Update: They did it! Check the article and video here.
If you are near Dahlgren, Virginia tomorrow and you hear a big "WHOOOOOMP", no need for concern. The Navy is just firing its electromagnetic railgun at a power level untested before:
The Office of Naval Research will test fire an electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Va. on Jan. 31, 2008, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. EST. The gun will be fired at over 10 megajoules of energy – a power level never before achieved by an EMRG.
This weapon is pretty cool - we've talked about it before on Defense Tech here and here (among other articles) and with a great article here at Military.com. Using a pulsed power system utilizing electromagnetic energy - the same energy that powers many rollercoasters these days and will power the launching systems of future carriers (at some point) - it will be a powerful system, with a projected range of 250 nautical miles and a speed at launch of mach 7.5 and an impact speed of mach 5 with no explosives or powder or propellant used in the system. The Navy continues to increase its capability to "reach out and touch" someone from its domain in the littorals. Imagine what this thing would do to a pirate boat off HOA?
BAQUBAH, Iraq - The newest version of the Army’s popular Stryker combat vehicle is garnering poor reviews here from Soldiers assigned to man its tank-like hull.
The General Dynamics Corp.-built Mobile Gun System looks like a typical eight-wheeled Stryker, except for a massive 105mm gun mounted on its roof. The gun fires three different types of projectiles, including explosive rounds, tank-busters and a "canister round" that ejects hundreds of steel pellets similar to a shotgun shell.
But while the system looks good on paper and the Army’s all for it, Soldiers with the 4th Battalion of the 9th Infantry Regiment -- one of the first units to receive the new vehicle for their deployment to Iraq -- don’t have a lot of good things to say about it.
"I wish [the enemy] would just blow mine up so I could be done with it," said Spec. Kyle Handrahan, 22, of Anaheim, Calif., a tanker assigned to Alpha Company, 4/9’s MGS platoon.
"It’s a piece," another MGS platoon member chimed in. "Nothing works on it."
Hey, folks, greetings from O'Hare airport. My connecting flight to Kansas City is delayed a couple of hours (I discovered after running from one terminal to the other like OJ back in the old Hertz commercials), so I have a little time on my hands here.
Here's an item Military.com reported on a few days back that I thought would be worthy of a discussion among the DT clan. Our man Eric Daniel relays that it's important to note that the Soldier killed was seated in the most vulnerable position in the MRAP and that an IED that size would've taken out everyone in a Humvee. Also, it's unclear if the gunner died from the blast or the MRAP's subsequent roll. But, still, this casualty is a surprise since most considered the MRAP to be IED-proof altogether.
Here's a bit of the report:
A Soldier killed over the weekend south of Baghdad was the first American casualty in a roadside bomb attack on a newly introduced, heavily armored vehicle, a military spokeswoman said Jan. 22.
The V-shaped hull of the huge MRAP - Mine-Resistant, Ambush-Protected - truck is designed to deflect blasts from roadside bombs, a weapon that has killed more American Soldiers than any other tactic used by Sunni insurgents and militia fighters in Iraq.
The Soldier who died Jan. 19 was the gunner who sits atop the MRAP vehicle. Three crew members tucked inside the cabin were wounded. The vehicle rolled over after the blast and it was not clear how the gunner died - from wounds in the explosion or in the subsequent roll-over.
Maj. Alayne P. Conway, deputy spokeswoman for the 3rd Infantry Division, said the attack and the death were under investigation.
There now are more than 1,500 of the costly vehicles in service in Iraq and the Pentagon is working to get at least 12,000 more, using $21 billion provided by Congress. MRAPs cost between $500,000 and $1 million, depending on their size and how they are equipped.
The cycle of war continues . . .
-- Ward
The Sniper Dance
Here's an early look at Military.com's lede story tomorrow morning (barring breaking news, of course). Christian continues his reporting from Iraq, this time focusing on the enemy sniper threat in Tikrit:
They call it the “sniper dance.”
You’re out in the open. There are houses all around you -- cover and concealment for enemy sharpshooters to plink off a U.S. Soldier.
Stand there, wait a few seconds, shift to the right -- then do it all over again.
“We don’t want a sniper to get a good shot off on us,” one Soldier says. “So we keep moving all the time.”
In this home region for the deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the security that has only recently descended here is tenuous at best. With the Iraqi army largely pushed out of the surrounding towns and villages to help U.S. forces root out the most tenacious holdouts in other areas, the focus here is on building a durable police force that can secure the population and at the same time keep the insurgency from sparking up again.
American Military Police units and the civilian advisors that help them recognize the mandate is a tall order. With corruption a part of everyday life here and a policing philosophy making the transition from being an instrument of oppression to a force that serves the community, putting the local police on the right track takes constant interaction and a deep reservoir of patience.
“Our motto is no free chicken,” said Staff Sgt. Joe Cline, a platoon sergeant with the 56th Military Police Company, who added their main mission is to cut the Iraqi police’s dependence on the U.S. military.
Each of the platoons with the 56th Military Police Company -- which is made of Army reservists from a Arizona, California and Nevada -- is divided into smaller Police Transition Teams, called “PiTTs.” Paired with civilian contractors drawn from police departments from across the country, the PiTT teams patrol the towns outside the sprawling Camp Speicher base just to the north of Tikrit, visiting police stations, meeting with their leaders and assessing what needs they have to keep cops on the beat.
At the Tikrit patrol station, MPs wanted to see if a shooting incident that occurred the previous day showed up on the station’s log books. After a furious series of mistranslations and fumbling through piles of papers, the Iraqi policeman said he didn’t have the shooting -- which occurred just a block away -- on his books.
“That was reported at another station,” the Iraqi policeman told the MPs.
Frustrated, the MPs looked at each other with dismay.
Read the rest in the headlines at Military.com, first thing Monday morning.
And I'm headed for Kansas University tomorrow to be part of a milblogging panel with Jack Holt from DoD's New Media Directorate and Castle of Argghhh's John Donovan. I'll be posting when I can from the road. If any DT readers are in or around Jayhawk Country please stop by the campus and say hello after the panel on Tuesday night.
(Photo by Christian Lowe)
-- Ward
The Sunday Paper (Chicken Little Edition)
It's officially time to freak out . . . or is it? The AP reports the following:
A large U.S. spy satellite has lost power and could hit the Earth in late February or early March, government officials said Saturday.
