Thursday, July 18, 2019

"Top gun Maverick trailer drops and it is awesome!

San Diego Comic Con's tentpole Thursday morning panel, dedicated to the Paramount and Skydance film Terminator: Dark Fate, saw an interruption from another big face at that combined film company: Tom Cruise. Tom, apparently, couldn't let Arnold Schwarzenegger have all the fun, as he used the opportunity to reveal the first public footage of next year's Top Gun: Maverick.

The two-minute trailer is at its most impressive when we see Cruise continuing his streak for performing his own stunts, as he's established in so many Mission: Impossible films up until now. Unless Cruise and company have figured out a whole new level of CGI and green-screen trickery, that sure looks like the actor himself piloting an F-18 as it takes off from a Naval aircraft carrier at sea—and then pulling some serious Gs while flying over a snowy mountainside in formation.

In terms of plot, we see a face-off with a rear admiral played by actor Ed Harris. Harris is angry about Cruise's unwillingness to retire after "30-plus years of service" and his continued status as a Navy captain. "You should at least be a two-star admiral by now," Harris says. Eventually, Harris insists that "your kind is headed for extinction," which might hint to the Navy's increased emphasis on automation or remotely controlled crafts.

Pentagon considers moving key Brit intel hub

STUTTGART, Germany — A U.S. intelligence gathering hub at RAF Molesworth, one of several American bases that had been slated for closure, could stay where it is as the Pentagon reconsiders a plan to move the center to a different site.

“The Department of Defense is currently re-assessing the future location of the Joint Intelligence Analysis Complex and the NATO Intelligence Fusion Center,” Lt. Col. Carla M. Gleason, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said in a statement.

The center provides intelligence information for the U.S. European and African commands as well as NATO.

The Pentagon stopped short of saying whether it is considering scrapping a plan to build a new center at RAF Croughton, which would include $200 million in upgrades, and keep the intelligence activities at Molesworth.

But the Senate’s 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which still requires House approval, calls for funds to build an “intelligence fusion center” and “battlefield information collection and exploitation system center” at Molesworth.

The Senate NDAA did not specify how cancelling the move would affect the $200 million slated for the Croughton project.

The change is the latest twist in a plan that has been a source of controversy for nearly five years.

Moving to Croughton was part of a broader base-consolidation effort in Europe. RAF Molesworth, which was set to shutter around 2023, was one of many facilities the Pentagon had targeted for closure.

But relocating the intelligence center was met with fierce resistance from Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., who said the military failed to consider more affordable alternatives to RAF Croughton. Nunes also accused the military in Europe of providing faulty information to justify the move.

Nunes’ concerns prompted an Inspector General investigation that examined whether U.S. European Command failed to sufficiently consider its options. The IG ultimately cleared EUCOM officials of intentionally misleading Congress, but the probe found that the military’s financial analysis contained inaccurate information.

The military’s joint intelligence center was established in the U.K. in 1991 because there was insufficient space at EUCOM’s Stuttgart, Germany headquarters.

Molesworth was chosen because it had vacant facilities that were ready for use. With the establishment of AFRICOM, however, the mission has grown, leading to concerns that the base’s World War II-era buildings were undersized and unequipped to handle expanding operations.

While the Pentagon has said it is reassessing the move from Molesworth to Croughton, it didn’t offer details.

“This decision does not change the U.S. commitment to strengthen the NATO alliance, deter aggression from potential adversaries, and to support multinational operations,” Gleason said. “We are working closely with the United Kingdom to determine next steps for the future location of the JIAC and NIFC.”

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