Archive for September, 2006
Via Dean comes Muslims & Christians In Iraq Join to Renounce Violence!
This isn’t some big parade or some big protest (though those would be useful, too). This is something that is probably even more meaningful:
Iraqi Muslim women join other Iraqi Christians during Sunday mass at a Roman Catholic church in Baghdad September 17, 2006. Iraq’s government called on Muslims on Saturday not to attack the country’s small Christian minority in response to remarks by Pope Benedict that have angered Muslims. REUTERS/Mahmoud Raouf Mahmoud (IRAQ)
When (if?) this becomes the norm instead of the exception it will be lights out for the bad guys.
(Considering the source, let’s just hope those Christians aren’t photoshopped in there…)
The increasingly popular Iraq war
and
Did I imagine news stories with the phrase ‘increasingly unpopular Iraq war’? It turns out, I didn’t
Frank Warner:
Many pundits refused to believe last week’s Fox News-Opinion Dynamics poll that found 51 percent of Americans support the U.S. role in the Iraq war…Now the new USA Today-Gallup poll comes up with a finding similar to Fox News-Opinion Dynamics’.
and
How will it feel to read that in a news story? Our enemies will be discouraged. Our troops will love it. I’ll check today’s papers to see if it’s there yet.
Go read the whole things.
Incidentally, I see that Frank has scored and Instalanche off of this. Very well-deserved. I’ve been reading and linking Frank since I discovered his site several millennia ago (in blogosphere time) and he’s been in my primary link list on the sidebar for quite some time. It’s good to see him get a bit of wider recognition. Be sure to check out his site on a regular basis.
Today is the final day of the live webcast of the exploration of the wreck of the dirigible USS Macon which crashed off the coast of California in 1935. I mentioned it a couple of days ago (with pics and links). Here’s the link:
A screenshot from this morning’s dive is at right.
Yeah, it’s just silent video of a robot survey of the site, but I’ve always been intrigued by shipwrecks (and airship wrecks at sea, I guess) so it’s pretty cool to at least check out some live coverage for a bit.
They’re throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the IED problem:
Earlier this year, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England directed each of the military services to fund a handful of specific programs related to defeating roadside bombs in their six-year budget plans. The Navy, in particular, was directed to fund counter-IED efforts involving robotic systems, the convoy-planning tool software program, the CREW 3 (counter radio controlled improvised explosive device electronic warfare) program, and the combined explosive exploitation cell support effort.
The Navy in recent years has modified its P-3C Orion aircraft with a number of new technologies to expand its set of missions beyond maritime patrol to include ground-based operations. Through the P-3 Aircraft Improvement Program (AIP), the sea service has added long-range electro-optical video imaging systems, high-resolution infrared imaging systems, and synthetic as well as inverse synthetic-aperture radars — tools that gave the aircraft intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance utility in operations over Afghanistan in 2001.
Headline a year from now: Military to employ kitchen sinks in effort to counter IEDs.
Here are some slides from a Multinational Force – Iraq (MNF-I) Situational Update briefing by Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, IV and Maj. Gen. Joseph Peterson on the Baghdad situation.
Compare to the slide from last week and you will see that virtually all of the anti-death squad operations in Baghdad are in the same part of town.
Read the rest of this entry »
Iraqi army soldiers practice marksmanship techniques during a live-fire exercise near Baqubah, Iraq, Sept. 15, 2006. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jackey Bratt) (Released)
It was close, but a late bayonet charge (led by the guy on the right…you can see him moving into position) carried the day for the Iraqis. They defeated the stationary targets by a score of 13-9.
Click for better look
North Carolina (SSN 777), the fourth Virginia-class submarine, undergoes construction at Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard in Newport News, Va., Sept. 14, 2006. North Carolina is scheduled to join the fleet in 2008. DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Ryan Lee Steinhour, U.S. Navy. (Released)
Report: Pilot error caused B-1 crash
Air Force Link:
Pilot error caused a B-1 Lancer to crash while landing on the runway at a forward-deployed location May 8, 2006, according to an aircraft accident investigation report released here Sept. 18.
This won’t be a surprise to MO readers. Unconfirmed reports in the comments section earlier this year indicated that pilot error was to blame. Also, the “forward-deployed location” is not undisclosed.
Investigators concluded the cause of the mishap was both pilots’ failure to lower the landing gear during the aircraft’s approach and landing. Contributing factors for the pilots’ failure to lower the landing gear were the co-pilot’s task oversaturation; the co-pilot’s urgency to complete a long mission; both pilots’ inattention to instrument readings and the descent/before landing checklist, and the co-pilot’s false belief the pilot had lowered the landing gear.
According to the report, the pilot unexpectedly turned over aircraft control to the co-pilot on the final approach. The pilot reported to the air traffic control tower that the landing gear was down despite the fact that the descent/before landing checklist was never completed and the landing gear was never lowered. The red warning light in the gear handle, indicating all landing gear was not down and locked, was illuminated for more than four minutes during the approach.
Additionally, at the time the aircraft landed, the three green position lights, which illuminate after the landing gear has locked in the down position, were not illuminated.
1935 US Zeppelin Wreckage Investigated at 785 Feet Underwater
Cool:
Today all that remains of the Macon and the four warplanes carried in its massive belly are ruins scattered on the seafloor- a historic site that is being intensively explored for the first time in a five-day expedition that started Sunday.
The expedition is expected to last five days.
Researchers are using a remote underwater vessel called the Western Flyer to record videotape of the wreckage. Those pictures will be used to recreate the debris field.
Even cooler: Follow the expedition in real time!
LIVE! From the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and the Macon Dirigible Airship September 18th-21st
Here’s a couple of screenshots showing some wreckage (And some fish):
Plus: ’35 crash comes to light
UPDATE: Haunting painting of the loss from National Geographic in the extended section below
Read the rest of this entry »
Defense Industry Daily has the scoop on a no-holds-barred report from the Lexington Institute on the USAF’s effort to end the production of C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.
DID rightly points out that the Air Force is working to increase the availability and the lifespan of the C-5 fleet and that a new tanker decision will likely add a new aircraft that can moonlight as a cargo transport, but the fact is that the C-17 fleet is getting far, far more work than expected and that it will continue for as long as we can tell.
The Lexington report puts it this way:
Policymakers have decided to stop building the plane. They say they have enough C-17′s to meet strategic airlift needs for the foreseeable future. Even though their stated requirement for how much airlift is needed hasn’t changed since a “Mobility Requirements Study” was conducted in 2000. Perhaps you remember what it was like back then. No global war on terror. No shift to expeditionary warfare. No plans to return troops in Europe to the U.S. No big hurricane evacuations. The good old days….
While Murdoc suspects that “dumbest weapons decision of the decade” might be a bit strong (after all, there are a lot of dumb decisions to pick from…) it is a fact that you can never have enough air transport capacity.
I’d be less skeptical of this decision if the service wasn’t scrambling to pinch pennies everywhere it could to order a couple more F-22 fighters. It certainly appears that Priority #1 in the USAF is to increase the number of F-22s, and while I believe this is a worthwhile goal it shouldn’t come at the expense of everything else.
The transport fleet might not be sexy, but the US military doesn’t win anything anywhere without it. It’s true that, while we don’t need F-22s to fight the current crop of low-tech enemies, we’ll need them against a serious military force if a major war comes. But the C-17 fleet is not only critical in the battles we’re fighting today, it’s vital to simply keep the Air Force running day-to-day.
For more C-17 and an incredible pic, see Masters of the Globe
