US troops called in as Iraqi army base attacked

BBC NEWS:

US troops have been called in to help Iraqi forces battle insurgents who attacked an army base in Baghdad, killing 12 people, officials say.

It marks the first such use of US troops since the end of US combat operations five days ago.

US forces remaining in Iraq can now only participate in operations at the request of Iraqi authorities.

A US military spokesman said US forces had provided fired as Iraqis located two of the assailants inside the base.

The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse in Baghdad says reports from the scene are still confused, but piecing together events from different sources, the attack seems to have involved at least five bombers.

He says one of the bombers detonated his explosives at an outer checkpoint leading to the Rusafa military command headquarters, blowing up a mini-van.

Then, four men - some wearing suicide vests - ran towards the base. Two were reportedly shot dead before they could pass a second checkpoint.

An Iraqi officer at the scene told the BBC that two further bombers got into the base, taking refuge inside the building, and attacking security forces with hand grenades.

The same officer said that US forces were called in to help, and exchanged gunfire with the attackers before Iraqi security forces stormed the building, killing the bombers.

US military spokesman Lt Col Eric Bloom said the Iraqi military had also requested help from helicopters, drones and explosives experts.

More than 20 people were wounded in the incident.

The attack is the deadliest in Baghdad since the US formally ended combat operations last month.

The same compound was attacked by al-Qaeda in Iraq three weeks ago, when more than 50 recruits were killed.

Reaper crashes during test flight

An MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft crashed Tuesday about one mile north of El Mirage Airfield, Calif., the service said Wednesday.

The 36-foot-long plane came down in a “sparsely populated” area and no one was injured on the ground, an Air Force release said. A board of officers is investigating what led the accident.

The Reaper had been flying a test mission after taking off from Gray Butte Airfield, about five miles east of El Mirage. Both airfields are about 15 miles south of Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

The aircraft was assigned to the Aeronautical Systems Center headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

Since the service began flying MQ-9s in 2004, at least eight of the planes have crashed, according to the Air Force Safety Center. The planes, equipped with sensors, cost about $13 million each. Most of the 50 Reapers not required for stateside training or testing are deployed to fly missions over Afghanistan and Iraq.

You say you want an evolution ...

Pentagon Bomber Evolution Underway


Sep 2, 2010
By Bill Sweetman
Washington

The latest analysis of future long-range strike needs by the Pentagon will be submitted in time for its recommendations to be reflected in the Fiscal 2012 budget.

Few people, least of all advocates of an active, nonvintage bomber fleet, expect exciting news. Service-centric politics, a joint-service construct under which ground forces heavily influence the study and pressure on procurement budgets (from overruns in the Joint Strike Fighter program) will result in modest recommendations.

The most likely include the endorsement of a long-range, nonnuclear ballistic missile capability, although the time scale and budget remain uncertain. The conventional prompt global strike (CPGS) concept is a favorite of Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

Expect some backing but little money for two other concepts: a joint-service, long-range cruise missile, launched from Virginia-class submarines and B-52s, and the Navy’s Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV-N), which may be termed a means of extending the range of a carrier air group. Both systems may be linked to another joint-service study defining a future “air-sea battle” and focused on matching China’s growing power in the Western Pacific.

As for a future USAF bomber, conventional wisdom—i.e., views acceptable to Cartwright and Defense Secretary Robert Gates—is that the idea merits study, over and above several dozen studies carried out in the past decade. In June, Lt. Gen. Philip Breedlove, Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and requirements, was quoted as saying the word “bomber” can no longer be spoken in the Pentagon and requirements “trickling down from the highest levels” call for a much smaller aircraft. Some sources believe Cartwright is pushing the idea of a USAF variant of UCAV-N.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and Secretary Michael Donley have not taken up the cause of a new bomber. The only four-star to support the bomber has been Strategic Command leader Gen. Kevin Chilton.

With little high-level support, bomber advocates are doing what they have done before: changing the name to “reconnaissance-strike.” Lt. Gen. David Deptula, in his last press briefing before retirement, reiterated his view that intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and attack missions are no longer separate. A penetrating ISR platform that cannot be armed makes little sense.

Industry and service studies of a new ISR and strike platform appear to be converging, driven by technological developments, likely operational requirements and fiscal realism.

Technologically, one factor that has arisen in the past few years is the successful demonstration of extremely low-observable (ELO) technology, with wideband, all-aspect signature reductions of -40 to -50 dB. or more, under one or more covert test programs. One step in this process may have been Boeing’s Bird of Prey demonstrator, with a radar cross section (RCS) so small that visual signatures became dominant. A consultant on that project was stealth pioneer Denys Overholser, who has been involved with projects envisioning RCS levels to -70 dB.—the size of a mosquito.

ELO mandates an all-wing or blended-wing body and tailless, subsonic configuration with buried engines. Advances in the computational analysis of the complicated airflows over such shapes improve aerodynamic efficiency and permit simpler inlet and exhaust systems, putting unrefueled ranges of 5,000 nm. within reach for a “demi-B-2”-sized aircraft.

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE HERE

F-19 revisited.

I stumbled on this advert (fake) for the F-19 stealth fighter. No proof (or sightings) that the F-19 ever existed - only speculation inspired someone to create this ad. Good job whoever you were!

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Whoaa! Big Fella!

C-5 from Stewart AFB stopping in Amarillo to deliver parts to the Boeing/Bell-Textron V-22 Osprey plant.

-Steve Douglass