USAF. U-2 Dragon Lady high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft prepares for flight

From maintenance by Airmen and Lockheed Martin Skunk Works contractors to launch and recovery,a legendary aircraft completes a mission.The CIA has its own U-2 fleet.*Lockheed Martin (LMT)

Northrop completes first flight of Australia's Triton maritime surveillance drone, ahead of 2024 delivery - Avionics International

Northrop completes first flight of Australia's Triton maritime surveillance drone, ahead of 2024 delivery - Avionics International: Northrop Grumman recently completed the first flight of Australia’s multi-intelligence MQ-4C Triton high-altitude, long-endurance maritime surveillance aircraft. The aircraft took off just before noon on Nov. 9, at Northrop’s Palmdale, […] Northrop Grumman (NOC)

Just in:B-21 Raider & B-2 Spirit Takeoff - Better film of the B-21 Raider launch,plus a B-2 Spirit launch that occurred a few hours later. 1

The B-21 flew to Edwards Air Force Base nearby.It was escorted by an F-16D Fighting Falcon.The B-2 Spirit was perhaps at Plant 42 for an upgrade or maintenance which are also provided at US Air Force Plant 42.

Images of US Air Force's new B-21 Raider stealth bomber on its first flight on 10 November 2023

A brief film of the undisclosed first flight is followed by stills and earlier footage of the unveiling.The Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider was escorted by a Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon.A Reuters journalist was monitoring the activity at the Palmdale,California Plant 42 facility in the Mojave Desert.Plant 42 is owned by the US Air Force and operated as a component of nearby Edwards Air Force Base.It is a Government-Owned,Contractor-Operated facility (GOCO).Besides developing classified aircraft,it also services existing aircraft such as the B-2 Spirit strategic bomber.Lockheed Martin (LMT),Northrop Grumman (NOC)

B-21 Taxi Tests Underway, As Bomber Prepares for First Flight - Avionics International

B-21 Taxi Tests Underway, As Bomber Prepares for First Flight - Avionics International: Taxi tests of the Northrop Grumman [NOC] B-21 Raider stealth bomber are underway near Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., as the aircraft prepares for first flight. The Air Force issued […] Northrop Grumman (NOC)

Joby Aviation Delivers First eVTOL Aircraft for U.S. Air Force’s 412th Test Wing - Avionics International

Joby Aviation Delivers First eVTOL Aircraft for U.S. Air Force’s 412th Test Wing - Avionics International: Joby Aviation, Inc. has delivered its first electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft for the U.S. Air Force to Edwards AFB, Calif.’s 412th Test Wing Joby Aviation Inc (JOBY)

LGM-30 Minuteman III ICBM Test Site Located at Vandenberg

An ICBM test was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base,California at 1:26 am PDT on 6 September 2023,verifying the lethality and credibility of US nuclear forces.

SpaceX launches Space Force satellites to track missiles & more, nails landing - mission for the US Space Force's Space Development Agency

Views of the second stage are classified.According to Space.com,eight of the ten spacecraft launched on 2 April 2023 from Vandenberg Space Force Base,California,will relay data,and two will track missiles,though this first set is intended primarily to demonstrate capabilities the SDA satellites will take operational.Falcon 9's first stage landed at Vandenberg Landing Zone 4.

B-21 Raider Rollout Livestream - Edwards Air Force Base

Northrop Grumman and U.S. Air Force Plan B-21 Unveiling in the First Week of December

Northrop Grumman and U.S. Air Force Plan B-21 Unveiling in the First Week of December: Northrop Grumman [NOC] said on Sept. 20 that it will unveil its B-21 Raider stealth bomber for the U.S. Air Force the first week of December at the company’s Palmdale, Calif., plant–a timeline confirmed the same day by Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter during his appearance at a media roundtable at the Air & […]

Glory Trip 243 Launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base

NROL-85 Mission - classified payload launch for the National Reconnaissance Office - Vandenberg Space Force Base,California

NROL-87 Mission - Vandenberg Space Force Base,California - national security payload launch for the National Reconnaissance Office

LauncherOne launches “Above the Clouds” - Eric Bippert,pilot and Flight Lieutenant Mathew "Stanny" Stannard,Royal Air Force Test Pilot - including a national security mission for the DoD Space Test Program of the Defense Innovation Unit

New member, now commander, aims for next-gen Legionnaires

New member, now commander, aims for next-gen Legionnaires: Outreach to young veterans and those still serving a high priority at Newport Harbor Post 291.

