Good Monday Morning April 19.
I hope that you all had a great weekend.
Regards,
Skip.
Today in Naval History
April 19
On This Day
1917
The U.S. Naval Armed Guard crew on board SS Mongolia engages and damages a German U-boat, the first engagement against the enemy after declaration of war on April 6.
1920
The first German submarine brought to the United States after World War I arrives at New York. During World War I, U 111 sank three Allied merchant vessels that included the British steamer Boscastle on April 7, 1918. The submarine surrendered later that year.
1945
USS Buckley (DE 51) and USS Reuben James (DE 153) sink the German submarine U-879 southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
1955
USS Albany (CA 123) and USS William Wood (DD 715) begin providing disaster relief to citizens of Volos, Greece, following a catastrophic earthquake.
1960
The Grumman A2F-1 Intruder makes its first flight. The Intruder receives the designation of A-6A in 1962, and upon entering service in 1963, becomes the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps principle all weather/night attack aircraft.
1997
USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) is commissioned at Staten Island, N.Y. The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer is the second Navy ship named after the five Sullivan brothers who died when USS Juneau (CL 52) was sunk shortly after the Battle of Guadalcanal Nov. 13, 1942.
2017
The Cyclone-class patrol coastal ship USS Zephyr (PC 8), its embarked U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) personnel and coalition forces pursue and board a small fishing vessel, called a panga, and interdict 750 kilograms of cocaine with a total street value of $22.5 million.
Executive Summary:
• Breaking Defense reported on how the Navy and Marine Corps are conducting unmanned experimental exercises this week.
• Trade and local press reported on the commissioning of USS Oakland.
• The Associated Press reported that Camp Pendleton Marines resumed the training of AAVs on Friday, following the deadly accident that occurred nine months ago.
This day in World History
April 19
| 1539 | Emperor Charles V reaches a truce with German Protestants at Frankfurt, Germany. | ||
| 1689 | Residents of Boston oust their governor, Edmond Andros. | ||
| 1764 | The English Parliament bans the American colonies from printing paper money. | ||
| 1775 | The American Revolution begins as fighting breaks out at Lexington, Massachusetts. | ||
| 1782 | The Netherlands recognizes the United States. | ||
| 1794 | Tadeusz Kosciuszko forces the Russians out of Warsaw. | ||
| 1802 | The Spanish reopen New Orleans port to American merchants. | ||
| 1824 | English poet Lord George Gordon Byron dies of malaria at age 36 while aiding Greek independence. | ||
| 1861 | The Baltimore riots result in four Union soldiers and nine civilians killed. | ||
| 1861 | President Abraham Lincoln orders a blockade of Confederate ports. | ||
| 1880 | The Times war correspondent telephones a report of the Battle of Ahmed Khel, the first time news is sent from a field of battle in this manner. | ||
| 1927 | In China, Hankow communists declare war on Chiang Kai-shek. | ||
| 1934 | Shirley Temple appears in her first movie. | ||
| 1938 | General Francisco Franco declares victory in the Spanish Civil War. | ||
| 1939 | Connecticut finally approves the Bill of Rights. | ||
| 1943 | The Warsaw Ghetto uprising against Nazi rule begins. | ||
| 1960 | Baseball uniforms begin displaying player's names on their backs. | ||
| 1971 | Russia launches its first Salyut space station. | ||
| 1977 | Alex Haley receives a special Pulitzer Prize for his book Roots. | ||
| 1982 | NASA names Sally Ride to be the first woman astronaut. | ||
| 1989 | The battleship USS Iowa's number 2 turret explodes, killing sailors. | ||
| 1993 | The FBI ends a 51-day siege by storming the Branch Davidian religious cult headquarters in Waco, Texas. | ||
| 1995 | A truck bomb explodes in front of the federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. | ||
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1775 – At about 5 a.m., 700 British troops, on a mission to capture Patriot leaders and seize a Patriot arsenal, march into Lexington to find 77 armed minutemen under Captain John Parker waiting for them on the town's common green. British Major John Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, and after a moment's hesitation the Americans began to drift off the green. Suddenly, the "shot heard around the world" was fired from an undetermined gun, and a cloud of musket smoke soon covered the green. When the brief Battle of Lexington ended, eight Americans lay dead or dying and 10 others were wounded. Only one British soldier was injured, but the American Revolution had begun. By 1775, tensions between the American colonies and the British government approached the breaking point, especially in Massachusetts, where Patriot leaders formed a shadow revolutionary government and trained militias to prepare for armed conflict with the British troops occupying Boston. In the spring of 1775, General Thomas Gage, the British governor of Massachusetts, received instructions from England to seize all stores of weapons and gunpowder accessible to the American insurgents. On April 18, he ordered British troops to march against the Patriot arsenal at Concord and capture Patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock, known to be hiding at Lexington. The Boston Patriots had been preparing for such a military action by the British for some time, and upon learning of the British plan, Patriots Paul Revere and William Dawes were ordered to set out to rouse the militiamen and warn Adams and Hancock. When the British troops arrived at Lexington, Adams, Hancock, and Revere had already fled to Philadelphia, and a group of militiamen were waiting. The Patriots were routed within minutes, but warfare had begun, leading to calls to arms across the Massachusetts countryside. When the British troops reached Concord at about 7 a.m., they found themselves encircled by hundreds of armed Patriots. They managed to destroy the military supplies the Americans had collected but were soon advanced against by a gang of minutemen, who inflicted numerous casualties. Lieutenant Colonel Frances Smith, the overall commander of the British force, ordered his men to return to Boston without directly engaging the Americans. As the British retraced their 16-mile journey, their lines were constantly beset by Patriot marksmen firing at them Indian-style from behind trees, rocks, and stone walls. At Lexington, Captain Parker's militia had its revenge, killing several British soldiers as the Red Coats hastily marched through his town. By the time the British finally reached the safety of Boston, nearly 300 British soldiers had been killed, wounded, or were missing in action. The Patriots suffered fewer than 100 casualties. The battles of Lexington and Concord were the first battles of the American Revolution, a conflict that would escalate from a colonial uprising into a world war that, seven years later, would give birth to the independent United States of America.
