Monday, December 31, 2018
Friday, December 28, 2018
Thursday, December 27, 2018
US Coast Guard Reacts to Russian Corvette - Icebreaker Project
More and more,nations see the Arctic as a bulwark of their economic and military futures.As a case in point,the new Russian Project 23550 Ice-class patrol ships,or corvettes,resemble warships more than anything else.The idea of the project was to add full surface combatant capability to an icebreaker-apparently a first in naval history.
Besides a medium caliber deck gun,the 23550 will have two payload bays astern to accommodate containerised missile systems.They will also have a flight deck and hangar for anti-submarine/utility helicopters.What is more,there may even be an anti-aircraft system and small arms emplacements.
Thus the two 23550s will have strategic,and not just tactical,military implications,since cruise missiles can range for hundreds of miles/kilometers.The class is slated to enter service by 2020.*
On a more detailed level,it's been ascertained that the Ice-class will feature a 76 mm AK-176 MA naval gun in a stealth turret for deflecting radar rays,and will be armed with up to eight 3M-54 Kalibr supersonic cruise missiles.Military intelligence publisher IHS Jane's quotes a Russian defence ministry source as saying it will be:
a fully featured combatant designed in accordance with the navy's requirements for ships of such a class;she can break ice of up to 1.7 m.*
Russia currently has a fleet of about 40 icebreakers and is planning to acquire at least 12 more.*
In January 2018,then US Coast Guard Commandant ADL Paul Zukunft confirmed a Washington Times report about the capabilities of the proposed Coast Guard heavy icebreaker cutters.He revealed that,for the first time ever,Coast Guard icebreakers would be fully weaponisable,with the space,weight and power supply to support cruise missiles and other advanced weapons.
According to his successor,ADL Karl Shultz,the Coast Guard aims to award the first contract for the first of three new heavy icebreakers,to be known as the Polar Security Cutter,in spring 2019.He is cautiously optimistic this will happen.The estimated cost is 950 million dollars per ship.An additional three medium icebreakers are also on the service's shopping list.
ADL Shultz told the National Press Club on 6 December 2018:
Diplomacy and cooperation are really hollow without presence.If we're not present,if we don't own the environment today,guess who owns it tomorrow:our competitors.*
On Christmas Day 2018,President Donald Trump made phone calls to a number of military units,including Coast Guard District 17 in Juneau,Alaska.On the Polar Security Cutter,he observed that:
The bad part is the cost.The good part is,it's the most powerful in the world.The ice is in big trouble when that thing gets finished.It'll go right through it.It's very expensive,but that's OK.*
Currently,the US Coast Guard only has two operational icebreaker cutters:the Healy,assigned to the Arctic;and the Polar Star,assigned mainly to the Antarctic.The Polar Sea has failed engines and is used to supply its sister ship the Polar Star with obsolete parts.
Besides a medium caliber deck gun,the 23550 will have two payload bays astern to accommodate containerised missile systems.They will also have a flight deck and hangar for anti-submarine/utility helicopters.What is more,there may even be an anti-aircraft system and small arms emplacements.
Thus the two 23550s will have strategic,and not just tactical,military implications,since cruise missiles can range for hundreds of miles/kilometers.The class is slated to enter service by 2020.*
On a more detailed level,it's been ascertained that the Ice-class will feature a 76 mm AK-176 MA naval gun in a stealth turret for deflecting radar rays,and will be armed with up to eight 3M-54 Kalibr supersonic cruise missiles.Military intelligence publisher IHS Jane's quotes a Russian defence ministry source as saying it will be:
a fully featured combatant designed in accordance with the navy's requirements for ships of such a class;she can break ice of up to 1.7 m.*
Russia currently has a fleet of about 40 icebreakers and is planning to acquire at least 12 more.*
In January 2018,then US Coast Guard Commandant ADL Paul Zukunft confirmed a Washington Times report about the capabilities of the proposed Coast Guard heavy icebreaker cutters.He revealed that,for the first time ever,Coast Guard icebreakers would be fully weaponisable,with the space,weight and power supply to support cruise missiles and other advanced weapons.
