Saturday, March 31, 2018

Update:US and British Soldier Killed in Syria Identified

The names of those killed in action in Manbij,Syria while serving in Operation Inherent Resolve have been released.The British Soldier was Sergeant Matthew Tonroe,33,a member of sniper platoon,3rd Battalion,Parachute Regiment.The American killed was Master Sergeant Johnathan J. Dunbar,36,a member of Headquarters,US Army Special Operations Command,out of Fort Bragg,North Carolina.*
The troops were killed when an IED exploded near their patrol.SGT Tonroe was embedded with US Special Operations Forces engaged in a mopping up operation directed at ISIL militants.He is the first British combat death in OIR,which was launched in Iraq in 2014 to neutralise the Islamist extremist group that evolved from al-Qaida in Iraq and later expanded into Syria.
Manbij is near the Turkish border.
ISIL sleeper cells have materialised in Syria in the wake of the organisation's suffering major defeats in Iraq and Syria at the hands of Combined Joint Task Force OIR.
The particulars of SOF activity in Syria have been closely held.

Friday, March 30, 2018

Bulletin:US,British Soldier Killed in Action in Syria

In the Syrian city of Manbij,one US and one British soldier were reportedly killed in an IED explosion.The troops were on a mission against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant militants.The British service member was embedded with US troops at the time.No further details were immediately available.
Earlier,a US official said two Operation Inherent Resolve coalition soldiers of unspecified nationality had been killed.*
On 29 March 2018,Pentagon Spokesperson Dana White commented on the situation in Syria:
Important work remains to guarantee the lasting defeat of these violent extremists.Our commitment to win must outlast the so-called physical caliphate,and the warped ideas that guide the calculated cruelty of ISIS (another name for ISIL).*
Manbij is a city of 100,000 people located in Northern Syria,30 km west of the Euphrates River.It is a centre for OIR training of the Syrian Democratic Forces engaged in combating ISIL and other extremist elements.The US is known to have sent its Special Operations Forces into Manbij.*
On 30 March,Combined Joint Task Force OIR issued a news release stating that between 23-29 March,OIR coaltion forces conducted 11 strikes consisting of 12 engagements against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.All the Syria strikes were near Abu Kamal,administrative centre of Abu Kamal district,which is in Eastern Syria near the Iraqi border.An ISIS tactical unit and an ISIS fighting position were destroyed in these strikes.
In Iraq,OIR forces destroyed an ISIS tunnel system near Ramadi in Anbar Province.
Near Qayarrah,a city of 15,000 in southern Nineveh Governate about 60 km south of Mosul,OIR forces destroyed three ISIS tunnels and an ISIS watercraft.
OIR strikes are carried out by:
fighter,attack,bomber,rotary-wing or remotely piloted aircraft;as well as:
rocket-propelled artillery;and ground-based tactical artillery.
Only limited specifics about the strikes are disclosed.

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

2 March 2017:VP Mike Pence Hosts The Swearing-In of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke


WildLinks: Why Grizzly Bears?


Grizzly Bears in the North Cascades: Recovering an Icon


Interior Secretary Pledges Support for Grizzly Bear Reintroduction to the North Cascades Ecosystem (Washington State/British Columbia)

US Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke,a former Navy SEAL,startled environmentalists and cattlemen alike when he announced his support for reintroducing the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) to the North Cascades Ecosystem.The Ecosystem stretches from Northcentral Washington State and across the Canadian border into British Columbia.Jewel of the Ecosystem is North Cascades National Park,which is located some 75 mile/121 km north of Seattle,Washington.
In his first year in office,Mr.Zinke has developed a tough guy reputation,seeming totally oblivious to conservation concerns,in the eyes of many,and apparently all in on resource extraction and exploitation.
The other side of the man was revealed in his recent comments at North Cascades National Park in Sedro-Woolley,Skagit County,Washington:
The grizzly bear is part of the environment,as it once was here.It's part of a healthy environment.*
Restoring the grizzly bear to the North Cascades Ecosystem is the American conservation ethic come to life.The loss of the grizzly bear in the North Cascades would disturb the Ecosystem and deprive the region of an icon.*
I grew up on the flanks of Glacier National Park (Montana) and I have dealt with grizzly bears all my life.I'm in support of the Great Bear,and in support of doing this right.This is not reintroduction of a rabbit.*
I have always loved grizzlies.*
I am confident we have the skill to have grizzlies in the Ecosystem in a way that managers don't have unintended consequences.*
Few grizzly bears have been seen in recent years.It is believed there are no more than a few dozen grizzlies left in the entire Ecosystem.They were largely hunted out for their fur from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries.
There is also a small population of grizzly bears in the Selkirk Mountains of Northeast Washington.*
Mr.Zinke was educated in citizenship by the American Legion Boys' State programme,going on to become a decorated Navy SEAL,with whom he served in theatres from Kosovo to Iraq,as well as a state senator and Member of Congress.*
The Environmental Impact Statement for grizzly reintroduction to the North Cascades was halted when President Donald Trump took office.Indeed,Mr.Zinke had lifted Endangered Species Act protection for the grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.*
Secretary Zinke aims to have the EIS and a Record of Decision completed by year's end.*
The grizzly bear is a subspecies of brown bear (Ursus arctos).It is viewed with hostility by those with agricultural interests as a threat to both people and livestock;but considered a keystone species in conservation circles.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on decisions following nerve agent Salisbury, 27 ...


