Mullen accuses Pakistan's ISI having ties to insurgents

The US military's top officer, Adm Mike Mullen, has accused Pakistan's spy agency of having links with militants targeting troops in Afghanistan.

He said Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had a "long-standing relationship" with a militant group run by Afghan insurgent Jalaluddin Haqqani.

The comments came as he held talks in Islamabad on Wednesday. Pakistani officials are also in the US for talks.

Pakistan routinely rejects charges of collusion with militants.

The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says that US officials have in the past spoken anonymously or in circumspect terms about associations between the Pakistani establishment and insurgents.

But that with this blunt statement Adm Mullen has for the first time claimed a clear link between the two, our correspondent says.

"It's fairly well known that the ISI has a long-standing relationship with the Haqqani network," Adm Mullen told Pakistan's Dawn newspaper.

"Haqqani is supporting, funding, training fighters that are killing Americans and killing coalition partners. And I have a sacred obligation to do all I can to make sure that doesn't happen."

He said the spy agency's support of the network remained at the "core ... and the most difficult part of the relationship" and that he would take it up with Pakistan's army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani.


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Satellite Mission Control Segment decommissioned

Editors note: If they are looking for a good home for the SATCOM receivers- I know of one.


SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- Senior Airman Jon Mondragon, 4th Space Operations Squadron, runs a final system check prior to powering down the Satellite Mission Control Segment April 18. The legacy system was officially decommissioned in a ceremony attended by Wing leadership and 4 SOPS squadron members. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Dennis Rogers)
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by Jennifer Thibault
50th Space Wing Public Affairs

4/19/2011 - SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- In a ceremony held April 11, 4th Space Operations Squadron members decommissioned the Satellite Mission Control Subsystem and Air Force Command Post Terminal closing the door on a legacy of operations.

"Today we turn the lights off on the command and control system that has been operating the wing's secured, protected military satellite communication operations for 16 years," said Lt. Col. Douglas Schiess, 4 SOPS commander.

Through the SMCS, 4 SOPS has been operating the Milstar constellation, the Air Force's protected SATCOM system that provides warfighters global, secure, survivable, strategic and tactical communication during peacetime and throughout the full spectrum of conflict.

The SMCS and AFCPT have been providing ground control operations for Milstar since 1995. At that time SMCS was leading technology that outperformed its predecessor, the Mission Control Element. This time, the Advanced Satellite Mission Control Subsystem is taking over the lead and is providing ground control support for both the legacy Milstar and the next generation of protected MILSATCOM weapons systems, the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites.

"This is a huge leap forward in capability for both our operators and our end users," said Col. Wayne Monteith, 50th Space Wing commander. "We have proven this capability to provide combat effects to the warfighter much faster. This is a big day for us and it's long overdue."

The commander also recognized the wing's partners in this endeavor.

"We couldn't have done this without the great support from our partners at Headquarters Air Force Space Command, the MILSATCOM program office and the contractors who worked hard to make this transition a reality," said Colonel Monteith.

The ceremony included members outside of Mod 13, as the 148th Space Operations Squadron conducted power down of the unit's fixed constellation control station at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

Now that the equipment has been turned off, 4 SOPS members are working with local and national museum curators to find the right home for the legacy equipment.

Dead aliens do taste like chicken! Hoax alert!

RT: A video of what was claimed to be a mutilated alien corpse, which scored hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube, has turned out to be fake.
The tiny “dead alien” is just skin from chicken filled with bread, reports the website 7d.org.ua. Police questioned the men who claimed to have found the “body” and they allegedly confessed to creating it themselves.

The chief editor of the local Kabansk-Info newspaper initially thought that it was the body of an infant in the video and alerted the police. Officers immediately started the investigation and identified the alleged author.

They went to his house and asked him about the infant’s body. The scared man reportedly showed a fake alien corpse. It was even painted in “alien colors”. Scolding is the only possible punishment for such a stunt as it cannot be considered a crime, the report says.

The footage was taken near the village of Kamensk in the Russian republic Buryatia, just north of Lake Baikal, the file’s description said.
It showed what appeared to be a humanoid body less than a meter high with a skeletal big-eyed head and thin naked body. One of its legs was missing.
Emotional off-screen comments said the body was found a couple of hours before and was clearly very dead.