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1951 – Gen. Douglas MacArthur, relieved of his command by President Truman, bid farewell to Congress.
"I am closing my 52 years of military service. When I joined the Army, even before the turn of the century, it was the fulfillment of all of my boyish hopes and dreams. The world has turned over many times since I took the oath on the plain at West Point, and the hopes and dreams have long since vanished, but I still remember the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day which proclaimed most proudly that 'old soldiers never die; they just fade away.'
"And like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty.
"Good Bye."
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1995 – A massive explosion at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, kills 168 people and injures hundreds more. The bomb, contained in a Ryder truck parked outside the front of the building, went off at 9:02 a.m. as people were preparing for the workday. Among the victims of America's worst incident of domestic terrorism were 19 children who were in the daycare center on the first floor of the building. A little over an hour after the explosion, Oklahoma state trooper Charles Hangar pulled over a car without license plates in the town of Perry. Noticing a bulge in the driver's jacket, Hangar arrested the driver, Timothy McVeigh, and confiscated his concealed gun. McVeigh was held in jail for gun and traffic violations. Meanwhile, a sketch of the man who was seen driving the Ryder truck in Oklahoma City was distributed across the country. On April 21, Hangar saw the sketch and managed to stop McVeigh's impending release. When investigators looked into McVeigh's background, they quickly learned that he had ties to militant right-wing groups and was particularly incensed by the Branch Davidian incident in Waco, Texas. The Oklahoma City bomb exploded exactly two years after David Koresh and his followers were killed in the federal government's raid of the cult compound. Soon, three friends of McVeigh-Terry and James Nichols, and Michael Fortier-were also arrested for their involvement in the bombing. McVeigh and Terry Nichols had gone through basic training together after joining the Army on the same day in 1988. Although Nichols was discharged in 1989, McVeigh had served in Operation Desert Storm before quitting the Army when he was rejected for the Special Forces course. Acquaintances of McVeigh knew that he was obsessed with a book called The Turner Diaries, a fictional account of a race war caused by right-wing extremists in the United States. The book begins with the bombing of the FBI headquarters. McVeigh also told his sister Jennifer that he planned on doing "something big" in April 1995. With Nichols and Fortier's assistance, McVeigh assembled a bomb that contained nearly 5,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate and racing fuel. After Fortier testified against his former friend, McVeigh was convicted in June 1997. The jury imposed a death sentence. Terry Nichols was convicted of being an accessory to the mass murder, and he received a life sentence. On June 11, 2001, McVeigh was put to death by lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, the first federal death penalty to be carried out since 1963.
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ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear
LOOKING BACK 55-YEARS to the Vietnam Air War— For The List for Monday, 19 April 2021...
Operation Rolling Thunder: 1965-1968...
LOOKING BACK FIFTY-FIVE YEARS to the Vietnam Air War...
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 19 April 1966 "My country. Right or wrong, my country"
http://www.rollingthunderremembered.com/rolling-thunder-remembered-19-april-1966/
Vietnam Air Losses
Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
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Thanks to Tom
View the Latest Edition of "This Week @NASA" (Published April 17, 2021)
Folks-
The BIG news is the little helicopter ("Ingenuity") flew on Mars! There is another longer video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNpNVscpN3E
Crew 2 (Space-X) truly initiates commercial service to the ISS. Is this significant? Well, think back to the early 1950's when Volkswagen, Peugeot, Vauxhall, Simca, and Triumph imported less than 1% of the cars sold in the US. Today, it's nearly 50% (48 % to be precise), and many of the components in America cars are produced abroad. Small change or BIG ONE? We are at the edge of this phenomenon for low earth space access.
