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The Navy's Next-Generation Warship Gets Two Critical Defensive Boosts Robert JohnsonMarch 4, 2013, 8:06 AM The Navy's new $440-million Littoral Combat Ship needs some help taking care of itself. The LCS is said to be vulnerable to incoming strikes, meaning it might not survive a shootout with, say, China. Thankfully the ship may get two new life-saving escorts. First, DARPA wants to boost the Independence-class LCS drone capability to host a 27-foot wingspan Predator-like UAV. Previously it could only launch and receive a modest tactical drone like the ScanEagle. The new TERN program calls for a drone that can be...

For the entire 8 day duration of Operation Pillar of Defense, there was one major geopolitical player who had been largely quiet and certainly absent from the scene: the same player whose unflinching position over the Syria conflict has so far prevented any intervention in the civil war torn country: Russia. The same Russia which has a military base in the Syrian port city of Tarsus, and thus in its own eyes, a very substantial "national interest" role to play in the middle east, one that is certainly opposing that of the US and the pro-NATO forces, a tension that...

Three U.S. Navy amphibious warships are returning to the eastern Mediterranean to remain on standby in the event they are needed to assist Americans leaving Israel in the coming days, according to two U.S. officials. The officials stressed an evacuation remains an extremely remote possibility and the Obama administration is not currently planning for one. Americans who wish to leave the region now are able to do so using commercial airlines. But the decision to send the ships even if the event is such a remote contingency underscores the growing concern about where the Israel-Gaza conflict could be headed. "This...

Iran, the day before Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks at the United Nations, claimed Tuesday it successfully fired four missiles at a mock sea target representing warships. The timing of the missile tests is part of Iran’s propaganda campaign to instill fear among Israel and American leaders, who have warned that the “military option” is on the table if Tehran does not stop its unsupervised nuclear development and enrichment of uranium that can be used to manufacture a nuclear warhead aimed at Israel. The Ahmadinejad regime has claimed successful military tests at a dizzying rate, but several analysts have said...

The attack that killed four Americans at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, apparently began as a spontaneous protest against an anti-Islam film before turning violent, Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Sunday. Rice, appearing in NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said she was citing preliminary information and that the FBI was investigating the Tuesday night attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three others. A wave of protests and violence has swept across the Middle East and elsewhere in the Muslim world over an obscure, amateurish movie called "Innocence of Muslims" that depicts...

<p>Russia has announced it is readying two warships to sail to Syria to protect Russian citizens, in a sign that it is taking precautions against a worsening of the security situation there.</p> <p>A spokesman for Russia’s Black Sea fleet, Vyacheslav Trukhachev, told Russia’s Interfax news agency the mission would be undertaken “in case of necessity”. His comments appeared designed to clarify speculation that warships had already set sail for Syria. Interfax had earlier quoted an anonymous official as saying that was the case on Monday morning.</p>

BEIRUT -- Russia is preparing to dispatch a pair of warships carrying a contingent of Black Sea Fleet marines to its logistics base in the Syrian port of Tartus, the Russian Interfax news agency reported Monday, in what appeared to be another sign of the deteriorating security situation in the strife-ridden nation. The report quoted an unidentified Russian naval source saying the amphibious ships Nikolay Filchenkov and Tsezar Kunikov, accompanied by the rescue tug SB-15, were “preparing for a non-routine departure” for Tartus, Russia’s only Mediterranean base.

Iranian warships have entered the Mediterranean Sea for the second time in two years, this time after having docked at the Saudi port of Jedda. The official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted Iranian navy commander Admiral Habibollah Sayari in reporting Saturday's movement of the ships through the Suez Canal on Saturday. The destroyer Shahid Qandi and the Kharg supply ship were docked in Jedda two days ago, the AFP news agency reported. The last time Iranian warships entered the Mediterranean was in February 2011, when the Kharg supply ship and the Alvand frigate passed through the canal and headed...

Now the New World Order will ramp up problems for our Elections. Prepare for more wars and rumors of wars. Sound familiar? Vote Republican and stop the World from the planned Chaos of the Left!

Russian warships are due to arrive at Syrian territorial waters, a Syrian news agency said on Thursday, indicating that the move represented a clear message to the West that Moscow would resist any foreign intervention in the country's civil unrest.