Mega rare 2 F-117 Training @ Fresno CA - Air National Guard Base

Enormous Marine Corps and NATO Exercise Underway in SoCal

Marine Air-Ground Task Force Warfighting Exercise (MWX) 1-20 is running in the Mojave Desert in Southern California from mid-October through early November.More than 10,000 US Marines and Sailors of the 2nd Marine Division,as well as NATO troops are participating in the drills.They are enacting a scenario involving the conflict between sophisticated and well-equipped peer and near-peer adversaries.It is an unscripted event, unique in the history of the Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, the high desert terrain in San Bernardino County.The base's more than 998 square miles is larger than some small countries.The range provides live fire combined arms training to promote readiness of operating forces.*
The purpose of MWX 20-1 is to increase warfighting readiness in preparation for major combat operations on a Division scale (such as versus China and/or Russia).It is a multi-regimental war game in which 2ndMARDIV will serve as Ground Combat Element for a notional Joint Task Force higher HQ.All elements of the MAGTF will participate, including close-air support; integrated artillery fires; tanks; amphibious assault vehicles;and light infantry vehicles.It will provide the Division with an opportunity to better understand and modulate its signiture, be it physical or across the electromagnetic spectrum: how it looks from an adversary's perspective, and how we can effectively command and control while minimising our footprint.*
Scenario specifics are being withheld for operational security reasons.Overalll,it will enable 2ndMARDIV to hone its skills at regimental-level operations in the defence; transitioning from the defence to the offense; and serving as a Combatant Command blunt force in order to reassure notional Partners and Allies,and deter aggression in a given AOR;and to set conditions for the reestablishment of a partner nation's sovereignty.
NATO participants include the UK's Royal Commandos,who are serving as part of the ADFOR, reinforcing and validating the long-held understanding that when the US goes into a fight,it does not go alone.*
Logisticians across the Division and supporting units crafted a deployment and support plan to transport and sustain the thosands of Marines and and tens thousands of end items in equipment.Managing hundreds of rail cars, tractor trailer loads, and aircraft through six different ports has proven the Division's capability to mobilise.*
According to 2ndMARDIV commander MGEN David J. Furness:
In the Exercise design, we will encounter a free-thinking "adversary force" with tactics and capabilities as good as our own.
2ndMARDIV will conduct complex manoeuvre warfare training on a plethora of disparate and geographically-disbursed ranges in order to challenge and improve our command and control (C2) capabilities.
We will employ and test some technologically advanced equipment...all with an eye on modernising our force.
Success may well be defined by getting the Division, and all the personnel and materiel that entails, the 3,000 miles required to prosecute the battle.*

Rapid Trident 18:Preparing Ukraine for NATO

From 3-15 September 2018,troops from 14 nations assembled at Ukraine's International Peacekeeping and Security Centre in Yavoriv for two weeks of intensive training.The Rapid Trident 18 drills were aimed at building the sophistication of the Ukrainian Land Forces while strengthening the bonds with and between the multinational cohort.Ukraine aspires to NATO membership,as does the Republic of Georgia.As part of their path to NATO,both nations must undertake defence reform to ensure their interoperability with Alliance and partner forces.
Those militaries participating in RT 18 included: Azerbaijan;Bulgaria;Canada;Denmark;Georgia;Germany;Lithuania;Moldova;Poland;as well as Romania;Turkey;the UK;Ukraine;and the US.
The annual exercise builds military interoperability through establishing professional relationships and fostering camaraderie in the process of building Ukraine's sustainable training capacity and supporting defence reform,according to US 7th Army Training Command.*
The multinational forces served as trainers,observers and mentors throughout the situational training in platoon-level tasks such as border control and security;cordon and search;medevac and combat lifesaving;convoy security;reaction to contact;countering IEDs;bomb disposal;checkpoint security;observation post operations;drone usage for aerial observation;and armour manoeuvre and tactics. The second week of the drills combined all the training objectives into a live action field exercise for the Ukrainian training battalions,which included the Ukrainian Special Forces;Conventional Forces;National Guard;and Border Guard.
Representing the US were about 100 Soldiers from the California Army National Guard and around 200 from the Tennessee Army National Guard,which is currently serving a nine-month deployment at Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine.The US National Guard units have developed very strong ties with the Ukrainian Land Forces over several years of staffing the JMTG-U.