The satellite, which no longer can be controlled, could contain hazardous materials, and it is unknown where on the planet it might come down, they said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is classified as secret. It was not clear how long ago the satellite lost power, or under what circumstances.
"Appropriate government agencies are monitoring the situation," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, when asked about the situation after it was disclosed by other officials. "Numerous satellites over the years have come out of orbit and fallen harmlessly. We are looking at potential options to mitigate any possible damage this satellite may cause."
He would not comment on whether it is possible for the satellite to perhaps be shot down by a missile. He said it would be inappropriate to discuss any specifics at this time.
A senior government official said that lawmakers and other nations are being kept apprised of the situation.
The spacecraft contains hydrazine - which is rocket fuel - according to a government official who was not authorized to speak publicly but spoke on condition of anonymity. Hydrazine, a colorless liquid with an ammonia-like odor, is a toxic chemical and can cause harm to anyone who contacts it.
Such an uncontrolled re-entry could risk exposure of U.S. secrets, said John Pike, a defense and intelligence expert. Spy satellites typically are disposed of through a controlled re-entry into the ocean so that no one else can access the spacecraft, he said.
Pike also said it's not likely the threat from the satellite could be eliminated by shooting it down with a missile, because that would create debris that would then re-enter the atmosphere and burn up or hit the ground.
Pike, director of the defense research group GlobalSecurity.org, estimated that the spacecraft weighs about 20,000 pounds and is the size of a small bus. He said the satellite would create 10 times less debris than the Columbia space shuttle crash in 2003. Satellites have natural decay periods, and it's possible this one died as long as a year ago and is just now getting ready to re-enter the atmosphere, he said.
Jeffrey Richelson, a senior fellow with the National Security Archive, said the spacecraft likely is a photo reconnaissance satellite. Such eyes in the sky are used to gather visual information from space about adversarial governments and terror groups, including construction at suspected nuclear sites or militant training camps. The satellites also can be used to survey damage from hurricanes, fires and other natural disasters.
The largest uncontrolled re-entry by a NASA spacecraft was Skylab, the 78-ton abandoned space station that fell from orbit in 1979. Its debris dropped harmlessly into the Indian Ocean and across a remote section of western Australia.
In 2000, NASA engineers successfully directed a safe de-orbit of the 17-ton Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, using rockets aboard the satellite to bring it down in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean.
In 2002, officials believe debris from a 7,000-pound science satellite smacked into the Earth's atmosphere and rained down over the Persian Gulf, a few thousand miles from where they first predicted it would plummet.
Here's how MSNBC is covering our imminent demise:
So what say we? Lottery time? Will it make it through the atmosphere intact? If so, when and where will it hit?
Big prizes await! You must be alive to win, however, so if you are hit and killed by the satellite you are ineligible for your prize. On the plus side, we will definitely honor you with a DT post.
And watch out for that hydrazine creamy filling, too.
The Internet has long been a critical domain of terrorist and extremist groups around the world. Perhaps the most notorious cyber terrorist was an individual know as "Irhabi 007." He was later identified as Younes Tsouli is a 23-year-old son of a Moroccan diplomat.
For nearly two years, Younes Tsouli was sought by global intelligence sources. The online terrorist communities Tsouli created trained terrorists who congregated in those cyber communities. The training included hacking, programming, executing online attacks and mastering digital and media design. He suddenly went underground in September 2007 after Scotland Yard arrested a 23-year-old West Londoner believed to be tied to Younis Tsouli.
Scotland Yard believed that Tsouli participated in an alleged bomb plot they were investigating. British counter-terror agents and investigators stormed Tsouli's top floor flat and discovered stolen credit card information which is believed to have funded much of his activities. They also found that the cards were used to pay American Internet providers on whose servers he had posted jihadi propaganda.
In addition, Tsouli Irhabi used countless other web sites as free hosts for material that the jihadists needed to upload and share. The true extent of his material distribution network is still not known. He is credited with the large scale distribution of a film produced by Zarqawi called "All Is for Allah's Religion."
His arrest struck a significant blow to al Qaeda’s cyber terrorism weaponry.
With cyber weaponry only requiring widely available knowledge and skills and the only equipment required a computer that can be purchased anywhere, cyber weapons proliferation cannot be controlled. These facts coupled with the recent cyber attacks on utilities that blackout cities and regions show this is a serious threat.
Younes Tsouli is a 23-year-old male and studied computers at a London college. Tsouli is a computer nerd from Shepherd's Bush, West London. He is the son of a Moroccan diplomat and arrived in London in 2001. He was recruited by al Qaeda in 2002 when he began his cyber campaign of propaganda and terrorist training. is online legend (cover name) was "Irhabi 007" derived from combining the James Bond reference with the Arabic word for terrorist. He published a manual on computer hacking on one of the many al Qaeda's web sites. He joined the closed message forum known as Muntada al-Ansar al-Islami that provided military instructions, propaganda and recruitment.
He became the web master for al-Ansat, a forum used by 4,500 extremists to communicate. He rose to become the top cyber jihadi expert and directed all Internet-related activities. He also posted a 20 page website hacking manual called "Seminar on Hacking Websites," on the Ekhlas forum.
Tsouli used stolen credit card information on 37,000 cards to pay American Internet providers on whose servers he had posted jihadi propaganda. He was apprehended as he was in the process of building and deploying a new website called “YouBombIt.”
Captured in his London top floor flat was a PowerPoint-style presentation on how to build a car bomb. His capture led to the arrest of several Islamic terrorists around the world, including 17 men in Canada and two in the US.
His hacking skills are categorized as moderate to advanced compared to today’s standards. In December of 2007 his sentence was increased from 10 years to sixteen years in prison.
-- Kevin Coleman
Air-to-Air Ain't Dead (Video Fix)
We've had some pretty good discussions lately around the F-15 grounding issue and the number of F-22s the Air Force needs. Some suggested that there is no air-to-air threat facing the U.S., therefore we need to focus on other, more vital, platforms.
Well, get ready for the weekend with a gander at this video:
That bad boy could mess a Hornet or Eagle up in a knife fight, I'm afraid.
(Gouge: NP)
-- Ward
Lockheed, Boeing to Team Up on Bomber
Our man Bob Cox at the Fort-Worth Star Telegram passes the following:
Lockheed Martin and Boeing will announce Friday that they will team up to "perform studies and system development" for a next generation long range bomber the Air Force wants to develop.