Local media reported there were numerous reports of UFO sightings in the area in March, some of them later attributed to bombing training at a nearby military range.
The video was uploaded on YouTube on April 14. Three days later it was translated into English and its popularity skyrocketed in the following days. It beat the one million benchmark on Tuesday.


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"JetMan" planning on buzzing Grand Canyon

JetMan" Yves Rossy, the Swiss aviator, engineer, and PopSci favorite whose jet-powered wing has carried him across the English Channel and Lake Geneva, is planning yet another jet-winged feat, his first on U.S. soil. On May 6, Rossy plans to fly through the Grand Canyon in Arizona, notching what is sure to be a number of "firsts" for both Rossy and the Canyon.
The exact point of Rossy's flight has yet to be revealed, but we do know that it will take place somewhere in the Western Grand Canyon area and that during his flight Rossy will pass within 700 feet of onlookers as he negotiates his way through the canyon.

For the uninitiated, Rossy flies a novel jet-powered wing of his own design that straps directly onto his back--his body serves as a kind of rudder to control the thing--and provides thrust via four small engines. While the thrust is significant (Rossy can climb to some degree), it's not enough to get him off the ground, so he has to climb to elevation aboard a plane before jumping and going airborne.
That means on Friday, May 6, Yves Rossy is going to jump out of a plane into the Grand Canyon and then fly through it with jet motors strapped to his back before parachuting to safety. So yeah, it's going to be cooler than the time you went to the Grand Canyon with your grandparents when you were six. Way cooler.


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Kevlar down under ...

Washington (CNN) -- Whether it's an Army helmet with a thicker shell and better padding, or underwear that can protect a Marine private's privates, the U.S. military is looking at sending the latest gear to Afghanistan so the troops can come home safe and sound.

Next month, the Army is going to start sending the "ballistic boxers" to soldiers in Afghanistan, and the Marines intend for each of their troops there to have four pairs of the "protective undergarments," as they are formally known, before the end of the year.

The heavy silk boxers, which look like shorts that professional cyclists wear, won't stop a bullet or shrapnel from an IED. But the silk can stop small projectiles like those kicked up by an explosion.
"It is expected to prevent fine sands and particles that are thrown up by explosives, so that the tissue wounds are cleaner, less ragged and easier to treat," said Lt. Jamie Larson, a Marines Corps spokesperson. And since the silk is treated with antimicrobial agents, the boxers help protect injured troops from wound infections.

While it may not sound like it affords much protection, silk is actually a very strong fiber, said Brig. Gen. Peter Fuller, who heads the Army office that tests and develops new protective gear. He noted that silk was used by medieval knights "under the mail armor" to protect against wounds from swords and other weapons.

The Marines haven't actually started buying the boxers yet, but the Army has chosen boxers from a company in Northern Ireland called Cooneen Watts & Stone that is already making them for the British military in Afghanistan.

Silk boxers aren't the only step the military is taking to protect the groin.
They are testing various cups that a male soldier will wear over his genitals. One of the cups being considered is made of stainless steel; another is made from high-molecular-weight polyethylene, a plastic that is lighter than Kevlar but better at stopping bullets.

"They all basically work to slow down the fragments. We are looking to prevent penetration of the genitals," said Col. Bill Cole, an Army officer overseeing projects aimed at better protecting soldiers.
In addition, the Army and Marines are looking at undershorts that will have pockets that will hold Kevlar pads to protect the wearer's femoral artery, the main blood vessel to the legs.

While Kevlar may be the answer to protecting arteries and groins, Kevlar helmets may soon be history. Kevlar is a fabric that can, when arranged in multiple layers, stop most bullets.
The Army and Marines are working on upgrading their head protection to the Enhanced Combat Helmet (ECH).

The outer shell is made from the same high-molecular-weight polyethylene plastic being investigated for groin protection. The thicker protective shell would make the helmet lighter than the current Kevlar model. The Army hopes to start giving those to soldiers in Afghanistan by November.

READ THE FULL STORY AT CNN