Pam Melroy – deputy admin of NASA? Approval is all that is lacking. Good to see someone who "gets it" running the show!
Space-X will be the developer of the Human Lander System (HLS) – the next generation Apollo Lunar Lander that Grumman build over 50 years ago. Again, NASA is seeding the field for future competition that will resemble the automotive field in the 1920's to 1940's. change will be rapid, painful and result in explosive growth.
HARD to believe …but STS-1 was 40 years ago!! I feel blessed to remember the first human to orbit the earth (1961) the first American in orbit (1962), first circumnavigation of the moon (1968), lunar landing (1969) and worked the shuttle program supporting STS-1. For all those who follow in space adventures, you will NOT top that span of years…..landing humans on Mars will be cool, but still won't rival Neil Armstrong stepping onto the moon – that was #1 landing. Always be.
Stay tuned and ENJOY!!
Tom
AGENCYWIDE MESSAGE TO ALL NASA EMPLOYEES
Points of Contact: Jim Wilson, jim.wilson@nasa.gov and Andre Valentine, andre.valentine-1@nasa.gov, Office of Communications, NASA Headquarters
------------------------------------------------------------------------
View the Latest Edition of "This Week @NASA" (Published April 17, 2021)
View the latest "This Week @NASA" produced by NASA Television for features on agency news and activities. Stories in this program include:
· Space Station Crew Returns Safely to Earth
· NASA's SpaceX Crew-2 Astronauts at Launch Site
· NASA Selects Human Landing System
· Melroy Nominated as NASA Deputy Administrator
· Roman Space Telescope Will Find Solitary Black Holes
· 40th Anniversary of First Space Shuttle Flight
To watch this edition of "This Week @NASA" dated April 17, 2021, click on the image below:
Watch the Video
To access this edition of "This Week @NASA," you may also visit:
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This Day in U S Military History…….April 19
1892 – Charles Duryea drives the first automobile in the United States, in Springfield, Massachusetts. Charles engineered the car and his brother Frank built it. The Duryea's "motor wagon" was a used horse drawn buggy that the brothers had purchased for $70 and into which they had installed a 4 HP, single cylinder gasoline engine. The car (buggy) had a friction transmission, spray carburetor and low tension ignition.
1915 – Aviation engineers working for Dutch-born Anthony Fokker develop the mechanical interrupter gear, which allows machine gun bullets to be fired through rotating aircraft propeller blades.
1919 – Leslie Irvin of the United States makes the first successful voluntary free-fall parachute jump using a new kind of self-contained parachute. Irvin was born in Los Angeles. He became a stunt-man for the fledgling Californian film industry, for which he had to perform acrobatics on trapezes from balloons and then make descents using a parachute, the Type-A. Irvin made his first jump when aged fourteen. For a film called Sky High, he first jumped from an aircraft from 1,000 feet in 1914. He developed his own static line parachute as a life-saving device in 1918 and jumped with it several times. He joined the Army Air Service's parachute research team, and at McCook Field near Dayton, Ohio. After World War I, Major E. L. Hoffman of the Army Air Service led an effort to develop an improved parachute for exiting airplanes by bringing together the best elements of multiple parachute designs. Participants included Irvin and James Floyd Smith. The team eventually created the Airplane Parachute Type-A.
1972 – US 7th Fleet warships, while bombarding the North Vietnamese coast, are attacked by MiGs and patrol boats as Hanoi begins to challenge US naval presence in The Tonkin Gulf for the first time since 1964. The destroyer USS Higbee is badly damaged.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
BETTS, CHARLES M.
Rank and organization: Lieutenant Colonel, 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry. Place and date: At Greensboro, N.C., 19 April 1865. Entered service at: Philadelphia, Pa. Birth: Bucks County, Pa. Date of issue: 10 October 1892. Citation: With a force of but 75 men, while on a scouting expedition, by a judicious disposition of his men, surprised and captured an entire battalion of the enemy's cavalry.
ELLIOTT, RUSSELL C.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company B, 3d Massachusetts Cavalry. Place and date: At Natchitoches, La., 19 April 1864. Entered service at: Boston, Mass. Birth: Concord, N.H. Date of issue: 20 November 1896. Citation: Seeing a Confederate officer in advance of his command, charged on him alone and unaided and captured him.
LANGBEIN, J. C. JULIUS
Rank and organization: Musician, Company B, 9th New York Infantry. Place and date: At Camden, N.C., 19 April 1862. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Born: 29 September 1846, Germany. Date of issue: 7 January 1895. Citation: A drummer boy, 15 years of age, he voluntarily and under a heavy fire went to the aid of a wounded officer, procured medical ass1stance for him, and aided in carrying him to a place of safety.
