Free Republic

BEIRUT, LEBANON (1:45 P.M.) – The United States tested the new smart bomb, GBU-53 StormBreaker, using one of their modern warplanes. According to reports, the U.S. Navy’s FA-18E/F Super Hornet fighter and attack aircraft launched the GBU-53 StormBreaker all-weather bomb on a designated target. The new bomb can be used in all weather conditions, including poor visibility, Janes Defense reported last week. An RMD spokesperson told Janes that the U.S. Air Force determines the number of tests needed to validate the bomb, but did not specify when it would be available. “The USAF (US Air Force) program office, in co-ordination...

A vessel belonging to the US Navy has reportedly caught fire in the northern Persian Gulf near the Iraqi port cities of Al-Bakr and al-Amaya. Informed military sources said on Monday that the UN Navy had secretly moved the vessel to the coasts of Kuwait after the fire broke out, Iran's Arabic-language TV channel Al-Alam reported. The sources did not rule out the possibility that a blast had started the fire on the vessel that was said to be "one of the four US warships in the region," the report added. The US military has not yet commented on the...