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Iran's Rouhani in Kuwait to soothe Gulf ties
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
How Indian IT gamed the H-1B for cost-cutting US clients
[ZDNet] For over a decade now, USCIS grants H-1Bs through a computer-generated lottery, and you would think that this serves as an excellent, unbiased way to distribute these work visas. The problem is, while an employee can only submit one Labour Condition Application (an approval by the Department of Labour and a pre-requisite for a H-1B visa), there is no limit to the number of applications that a firm can submit for that one job. If a firm then submits 10 applications with the names of 10 other staff, no prizes for guessing how much the odds of getting a visa for solo applicants such as you or I in a lottery increase.

Therefore, most small companies seeking that one visa for a tough-to-find biophysics engineer or a robotics expert will in all probability lose out to a $60,000 low-end IT programmer with an H-1B from India who most probably performs mundane and routine software tasks for a large American company. So, when people furiously debate about whether there is a shortage or a surplus of STEM workers, the answer in fact may be both -- a shortage at the upper end for specialized work and a sudden surplus of low-end tech candidates who have been crowded out of the market.

Two things clearly indicate that these H-1Bs are no AI or robotics geniuses: Employers who hire H-1Bs need to show that these recruits are not displacing American workers. However, the exception to that rule is if the new hire's annual salary is greater than $60,000. No surprise that the median salary for most outsourcing firms is just a shade north of this number.

Also, it doesn't come as a shocker that not a single technology services company was among the top 200 in terms of patents granted according to Mint -- at least one marker for cutting edge innovation -- while close to half of the total hire didn't have more than a Bachelor's degree.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/16/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I know that certain high-tech companies go looking for specific foreigners to fill specific roles. Probably because they take less money. The legal team is told who needs to be hired, then they go to work. They interview the guy and find out all sorts of details about his life, and write up what they need so that it includes these details, including specific dialects spoken sometimes, etc.. Then they advertise for a candidate, probably in the same closet the jaguar is hiding in in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", and lo and behold, the only guy who responds is the guy they have in their hand! Voila, instant H1-B.
Posted by: gorb || 02/16/2017 14:19 Comments || Top||

#2  And the kickback to the offshore account Gorb, don't forget that. More middlemen and markups than Tony Soprano's liquor business.

"What's the rate?"
"I'll get you a guy for 3/4 of that"
"I'll get you another guy, offshore, for half"
"You get two guys for 5/4 the wages of what you're paying now, and 24 hr service"
"With 1 local and 2 guys offshore you get 3 for less than the price of two. Round it up to two and we'll call the difference an 'assurance premium', rebated after the first year."
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/16/2017 17:29 Comments || Top||


Three days in Chicago: three kids shot, two killed
[CHICAGO.SUNTIMES] Three children were shot in reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,...
in less than three days -- two fatally -- with the third still at death's door with a gunshot wound to her head.

None was old enough to attend high school. One was three years away from starting kindergarten. All were unintended targets.

Coming on the heels of the most violent year since the mid-90s, Chicago’s 2017 gun violence stats have held steady, with more than 70 homicides in the first 45 days of the year, according to records from police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Three child victims in less than a week, though, is an uncommonly high number.

"One victim of one shooting is one too many, but when innocent children are caught in the crossfire of gun violence and young people have their childhood stolen by stray bullets, our consciences are shaken and our hearts are broken," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in an emailed statement Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Malaysia police arrest 'Vietnamese' woman over North Korean killing
[AFP] Malaysian police probing the killing of the half-brother of North Korea's leader tossed in the clink
You have the right to remain silent...
a woman Wednesday as they tried to unravel a Cold War-style liquidation the South said was carried out by Pyongyang's agents.

As Seoul pointed the finger at poison-wielding female spies from North of their shared border, police in Kuala Lumpur said they were holding a woman with a Vietnamese passport.

