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Ghost Riders in the Sky

Townhall’s Julio Rosas is on the ground in Minneapolis this week, reporting on the protests and riots. Tonight he’s reporting that the riot police and the National Guard have abandoned a perimeter they had set up earlier in the day, chased away by the rioters. For the fourth night in a row, protesters and rioters have descended on Minneapolis to protest the death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer, who was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter on Friday afternoon. The city is under a curfew order, but rioters are refusing to disperse. The...

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (AP) — As unrest spread across dozens of American cities on Friday, the Pentagon took the rare step of ordering the Army to put several active-duty U.S. military police units on the ready to deploy to Minneapolis, where the police killing of George Floyd sparked the widespread protests. Soldiers from Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Drum in New York have been ordered to be ready to deploy within four hours if called, according to three people with direct knowledge of the orders. Soldiers in Fort Carson, in Colorado, and Fort Riley in Kansas have been...

The U.S. Army has made an urgent purchase of a specific type of 30mm cannon shells on behalf of U.S. Special Operations Command. Without the ammunition, the service said the U.S. Air Force’s AC-130W Stinger II gunships would be forced to use alternative rounds that would be unacceptably inaccurate and dangerously unreliable. In June 2017, the Army approved a plan to purchase up to 200,000 PGU-46/B 30mm cannon rounds from Orbital ATK. The service did not publicly disclose the total potential dollar value of the contract, but had to issue a so-called justification and approval document to explain why they...

It has been claimed that CIA agents on the ground during the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi twice asked for permission to help Ambassador Chris Stevens and twice were told to stand down. Furthermore sources present during the deadly six-hour assault have said that a desperate last request for military assistance once the CIA themselves came under attack was denied, even though elite counter-terrorism units were only two hours away.

Troops round up protesters in border regions as anti-Assad rallies spread from Damascus to Daraa; thousands of refugees flee to Turkey; UN says Assad refusing to take phone calls from Ban Ki-Moon. AMMAN - Syrian helicopter gunships fired machine guns to disperse a large pro-democracy protest in the town of Maarat al-Numaan on Friday, witnesses said, a dangerous escalation of force at the end of a day in which 32 civilians were reported killed by Assad's forces across the country. The gunship use was the first reported use of air power to quell protests in Syria's uprising. The Syrian Observatory...

A top military official says the U.S. was striking Libyan targets with low-flying Air Force AC-130 gunships and A-10 Thunderbolts over the weekend, bolstering speculation that the U.S. air missions have served to support rebels seeking to overthrow Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Turkey has ordered another nine Italian A129 helicopter gunships, but only if they can be delivered within two years. This is in addition to 51 A129s (called T129s for the Turkish version) already on order, which will be delivered after 2012. This is all because Turkey is in desperate need of more helicopter gunships. They have found this type of aircraft particularly useful against Kurdish separatists (the PKK) operating in southeastern Turkey. Currently, Turkey relies on a fleet of about two dozen elderly American AH-1 gunships, which are being worn out because of intense operations against the PKK. For most...

Iran is finishing up eight days of naval exercises. This is actually a publicity event, largely for domestic and foreign media. Among the highlights were a domestically made torpedo (which no one was allowed a close look at, to insure that it was new, and not an older American or Chinese model with a new paint job) and ten new helicopter gunships for the navy. These were actually U.S. made AH-1s, which Iran had bought in the 1970s. Photographers were allowed a close look, and the only thing new about these helicopters was the paint and Chinese electronics installed in...

The U.S. Air Force is buying 16 C-130J transports, for $100 million each, for conversion into AC-130J gunships. Equipping the new gunships will nearly double the price, and the first one won't arrive for seven years. These will replace older AC-130H gunships. The air force will keep 17 more recent (1990s) AC-130Us. The AC-130U has an additional 25mm autocannon, and has the capability to track more than one target at a time. The AC-130H gunship (nicknamed Spooky) is a 69 ton, four engine aircraft armed with two 20mm machine-guns, a 40mm autocannon and a 105mm howitzer. While the aircraft can...

The U.S. Air Force is modifying the fire control software on its AC-130H gunships so the 105mm howitzer and 40mm autocannon can track and shoot at different targets at the same time. Currently, the two weapons can both be aimed at only one target at a time. The AC-130s are also being tested using missiles, like Hellfire. U.S. Air Force operates 25 of these gunships (eight AC-130H "Spectre", and 17 AC-130U "Spooky"). The AC-130U has an additional 25mm autocannon, and always had the capability to track more than one target at a time. Because of their vulnerability to ground fire,...

