This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: AW1Ed

  • ‘Top Gun’ sequel starts filming on NAS North Island

    top gun 2
    The horrors we visit upon ourselves in the name of entertainment. To any knowledgeable of aviation in general, and Naval Aviation in particular, “Top Gun” was at best low comedy, a farce. Dozens of sites have picked it apart for fallacies and errors, here’s a couple examples:

    https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/79-cringe-worthy-technical-errors-in-the-movie-top-gun

    https://www.moviemistakes.com/film1312/factual/pageall

    My personal favorites are the seemingly unlimited amount of fuel the jets carry, same-same with the missile load-out resembling a Western Six-Shooter- they never run out of bullets, either. Best is the defensive tactic known as an “aileron roll” to defeat cannon fire from the bogy on one’s six- this looks cool but would merely distribute the incoming rounds equally along the airframe, and is roughly analogous to firing a shotgun at a pirotteing ballerina.

    Anyway, The Navy Times gushes:

    Negative Ghost Rider, the pattern is full …”

    For years fans of the 1986 mega-hit “Top Gun” have debated on a sequel. Should the Air Force get a chance this time? Will the F-35 have a role?

    Answers: 1.) Sorry, Air Force, probably not; and, 2.) No Lightning here, Tom Cruise’s teaser tweet showcased an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

    Cruise is on Naval Air Station North Island right now, completing the first of two days of filming at the San Diego base for “Top Gun: Maverick.” It’s all Navy. The service has already completed a first review of an initial script draft and sent it back with requested revisions, DoD’s entertainment office confirmed (but would not reveal what those revisions were.)

    Will Maverick face off against MiGs of unknown origin again over the Indian Ocean, or will he test the skies over the Spratlys in the South China Sea?

    Spare me. Word on the street has an aging Cruise taking on Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs) in his single seat F/A-18. Which is a shame, as Gooseman, his RIO in the first travesty, was about the only saving grace with his sarcastic wit and charm. Obviously, he had to go.

    The “Top Gun” sequel is one of several movies the Pentagon’s entertainment office is involved in. The office is also supporting the upcoming movie “First Man,” about astronaut Neil Armstrong; next year’s “Captain Marvel” and the World War II Navy destroyer flick “Greyhound,” starring Tom Hanks.

    Let’s hope for better days. Sorry, Mick. But it had to be told.

  • Assad wants American troops out of Syria and threatens to attack

    assad
    Military Times is reporting Syrian President Bashar Assad has threatened to attack a region held by U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria, saying in an interview broadcast on Russia Today channel on Thursday that American troops should leave the country.

    The remarks reflect that despite pressure on multiple fronts, Assad is seeking to consolidate control after seven years of civil war.

    With military backing from Russia and Iran, he has reclaimed most of the territory lost to rebels in the wake of the popular uprising that swept the country in 2011, and quickly descended into all-out civil war. But large areas remain beyond his control, including the expansive region north of the Euphrates River that is administered by the Syrian Kurds.

    Speaking to the Russian channel, Assad said he has opened the door to negotiations with the Kurdish-run administration while also preparing to “liberate by force.”

    Forces loyal to Assad and the Syrian Kurds have clashed sporadically over the eastern oil province of Deir el-Zour. Last year, they led rival campaigns against the Islamic State group, and maintain a protracted front against each other along the Euphrates.

    The United States, which supports the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, operates air bases and outposts in the Kurdish-administered region. “The Americans should leave,” Assad said. “Somehow, they are going to leave.”

    The U.S. has had a military presence in the country since early 2016 to train and advise Kurdish and Arab rebel forces fighting ISIS in northern and eastern Syria. The number of these mostly special operations forces in Syria had grown to around 500.

    Hundreds more Marines arrived in Syria to provide artillery support to U.S.-backed Syrian rebels to retake Raqqa, ISIS’s de facto capital in Syria.

    Army Rangers operate in Manbij to essentially act as a visible presence to prevent the Turkish military and Kurdish forces from fighting each other in the city retaken from ISIS months ago, the officials said, bringing the total number of US military personnel to about 2000.

    The U.S. has conducted over 7,800 airstrikes in Syria as of March 28, according to the Department of Defense.

    Also, a senior U.S. general has confirmed that hundreds of Russians fought – and died – in a major battle against American forces and their local counterparts in Syria.

    The skirmish occurred on Feb. 7, 2018 when forces aligned with Syria’s dictator Bashar Al Assad, backed by Russian mercenaries from a shadowy company called Wagner, which were under the direct control of the Kremlin, launched an attack on U.S. forces and members of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a predominately Kurdish group, in eastern Syria. The opposing force consisted of tanks and heavy artillery.