Her arrest came around 24 hours after news broke of the death of Kim Jong-Nam, the elder sibling of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, with reports saying female assassins had sprayed toxins in his face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

CCTV images that emerged in Malaysian media, purportedly of one of the suspects, showed an Asian woman wearing a white top with the letters "LOL" emblazoned on the front.

Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said 28-year-old Doan Thi Huong was arrested at the airport on Wednesday morning -- two days after the killing.

The suspect was "positively identified from the CCTV footage at the airport and was alone at the time of arrest," Khalid said in a statement.

Meanwhile,
...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck reached for the green sauce...
pathologists in the Malaysian capital examined the body for clues as to how he died, in a killing that has echoes of Soviet-era spycraft.

If confirmed, the liquidation, which analysts said could have been ordered over reports he was readying to defect, would be the highest-profile death on Kim Jong-Un's watch since the 2013 execution of his uncle, Jang Song-Thaek, in a country with a long record of meting out brutal deaths.

- Seizure -
South Korea's spy chief Lee Byung-Ho said the two women struck on Monday morning as Kim was readying to board a flight to Macau where he has spent many years in exile.

Malaysian police said Kim, a portly 45-year-old, was walking through the departure hall when he was attacked.

"He told the receptionist... someone had grabbed his face from behind and splashed some liquid on him," Selangor state's criminal investigation chief Fadzil Ahmat was reported as saying by Malaysia's The Star newspaper.

"He asked for help and was immediately sent to the airport’s clinic. At this point, he was experiencing headache and was on the verge of passing out," said Fadzil.

"At the clinic, the victim experienced a mild seizure. He was put into an ambulance and was being taken to the Putrajaya Hospital when he was pronounced dead.
He's dead, Jim!
An autopsy at Kuala Lumpur Hospital's forensics department was completed by Wednesday evening, Selangor Police Chief Abdul Samah Mat told AFP, but said no results had yet been issued by the hospital.

A black Jaguar sedan bearing the North Korean flag was seen outside the department, and four officials wearing flag pins were observed within the forensics compound.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Agents Find Catapult at Meskin Border
Following up on a tip by the U.S. Border Patrol, Mexican authorities in the border town of Agua Prieta seized a catapult being used to throw bundles of marijuana and possibly other drugs over the border to Douglas, Arizona.
Texas Petraria Arcatinus counter-battery. Payload and range CLASSIFIED.
Agents patrolling the Douglas area last week said they sensed suspicious activity when a group of men started to run away as they were approaching. When the agents got to the south side of the border fence they discovered the catapult system attached to it.

Two bundles of marijuana weighing more than 47 pounds combined were found nearby.
Posted by: Flaish Crosing6265 || 02/16/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Narcos

#1  What I like is the way the catapult was actually attached to main supports on the fence structure. That shows adaptability.
Posted by: ed in texas || 02/16/2017 7:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Somebody suggested here a few days ago that we use a trebuchet on our side of the border to send some of their people back to them.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/16/2017 12:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Clever design, if not a bit heavy and awkward.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/16/2017 12:19 Comments || Top||

#4  The wall just got to be 200' high.
Posted by: gorb || 02/16/2017 15:21 Comments || Top||

#5  Installed by the Seniola Cartel Airborne Division.
Posted by: Nero White 3083 || 02/16/2017 17:42 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
2,000 Royal Caribbean passengers stranded after ship fails life jacket inspection
[FoxNews] Over 2,000 passengers who thought they'd be sailing to the Bahamas this week were unexpectedly delayed at port after a Royal Caribbean cruise ship failed an annual Coast Guard safety inspection Monday.

The Majesty of the Seas was scheduled departure from Port Canaveral, Fla. late Monday but Coast Guard officials ordered the liner to remain docked on Valentine's Day after inspectors found multiple safety infractions, including the vessel's life preservers that were "showing their age", according to Florida Today.
Only "showing their age"? Makes me wonder either they pissed someone off or forgot to make a contribution.
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 02/16/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Too many times reported events mask reality. It's easier for readers to believe some graft event (via 'life preservers') is to be blamed for ending the cruise than the less remote possibility of the Coast Guard actually stopping a disaster.