STEVENS, HAZARD
Rank and organization: Captain and Assistant Adjutant General, U.S. Volunteers. Place and Date: At Fort Huger, Va., 19 April 1863. Entered service at: Olympia, Washington Territory. Born: 9 June 1842, Newport, R.I. Date of issue: 13 June 1894. Citation: Gallantly led a party that assaulted and captured the fort.
CARSON, ANTHONY J.
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company H, 43d Infantry, U.S. Volunteers. Place and date: At Catubig, Samar, Philippine Islands, 15-19 April 1900. Entered service at: Malden, Mass. Birth: Boston, Mass. Date of issue: 4 January 1906. Citation: Assumed command of a detachment of the company which had survived an overwhelming attack of the enemy, and by his bravery and untiring efforts and the exercise of extraordinary good judgment in the handling of his men successfully withstood for 2 days the attacks of a large force of the enemy, thereby saving the lives of the survivors and protecting the wounded until relief came.
THORSNESS, LEO K.
Rank and organization: Lieutenant Colonel (then Maj.), U.S. Air Force, 357th Tactical Fighter Squadron. Place and date: Over North Vietnam, 19 April 1967. Entered service at: Walnut Grove, Minn. Born: 14 February 1932, Walnut Grove, Minn. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. As pilot of an F- 105 aircraft, Lt. Col. Thorsness was on a surface-to-air missile suppression mission over North Vietnam. Lt. Col. Thorsness and his wingman attacked and silenced a surface-to-air missile site with air-to-ground missiles, and then destroyed a second surface-to-air missile site with bombs. In tile attack on the second missile site, Lt. Col. Thorsness' wingman was shot down by intensive antiaircraft fire, and the 2 crewmembers abandoned their aircraft. Lt. Col. Thorsness circled the descending parachutes to keep the crewmembers in sight and relay their position to the Search and Rescue Center. During this maneuver, a MIG-17 was sighted in the area. Lt. Col. Thorsness immediately initiated an attack and destroyed the MIG. Because his aircraft was low on fuel, he was forced to depart the area in search of a tanker. Upon being advised that 2 helicopters were orbiting over the downed crew's position and that there were hostile MlGs in the area posing a serious threat to the helicopters, Lt. Col. Thorsness, despite his low fuel condition, decided to return alone through a hostile environment of surface-to-air missile and antiaircraft defenses to the downed crew's position. As he approached the area, he spotted 4 MIG-17 aircraft and immediately initiated an attack on the MlGs, damaging 1 and driving the others away from the rescue scene. When it became apparent that an aircraft in the area was critically low on fuel and the crew would have to abandon the aircraft unless they could reach a tanker, Lt. Col. Thorsness, although critically short on fuel himself, helped to avert further possible loss of life and a friendly aircraft by recovering at a forward operating base, thus allowing the aircraft in emergency fuel condition to refuel safely. Lt. Col. Thorsness' extraordinary heroism, self-sacrifice, and personal bravery involving conspicuous risk of life were in the highest traditions of the military service, and have reflected great credit upon himself and the U.S. Air Force.
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Thanks to Boysie ... and Dr. Rich
Solutions for Any Problem
A farmer stopped by the local mechanics shop to have his truck fixed. They couldn't do it while he waited, so he said he didn't live far and would just walk home.
On the way home he stopped at the hardware Store and bought a bucket and a gallon of paint. He then stopped by the feed store and picked up a couple of chickens and a goose. However, struggling outside the store he now had a problem - how to carry his entire purchases home.
While he was scratching his head he was approached by a little old lady who told him she was lost. She asked, 'Can you tell me how to get to 1603 Mockingbird Lane?' The farmer said, 'Well, as a matter of fact, my farm is very close to that house I would walk you there but I can't carry this lot.' The old lady suggested, 'Why don't you put the can of paint in the bucket.
Carry the bucket in one hand, put a chicken under each arm and carry the goose in your other hand?' 'Why thank you very much,' he said and proceeded to walk the old girl home.
On the way he says 'Let's take my short cut and go down this alley. We'll be there in no time..
The little old lady looked him over cautiously then said, 'I am a lonely widow without a husband to defend me.. How do I know that when we get in the alley you won't hold me up against the wall, pull up my skirt, and have your way with me?'
The farmer said, 'Holy smokes lady! I'm carrying a bucket, a gallon of paint, two chickens, and a goose. How in the world could I possibly hold you up against the wall and do that?'
The old lady replied, 'Set the goose down, cover him with the bucket, put the paint on top of the bucket, and I'll hold the chickens.
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Thanks to Mud
Only time will tell if the Commandant is correct in his synopsis. He will either be a genius, or a man scapegoated for weakening the Corps in the wrong direction.
Navy, Marines Push Plans To Transform How They Fight
At its core, the 180-page document is intended to be the first step in an effort to create a series of small, agile units tasked with air defense, anti-ship and submarine warfare, and seizing, holding and resupplying small temporary bases as part of an island-hopping campaign in the Pacific in which units keep on the move, providing a more difficult target for enemy missile and aircraft.