Thursday, March 22, 2018

Portugal is NATO, We Are NATO - #WeAreNATO


STRATCOM Commander's Warning:How Russia and China Threaten the US and its Allies

US Air Force General John Hyten,Commander,US Strategic Command,testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on 20 March 2018.In an opening statement and answers to senators' questions in  both open testimony and private visits,GEN Hyten gave an assessment of the current and future threats from our adversaries and STRATCOM's level of readiness to counter them.Two US Army veterans,Senator James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) and Senator Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) are the Second-Ranking Republican and Ranking Member of the Committee,respectively,while US Navy veteran and former POW Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) is Chairman.
According to GEN Hyten:
The most important message I want to deliver today is that the forces under my command (184,000 Soldiers,Airmen,Sailors and Marines) are fully ready to deter our adversaries and respond decisively,should deterrence ever fail.We are ready for all threats.Our forces and capabilities underpin and enable all other joint force operations.*
STRATCOM missions include fielding our nuclear,cyber and space forces.It also synchronises global missile defence plans and operations;electromagnetic spectrum operations and electronic warfare;over the entire continuum of land-sea-air-electromagnetic spectrum and space.*
GEN Hyten continued:
To maintain military superiority in this multi-polar,all-domain world,we must out-think,out-manoeuvre,out-partner,and out-innovate our adversaries.Deterrence in the twenty-first century requires the integration of all our capabilities,across all domains,enabling us to respond to adversary aggression anytime,anywhere.
The bedrock of our nation's deterrence continues to be our safe,secure,ready and reliable nuclear triad (sea,air and land-based systems).While the current triad continues to provide the backbone of our national security,we will eventually consume the last remaining margin from our investments made in the Cold War.
Today our nation is challenged by multiple adversaries with an expanding range of capabilities available to them.Our modernisation programmes are critical and include the B-21 bomber;the Columbia-class Ballistic Missile Submarine;the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent;the Long-Range Standoff Cruise Missile;Nuclear Command-and-Control;and Life-Extended Nuclear Warheads;which will provide without a doubt the nuclear deterrence capability our nation needs now and well into the future.
The biggest difference between the 2018 and the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review is in the return to threat-based planning and the response to great power competition.We started the NPR with the assessment of the threat-it was all about the threat-and based our approach on what our adversaries are doing today and the increasing challenges of the future.
1.Low-Yield Nuclear Weapons
I strongly agree with the need for a low-yield nuclear weapon.That capability is a deterrence weapon to respond to the threat that Russia in particular is portraying.President Putin as far back as 2000 announced that the Russian doctrine will be to use a low-yield nuclear weapon on the battlefield in the face of a conventional overmatch with an adversary.
We do have low-yield nuclear weapons,but those are with our aviation capabilities right now (the B61 nuclear bomb on NATO fighter-bomber aircraft),and those capabilities might not be the right response in terms of timeliness and survivability to get to where the threat is.Therefore,to respond to the threat,we need a small number of low-yield nuclear weapons that we can deploy on our Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles,still in the new START limits.
2.Hypersonic Nuclear Weapons
A hypersonic threat is a system that starts out ballistic,and so you'll see it like a ballistic missile,but then it depresses its trajectory and then flies more like a cruise missile or an airplane;and so it goes up into the low reaches of space,and then levels out and flies at a very high level of speed-and that's hypersonic,that's a hypersonic weapon.Both Russia and China are developing these capabilities.We'ver watched them test these capabilities;so both Russia and China are aggressively pursuing these weapons.I can give the details in a classified session.
Our defence is our deterrence capability.We don't have any defence that could deny the employment of such a weapon against us;so our response would be our deterrent force,which would be the triad and the nuclear capabilities that we would have to respond to such a threat,GEN Hyten explained at the recent hearing on Capitol Hill.

Friday, March 16, 2018

US HH-60 Pave Hawk Crash in Western Iraq Kills All on Board

US HH-60 Pave Hawk Crash in Western Iraq Kills All on Board: A U.S. HH-60 Pave Hawk crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, killing all on board, according to a statement.