If you think a blown airliner with hundreds of passengers is bad, imagine the cascading impact on the passenger maritime industries when a billion dollar 'soft target' vessel goes down with thousands of passengers, on a Valentine's Day cruise.

I call it a good cover of fake news.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/16/2017 4:11 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
South Carolina Boeing workers reject unionization bid
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/16/2017 10:45 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Under NLRB rules, workers must wait a year before another union vote

"you'll keep voting til you get it right!"
Posted by: Frank G || 02/16/2017 11:03 Comments || Top||

#2  ...Had Hilary! won, that's exactly what would have happened. I know some folks who work there and though I've not talked with them since the vote, they had all been of the feeling that the sentiment was overwhelmingly against the union...but there was a lot of pressure from the NLRB, much like there had been at the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee a while back. The Obama NLRB had the attitude that right-to-work states needed to be broken - problem was that the workers didn't agree.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 02/16/2017 20:55 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
And on this date in 1838 - Bloukrans and Moordspruit ('Blue Cliff and Spring of Murder')
Caution: Opens to musiek.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/16/2017 06:50 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'll take musiek over a naked Lena Dunham.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/16/2017 7:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Serious business, that, but I could not help thinking of Green Grass and High Tides Forever...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/16/2017 9:42 Comments || Top||

#3  If it wasn't the Zulus, it was the Mormons, who have never lived down 9/11/1857.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_massacre
An eye for an eye until all are blind.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/16/2017 16:11 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
'I don't want problems' with Trump, says Venezuela's Maduro
[REUTERS] Venezuela's socialist leader Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday that he wanted to avoid confrontation with new U.S. President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
"I don't want problems with the Trump administration," Maduro said in a speech, after Trump held various conversations with other Latin American leaders expressing concern over Venezuela. "We want respectful relations with the new administration."
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  You have more problems with your own people and your idiot rule over them with that idiot socialist idiot system that only idiot Leaders want who eventually get beheaded from the idiots that live under that idiot system, idiot.

You are low on the totem pole, inless I see Hezbolla and IRGC there.

OOOPS, IDIOT.

Now I have a problem with you. Idiot.
Posted by: newc || 02/16/2017 1:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe Trump can appease the CIA by letting them organize coup - their favorite pastime, in Venezuela?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/16/2017 2:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Naw. let them idiot on. When they find Cuba and Iran is not there for them, they self flush. I see them falling through the marble floor they stand on.

THIS IS SPARTA.
Posted by: newc || 02/16/2017 3:32 Comments || Top||

#4  It's about Washington, not Venezuela, newc.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/16/2017 3:53 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China deploying troops along North Korea border
[UPI] China is deploying troops along its border with North Korea, as Pyongyang could be preparing a fifth nuclear test ahead of its Seventh Party Congress in May.

The Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, a nongovernmental organization in Hong Kong, announced Wednesday that Beijing has dispatched 2,000 soldiers along the border, South Korean news service Newsis reported.

China has previously deployed troops along its border with North Korea.

In January after Pyongyang announced a "successful" hydrogen bomb test, China reportedly sent 3,000 soldiers to its northeastern region, and also sent troops during the North-South land mine provocation last August. In late 2013, China also dispatched troops in response to the execution of Kim's uncle-in-law, Jang Sung Taek.

The center also said more Chinese military personnel were stationed at two major observation posts, and the guards are acting as lookouts 24 hours a day.

Some of the troops are responsible for measuring the radioactive material that could be emitted in the event of a North Korea nuclear test, the Center said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Lemme know when they mass two hundred thousand.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/16/2017 12:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Kabuki. They could rein in their little yappy dog in a coup in an instant
Posted by: Frank G || 02/16/2017 12:23 Comments || Top||


Europe
German authorities investigate imams as possible Turkish spies
[IsraelTimes] Group said to have used status as Islamic holy mans to gather intelligence on supporters of US-based Erdogan opponent Fethullah Gulen.

