DoD Axes Joint Strike Fighter's Alt Engine

The U.S. Defense Department has formally terminated the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 alternative engine for the tri-service Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

General Electric says the F136 program has completed 80 percent of its developmental phase. (GE Aviation)

According to a Defense Department news release, the companies, along with Congress, were notified of the decision April 25.

Pentagon procurement czar Ashton Carter issued a stop-work order March 24 to the companies to halt their work on the alternative engine, which the Defense Department had determined is "unneeded and wasteful."
That action, which saved the Defense Department $1 million per day, was put in place prior to a final resolution of the F136's disposition in the FY2011 budget.
After Congress voted earlier this month to enact a full-year continuing resolution in which there were no funds allocated to the F136, Carter ordered the engine to be terminated.
General Electric spokesman Rick Kennedy said in a written statement that the company was disappointed but would comply with the termination notice. However, the company is not backing down from continuing the fight to save the engine.
"[General Electric] and Rolls-Royce will work closely with our Congressional supporters during the 2012 budget process in pursuit of incorporating the engine into the program, and preserving competition," Kennedy said, echoing earlier comments by General Electric CEO and chairman Jeffrey Immelt.
In a letter to GE Aviation employees, Immelt vowed to continue to fight to save the engine program.
"I can assure you we are not giving up. We will fight to bring competition to the 2012 budget debate," he said.
Immelt said that the government would forgo billions in long-term savings by canceling the F136, which he said has completed 80 percent of its developmental phase.
"We will keep the core technical team together as we continue the fight, and reassign the other highly skilled employees of the F136 team to other Aviation programs," Immelt said.

Americans Left Behind Hitler, Hilaku and Genghis Khan...

The member of KILL TEAM, Sergeant Kalvin Gas, posing with the corpse of underage Afghan in a victorious way, while the finger of the Afghan has been already removed.

In today’s civilized which country has such laws allowing massacre of persons, group or tribe merely under the doubt that they may be planning to attack that country. They are attacking thousands of miles away from one’s boundaries. In the way USA is using drone technology in massacre of innocent Pakistanis, has USA any ground to justify these murders? Where are the human rights activists of Europe? Why UNO and its influential members do not take any notice of such murders of innocent women, children, and innocent tribal people who are even ignorant of conspiracies and interests of international imperialistic forces?

                According to the news published on Saturday 16 April, 2011, USA has rejected protest of Pakistani people and concerns of Pakistani govt. over drone attacks. Not only this USA has repeated that she will not stop these attacks and end CIA operations within Pakistan as well. In order to justify these murders she harped on the same string which were used in Vietnam, Cambodia, Iraq and Afghanistan, “it is the duty of US govt. and CIA to protect Americans in the whole world”.

                Now the question is that how undeveloped tribal people can be threat to America thousands of miles away? The answer we get from Americans is that the US forces in Afghanistan are at stake. Would the western media and civilized world like to clarify that why US forces and their western allies are present in Afghanistan? Moreover, what these wild beasts are doing for welfare of humanity in Afghanistan? Americans are of the view that they are here to free afghan people from Taliban and give them their basic human rights, than Afghan are protesting against these bastards. Leaving others aside now even American puppet and slave Afghan President Hamid Qarzai is also protesting against war crimes of US forces in Afghanistan.

Afghan killed by Kill Team near Kandahar...

                You might have seen the videos by ROLLING STONE.COM, these videos were uploaded three weeks ago show that how American soldiers are murdering innocent Afghans as a game just for entertainment. They are made to run for their lives, than bullets are fired around them. Afghan youth try to take shelter behind trees or rocks but at last are killed by American terrorists.

                Afghan youth are made to run for their life in open fields/plans, during this a US helicopter shows its skills to target these innocent people by firing rockets. As soon as the rocket hits the running poor soul his/her body is torn apart into pieces. Such scenes are recorded to commemorate the violations of human rights by Hilaku and Changez Khan. When alive humans were targeted by arrows in the big gatherings, as the arrow hit the running man and he fall down, spectators used to clap and raised slogans for the arrow man. These movies were published under the title of

                THEY KILLED FOR ENTERTAINMENT

by rolling stone.com.