Bob also asks a fair question:
If the No. 1 and No. 2 defense contractors are teaming up, who is going to be the competition? Northrop Grumman perhaps?
-- Ward
Black Program Exposed?
Back in 1985, during my first airwing detachment to Fallon, Nevada, my squadron participated in an exercise called "Constant Peg." C-Peg was super classified and involved American fighter crews flying 1v1 ACM mission against Soviet fighters like MiG-23s and MiG-21s. These fighters were based at Tonopah. (My pilot and I went up against a MiG-23.)
Now during the briefs before the exercise the guys flying the MiGs were very hyper about us NOT landing at Tonopah . . . ever, ever, ever . . . even though the exercise took place just north of the field. "If you have an emergency go back to Fallon," was the refrain, which struck us as a bit excessive, even considering the fact these enemy airplanes were based there.
The squadron operations officer, who went on to be a corporate test pilot, said something that made sense years later: "They're not worried about the MiGs. There's something else going on there." When we pushed him for details, he said he didn't know. He just had a hunch that C-Peg was a cover for another program.
Well, we now know that other program was the F-117 developmental test program. And after seeing firsthand the V-22's DT program for three years, I can tell you that it's a miracle that nobody found out about the Stealth jet during that time. Incredible stories have emerged about long commutes and clueless families and night ops. They did have a couple of close calls. There were reports of UFOs by local civilians that were quashed by Air Force officials.
So, again, have the folks in Texas seen something the Air Force doesn't want them to see?
Check out these eyewitnesses in this news report. They seem convinced that they saw something weird:
Fighter jets were training nearby the night dozens of Stephenville-area residents reported seeing a UFO this month, Air Force Reserve officials said Jan. 23, backtracking on earlier statements.
The announcement did little to satisfy residents of Texas dairy country who swear that what they saw in the sky Jan. 8 was no airplane. Some said it even bolstered their claims, because several people reported seeing at least two fighter jets chasing an object.
"This supports our story that there was UFO activity in that area," said Kenneth Cherry, the Texas director of the Mutual UFO Network, which took more than 50 reports from locals at a meeting last weekend. "I find it curious that it took them two weeks to 'fess up. I think they're feeling the heat from the publicity."
Officials at the Joint Reserve Base Naval Air Station in Fort Worth initially said none of their planes had been in the area, but on Wednesday they said 10 F-16s were there that day. The officials said they were mistaken and wanted to set the record straight "in the interest of public awareness."
Public awareness, indeed. Something is rotten in Denmark . . . and Texas. Remember, this is the same organization that developed the F-117 in the Nevada desert for years and years without anybody knowing about it. Have the citizens of Texas been given an unintentional glimpse of a black program?
(Image: Secret base at Tonopah, Nevada where the F-117 was developed.)
-- Ward
Tomb of the Well Known Dictator
It didn’t look like much to me.
I was warned that this place was bad news. That it had been made into a temple for the deceased dictator and that we really shouldn’t hang out there for long.
I told them I wanted to go anyway.
(Sorry about the picture quality but I had to shoot it from a speeding Humvee window.)
You can see for yourself, the tomb of Saddam Hussein and the “shrine” (if you can call it that) that’s devoted to him ain’t much. I mean, check out the trash pile in the dirt to the right. And I expected Lenin’s tomb-esque lines of devoted followers lining the sidewalk to pay tribute to the “dear leader.” But no one was there.
Not even a guard to keep vengeful victims of his rule at bay.
The town of Owja, where Saddam was born and raised, is still a nettlesome mix of disgruntled Sunnis, Baathists and Hussein kin. It’s a dangerous place, these Soldiers told me. But judging from the lack of devotion to his final resting place, he’s not the local celebrity he once was.
(That's a picture of the wall leading up to Saddam's tomb...If anyone can read Arabic I'd like to know what it says. Or maybe a new caption contest?)
Rebuilding an national military air force capability from the ground up might not seem a big deal. Get some air platforms, send a bunch of guys through training to operate said platforms and voila! Not so fast, Hamid Karzai! The "rebirth" of the Afghan Air Force, at one time a fairly formidable force in the region with an inventory of Soviet-provided aircraft, is on its way, however.
The challenge of bringing back a competent air capability is daunting, much less having it engage in combat operations with any level of success. The underlying support infrastructure is one of the most important elements of this challenge - logistics, spare parts, maintenance, competent and trained personnel - just to mention a few. Add in the tactical challenge of warfare against the resurgent Taliban is difficult under the best of circumstances and you have an impressive series of hurdles to jump over.
The will is obviously there, however, and with the likely plus-up of 3,200 US Marines this spring the region's spear will get a slightly pointier tip. It may be nothing but baby steps, but that is how you get a solid organic military capability rebuilt from the ground up.
New Aircraft, Home for Afghan Air Force
By JASON STRAZIUSO
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Calling it the "birth of our air force," Afghan President Hamid Karzai opened a new $22 million U.S.-funded military hangar on Thursday to house a fleet that is expected to triple in the next three years.
Standing in the cavernous hangar opposite Kabul's international airport, Karzai thanked the U.S. for helping to buy six refurbished Mi-17 transport helicopters and six refurbished Mi-35 helicopter gunships from the Czech Republic, as well as four An-32 transport planes from Ukraine.
The newly acquired aircraft will help transport Afghan troops — who are taking on an increasing role in the battle against the Taliban — on missions around the country.
The new aircraft and upgraded flight facilities are part of a $183 million U.S.-funded program to bolster the Afghan air force.
Afghanistan once had a strong air force that included hundreds of helicopters and Soviet-built MiG-21 and Su-22 warplanes, but that fleet was devastated by two decades of war.
"Today is again the birth of our air force," Karzai told a crowd of U.S. and Afghan military personnel. "We should strengthen this air force because it's very necessary for the Afghan government to have it."
The lede article at Military.com this morning is Christian's more formalized report about his time with VMM-263 in Iraq. Here's a sniff:
The Marine Corps moved heaven and earth to get them here. An amphibious assault ship was commandeered specifically to carry the New River, N.C.-based squadron halfway around the world to the most dangerous war zone on the planet.
