)
1964: The National Academy of Sciences set up a 10-man committee to study sonic boom effects in the development of supersonic transports. The FAA managed this program with support from NASA and the USAF. (5) (16) The JCS established the Yankee Team Tanker Task Force (renamed the Foreign Legion on 3 September) with eight KC-135s at Clark AB to support combat operations in the area. (1) SOUTHEAST ASIA FORCE DEPLOYMENTS. The USAF deployed more squadrons of tactical fighters, bombers, and reconnaissance aircraft to Southeast Asia. On 5 August, B-57s from Clark AB deployed to Bien Hoa AB and additional F-100s moved to Da Nang AB. On 6 August, 18 F-105s from the 36 TFS from Yokota AB deployed to Korat RTAFB. Tactical Air Command provided three tactical fighter squadrons, two troop carrier squadrons, and six reconnaissance aircraft to the battle zone. (17)
1965: The 321 SMW at Grand Forks AFB accepted the first Minuteman II to arrive in the field. (6)
1968: A 1,095-foot long STOLPORT (short takeoff and landing strip) opened at LaGuardia Airport, N.Y.
1971: American Airlines flew the first McDonnell Douglas DC-10 flight between Los Angeles and Chicago in 3 hours 18 minutes.
1975: The X-24B became the first lifting body to land on a concrete runway. 1983: EXERCISE AHUAS TARA II: Through 31 December, for exercises with Honduran forces, MAC moved 6,000 passengers and 4,000 tons of cargo to Honduras. (2)
1994: Two A-10 Thunderbolt IIs destroyed an armored vehicle near Sarajevo after the Serbs took heavy weapons from a UN compound. The weapons were returned. (16) (26)
1997: After a 747 Korean Airlines jetliner crashed on Guam, a C-141 from the 305 AMW at McGuire AFB flew a 31-member team of the National Transportation Safety Board from Andrews AFB to Fairchild AFB, where they boarded a 92 AREFW KC-135 for the flight to Andersen AFB. A second C-141 from the 305 AMW took medical equipment and seven physicians from Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe, Hawaii, to Guam to help treat the crash survivors, while a C-141 from the 62 AW at McChord AFB airlifted Red Cross, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and FAA representatives from Hawaii to Guam. Additionally, a joint Army-Air Force critical care team, consisting of two Critical Care Air Transport Teams, each augmented by a second critical care nurse, and two burn teams from the Brooke Army Medical Center's Institute of Surgical Research, left for Guam on 6 August. (22)
2000: AFRC C-141s from the 452 AMW at March ARB and 445 AW at Wright-Patterson AFB joined two active-duty C-141s from the 62 AW at McChord AFB to move firefighters and equipment to Idaho Falls, Idaho, where they were bused to Clear Creek, Idaho, to fight raging wildfires.Two AFRC C-130s from the 302 AW at Peterson AFB and two ANG C-130s from the 146 AW at Channel Islands ANG Station, Calif., dropped fire retardant on wildfires near Los Angeles and Fresno. The 145 AW (ANG) at Charlotte, N. C., and the 153 AW (ANG) at Cheyenne, Wyo., flew sorties from Hill AFB to drop fire retardant over the wildfires in California. (22)
2005: Through 7 August, AMC participated in an unusual rescue operation. A C-5 returning to Travis AFB diverted to NAS North Island in San Diego to pick up a 32 US Navy sailors and two Super Scorpio Remotely Operated Vehicles. The C-5 then carried the Navy team 3,700 nautical miles nonstop for 10 hours to Yelizovo Airport, near the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on the Kamchatka Peninsula, to help rescue seven sailors from a stranded Russian AS-28 mini-sub that became entangled in fishing net during a 4 August military exercise. On 6 August, three AMC aircraft landed at Yelizovo Airport with more people and equipment, including a C-17 Globemaster III from the 172d Airlift Wing (Mississippi ANG) that flew non-stop from New Orleans NAS to Russia with 95,000 pounds of equipment and personnel. On 7 August, the US and British rescue specialists freed the submarine from the fish nets, and all seven Russians survived. A KC-10 Extender from the 60 AMW at Travis AFB, a KC-135 Stratotanker from the 939 AREFW (AFRC) at Portland, and two KC-135s from the 168 AREFW (ANG) at Eielson AFB provided four refuelings to support the operation. (22)
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Daily world News for 5 August thanks to Military Periscope
. USA—Minuteman III ICBM Test Launch Demonstrates Airborne Control Capabilities Air Force Global Strike Command | 08/05/2020 The U.S. has test-launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile from an airborne platform, reports U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command. On Tuesday, airmen from the from the 625th Strategic Operations Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., launched the ICBM using the Airborne Launch Control System from a Navy E-6B command-post aircraft, the command said. The missile, launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., carried three re-entry vehicles and flew about 4,200 miles (6,760 km), landing near Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The launch demonstrates that the U.S. nuclear deterrent is safe, reliable and effective. Such test-firings are scheduled far in advance and are not a response to any world event, emphasized AFGSC. Operational Minuteman IIIs are currently armed with a single warhead in accordance with the New START agreement with Russia, noted the War Zone blog.
