BREAKING: VIDEO -Pilot ejects from F-35 as it crash-lands at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth Thursday morning.

NBCDFW: 

CLICK TO ENLARGE 

A pilot ejected from a Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II fighter jet during a landing at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth Thursday morning.

White Settlement Chief of Police Christoper Cook said they were called at 10:15 a.m. by U.S. Navy Police and Lockheed Martin to help clear onlookers away a roadway adjacent to the runway while officials responded and investigated an incident with an aircraft.

According to Cook, a Lockheed-owned jet suffered some sort of malfunction that forced the pilot to eject the aircraft. Cook said the pilot's ejected seat and parachute were visible near the aircraft which came to a stop in the grass along the southwest side of the runway, near White Settlement Road and Spur 341/Lockheed Boulevard.

The B variant of the aircraft can land vertically like a helicopter. Video obtained by NBC 5 showed the aircraft landing vertically Thursday morning when it bounced. As it came back down, the tail end pitched up, driving the nose into the ground and snapping off the front landing gear. The aircraft then slid 180 degrees on its nose and right wing before turning back in the other direction. At that moment, with the aircraft on the ground, the pilot was ejected from the aircraft and the plane appeared to come to rest in the grass.

Cook said earlier in the morning that the pilot safely ejected but had no other information about the pilot's condition.

Lockheed Martin, who assembles the fighter jet at a facility immediately to the west of the base and shares the north-south 18/36 runway with the joint reserve base, confirmed the crash but offered no further update on the pilot's condition.

"We are aware of the F-35B crash on the shared runway at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth and understand that the pilot ejected successfully," Lockheed Martin said in a statement. "Safety is our priority, and we will follow appropriate investigation protocol."

Further details about the incident have not been confirmed by Lockheed Martin or officials at NAS JRB.

CLICK TO ENLARGE 

                                                                       LINK TO VIDEO

CLICK TO ENLARGE 

Livermore Labs makes breakthrough on Nuclear fusion

CNN:


US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Tuesday morning that the nuclear fusion experiment conducted by US scientists replicated "certain conditions that are only found in the stars and sun."

"Ignition allows us to replicate for the first time certain conditions that are only found in the stars and sun. This milestone moves us one significant step closer to the possibility of zero carbon abundant fusion energy powering our society," she said.

Granholm continued: “This is what it looks like for America to lead, and we’re just getting started.”

“If we can advance fusion energy, we could use it to produce clean electricity, transportation fuels, power, heavy industry and so much more.”

“This monumental scientific breakthrough is a milestone for the future of clean energy,” said Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California.

The breakthrough was made by a team of scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility in California on Dec. 5 – a facility the size of a sports stadium and equipped with 192 lasers.

US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm called the breakthrough a “landmark achievement” in a statement.

In the statement, Granholm said scientists at Livermore and other national labs do work that will help the US "solve humanity’s most complex and pressing problems, like providing clean power to combat climate change and maintaining a nuclear deterrent without nuclear testing.”

The director of Livermore, Dr. Kim Budil, called scientists’ attempts to realize fusion ignition in the lab “one of the most significant scientific challenges ever tackled by humanity” and cheered the work of her lab’s scientists.

“Achieving it is a triumph of science, engineering, and most of all, people,” Budil said in a statement. “Crossing this threshold is the vision that has driven 60 years of dedicated pursuit. These are the problems that the U.S. national laboratories were created to solve.”

We are still a very long way from having fusion power the electric grid, never mind one power plant itself. The US project, while groundbreaking, only produced enough energy to boil about 2.5 gallons of water, Tony Roulstone, a fusion expert from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, told CNN.

That may not seem like much, but the experiment is still hugely significant because scientists demonstrated that they can actually create more energy than they started with. While there’s many more steps until this can be commercially viable, that is a major hurdle to cross with nuclear fusion, experts say.

“This is very important because from an energy perspective, it can’t be an energy source if you’re not getting out more energy than you’re putting in,” Julio Friedmann, chief scientist at Carbon Direct and a former chief energy technologist at Lawrence Livermore, told CNN on Monday. “Prior breakthroughs have been important but it’s not the same thing as generating energy that could one day be used on a larger scale.”

Past fusion experiments including one in the United Kingdom have generated more energy but have not had nearly as big of an energy gain. For instance, earlier this year, UK scientists generated a record-setting 59 megajoules of energy – about 20 times as the US-based project. Even so, the UK project only showed an energy gain of less than one megajoule.

There’s still many years and a long way to go to make the project commercially viable. Neither the US or UK-based projects “have the hardware and steps in place to convert fusion neutrons to electricity,” Anne White, head of MIT’s Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, told CNN.

But Roulstone pointed out that big ambitious nuclear energy projects have to start somewhere: In 1942, scientists in Chicago ran the first fission nuclear reactor for just 5 minutes in its first run; 15 years later, the first US-based nuclear power plant went online in Pennsylvania.

B-52 drops hypersonic AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- A B-52H Stratofortress successfully released the first All-Up-Round AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon off the Southern California coast, Dec. 9.

This test was the first launch of a full prototype operational missile. Previous test events focused on proving the booster performance. Following the ARRW’s separation from the aircraft, it reached hypersonic speeds greater than five times the speed of sound, completed its flight path and detonated in the terminal area. Indications show that all objectives were met.