German authorities on Wednesday raided the apartments of four Islamic holy mans suspected of spying on opponents of the Turkish government, accusing them of hiding behind religion to conduct espionage on behalf of Ankara.

The federal prosecutors’ office said the morning raids in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rheinland-Palatinate were carried out to collect evidence, and no arrests were made. The unidentified targets are suspected of spying on supporters of US-based holy man Fethullah Gulen
... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world...
, who is accused by the Turkish government of orchestrating a July 15 coup.

Prosecutors say the four men affiliated with the DITIB, the union of Turkish-Islamic cultural organizations in Germany, are suspected of passing the information on to the Turkish consulate in Cologne
...a lovely city in Germany. They invented perfume there...
DITIB had no comment when reached by telephone and did not immediately respond to an email query.

Last week, when an official of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency said that 13 imams affiliated with DITIB had sent the names of alleged supporters of Gulen to the Turkish government’s Office for Religious Affairs, Diyanet, the union said it was not involved and that Diyanet supervised imams directly.

Following the raids, Justice Minister Heiko Maas said the government expects "DITIB to promptly and completely explain the allegations."

"Whoever uses Islam as a cover for espionage cannot rely (for protection) on the freedom of religion," he said. "If the suspicion that some DITIB imams were spying is confirmed, the organization must be seen, at least in parts, as a long arm of the Turkish government."

Earlier this week, an Austrian politician raised concerns that Turkish diplomatic offices around the world were gathering information to try to undermine organizations loyal to Gulen, who denies involvement in the coup. Austrian Greens Parliamentarian Peter Pilz said memos from the Turkish Embassy in Vienna and the Turkish Consulate in Salzburg showed ATIB, the Austrian equivalent to DITIB, sending in reports on Gulen-backed organizations, with the information then forwarded to Ankara. Pilz spoke of a "global spying network," saying his team was working on publishing similar documents from 30 other countries in Europe, Africa and Asia.

The matter came up when German Chancellor Angela Merkel
...current chancellor of Germany and the impetus behind Germany's remarkably ill-starred immigration program. Merkel used to be referred to by Germans as Mom...
visited Ankara at the beginning of February, and Merkel said that "confusion must not arise here."

"If we have problems, for example with the Gulen movement, and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
has information about that, then our security authorities must discuss that with each other," she said after meeting Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

She stressed that she wants people of Turkish origin in Germany "to be able to have access to their imams. So confusion or this feeling that people here are being observed or spied on must be dispelled from the start."
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/16/2017 01:44 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Can I borrow someone's Surprised Face, I can't seem to find mine.

Posted by: AlanC || 02/16/2017 8:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Nothing gets past these folks.
Posted by: gorb || 02/16/2017 14:12 Comments || Top||


Nigel Farage Warns European Parliament: "You're In For A Bigger Shock In 2017"
[ZEROHEDGE] Partial Farage Transcript

I feel like I am attending a meeting of a religious sect here this morning. It’s as if the global revolution of 2016, Brexit, Trump, the Italian rejection of the referendum, has completely bypassed you.

You can’t face up to the fact that this bandwagon is going to roll across Europe in these elections in 2017. A lot of citizens now recognize this form of centralized government simply doesn’t work. … At the heart of it is a fundamental point: Mr. [name not recognized] this morning said, the people want more Europe.

Many of you here will probably despise your own voters for what I am about to say because just last week, Chatham House, the reputable group, published a massive survey from 10 Europen states, and only 20% of people want immigration from Muslim countries to continue. Just 20%. … Which means your voters have a harder line position on this than Donald Trump, or myself, or frankly any party sitting in this Parliament.
They don’t. The people want less Europe. We see this again and again when people have referendums and they reject aspects of EU membership. But something more fundamental is going on out there. …. No doubt, many of you here will probably despise your own voters for what I am about to say because just last week, Chatham House, the reputable group, published a massive survey from 10 Europen states, and only 20% of people want immigration from Muslim countries to continue. Just 20%. … Which means your voters have a harder line position on this than Donald Trump, or myself, or frankly any party sitting in this Parliament. I simply cannot believe you are blind to the fact that even Mrs. Merkel has now made a u-turn and wants to send people back. Even Mr. Schulz thinks it is a good idea.