According to his successor,ADL Karl Shultz,the Coast Guard aims to award the first contract for the first of three new heavy icebreakers,to be known as the Polar Security Cutter,in spring 2019.He is cautiously optimistic this will happen.The estimated cost is 950 million dollars per ship.An additional three medium icebreakers are also on the service's shopping list.
ADL Shultz told the National Press Club on 6 December 2018:
Diplomacy and cooperation are really hollow without presence.If we're not present,if we don't own the environment today,guess who owns it tomorrow:our competitors.*
On Christmas Day 2018,President Donald Trump made phone calls to a number of military units,including Coast Guard District 17 in Juneau,Alaska.On the Polar Security Cutter,he observed that:
The bad part is the cost.The good part is,it's the most powerful in the world.The ice is in big trouble when that thing gets finished.It'll go right through it.It's very expensive,but that's OK.*
Currently,the US Coast Guard only has two operational icebreaker cutters:the Healy,assigned to the Arctic;and the Polar Star,assigned mainly to the Antarctic.The Polar Sea has failed engines and is used to supply its sister ship the Polar Star with obsolete parts.
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Monday, December 24, 2018
Thursday, December 20, 2018
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
President Trump Re-establishes US Space Command - no Space Force for now
President Donald Trump has signed a one page memorandum authorising the Pentagon to re-establish the US Space Command,which had existed from 1985-2002.It will be the eleventh combatant command,headed by a four star flag officer and a deputy.
Combatant commands are leadership nodes comprised of personnel from all the services working together in a joint manner to advance a common mission set.They are not separate armed forces.Among the existing combatant commands are US Strategic Command,;US European Command;US Special Operations Command,etc.The original US Space Command was abolished in the wake of the 9-11 attacks so that US Northern Command (including NORAD) could be established to protect the continental homeland.Its elements were absorbed by US Strategic Command and Air Force Space Command.
The complex new organisation will have a staff of about 1600 personnel:600 of them from existing space organisations,and 1,000 of them new hires.It is estimated it will cost about 800 million dollars to set it up over a period of years.The first step will come next year with the nomination of a flag officer for commander,plus a deputy commander,for approval by the US Senate.*
President Trump considers this a move in the direction of creating a new armed service,the US Space Force.It's widely believed,however,that it isn't possible to create the force in the immediate future,while the US faces immediate challenges in space from Russia and China.*
Vice President Mike Pence made the announcement while visiting NASA Kennedy Space Center and the US Air Force 45th Space Wing at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida.He explained that:
The US Space Command will integrate space capabilities across all branches of the military.It will develop the space doctrine,tactics,techniques and procedures that will enable our warfighters to defend our nation in this new era.*
The Pentagon says that the renewed US Space Command is a critical step in accelerating our space capabilities and posture to defend our vital national interests and deter our adversaries.This combatant command will lead space operations and develop space warfighting doctrine,tactics and procedures.
Combatant commands are leadership nodes comprised of personnel from all the services working together in a joint manner to advance a common mission set.They are not separate armed forces.Among the existing combatant commands are US Strategic Command,;US European Command;US Special Operations Command,etc.The original US Space Command was abolished in the wake of the 9-11 attacks so that US Northern Command (including NORAD) could be established to protect the continental homeland.Its elements were absorbed by US Strategic Command and Air Force Space Command.