“The ARRW team successfully designed and tested an air-launched hypersonic missile in five years,” said Brig. Gen. Jason Bartolomei, Armament Directorate Program Executive Officer. “I am immensely proud of the tenacity and dedication this team has shown to provide a vital capability to our warfighter.”

The 412th Test Wing at Edwards AFB, California, executed the ARRW test flight.

ARRW is designed to enable the U.S. to hold fixed, high-value, time-sensitive targets at risk in contested environments.

"Merchant of Death" traded to Russia for basketball player Griner.

So notorious are the exploits of the former Soviet air force officer that they inspired a Hollywood film, and garnered him an impressively fearsome nickname.

But who is the man known as the Merchant of Death?

Bout was extradited from Thailand to the US in 2010, after a sting operation by the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) two years earlier.

Agents from the DEA posed as potential buyers from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as Farc. That group - which has since disbanded - was classified as a terrorist organization by the United States.

Bout claimed he was simply an entrepreneur with a legitimate international transport business, wrongly accused of trying to arm South American rebels - the victims of US political machinations. But a jury in New York didn't believe his story.

He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in April 2012 after being found guilty of conspiracy to kill Americans and US officials, delivering anti-aircraft missiles and aiding a terrorist organisation.

His three-week trial heard that Bout had been told the weapons would be used to kill US pilots working with Colombian officials. Prosecutors said he replied: "We have the same enemy."

Bout - a Russian national born in Soviet-ruled Tajikistan - began his career in air transport in the early 1990s, after the fall of the USSR.
According to a 2007 book - Merchant of Death, by security experts Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun - Bout built up his business using military planes left on the airfields of the collapsing Soviet empire in the early 1990s.

The sturdy Antonovs and Ilyushins were up for sale along with their crews, and were perfect for delivering goods to bumpy wartime airstrips around the world.

Bout - who was 45 when he was sentenced - is said to have begun channeling weapons through a series of front companies to war-torn parts of Africa.

The UN named him as an associate of former Liberian President Charles Taylor - who was convicted in 2012 on charges of aiding and abetting war crimes during the Sierra Leone civil war.

"[Bout is a] businessman, dealer and transporter of weapons and minerals [who] supported former President Taylor's regime in [an] effort to destabilize Sierra Leone and gain illicit access to diamonds," UN documents state.
Media reports in the Middle East claimed he was a gun-runner for al-Qaeda and the Taliban.


He is also alleged to have armed both sides in Angola's civil war and supplied weapons to warlords and governments from the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo to Sudan and Libya.

In an interview with the UK's Channel 4 News in 2009, he flatly denied ever dealing with al-Qaeda or the Taliban.

But he did admit to flying arms to Afghanistan in the mid-1990s, saying they were used by commanders fighting against the Taliban. He also claimed to have helped the French government transport goods to Rwanda after the genocide, and to have transported UN peacekeepers.

But law enforcement agencies pursued him throughout the 2000s. He left his home in Belgium in 2002 when the authorities there issued an arrest warrant. It is thought Bout travelled under several aliases, moving through countries such as the United Arab Emirates and South Africa before resurfacing in Russia in 2003.

In the same year, British Foreign Office minister Peter Hain coined the nickname Merchant of Death

After reading a 2003 report about him, Mr Hain said: "Bout is the leading merchant of death who is the principal conduit for planes and supply routes that take arms... from East Europe, principally Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine to Liberia and Angola.

"The UN has exposed Bout as the center of a spider's web of shady arms dealers, diamond brokers and other operatives, sustaining the wars.

RELATED:

60 Minutes Link: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/viktor-bout-russia-arms-dealer-merchant-of-death-brittney-griner/

VICKTOR BOUT INDICTMENTS FROM 2008

V-280 Valor could be worth 80 billions

(C) Steve Douglass 

AIN ONLINE:

The U.S. Army has selected Bell's V-280 Valor tiltrotor as the basis for the design that will replace the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter as its next Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA). In a decision announced on December 5, the Textron subsidiary prevailed in the long-running competition against the Sikorsky-Boeing SB-1 Defiant propulsor-compound coaxial rotor design based on Sikorsky's X-2 technology program.

The FLRAA program was designed to produce aircraft to eventually replace up to 4,000 Sikorsky Black Hawks. Bell started developing and testing the V-280 Valor next-generation tiltrotor as part of the Pentagon's Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR TD) program that began in 2013. 

The initial production aircraft are expected to be operational by 2030 and the entire program could have a value of up to $80 billion. The most recently announced target price per V-280 (2018) is $43 million. The announced development contract is valued at $232 million and covers the final design of the production prototype aircraft and any changes specified by the Army, including weapon system design, sustainment, digital enterprise, manufacturing, systems integration, flight testing, and airworthiness qualification. 

“This is an exciting time for the U.S. Army, Bell, and Team Valor as we modernize the Army’s aviation capabilities for decades to come,” said Bell president and CEO Mitch Snyder, president and CEO of Bell. The award is a potential financial bonanza for Bell and guarantees its continuation as U.S. military long-term rotorcraft supplier. 

A Bell/Boeing team currently produces the larger V-22 tiltrotor for the Air Force, Navy, and Marines, but that aircraft is currently nearing the end of its production cycle after manufacturing more than 400 units. The smaller V-280 significantly differs from the V-22 tiltrotor in several respects. On the V-22, the engines, gearboxes, and prop-rotors all have to rotate as the thrust direction is changed; on the V-280 only the gearboxes and prop-rotors rotate. The V-280 also eschews the forward wing sweep of the V-22.