USA—White House Extends Guard Mission While Slashing Funding Politico | 08/05/2020 The White House has extended the federal deployment of the National Guard in response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) while cutting federal funding for the remainder of the mission, reports Politico. On Monday, President Trump extended the federal deployment of nearly 25,000 guardsmen until the end of 2020 but ordered states to cover 25 percent of the costs. The Federal Emergency Management Agency would continue to cover the balance, reported the Hill (Washington, D.C.). National Guard operations in Texas and Florida would be funded at 100 percent. Federal funding for the National Guard operation was scheduled to expire on Aug. 21, which would have forced units to pull personnel by Aug. 7 so that they could quarantine for two weeks before returning home. Some states, including Nevada, had begun withdrawing troops. It would take at least a week to ramp back up to full capability, officials said. Guardsmen have played a key role in state responses to the pandemic, including running testing sites and building hospitals, among other tasks.
USA—U-2 Demonstrates Comms Relay Capability Defense One | 08/05/2020 In a recent demonstration, the venerable U-2 spy plane demonstrated the ability to serve as an airborne communications node as part of military efforts to link all of its platforms, reports Defense One. During the Orange Flag demonstration last month at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., the U-2 received targeting data from Air Force F-35s. The F-35s also sent the data through a ground station to the Lockheed Martin Airborne Sensor Adaptation Kit to a surrogate Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS), which links Army missile systems such as the PAC-3 or High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS). The test builds on a similar scenario in January, in which the F-35 passed data to the IBCS, which shot down simulated threats. F-35 data collected from the U-2 airborne relay would help validate that a single IBCS Airborne Sensor A-kit could serve multiple pathways to obtain data from the F-35 and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets, said a Lockheed Martin release.
USA—Delivery Of New AMPV APCs Delayed Another Month Defense News | 08/05/2020 The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused another delay in the U.S. Army's Armored Multipurpose Vehicle (AMPV) program, reports Defense News. Low-rate initial production deliveries for the vehicle, which is intended to replace aging M113 tracked vehicles, has been pushed back another month due to delays caused by COVID-19, manufacturer BAE Systems acknowledged in its second quarter fiscal 2020 earnings briefing. The program reached the low-rate production milestone in January 2019. Last year, however, the program office indicated that initial deliveries would be delayed two months, while production qualification testing would be pushed back seven months due to tooling and assembly line challenges at the manufacturing plant in York, Pa. BAE Systems was originally scheduled to deliver the initial vehicles in March, but this was delayed to July. After the pandemic hit, first deliveries were pushed back another month to August, a company spokeswoman said. The delays have also affected funding for the AMPV in fiscal 2021. The Army's budget request calls for purchasing 32 vehicles instead of the planned 143, with the budget cut from $445 million to $193 million.
USA—Trump Administration Seeks To Sell More Weapons To India Foreign Policy | 08/05/2020 The U.S. wants to increase arms sales to India amid growing tensions between New Delhi and Beijing, reports Foreign Policy. Officials and congressional sources told the magazine that Washington might be willing to offer more advanced systems to India than were previously made available. These include the armed version of the MQ-1 Predator drone, said a congressional source. That deal is possible after the State Dept. last month announced changes to U.S. implementation of the Missile Technology Control Regime, allowing the export of larger, armed drones. India has become more open to closer relations with the U.S. following its latest border standoff with China.
Canada—Production Begins For New Combat Support Vehicles Canada Department Of National Defense | 08/05/2020 Production has started for Canada's new combat support platform, reports the Canadian Dept. of National Defense. On Tuesday, production on the Armored Combat Support Vehicle (ACSV) kicked off at the General Dynamics Land Systems facility in London, Ontario. The ACSV, based on the LAV III chassis, is being delivered in eight variants, including ambulance, vehicle recovery, engineering, mobile repair, electronic warfare, troop carrier and command post. The vehicles will replace the army's M113 and LAV II Bison vehicles in various combat support roles. Ottawa ordered 360 ACSVs in September 2019 at a cost of Can$2 billion (US$1.5 billion), including training, initial spares and technical manuals. The first vehicle is expected to be completed in December, with deliveries following through February 2025. Units are set to begin receiving the ACSV in 2022, following testing, training and procurement of spare parts, the department said.