Increasingly assertive Turkey is setting the scene for clashes in the eastern Mediterranean. Since Thursday, Sept. 29, Turkish warships have been harassing Israeli merchant vessels in waters off Cyprus, DEBKAfile's military sources report. They come close enough to establish wireless communication and caution the Israeli vessels they are in contravention of international law and ordering them to change course. The Israeli crews mostly ignore these "orders", treating them as Ankara's latest bid to assert Turkish naval mastery of the Eastern Mediterranean. But the situation is getting explosive enough to spark a major incident. Over the weekend, Israeli Air Force planes...

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dispatched 3 warships to the Eastern Mediterranean to 'defend against Israeli vessels' and ensure 'freedom of navigation' for his country’s ships, Today's Zaman reported. The move, only the latest in Erdogan's bellicose rhetorical assault on Israel, comes on the same day he called Israel's boarding of the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara in 2010 "grounds for war" adding only Turkey's "greatness and patience" had averted conflict. During the boarding action 9 Turkish nationals who participated in a mob that attempted to lynch the commandos were killed when non-lethal weapons the boarding party was equipped with...

Turkish warships will escort any Turkish aid vessels to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said in remarks broadcast on Al Jazeera television on Thursday. Erdogan also said that Turkey had taken steps to stop Israel from unilaterally exploiting natural resources from the eastern Mediterranean, according to Al Jazeera's Arabic translation of excerpts of the interview, which was conducted in Turkish.

Military sources tell AP Defense Ministry dispatched to warships to Red Sea border with Egypt following intelligence indicating viable terror threat The Israeli military said Monday that it has sent two additional warships to the Red Sea border with Egypt following warnings that militants are planning another attack on southern Israel from Egyptian soil. Monday saw IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen Benny Gantz order the deployment across the entire southern sector, and especially in the area near the Israel-Egypt border, increased, following intelligence indicating a viable terror threat in the area. The southern sector, and especially the area adjacent to...

A purchase of French-built Mistral class amphibious assault ships by Russia poses a threat to U.S. security and is aimed against Washington's allies, the chairwoman of the U.S. House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee has said. "It is deeply troubling that France, a NATO ally, has decided to ignore the clear danger of selling advanced warships to Russia even as Moscow is taking an increasingly hostile approach toward the U.S., its neighbors, and Europe itself," Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement. The deal has alarmed Russia's neighbors, especially Georgia, whose relations with Russia remain very tense since the August 2008...

Israel was keeping an eye Tuesday on two Iranian Navy warships that crossed the Suez Canal for the first time in over 30 years in a belligerent move that Israel claims is an attempt by the Islamic Republic to project its power throughout the Middle East. The two ships - the Khark which has 250 crew members and can carry three helicopters and the Alvand which is armed with torpedoes and anti-ship missiles – entered the Suez Canal early Tuesday morning and arrived in the Mediterranean Sea by the evening.Israeli defense officials said that the ships did not pose a

Rumors are running rampant about President Barack Obama’s upcoming trip to India, including one that he has dispatched a flotilla of 34 warships, including an aircraft carrier, to provide security while he is in Mumbai starting on Saturday. “The measure has been taken as Mumbai attack in 2008 took place from the sea,” according to a story by Press Trust of India, which did not indicate where this information came from. Nevertheless, it was the lead story on the Drudge Report on Thursday morning. Even Teddy Roosevelt, who sent The Great White Fleet around the world, might find sending that...

New Delhi: The White House will, of course, stay in Washington but the heart of the famous building will move to India when President Barack Obama lands in Mumbai on Saturday. Communications set-up, nuclear button, a fleet of limousines and majority of the White House staff will be in India accompanying the President on this three-day visit that will cover Mumbai and Delhi. He will also be protected by a fleet of 34 warships, including an aircraft carrier, which will patrol the sea lanes off the Mumbai coast during his two-day stay there beginning Saturday. The measure has been taken...

Egypt allowed at least one Israeli and 11 American warships to pass through the Suez Canal as an Iranian flotilla approaches Gaza. Egypt closed the canal to protect the ships with thousands of soldiers, according to the British-based Arabic language newspaper Al Quds al-Arabi. One day prior to the report on Saturday, Voice of Israel government radio reported that the Egyptian government denied an Israeli request not to allow the Iranian flotilla to use the Suez Canal to reach Gaza, in violation of the Israeli sea embargo on the Hamas-controlled area. International agreements require Egypt to keep the Suez open...