                2 days before this German weekly SPIEGEL  published 18 pictures of Afghan people corpses in a post US SOLDIERS MURDERING AFGHAN CIVILIANS FOR FUN. In these pictures it has been showed that how US soldiers thirsty of human blood enjoy slaying innocent Afghans, these American beasts have been given the name of KILL TEAM by Spiegel International. After watching the pictures Afghan President first time condemned the war crimes of US army saying, “US soldiers deployed in Afghanistan use opium and marijuana whole night and in the day when they get out of effect of drugs, they set out for hunt of innocent Afghans”. He also said, “I am shocked after watching these photos, all these scenes should awake world that what US forces are doing in Afghanistan. They killed our youth for fun”.

Scanning birthmarks of a dead Afghan through Portable Biometric Scanner

                According to John Goetz and Marc Hujer, representatives of Spiegel, US govt. got worried after the photos were published. Because this might become another scandal like Abu Ghraib jail scandal in Iraq 6 years ago. In order to tackle this situation Vice US President Joe Biden at once visited Kabul to restrain Hamid Qarzai from a harsh reaction. But the photos are so much dreadful and heart rendering that if Hamid Qarzai had not condemned them, his govt. would have been at stake. According to the report, the kill team belongs to fifth Stryker Brigade.

                In order to suppress these reports, US govt. has sentenced one American soldier 24 years imprisonment for murdering innocent Afghans. Although he has been put behind the bars but after a plea in the civil court he will be freed. However, can this punishment redress the massacre of Afghans? Like Vietnam US soldiers are busy in raping Afghan women besides murdering them.

An ill fated Afghan who became target of a rocket fired by American Kill Team...

                On 14^th January 2011 different news websites published a reportDAUGHTER OF AN AFGHAN POLITICIAN DIED FROM RAPE INJURIES CAUSED BY US SOLDIERS. According to the report, many Afghan women and girls were kidnapped and shifted to an American army base in southwestern province FARAH of Afghanistan to fulfill sexual lust of US soldiers. Here three underage girls got critical situation and were shifted to hospital. A 14 year old girl lost her life due to over bleeding of blood.  Americans wanted to take the dead body along with them so that it can be safely disposed off. However, an employee of the hospital identified the girl as the daughter of a famous politician from the Farah province. She had disappeared a few days ago. On the interference by the hospital staff, Americans left the dead body into the hospital and took the other two girls along with them.

                 These news got published on different news websites by an Iranian news agency, in spite of all the efforts to suppress the report by Americans. After this the report about the KILL TEAM unveiled the American terrorism in Afghanistan. According to German weekly Spiegel, “Americans after murdering innocent Afghans as a game, create war like environment by throwing grenades and firing countless bullets, they try to feel like they have murdered these innocents after a fierce fighting. Afterwards in order to fulfill the legal requirements they make photos with the dead bodies as victorious. Dead bodies are ripped of the clothes and fingerprints, other birthmarks are recorded through the portable biometric scanners and this recorded information is than sent to higher command. The finger of the dead is cut and preserved so that when these soldiers return back home they can put it as a trophy in their drawing room”. These bastards in Vietnam and Iraq did same actions.

                Although Americans have assured Afghan officials that they will punish other soldiers seen in the pictures (this has been done just to avoid protests), an American envoy also visited Kabul in this regard. But will America fulfill it promises? The answer is, “the murderer of two Pakistanis Raymond Davis has been appointed as in Afghanistan to supervise anti-Pakistan activities”. According to the media reports, he is given free hand to conduct terrorist activities through his agents in Pakistan from Afghanistan.

                Keep in mind that American officials, Hilary Clinton and Senator John Kerry had assured Pakistan that a case would be filed against Davis in American court to punish Davis for murdering two Pakistanis. But alas! In spite of all their boastful and barbaric practices Hilaku and Genghis Khan always fulfilled their promises…

