LIVE: SpaceX to attempt launch of secretive X-37B military spaceplane - national security mission for the US Space Force

The Falcon 9 Heavy is capable of boosting the Boeing X-37B to a higher orbit with heavier payloads than usual.NASA is sending an experiment involving radiation resistant materials along on the X-37B.The X-37B mission is being overseen by Space Systems Command,a space warfighting organisation.In the first official painting of the X-37B,it was depicted as heading to intercept a hostile spacecraft.*Boeing (BA)

NATO Rapid Infiltration Drills in the Baltics as Ukrainian Troops Get Combat Training in Poland

This complex video conveys several live-fire drills by NATO in the Baltic States.There were Rapid Infiltration exercises by NATO Allies demonstrating HiMARS and other capabilities.A Belgian Air Force Airbus A400M transported HiMARS units,showcasing mobility and Rapid Infiltration capabilities,while Ukrainian troops underwent combat training in Poland.

Defence Cooperation:US and Denmark Complete Another Link in Nordic Security Chain

According to the Danish Ministry of Defence,the US and Denmark have agreed on a bilateral Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) that will enable a more permanent presence of American military personnel at specific military installations in Denmark.Said Danish Minister of Defence Troel Lund Poulsen:The Defence Cooperation Agreement is a historic agreement for Denmark.It will strengthen defence and security cooperation with our most important ally.Strong bilateral ties and close cooperation with the United States in NATO are crucial for security in Europe.This will enable the United States to contribute even more to our collective defence and deterrence in Europe-a core responsibility for NATO.Added Minister for Foreign Affairs Lars Lokke Rasmussen:In a world characterised by insecurity,mistrust and confrontation,it is important for Denmark to have strong relations with the United States.The Defence Cooperation Agreement will benefit Denmark and Danish citizens.The closer cooperation with the United States will strengthen European security,and it shows that Denmark is willing to take more responsibility.This is good for both Europe and cooperation in NATO.*The DCA entails that American personnel and materiel can be stationed at specific Danish military installations for both short-term and long-term.Specifically,the agreement will allow American personnel access to three Danish air bases.The Faroe Islands and Greenland are not covered by the agreement.Greenland has its own arrangement with the US Space Force.According to the DCA document,United States forces,their dependents and US contractors,may be present on the territory of Denmark and that the purpose of such presence is to further the efforts of the Parties to promote peace and security in the areas of mutual interest and benefit,and to take part in common defence efforts.*Under the DCA,U.S. forces,U.S. contractors,Danish contractors,dependents and others as mutually agreed upon are authorised unimpeded access to and use of Agreed Facilities and Areas for visits;training;exercises;manoeuvres;transit;support and related activities;refueling of aircraft;bunkering of vessels;landing and recovery of aircraft;temporary maintenance of vehicles,vessels and aircraft;accomodation of personnel;communications;staging and deploying of personnel and materiel;pre-postioning of equipment,supplies and materiel;security assistance and cooperation activities;humanitarian and disaster relief activities;contingency operations;construction or support of mutually agreed activities;and such other purposes as the Parties or their Executive Agents may agree,including those undertaken in the framework of the North Atlantic Treaty.*The DCA provides for the Danish Executive Agent to make reasonable efforts to facilitate temporary access to and use of private land and facilities (including roads,ports and airfields) and public facilities (including roads,ports and airfields) that are not part of an Agreed Facility and Area.This Agreement shall have an initial term of ten (10) years.After the initial term,it shall continue in force,but may be terminated by either Party by one (1) year's written notice to the other Party through diplomatic channels.*Annex A,Agreed Facilities and Areas:Karup Air Base,Skrydstrup Air Base,Aalborg Air Base.The DCA was signed on 21 December 2023 in the U.S. Department of State Treaty Room in Washington,DC by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Danish Foreign Minister Lars Rasmussen.A DCA with Norway was signed with Norway in 2021;a DCA with Sweden was signed on 5 December 2023;and a DCA with Finland was signed on 18 December 2023.*Iceland is also a Nordic country,but so far no DCA has been negotiated with it.NATO already provides Air Policing for Iceland.

US Army, NATO. M777 howitzers during airborne operations in Germany.

Lockheed Martin makes the C-130J Super Hercules,the US Army's most commonly used variant of the aircraft.*Lockheed Martin (LMT)

Artemis II Crew Training Resource Reel - Orion Program Update

The mission is slated for a launch no sooner than November 2024.NASA Astronaut Sunni Williams was getting some flying hours in a NASA T-38 Talon trainer,and is not an Artemis II crew member.She is training for the first crewed flight of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft.*Boeing (BA)

La princesa Leonor muestra su destreza como esquiadora durante su entrenamiento militar en Huesca

Princesa Leonor de Asturias,the future regnant Queen of Spain,continued her military training in the Aragon region's Pyrenees Mountains recently with her military academy classmates.

