For the U.S. Navy, it never rains but it pours -- and the storm clouds are gathering. After years spent designing and billions spent building a fleet of Littoral Combat Ships that were supposed to become one of its most numerous and versatile ship classes, the Navy was chagrined to learn last year that Congress is not at all enthused with the LCS.
At one time, the LCS fleet was supposed to number 55 ships, each capable of performing missions ranging from surface combat to antisubmarine warfare to minesweeping, as the situation called for. But as criticism of the design mounted, the number of LCS's desired has shrunk -- and its mission has been curtailed. At last report, Congress supported a plan to build only 32 LCS's, and to relegate them almost exclusively to minesweeping missions.
Now, it turns out, they might not even be able to do that.
The right tools for the job
The reason, as revealed in a damning report recently published by the Pentagon's own Directorate of Operational Test and Evaluation, is that the Remote Minehunting System (RMS) designed for the LCS's to use on minesweeping missions -- well, to put it bluntly, doesn't work .
Built by Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT), RMS is basically a robot submarine, designed to be remotely controlled by an LCS mothership, and used to detect and mark underwater mines for later disposal. Unfortunately, after more than 15 years of development, RMS still often fails to find its target. Over the course of tests begun in September 2014, RMS failed to locate mines at least two dozen times. The eight drones undergoing tests also broke down seven times, necessitating retrieval and towing back to port.
The failures to locate mines appear to be primarily attributable to Raytheon (NYSE:RTN), which built the sonar system for RMS. But the breakdowns, and additional failures of RMS to reliably communicate with its mothership, are problems that Lockheed Martin must own.
Lockheed defends RMS's performance as having met at least some "key performance parameters," and says the system is still "on track for delivery." But DOT&E says RMS's performance "has not been acceptable," and "would not be operationally effective." Moreover, the Navy isn't 100% convinced Lockheed will ever work the bugs out. According to DOT&E, RMS's "reliability plateaued nearly a decade ago," and with little improvement seen since, the Pentagon is unsure RMS "will ever achieve its reliability goals."
Money for nothing (and the checks for free)
To date, the Pentagon has paid Lockheed Martin "nearly $700 million" to develop RMS, according to CNN. Bloomberg notes that $109 million was spent to buy the first batch of eight drones from Lockheed. A further $700 million could soon be spent to acquire a further 46 drones -- but only if the Pentagon decides the system can be salvaged, and proceeds with its planned purchases.
Probably, this money will eventually be spent -- because even if RMS is just a work in progress, some kind of minehunting system is essential if the Navy's Littoral Combat Ships are to fulfill their minesweeping role. Failure to spend this money could jeopardize the entire $23 billion investment in building the warships in the first place. That said, it's not a given that this money will be spent on Lockheed's RMS.
After all, it's common knowledge that several other companies have been working on submarine drones for the Navy, including drones for minesweeping roles. Just this past summer, we saw the Navy award a series of pretty sizable contracts -- in the $800 million to $1.4 billion range -- for defense contractors able to supply the Navy with new and improved hardware and software systems for robotic minehunting.
What's behind Door No. 2?
For that matter, Lockheed isn't even the only shop with a mature minesweeping system in the works. General Dynamics' (NYSE:GD) Knifefish, for example, is a 1,700-pound minehunting robot currently under development in partnership with Oceaneering International. The Navy plans to buy as many as four dozen of those, and -- theoretically, at least -- they could be purchased instead of, rather than in addition to, Lockheed Martin's RMS.
For that matter, if Lockheed seemed to be a "lock" to win funding for its LCS-based RMS because the company builds one of the two main LCS variants (the Freedom class) -- well, General Dynamics built the other LCS variant, the Independence class. If General Dynamics comes up with a working robotic minesweeper before Lockheed Martin does, then it's entirely possible that funding originally designated for Lockheed's RMS system, which doesn't work, could shift to General Dynamics' Knifefish -- which does.
If the embed doesn't show up, you can use the link to see the video. Otherwise, I have discovered that if you wait a while, the link magically gets fixed. ;-)
A medical document shows that Adolf Hitler only had one testicle, German media said on Saturday, suggesting there is some truth after all to a popular British song that says the dictator had "only got one ball". That's better than a certain modern leader of the free world can claim.