And the fact is, the Europen Union has no future at all in its current form. And I suspect you are in for as big a shock in 2017 as you were in 2016.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nigel Farage, The Man Who Saved Britain

he is glorious in his entireity. From becoming an MEP and using it as a beating stick against them, to UKIP, Brexit and supporting Trump.

The man is a demigod
Posted by: anon1 || 02/16/2017 9:30 Comments || Top||

#2  I've read a fair bit from the UK and get the feeling that they have a RINO problem where the establishment is globalist regardless of what the people want or do.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/16/2017 11:28 Comments || Top||

#3  yes Alan C I get that feeling too. Theresa May is right now supporting sharia courts by having a fake inquiry into them so she can whitewash the problems and on they go.

the UK bipartisan now will not touch Islamism because they've simply imported so many Muslims they are making a voting bloc that got the London Mayor elected
Posted by: anon1 || 02/16/2017 16:21 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Balochistan bans sale of 10 firms’ medicines
[DAWN] QUETTA: The government of Balo­chistan has banned the sale of medicines of 10 pharmaceutical companies allegedly involved in manufacturing spurious drugs, and warned chemists and medical stores of strict action if they are found trading with these firms.

Presiding over a meeting of the Provincial Quality Control Board (PQCB) on Tuesday, Health Secretary Noorul Haq Baloch shuffled drug inspectors in view of their performance, besides setting up a special monitoring cell which will submit a daily report regarding an ongoing campaign.

The meeting observed that many firms in Sindh and Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....

were producing spurious medicines and selling them in Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
and other provinces through their agents.

It took a serious note of doctors of government and private hospitals prescribing to their patients the medicines of companies involved in illegal manufacture of drugs.

Participants of the meeting vowed not to let anyone play with the lfie of people and decided that every possible action would be taken against owners of medical stores involved in the life-threatening business.

PQBC Chairman and Additional Secretary Abdul Rauf Baloch informed the meeting that 138 cases of selling spurious and junk medicines were sent to courts in 2016-17, while over 30 medical stores had been sealed in Quetta during the campaign.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Is "spurious medicine" covered by Obamacare?
Posted by: Frank G || 02/16/2017 14:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Spurious medicine IS Obamacare, Frank.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/16/2017 16:44 Comments || Top||


Musharraf admits receiving 'assistance' from King Abdullah to buy offshore property
[DAWN] Former president General (retd) Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
disclosed that he had received millions of US dollars from Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
back in 2009 to purchase apartments in London and Dubai.

In an interview with Nadeem Malik on Samaa TV, he claimed that he had received "financial assistance" from King Abdul Aziz back in 2009. However,
corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds...
Musharraf avoided to disclose the details, saying that it was a "private affair" so he would not go into details.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


International-UN-NGOs
Carrier ops be hard
Both from Strategy Page, so salt to taste:

Indian Carriers Forced To Go Naked

In early 2017 the Indian Navy issued a request for foreign suppliers to bid on a $15 billion contract to supply 57 jet fighter-bombers capable of operating from an aircraft carrier. This comes after a late 2016 announcement by the navy that India’s locally designed and built LCA (Light Combat Aircraft or "Tejas") jet fighter was unsuitable for use on Indian aircraft carriers.