Going to a straight wing on the V-280 eliminates the need for a mid-wing gearbox and makes the wing easier to manufacture, according to Bell. The V-280 also is significantly more agile with about 50 percent more flapping capability in its rotor system than the V-22, enabling greater agility in all axes—longitudinal, lateral, and vertical. 

Before being retired in 2021, the V-280 demonstration aircraft flew 214 hours over three years. During testing the V-280 achieved a maximum forward speed of 305 knots and demonstrated a combat range of 500 to 800 nm, a self-deployment range of 1,734 nm, low-speed agility, and rapid mission systems integration. It was flown by both Bell test pilots and U.S. Army experimental test pilots.

Bell successfully flew the V-280 with a new tactical common data link (TCDL) and completed external sling load sorties. With onboard sensors and TCDL, the V-280 could provide targeting information to enhance the lethality of precision long-range weapons. The V-280 also transmitted data collected by the Lockheed Martin Pilotage Distributed Aperture Sensor (PDAS) system. 

The V-280 and the SB-1 were semifinalists in the Army’s FLRAA competition and the Sikorsky-Boeing team is expected to file a protest. However, the SB-1 lagged in demonstrated forward speed compared to the V-280 and a refined version under development, the Defiant X, has yet to fly. 

Bell and Sikorsky remain in competition for the Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program.

                           VIDEO COPYRIGHT STEVE DOUGLASS WEBBFEAT@GMAIL.COM

BREAKING: TEXTRON’S BELL V-280 VALOR CHOSEN AS NEW U.S. ARMY LONG-RANGE ASSAULT AIRCRAFT

(c) Steve Douglass 

TEXTRON’S BELL V-280 VALOR CHOSEN AS NEW U.S. ARMY LONG-RANGE ASSAULT AIRCRAFT

The V-280’s unmatched combination of proven tiltrotor technology coupled with innovative digital engineering and an open architecture offers the Army outstanding operational versatility for its vertical lift fleet

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Textron Inc (NYSE: TXT) announced today that Bell Textron Inc., a Textron company,has been awarded the development contract for the U.S. Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program. The award is based on Bell’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor that was developed and tested as part of the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR TD) program that began in 2013. The V-280 progressed through design, manufacturing, and more than three years of rigorous flight testing that provided extensive data validating the technical and operational advantages of the aircraft for the long-range assault mission.

"We are honored that the U.S. Army has selected the Bell V-280 Valor as its next-generation assault aircraft," said Scott C. Donnelly, Textron’s chairman and chief executive officer. "We intend to honor that trust by building a truly remarkable and transformational weapon system to meet the Army’s mission requirements. We are excited to play an important role in the future of Army Aviation."

“This is an exciting time for the U.S. Army, Bell, and Team Valor as we modernize the Army’s aviation capabilities for decades to come,” said Mitch Snyder, president and CEO of Bell. “Bell has a long history supporting Army Aviation and we are ready to equip Soldiers with the speed and range they need to compete and win using the most mature, reliable, and affordable high-performance long-range assault weapon system in the world.”

This award builds on a decade of the V-280 Valor’s progress through design, manufacturing, and thorough testing to demonstrate that this aircraft will deliver on the FLRAA program requirements. Bell and its industry partners have systematically validated the V-280 aircraft and their modular open systems approach in collaboration with the Army.

“For the past several years the Bell team demonstrated the exceptional operational capabilities, digital thread synergies, and platform affordability enhancements the V-280 provides,” said Keith Flail, executive vice president, Advanced Vertical Lift Systems at Bell. “Bell stands ready with our world-class manufacturing facilities to apply our nearly seven decades of tiltrotor expertise to deliver a modern FLRAA fleet to the Army.”

The initial contract refines the weapon system design, sustainment, digital enterprise, manufacturing, systems integration, flight-testing, and airworthiness qualification.

This award builds on Bell’s history of more than 85 years delivering over 30,000 trusted vertical lift products to military and commercial customers in the U.S. and around the world. To learn more about the V-280 Valor, Team Valor, and the FLRAA program, please visit https://www.bellflight.com/products/bell-v-280 and textron.com and follow us on YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

                                          VIDEO (C) STEVE DOUGLASS

Behold - the B-21 Bomber

click to enlarge

PALMDALE, Calif. – Dec. 2, 2022 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) and the U.S. Air Force unveiled the B-21 Raider to the world today. The B-21 joins the nuclear triad as a visible and flexible deterrent designed for the U.S. Air Force to meet its most complex missions.

“The Northrop Grumman team develops and delivers technology that advances science, looks into the future and brings it to the here and now,” said Kathy Warden, chair, chief executive officer and president, Northrop Grumman. “The B-21 Raider defines a new era in technology and strengthens America’s role of delivering peace through deterrence.”

The B-21 Raider forms the backbone of the future for U.S. air power, leading a powerful family of systems that deliver a new era of capability and flexibility through advanced integration of data, sensors and weapons. Its sixth-generation capabilities include stealth, information advantage and open architecture.

“The B-21 Raider is a testament to America’s enduring advantages in ingenuity and innovation. And it’s proof of the Department’s long-term commitment to building advanced capabilities that will fortify America’s ability to deter aggression, today and into the future. Now, strengthening and sustaining U.S. deterrence is at the heart of our National Defense Strategy,” said Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III. “This bomber was built on a foundation of strong, bipartisan support in Congress. And because of that support, we will soon fly this aircraft, test it and then move into production.”