The complex new organisation will have a staff of about 1600 personnel:600 of them from existing space organisations,and 1,000 of them new hires.It is estimated it will cost about 800 million dollars to set it up over a period of years.The first step will come next year with the nomination of a flag officer for commander,plus a deputy commander,for approval by the US Senate.*
President Trump considers this a move in the direction of creating a new armed service,the US Space Force.It's widely believed,however,that it isn't possible to create the force in the immediate future,while the US faces immediate challenges in space from Russia and China.*
Vice President Mike Pence made the announcement while visiting NASA Kennedy Space Center and the US Air Force 45th Space Wing at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida.He explained that:
The US Space Command will integrate space capabilities across all branches of the military.It will develop the space doctrine,tactics,techniques and procedures that will enable our warfighters to defend our nation in this new era.*
The Pentagon says that the renewed US Space Command is a critical step in accelerating our space capabilities and posture to defend our vital national interests and deter our adversaries.This combatant command will lead space operations and develop space warfighting doctrine,tactics and procedures.
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
Closing Ranks:NATO Responds as Russia Violates Treaty
At the end of a NATO Foreign Ministerial in Brussels,Belgium that was attended by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,on 4 December 2018,NATO Allies certified that Russia is in a substantive breach of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg:
All Allies have concluded that Russia has developed and fielded a new ground-launched cruise missile system-the SSC-8,also known as the 9M729.Allies agree that the missile system violates the INF Treaty and poses significant security risks to Euro-Atlantic security.And they agree that Russia is therefore in material breach of its obligations under the INF Treaty.*
This is really serious,because,of course,all missiles are dangerous,but these missiles are particularly dangerous because they are hard to detect;they are mobile;they are nuclear capable.*
Despite the US and others raising the matter with Russia over 30 times,Russia has continued to develop and deploy the forbidden missiles,eroding effective arms control and undernining the security of the NATO Allies.*
Mr.Stoltenberg continued:
This is part of Russia's pattern of behaviour,intended to weaken the overall Euro-Atlantic security architecture.There are no new US missiles in Europe;but there are new Russian missiles in Europe.*
In conclusion,Mr.Stoltenberg warned:
Russia now has a last chance to come back into compliance with the INF Treaty,but we must also start to prepare for a world without the treaty.*
The US has given Russia 60 days to come back into compliance with the INF Treaty.*
Analysis:NATO has to be very watchful as it is not sure what the Putin regime will do next in Ukraine;perhaps Russia will take covert actions that will be used to justify another land grab.NATO finds itself in a position that approaches the danger at the height of the Cold War-at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis,for example.A conflict with Russia and/or China could necessitate a reinstatement of conscription in the US.It could mean a war of the order not seen since Vietnam-or even Korea.*
The Chief of Staff US Army,GEN Mark Milley,has been nominated by US President Donald Trump to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,the senior commander in the US military.GEN Milley has said of Putin's Russia that:
I see Russia as aggressive,not just assertive.They attacked Georgia (in 2008);they illegally seized Crimea (2014);they have attacked Ukraine (2014-present)...all those countries were free and independent and have been sovereign nations now for a quarter of a century,since the fall of the Berlin Wall.I would say,Russia's recent behaviour is adversarial to the interests of the United States.
All Allies have concluded that Russia has developed and fielded a new ground-launched cruise missile system-the SSC-8,also known as the 9M729.Allies agree that the missile system violates the INF Treaty and poses significant security risks to Euro-Atlantic security.And they agree that Russia is therefore in material breach of its obligations under the INF Treaty.*
This is really serious,because,of course,all missiles are dangerous,but these missiles are particularly dangerous because they are hard to detect;they are mobile;they are nuclear capable.*
Despite the US and others raising the matter with Russia over 30 times,Russia has continued to develop and deploy the forbidden missiles,eroding effective arms control and undernining the security of the NATO Allies.*
Mr.Stoltenberg continued:
This is part of Russia's pattern of behaviour,intended to weaken the overall Euro-Atlantic security architecture.There are no new US missiles in Europe;but there are new Russian missiles in Europe.*
In conclusion,Mr.Stoltenberg warned:
Russia now has a last chance to come back into compliance with the INF Treaty,but we must also start to prepare for a world without the treaty.*
The US has given Russia 60 days to come back into compliance with the INF Treaty.*
Analysis:NATO has to be very watchful as it is not sure what the Putin regime will do next in Ukraine;perhaps Russia will take covert actions that will be used to justify another land grab.NATO finds itself in a position that approaches the danger at the height of the Cold War-at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis,for example.A conflict with Russia and/or China could necessitate a reinstatement of conscription in the US.It could mean a war of the order not seen since Vietnam-or even Korea.*
The Chief of Staff US Army,GEN Mark Milley,has been nominated by US President Donald Trump to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,the senior commander in the US military.GEN Milley has said of Putin's Russia that:
I see Russia as aggressive,not just assertive.They attacked Georgia (in 2008);they illegally seized Crimea (2014);they have attacked Ukraine (2014-present)...all those countries were free and independent and have been sovereign nations now for a quarter of a century,since the fall of the Berlin Wall.I would say,Russia's recent behaviour is adversarial to the interests of the United States.
