Free Republic

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Wells Fargo has confirmed that one of their executives has been confirmed as one of the seven people who died in an Amtrak train derailment on Tuesday night. The VP has been identified as Abid Gilani. "It is with great sadness that Wells Fargo confirms that Abid Gilani, a valued member of our Commercial Real Estate division, has passed away. Our hearts go out to all those impacted by this tragedy." the company said in a statement. A U.S. Naval Academy midshipman and an Associated Press staffer are also among those who are confirmed dead. ABC News...

Stockholm (AFP) - A Swedish peace group said Tuesday it has lowered a sonar device into the Baltic Sea off Stockholm to deter Russian submarines, emitting the message "This Way if You Are Gay". The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society's (SPAS) cheeky device emits the message in Morse code and is designed to scare off subs from Russia, which does not share Sweden's acceptance of homosexuality. The so-called Singing Sailor also features a flashing pink neon outline of a seaman clad only in white underpants and a boater's hat, gyrating his hips above the text "Welcome to Sweden -- Gay...

TEL AVIV, Israel, May 11 (UPI) -- Israel is acquiring four advanced Sa'ar-class corvettes from Germany over the next five years under a $480 million deal signed on Monday. The ships, which will be built by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems but fitted with Israeli-made weapon systems, Israeli news reports said. The deal was signed in Israel by Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and visiting German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen. The ships will be used as part of a program to protect Israel's expanded Economic Exclusion Zone in the Eastern Mediterranean, where recent explorations discovered major oil and gas...

Much more of China's military procurements are taking place entirely within the nation A new report by the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) sheds further light on China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA(N)). According to the authors, China’s naval ambitions extend towards a global presence—thereby seeking to place it alongside the U.S. Navy as the only other nation with a worldwide seaborne military reach: Since our last publication in 2009, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA(N)) has made significant strides in operationalizing as well as modernizing its force. Although the PLA(N)‘s primary focus remains in the East Asia region, where...

The Navy has removed the commander of a San Diego-based guided-missile cruiser from his post, citing a loss of confidence in his ability to command. The Navy on Tuesday announced the removal of Capt. John Banigan, saying the action was based on findings of an investigation into the poor command climate aboard the USS Lake Erie.

February 22, 2008 Son of Star Wars takes out toxic satellite in $30m space hit Michael Evans, Defence Editor and Jane Macartney in Beijing Video need to know: expert opinion on the satellite operation The United States provided dramatic proof of its capability to destroy an object in space when a US navy missile scored a direct hit on an American satellite falling out of control. Missile experts said that the Standard SM-3 weapon, fired from the USS Lake Erie, a Ticonderoga-class cruiser, took about three minutes to reach the satellite 150 miles (240km) up in the sky, flew above...

Navy Capt. John Banigan is no longer aboard the San Diego-based guided missile cruiser Lake Erie. Neither is a goat named Master Chief Charlie. Banigan was ousted from command last week after the brass lost confidence in his ability to lead, the standard explanation when a commanding officer is removed. Banigan has been reassigned to a desk job. Master Chief Charlie is also ashore, though it remains unclear whether he is on Navy property or civilian property. He is, however, in excellent health, the Navy said. The fate of the captain and the goat became mixed when the Navy began...

The Finnish Navy acted appropriately and extremely resolutely in driving away a possible submarine from the territorial waters of Finland early on Tuesday morning, President Sauli Niinistö lauded on Wednesday after announcing the opening of the new parliamentary session. “The Navy, and captains in general, have been granted considerable powers, and I think they were used appropriately here,” Niinistö said. He underscored that all intrusions by military vessels are serious but admitted that the incident was not particularly surprising in light of growing instability in the Baltic Sea Region. “Such traffic has increased on the Baltic Sea. Whatever was under...

The Navy needs new servers for its upgraded Aegis Combat System after the current IBM line was sold to Chinese computer maker Lenovo. The $2.1 billion sale closed in October and made Lenovo the number three server maker in the world. IBM shedding its server business creates a security concern for the U.S. Navy, which included the company’s x86 BladeCenter HT server in its Aegis Technical Insertion (TI) 12. The TI-12 hardware upgrades, along with Advanced Capability Build (ACB) 12 software upgrades, compose the Aegis Baseline 9 combat system upgrade that combines a ballistic missile defense capability with anti-air warfare...