LONDON – Britain sent Royal Navy warships on Monday to rescue those stranded across the Channel by the volcanic ash cloud, and the aviation industry blasted European transport officials, claiming there was "no coordination and no leadership" in the crisis that shut down most European airports for a fifth day.Eurocontrol, the air traffic agency in Brussels, said less than one-third of flights in Europe were taking off Monday — between 8,000 and 9,000 of the continent's 28,000 scheduled flights.Some smaller airports reopened Monday but authorities in Britain, France, Germany, and the Netherlands — home to four of Europe's five largest...

Obama amputates our nuclear arms By: Charles Krauthammer ...snippet...Under President Obama’s new policy, however, if the state that has just attacked us with biological or chemical weapons is “in compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” explained Gates, then “the U.S. pledges not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against it.” Imagine the scenario: Hundreds of thousands are lying dead in the streets of Boston after a massive anthrax or nerve gas attack. The president immediately calls in the lawyers to determine whether the attacking state is in compliance with the NPT. If it turns out that the attacker...

Iran has warned that it will strike Western warships stationed in the Gulf if it is attacked over its nuclear program. The country's defense minister, Ahmad Vahidi said that the 90 warships stationed in the Persian Gulf -- a waterway crucial for world oil supplies -- would become targets if Iran was attacked. Vahidid said that the vessels included submarines, aircraft carriers and destroyers, according to comments published by the semi-official Fars news agency.

"TEHRAN, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Iran's defence minister warned on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic could strike back at Western warships in the Gulf if it were attacked, the semi-official Fars news agency reported..." http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE60I0ZI.htm

<p>The Navy's need for speed is being answered by a pair of warships that have reached freeway speeds during testing at sea.</p> <p>Independence, a 418-foot warship built in Alabama, boasts a top speed in excess of 45 knots, or about 52 mph, and sustained 44 knots for four hours during builder trials that wrapped up this month off the Gulf Coast. The 378-foot Freedom, a ship built in Wisconsin by a competing defense contractor, has put up similar numbers.</p>

facefwd.com N. Korea threatens to attack US, S. Korea warships By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer Hyung-jin Kim, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 15 mins ago SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea threatened military action Wednesday against U.S. and South Korean warships plying the waters near the Koreas' disputed maritime border, raising the specter of a naval clash just days "It is a laughable delusion for the United States to think that it can get us to kneel with sanctions," it said in an editorial. "We've been living under U.S. sanctions for decades, but have firmly safeguarded our ideology and system while moving our...

Tehran: Iran has sent six warships to international waters, including the Gulf of Aden, to show its ability to confront any foreign threats, its naval commander said on Monday. Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, quoted by the ISNA news agency, made the announcement five days after Iran said it test-fired a surface-to-surface missile with a range of 2,000 kilometres, putting Israel and US bases in the area within reach. Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday rejected a Western proposal for it to "freeze" its nuclear work in return for no new sanctions and ruled out any talks with major powers on the...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has sent six warships to international waters, including the Gulf of Aden, to show its ability to confront any foreign threats, its naval commander said on Monday. Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, quoted by the ISNA news agency, made the announcement five days after Iran said it test-fired a surface-to-surface missile with a range of 2,000 km (1,200 miles), putting Israel and U.S. bases in the area within reach. Iran said on May 14 it had sent two warships to the Gulf of Aden to protect oil tankers from the world's fifth-largest crude exporter against attacks by pirates...

The aircraft carrier Yorktown is one of four museum vessels berthed at Patriots Point. The struggling attraction might have to reduce the number of exhibits it has to maintain. Its development authority is seeking a long-term plan to carry it into the future. "We have ships 25 years old and no structure in our funding to maintain them," Hagerty said. "That leads to some very difficult choices." Over the past several months, the attraction's dire situation became increasingly clear: All four ships need repairs, and the Patriots Point Development Authority does not have the necessary money or any plan for...

Canadian warship thwarts pirates again For the second time in a week, a Canadian warship has helped fend off a potential attack from pirates off the coast of Somalia. The HMCS Winnipeg — which is taking part in the NATO-led counter-piracy mission known as Operation Allied Protector — and a Spanish ship responded Friday night after a civilian vessel sent out a distress call following an apparent pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden.