DOD Statement on Open Skies Flight Over Ukraine
DOD Statement on Open Skies Flight Over Ukraine: Today, the United States and Allies conducted an extraordinary flight under the Open Skies Treaty. The timing of this flight is intended to reaffirm U.S. commitment to Ukraine and other partner
Canada–U.S. Joint Statement
Canada–U.S. Joint Statement: Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis and Defence Minister Harjit S. Sajjan co-hosted a meeting of the top 13 nations contributing military support to the Global Coalition to Defeat-ISIS on Dec. 6, in
Friday, December 7, 2018
Blink and you’ll miss it: The B-21 bomber accomplishes another big review
Blink and you’ll miss it: The B-21 bomber accomplishes another big review: The final design of the B-21 is getting clearer...to the Air Force and Northrop Grumman, at least.
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Afghan War:Fourth Service Member Dies from Ghazni Explosion
The Pentagon has announced that,on 2 December 2018,a fourth US service member,Army SGT Jason Mitchell McClary,24,of Export,Pennsylvania,died from wounds received in a 27 November IED attack on a convoy in Andar District,Ghazni Province,Afghanistan.SGT McClary died in Landstuhl,Germany,to which he had been transported for further medical care.He is survived by his wife and two children.
The convoy was on a mission to engage the Taliban militants,after Ghazni leaders had requested assistance from US Forces-Afghanistan.Unlike the other three fatalities,SGT McClary was not a Special Operations Forces member,but an infantryman serving with the 1st Battalion,38th Infantry Regiment,1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team,4th Infantry Division,out of Fort Carson,Colorado.He was serving in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel,the extension of the original combat mission against Islamist extremists following 9-11.*
SGT McClary had completed a tour in Iraq previous to his current deployment to Afghanistan,which began in April.He had received two Purple Heart Medals even before this incident.Among his other decorations were the Army Commendation Medal with Valor;Army Commendation Medal (Combat);NATO Medal;Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Campaign Star;Iraq Campaign Medal with Campaign Star;and the Combat Infantry Badge.*
LTC Christopher Roberts,commander,1st Battalion,38th Infantry Regiment,said that:
SGT McClary served honorably as an up-armored vehicle gunner for the Attack Company.His memory and contributions will never be forgotten.*
Two other US service members and a contractor were wounded in the attack.SGT McClary's death brings the US fatality count in Afghanistan for 2018 to 14,with five of them having occurred in November.*
"Rejoice not against me,O mine enemy;when I fall,I shall arise;when I sit in darkness,the Lord shall be a light unto me."