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (AFP) - Helicopter gunships pounded suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda hideouts in northern Pakistan, as the United States called for even greater efforts in the battle against the militants. The military said at least 10 militants were killed in the attack, which also involved ground forces, on a pro-Taliban district in the restive North Waziristan region near the Afghan border on Thursday. Military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP the strike was launched after several roadside bomb attacks earlier in the day in the same region wounded four soldiers. In a separate incident in South Waziristan 16 soldiers...

Lance Cpl. Justin W. Ahlers inspects a GAU-17/A minigun on a UH-1 Huey before a patrol escort flight May 11. Ahlers is a crew chief and Jefferson, Wis., native deployed with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. Cpl. Curtis R. Ingersoll looks out the side of a UH-1 Huey helicopter on the return flight from a patrol escort. Ingersoll is a crew chief and West Bend, Wis., native deployed with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. Viper's gunships escort patrolStory and photos by...

Downtown turns war zone Friday, March 10, 2006 By NADIA MOHANDESSI About 60 Air Force personnel flooded lower Dauphin Street and the surrounding area Thursday night in mock combat battles that looked a little more like a scene from West Side Story than one from downtown Baghdad. With less singing and dancing, of course. The U.S. Air Force Weapons School's 14th Weapons Squadron, based out of Hurlburt Field, Fla., staged simulated combat scenes beginning shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday near Bienville and Cathedral squares to show personnel flying an AC-130 Gunship aircraft what different urban combat scenarios looked like from...

AN AIR BASE IN IRAQ -- The U.S. Air Force has begun moving heavily armed AC-130 airplanes -- the lethal "flying gunships" of the Vietnam War -- to a base in Iraq as commanders search for new tools to counter the Iraqi resistance, The Associated Press has learned. An AP reporter saw the first of the turboprop-driven aircraft after it landed at the airfield this week. Four are expected. The Iraq-based special forces command controlling the AC-130s, the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force, said it would have no comment on the deployment. But the plan's general outline was confirmed...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

This must stop ! It was bad enough when you American Crusaders brazenly invaded peace-loving Iraq: thereby cutting off the flow of mmmmmm.....gratuities to individuals and institutions administering the Food for Bribes programme;even worse when,acting under no colour of legitimate UN authority,you advanced your barbarian hordes so swiftly poor Saddam had no opportunity to deploy his chemical weaponry; thereby grinding suffering Iraq under your insufferable heel;but this...this is despicable ! Your evil Marines,instead of negotiating patiently with the heroic defenders of Fallujah,chose to bombard them from the air: destroying large quantities of their badly-needed munitions and explosives ! How, sir...

Gunships level minaret as US cancels assault By David Rennie in Washington and Toby Harnden in Baghdad (Filed: 27/04/2004) An American assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah was postponed yesterday after local commanders said bloody urban warfare could provoke retaliation across the country and protests throughout the Muslim world. The commanders, citing progress in political negotiations on Saturday night, agreed to extend the threadbare "ceasefire" for at least two more days despite residents' failure to surrender heavy weapons as demanded. US army vehicles wrecked by an explosion in Baghdad But yesterday morning a fierce battle left marines "fighting like...

http://www.sillybarbs.com/oldbarbsmidis.html MIDI - HORSE WITH NO NAME (in the section above the funny Clinton graphic) On the first day of his tenure...the Israeli's would lock and load The new leader was picked who'd take the reins He was set to hit the road The job posed some dangers like no other job Well, perhaps convenience stores The two before him had hit room temp And he knew they wanted more Hamas has a leader, he's the boss with no name He is scum, but he isn't insane In the desert, you've got to look overhead Hear "Incoming!" and you are...

British Army lines up on SCO's side Helicopter gunship deal worth £3.5 million By Adamson Rust: Tuesday 27 May 2003, 10:49 IF YOU'RE AT ALL WORRIED that SCO might triumph in its legion of present and future court cases, perhaps it's time to worry that little bit more. The firm said today that the British Army will adopt SCO's Unix platform, server solutions and services to keep its helicopters trim and ship shape. The project is worth £3.5 million with a rollout finished by the end of next year. The software and systems will look after components for its...