There has long been speculation that Hitler was missing one testicle, with rumors circulating that he lost the other one during the Battle of the Somme in the First World War.
But a medical record from the time when Hitler was put in prison after the failed Munich beer hall putsch in 1923 shows he suffered from "right-side cryptorchidism" - a condition where a testicle fails to descend into the scrotum - media reports said. Actually, it may have been found. But we can't be sure until after the autopsy when we open 0bean's skull.
The doctor's notes were thought to have been missing for years but reappeared at an auction in 2010, at which point they were seized by authorities.
"The experienced medical officer immediately recognized the condition!" top-selling newspaper Bild quoted historian Peter Fleischmann, who has studied the record, as saying.
Fleischmann could not immediately be reached for comment. Neither could Hitler. Or his missing ball.
#3
The commenters at the link aren't terribly impressed. The below, posted yesterday, was also informative -- anyone know if Mr. Dunnigan was correct?
by James Dunnigan
January 9, 2013
The Pakistan Air Force is losing nearly two percent of its 900 aircraft each year to accidents. This is more than ten times the rate of Western air forces. These losses are caused by aircraft that are too old and a budget that is too small to properly train pilots and maintain the aircraft. Most of Pakistanâs 520 fighters are over 20 years old. This includes 157 French made Mirage IIIs and 5s, 178 of 186 MiG-21s (the Chinese F-7 version), and 31 of 77 U.S. made F-16s. There have been some new aircraft put into service. Since 2000, Pakistan has received 46 F-16s and 100 Chinese made JF-17s (similar to the F-16). These planes are pretty safe. Older aircraft tend to crash more often.
Pakistan does not have enough money to buy enough new aircraft to replace all those becoming inoperable because of age. You can refurbish old aircraft and keep them flying for half a century or more. But Pakistan hasnât got the money for that either. Thereâs also not enough cash for the spare parts and fuel needed for the training flights needed to keep the 3,000 Pakistani Air Force pilots capable of handling high-performance aircraft safely. In short, the Pakistani Air Force is facing a disaster. Each year more and more of their aircraft become inoperable and their pilots, unable to fly enough to maintain their skill, become less capable.
Neighboring India has more money for new aircraft and training. And, like Pakistan, it is using its Mig-21s much less. The most accident-prone aircraft in both countries is the MiG-21. India built 657 of these under license. This seemed like a good idea at the time. The MiG-21 was an impressive looking and relatively inexpensive jet fighter half a century ago. Only much later, when it became clear that the MiG-21 was not very effective in combat, was it realized that all those spiffy looking MiGs were more liability than asset.
The MiG-21 was difficult to fly and maintain. In the end the MiG-21 was too expensive to maintain and too dangerous to fly. India made a mighty effort to make their MiGs safer to fly but the accident rate was still obviously higher than that of Western aircraft (especially the few that the Indian Air Force operated). The MiGs were called "flying coffins" and gave the air force a lot of bad publicity. India was not the only one, besides the Russians, who had problems with Russian made warplanes. During the Cold War the U.S. had several dozen Russian aircraft they used for training their fighter pilots. Despite energetic efforts to keep these aircraft flying, their accident rate was 100 per 100,000 flying hours. That's very high by U.S. standards. The new F-22 has an accident rate of about 6 per 100,000 hours, mainly because it's new. F-15s and F-16s have an accident rate of 3-4 per 100,000 flight hours. India, using mostly Russian aircraft, has an accident rate of 6-7 per 100,000 hours flown (compared to 4-5 for all NATO air forces). Pakistanâs accident rate is at least three times that of India.
All combat aircraft have, for decades, been getting more reliable, even as they became more complex. For example, in the early 1950s, the U.S. F-89 fighter had 383 accidents per 100,000 flying hours. A decade later the rate was in the 20s for a new generation of aircraft. At the time the F-4, which served into the 1990s, had a rate of less than 5 per 100,000 hours. Combat aircraft have gotten more reliable and easier to maintain, despite growing complexity, for the same reason automobiles have. Better engineering and more sensors built into equipment makes it easier for the user and maintenance personnel to detect potential problems. Aircraft used the computerized maintenance systems, currently common on new aircraft, long before automobiles got them. Unless you have a much older car that still runs, or a real good memory, you don't notice the enormous increase in automobile reliability. But older pilots remember because such changes were a matter of life and death if you make your living flying an aircraft. And commanders know that safer aircraft means more aircraft to use in combat and more aircraft that can survive combat damage and keep fighting.