And there was a lot riding on this deployment. Billions of dollars were spent over nearly three decades on a technology that many said would never work. And its track record -- at least in the early years -- wasn’t very good.
But the Corps’ most high-profile program is finally deployed, and from the looks of it, the MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor transport is living up to its promise.
Annalee Newitz over at io9 raises an interesting ethical question when she asks, "Will we hold robots accountable for war crimes?"
Here's a bit of her post:
This isn't idle speculation. An automated anti-aircraft cannon's friendly fire killed nine soldiers in South Africa last year, and computer scientists speculate that as more weapons (and aircraft) are robot-controlled that we'll need to develop new definitions of war crimes.
So how will justice be served in these cases? Presumably, we'll punish a guilty robot by smashing it flat or refabricating it into a Kia Sportage owned by someone who commutes into DC.
But who else would we punish, especially if these robots are autonomous? The programmer who came up with the algorithm? And would the programmer, in turn, try to prove a software glitch caused by the manufacturer? Of course, this is the same question raised when 2001: A Space Odyssey hit screens almost forty years ago and more recently in the Will Smith vehicle I Robot.
If you want to weigh into this issue on the ground floor you should make it a point to attend the Technology in Wartime conference. Your conference fee even gets you a free T-shirt (bonus).
(Gouge: CM)
(Photos: iRobot's Bomb Disposal robot in action, courtesy iRobot; Capture from film "I Robot" starring Will Smith, courtesy 20th Century Fox)
-- Ward
More Cyber War Gouge
Cyber attacks on critical infrastructure targets. On Wednesday the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) told an international gathering of government officials, engineers and security managers from electric, water, oil & gas and other critical industry asset owners that the CIA has information that cyber intrusions into utilities was responsible for at least three blackouts and then followed up with extortion demands.
The CIA went on to say they suspect, but cannot confirm, that some of these attackers had the benefit of inside knowledge. The very next day the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved eight mandatory cyber security standards that extend to all entities connected to the nation's power grid. The following are the eight areas addressed by these standards:
1. Critical cyber asset identification
2. Security management controls
3. Personnel and training
4. Electronic security perimeters
5. Physical security of critical cyber assets
6. System security management
7. Incident reporting and response planning
8. Recovery plans for critical cyber assets
These eight standards were created to increase the security of our CIP and reduce the risk of a successful attack. Disruption of a county’s critical infrastructure would have significant direct and indirect damages. Most of these damages would be psychological, economic and financial. Analysis of a cyber attack on critical infrastructure targets resulted in the following data:
Target value: High
Impact analysis: Elevated
Required skills: Moderate
Attack costs: Low
Current defenses: Moderate (elevated for nuclear sites)
Facts
- Utilities across the world are being hit by an estimated 500 to 1,000 attacks from hackers and malicious code every year.
- Technolytics analysis found insider threats now account for over 80 percent of security breaches.
- The Spy-Ops Cyber Warfare CIP training program stated the two areas of greatest critical infrastructure cyber threat is equipment, hardware and software vendor management and human resource management.
- Technolytics analysis found physical and information security responsibilities must merge to improve security.
- Critical Infrastructure targets are on the top targets for terrorists and military cyber warfare units.
The man Fiasco author Tom Ricks referred to as (I'm paraphrasing here) the worst tactician in modern military history is in the headlines for receiving a six-digit retainer from a veterans charity that only gives 25 percent of its income to the veterans it was set up to assist.
This from our friend Simon at ABC News:
Retired U.S. Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who led the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, was paid $100,000 to endorse a veterans charity that watchdog groups say is ripping off donors and wounded veterans by using only a small portion of the money raised for veterans services, according to testimony in Congress today.
I just got off the flight line from a day aboard "Steadfast 04," an MV-22 Osprey from the New River, N.C.-based Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 deployed here at al Asad air base in Iraq. I'm putting together a longer story about my day and interviews I had with crew, maintainers and commanders with the squadron, but here are my preliminary impressions.
You ride one, you'll never want to go back to anything else. Period.
It just so happened that my flight from Fallujah to al Asad was on an Osprey. I was jammed in there with about ten other pax, their gear and a box full of supplies they call "tri-walls" for their three-ply cardboard construction. The guy next to me was a SEAL who's working here training Iraqi army troops. It was his first time on an Osprey.
Shouting over the engine noise, I asked him what he thought. He beamed a huge smile and gave a hardy thumbs up. Then he told me...
"I've ridden on CH-53s about five times before...it takes forEVER," he shouted as we sped across the blackened desert. That three-engined beast is really the only thing comparable in this AO to the Osprey (the Army's CH-47 is a good comparison too) but the MV-22 blows the Super Stallion out of the water in this medium lift role.
The performance of the Osprey compared to the helicopter it's replacing -- the CH-46 Sea Knight -- is like night and day. The most dramatic thing you notice here in a "combat" environment is the extreme altitude gain and loss the MV-22 can pull. It literally jumps off the landing pad and within seconds goes nose high and skyrockets to anywhere between 5,000 and 9,500 feet. The pull up and nose down to the LZ can be so jarring you think you're going to fall out the back...and the pressure on your ears is borderline painful.
"Make sure their heads aren't exploding," said Steadfast 04 co-pilot, Capt. Lee York, to his crew chief, Gunnery Sgt. Mike Brodeur.
"They're okay, sir," came Brodeur's voice over the intercom as he surveyed the wide-eyed Marines sitting along the Osprey's bulkhead.
The nation's top spy, Michael McConnell, Director of National Intelligence, thinks the threat of cyberarmageddon! is so great that the U.S. government should have unfettered and warrantless access to U.S. citizens' Google search histories, private e-mails and file transfers, in order to spot the cyberterrorists in our midst.
Like DNI, many believe we are either in the early stages of a cyber arms race or a global cyber war. Given the number of attacks we have seen this year, it would be difficult to argue with either statement. If indeed we are headed into a global cyber conflict, what would be the implications for the United States?
A cyber conflict differs greatly from what we typically associate with a war. There are no bombs bursting or gun fire. It is a silent conflict that is hard to notice until you try an electronic transaction. When we evaluate the progress of a war today we measure death and physical destruction. While there can be minor physical destruction in a cyber war, the political economic and financial implications are the primary measures of success.
The political fallout of a cyber attack will certainly be high, but this will pale in comparison to the financial and economic implication. The results of research on this topic conducted by Spy-Ops are listed below.