North Korea threatened today to "launch a thunderbolt of fire" if the "slightest effort" is made by the US to intercept a long-range rocket it plans to launch this weekend, according to a report. President Obama, who is attending the G-20 summit in London, warned the rocket launch would be a "provocative act" that would generate a UN Security Council response. But North Korea's military shrugged at Obama's words and threatened those who opposed the launch with a "thunderbolt of fire," according to a report by the Korean Central News Agency. In a reference to US warships that have set...

SEOUL, South Korea – Japanese, South Korean and U.S. missile-destroying ships set sail to monitor North Korea's imminent rocket launch, as Pyongyang stoked tensions Monday by detaining a South Korean worker for allegedly denouncing the North's political system. North Korea says it will send a communications satellite into orbit between April 4 and 8. The U.S., South Korea and Japan suspect the regime is using the launch to test long-range missile technology, and warn it would face U.N. sanctions under a Security Council resolution banning the country from any ballistic activity. North Korea has threatened to quit international talks on...

Chinese Navy officers reacted with annoyance today when it emerged that the United States had sent a destroyer to back up a surveillance vessel in the South China Sea after it was harassed by People's Liberation Army (PLA) sailors. The decision by President Obama to send an armed escort for US surveillance ships in the area follows the aggresive and coordinated manoeuvres of five Chinese boats on Sunday. The vessels harassed and nearly collided with the unarmed USNS Impeccable. One unidentified officer quoted in the China Daily newspaper said that the decision was disproportionate. While China's Foreign Ministry has so...

Endure the ad.. Warms the heart. A ship made from the ruins of the World Trade Center......

<p>I thought I would once again share with the FR community some really great PICS of the US Navy, this time for 2008.</p> <p>The site uses thumbnails to link to medium-res pictures suitable for desktop background pics.</p> <p>Just click on one of the thumbnails below to take you to the site.</p>

The US Navy is sending three warships to the eastern Mediterranean Sea in a show of strength during a period of tensions with Syria and political uncertainty in Lebanon...... Another military officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because full details about the ship movements are not yet public, said the USS Cole is headed for patrol in the eastern Mediterranean and that the USS Nassau, an amphibious warship, would be joining it shortly. The officer said a third ship would go later, but he did not identify it by name.

I thought I would share with the FR community some really great PICS of the US Navy from 2006 and 2007. The site uses thumbnails to link to medium-res pictures suitable for desktop background pics. Just click on one of the thumbnails below to take you to the site. MY FAVORITE TWENTY US NAVY PICS OF 2007 I'll post new pics each year. My way of honoring and giving tribute to the greatest Naval force in history and the men and women who make and keep it that way.

SAN DIEGO - The USS Nimitz and several other American warships left San Diego today for the Persian Gulf to join another locally based aircraft carrier strike group already in the region. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier will join the San Diego-based John C. Stennis Strike Group and relieve the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, according to Naval Air Forces Public Affairs. Military officials said in a statement that the two-carrier presence in the Persian Gulf area is intended to demonstrate U.S. "resolve to build regional security and bring long-term stability to the region...

EXCLUSIVE Don't Dare mess with us Awesome ... Sun man on supershipPictures: PAUL EDWARDS       By TOM NEWTON DUNN Defence Editor THIS is the deadliest ship ever built — the Navy’s awesome new Type 45 destroyer. HMS Daring boasts an extraordinary array of firepower. And The Sun was given an exclusive tour of the state-of-the art warship. Daring is the first of a batch of eight Type 45 destroyers — built at a total cost of £6BILLION. Weighing in at 8,000 tonnes, the 14-deck monster is almost twice the size of the current Type 42s. She is armed...

The deckhouse of an experimental naval destroyer, the DD(X), pictured here at China Lake, California in an undated photo. The Pentagon has opted to move ahead with the new multibillion-dollar destroyer being co-developed by Northrop Grumman Corp. and General Dynamics, Navy officials said on Wednesday. (Handout/Reuters) The Pentagon will order an initial eight highly-automated DD(X) destroyers being developed by Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC - news) and General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - news) as the centerpiece of the U.S. Navy's 21st century fleet, a defense official said on Wednesday. Ending speculation the ship might be killed, the Defense Department cleared a...