The B-21 is capable of networking across the battlespace to multiple systems, and into all domains. Supported by a digital ecosystem throughout its lifecycle, the B-21 can quickly evolve through rapid technology upgrades that provide new capabilities to outpace future threats.

“With the B-21, the U.S. Air Force will be able to deter or defeat threats anywhere in the world,” said Tom Jones, corporate vice president and president, Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems. “The B-21 exemplifies how Northrop Grumman is leading the industry in digital transformation and digital engineering, ultimately delivering more value to our customers.”

The B-21 Raider is named in honor of the Doolittle Raids of World War II when 80 men, led by Lt. Col. James “Jimmy” Doolittle, and 16 B-25 Mitchell medium bombers set off on a mission that changed the course of World War II. The designation B-21 recognizes the Raider as the first bomber of the 21st century.

Northrop Grumman is a technology company, focused on global security and human discovery. Our pioneering solutions equip our customers with capabilities they need to connect, advance and protect the U.S. and its allies. Driven by a shared purpose to solve our customers’ toughest problems, our 90,000 employees define possible every day.

B-21 Debut tonight - here's the latest and live stream link.

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s newest nuclear stealth bomber is making its public debut after years of secret development and as part of the Pentagon’s answer to rising concerns over a future conflict with China.

The B-21 Raider is the first new American bomber aircraft in more than 30 years. Almost every aspect of the program is classified. Ahead of its unveiling Friday at an Air Force facility in Palmdale, California, only artists’ renderings of the warplane have been released. Those few images reveal that the Raider resembles the black nuclear stealth bomber it will eventually replace, the B-2 Spirit.

The bomber is part of the Pentagon’s efforts to modernize all three legs of its nuclear triad, which includes silo-launched nuclear ballistic missiles and submarine-launched warheads, as it shifts from the counterterrorism campaigns of recent decades to meet China’s rapid military modernization.

China is on track to have 1,500 nuclear weapons by 2035, and its gains in hypersonics, cyber warfare, space capabilities and other areas present “the most consequential and systemic challenge to U.S. national security and the free and open international system,” the Pentagon said this week in its annual China report.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LIVESTREAM THAT BEGINS AT 5:00 PM PSDT

 

Northrop's B-21 RAIDER stealth bomber to be unveiled on Friday DEC 2nd.

 

click here to connect to streaming event on 12-2-22

BREAKING: Poland hit by missiles, two dead.

Missiles crossed into NATO member Poland, killing two people, a senior US intelligence official said on Tuesday in what could mark a serious escalation.

The weapon hit a farm in Przewodów, Lublin, near the border with Ukraine, according to Polish media reports.

Senior U.S. intelligence officials say that although not all details are clear at this time it appears a grain elevator was hit and at last two people are dead.

A Polish government spokesman did not immediately confirm the information, but said  leaders were meeting on "crisis situation."

click to enlarge 

UPDATE: SKY NEWS

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has called an urgent meeting to discuss national security, a government spokesman said on Twitter.State news agency PAP said the meeting was to be held at 8pm GMT.

Latvia's deputy prime minister, Artis Pabriks, said Moscow had fired missiles that landed in Poland and sent Warsaw his condolences.

Polish media said missiles hit an area where grain was drying in Przewodow, a village in eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine.

"Firefighters are on the spot - it's not clear what has happened," said firefighter Lukasz Kucy.

Moscow launched a large number of missiles at Ukraine on Wednesday, knocking out power for seven million households.

It is unclear whether the two missiles that apparently landed in Poland were part of the same wave, but it is the first time Russian rockets are said to have reached Poland.

Poland has not been involved in the conflict, but has welcomed millions of Ukrainian refugees and has widely condemned the war.

UPDATE: 

There is no evidence a missile that slammed into a Polish border town near Ukraine was an intentional attack on his country, Poland President Andrzej Duda said Wednesday.

The missile, which killed two people in a rural area, appeared to be Russian-made, Duda said. Ukraine's weaponry includes Russian-made missiles.

“Ukraine’s defense was launching their missiles in various directions and it is highly probable that one of these missiles unfortunately fell on Polish territory,” Duda said. “There is nothing, absolutely nothing to suggest that it was an intentional attack on Poland.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, at a meeting of the military alliance in Brussels, said a preliminary analysis suggests that the incident was likely caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile fired to defend Ukrainian territory against Russian cruise missile attacks.

Saudi Arabia tells Pentagon Iran is poised for an attack

WASHINGTON (AP) — Saudi Arabia has shared intelligence with American officials that suggests Iran could be preparing for an imminent attack on the kingdom, three U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The heightened concerns about a potential attack on Saudi Arabia come as the Biden administration is criticizing Tehran for its crackdown on widespread protests and condemning it for sending hundreds of drones — as well as technical support — to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.

“We are concerned about the threat picture, and we remain in constant contact through military and intelligence channels with the Saudis,” the National Security Council said in a statement. “We will not hesitate to act in the defense of our interests and partners in the region.”

Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nor did Iran’s mission to the United Nations.