The navy mentioned the LCA being overweight and, well, simply not suitable. With some encouragement from the government the navy amended its decision to include the possibility that 46 of the LCA Mk2 (due in 2025) might be ordered if the empty weight could be reduced 15 percent (from 6.6 tons to 5.6 tons). Currently the max weight is 13.5 tons and armament is one twin barrel 23mm autocannon and up to 3.5 tons of missiles and bombs. Internal fuel is 2.5 tons and that can be increased by at least 40 percent via drop tanks. Many in the navy don’t believe LCA will survive until 2025 and the government seems to concur and authorized the navy to seek a suitable carrier aircraft abroad.
So even when it's empty it's too heavy. Good bird for a carrier. Talk about a 'lawn dart'...
Actually the Indian navy already has a foreign built carrier jet but is seeking other suppliers. The Indian Navy bought Russian 16 MiG-29K jets for their new aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya. The Indians were not happy with the performance of the Russian work on the Vikramaditya or the MiG-29K. There have been problems and disappointments.
There's a theme here, see if you can figure it out...
The same could be said with the way India buys foreign weapons. What is going on here? It is all about the infamous Indian procurement bureaucracy. That includes the problem with the procurement bureaucracy being so inefficient that even when the military gets the money to buy some foreign system it can take a decade of more for the bureaucrats to make it happen. With Indian made weapons there is also corruption and inefficiency in state owned firms. That was the main reason the Indian Air Force and Navy went public with their pleas for the government not to force them to accept and operate the LCA.
There's a whole lot more, including that the Indian Air Force would be better off with used F-16 aircraft. Wonder how well those work on a carrier?

Rooshun carrier ops beset with problems

Recently the only Russian aircraft carrier (the Kuznetsov) completed its longest and busiest cruise yet, spending 117 days at sea and carrying out 420 aircraft takeoffs using its Su-33s and MiG-29Ks jets. Some of those flights were for combat missions in Syria. That level of activity comes out to 3.6 fixed wing aircraft operations per day. While doing that two jets were lost. Russia considered this a training cruise that cost less than $200 million.

While it demonstrated the Russian carrier could carry out flight operations it did them at a lower level of intensity and with far more accidents than their U.S. Navy counterparts. An American carrier averages about 24 catapult assisted aircraft operations a day over careers that last more than 40 years. The accident rate is much lower than what the Russians experienced. While the Russians may not gain much from this achievement, the Chinese are paying attention because the Chinese, unlike the Russians, already have one carrier operational and another one under construction. The Chinese, in a way, are out to finish what the Kuznetsov started. Kuznetsov has an interesting history that started back in the 1970s and eventually involved China as well.

Kuznetsov entered service in 1995, after a decade of construction. The Kuznetsov was an experiment to see if Russia could build and operate a large carrier. Kuznetsov is a 65,000 ton (full load) ship that uses a ski jump type flight deck instead of a steam catapult. The ship normally carries a dozen navalized Su-27s (called Su-33s), 14 Ka-27PL anti-submarine helicopters, two electronic warfare helicopters and two search and rescue helicopters. The ship carries 2,500 tons of aviation fuel, allowing it to generate 500-1,000 aircraft and helicopter sorties. Crew size is 2,500 (or 3,000 with a full aircraft load.) The crew size for the recent trip to Syria was only 2,000.

Originally the Russians planned to build four or more large (similar to the American Nimitz class) nuclear powered carriers. But they soon realized (in the late 1970s) that this was beyond their capabilities or resources. After 2000 the Russian Navy began to rebuild and again made plans to build five or more larger carriers but by 2010 it was clear the money was not there and would not be for a long time. So Kuznetsov, after nearly 40 years of effort, appears to be the end of the line for Russian carriers.

While the Kuznetsov was undergoing a 24 month refurbishment in 2005-7, the navy realized that the Su-33 was also in need of replacement and in 2009 ordered 24 MiG-29Ks to replace the Su-33s. In 2008 the carrier version of the Russian MiG-29, the MiG-29K, made its first flight, about fifteen years later than originally planned. The MiG-29K modifications included arrestor gear and stronger landing gear for carrier landings, folding wings and rust proofing to reduce corrosion from all that salt water. Anti-radar paint is also used, to reduce the radar signature. Fuel capacity was increased 50 percent and more modern electronics installed. A more powerful engine is used, which enabled the aircraft to carry over five tons of weapons (air-to-air and anti-ship missiles, smart bombs).