Defence Cooperation:US and Finland Bulk Up NATO's Eastern Flank

According to a Government of Finland Press Release,in its plenary session on 14 December 2023,the Finnish Government decided to propose that the President of the Republic,Sauli Niinisto,authorise Minister of Defence Antii Hakkonen to sign the Defence Cooperation Agreement with the United States.This was carried out on 18 December 2023 in the State Department Treaty Room in Washington,DC,with Secretary of State Antony Blinken signing along with Defence Minister Hakkonen,in the presence of Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen.The agreement is subject to ratification by the Finnish Parliament and the US Senate.*The US is one of Finland's most important allies.Negotiations for the DCA were opened in August 2022.It is a binding agreement under international law.The negotiations concluded in October 2023.President Niinisto and the Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy decided in favour of approving the result of the negotiations on 27 November 2023.Parliament was kept informed on the progress of the negotiations in accordance with sections 47 and 97 of the Constitution.*The DCA will strengthen Finland's defence as it enables the presence and training of US forces on and the prepositioning of defence materiel on the territory of Finland,according to the Press Release.Thus it will also bolster NATO's deterrence and defence policy.According to Foreign Minister Valtonen,the DCA will:strengthen Finland's defence and enable cooperation in all security situations.The DCA also has regional importance,and it will help Finland contribute to NATO's collective defence efforts.*Said Minister of Defence Antii Hakkonen:The signature of the DCA is not an end point,but a new step towards even closer cooperation between Finland and the United States.The agreement reflects the United States' committment to Finland's security and it creates the conditions for cooperation in times of crises.Finland is not alone in defending itself,but does so as a NATO Ally and together with the United States.*The DCA deals with such matters as US access to,and use of,the 15 agreed facilities and areas;prepositioning of defence equipment,supplies and materiel on the territiory of Finland;entry and movement of US aircraft,vessels and vehicles;ensuring the protection,safety and security of US forces and the facilities and areas they use;and devises practical matters related to US forces on the territory of Finland,including the activity of US and Finnish contractors.The 15 agreed facilities and areas are listed in Annex A to the agreement.Finland will authorise the United States unimpeded access to and use of the facilities and areas for activities listed in the DCA.As a rule,the cooperation between Finland and the United States will focus on the agreed facilities and areas.However,the DCA will apply to the entire area of Finland.*The United States will commit to conducting all activities under the DCA with full respect for the sovereignty,laws,and international obligations of Finland.No nuclear weapons are permitted on Finnish territory.Regular provisions of the DCA contain obligations of the parties regarding consultations,respect for shared views,and coordination of measures to ensure the proper implementation of the agreement.*According to Annex A,the facilities and areas include:Ivalos Border Guard Base;Kuopio,Rissala,Konelin Air Command Base;various storage and training areas;Roveniemi (on the Arctic Circle) Lapland Air Command Base and Jaeger Brigade Garrison;Tampere-Pirkkala,Satekune Air Command Base;Jyvaskyla-Tikkakoski Air Force Academy Air Base;and Upinniemi Navy Base and Garrison in Kirkonummi including Russaro Island.*Finalnd's border with Russia runs for 1340 km/830 mi.It mainly crosses taiga forests and sparsely populated rural araeas.The border has been completely closed until at least 14 January 2024 because of an influx of undocumented migrants into Finland at two border crossings-an act of suspected hybrid warfare by Russia to destabilise Finland.

SpaceX sets December 28 launch date for US military’s X-37B space plane | Oneindia News

First there was a weather delay.Then there were technical concerns as it is the first time the Boeing X-37B has launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy.*Boeing (BA)

F-35B Lightning II fighters during flight testing on the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales

The HMS Prince of Wales is currently visiting the US,where Marine Corps pilots practised joint operations with the Royal Navy.

US Air Force. X-62A VISTA, F-22 Raptor and F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters in flight - YouTube

The X-62A VISTA is an experimental aircraft that was derived from the F-16D Fighting Falcon by privately held Calspan Corporation,a testing and research company,and General Dynamics.Calspan has recently been acquired by publicly traded TransDigm Group.TransDigm Group is a global leader in the design of high-quality,high-reliability aerospace components for various aircraft and spacecraft. The X-62A VISTA remains on the curriculum of the USAF Test Pilot School.*General Dynamics (GD),TransDigm Group Inc (TDG)