On the equipment side, the assumptions signal a transformation in how the Marines outfit themselves, putting a range of new and developmental gear into the field quickly and at scale.
By 2030, the plan indicates that the Corps will have more than 100 Long Range Unmanned Surface Vessels in the fleet, performing surveillance and strike missions using small, armed, precision-guided drones capable of loitering over targets before crashing into them. It also calls for standing up new precision strike batteries armed with hundreds of Naval Strike Missiles, a powerful threat to hold enemy ships out of the 115 mile range of the missile.
Over the past two years, Berger has pushed for what are by far the most sweeping changes to the size and composition of his force among the services, and plans to do it all without asking for more money. Berger recently sent a memo to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin advising him he will not request any more money in the 2022 budget.
To pay for this new equipment, Berger plans to divest of the Corps' inventory of Abrams tanks and shed 12,000 Marines, along with towed artillery, aircraft and helicopters. He has also pledged to reduce the number of F-35s in squadrons while also questioning the role the aircraft will play in his plans going forward.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for April 19, 2021 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
19 April
1919: Leslie Leroy Irvin made the first successful parachute jump from an airplane. Capt E. F. White and mechanic H. M. Schaefer flew a DH-4 with a Liberty 400 HP engine for 738.6 miles in 6 hours 50 minutes to set an American distance record in nonstop flight between Chicago and New York. (24) 1932: A Goddard rocket with gyroscopically-controlled vanes for automatically stabilized flight flew for the first time in New Mexico. (4)
1935: Amelia Earhart flew from Burbank to Mexico City with one stop. She completed the trip in 13 hours 32 minutes. (24)
1937: New York City dispatched the first letter to encircle the world by commercial airmail. It went to San Francisco, Hong Kong, Penang, Amsterdam, and Brazil before returning to New York on 25 May 1937. (24)
1938: Lewin B. Barringer set a US glider record of 212.45 miles from Wichita Falls, Tex., to Tulsa.
1941: The Naval Aircraft Factory started work on a Glomb (glider bomb) with a television camera aboard to transmit a view of the target to control planes. Plans called for the Glomb to be towed long distances by powered aircraft for release and guidance to the target by radio control.
1946: Lt R.A. Baird III flew a P-80 to a 494,973-MPH speed record for 100 kilometers. Consolidated Vultee (Convair) Aircraft Corporation received a contract to study subsonic and supersonic missiles with a 1,500- to 5,000-mile range. This program led to the development of the Atlas missile. (6)
1956: After years of controversy, the DoD concluded that the Army would conduct the aviation training needed to support existing Army activities.
1957: Cape Canaveral successfully launched a Douglas-built Thor IRBM (SM-75). (16) (24)
1961: In the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, the Alabama ANG lost four B-26 crewmembers—Riley Shamburger, Wade C. Gray, Pete W. Ray, and Leo F. Baker—in a special operations mission. (21)
1967: From the Air Force Western Test Range, an Atlas booster lifted a Precision Recovery Including Maneuvering Entry (PRIME) unmanned spacecraft into space, where it demonstrated maneuvering, lifting, reentry, and aerial recovery techniques. (16) 355 TFW F-105s shot down four MiG-17s during strikes against the Xuan Mai army barracks southwest of Hanoi. (17) MEDAL OF HONOR. Maj Leo K. Thorsness earned his medal by protecting a mission to rescue downed airmen in North Vietnam. While flying an F-105 with low fuel, Thorsness shot down one MiG-17, damaged another, and drove off three more. Despite an urgent need for fuel, Thorsness decided to recover at a forward operating base to allow another aircraft in an emergency condition to refuel from a tanker. Enemy forces, however, shot him down, captured him, and held him as a prisoner of war until 4 March 1973. (21)
1975: Operation FREQUENT WIND. Through 24 April, to support the extraction of Americans, South Vietnamese and other nationals from Saigon, MAC deployed the 18 TFW from Kadena AB to Korat AB, Thailand; airlifted 951 troops and 269 tons of cargo from Kaneoke, Hawaii, to Kadena AB; and airlifted two passengers and 12 tons from Osan AB to Korat. The command operated a total of 17 C-141, 1 C-5, and 3 commercial missions. (18)
1976: SECDEF Donald H. Rumsfeld flew in the B-1. This was the first time a SECDEF had flown in a test aircraft. (3)
1979: Through 20 April, MAC used 7 C-141 and 4 C-130 missions to deliver 139 tons of supplies and equipment to Titograd IAP after a major earthquake rocked the sourthern Adriatic coast of Yugoslavia and Albania. (16)
1984: The USAF held ground-breaking ceremonies for Site III of the phased arrary, sea-launched ballistic warning system, Pave Paws, at Robins AFB.
