War drums are beating: Israel blames Iran for bus bombing attack

CNN) -- A deadly explosion on a bus carrying Israeli tourists at an airport in Bulgaria is "clearly a terrorist attack," Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday.

Key Israeli politicians pointed to Iran as the likely instigator.

Vania Valkova, director of the Bulgarian Interior Ministry press office, said that at least six people were killed and about 30 injured in the explosion in a parking lot outside Burgas Airport, on the Black Sea coast. The Foreign Ministry said six died and 32 people were injured, with three in intensive care.

The attack was probably initiated by a group under the auspices of "either Iran or other radical Muslim groups" and named Hezbollah and Hamas as likely suspects, according to Barak. "We are in a continued fight against them. We are determined to identify who sent them, who executed (the attack) and to settle the account," Barak said.

Bulgaria's interior minister, who is at the scene, is considering all scenarios, including that of a terrorist attack, Valkova said.

The country's foreign minister, Nikolai Mladenov, said, "We're assuming all possibilities, including an act of terrorism." Bulgaria will ask the U.N. Security Council to condemn the bombing Thursday, Mladenov said.

The bus was supposed to carry about 47 passengers to a resort.

Another spokeswoman for the interior ministry said one possibility is that an explosive device could have been on the bus, but authorities cannot be sure of it. A forensic team has begun an investigation at the scene, but much work remains to be done, she said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pointed the finger at Iran, saying it has been behind a string of recent attempted attacks on Israelis in Thailand, India and Georgia, among others.

"All the signs (are) leading to Iran," he said, according to a statement from his office. "This is a global Iranian terror onslaught and Israel will react firmly to it."

Netanyahu said his country "would respond with force to Iranian terror." Bulgarian authorities also vowed to find out what happened.

Israel's intelligence minister told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that Israel has "very good indications" Iran was involved.

"They are after us, Israelis, wherever they can find them," said Dan Meridor. "It's an atrocity attack, against civilians. It needs to be stopped. We need to find out who did it and react promptly as we should."

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Sandwiches spiked with needles on Delta Airline Flights

Two passengers suffered minor injuries from needles found in the meat of sandwiches served aboard four Delta Air Lines flights from Amsterdam to the United States Sunday, federal officials report. And the FBI is now investigating those incidents.

The sandwiches were served to business class passengers, crew members and government employees flying from Amsterdam to the United States.

At least one batch of 17 sandwiches appeared to be made by a U.S. company based at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. Those sandwiches were served board Delta's flight to Minneapolis-St. Paul Sunday afternoon.

Two passengers aboard the flight found needles in their sandwiches, officials confirmed. The sandwiches were turned over by Delta to Customs and Border Patrol.

Two passengers sustained minor injuries after biting into the sandwiches and CBP officials found a third needle after confiscating the sandwiches, according to an official report.

According to Delta, the contaminated sandwiches were turkey sandwiches that were served in the business elite cabin to a small number of passengers. Since the incident, turkey sandwiches have been removed from flights out of Amsterdam and have been replaced by pre-packaged pizza, Delta said.

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Jet Blue pilot injured by laser ..

The pilot of a JetBlue flight suffered a minor eye injury Sunday night when a green laser shone through the plane’s windshield, according to the FAA.

JetBlue Flight 657, an Embraer E-190 (N307JB) flying to New York-JFK from Syracuse when the incident occurred near Islip, NY, about 35 miles east of its destination.

The plane went on to land without incident on JFK’s Runway 22L about 10 minutes later. There were no other injuries reported.

An FAA preliminary incident report described the pilot’s injury as minor but did not expound on details. It was not known if the injured pilot was in command of the aircraft at the time.

A JetBlue spokesperson confirmed to NYCAviation that an incident occurred, but did not have any additional details, saying only that it is “currently a matter of investigation.”

In addition to causing temporary vision impairment which, for obvious reasons, is especially dangerous to a person operating an aircraft, lasers can cause permanent damage to sight, including blind spots in their field of vision.