I was recently on a hike with my son's Naval Jr. ROTC unit. I spent a lot of time chatting with my son's instructor, a retired Naval Commander. Normally, when I hear slang or jargon that I am unfamiliar with I am not too shy to ask what it means. However, if one understands the context of what such terminology means then there is no reason to actually stop a conversation. Anyway. the commander used a phase, I believe it meant to do what is absolutely the least possible to acquire an objective or to achieve rank? I believe the...

The skies above the U.S. military's counterterrorism hub on the Horn of Africa have become chronically dangerous, with pilots forced to rely on local air-traffic controllers who fall asleep on the job, commit errors at astronomical rates and are hostile to Americans, documents show. Conditions at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, the base for U.S. pilots flying sensitive missions over Yemen and Somalia, have become so dire that American warplanes and civilian airliners alike are routinely placed in jeopardy, according to federal aviation experts and documents obtained by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act. Unlike other major U.S....

HELSINKI – The Finnish military says it has dropped depth charges onto a suspected submarine in the sea outside Helsinki after twice detecting the presence of a foreign object in the area.

After being fired upon, the ship issued a distress call, prompting the United States Navy to direct the destroyer, the Farragut, to the area. The Farragut, the defense official said, is now about 60 miles away. He said that so far there has been no communication between the United States Navy and Iran, but added that American aircraft are standing by to monitor the situation.

A battle of the hawks is raging on Capitol Hill. Defense hawks say the nation’s security will be endangered if the caps imposed under the 2011 Budget Control Act aren’t lifted, allowing for more defense spending. Fiscal hawks assert with equal vehemence that the nation’s long-term economic health — the foundation for all government activities, including defense — will be permanently harmed if burgeoning deficits and debts are not addressed. Defense hawks argue for a massive investment to maintain the United States’ position as the world’s strongest power. Fiscal hawks argue for innovative improvements in efficiency to sustain U.S. leadership.

Iranian Warships Arrive Near Yemen Comes just days after U.S. announced it would send its own warships A fleet of Iranian warships arrived near the southern coast of Yemen on Wednesday in a move likely to add greater tension in a developing U.S.-Iranian standoff in the region, according Iranian military leaders. Just days after the United States announced it would send its own warships to Yemen in order to prevent Iran from smuggling weapons to terror forces fighting there, a flotilla of Iranian destroyers docked in the same area. Iran’s military moves are likely to increase tensions between the two...

[Snip]...But Marie Harf, Queen of Nonsense, insists that the carrier group (carriers never travel alone, by the way, they keep missile frigates, destroyers, Aegis cruisers, tenders, and a few submarines around for security) is only there to “ensure the shipping lanes remain open and safe” — and “not to do anything in terms of those Iranian ships.” Any suggestion to the contrary is “blatantly untrue– so this discreet movement of U.S. assets is for a discreet purpose,” Harf said. To paraphrase what Teddy Roosevelt might say: W.T.F!?

An American aircraft carrier and its warplanes are shadowing an Iranian convoy approaching Yemen, as the U.S. beefs up its presence in the region -- but back in Washington, officials can't seem to agree on why. Pentagon sources confirmed to Fox News that the USS Theodore Roosevelt is tracking the Iranian convoy, and also launching F/A-18 Hornets to conduct "manned reconnaissance" of the estimated nine Iranian ships. Those ships are suspected of carrying weapons to rebel fighters in Yemen. But State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf insisted Tuesday that the U.S. ships were "only" there to "ensure the shipping lanes remain...

The Pentagon says the American warship USS Theodore Roosevelt is "repositioning" as part of a security operation at sea, and not to intercept Iranian vessels off the coast of Yemen. Citing unnamed officials, the Associated Press reported earlier in the day that the aircraft carrier would join other U.S. ships in the area to confront Iranian vessels, which are said to be carrying weapons to resupply Houthi rebels that have overrun parts of the country. But Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren dismissed the report, saying the Roosevelt is ”repositioning to conduct maritime security operations."

Navy officials: US warship heads to Yemeni waters to intercept Iranian weapons shipments.

The 'proxy' war is escalating very rapidly. As AP reports, Navy officials confirm that the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is headed to Yemeni waters to intercept an Iranian weapons shipments. Just as we warned 10 days ago, the probability of a major escalation over the latest proxy Middle Eastern civil war escalated substantially when Iran parked two warships off the Yemeni coast.