1993: Through 24 April, units in Alaska participated in the USAF's first combined exercise with the Russian Air Force. It featured a search-and-rescue effort in Siberia. (21)
1995: OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING. A powerful car bomb leveled a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 169 and wounding 400 people. The USAF airlifted firefighters, search and rescue teams, investigators, and medical personnel to Oklahoma. Units at Tinker AFB provided supplies, equipment, and bomb-sniffing dogs. Through 4 May, Air Mobility Command aircraft flew 25 missions to move 1,359 passengers and 3,864 tons of cargo. (16) (18)
1999: The AFFTC performed a unique flight test for Operation ALLIED FORCE by having a B-52 drop emergency food supplies from a high altitude with reasonable precision. The successful test resulted in considerable humanitarian assistance to refugees. (3)
2003: A McChord AFB C-17 Globemaster III, flown by a crew assigned to the 315 AW (ReserveAssociate) at Charleston AFB returned seven former US Army prisoners of war to the US, one week after their rescue in Iraq. The C-17 flew five men and women from the 507th Maintenance Company to Fort Bliss, Tex., and two Apache helicopter crewmen from the First Cavalry Division to Fort Hood, Tex. A KC-135 and crew from the 157 AREFW at Pease ANGB, N. H., refueled the C-17 on its trip from Ramstein AFB to the US. (22)
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World News for 19 April thanks to Military Periscope
USA—Justice Dept. Asks Supreme Court Not To Hear Draft Case The Hill | 04/19/2021 The Dept. of Justice has asked the Supreme Court not to hear a lawsuit alleging that the all-male draft discriminates on the basis of sex, reports the Hill (Washington, D.C.). In the brief on Wednesday, Justice argued that the case should not be heard because Congress is "actively considering" the scope of draft eligibility, noting that the court previously said that the issue was better left to legislators. In 1983, the court ruled that the all-male draft was constitutional, since women were excluded from combat roles. The issue resurfaced in 2013, when the Dept. of Defense lifted the ban on women serving in combat roles. The petitioners in the case, two men and a group called the National Coalition for Men, initially won a favorable ruling from a Houston-based federal judge in 2019. That ruling was reversed by a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court, leading the petitioners to appeal to the Supreme Court.
USA—Army Sets Out Needs For New Anti-Tank Missile Army Times | 04/19/2021 The U.S. Army has laid out its initial requirements for a new vehicle-mounted anti-tank missile, reports the Army Times. The Close Combat Missile System-Heavy (CCMS-H) should be capable of accomplishing the same missions as the BGM-71 TOW, which it is intended to replace, including defeating armor, counter-defilade and fortified positions at an increased range of 6 miles (10 km). Top speed would be increased to 690 mph (1,110 kph) to reduce engagement times, reported the War Zone website. The new weapon should have improved short-range capabilities, requiring less than 109 yards (100 m) to arm, Mark Andrews, chief of the Army's Close Capabilities Branch, said during a conference at Fort Benning, Ga., earlier this month The CCMS-H must be capable of a variety of firing modes, including command line-of-sight, fire-and-forget, lock-on-before-launch and lock-on-after-launch. The missile should be capable of receiving target data from an uncrewed aerial vehicle feed, laser designator and finding a target autonomously within a specified area. To prevent airspace restrictions, the missile must operate at altitudes of less than 3,000 feet (910 m). The Army wants the weapon to have the same form factor as the TOW missile so that it can be easily integrated with current and future vehicles. Plans call for the missile to enter service between 2028 and 2032.
Norway—Major Arctic Exercise Set For 2022 Barents Observer | 04/19/2021 Next year, Norway will host tens of thousands for troops for winter training above the Arctic Circle, reports the Barents Observer. The Cold Response drills, scheduled to take place in the Ofoten area, will involve around 40,000 troops, Norwegian military officials said last week. It will be the largest such exercise since the 1980s. The training will focus on reinforcing northern Norway, with air force and naval elements expected to play a lead role. It will also evaluate NATO's ability to protect its interests in the region. A planning meeting is scheduled for June, which will include Finland and Sweden, officials said.
Czech Republic—18 Suspected Russian Spies Expelled Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty | 04/19/2021 Czech officials have expelled 18 suspected Russian intelligence agents after an investigation determined a Russian role in a deadly explosion at an ammunition depot in 2014, reports Radio Free Liberty/Radio Europe. On Saturday, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said that the decision was made based on the conclusion by Czech intelligence services that Russian military agents were behind the detonation of 50 tons of stored ammunition at the depot in Vrbetice near the border with Slovakia. Two people died in the explosion. The agents were said to be affiliated with Unit 29155 of the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency. All diplomats at the Russian Embassy identified as intelligence personnel had been ordered to leave within 48 hours, said Interior Minister Jan Hamacek. Czech officials said that they were searching for two suspected Russian operatives carrying various passports, including Russian documents in the names of Aleksandr Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. The names match those of suspects in the poisoning of former Russian intelligence official Sergei Skripal in the U.K. The Czech attack may have been intended to eliminate weapons that could be transferred to Ukraine or Syrian rebels. In response, Russia announced the expulsion of 20 Czech diplomats, reported BBC News.