Pointing a laser at an aircraft became a federal crime in 2011, with violators subject to an $11,000 fine. According to FAA statistics analyzed by LaserPointerSafety.com, 1,519 laser vs. aircraft incidents were reported in 2012 through June 28, which would put the nation on pace for a 2.1 percent increase for the year over 2011.

Laser pointers are also subject to state laws in some cases. A Massachusetts man was sentenced to three years in prison in 2011 for shining a green laser at a Massachusetts State Police helicopter in 2007.

India working on stealth UAV

July 16, 2012

Asia-Pacific Staff New Delhi

India's stealthy unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) program is taking shape, with the first images surfacing from the design optimization and concept definition phase.

The flying-wing concept, designated the Indian Unmanned Strike Air Vehicle (IUSAV), is a derivative of existing flying-wing UAVs such as the European Neuron and Boeing Phantom Ray. But in fresh indications coming from the Bengaluru-based team developing the platform, the IUSAV, code-named Aura, could see a first prototype flight by 2015-16, with deliveries by the end of the decade. Such timelines are ambitious—especially for a program involving technologies that India has never before attempted—but the Indian air force (IAF) and government decided to accord special funding and other support to keep the IUSAV on schedule. The director of the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), V.K. Saraswat, recently visited Sweden, where he is believed to have had discussions with Saab on India's unmanned efforts, including the IUSAV. Saraswat's presentation at the Aerospace Forum there—where he described the IUSAV as an “unmanned bomber”—also revealed that IUSAV program laboratories were pursuing development of radar-absorbent paint and materials, cool exhaust signatures for infrared suppression, conformal sensors and antennas, data links and flying-wing aerodynamics.

 His presentation also illustrated elaborate threat scenarios involving future combat air systems, which included not just the IUSAV but also an indigenous fifth-generation stealth fighter, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft, and the Indo-Russian fifth-generation fighter aircraft, or PAK FA.

Representatives from Dassault, Saab and BAE Systems say that all three companies are in discussions with the DRDO for possible technology partnerships in the IUSAV project. DRDO sources indicate that teams from the organization have been invited to visit facilities in France and the U.K., respectively, where the Neuron and BAE Taranis are being developed.

With the platform's shape near definite, a cluster of Indian aeronautical agencies has already begun designing and conceptualizing the IUSAV's major components, notably a flight-control system for the autopilot, control laws for autonomous flight, a serpentine air intake for its single turbofan engine—a modified variant of the Indian Kaveri—mechanical and fluidic thrust-vector control and large-eddy simulation of flying-wing configurations with elevons or dragerons. The design images also reveal that the IUSAV is being developed with twin internal weapon bays capable of carrying one Paveway-type precision-guided munition each.

A scientist with the Bengaluru-based Aeronautical Development Agency claims the program has built-in mechanisms to check costs and delays. “We are aware of the complexities and expectations. We hope to make this program a clean break from the others,” he says.

Air Marshal T.M. Asthana, a retired IAF fighter pilot who was the first chief of India's Strategic Forces Command, says: “I'm not sure manned flight in the Indian context will shift as a paradigm any time soon. However, it is important that India invests in UCAV technologies.”

In fact, the IAF—despite its proclivity for manned aircraft—called for information from the global market two years ago to support the potential purchase of UCAVs; but it received little or no response, prompting it to throw its weight behind the IUSAV project, now deemed classified by the Indian government.

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Morroco MV-22 crash due to pilot error.

An April 11 MV-22B Osprey crash in Morocco occurred because the pilot committed a fundamental flying error which investigators have found was rendered irreversible by a tailwind neither he nor a second pilot in the cockpit noticed, AOL Defense has confirmed.

The Defense Department announced June 29 that the Marine Corps had ruled out any "mechanical or material failure" in the accident, in which two Marines were killed and the two pilots were injured.

"This wasn't a tiltrotor accident; it was bad flying," said a government source with detailed knowledge of the findings, which are still being reviewed by Marine Corps leaders.

Two military officers familiar with the findings separately confirmed that the pilot of the mishap aircraft started the sequence of events that culminated in the crash by violating an explicit instruction in the Osprey's flight manual.