In 2007, after two years of refurbishment, returned to service. But the refurb, like the original construction, was sloppy.
Rooshun yard work sloppy? Who ever heard of such a thing?
Ten years later the Kuznetsov finally got a chance to do what it was designed for (long cruises to distant waters) and demonstrated that it could go through the motions but not much more than that.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/16/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You missed one.
Brazil decided to shutdown carrier air and scrap their old French carrier once known as Foch and currently São Paulo (A12).

Posted by: 3dc || 02/16/2017 0:57 Comments || Top||

#2  On 14 February 2017, the Navy announced that the ship will be demobilized and subsequently decommissioned.
Posted by: 3dc || 02/16/2017 0:58 Comments || Top||

#3  With one-engined planes over water,
We'll make of the Pakis a slaughter,
But if'n we're damaged
And fishes are famished,
We'll shoo them away with our shutter.

Alternatively...

The Indians' martial impatience,
In contrast to meat-eating nations,
Secures them the vanguard
Where others say, "too hard:"
"Commencing unmanned operations!"

"I meant to do that."
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 02/16/2017 1:10 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm having a Zen Flog moment here. Please do not interrupt me.
Posted by: newc || 02/16/2017 3:35 Comments || Top||

#5  There's a whole lot more, including that the Indian Air Force would be better off with used F-16 aircraft. Wonder how well those work on a carrier?

Back when the F-16 was the Latest Thing(TM), Vought Aircraft - desperate to stay in business with the F-8 Crusader gone and the A-7 Corsair II going - proposed a navalized version of the F-16 as a cheaper alternative to the F-18, which had some fairly serious problems in its earliest versions. The USN said no, mainly because the Sea Falcon only had one engine, and USN aircraft must have two engines to increase the safety margin at sea.

Fast forward to 2017. How many engines does the F-35 have again?

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 02/16/2017 5:34 Comments || Top||

#6  F16 and F18 came out of the same light weight program, but put current models next to each other and you should notice that the landing gear of the F16 looks like toothpicks compared to the F18. Carrier landings are brute force efforts not to crash on a postage stamp.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 02/16/2017 10:04 Comments || Top||

#7  Should start with a helicopter carrier anyways. India really doesn't have need of a full carrier and they can work up the institutional knowledge without catapults and very expensive jets.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/16/2017 11:15 Comments || Top||

#8  As far as Russian equipment being sub par, you have to remember that Russia's design plan has long been 'It only has to work correctly once!'
(I give you the engines of the MiG25 as an example...)
Posted by: ed in texas || 02/16/2017 19:16 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
NASA, heeding Trump, may add astronauts to a test flight moon mission
[WASHINGTONPOST] President Trump has indicated that he wants to make a splash in space. During his transition, he spoke with historian Douglas Brinkley about John F. Kennedy's famous 1961 vow to go to the moon before the decade was out. Now Trump and his aides may do something very similar: demand that NASA send astronauts to orbit the moon before the end of Trump's first term -- a move that one Trump adviser said would be a clear signal to the Chinese that the U.S. intends to retain dominance in space.

NASA already has a plan to launch its new, jumbo Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with an Orion capsule on top in late 2018, a mission known as EM-1. No one would be aboard. The capsule would orbit the moon and return to Earth, splashing down in the ocean.

This is intended as the first test flight of SLS and part of the integration of the new rocket and new capsule. Significantly, the SLS and Orion are both still under construction.

According to current plans, a crewed mission, EM-2, would not be launched until several years later under the NASA timeline -- certainly not during Trump's current term. That crewed mission would also orbit the moon.

But on Wednesday, NASA's acting administrator, Robert Lightfoot, sent a letter to employees saying he'd instructed the top NASA official for human spaceflight, associate administrator William Gerstenmaier, to explore the feasibility of adding astronauts to the EM-1 flight.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  NO!

a better article by rocket scientists

If you want really bullets look at twitter and redit.