India is solving the MiG problem by retiring all the older (bought before the 1990s) MiGs. Only the 67 MiG-29s are being kept in service. These aircraft were among a new generation of Russian combat aircraft, appearing at the end of the Cold War, that were built to Western standards. This made a big difference in the accident rate but not nearly enough. The MiG-29 crashed a lot and was much more expensive to maintain, especially compared to contemporary Russian fighters like the Su-27. For decades Sukhoi was the second largest Russian military aircraft supplier, and after the Cold War ended Sukhoi aircraft became the most common. The MiG aircraft appear to be at the end of the line.
[WND] The highly influential Center for American Progress, widely considered the "idea factory" for the Obama administration, has drawn up a blueprint for presidential executive action on gun control that goes beyond media descriptions of the proposal being weighed by the White House.
Since the mass shooting in Roseburg, Oregon, earlier this month, it's been widely reported that President Obama is considering circumventing Congress with executive action to tighten federal law on gun sales.
NBC News quoted administration officials saying Obama's major gun-control proposal would set specific guidelines for who is legally defined as a licensed gun dealer, since all licensed dealers are required to conduct background checks before conducting any sales.
The proposal, NBC News reported, would set quotas on yearly gun sales for individuals to qualify as legally being "in the business" of selling guns once they sell a certain number and thus become subject to all laws for gun dealers.
The news agency quoted sources revealing the White House is considering setting the quota at 50 or 100 gun sales per year as the threshold to trigger the requirements, although the sources added the administration has not formally settled on a specific number.
The reports of an executive action focus on a federal law that requires anyone "engage[d] in the business" of "dealing in firearms" to obtain a federal firearms license from ATF and become a licensed gun dealer.
Every licensed gun dealer is then mandated to conduct background checks prior to completing each gun sale.
#3
This is political theater. The triumph of show over substance.
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12/20/2015 14:52 Comments ||
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#4
"would set quotas on yearly gun sales for individuals to qualify as legally being "in the business" of selling guns once they sell a certain number and thus become subject to all laws for gun dealers."
And then the make that "certain number" 1
[AnNahar] A summit of Central American leaders in El Salvador on Friday failed to break a regional impasse over the fate of 5,000 U.S.-bound Cuban migrants blocked in Costa Rica for weeks.
"There was no solution at this summit to the problem with the Cuban migrants. There was no consensus over what should be done -- each country has its own point of view on the matter," Nicaragua's deputy foreign minister, Denis Moncada, told AFP.
He added that his country's view was that the United States should step in to offer a solution.
The Cubans -- another 1,200 of whom are also stranded in Panama -- have been left in limbo for a month, since Nicaragua closed its border to them on November 15 and posted soldiers and police to ensure none slipped in.
The migrants are the tail end of a stream of Cubans leaving their island in a bid to reach America, driven by a fear that thawing Washington-Havana ties might put an end to a Cold War-era US policy of accepting Cubans who step foot on U.S. soil.
That stream spiked higher this year, before Ecuador ended its visa-free entry for Cubans this month. That shut the door on their principal entry point to mainland Latin America before an overland slog through Central America and Mexico to the U.S. border.
Costa Rica, which in November dismantled a people-smuggling ring the Cubans had been relying on, has been trying in vain to get other Central American states to take in the migrants and let them continue their journey.
Nicaragua, though, has been steadfast in refusing them in.
Its stance spoke to longstanding tensions with Costa Rica over border disputes, one of which was this week ruled in Costa Rica's favor by the International Court of Justice. Nicaragua's alliance with Cuba's government is also seen as a factor.
Nicaragua's deputy foreign minister said Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis held bilateral meetings Friday with counterparts and Nicaragua's official handling the issue, but no agreement was found.
"Nicaragua has given its position in the matter: that the situation should be resolved not by Central America but by the United States since it is the one that has prompted many Cubans to want to try to get to it," Moncada said.