    After a massive American counter-attack involving air and artillery strikes beat back the opposing troops, reports emerged afterwards suggesting that as many as 200 Russians had died in the engagement.

    I don’t think Assad’s Russian allies have any intentions of going head to head against the US presence in Syria, so he’d have to go it alone. Good luck with that.

  • 379th AEW bomber strikes Taliban drug facilities

    Bone

    U.S. Air Forces Central Command reports B-1B Lancer aircraft from the 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron (EBS) bombed multiple Taliban narcotics production and storage facilities in Afghanistan during a mission on May 18.

    The 34th EBS BONEs deployed their largest amount of weapons on narcotics facilities since the squadron’s reintroduction in the U.S. Air Forces Central Command’s AOR in April.

    This mission was part of realigning airpower from Operation Inherent Resolve, to support increased activity in Afghanistan and bolster Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) capabilities.

    “Increased airpower supports a deliberate air campaign designed to degrade the Taliban’s primary means of funding its operations — narcotics production,” said Capt. Mark Olme, a 34th EBS pilot. “These strikes will mitigate the Taliban’s ability to fund insurgent operations that kill innocent Afghan civilians and strengthen the ANDSF’s ability to fight and win on the ground.”

    The ANDSF are now planning and calling their own strikes and successfully demonstrating the ability to integrate operations that enable battlefield successes. Together with U.S. airpower and advisors, they will continue to develop the critical war-fighting capabilities needed to help them in their task of defeating the Taliban and other threats.

    Since November, more than 75 strikes against narcotics processing and storage facilities and stockpiles have resulted in the loss of tens of millions of dollars for the Taliban. According to Frank Mercurio, 34th EBS chief of weapons and tactics, the intent is to go after the root of the problem.

    “We’re trying to target their means of funding,” Mercurio said. “So if we take out their narcotics factories, storage and production — we’re basically rooting the Taliban from any money or funding they might have to then go and use against innocent Afghan civilians.”

    According to Olme, there are several parties that work together to make missions like this possible.

    “We work together with the joint terminal attack controller, command and control network, tasking authorities and usually an air-refueling tanker,” Olme said. “There are five or six entities all working in conjunction during missions like this.”

    The reputable B-1 — with its supersonic speed, long loiter time and massive payload — returned to the U. S. Central Command AOR in April to combat Taliban and other terrorist groups after two years of supporting the U. S. Pacific Command’s AOR.

    “We are not in the Pacific anymore,” Olme said. “We’re back and we’re making our presence known with the Taliban.”

    Good to see the BONEs back, and hitting them where it hurts.

  • In Memory of Two Hurlburt Airmen, Afghanistan

    CV-22

    Hurlburt Link

    HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. — Maj. Randell D. Voas and Senior Master Sgt. James B. Lackey from the 8th Special Operations Squadron died Apr. 8 when their CV-22 Osprey crashed in southern Afghanistan. An Army Soldier and a civilian employee also died in the crash, and several other service members were injured.

    The CV-22 was carrying U.S. Forces when it crashed approximately seven miles west of Qalat City, in Zabul Province. The injured were transported to a nearby base for medical treatment.

    Major Voas, 43, was a CV-22 evaluator pilot and a former MH-53 pilot. Previously a Chief Warrant Officer in the Army, he received his Air Force commission through Officer Training School in 1999. He flew MH-53 PAVE LOW helicopters until 2003 before becoming a UH-1 flight instructor at Fort Rucker, Ala., and he began training on the CV-22 in 2006. He had more than 160 combat flight hours.

    Sergeant Lackey, 45, was a CV-22 evaluator flight engineer and a former MH-53 flight engineer. He enlisted in the Air Force in 1986 and became an aircraft maintenance crew chief. In 1992, he began MH-53 flight engineer training and flew on the PAVE LOW for 14 years before becoming a CV-22 flight engineer student in 2006. He received a Distinguished Flying Cross in 2002 for acts of heroism in combat.

    The 8th SOS completed its first CV-22 combat deployment in November 2009, and returned to Afghanistan in March for its second deployment.

    “The Hurlburt Field community shares in the sorrow felt by the Voas and Lackey families, and our efforts are focused on seeing them through this difficult time,” said Col. Greg Lengyel. “We must not forget the valuable contributions Randy and “JB” made to their country and community.”