Physical Impact 1.2 Very Limited
Social Impact 4.3 Very High
Political Impact 4.0 High
Financial Impact 4.3 Very High
The financial and economic impact of a one day cyber war that disrupts U.S. credit and debit card transactions is estimated at being about $35 billion USD.
The United States is one of, if not the country most dependent on computers. Computers control our financial system, the traffic on streets, rail and in the air, and have become an integral part of our every day lives. In an all out cyber assault against the United States, the financial and economic, social and political implications could be greater that that felt by the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
-- Kevin Coleman
Navy Cleared to Off Marine Life at Will
President Bush delivered a blow to California's whale and dolphin huggers today on behalf of the Navy. Here's the press release from DoD:
The Navy announced today that two important steps have been taken under existing law and regulations to allow it to conduct effective, integrated training with sonar off the coast of southern California after a federal court earlier this month imposed untenable restrictions on such training.
In accordance with the provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), and at the recommendation of the Secretary of Commerce, the President concluded that continuing these vital exercises without the restrictions imposed by the district court is in the paramount interests of the United States. He signed an exemption from the requirements of the CZMA for the Navy's continued use of mid-frequency active (MFA) sonar in a series of exercises scheduled to take place off the coast of California through January 2009. The Navy already applies twenty-nine mitigation measures approved by federal environmental regulators when using active sonar, and these will remain in place.
An exemption from the act was sought after an order was issued on Jan. 3 by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, which created a significant and unreasonable risk that the Navy will not be able to conduct effective sonar training necessary to certify strike groups for deployment in support of world-wide operational and combat activities. Use of sonar is part of critical, integrated training that must be done in the Navy's operating area off the coast of San Diego to take advantage of Southern California's bathymetric features and its extensive ranges, airfields, and other infrastructure necessary for effective training. Approximately half the Navy's fleet will receive its most critical, "graduate level" training here before it deploys its forces around the world.
In a separate but related action, the Council on Environmental Quality approved the Navy's request for alternative arrangements for compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, for these exercises until completion of the Southern California Range Complex environmental impact statement.
Following up on these actions, Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter signed a decision memorandum yesterday agreeing to those arrangements, which include adaptive management measures, more thorough reporting procedures, and increased public participation.
"We can protect our national security while simultaneously being good stewards of the environment," said Winter. "These alternative measures, in addition to the 29 protective measures already in place, will ensure our operating forces can train realistically without harming the environment."
"We are already taking extensive measures to protect marine mammals, and we have had positive results from those measures," said Winter. "We are furthermore committed to an extensive data collection effort to help inform our future efforts in this regard."
Even before the court's order, the Navy employed 29 protective measures, developed in cooperation with the National Marine Fisheries Service, any time sonar is used on Navy ranges, or in major exercises. The existing measures include, among other things, stationing specially trained lookouts to look for marine mammals, passive acoustic monitoring for marine mammals, establishing safety zones around ships where sonar power is reduced or shut down if marine mammals are sighted, and employing extra precautions during chokepoint exercises.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead said that the actions were necessary in order to ensure the Navy's ability to train Sailors to detect quiet submarines that might threaten its ships.
"We cannot in good conscience send American men and women into potential trouble spots without adequate training to defend themselves," said Roughead.
"The southern California operating area provides unique training opportunities that are vital to preparing our forces, and the planned exercises cannot be postponed without impacting national security," said Roughead. "The steps that have been taken will allow our men and women to train realistically, while continuing the effective employment of proven mitigation measures that have been endorsed by the Council on Environmental Quality and our regulator, the National Marine Fisheries Service."
So has sanity prevaled here? Or is this another win for the evil empire running roughshod on the environment?
-- Ward
Hacking the Dreamliner?
Along with the standard spiels about exit rows and seat belts, flight attendents of the future might add this to their repetoires: "The captain has requested that all passengers close their browsers until he regains control of the aircraft."
Recently the AP reported on a possible unintended consequence of offering Internet access to all passengers on Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. Here's an except:
Before Boeing Co.'s new 787 jetliner gets the green light to fly passengers, the aircraft maker will have to prove that offering Internet access in the cabin won't leave the flight controls vulnerable to hackers and hijackers.
Boeing claims it has engineered safeguards to shut out unauthorized users, but some security analysts worry navigation and communications systems could be vulnerable.
"The odds of this being perfect are zero," said Bruce Schneier, chief technology officer at the security services firm BT Counterpane. "It's possible Boeing can make their connection to the Internet secure. If they do, it will be the first time in mankind anyone's done that."
But Boeing spokeswoman Lori Gunter said 787's aviation electronics "are not connected in any way to the Internet."
Boeing has designed the 787 to allow airlines to offer passengers more in-flight entertainment and Internet options than previous planes have allowed.
Those new features and other aspects of 787's computer network go beyond the scope of existing regulations, so the Federal Aviation Administration is requiring Boeing to show the new technology won't pose a safety threat.
In a "special condition" the FAA has ordered Boeing to satisfy, the agency notes that the 787 "allows new kinds of passenger connectivity to previously isolated data networks connected to systems that perform functions required for the safe operation of the airplane.
"Because of this new passenger connectivity, the proposed data network design and integration may result in security vulnerabilities from intentional or unintentional corruption of data and systems critical to the safety and maintenance of the airplane."
Spec ops guys love their toys, and SEALs especially love the idea of a new, smoother-riding boat. Here's some of the gouge currently running at Military.com:
Navy SEALs are tough by nature, but they take a beating from their patrol boats: bruises, bumps and sore backs, even sprained ankles and chipped teeth.
An all-composite version of the aluminum Mark V patrol boat constructed by luxury boat builder Hodgdon Yachts Inc. is aimed at reducing the wear and tear on boat operators and SEALs by absorbing the impact as the vessel crashes through the waves at 50-plus knots.
The goal is to deliver up to 16 combat-ready Navy SEALS in shape to carry out their missions and to reduce the boat operators' neck, back and joint injuries.
"The idea is to build a boat out of the best carbon-Kevlar composite that we can build to reduce those slamming forces," said David Packhem Jr., president and chief executive officer of Maine Marine Manufacturing LLC, a military spinoff of Hodgdon Yachts.
Several dozen people — including a pilot, county constable and business owners — insist they have seen a large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast. Some reported seeing fighter jets chasing it.
