Free Republic

The combat version of Advanced Jet Trainer, Hawk aircraft, is likely to be showcased in the next year's Aero India, a biennial air show of India. State-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is hoping that the 'Combat Hawk' will be an ideal export product besides being used domestically. Highly placed sources said a foreign country has already evinced interest in the product. They said that such an aircraft, slower than a fighter jet, can be useful for operations in forested areas and in low mountains. Moreover, many countries cannot afford to spend big on bigger fighter aircraft and hence the project has...

Is it “hawkish” to empower the Muslim Brotherhood throughout the Middle East? What about arming Al Qaeda affiliates and creating chaos for Jihad to thrive? Thanks to Tuesday night’s debate, the American people finally observed a substantive debate that highlights the false choice and phantom labeling of “isolationist” vs. hawk.  There legitimately are some isolationists who believe the Islamists are not a problem so long as we don’t “bother” them.  But that is not the position of most conservatives.  In fact, most conservatives fully understand the threat of Islamic supremacism.  It is those who subscribe to the Graham/McCain/Rubio foreign policy...

So across my street there is Hawk or big Raptor type bird that lives in a tree, well this spring it had some hatch-lings and now they are flying around the nearby house shrieking and raising a ruckus, think the momma bird tossed them out of the nest as they can now fly. Wondering if any freeples out there have any idea what sort bird this is, I managed to get some up close pics of them. I need a few questions answered. 1. Will they damage my property? 2. Will they kill the squirrels that actually do damage my...

The cause of an early morning fire north of San Diego was an electrocuted bird falling from an active power lineA bird carrying a snake in its talons struck power lines north of San Diego, sparking a hillside fire just west of The Merge. San Diego Police arrived to the location on Dunhill Street near the intersection of Interstates 5 and 805 just before 6 a.m. Flames were burning very close to businesses including the General Atomics building, officials said. Officers called in San Diego Fire-Rescue crews who contained the fire within an hour. Fire officials initially told NBC 7...

A newcomer has arrived at the White House, provoking fierce turf battles and carrying out more than one lethal confrontation in broad daylight. But this is no political power struggle; it is nature. A red-tailed hawk is prowling the lush White House lawn and perching just above the second-story window of President Obama’s East Wing residence, lured by a booming population of gray squirrels and undeterred by the harassment of smaller birds that have tried in vain to displace it. The hawk has captivated those who frequent the White House, from visitors to journalists to staff members, some of them...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A hawk swooping in and attacking a drone while it was flying over a park in Massachusetts Wednesday was captured on video. (HT Drudge)

Qinetiq has marked the 40th anniversary of the Hawker Siddeley (now BAE Systems) Hawk jet trainer's first flight by commissioning in-flight pictures of pre-production aircraft XX154 – which remains in use with the Empire Test Pilots’ School. Jamie Hunter/Qinetiq First flight of the T1-standard aircraft was conducted from Dunsfold, Surrey on 21 August 1974, with the trainer flown by test pilot Duncan Simpson OBE. Having subsequently served with experimental and research units, XX154 is now owned by Qinetiq and operated from the UK Ministry of Defence's Boscombe Down site in Wiltshire. It continues to be flown as a test pilot...

Absentee voting started Friday, six weeks ahead of primary elections. Already there are strong allegations of voter fraud. The attorney for Phyllis Kahn says he got word Thursday night; there might be hundreds of people who are registering and voting using an address that's not their home. Absentee voting kicked-off Friday morning in a hotly contested democratic primary race for the state house between incumbent Phyllis Kahn and Mohamud Noor. Brian Rice, attorney for the Phyllis Kahn Volunteer Committee, claims there's voter fraud. "I think there is a coordinated effort to use this address to bring voters into the DFL...

With the rise in popularity and drop in price of high speed cameras, more and more incredible footage is getting captured of events our human brain would otherwise be unable to see in such detail.

The President didn't make a compelling case for war, IMO. In some ways he contradicted himself: FOLKS IT'S TIME FOR US TO RE-DOUBLE our efforts AGAINST WAR ON SYRIA! Let's go.