-Micah 7:8
The convoy was on a mission to engage the Taliban militants,after Ghazni leaders had requested assistance from US Forces-Afghanistan.Unlike the other three fatalities,SGT McClary was not a Special Operations Forces member,but an infantryman serving with the 1st Battalion,38th Infantry Regiment,1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team,4th Infantry Division,out of Fort Carson,Colorado.He was serving in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel,the extension of the original combat mission against Islamist extremists following 9-11.*
SGT McClary had completed a tour in Iraq previous to his current deployment to Afghanistan,which began in April.He had received two Purple Heart Medals even before this incident.Among his other decorations were the Army Commendation Medal with Valor;Army Commendation Medal (Combat);NATO Medal;Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Campaign Star;Iraq Campaign Medal with Campaign Star;and the Combat Infantry Badge.*
LTC Christopher Roberts,commander,1st Battalion,38th Infantry Regiment,said that:
SGT McClary served honorably as an up-armored vehicle gunner for the Attack Company.His memory and contributions will never be forgotten.*
Two other US service members and a contractor were wounded in the attack.SGT McClary's death brings the US fatality count in Afghanistan for 2018 to 14,with five of them having occurred in November.*
"Rejoice not against me,O mine enemy;when I fall,I shall arise;when I sit in darkness,the Lord shall be a light unto me."
-Micah 7:8
Monday, December 3, 2018
Natural Notebook:Genentech-Shionogi Flu Drug Approved,Hits the Market
Genentech,an American biotech subsidiary of Roche Holding AG of Basel,Switzerland,and its partner Shionogi and Co.Ltd of Osaka,Japan have received FDA approval for the sale of their new influenza treatment,Xofluza (TM).The FDA had fast-tracked the drug for quick review,indicating they were impressed by the prospective product.On 24 October 2018,the agency announced its approval.It is now available for patients 12 years old and up.The price is 30.00 for insured patients and 90.00 for uninsured,after Roche coupons are applied.*
The drug is a pill taken in a single dose,the first ever flu treatment of this dosage and the first pharmacologically distinctive flu treatment to be approved in nearly twenty years.It is the only effective single dosage influenza treatment available today.Competitor drug Tamiflu(R) is taken twice a day for five days.The two treatments are comparable in terms of effectiveness,lessening the length of the infection by at least a day.There is some evidence that Xofluza may help limit the spread of influenza.*
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb MD stated that:
With thousands of people getting flu every year,and many people becoming seriously ill,having safe and effective treatments is critical.This novel drug provides an important,additional treatment option.*
The pharmacological uniqueness of Xofluza stems from the fact that it inhibits polymerase acidic endonuclease,an enzyme that supports influenza virus reproduction;while Tamiflu inhibits the enzyme that causes the virus to spread.It is desirable to have more than one type of influenza treatment in case the virus should develop defences against one of them.Xofluza is recommended for acute,uncomplicated influenza.*
The CDC says that,since 2010,flu has caused annual infections at the rate of 9.2-35.6 million cases;140,000 to 190,000 hospitalisations;and 12,000 to 80,000 deaths.*
Roche Holding AG (OTCMKTS:RHHBY),Shionogi and Co. Ltd (OTCMKTS:SGIOY)
The drug is a pill taken in a single dose,the first ever flu treatment of this dosage and the first pharmacologically distinctive flu treatment to be approved in nearly twenty years.It is the only effective single dosage influenza treatment available today.Competitor drug Tamiflu(R) is taken twice a day for five days.The two treatments are comparable in terms of effectiveness,lessening the length of the infection by at least a day.There is some evidence that Xofluza may help limit the spread of influenza.*
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb MD stated that:
With thousands of people getting flu every year,and many people becoming seriously ill,having safe and effective treatments is critical.This novel drug provides an important,additional treatment option.*
The pharmacological uniqueness of Xofluza stems from the fact that it inhibits polymerase acidic endonuclease,an enzyme that supports influenza virus reproduction;while Tamiflu inhibits the enzyme that causes the virus to spread.It is desirable to have more than one type of influenza treatment in case the virus should develop defences against one of them.Xofluza is recommended for acute,uncomplicated influenza.*
The CDC says that,since 2010,flu has caused annual infections at the rate of 9.2-35.6 million cases;140,000 to 190,000 hospitalisations;and 12,000 to 80,000 deaths.*
Roche Holding AG (OTCMKTS:RHHBY),Shionogi and Co. Ltd (OTCMKTS:SGIOY)
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