"People wonder what in the world it is because this is the Bible Belt, and everyone is afraid it's the end of times," said Steve Allen, a freight company owner and pilot who said the object he saw last week was a mile long and half a mile wide. "It was positively, absolutely nothing from these parts."
While federal officials insist there's a logical explanation, locals swear that it was larger, quieter, faster and lower to the ground than an airplane. They also said the object's lights changed configuration, unlike those of a plane. People in several towns who reported seeing it over several weeks have offered similar descriptions of the object.
Machinist Ricky Sorrells said friends made fun of him when he told them he saw a flat, metallic object hovering about 300 feet over a pasture behind his Dublin home. But he decided to come forward after reading similar accounts in the Stephenville Empire-Tribune.
"You hear about big bass or big buck in the area, but this is a different deal," Sorrells said. "It feels good to hear that other people saw something, because that means I'm not crazy."
Sorrells said he has seen the object several times. He said he watched it through his rifle's telescopic lens and described it as very large and without seams, nuts or bolts.
Maj. Karl Lewis, a spokesman for the 301st Fighter Wing at the Joint Reserve Base Naval Air Station in Fort Worth, said no F-16s or other aircraft from his base were in the area the night of Jan. 8, when most people reported the sighting.
Lewis said the object may have been an illusion caused by two commercial airplanes. Lights from the aircraft would seem unusually bright and may appear orange from the setting sun.
"I'm 90 percent sure this was an airliner," Lewis said. "With the sun's angle, it can play tricks on you."
Officials at the region's two Air Force bases — Dyess in Abilene and Sheppard in Wichita Falls — also said none of their aircraft were in the area last week. The Air Force no longer investigates UFOs.
The Air Force no longer investigates UFOs? Then what the heck do we need the F-22 for?
-- Ward
Blue Angel Crash Blamed on GLOC
You might remember we reported on this back in October after a conversation with a few of the Blues in San Francisco during a Fleet Week reception. They admitted at that time that the mishap report had found "pilot error" as the main causal factor behind the April crash that took the life of Lcdr. Kevin Davis, Blue Angel No. 5.
Now AP puts a finer point on the findings in an article running at Military.com:
An investigator reviewing flight data found that as the turn subjected Davis to six times the force of gravity, a temporary decrease in blood flow to his brain likely caused him to experience tunnel vision and become disoriented, the report found.
However, Davis worked to regain control of the plane, "and in the last few seconds he may have been aware of his low altitude and was attempting to save the aircraft," said the report by Marine Lt. Col. Javier J. Ball.
"Kevin had performed these maneuvers in training and in the fleet. He had done them in similar situations and he had a history of performing them well without any problems," Hanzlik said
The Pensacola-based Blue Angels fly without the G-suits that most fighter pilots wear to avoid blacking out during such maneuvers. The suits inflate and deflate air bladders around the lower body to force blood to the brain and heart.
However, the air bladders can cause a pilot to bump the control stick, so the Blue Angels instead learn to manage the forces by tensing their abdominal muscles.
The crash at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort was the Blue Angels' first since 1999 and the 26th fatality in the team's 60-year history.
Because of the crash, the Navy has increased its exercise requirements for Blue Angels pilots with an additional focus on abdominal muscles. The team has also stepped up its requirements for centrifuge training tailored for Blue Angels pilots.
Eight people on the ground were injured and some homes were damaged when the plane crashed in a residential area about 35 miles northwest of Hilton Head Island, S.C.
Among other things, this mishap demonstrates how GLOC really is a "cobra in the basket" for tactical aircrews. Even without G-suits, Blue Angels are as G-conditioned as any aviators in the fleet due to the fact they pull 'em nearly every day all year long.
-- Ward
Lockheed in Young's Crosshairs over Prez Helo
Here's a tip for the defense industry: If the Pentagon's top weapons buyer calls you in for a Saturday meeting, it's probably not to kick back and watch college hoops on one of the myriad high-def screens around the E-Ring.
A multibillion-dollar Lockheed Martin Corp. contract to build a new fleet of Marine One helicopters for use by the president is in trouble, despite the company's efforts to keep the prestigious program on track.
According to people familiar with the situation, John Young, the Pentagon's top weapons buyer, called for an unusual Saturday meeting with senior Lockheed officials to discuss the company's attempts at building 28 highly modified helicopters for White House use.
The contract, which started out at an estimated cost of $6.1 billion, has been plagued by early delays and engineering challenges, which would result in the program's running billions of dollars over budget if the Navy continues on its present course.
According to a senior Navy acquisitions official, the Navy commissioned three studies during the past year to examine potential alternatives. Canceling or severely cutting back the program are among the possible options being considered, say people familiar with the situation. In addition, officials have been looking at the possibility of asking United Technologies Corp.'s Sikorsky helicopter unit to step in with a version of its S-92 helicopter, which is the successor to the chopper that ferries the president on short trips. Versions of the S-92 are currently being used to carry a handful of foreign leaders, including the president of South Korea.
"There probably is no alternative that you could imagine that's not under consideration," said a senior Navy acquisitions official. Winning the plum contract in 2005 to build the Marine One fleet was a coup for Lockheed, which has been seeking in recent years to expand its defense business beyond its traditional core of building fighter jets and missiles.
Lockheed and its European partner, Finmeccanica SA's AgustaWestland, defeated incumbent Sikorsky, which had been the favorite to win.
A Lockheed Martin spokesman said the company continues to "look at options with the Navy on how to proceed with the program."
In December, the Navy ordered the Bethesda, Md., defense giant to stop work on the second portion of the contract, which called for Lockheed to build 23 of the 28 helicopters, citing budget issues. Work continues on the initial batch of five helicopters, which would enter service in 2009. The second batch of helicopters is slated to be more sophisticated and capable than the first five.
"We have now recognized based on the first three years of executing the program...that it's going to take more time and money" than originally anticipated to complete the second group of helicopters, the acquisitions official said.
Lockheed and the Navy have been haggling for months about hundreds of design changes that the Navy has required since the contract was awarded. Many of the changes have been technically challenging and have resulted in adding performance-robbing weight to the helicopter. Officials acknowledge that costs have ballooned, but they say it's impossible to put an accurate figure on them until the program is restructured.