One of the officials who confirmed the intelligence sharing described it as a credible threat of an attack “soon or within 48 hours.” No U.S. embassy or consulate in the region has issued alerts or guidance to Americans in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere in the Middle East based on the intelligence. The officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. and Saudis blamed Iran in 2019 of being behind a major attack in eastern Saudi Arabia, which halved the oil-rich kingdom’s production and caused energy prices to spike. The Iranians denied they were behind the attack, but the same triangle-shaped, bomb-carrying drones used in that attack are now being deployed by Russian forces in their war on Ukraine.

The Saudis have also been hit repeatedly in recent years by drones, missiles and mortars launched by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. Saudi Arabia formed a coalition to battle the Houthis in 2015 and has been internationally criticized for its airstrikes in the war, which have killed scores of civilians.

In recent weeks, the Biden administration has imposed sanctions on Iranian officials for the brutal crackdown on demonstrators after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September after her arrest by Iran’s morality police. The administration has also hit Iran with sanctions for supplying drones to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.

READ MORE HERE

UAP/UFO report due out today - but don't expect any relevations.

 

ABC NEWS: 
The enduring debate about whether UFOs are caused by extraterrestrial beings will once again be front and center next week as U.S. intelligence agencies will provide Congress with an updated report on UFO incidents over the past year.

Meanwhile, it appears that other more recent incidents are being attributed to weather balloons, other airborne clutter, and foreign surveillance, according to a U.S. official.

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines has until Monday to provide Congress with its first annual unclassified update on Unexplained Aerial Phenomena, the new term for UFOs, that includes all new UAP incidents over the past year and any previously unreported incidents.

The report was required by the 2022 Defense Bill that mandated that the DNI provide an annual declassified update and a classified annex by Oct. 31 of every year through 2026.

The update follows the DNI's first-ever report released in June 2022 that listed 144 UAP incidents, only one of which could be explained. At a congressional hearing earlier this year Pentagon officials said that the number of UAP incidents under investigation had risen to more than 400.

While it is unclear how many new reports will be included in the upcoming update, a U.S. official told ABC News that the most recent UAP incidents can be explained as a mix of weather balloons, airborne clutter, and foreign surveillance. But the official stressed that other incidents still cannot be explained.

The official added that it cannot be determined who is behind the foreign surveillance but the most likely candidates would be China and Russia since they have the most interest in monitoring the U.S. military.

"There is no single explanation that addresses the majority of UAP reports," Sue Gough, a Defense Department spokesperson, said in a statement. "We are collecting as much data as we can, following the data where it leads, and will share our findings whenever possible. We will not rush to conclusions in our analysis"

Does the Lockheed Martin future aerial refueling tanker rendering show what NGAD looks like?

 Two artist renderings, since scrubbed off the Lockheed Martin website promoting their LMXT tanker proposal shows it refueling an unknown stealth fighter (possibly) the top secret Next Generation Air Dominance aircraft - stealth fighter.

Here are the artist renditions here which appear to have been scrubbed from Lock-Marts' site.

click to enlarge 

click to enlarge 

-Steve Douglass 

NSA unveils "Battle Bridge" nerve center.

click to enlarge 

WASHINGTON TIIMES:

The National Security Agency, which is in the middle of moving into a new “nerve center” on its Fort Meade campus, says it is still ready for whatever foreign threat may emerge against the Nov. 8 midterm elections.

“We’re ready to go,” NSA Director Gen. Paul M. Nakasone said in an interview in the “battle bridge” of the new National Security Operations Center.

Commonly referred to as the agency’s “nerve center,” the facility provides the NSA with a real-time window into government operations across the globe and allows the agency to respond to a crisis in an instant.

The NSA is America’s spy agency focused on smashing codes, intercepting secret messages, and leveraging computer operations to guard the U.S. against threats coming from places such as China, Iran and Russia.

“What’s NSA’s competitive advantage? We make code and we break code better than anyone in the world,” Gen. Nakasone said. “That’s what we do.”

CLICK TO ENLARGE 

"RACETRACK UAPs" leave pilots stumped.

THE DEBRIEF : 

Pilots and crews from more than 15 commercial aircraft say they have encountered unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) in American airspace in recent weeks, according to eyewitness testimony and videos that detail the unusual events.

According to witnesses, the rash of incidents occurred over a seven-week period and involved sightings of bright luminous aerial objects in airspace from the American Midwest to as far west as the Pacific. The Debrief has learned that several of the objects were reportedly observed performing unconventional tight-circling maneuvers, which pilots and others involved said defied simple explanation.

The objects, which have since garnered the nickname “Racetrack UAPs” for the descriptions of their odd circular flight paths, were first reported by researcher and television personality Ben Hansen on social media and his YouTube channel, where he has featured several videos detailing the pilot encounters.

While several of the incidents were reported to air traffic controllers, no official investigations are known to have taken place, although The Debrief has learned that the events were reported to at least one Federal Aviation Administration unit tasked with responding to potential threats to American airspace.

One of the earliest known incidents in the recent spate of sightings occurred on August 18, 2022, involving a Gulfstream 650 private jet flow by former Navy F-18 pilot Mark Hulsey, along with a second pilot identifying himself only by his first name, “Keith,” while traveling between Florida and Hawaii. Passing over Los Angeles, the pilots observed between 4 and 7 luminous objects at an estimated 5000 to 10,000 feet above them performing odd, circular maneuvers.

Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) was contacted to determine whether the objects represented potentially conflicting traffic, although radar controllers at the facility had been unable to detect any primary targets operating near their aircraft at that time. The two pilots watched as ATC personnel attempted to paint the objects on their scopes as the UAPs maintained their peculiar, revolving flight paths above them.

Nearby, an American Airlines flight passing through the area also reported seeing the objects over the radio. Later, the Gulfstream pilots learned that calls were made to the Los Angeles ARTCC by at least two more airlines that saw the objects. Neither of the principal witnesses believed that the objects they observed were any kind of conventional aircraft, based on their odd maneuvering and the speed they exhibited.

The Debrief independently obtained transcripts of radio communications recorded on the night of the August incident with the help of researcher Dave Beaty, who filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the incident. A portion of the transcript Beaty provided to The Debrief, which identifies the Gulfstream as “Twighlight (sic) 670”, reads as follows:

Twighlight 670 (04:58): LA Center Twighlight 670 Uh, Go Ahead, We’ve got a few aircraft here, Going around in circles. higher altitude than us. Any idea what they are?

LA Center (05:06): No, I do not. OK Strange. Gulf 41. Stand by and Twighlight 670. Say the last part again.

Twighlight 670 (05:23): Yeah, they look to be, you know, much higher than we are, They’re going around in circles so, maybe three aircraft.

LA Center (05:32): Roger. Um, yeah, I don’t know. You’re not entering any military or space or anything? I’m not sure.

Speaker 3 (05:38): Roger that

LA Center (05:39): Delta 41 go.

Twighlight 670 (05:42): Uh, Delta 41. Uh, yeah, we’re just wondering if uh, we needed a frequency. Change.

The day after the August 18th incident, the Gulfstream pilots told Hansen that a closed-door meeting occurred at Los Angeles Center, where data about the incident was reviewed and forwarded to the Joint Air Traffic Operations Command (JATOC), the FAA’s response unit for events that either represents a potential threat or are otherwise capable of impacting the National Airspace System (NAS) or national security.

B-21 Raider to be unveiled on December 2nd.

The Air Force confirmed today it plans to reveal the B-21 Raider  on December 2nd during an unveiling ceremony hosted and sponsored by the Northrop Grumman Corporation at its production facilities in Palmdale, California.

The B-21 is a long-range, highly survivable, penetrating strike stealth bomber that will incrementally replace the B-1 and B-2 bombers, becoming the backbone of the U.S. Air Force bomber fleet.

"The unveiling of the B-21 Raider will be a historic moment for our Air Force and the nation," said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr. "We last introduced a new bomber over 30 years ago. As we look to the threats posed by our pacing challenge; we must continue to rapidly modernize. The B-21 Raider will provide formidable combat capability across a range of operations in highly contested environments of the future."

The Department of the Air Force is investing in the aircraft’s long-range strike capability as part of its seven

Operational Imperatives as it develops the advanced communications, sensors, and a broad mix of weapons and supporting systems needed to deter our adversaries and prevail in combat.

We must invest in long-range strike in a highly contested environment by integrating the B-21 bomber with advanced communications, sensors, and a broad mix of weapons and supporting systems.

After unveiling, the B-21 program will continue its rigorous testing campaign with a combined team of professionals from the Air Force Test Center, Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, and Northrop Grumman. Their work will verify performance and identify areas for improvement for the weapon system.

"The B-21 program is a powerful example of America's long experience with fielding advanced military technology through an innovative, adaptable and efficient defense industrial base," said Andrew Hunter, assistant secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. "The Air Force made the decision early in the life of the program to make the flight test aircraft production representative, which is paying dividends as we look towards first flight."

The B-21 weapon system is manufactured under the Air Force's contract with Northrop Grumman. It is designed with an open systems architecture, enabling rapid insertion of mature technologies, and allowing the aircraft to remain effective as threats evolve over time.

BREAKING: Russia grants Snowden citizenship

Sept 26 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday granting Russian citizenship to former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

Snowden, 39, fled the United States and was given asylum in Russia after leaking secret files in 2013 that revealed vast domestic and international surveillance operations carried out by the U.S. National Security Agency where he was a contractor.

U.S. authorities have for years wanted Snowden returned to the United States to face a criminal trial on espionage charges.

Snowden was already allowed to travel freely in the country as part of his residency permit, but citizenship will give him added benefits.

The whistleblower has served as a constant critic of the U.S. government in exile through social media as well as several media appearances.

Putin, a former Russian spy chief, said in 2017 that Snowden, who keeps a low profile while living in Russia, was wrong to leak U.S. secrets but was not a traitor.

USAF B-21 to be unveiled in December

The US Air Force is set to lift the veil of secrecy around the B-21 Raider, its highly-classified, next-generation stealth bomber, with a formal rollout planned for the first week in December.

The timing of the rollout was announced today by Air Force acquisition executive Andrew Hunter during a roundtable with reporters at the Air Force Association’s Air, Space and Cyber conference.

The service has not cemented a final date for the event, which will take place at Northrop Grumman’s facilities in Palmdale, Calif., where the B-21 is in production. “We are still working to nail down all the plans,” Hunter said.

In a news release, Northrop Grumman stated that the event would be “invitation only” and provide an “exclusive view” of the B-21 — hinting that those so lucky to see the new bomber in person may only be able to view it from a specific angle, allowing the Air Force and company to prevent any secret information about its design to be gleaned by onlookers.