Germany—Frigate Joins E.U. Effort To Stop Flow Of Weapons To Libya Arab News | 08/05/2020 Germany is deploying a frigate to the European Union mission supporting the U.N. arms embargo on Libya, reports the Arab News (Riyadh). On Tuesday, the Hamburg departed from Wilhelmshaven with a complement of 250, including two helicopters and a visit, board, search and seizure team, reported Naval News. This is the first time that Berlin has deployed a warship to the mission. Germany has provided a P-3 maritime patrol aircraft since Operation Irini was launched. The frigate will enforce the U.N. arms embargo, collect information about the illegal export of oil and petroleum products and migrant-smuggling from Libya and help train the Libyan coast guard and navy during the deployment. The Hamburg is scheduled to return to Germany on Dec. 20, reported Deutsche Presse-Agentur. The crew is not expected to leave the ship during the five-month mission due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Russia—Production Of Armata Armored Vehicles Underway Tass | 08/05/2020 Russian officials have confirmed that production of the latest armored vehicles for the army is underway, reports the Tass news agency (Moscow). On Monday, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said that production of 132 T-14 tanks and T-15 infantry fighting vehicles under a 2018 contract was well underway although deliveries of serial production vehicles had not yet begun. The T-14 and T-15 are part of the Armata family of vehicles, which so far includes the tank, IFV and an armored recovery vehicle. The minister confirmed that previous issues with the engines and thermal imagers had been resolved. In April, Manturov said that the initial T-14 tanks would be delivered in 2021. Work on vehicles for export could begin as soon as 2021, he said.
South Korea—Development Of Hypersonic, Precision-Guided Missiles To Be Accelerated, Says Defense Minister Yonhap | 08/05/2020 Senior defense officials say South Korea will speed up the development of advanced missiles due to the growing threat from North Korea, reports the Yonhap news agency (Seoul). Seoul is pushing forward with the development of precision-guided, long-range and hypersonic missiles, as well as high-powered warheads and indigenous satellite navigation capabilities, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong Doo said on Wednesday. Jeong's comments came a week after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un said Pyongyang would never stop strengthening its defense capabilities. It also comes on the heels of an agreement with the U.S. that would lift certain restrictions on South Korea's missile industry, allowing Seoul to develop solid-propellant rockets.
Taiwan—Marines Deploy To Islands Following Chinese Invasion Threat Taipei Times | 08/05/2020 Taiwan has deployed marines to the Pratas (Dongsha) Islands in the South China Sea following reports that China plans to hold an exercise simulating an invasion of the islands, reports the Taipei Times. Last week, a company of about 200 Taiwanese marines deployed to the islands, a military source told the South China Morning Post. Additional coast guardsmen were also deployed. The deployments have been described as short term. Taiwan permanently stationed marines on the islands until 2000 when the job was turned over to the coast guard. The 99th Brigade of the marine corps will now defend the islands jointly with the coast guard in response to the heightened threat from China, said an unnamed source. Wang Ting-yu, a member of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, told CommonWealth magazine that in case of an invasion, those elements would be reinforced with paratroopers under the "Border Protection Battle Plan," reported the Taiwan News. Wang said that given the flat terrain of the island, the military has planned for a worst-case scenario involving all branches of the military. Last week, a Chinese National Defense University professor indicated that upcoming amphibious drills were a rehearsal for invading the Pratas Islands.
Micronesia—Joint Effort With Australia, U.S. Rescues 3 Men Lost On Remote Island Cable News Network | 08/05/2020 Three Micronesian men have been rescued from an isolated island in a joint operation by Australian, Micronesian and U.S. forces, reports CNN. The men were making the 26-mile (42-km) journey from Pulawat to Pulap atolls on a 23-foot (7-m) boat on July 30 when they went off course, ran out of fuel and landed on the uninhabited island of Pikelot, about 118 miles (190 km) from their intended destination, Australian and U.S. authorities said on Tuesday. When the men didn't arrive at Pulap, a search request was relayed to the U.S. Coast Guard's Joint Rescue Sub Center in Guam, which sought help from various units in the region. A KC-135 aerial tanker that was participating in the search mission spotted the men on Pikelot Island, where they had written SOS in large letters on the beach, after about three hours. A helicopter operating from the Australian amphibious assault ship Canberra, brought food and water, while Australian troops confirmed the identity of the men and that there were no serious injuries, reported Reuters. A U.S. Coast Guard C-130 from Hawaii dropped off a radio to allow the men to communicate with a Micronesian patrol vessel that was dispatched to pick them up. The vessel reached the men on Monday evening.