    The CV-22 is a tiltrotor aircraft which enables U.S. Special Operations Command to conduct night-time, long-range, infiltration and exfiltration missions. Its versatility, speed and vertical-lift capability is not met by any other existing fixed- or rotary-wing platform.

    The cause of the crash is unknown at this time. The Air Force is committed to a thorough investigation and more information will be released as it becomes available.

    Fair winds and following seas, Major Voas and Senior Master Sergeant Lackey. Thoughts and prayers to your families, friends and squadron mates. Posted at the request of Master Sergeant PJM, USAF, in memory of fallen comrades.

  • F-35 Stealth Fighter’s Inaugural Combat Operations

    F-35s
    Haaretz News reports that Israel is the first country in the world to carry out an “operational attack” with the F-35 stealth fighter, Israel Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin said on Tuesday.

    “I think that we are the first to attack with the F-35 in the Middle East,” Norkin said. The air force chief was speaking about the Middle East, but this is the first known operational use of the new fifth-generation fighter jet in the world.

    Norkin presented images of the F-35 over Beirut, Lebanon, and said that while the stealth fighter did not participate in the most recent strike in Syria, it did in the two previous ones. He was speaking at a conference organized by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) in Herzliya, where senior officers from armies all over the world were invited.

    The IAF commander said that Iran fired 32 rockets at Israel during the flare-up across the Syrian border earlier this month. According to him, four rockets were intercepted by Israel and the rest landed outside of Israeli territory, and more than 100 surface-to-air missiles were fired at Israeli jets over Syria.

    “After that [the Iranian attack] we attacked over 20 Iranian targets in Syria. Unfortunately, Syrian air defense systems fired over 100 antiaircraft missiles at our planes and in response we destroyed their antiaircraft batteries,” Norkin said.

    A senior IAF officer confirmed that the Israel Defense Forces has continued to operate against Iranian forces in Syria since the attack on Israel, which took place overnight between May 9 and 10.

    “It is possible to assume that actions have been taken since the recent events,” he explained. “We are continuing to maintain our freedom of action in the region. We are acting to disrupt and prevent [possible attacks] while keeping the situation below the threshold of war.”

    “We are continuing with our operational mission against the arming of Hezbollah and Iranian moves to establish themselves in Syria. As far as we are concerned, anywhere we identify consolidation [of Iranian forces] or the introduction of weapons, we act,” the officer added. “Our success is any move that serves the goals of the government leadership, this is our mission.”

    IAF chief Norkin outlined the reasons behind Israel’s growing anxiety over Iranian activities in Syria. “The Quds Force established itself at T-4 base, 250 kilometers from Israel. From this base they tried to attack using a drone that entered into Israel, a few months ago. After this incident we realized that they were continuing to store weapons on this base, including air defense capabilities, which we attacked last month,” he explained at the conference.

    “Over the past few weeks we learned that Iran had sent long-range missiles and rockets to Syria, including the Uragan launchers that we attacked north of Damascus,” added Norkin.

    He told the conference that Israel’s squadron of F-35 jets has taken part in attacks in the Middle East, but the senior officer noted that even though the aircraft are now operational, the IAF is still examining the best ways to operate them. The F-35 has an “incredible potential” and the IAF is currently discussing how to best exploit its huge range of capabilities, he said.

    For its part, Israel announced that none of its warplanes had been hit, rather that it had attacked five Syrian antiaircraft batteries and reportedly destroyed all of them after coming under heavy fire.

    According to Haaretz’s senior military analyst, the attack dealt a severe blow to embattled Syrian leader Bashar Assad’s antiaircraft forces. The IAF said that five of the batteries that were hit belonged to the Syrian Army and were Russian-built models: SA-22, SA-2, SA-5 and SA-17.

    The first use of the F-35 in combat is a major milestone for the aircraft that has been in development since the early 1990s. The program has been marred by both cost overruns and delays, and persistent attacks by critics who have called into question the jet’s warfighting abilities. This is welcome news for the U.S. Marine Corps, which has deployed its short take-off and vertical landing version, the F-35B, to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan, and the US Air Force, which plans to permanently deploy F-35As to the Royal Air Force Base Lakenheath, in England.

  • Officers Cleared in Denton Shooting

    Denton Tx

    Jonn seems to be Winchester on Feel Good Stories today, so I found an update from an incident that occurred in Denton, Texas last March.

    Police officers involved were cleared in the killing of Lawrence Shaw. Body-cam footage shows knife-brandishing Shaw advancing on the officers, ignoring their orders, and continuing his attack even after being tased twice.

    Dallas Daily News Link

    A Denton officer fatally shot a man who police said pulled out a knife and taunted officers before advancing toward them Monday afternoon.