In a sign of Costa Rica's frustration, Solis left the summit before its close without making a promised speech on the Cuban migrant issue.
Nicaragua's government issued a statement to news hounds after the summit that "demands that the United States find a solution for the immediate and safe transfer to its territory of the thousands of Cubans blocked on this dangerous transit route."
Several of the other countries represented at the summit, which included host El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Belize and the Dominican Republic, called for a solution, but offered nothing concrete beyond insisting a consensus was needed.
The thousands of Cubans are being put up in schools and tents in northern Costa Rica, near the Nicaraguan border, waiting for their chance to continue their odyssey north.
[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: A local court on Saturday issued a show-cause notice to the station house officer (SHO) of Shalimar for booking a three-year-old boy in a plaza occupation case.
The SHO was ordered to appear before the court along with the record of the case on January 7.
According to the FIR, Mohammad Khalid complained to the police that Adil Asghar, his brother Usman, Mohammad Ishtiaq Bangash, Rafiq and Mustafa had occupied the basement of his plaza in Sector F-10. He said they also occupied some rooms on the ground and third floors and stole furniture from there.
The investigating officer of the case, Michael Gill, stated that after examining the complaint the accused were booked under section 380 (theft) and 448 (trespassing) of the Pakistain Penal Code.
The accused filed pre-arrest bail petitions with the sessions court.
When Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Raja Asif Mehmood took up the petitions, the little boy appeared in the court in the lap of his uncle.
When the judge asked why the boy was in the courtroom, he was informed that the boy was among the accused persons seeking pre-arrest bail.
"Did the boy also file the pre-arrest bail plea?" asked the judge. A lawyer representing the accused said since the police had registered the FIR against the boy, a bail petition on his behalf was also filed.
The judge granted bail to the accused and ordered the SHO to appear before the court with record.
Adil Asghar, one of the accused, told Dawn that the case was registered against them as the complainant was an activist of a political party.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: A total of 1,915 accused and their accomplices, including prominent politicians, prosecuted by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), have been acquitted by courts since the inception of the bureau in 1999.
According to documents of the Ministry of Law and Justice, of the 1,915 accused, 1,240 have been acquitted in Sindh, 314 in Punjab, 218 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 143 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... (KP).
The list contains the names of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... , his daughter Mariam Safdar, 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.... Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab... , former prime minister Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... , PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and his father Hakim Zardari, besides more than 30 politicians, including former chief ministers, federal and provincial ministers and politicians.
The document mentions the name of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar as an `approver' in the Hudaibia Paper Mills scam, in which all members of the Sharif family were acquitted.
Prominent politicians acquitted in different cases by accountability or high courts over the past 16 years are PML-N Senator Chaudhry Tanveer, Punjab PPP president Manzoor Wattoo, Minister for Defence Production Rana Tanveer Hussain, former Punjab minister Basharat Raja, Yousuf Talpur, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Jahangir Badar, Siraj Durrani and Islamuddin Sheikh of PPP and Khalid Kharal, Javed Hashmi, Riaz Fatiana, Liaquat Jatoi, Jam Mashooq Ali, Nawaz Khokhar and Anwar Saifullah Khan.
In July, NAB informed the Supreme Court that it was pursuing more than 150 major scams, involving about Rs568 billion acquired through financial and land allotment irregularities and abuse of power.
The list of pending cases also contains the names of big guns as respondents, including Prime Minister Sharif and his predecessors Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's former prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics could be awe-inspiring ... and Raja Pervez Ashraf, PML-Q leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Asif Ali Zardari, former federal and provincial ministers, senior government officials and individuals from banking and finance sectors.
When contacted, a NAB official said that he could not provide the number of convicted people but he could say that the conviction rate of those prosecuted by the bureau was good.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2015 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
For the U.S. Navy, it never rains but it pours -- and the storm clouds are gathering. After years spent designing and billions spent building a fleet of Littoral Combat Ships that were supposed to become one of its most numerous and versatile ship classes, the Navy was chagrined to learn last year that Congress is not at all enthused with the LCS.
A medical document shows that Adolf Hitler only had one testicle, German media said on Saturday, suggesting there is some truth after all to a popular British song that says the dictator had "only got one ball".