  Do We Finally Get To Kill Somebody?November 10, 2005 With real threats to our national security in full bloom, and traitors in need of immediate lethal injection, why is the Beltway obsessed with much ado about a paper-pushing blond and her self-admitted psychedelic husband?  Maybe the rest of liberal America, along with Joe Wilson, have had “too many wives and taken too many drugs”. Or, in Bill Bennett’s words is it just a case of Overt Inconsistency?  As Bennett rhetorically notes about the liberals, and the MSM Fifth Column, their “support for the CIA, and...for secrecy in war and intelligence, lasted...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - An engineer and Chinese television director are among four people indicted on charges of stealing secret documents on Navy warships and trying to smuggle them to China, prosecutors said Friday. Chi Mak, a naturalized U.S. citizen from China who lives in Los Angeles County, was arrested Oct. 28. He allegedly took computer disks from Anaheim defense contractor Power Paragon, where he was lead engineer on a research project involving warship propulsion systems, according to an FBI affidavit. He also allegedly e-mailed photos and reports about the project to his home computer. Authorities say Chi Mak and...

SHANGHAI, China - China's navy has commissioned the first in a new class of domestically designed and built warships, official media reported Tuesday. The missile frigate Wenzhou, named after a port city in eastern China, entered service Monday at a ceremony attended by East China Fleet commander Zhao Guojun, according to a brief report on the official Wenzhou Newsnet. The report gave no other details about the ship, but Western military experts have described it as the first in the 054 Ma'anshan class, representing China's most advanced missile frigates. Along with superior electronics, anti-submarine capabilities and air defenses, the ships...

09/23/2005 China Preparing For War And Few Notice by By Chuck Baldwin Constitution Party 2004 Vice-Presidential Candidate Ever since President Richard Nixon entered into détente with the communist regime in China, America has doggedly assisted in the commercial and military buildup of the Marxist nation. Both Republican and Democratic administrations have mollycoddled the Red Chinese to the point that now they have grown big enough to cause serious concern. Both Bill Clinton and G.W. Bush have facilitated the transfers of billions of dollars of commercial assistance to Red China, not to mention vast amounts of technology which China has used...

What message do we send, when we are fired upon and instead of fighting back, we weigh anchor and run? I have complete faith in our armed services, men and women, but is politics hamstringing our ability to defend ourselves?

China Military build-up includes missiles, jets, warships WASHINGTON: China not only is massing forces facing Taiwan, but developing new long-range missiles and acquiring an arsenal of sophisticated jets and warships in an ambitious arms build-up, the United States said on Tuesday. Over the "next several years", Beijing will deploy a DF-31 road-mobile, solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile and a JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic missile, the Pentagon said in an annual report to Congress on Chinese military power. The current military focus by the People's Liberation Army stresses protecting Chinese borders and waters and intimidating Taiwan, according to the 44-page report, which lists...

Pakistan to buy four warships from China Monday, 04 April , 2005, 18:35 Islamabad: Pakistan is to buy four frigates for its navy from long-time ally China, the defence ministry said on Monday, ahead of a visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. "Pakistan and China have signed four contracts for the construction of four F-22P frigate ships for Pakistan Navy," a Pakistani defence ministry statement said. The frigates will be equipped with anti-submarine helicopters, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles and other defence systems, the statement added. "These ships, after construction, will be inducted into Pakistan Navy which would not only enhance...

BAE takes Sultan to court over £600m order for warships By Sylvia Pfeifer (Filed: 03/04/2005) BAE Systems, Britain's largest defence contractor, is taking the Sultan of Brunei, one of the world's richest men, to court over a $1bn dispute involving an order for three naval ships. The dispute centres on a lucrative export order, estimated to be worth over £600m ($1.13bn), to build three offshore patrol vessels for the Royal Brunei armed forces. The contract was agreed several years ago and BAE, headed by Mike Turner, the chief executive, launched the first ship to much fanfare in January 2001. The...

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!

NEW South Wales Police have formally told the Federal Government that they fear the Garden Island navy base in Sydney is a sitting duck for terrorists. Senior police believe not enough has been done to protect the dock, known as Fleet Base East, from a terror attack by land or water, despite new maritime regulations which came into force on July 1. Police sources have said the base's location, amid the most densely populated suburbs of Australia, and its proximity to pedestrians make it attractive site for terrorists. In particular, the site is seen as attractive to terrorists intending a...