“The B-21 is the most advanced military aircraft ever built and is a product of pioneering innovation and technological excellence,” Doug Young, Northrop’s sector vice president for aeronautics, said in the release. “The Raider showcases the dedication and skills of the thousands of people working every day to deliver this aircraft.”

The B-21 contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman in 2015, which beat out a Boeing-Lockheed Martin team. So far, Northrop has disclosed that it has six B-21s in production, with the first flight scheduled for 2023.

In March, then-Rapid Capabilities Office Director Randall Walden told Air Force Magazine that the first B-21 bomber had moved off the production line and into a calibration facility, where it will undergo testing to ensure the structure of the aircraft meets the Air Force’s requirements.

“It’s got landing gear. … It’s got wheels on it. … It’s got the wings on it. It really looks like a bomber,” Walden told the magazine.

The Air Force requested $5 billion for B-21 in fiscal 2023, including $1.7 billion in procurement funding, although the service will not disclose how many bombers that will buy. Overall, the Air Force plans on buying at least 100 B-21s. Each B-21 is projected to cost approximately $550 million in FY10 dollars.

Earlier this year, Air Force security officials told Breaking Defense that there had been an upswing of strange security incidents at the Air Force’s Plant 42 — the Palmdale-based facility where Northrop is building B-21 and where numerous other defense contractors work on black programs.

UPDATED: Putin's latest rant - accuses the West of risking "nuclear catastrophe." Biden reacts

LONDON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered Russia's first mobilization since World War Two and backed a plan to annex swathes of Ukraine, warning the West he was not bluffing when he said he'd be ready to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia.

In the biggest escalation of the Ukraine war since Moscow's Feb. 24 invasion, Putin explicitly raised the spectre of a nuclear conflict, approved a plan to annex a chunk of Ukraine the size of Hungary, and called up 300,000 reservists.

"If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will without doubt use all available means to protect Russia and our people - this is not a bluff," Putin said in a televised address to the nation.

Citing NATO expansion towards Russia's borders, Putin said the West was plotting to destroy his country, engaging in "nuclear blackmail" by allegedly discussing the potential use of nuclear weapons against Moscow, and accused the United States, the European Union and Britain of encouraging Ukraine to push military operations into Russia itself.

"If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will without doubt use all available means to protect Russia and our people - this is not a bluff," Putin said in a televised address to the nation.

Citing NATO expansion towards Russia's borders, Putin said the West was plotting to destroy his country, engaging in "nuclear blackmail" by allegedly discussing the potential use of nuclear weapons against Moscow, and accused the United States, the European Union and Britain of encouraging Ukraine to push military operations into Russia itself.

"In its aggressive anti-Russian policy, the West has crossed every line," Putin said. "This is not a bluff. And those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the weathervane can turn and point towards them."

The address, which followed a critical Russian battlefield defeat in northeastern Ukraine, fueled speculation about the course of the war, the 69-year-old Kremlin chief's own future, and showed Putin was doubling down on what he calls his "special military operation" in Ukraine.

In essence, Putin is betting that by increasing the risk of a direct confrontation between the U.S.-led NATO military alliance and Russia -- a step towards World War Three -- the West will blink over its support for Ukraine, something it has shown no sign of doing so far.

Putin's war in Ukraine has killed tens of thousands, unleashed an inflationary wave through the global economy and triggered the worst confrontation with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when many feared nuclear war imminent.

MOBILISATION Putin signed a decree on partially mobilizing Russia's reserves, arguing that Russian soldiers were effectively facing the full force of the "collective West" which has been supplying Kyiv's forces with advanced weapons, training and intelligence.

Speaking shortly after Putin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Russia would draft some 300,000 additional personnel out of some 25 million potential fighters at Moscow's disposal.

The mobilization, the first since the Soviet Union battled Nazi Germany in World War Two, begins immediately.

Such a move is risky for Putin, who has so far tried to preserve a semblance of peace in the capital and other major cities where support for the war is lower than in the provinces.

Ever since Putin was handed the nuclear briefcase by Boris Yeltsin on the last day of 1999, his overriding priority has been to restore at least some of the great power status which Moscow lost when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Putin has repeatedly railed against the United States for driving NATO's eastward expansion, especially its courting of ex-Soviet republics such as Ukraine and Georgia which Russia regards as part of its own sphere of influence, an idea both nations reject.

Putin said that top government officials in several unnamed "leading" NATO countries had spoken of potentially using nuclear weapons against Russia.

He also accused the West of risking "nuclear catastrophe," by allowing Ukraine to shell the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which is under Russian control, something Kyiv has denied.
ANNEXATION

Putin gave his explicit support to referendums that will be held in coming days in swathes of Ukraine controlled by Russian troops -- the first step to formal annexation of a chunk of Ukraine the size of Hungary.

The self-styled Donetsk (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republics (LPR), which Putin recognized as independent just before the invasion, and Russian-installed officials in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions have asked for votes.

"We will support the decision on their future, which will be made by the majority of residents in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson," Putin said.

"We cannot, have no moral right to hand over people close to us to the executioners, we cannot but respond to their sincere desire to determine their own fate."

That paves the way for the formal annexation of about 15% of Ukrainian territory.

The West and Ukraine have condemned the referendum plan as an illegal sham and vowed never to accept its results. French President Emmanuel Macron said the plans were "a parody." Kyiv has denied persecuting ethnic Russians or Russian-speakers.