US Navy issues BAA for carrier-borne UAS

The US Navy (USN) has taken the next step towards its ambitious goal of fielding a stealthy carrier-borne unmanned combat aircraft system by the end of this decade with the release of a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for its projected Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) system.
The BAA, issued by the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) on 28 March, is to support pre-Milestone A programme activities, including crafting an analysis of alternatives, developing the concept of operations and system requirements documents, and analysing potential material solutions to meet a goal for operational capability in the 2018 timeframe. Proposals are required no later than 29 April.
Plans for UCLASS were first revealed in March 2010 when the USN issued an initial request for information (RfI) for a carrier-based system providing persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and strike capabilities. This move came in response to a need identified by Vice Admiral David Dorsett, the deputy chief of naval operations for information dominance (N2/N6), to give carrier-based aviation a new degree of versatility in long-range combat operations.
Last year's RfI described a notional system that would include four to six air vehicles, each capable of flying for 11 to 14 hours from a nuclear-powered carrier (CVN) without refuelling, plus mission control interfaces (afloat and ashore), sensor payloads, weapon interfaces and personnel.

Iran to open new cruise missile production line

Iran plans to inaugurate a new production line for cruise missiles in the near future, defence minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi announced on 7 April.
During a visit to Kermanshah in western Iran, Vahidi said: "Iran's Defence Ministry will unveil important arms, marine, aerospace and electro-optic achievements in the new Iranian calendar year." The new Iranian year started on 21 March.
According to Iran's FARS news agency, the Iranian Navy has successfully test-fired missiles "mounted with laser technology" with ranges from 45 km to 300 km.
The latter figure probably refers to the new Khalij Fars antiship variant of the Fatah A-110 tactical ballistic missile, which was revealed in February 2011.
The FARS report did not elaborate on the role played by laser technology in these missiles, which could be a reference to inertial navigations systems based on laser-gyroscope technology.

After Gates: Asymmetric Threats

When Robert Gates began his service as U.S. secretary of defense, his priorities were clear: "Iraq, Iraq and Iraq," as he said at his Senate confirmation hearing.
The priority was not misplaced; the situation in Iraq was dire in late 2006. But a new counterinsurgency strategy implemented by a new commander given increased resources led to a dramatically different situation by the end of 2008.
Under President Obama, Gates switched his focus from Iraq to Afghanistan, overseeing a dramatic increase in resources devoted to that conflict. And over the past two years, he focused on implementing a culture of accountability and on reforming the defense budget to prepare the Pentagon for the leaner years ahead.
Yet the business of defending the United States never stops, and much remains to be done by whoever replaces Gates later this year. His successor's overarching objective will be to maximize U.S. national security in an era of increased budget constraints and decreased certainty about the shape of future conflict. In other words, he or she will need to spend less money to prepare for a wider range of threats.
The most serious of these threats will be asymmetric in nature - that is, they will target American weaknesses to circumvent its conventional superiority. Asymmetric threats come in two basic forms. The low-end version, which the U.S. military has spent the past decade combating, is terrorism and insurgency.
The asymmetric attacks of Sept. 11, followed in short order by virulent insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan, demonstrated that conventional military force was insufficient to protect the interests of the nation. Gates led a remarkable rebalancing of American military power that improved U.S. irregular warfare capability.
He was particularly insistent on the procurement of armored vehicles that resisted improvised explosive devices and the development of UAVs to provide intelli-gence on and strikes against insurgent cells.
Unfortunately, these changes have not yet become part of the DNA of America's fighting forces, which still struggle to build the capacity of foreign military forces - a task that Gates has said is "arguably the most important military component in the war on terror." Building our allies' capacity to fight is an effective, affordable but often overlooked way to ensure the future security of the United States. Despite its rhetorical emphasis on building partner capacity, the Pentagon has not yet demonstrated an effective approach to execute this mission.
The next secretary of defense will have to fight hard to institutionalize advising foreign forces and ensure that the many lessons learned about countering insurgencies and terrorists are not once again forgotten.
High-Tech Challenge The second, equally troubling variant of asymmetric warfare involves the use of high-technology capabilities to negate traditional American military strengths. The most prominent looming asymmetric challenge is in the Asia-Pacific region. China has the potential to present a significant military threat but not in a strictly conventional sense.
Although China is rapidly developing its conventional military capabilities, including an aircraft carrier and a fifth-generation fighter plane, more worrisome is its improving ability to threaten America's allies and interests in this region with missile, cyber and other asymmetric capabilities. As a result, the world's greatest Navy is at increasing risk of being checkmated by very precise and relatively cheap guided munitions.
China's growing anti-access and area-denial capabilities are likely not only to prevent ships and manned aircraft from approaching its shores but to prevent current-generation UAVs and ISR platforms from providing intelligence or filling a strike role.
Adapting to the development and proliferation of high-end asymmetric capabilities will require embracing a more rapid evolution of our own traditional capabilities and operating concepts. This will be a major task for the next secretary. Gates had to take extraordinary measures to procure sufficient numbers of UAVs to meet the demands of commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan, but those systems faced almost no air-to-air threat. The next secretary of defense should oversee major investments in unmanned vehicles - aerial, ground, water and underwater - that can survive and succeed in contested spaces against a capable enemy. With costs that compare favorably to manned platforms, these unmanned systems present affordable long-range strike options that impose defensive costs on China or other adversaries using Chinese weapons.
Deterring the use of military power in the western Pacific will depend in no small part on how wisely those investments are made, and how soon.
Gates faced the huge challenge of turning around a war that was rapidly being lost when he assumed leadership of the Department of Defense. Gates' successor will also face challenges: institutionalizing progress in irregular warfare and deterring high-end asymmetric challengers, while continuing to whittle down defense expenditures.
"Asymmetry, advisers and UAVs" doesn't roll off the tongue any more trippingly than did "Iraq, Iraq and Iraq," but it will be just as important for the next secretary of defense to get his or her priorities straight.
John Nagl is president of the Center for a New American Security and the author of "Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam."