Philippines—Duterte Restricts Naval Training To Territorial Seas Rappler | 08/05/2020 Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has decided that the navy will not participate in any joint exercises outside of national waters, reports the Rappler (Manila). Duterte's orders would restrict the navy to training only within 12 nm (22 km) of the Philippine coast, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on Tuesday. The decision is intended to prevent the Philippines from becoming caught in a conflict between foreign powers in the South China Sea, said Lorenzana. The secretary called on other nations to "exercise prudence and carefulness" in the area, reported Agence France-Presse. The move comes amid increased drills by China and the U.S., including U.S. Navy aircraft carrier exercises and "high-intensity" bomber exercises by the Chinese air force. Duterte has made contradictory statements on China's increasing activity in the region, vowing to maintain Manila's maritime claims while also seeking better relations with China.
Burma—At Least 7 Killed In Clashes In Rakhine State Irrawaddy | 08/05/2020 Several security personnel have been killed in fighting in Rakhine state in western Burma, reports the Irrawaddy (Burma). On Sunday, Arakan Army (AA) militants twice ambushed border guards in Rathedaung township, killing at least one officer and injuring others, said a military spokesman. The militants targeted the guards during shift changes, about four hours apart, the spokesman said. On Monday, Burmese troops and government officials were attacked near Inn Din village, said the spokesman. One immigration officer was killed in the fighting, along with several police and soldiers. Residents said as many as 10 security personnel were killed. Civilians in the area fled the fighting, which lasted hours. A police source told the publication that seven people were killed. In a statement published on its website, the AA said that it was responding to attacks by security forces and had killed 20 soldiers and police, taking others hostage and capturing weapons and ammunition.
India—Army Moves Forward On Permanent Commissions For Women The Print | 08/05/2020 The Indian army is establishing a review board to starting screening women officers for permanent commissions, reports the Print (New Delhi). On Tuesday, the army said that it had provided all current female officers with the information needed to apply. All women who have joined the service through the Women Special Entry Scheme and Short Service Commission are being considered for permanent commissions, the service said. Applications will be accepted until Aug. 31, the army said in a statement. In February, the Indian Supreme Court ruled that all women regardless of years in service should receive permanent commissions. Women officers had been fighting for the right to obtain permanent commissions for 14 years. The central government appealed that decision in July, asking for a six-month extension due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, but was only granted an additional month for implementation, reported Asian News International. Previously, female servicemembers were only allowed to join as officers in narrowly defined specialties and for limited periods. They were eligible for permanent commissions in the Judge and Advocate General and Army Educational Corps. Women may now join another 10 career fields, including Army Air Defense, Signals, Engineers, Army Aviation, Electronics and Mechanical Engineers, Army Service Corps, Army Ordnance Corps and Intelligence Corps, reported the Hindustan Times.
Lebanon—100 Die In Massive Explosion At Beirut Port Al Jazeera | 08/05/2020 At least 100 people have been killed and 4,000 wounded in a huge explosion at the port in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, reports Al Jazeera (Qatar). On Tuesday, an explosion ripped through a warehouse in the city's port area. Officials said the blast was likely due to some 2,750 tons of confiscated ammonium nitrate, which had been stored at the site. Beirut Mayor Marwan Abboud said that as many as 300,000 people had lost their homes in the explosion, which sent shock waves across the city. The number of casualties was expected to rise as rescue efforts continue. President Michel Aoun convened a meeting of the High Defense Council and called for an emergency Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. He was expected to invoke a two-week state of emergency. The cause of the explosion, whether an accident or an attack, was not immediately clear. Anonymous defense officials told CNN that there was no reliable evidence that the explosion was the result of malign action.
Somalia—3 Killed In Al-Shabaab Attack On Popular Restaurant Xinhua | 08/05/2020 At least three people have been killed in a suicide bombing at a restaurant in Mogadishu, reports Xinhua, China's state-run news agency. On Monday, the attacker detonated his explosive device at the entrance of the Lul Yamani restaurant in the city's Hamarjajab district, said medical sources. Two civilians and the bomber were killed and at least four were injured. Police sources said security forces stopped the bomber, firing on him before he could reach his target. A government spokesman, however, said that the bomber set off his suicide vest at the entrance of the restaurant after being stopped by a security guard The restaurant is located near the heavily fortified Mogadishu prison. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said targeted security officials and soldiers at the restaurant, reported the Garowe Online (Somalia). . .
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