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

NASA T-38 calls the option at Moffett Federal Airfield,California - civilian/military airfield


NASA T-38 Talon Start Taxi And GREAT Takeoff HD - astronaut training/transport


LRO\LCROSS launch 06 18 09 - Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter


Orion Crew Module for Ascent Abort-2 Arrives in Houston - new video


Momentum Rapidly Building for Orion Program - cislunar operations taking shape

NASA is rapidly addressing the daunting issues that face it and international partners as the way to crewed deep space and lunar exploration is opened for the first time since the Apollo missions of the late sixties and early seventies.First,there is the issue of scheduling.The ambition and the will to move forward of the US Government,the EU and the other ISS partners is there now,so solutions are earnestly being drawn up.
1.What to do about the ISS?While the ISS is on the downslope of its service life,with obsolescence coming in 2025,it could possibly be extended to at least 2028 with a public-private partnership to maintain the current setup,or even an intiative to build a new Low Earth Orbit facility or facilities.At the same time,the Orion Program has the solid backing of the Trump administration,so NASA isn't sitting around daydreaming.
2.The first integrated test flight of Orion and the Space Launch System,EM-1,is now planned for a launch sometime between December 2019 and June 2020.Before that,however,is Ascent Abort-2,the final test of the Orion emergency escape system,scheduled for 2019.
3.EM-2,the first crewed Orion mission,which will send humans to a high lunar orbit 40,000 miles above the Moon,the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth,must be held off till 2023 for a very practical reason:the mobile launch platform has to be modified to handle the heavier upgraded propulsion stage in a 33-month process.This is because EM-1 is to be launched with only the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS).
4.The Lunar Orbital Platform - Gateway project,designed as a platform to both prepare for and stage the Orion deep space missions from,and further scientific knowledge of the Earth,Sun and Moon,is planned to begin in 2022 as the power and propulsion system is launched on a separate mission;it was initially to be carried up by EM-2.Scientists have submitted 190 abstracts to NASA on research the LOP-G could carry out,and NASA recently convened a conference of scientists and engineers to scope the possibilities out.
5.Public/private partnerships are pegged as the way to develop both the LOP-G and lunar landing and exploration technologies needed for the scientists' proposals that,besides lunar studies,range from astrophysics and telescope assembly,to heliophysics and Earth science.
The idea is,to make good use of the LOP-G in between the yearly Orion missions of the 2020s and beyond.

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

5 February 2018:U.S. Navy Just Commissioned its Newest Littoral Combat Ship, The $440 Mi...


RAF P-8 Poseidon, introduction


NAVANTIA Cartagena: Puesta a flote del submarino S-73 Mistral - ESPS Mistral returns to port in Cartagena,Spain


HMCS/NCSM Windsor returns from exercises in 2015 - Royal Canadian Navy


NATO ASW drill Dynamic Manta kicks off in Italy


Facing Up to Hostile Submarines:NATO Commences Wargames in Ionian Sea

NATO's Dynamic Manta 2018 is currently underway in the Ionian Sea,which is an arm of the Mediterranean between Italy and Greece.The exercise is to improve warfighting skills,interoperability and readiness.Running from 5-16 March,it is described by NATO as being a high-end multinational exercise designed to sharpen existing NATO Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) skills in the Mediterranean Sea.Ten Allies are taking part:Belgium;Canada;France;Germany;Greece;Italy;Spain;Turkey;the UK;and the US.*
Five thousand Sailors and Airmen will be under three NATO Command Elements,crewing and supporting 10 helicopters;10 Maritime Patrol Aircraft;9 surface ships;and 6 submarines.Each surface ship will be eligible to conduct a range of submarine warfare operations.The submarines will alternate being hunters and the hunted,in coordination with the air and surface forces.
Rear Admiral Andrew Lennon,US Navy,is Commander Submarines NATO and Officer Conducting the Exercise (OCE):
Our Allied Sailors study and work hard to develop their undersea abilities.Dynamic Manta will give our airborne,surface and submarine teams a valuable chance to test themselves under complex scenarios.I'm very excited to be back in Sicily and so grateful to Italy for hosting us.*
Practicing together in a pure environment,the drills provide simultaneously the ability to evaluate and further develop Allied Anti-Submarine tactics.
Commodore Andreas Vettos of the Hellenic Navy is Commander Maritime Air NATO:
As Anti-Submarine Warfare includes all three dimensions,special attention needs to be placed upon ASW from the air.Because of this,it is important for aircrews from various NATO nations to come and train together in this truly challenging environment.*
DM 18 is based at Augusta Naval Base;Catania Harbour;and Sigonella Air Base,Sicily.