Young's reputation as a detail-oriented, no-nonsense administrator preceeded him into the AT&L position where he relieved Mike Wynne who in turn took over as Secretary of the Air Force. (Seems sort of incestuous, doesn't it?) In general, that's good for taxpayers, bad for sloppy defense firms.
(Gouge: NC)
-- Ward
Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Dragon?
DT editor emeritus Noah Shachtman send us a heads up on a cool post at his current gig, The Danger Room. Here's an excerpt:
For years, the American armed forces have worried about an attack on US satellites; this could be how it begins. The United States military has become increasingly dependent on space. It uses photo-reconnaissance satellites to observe potential adversaries, GPS satellites to guide munitions with pin-point accuracy, communications satellites to handle the flow of information into and out of a theater of operations, and early warning satellites to detect and track enemy missile launches to name just a few of the better known applications. Because of this increasing dependence, many analysts have worried that the US is most vulnerable to asymmetric attacks against its space assets; in their view US satellites are “sitting ducks” without any sort of defense and their destruction would cripple the US military. China’s test of a sophisticated anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon a year ago, Friday -- 11 January 2007, when it shot down its own obsolete weather satellite -- has only increased these concerns. But is this true? Could a country—even a powerful country like China that has demonstrated a very sophisticated, if nascent, ability to shoot down satellites at all altitudes—inflict anything close to a knock-out blow against the US in space? And if it was anything less than a knock-out, how seriously would it affect US war fighting capabilities?
So is China a valid space threat or not? Read Noah's three part series, starting with Part I here.
-- Ward
The Sunday Paper (Shopping Insert)
It's hard to explain how different it is here than it was two years ago. But maybe the shopping jaunt we took on Saturday might help explain it.
When I was last here in '05 and '06, it was unheard of to get out of your vehicles for this long. And if you were on foot for very long, security was tight. Gunners at every corner; armed Humvees bounding from street to street to provide cover; a screening force patrolling adjacent alleys; a QRF ready to jump at a moment's notice.
Not now.
Instead it's traffic cops with blue-peaked hats and little white paddles directing cars, cabs and trucks around the main traffic circle of Karmah. Shops were open, kids were swarming, and we couldn't walk 10 feet without having to shake someone's hand. It's not so much a difference of security than it is of attitude. I don't know how it is all over Iraq, but at least in Karmah -- where insurgents and AQ terrorists found a bastion after Fallujah and Ramadi flipped -- the atmosphere has changed. People smile at the Marines rather than glower at them with cold, contemptuous stares.
We went into a dark alley jammed with goods. I think there was one other Marine with me and Lima 3/3 company commander, Capt. Qunitin Jones, who told me: "I only sometimes carry my rifle on trips like this, most of the time I just bring my pistol..." Crazy thoughts just a year ago.
The Marines want to take it further. Several commanders want to ditch the combersome side SAPI plates and Kevlar helmets for good. And most grunts want to ditch the armor all together and stick with simple plate carriers. The only holdup is that the brass at the top are paranoid about a potential "I told you so" moment.
But at the street level,things are definitely different here now. It's palpable. The only fear among the Marines and their Iraqi counterparts is can it stick?
Sure, the unit was an hour late to pick me up. But you gotta be ready for that when traveling in a war zone. They don't work on your schedule over here.
I made it down to the command post for 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines -- a Hawaii-based unit that's been here since August. The plan was to head out with them in a town called Karmah for a couple days to see how security has improved since some tough fighting this past summer.
I met a few of the guys, loaded my gear (way too much of it, of course) into the "high-back" Humvee (the pickup truck version with a big box of thick steel armoring its cargo compartment) and we headed toward the back gate of Camp Fallujah. During the first part of the ride, we made small talk, getting to know where each other was from and how things had been since they got here.
Then I asked them how their Humvees had been holding up.
"Pretty good," one of the Marines replied.
The Humvee is a real workhorse here. But for the last few years new units coming in have been falling in on the same jeeps left here by other battalions heading out. That means these Humvees have taken quite a beating. And it's a real tribute to the maintenance Marines -- and Soldiers, for that matter -- who keep them running.
No sooner had we left the back gate on our way to Combat Outpost Delta, where 3/3's Lima Company is based, than the vehicle commander radioed his team leader: "Gunny, you know your Humvee is smoking?"
Though we tried for another 100 or so yards, pushing on for the rest of the five-mile trip was not an option. We had to tow it back to Camp Fallujah for repair or a switch of Humvee.
I was wishing I hadn't asked anything about the jeeps...
A blown radiator, a screwy Chameleon anti-IED system and a Blue Force Tracker on the fritz, kept us at Fallujah for eight more hours. Each time we thought we were free to go, a new problem cropped up. Murphy was on the attack.
The maintenance guys told me many of the earlier problems with the Humvee had been fixed. With new suspensions, more powerful engines and a rebuilt power steering system, major problems are kept at bay. Problem is, it's the minor ones that'll keep you from getting to your destination most of the time.
They told me Marines at the forward bases sometimes put oil in the power steering system, or brake fluid in the radiator. "One time I had to drain the gas tank and I found anti-freeze," one of them said.
There's no evidence this kind of routine Jiffy Lube snafu was the cause of our problems. But one thing's for sure. These Humvees do Herculean work. But if you put the wrong fluids on the wrong place, Murphy could be lurking behind you just around the corner.
Here's just released animation of the Eagle mishap that started the current "crisis":
Pretty hairy, huh? Maj. Stilwell was lucky, to put it mildly.
Meanwhile the USAF is not ready to say everything's okay now that the mishap investigators have figured out what caused the structural failure. Here's an excerpt from the latest running at Military.com:
Gen. John Corley, the top officer at Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base, Va., called the situation a "crisis" that would be best solved by an infusion of costly new aircraft rather than fixing jets that are 25 years old.
The mechanical troubles, most acute in the F-15 Eagles used to protect the United States, also have led to a patchwork approach to filling critical air missions at home and in Iraq and Afghanistan.
With nearly a third of the F-15 fleet grounded due to a defective support beam in the aircraft's frame, other fighter aircraft, including F-16s and new F-22s, are being shifted from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"It's a rob Peter to pay Paul," Corley said at a Pentagon news conference. "It's unprecedented to have an air superiority fleet that's on average 25 years old."