Poland—Russian Diplomats Expelled In Solidarity With U.S. Interfax | 04/19/2021 The Polish Foreign Ministry has ordered three Russian diplomats to leave the country for conducting activities harmful to Poland, reports Russia's Interfax news agency. On April 15, the ministry declared the three members of the Russian embassy personae non gratae for violating their diplomatic status. The ministry also expressed "its full solidarity with the decisions taken by the United States [...] regarding its policy towards Russia," as reported by Agence France-Presse. Earlier on Thursday, the U.S. announced new sanctions on Moscow and expelled 10 Russian diplomats in response to cyberattacks and attempted election interference. Moscow is expected to similarly expel Polish diplomats.
Greece—Deal Inked With Israel For Air Force Flight Training Center Jerusalem Post | 04/19/2021 The Greek government has signed a major defense agreement with Israel for the establishment of an international flight training center, reports the Jerusalem Post. On Friday, the governments signed the US$1.65 billion deal to set up the flight training center for the Hellenic Air Force. The facility will be modeled on the Israeli air force flight school and equipped with 10 M-346 jet trainers. Israeli firm Elbit Systems will implement the government-to-government deal, which is scheduled to run for 22 years. As part of the deal, Elbit will also provide kits to upgrade and operate Greece's T-6 basic trainers.
Turkey—Bozdogan Short-Range Missile Passes Test Daily Sabah | 04/19/2021 Turkey has test-fired an indigenously developed short-range air-to-air missile for the first time, reports the Daily Sabah (Istanbul). A Turkish air force F-16C Block 40 fighter test-launched the Bozdogan missile at a test range in Turkey's Sinop province on the Black Sea on April 7, reported Defence Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the successful test on April 14. The Bozdogan successfully locked on to the high-speed target drone at a range of 9 miles (14 km) and was launched at a range of 3-5 miles (5-8 km), reported the War Zone website. The missile is similar to the latest AIM-9X Sidewinder, with an infrared seeker with a high off-boresight capability and a high degree of discrimination to defeat flares and other countermeasures. A data link may be added as part of a future upgrade, enabling lock-on after launch capability. The Bozdogan is scheduled to undertake further testing this year. If successful, series production is expected to begin in 2022. The missile is expected to equip F-16 fighters and the domestic Hurjet trainer and TF-X fighter aircraft, which are still in development.
Ukraine—Government Protests Russian Restrictions In Black Sea Ukrinform | 04/19/2021 The Ukrainian government has protested Russia's decision to restrict access near Crimea and the Kerch Strait in the Black Sea, reports Ukrinform (Ukraine). The navigation restrictions, scheduled to run from April 24 to Oct. 31, cover the passage of foreign military ships and other state vessels through Russian territorial waters, according to a Russian Ministry of Defense statement cited by RIA Novosti. The areas have been closed for military exercises, the ministry said. The affected area extends from the western tip of Crimea, along the southern coastline between Sevastopol and Hurzuf, to a rectangle off the Kerch peninsula near the Opuksky Nature Reserve, reported Agence France-Presse. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry protested the measure, saying that it violated the norms and principals of international law and Ukraine's right as a coastal state under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the closures would not affect navigation through the Kerch Strait or its entry points, reported Reuters.
Russia—Energomash Delivers Final RD-180 Rocket Engines To U.S. Tass | 04/19/2021 Russian aerospace firm Energomash Research and Production Corp. has handed over the final batch of RD-180 rocket engines purchased by the U.S., reports Russia's Tass news agency. On April 14, six RD-180 engines were handed over to representatives of Pratt & Whitney and United Launch Alliance (ULA), a 50-50 joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the Roscosmos State Space Corp. reported on Friday. The RD-180 powers ULA's Atlas V rocket, which has brought national security space payloads to orbit for 15 years, according to the firm. Energomash, a subsidiary of the Roscosmos, has delivered 122 RD-180s to ULA over 20 years of cooperation. This was the final delivery under the existing contract, the company said. Following the illegal Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, the U.S. Congress banned the purchase of rocket engines from Russia after 2022.
Philippines—3 ASG Members Killed In Sulu Manila Standard | 04/19/2021 Philippine troops have killed three suspected militants in the southwestern Mindanao region, reports the Manila Standard. On Friday, soldiers from the 4th Light Reaction Company of the Western Mindanao Command encountered several suspected Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) gunmen in Patikul. Three gunmen were killed in a 10-minute gun battle, with additional forces deployed to block escape routes. Among the dead was an Egyptian national identified as Yusop, who is believed to be the stepson of Abduramil, a terrorist killed by Philippine troops in November 2019. The two other slain members of the ISIS-affiliate were said to be Philippine citizens. One was reportedly a trained bomb-maker.
