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| NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. -- Flown by test pilot Lt. Cmdr. Eric "Magic" Buus, F-35C test aircraft CF-2 lands at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey June 25. CF-2 and the F-35 integrated test team from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. are at the NAVAIR facility in Lakehurst for the first jet blast deflector (JBD) testing, in preparation for carrier shipboard testing in 2013. The team is at the JBD test facility to evaluate deck heating, JBD panel cooling, and vibro-acoustic, thermal, and hot-gas ingestion environments. The F-35C is the carrier variant of the three-service Joint Strike Fighter, and has larger wing surfaces and reinforced landing gear to perform in the demanding carrier environment. The F-35C and F-35B are undergoing test and evaluation at NAS Patuxent River prior to eventual delivery to the fleet. (Photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin) |
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| F-35 carrier variant CF-2 flies to NAVAIR at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., June 25 for Jet Blast Deflector testing. |
"The Libya air war has exposed serious shortcomings among NATO allies and European governments will have to agree on joint defense budget priorities to rectify the problem, Gates told AFP in an interview.Of course the designer and main cheerleader for this fiasco in Libya, the President of France had this to say...Translation by Google...
The Pentagon chief, who is due to retire this week after more than four years in the post, reiterated views he expressed in a blunt speech in Brussels earlier this month, in which he warned the alliance faced a potentially "dismal" future.
"The truth is, as I said in Brussels, there is a lot of military capability and a lot of money being spent in Europe," Gates said on Thursday."
THE PRESIDENT - Mr. Gates was retiring, apparently it does him no pleasure. So do not blame someone who is retiring to be a little bitter. I think his retirement did not have to closely observe what was happening in Libya, because you can say whatever you want but I do not feel in Libya most of the work done by our American friends. You were speaking of Libya at the same time is to say that our American friends have two drones, a number of tanker aircraft, we are very sensitive but it would not come to the idea of a man as responsible and intelligent than President Obama to say that it is America that is the main work in Libya.Awesome.
This was especially moved by Mr. Gates saying that. And more completely wrong, given what is happening in Libya. There were certainly other moments in history when he could have said it, but not when the Europeans, bravely took the case of Libya, where mainly the French, the English and their allies are the work! I will not allow me to make this statement when, after 15 days the Americans have decided to reduce their aircraft. So it's a statement that is unfair for them falls ill and does not correspond to reality.
WASHINGTON - The US Air Force has grounded its entire fleet of F-22 fighters, the most sophisticated combat aircraft in the world, after problems emerged with the plane's oxygen supply, officials said Friday.Wow.
The radar-evading F-22 Raptors have been barred from flying since May 3 and Air Force officials could not say when the planes would return to the air.
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| An amphibious assault vehicle with Marines assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit returns to the well deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island. The Whidbey Island is deployed as part of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, participating in the Spanish Amphibious Landing Exercise off the coast of Spain. (Photo by: Petty Officer 3rd Class Desiree D. Green) |
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| An amphibious assault vehicle with Marines assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit returns to the well deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island. The Whidbey Island is deployed as part of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, participating in the Spanish Amphibious Landing Exercise off the coast of Spain. (Photo by: Petty Officer 3rd Class Desiree D. Green) |
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| An amphibious assault vehicle with Marines assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit returns to the well deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island. The Whidbey Island is deployed as part of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, participating in the Spanish Amphibious Landing Exercise off the coast of Spain. (Photo by: Petty Officer 3rd Class Desiree D. Green) |
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| An amphibious assault vehicle with Marines assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit returns to the well deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island. The Whidbey Island is deployed as part of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, participating in the Spanish Amphibious Landing Exercise off the coast of Spain. (Photo by: Petty Officer 3rd Class Desiree D. Green) |
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| The Souris River is swelling in size and breaching dikes built to contain the water here, June 24. By June 29, Mouse River pressures and heights will reach unprecedented levels seven to ten feet higher than the all time record with pressures reaching approximately 16,000 cubic feet per second. On June 22, the river breached the levees and the warning sirens sounded requiring the immediate evacuation of over 11,000 Minot residents to include nearly 1,000 Minot Air Force Global Strike Command airmen. |
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| North Dakota Army National Guard soldiers from the 817th Engineer Company, from left to right, Spc. Ryan Lindberg, Spc. Michael Young, and Staff Sgt. Jason Lothspeich wade through flood water to sling-load one-ton sandbags from a flatbed truck onto a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter June 24, at a flood levee near 13th Street and Railway Avenue, Minot, N.D. The North Dakota National Guard helicopter is being loaded with the large sandbags from a flatbed truck parked in flood water near the levee and placing the sandbags on an area of concern in the flood water of the Souris River. National Guard dump trucks are also responding to the site as they haul flood levee building material in an effort to create a flood barrier for a residential area, which has not yet been flooded. Several residential areas of Minot were inundated with flood water on June 24, leaving thousands of people homeless. |
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| A U.S. flag waves above nearly 10 feet of water in Minot, N.D., June 26. The Souris River has inundated the city and reached a historic height. Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman estimates 4,000 homes have been damaged by the flooding. |
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The scene from inside the levee system
around Minot leaves little question as to the devastating effects of
flood waters on homes here, June 24. With water levels continuing to
rise and the Lake Darling Dam increasing the flow of water it releases
to 29,000 cubic feet per second, many around Minot wonder how much of
the city will have to be evacuated and how many people will be left
without a home.
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Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos, the service's top officer, sees renewal in the region where Marines experienced their most devastating losses and most heroic victories: "We're going to reorient in the Pacific," he said during a recent swing through bases in Japan and South Korea.and this...
The reorientation is in part because of the coming contraction of the defense budget, in part because of the shifting balance of power in the world, and in part because of a historical fear embedded in Marine culture.
In meetings with Marines, Gen. Amos said it was his intent, post-Afghanistan, to return the Corps to its mission as a crisis-response force in the Pacific. The commandant envisions keeping about 20,000 Marines stationed at Pacific Ocean bases, plus another 3,000 at an air station in Japan. About 5,000 Marines are based in Hawaii, tens of thousands more in California.This debate has been had and the answers already found.
Shifting back to the Pacific would be in line with U.S. strategic objectives. Military planners note that the region is an economic center of gravity—80% of the world's shipping passes through the geographic area covered by the U.S. Pacific Command—and preserving power in the region is a national-defense priority. "We are a Pacific power and intend to remain a power in the Pacific," Mr. Gates said on a recent visit to Asia.