But by formally annexing Ukrainian territories, Putin is giving himself the potential pretext to use nuclear weapons from Russia's arsenal, the largest in the world.

Russia's nuclear doctrine allows the use of such weapons if weapons of mass destruction are used against it or if the Russian state faces an existential threat from conventional weapons.

"It is in our historical tradition, in the fate of our people, to stop those striving for world domination, who threaten the dismemberment and enslavement of our Motherland, our Fatherland," Putin said.

"We will do it now, and it will be so," said Putin. "I believe in your support."

UPDATE: 

Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly, President Joe Biden on Wednesday cast the defining conflict facing global leaders as a duel between democracy and autocracy, directly responding to new threats from Russian President Vladimir Putin to escalate the war in Ukraine.

The speech is Biden's first at the forum since Russia's invasion, offering him the opportunity to condemn the Kremlin in front of an audience of fellow heads of state.

Biden opened his remarks with a strong rebuke of Putin after he earlier Wednesday ordered a partial mobilization of reservists in Russia and raised the specter of using nuclear weapons after a retreat in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

"Let us speak plainly, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council invaded its neighbor, attempted to erase the sovereign state from the map," Biden said. "Russia has shamelessly violated the core tenants of the United Nations Charter."

"Just today, President Putin has made overt nuclear threats against Europe and reckless disregard of the responsibilities of a nonproliferation regime," Biden continued. "Now, Russia is calling, calling up more soldiers to join the fight and the Kremlin is organizing a sham referendum to try to annex parts of Ukraine, an extremely significant violation of the U.N. Charter. The world should see these outrageous acts for what they are."

Ukraine: mass burial sites found in wake or Russian retreat ...

Izium, Ukraine

Complied from various sources:

Even the heavy rainfall couldn’t erase the smell of death in the pine forest in Izium on Friday afternoon, as Ukrainian investigators worked their way through a mass burial site found in the eastern Ukrainian city after its recapture from Russian forces.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said at least 440 “unmarked” graves were found in the city in recent days. The country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that some of the bodies found in Izium showed “signs of torture,” blaming Russia for what he called “cruelty and terrorism.”

Izium was subject to intense Russian artillery attacks in April. The city, which sits near the border between the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, became an important hub for the invading military during five months of occupation. Ukrainian forces took back control of the city on Saturday, delivering a strategic blow to Russia’s military assault in the east.

Wooden crosses, most of them marked with numbers, were discovered in a forest outside the city by advancing Ukrainian forces.

Authorities said they would start exhuming some of the graves on Friday.

 

It is not yet clear what happened to the victims.

Speaking on Friday, the head of Ukraine's national police service said most of the bodies belonged to civilians.

Ihor Klymenko told a news conference that although soldiers were also believed to be buried there, there was so far no confirmation. Earlier, Ukrainian authorities told the BBC more than 400 bodies were thought to be buried at the site.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, that "many places of mass burials" had been discovered in some liberated areas.

"We saw many places where people were tortured," Mr Podolyak said. "We saw wildly frightened people who were kept without light, without food, without water, and without the right to justice. Because there was no authority there, there were only people with weapons."

WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO: LINK

Russian energy magnate "falls" from hospital window after criticizing war in Ukraine

The chairman of Russian energy firm Lukoil has died after "falling" from a hospital window in Moscow, state media has reported.

Ravil Maganov, 67, was pronounced dead after plunging from ward on the sixth floor of the Central Clinical Hospital where he was receiving treatment, according to Russian state news agency Interfax.

Lukoil confirmed Maganov's death in a press release on Thursday, but said only that it came "after a serious illness."

But Maganov is now the latest in a series of Russian business executives who have died in unusual circumstances this year, amid speculation that murders of top businessmen are being staged to look like suicides.

In March, Lukoil's board of directors issued a statement expressing "its deepest concerns about the tragic events in Ukraine."

It said: "Calling for the soonest termination of the armed conflict, we express our sincere empathy for all victims, who are affected by this tragedy. We strongly support a lasting ceasefire and a settlement of problems through serious negotiations and diplomacy."

Billionaire Alexander Subbotin, the former top manager at Lukoil, was one of the oligarchs who died in strange circumstances this year.

Iran tries to steal US Surface (water) drone. VIDEO

The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy attempted to capture a U.S. Navy unmanned surface vessel that was operating in the Arabian Gulf on Monday and Tuesday, U.S. 5th Fleet said in a statement.

The Navy stopped the IRGCN support ship from capturing the Saildrone Explorer unmanned surface vessel, which was not named in the news release. The USV does not store sensitive or classified information. It is equipped with commercially available cameras, radars and sensors for data collection and navigation.

the U.SL 5th Fleet spotted IRGCN support ship Shahid Baziar towing the USV around 11 p.m. local time Monday, according to the release. Navy patrol coastal ship USS Thunderbolt (PC-12), which was operating nearby, responded while 5th Fleet also sent a MH-60S Sea Hawk from the Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 26 out of Bahrain.

Shahid Baziar detached its towing line from the USV and left the waters about four hours after the U.S. responded.

“IRGCN’s actions were flagrant, unwarranted and inconsistent with the behavior of a professional maritime force,” Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces, said in the release. “U.S. naval forces remain vigilant and will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows while promoting rules-based international order throughout the region.”