Burma—6 Troops Killed In Sagaing Clashes Irrawaddy | 04/19/2021 Six Burmese security personnel have been killed in fighting with protesters in the northwestern Sagaing region, reports the Irrawaddy (Burma). On Sunday, security forces opened fire on anti-coup protesters in Myingyan township, critically injuring at least one. At least two security personnel were killed by protestors in that confrontation, said locals. Subsequently, military reinforcements were deployed and attacked barricades in the No. 6 Ward. After some of the barriers were removed, locals attacked the troops, killing four and injuring another 12, witnesses said. Shooting in the ward reportedly continued into Monday.
Pakistan—Extremist Group Releases 11 Captured Police Officers New Arab | 04/19/2021 An extremist Islamist group in Pakistan has freed 11 security personnel it had taken hostage in Lahore, reports the New Arab (London). On Sunday, members of the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) group attacked a police station near their rallying point in the eastern city and took hostage 11 officers. They were freed following a round of talks, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said on Monday. Led by Saad Rizvi, the TLP has been staging protests, attacks and sit-ins across the country in protest of a 2020 incident in which a French teacher showed a satirical image of the Prophet Muhammad. Rizvi and the TLP have sought the expulsion of the French ambassador, something Pakistani officials allegedly agreed to. The Pakistani government says that it only agreed that the move would be discussed in Parliament. At least three people died in clashes across the country on Sunday, reported the Guardian (U.K.). Pakistani authorities outlawed the TLP on April 15.
Iran—Quds Force Deputy Chief Dies At 65 Tasnim News Agency | 04/19/2021 A top Iranian general has died, reports the semi-official Tasnim news agency (Tehran). Brig. Gen. Mohammad Hejazi, the deputy commander of the Quds Force, the external operations branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), died on Sunday of a heart attack at the age of 65. Official accounts attributed Hejazi's death in part to exposure to chemicals during the Iran-Iraq war, during which time he served as a commander of the Basij volunteer force, reported the semi-official Fars news agency (Tehran). The general had also served as the head of the IRGC General Staff and deputy commander of the IRGC. He assumed the post of deputy commander of the Quds Forces in April 2020 following the death of the unit's chief, Qassem Soleimani, in a U.S. airstrike in January 2020, reported the Times of Israel. Hejazi led IRGC paramilitary forces in Lebanon prior to taking on that job.
Saudi Arabia—Officials Hold Secret Talks With Iran In Iraq Financial Times | 04/19/2021 Senior Saudi and Iranian officials have quietly held direct talks in Iraq, reports the Financial Times (U.K.). An initial meeting was held in Baghdad on April 9, said officials familiar with the discussions. The Saudi delegation included intelligence chief Khalid bin Ali Al Humaidan, the officials said. The discussions covered Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and were positive. Another round of talks is scheduled for next week. The process is being facilitated by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi, said the officials. A senior Saudi official denied that there had been such talks. The Iranian and Iraqi governments have not commented on the matter.
Chad—300 Rebels Eliminated In Offensive In North Agence France-Presse | 04/19/2021 Chadian officials say security forces have "neutralized" 300 rebels who staged an offensive in the northern part of the country, reports Agence France-Presse. On April 11, the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) launched an offensive from Libya into Chad's northern Tibesti and Kanem provinces. More than 300 rebels were neutralized, and five government troops killed in subsequent fighting, an army spokesman told AFP on Monday. In clashes on Saturday, 36 soldiers were injured, and 150 rebels captured, the spokesman said. The attack came on the same day as Chad held elections that were widely seen as likely to give President Idriss Deby another term in office. Deby has led Chad for three decades. Officials in N'Djamena say the offensive has been successfully neutralized. On Sunday, the U.S. State Dept. ordered non-essential personnel in Chad to leave the country amid an apparent rebel advance, reported Reuters.
Cuba—Castro Steps Down As Communist Party Leader Nbc News | 04/19/2021 Raul Castro, the brother of Fidel Castro and the leader of the Communist Party of Cuba, is stepping down, reports NBC News. On Friday, the party began its eighth congress, in which it was scheduled to certify President Miguel Diaz-Canel, 60, as secretary-general. He is currently serving the first of two five-year presidential terms. Raul Castro, 90, has held the secretary-general post since 2011, when he replaced his brother, noted the Washington Post. A Castro has been at the head of the Cuban communist party and government since 1959. In 2018, Castro said that he expected Diaz-Canel to succeed him as party secretary in 2021, when he planned to retire. Diaz-Canel will face multiple crises including a shrinking economy due to U.S. sanctions, reductions in aid from Venezuela and the COVID-19 pandemic.
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