Testing of B61 Upgrade Continues in Nevada on B-2 Bombers - NATO nuclear deterrent

On 9 June 2018,an upgrade of the B61 guided nuclear gravity bomb,the B61-12,was tested on a US Air Force B-2A Spirit bomber at the high security Tonopah Test Range,Nevada.The B61 is stored on NATO bases in Europe under a dual key arrangement.
In the course of the two flight tests,an unarmed B61-12 test assembly was released from the B-2,according to a National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) press release.The NNSA,which is part of the Department of Energy,designed the test assembly and the US Air Force provided the Boeing tail assembly.According to BGEN Michael Lutton,NNSA Assistant Deputy Administrator for Military Application:
The flight tests demonstrate the B61-12 design meets system requirements and illustrate the continued progress of the B61-12 life extension program to meet national security requirements.The achievement is also a testament to the dedication of our workforce and the enduring partnership between NNSA and the US Air Force.*
Conducting the tests was the 419th Test and Evaluation Squadron out of  Edwards Air Force Base,California.The tests were the first end-to-end qualification tests on a B-2A Spirit for the B61-12.They were part of a series of joint tests to demonstrate both the aircraft's ability to deliver the weapon and the weapon's non-nuclear functions.The flight tests included hardware designed by the Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory and manufactured by Nuclear Security Enterprise plants.
The B61 LEP will consolidate and replace the existing B61 bomb variants in the Nation's nuclear stockpile.The first production unit is on schedule for completion in fiscal 2020,NNSA said.*
NATO Allies Belgium,Germany,Italy,the Netherlands and Turkey host the current B61 variants on their bases.Panavia PA-200 Tornado IDS (Interdictor/Strike) and F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft are the authorised Allied delivery aircraft for these legacy weapons.
Besides the B-2A and the F-16C/D and MLU,another aircraft that can deliver the current B61 variants is the F-15E Strike Eagle.In future,the F-35 Lightning II and B-21 Raider will be able to deliver the B61.*
The B61s are guarded by US Air Force personnel and stored in vaults within hardened Protective Aircraft Shelters on the NATO bases.Their Permissive Action Links,or codes that enable the weapons to be armed,are in US custody.NATO's Nuclear Planning Group oversees the Alliance's nuclear deterrent.The annual NATO nuclear exercise,Steadfast Noon,is held in the autumn.

Special Report:More US Marines Headed for Iraq - Updated

On Saturday,19 March,US Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Louis F. Cardin,27,of Temecula,California,was killed in a rocket attack by ISIL militants on his small outpost near Makhmur,Iraq,south of the ISIL stronghold of Mosul.Several other Marines were wounded in the barrage.In response,the US is sending an additional detachment from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit,Camp Lejeune,North Carolina.This is being done following consultations with the Iraqi government.The size of the detachment is undisclosed.*
Mosul is a city of a million people and its recapture is a major goal of Operation Inherent Resolve,the multinational anti-ISIL effort to which both the US and Iraq belong,along with many other NATO and Middle Eastern allies.*
SSGT Cardin was a member of the 2nd Battalion,6th Marine Regiment,26th MEU.He was providing force protection fire support at a recently established coalition fire base near Makhmur in Northern Iraq.His is the second combat death in OIR,and reminds us of the risks our men and women in uniform face every day.Our thoughts and prayers are with the service members involved,their families and their coalition teammates who will continue the fight against ISIL with resolve and determination,Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement on 19 March.*
Update:According to US officials,the fire base is called Fire Base Bell.It has about 200 Marines and an artillery battery.The artillery is to protect US and allied forces who are based nearby on a train,advise and assist mission;but also to help the Iraqi Security Forces in orchestrating their buildup to the Battle of Mosul.The plan is that,eventually,the US Army will assume control of Fire Base Bell,as the Battle of Mosul draws nearer.*
Thursday,the Marines of Fire Base Bell helped the ISF launch their Mosul campaign by firing illumination rounds so the ISF could see the ISIL militants;then the Marines opened up with artillery shells to assist the ISF in recapturing several villages near Makhtour from the Islamist extremists,which was indeed accomplished.