This animated video of a rough-leg hawk from the north western part of America is watching from a high tree limb with actual sounds and my wife singing a Capella the first verse of, Nothing But The Blood.

The Red shouldered Hawks have been busy this spring way back in my patch of woods. When I got home from the doctor's office just before noon this little guy was over the driveway. It was watching me and making little please feed me noises, momma has booted it out of the pantry.Before you ask, why shouldn't I take a camera to the doctors office? I would have missed some good stuff!

I just recevied an email with some stunning photos depicting the daily struggle of life in the animal world. I share them here because while this kind of thing must happen millions of times every day across the globe, rarely do we ever get to see it up close. To me, that makes this an odd thing to see. The outcome is also pretty amazing considering the circumstances. I don't know the origin of the photos, or the veracity of the story, but the photos don't lie and are pretty stunning. Here's the tale included in the email I received:...

BAE Systems near $800 mln Saudi Hawk deal -report May 6 (Reuters) - BAE Systems is close to sealing a 500 million pounds ($808 million) deal to sell up to 30 Hawk trainer aircraft to Saudi Arabia, the Sunday Times reported. The sale would provide some welcome relief for the defence giant, which is battling against shrinking defence budgets in Europe and America. Saudi Arabia has ordered 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets from BAE and needs the Hawks to train its pilots. The order is expected to be finalised within the next few months but it is likely to come too...

Moakler -- a former Miss USA and Playboy playmate, who currently hosts “Bridalplasty” on E! -- broke the news herself via her Twitter account, stating on Monday that “A eagle attacked my 2 chi's today, my girl pup is at the vet, my boy is missing.” “Chi’s” are Chihuahuas, and Moakler later clarified that it was a hawk that attacked the pets at her Calabasas home. The small dogs are easy prey for large raptors like hawks and eagles -- in this case, one was injured and the other is presumably hawk food.

Violet, the red-tailed hawk whose intimate family life in a nest overlooking Washington Square Park was chronicled on a live-streaming webcam, delighting more than a million viewers with the sacred spectacle of nature, died on Thursday. She was believed to be about 5 years old. A metal wildlife band that had been placed on her leg in 2006 and was wedged awkwardly on her shin appeared to exacerbate the situation. Wildlife experts and veterinarians were summoned by the university and the state to determine if it was possible to lure her away from the nest and treat her leg, but...

Beautiful video!

NEW YORK, - A New York woman says she had nearly given up hope her pet cat, Eddie, was still alive after the feline was carried off by a red-tailed hawk. But Eddie, who weighs in at a hefty 15 pounds, was found stunned and disheveled but still kicking in the back yard of an apartment building after the estimated 4-pound bird apparently couldn't hang on and dropped it. Eddie plummeted an estimated five stories but was no worse for wear, the New York Daily News said Saturday. "He checked out fine, other than some minor cuts, scrapes and bruises,"...

Paris 2011: Next-generation Hawk vies for export sales By: David Donald June 20, 2011 Military Aircraft BAE Systems brings its Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) to the Paris Air Show seeking to extend the life of its hugely successful trainer, which has already trained around 20,000 pilots. There are plenty of opportunities for the Hawk AJT, including the potentially massive T-X requirement for a T-38 replacement for the U.S. Air Force. T-X envisions the acquisition of around 350 aircraft with initial operating capability to be achieved in 2017. A formal request is expected in the third quarter of this year,...

WASHINGTON, Officials with the Library of Congress in Washington said a female Cooper's hawk was captured after spending a week trapped in the facility. Matt Raymond, the library's director of communications, said the hawk is believed to have flown in through a window Jan. 19 and spent a week evading capture in the Thomas Jefferson Building's Main Reading Room, The Washington Post reported Thursday. The hawk, which fed on frozen quail from a trap without being snared, was caught using starlings as bait by a Raptor Conservancy of Virginia team at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. The team spent about 25...