Bombing Destroys Presidential Building in Tripoli

TRIPOLI - Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's office in his immense Tripoli residence was destroyed in a NATO airstrike early April 25, while loud explosions were heard in several districts of the capital as warplanes roared overhead.
A Libyan official accompanying journalists at Gadhafi's compound said 45 people were wounded, 15 seriously, in the bombing. He added that he did not know whether there were victims under the rubble.

"It was an attempt to assassinate Colonel Gadhafi," he said.
Seif Al-Islam, Gadhafi's son, described the bombing as "cowardly."
"This cowardly attack on Moammar Gadhafi's office may frighten or terrorize children, but we will not abandon the battle and we are not afraid," he said, claiming that NATO's battle was "lost in advance."
At about 3 a.m. local time smoke was still rising from part of the building that was hit, watched by dozens of people shouting slogans.
A meeting room facing Gadhafi's office was badly damaged by the blast.
African leaders had met with Gadhafi two weeks ago to propose a peace plan that was accepted by the regime but turned down by the rebels.
The international coalition had already destroyed a building in the presidential compound, calling it a command center.
Heavy explosions had shaken the center of Tripoli shortly after midnight April 25 as warplanes overflew the Libyan capital. The blasts, the strongest to have hit the city so far, shook the hotel in which foreign correspondents here are staying not far from downtown.
The explosions hit several districts of Tripoli, which has been the target of intense NATO raids since April 22.
Libyan state television transmissions were briefly cut off right after the explosions, before resuming a few minutes later.
The official state news agency JANA quoted a military source as saying that "several military and civilian sites in the city of Tripoli were the targets of raids by the crusader colonialist aggressor (NATO) which caused human and structural damage."
An international coalition intervened in Libya on March 19 under a U.N. mandate to end the bloody suppression of a revolt that started in mid-February against the Gadhafi regime, which has been in power for 41 years.
NATO took over command of the military intervention March 31.

S. Korea Deploys Rockets Near Border: Reports

SEOUL - South Korea has deployed rockets on two islands near its tense Yellow Sea border with North Korea to guard against possible attacks, reports said April 25.
The Chosun Ilbo newspaper, citing government sources, said more than 10 130-millimeter Kuryong multiple rocket launchers have been positioned on Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong islands.

The North attacked Yeonpyeong with artillery and rockets last November, killing four people including two civilians and damaging dozens of buildings.
Baengnyeong is the closest island to the North's coastline. Each launcher has 36 rockets with a range of 23 to 36 kilometers (14 to 22 miles), Chosun said.
"This is the first time for us permanently to deploy multiple rocket launchers to the northwestern islands," the newspaper quoted a Seoul official as saying.
Yonhap news agency carried a similar report but did not specify the number of rocket launchers.