    Two officers were working on a vehicle crash report about 3:15 p.m. in their patrol car in the 2000 block of Spencer Street when a man approached the rear of their vehicle and began yelling at the officers, said Lt. Lonny Haschel with the Texas Department of Public Safety.

    The officers got out to check on the man and saw him pull out a knife. He “taunted” the officers and started to walk away, he said.

    The officers told the man to stop, but he ignored them and disappeared into a wooded area. When he reappeared from the trees, he was reportedly holding the knife again and being “very aggressive” toward the officers, Haschel said.

    One officer used a Taser on the man, but he got up off the ground and threatened the officers again, he said.

    When the man advanced, one officer fired his weapon, striking the man. The officers performed first aid and called for emergency services, but the man died at the scene.

    The Tarrant County medical examiner’s office identified the man as 45-year-old Lawrence Shaw.

    PCP is a hell of a drug. Caution, video is from the officer’s body-cam and depicts extreme violence.

    Video Link- Caution Violence

  • Astronomers Release Stunning Images of Nearby Galaxies

    hubble

    Newsweek reports astronomers released images from the most wide-ranging ultraviolet light survey of nearby star-forming galaxies to date.

    The project, known as LEGUS (Legacy Extra Galactic UV Survey), researchers used Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, and the Advanced Camera to capture both ultraviolet and visible images of 50 neighboring galaxies, which lie within a 60 million-light-year radius of Earth, over the course of a year.

    Galaxy 1

    The astronomers captured images of around 8,000 young star clusters, or groups of stars which are gravitationally bound, and catalogued 39 million individual stars, ranging in age from one billion to several billion years old.

    The scientists hope data collected by the survey will provide new insights into the complexities of star formation and galaxy evolution.

    “There has never before been a star cluster [catalog] and a stellar catalog that included observations in ultraviolet light,” Daniela Calzetti, an astronomer from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who led the LEGUS survey, said in a statement.

    “Ultraviolet light is a major tracer of the youngest and hottest star populations, which astronomers need to derive the ages of stars and get a complete stellar history. The synergy of the two catalogs combined offers an unprecedented potential for understanding star formation,” she said.

    Galaxy 2

    Even today, with access to unprecedented astronomical data, astronomers still do not understand many aspects of how stars form. The new findings may help to change that, as the data will be made available to researchers who want to investigate how star formation occurred in either one specific galaxy or set of galaxies.

    One of the main issues that the survey may help to address is the connection between star formation and the major structures that make up a galaxy, such as spiral arms.

    Galaxy 3

    Seems NASA is back in the game after cutbacks imposed by the previous administration. Manned asteroid exploration and both robot and manned missions to Mars are in the offing. Good to see you back, NASA.

  • Confirmed!

    Gina

    National Politics News reports today Gina Haspel will become the first female director of the CIA, after a Senate confirmation vote that overrode concerns about her role in the spy agency’s harsh interrogation program after 9/11.

    Thursday’s count of 54-45 votes was the closest for a CIA nominee in the nearly seven decades that confirmation from the Senate has been required. Haspel, who has spent nearly her entire CIA career in undercover positions, is the first operations officer to be confirmed since William Colby in 1973.

    Haspel, 61, is a native of Kentucky but grew up around the world as the daughter of an Air Force serviceman. She worked in Africa, Europe and classified locations around the globe and was tapped as deputy director of the CIA last year. She worked under former CIA director Mike Pompeo until President Donald Trump moved him to secretary of state.

    Haspel was backed by many in the CIA rank-and-file and was robustly supported by senior intelligence officials, including six former CIA directors and three former national intelligence directors, who said she earned the chance to take the helm of the nation’s premier spy agency. National Intelligence Director Dan Coats said Haspel has integrity and both frontline and executive intelligence expertise. “We salute Director Haspel, a trailblazer who today becomes the first woman to lead the CIA,” he said.

    Her opponents argued that it wasn’t right to promote someone who supervised a covert detention site in Thailand where terror suspects were waterboarded, an interrogation technique that simulates drowning. They said the U.S. needed to slam closed what was one of the CIA’s darkest chapters that tainted America’s image with allies abroad.

    Haspel is taking over from Mike Pompeo, whom Trump recently made his secretary of state. Her boss, John Brennan, CIA director during the Obama administration, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 8, 2013, by a vote of 63-34. He was also deeply involved in “enhanced” interrogation techniques, discussed here: https://www.azuse.cloud/?p=79403 but was not a Trump nominee.