Nightwatch Aircraft:Air Force Moves Ahead to Replace Doomsday Planes

As of this writing,only one defence contractor,the privately held Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC),remains in the running for an 8.3 billion dollar contract to replace the current fleet of four US Air Force E-4B Nightwatch aircraft,often called the Doomsday planes because of their ability to withstand the radiological and electromagnetic effects of a nuclear war or other catostrophic circumstances.The future fleet of Nightwatch aircraft is called the Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC) project.These aircraft also serve as the personal aircraft of the Secretary of Defense and shadow the President of the United States when he travels in an AN-25 Air Force One plane.Boeing withdrew from consideration on the grounds of the expense to the contractor involved in fixed price contracts.Fixed price contracts require the contractor to absorb cost overruns themselves.Boeing is already in the hole for the NASA CST-100 Starliner spacecraft and the replacement of the AN-25 Air Force One planes,to the tune of 1.3 billion dollars.* The E-4B is considered part of the nuclear deterrence force,as it provides Command and Control of all nuclear forces,including low frequency communication with ballistic missile submarines.The main mission of the SAOC is to provide a robust and survivable platform for the President of the United States and other senior leaders,via the National Command Authority mechanism,to initiate nuclear strikes and assure Continuity of Government while directing other major military operations,or respond to significant contingencies such as large-scale natural disasters.* The E-4B must be a large,four-engine airliner derivative,so are expected to be unused or lightly used Boeing 747-8 jumbo jets.They must be powerful enough to fulfill the Take Charge and Move Out (TACAMO) function;the nuclear command role;communications and security;as well as the essential redundancies.For its part,SNC recently held a ribbon cutting for one of a planned four maintenance,repair and overhaul hangers with attached painting facilities at its new Dayton,Ohio complex.The exact requirements for the SAOC are classified.SNC does have specialties in data and communications modifications to existing aircraft.It can perform post-production modifications without access to sensitive proprietary data from the original manufacturers.SNC has already identified appropriate aircraft for the project through X-ray screening.A competitive contract award by the Air Force is expected in early 2024.*The fleet will consist of an initial 8-10 aircraft,although it could be expanded to reinstate the Cold War Operation Looking Glass role in light of the hypersonic weapons threat posed by Russia and China,with an estimated warning time of only fifteen minutes.In Looking Glass,one of the aircraft is aloft 24/7/365 under the command of a general officer.*The Nightwatch aircraft are considered Weapons Systems.SNC has provided the Air Force with an Airlift/Tanker Open Missions Systems kit (ATOMS) kit.It uses existing antennas and cables to provide line-of-sight and beyond data connections to networks such as Link 16,giving aircraft more situational awareness.Such connectivity for a mobile fleet is considered essential by the Air Force.

NATO. US Marines during joint combat training in Latvia.

Raytheon Technologies produces the TOW anti-tank missile.Raytheon Technologies (RTX)

Brave Partner:Joint US/North Macedonia SNAP Drills Underway

Some 180 Soldiers from U.S. Army V Corps' 2nd Cavalry Regiment will host joint country Forces for Exercise Brave Partner in North Macedonia.The drills run from 1-10 December 2023 at the Krivolak Training Area,Republic of North Macedonia,a NATO Ally.Said 2nd Cav Regiment commander Col. Robert McChrystal:Short notice exercises like Brave Partner are a way to train in new environments and enhance interoperability.*About 30 Soldiers from the Army of the Republic of North Macedonia will support the drills,which are to feature a live-fire range with versatile Stryker Infantry Fighting Vehicles.The exercise enhances regional partnerships and increases combat readiness in a realistic,multi-national training environment,said U.S. Army Europe - Africa in a news release.*Short notice planning events like Brave Partner help ensure our Forces and NATO Allies are ready to respond to real-world contingincies with little or no advance notice.On 7 December,U.S. Ambassador to North Macedonia Angela Aggelar will attend Brave Partner with North Macedonia's Minister of Defence Slavjanka Petrovska.Ambassador Aggelar noted that:The training exercise between North Macedonia's 1st Brigade and the U.S. 2nd Cavalry Stryker Regiment demonstrates interoperability and the invaluable cooperation between our countries' militaries.Once again,we see the crucial importance of joint exercises with our valued NATO Ally,and the benefits they bring to regional stability.*On 1 December 2023,Army of the Republic of North Macedonia Brig. Gen. Sashko Lafchiski,1st Infantry Brigade commander,met with U.S. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron,2nd Cavalry Regiment at Skopje International Airport.The U.S. troops had just arrived for Brave Partner,the Short Notice Action Planning (SNAP) exercise.Brave Partner is designed to demonstrate USAEUR-AF's operational reach;validate U.S. investments in North Macedonia;and increase readiness.The 2nd Cav brought their Stryker eight-wheeled armoured fighting vehicles with them.They were derived from the Canadian Light Armoured Vehicle III by General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada,and are manufactured for the U.S. Army by General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada and General Dynamics Land Systems Division,U.S.Strykers can drive up to 60 mph/96.5 kmh and have a range of 330 mi/531 km,and have a central tire inflation system.They are a family of 10 different variants with a common chassis.With robust armour protection,they carry a squad of nine Infantry Soldiers and two crew mmbers.*The basic Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle (ICV) has a basic soft mount cradle which can mount with a .50 calibre M2 machine gun;MK 19 40 mm grenade launcher;or MK 240 7.6 mm machine gun.It is also armed with four M6 smoke grenade launchers.The Stryker is produced for Stryker Brigade Combat Teams (SBCT).*The turret for the Stryker's Mobile Gun System (MGS) is armed with an M68A1E4 105 mm cannon and an M2 O.5 calibre machine gun.The ICV's are equipped with periscopes for protected viewing and digital communications systems.* General Dynamics (GD)