Even more look at what is said about the next session of the space committee:

Tomorrow Feb 16th, 2017 the House Science Committee has the following hearing:

https://science.house.gov/legislation/hearings/full-committee-hearing-nasa-past-present-and-future

Witnesses

Hon. Harrison Schmitt

Apollo 17 Astronaut; Former United States Senator

Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford

Gemini VI, Gemini IX, Apollo 10, Apollo-Soyuz Test Project Astronaut; Chairman, NASA International Space Station Advisory Committee

Dr. Ellen Stofan

Former Chief Scientist, NASA

Mr. Tom Young

Past Director, Goddard Spaceflight Center; Past President/COO, Martin Marietta; Past Chairman, SAIC

The title of the hearing includes the words "past," "present" and "future," but the witnesses all seem to be from the past. Glorious though that past is, this doesn't seem to me to be a good basis for discussing the future.
This is what I meant when I said NASA is living off of its legacy.

How do we change it? How do we make space economical?


I feel it's the same answer it's always been, keep NASA out of the rocket business...

Witnesses:
Hon. Harrison Schmitt -- Age: 82, last served in House 35 years ago
Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford -- Age: 87, retired from USAF 38 years ago
Mr. Thomas Young -- Age: 79, retired from LM 22 years ago
Dr. Ellen Stofan -- Age: 56, NASA Chief Scientist

One member stands out as an active scientist and potential contributor to the discussion of
bold and innovative missions going forward. Is this the best the House of Representatives can do?
Posted by: 3dc || 02/16/2017 0:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Struggling so hard to do what's already been done, why?

Water on the moon, GREAT!
Lava tunnels, cool.
Solar, fantastic!

Melt the water.
Spray, freeze, seal the tunnels.
Apply insulative polymer.
Move in.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/16/2017 7:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Read the InLine tweets of one set of reporters at the hearing.... heh https://twitter.com/NASAWatch
Posted by: 3dc || 02/16/2017 12:08 Comments || Top||

#4  this tweet is great:

Posted by: 3dc || 02/16/2017 12:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Rep. Mo Brooks R-AL thinks that Saturn V "flew every 2 months"

Maybe this caused gerbil worming?
Posted by: gorb || 02/16/2017 15:17 Comments || Top||



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Thu 2017-02-16
  Iran's Rouhani in Kuwait to soothe Gulf ties
Wed 2017-02-15
  Report: Turkey arrests alleged Reina nightclub attack planner
Tue 2017-02-14
  Islamic State leadership targeted in air strike, Baghdadi fate unclear: Iraqi military
Mon 2017-02-13
  Tahrir al-Sham: Al-Qaeda's latest incarnation in Syria
Sun 2017-02-12
  72 convicted of terrorism from 'Trump 7' mostly Muslim countries
Sat 2017-02-11
  Queens ISIS wannabe pleads guilty to attacking FBI agent with a knife in the name of the terror group
Fri 2017-02-10
  Members of UK sex grooming gang face deportation to Pakistan
Thu 2017-02-09
  Man sentenced to 30 years for ISIS support in Texas shooting
Wed 2017-02-08
  100 Syrian Refugees Rush into Country After Seattle Judge Halts Trump Executive Order
Tue 2017-02-07
  Firing in Afghan consulate in Karachi leaves diplomat dead
Mon 2017-02-06
  Senior Hamas Commander Dies in ‘Work Accident’
Sun 2017-02-05
  Syrian Democratic Forces launch new anti-ISIS operation in eastern Raqqa
Sat 2017-02-04
  Louvre terror attack: Egyptian man, 'who arrived in France in January' shot five times after attacking soldier with machete
Fri 2017-02-03
  ISIS sets ablaze Syria’s largest source of gas as Syrian Army closes on their positions
Thu 2017-02-02
  German Report: Iran Tested Nuclear-Capable Cruise Missile

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