Other reports today suggest the Air Force is leaning on Boeing to take responsibility for a faulty manufacturing process that led to the longerons failing. Stay tuned. That subplot is bound to get sporty.
Here's a rare look inside a Russian sub. Note the Jules Verne vibe surrounding the design -- all the tubes, wires, and pipes. This shows the classic Cold War era Soviet approach to the problem that stands in sharp contrast to the relatively anticeptic look of American submarines. And dig the sound of a million bees buzzing as the torpedoes translate forward.
(Gouge: CM)
-- Ward
Will Army Aviation Break Out of its Rut?
AUSA hosts the Army Aviation Symposium this week, which gives me the perfect excuse to ask one of my favorite questions: What will it take to get US military helicopter technology out of its long and barren rut?
I believe the last all-new aircraft designed, built and fielded for the US military was the UH-60A Black Hawk. The Army spends about $3 billion a year on helicopters, but all of that money pays for derivatives of technology originally deployed between 30 and 50 years ago, or militarized versions of civil helicopters.
Arguably no other sector of advanced US military technology – fighters, airlifters, UAVs, ships, fighting vehicles, missiles, satellites, etc – has tolerated a longer and deeper drought of deployable innovation.
Think about it: the last all-new aircraft designed for the army was the Sikorsky/Boeing RAH-66 Comanche, and that program was cancelled in 2004 after only two prototypes were built.
The Comanche would have been the first helicopter to introduce stealth design characteristics, but the fundamental limitations of helicopter performance – speed, range and payload – have been stuck in a paralyzing rut since the late-1960s.
Of course, there are a few programs in the very early stages of concept design that may offer a solution, but each faces an agonizing and perilous path to delivering a finished product sometime after 2015. Namely, they are the payload-limit-busting Joint Heavy Lift (JHL) aircraft (post-2015) and the speed-barrier-busting Joint Multi-Role (JMR) aircraft (post-2020).
Elements within the army want to launch an X-Plane flyoff for JHL starting in 2010, but that project will face intense competitive pressure. The alternatives come from the USAF, and they range from the futuristic AJACS concept to near-off-the-shelf derivatives of the C-17, A400M or C-130J.
Requirements and technologies for JMR will continue to coalesce over the next five years or so. But the defense industry is already jockeying to be in competitive position. Sikorsky plans to fly the speedy X2 demonstrator this year (the original first flight date was postponed in December). Boeing is working with Piasecki on the X-49 compound Black Hawk. Boeing’s real interest is to apply the technology to the AH-64 Apache, either as a JMR-lite if the army starts pinching its pennies, or as a testbed for an all-new platform.
Another, more near-term, idea is to deploy the technology on the H-1 Cobra, to serve as an armed escort for the US Marine Corps’ MV-22 fleet. Sikorsky’s X-2 will likely also battle for the contract if this requirement emerges over the next few years.
The ground for greater leaps in technical sophistication is being prepared by DARPA, which is supporting BellBoeing’s evolving concept for a “folding tiltrotor” or “tilting stop-rotor”. Boeing also is working with DARPA to develop the concept for a new hybrid aircraft design called “Rotor Disk”.
Yesterday's discussion was lively and (most of the time) informed, so I wanted to get this update posted right away (since these facts have already crept into the last post's comments). Here's the salient truths currently in Military.com's headlines:
"The accident investigation board president (Wignall) found, by clear and convincing evidence, the cause of this accident was a failure of the upper right longeron, a critical support structure in the F-15C aircraft," the report says.
About 20 minutes after takeoff from an airfield near St. Louis on Nov. 2, the forward fuselage of Maj. Stephen Stilwell's $42 million F-15C Eagle shook violently and then broke apart 18,000 feet above the ground. Stilwell, his left shoulder dislocated and his left arm shattered, barely had time to safely eject as pieces of his aircraft tumbled from the sky over the Missouri countryside.
More troubling, however, are the results of a parallel examination finding as many as 163 of the workhorse aircraft also have flawed support beams, or longerons. The aircraft remain grounded as the Air Force continues to search for how serious the problem is and whether extensive, costly repairs are needed. Another 19 of the aircraft have yet to be inspected and also remain grounded.
Nearly 260 of the A through D model F-15s, first fielded in the mid-1970s, were returned to flight status Tuesday following fleet-wide inspections.
Kudos to the Air Force investigators for finding the problem in a hurry. At the same time, these amazing fighters aren't getting any younger. There'll be more groundings to come, no doubt; hopefully they won't be as a result of a mishap.
-- Ward
America Talks but is the Navy Listening?
As of last October, the United States has had an up-to-date, formally articulated maritime strategy for the first time since the Reagan years. I believe you owe it to yourself to read “A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower” which at only 20 pages, including many great color pics, is refreshingly lively and concise.
Instead of a war-plan to defeat the Eurasian mono-threat of the USSR, our nautical services are now charged with sharing the workload and costs, with their counterparts in other nations, in order to prevent -- or at least mitigate -- human suffering, strife, terror, and war anywhere on the planet within range of the sea.
I was in the audience at the Naval War College, Newport, RI, in June, 2006 when then-CNO Admiral Mike Mullen first called for developing this New Maritime Strategy via a “Conversation with America.” The idea was to solicit lots of suggestions (and, yes, criticisms) from civilian folks all across the country who had some knowledge of or interest in naval matters, ocean-borne commerce, and maritime security. (This ought to be all of us, since 90% of the world’s trade goods travel by sea.) Mullen soon put Vice Admiral John Morgan, Deputy CNO for Information, Plans and Strategy in charge of this ambitious undertaking.
The Conversation with America was dismissed by some pundits, almost from the outset, as just politically-driven grandstanding or a public relations ploy by the Navy. Having attended some half dozen conferences as the process rolled along, throwing my own two cents in more than once, I beg to differ. The latest event in this Great Seapower Dialogue was a talk and dinner with about 50 people last night at NYC’s Cornell Club, where VADM Morgan spoke for ten minutes and then fielded Q&A for an hour. Yours truly was there, and was favorably impressed. The discussion was lively, at times even passionate. Morgan –- an effective public speaker –- answered every difficult question head on, with no evasion or double-talk, while absor
guys through training to operate said platforms and voila! Not so fast, Hamid Karzai! The "rebirth" of the Afghan Air Force, at one time a fairly formidable force in the region with an inventory of Soviet-provided aircraft, is on its way, however.
