The USAF has some of the most capable aircraft in the world within its fleet. Many of the aircraft that it fields in any conflict are older and were designed decades ago; but it also has some very capable next generation aircraft like the F-22 and the F-35 that will be coming online in the next few years.
The F-22 and the F-35 are similar in that they are both fighter aircraft that are designed from the outset to have stealth characteristics to make them harder to see by enemy radar. With the F-35 being the newer aircraft, it has more advanced radar-absorbing coatings on the surface than the F-22. Lockheed has announced that it is now integrating some of the more advanced coatings the F-35 uses onto the F-22 fighters coming of the assembly line.
http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/2011/04/dtn-news-defense-news-f-35-stealth.html
BRUSSELS
Following are latest available details of Western military operations in Libya.
* The following NATO countries are participating in the alliance's operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR: Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Romania, Spain, Sw
eden, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Britain, United States.
* NATO forces have a total of about 195 aircraft at their disposal.
* Since NATO assumed command of Western military operations in Libya, its aircraft have made 1,434 sorties, including 587 intended as strike missions. On April 8, it conducted 156 sorties and 60 strike missions. Not all strike sorties have led to targets being hit.
* Eighteen vessels are patrolling the Mediterranean to enforce a U.N.-mandated arms embargo. Twenty-two vessels were stopped by NATO forces on April 8 to determine what they were carrying and their destination; no boardings were conducted.
Nearly 170 vessels have been halted and six boardings conducted since the beginning of arms embargo operations.
* On Saturday, forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi shelled the western outskirts of the rebel-held town of Ajdabiyah as fighting erupted again on the eastern front.
* The rebels said they intended to take Brega on Saturday and some had penetrated the outskirts.
* The Red Cross said on Saturday it was extending its activities to western Libya, as a ship loaded with medical supplies docked in the besieged port city of Misrata and its aid workers made their way to Zawiyah.
http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/2011/04/dtn-news-libya-no-fly-zone-factbox-nato.html
A looming government shutdown would be felt thousands of miles away by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and there could be a high political cost for the lawmakers who let it happen.
Soldiers will not get their paychecks for the duration of the shutdown, leaving their families at home struggling to pay the bills.
Some relatives are already furious.
"Thanks for sending my husband to war and not paying him in return," the wife of one soldier exclaimed on a website, fearing delayed pay in the case of a shutdown.
The sharp reaction among military families underscores the political dangers for Republicans and Democrats if they fail to reach agreement on funding the government for the remainder of fiscal 2011 by midnight on Friday.
http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/2011/04/dtn-news-afghanistan-war-news-troops.html
On April 5, the Royal Jordanian Air Force transported 10 tons of medical and humanitarian supplies to Libya. Officials said two unidentified air transports arrived in the Libyan city of Benghazi, which has been under rebel control.
In that year, the girl's father, uncle and four other men took away Lee's cellphone and abducted him to a cemetery at midnight. The group then threw physical punches at Lee who was 17 then, and threatened to kill him with a samurai sword.
Before letting Lee go, the girl's father, 43, and uncle, 38, warned him to stay away from his daughter.
Lee reported the assault incident to the police. When the girl's father and uncle found about the charge, they were said to have had taken him to a karaoke lounge and had tried to persuade him to change his police statements.
After a hearing lasting three weeks, District Judge Sarjit Singhconvicted the men on Thursday of being part of an unlawful assemblyarmed with deadly weapons that hurt and abducted Lee.
Defence counsel Subhas Anandan said the family intends to appeal the convictions.
The men will be sentenced on 21 April. Their accomplices, who are unidentified, are still at large.
http://asiandefensenews.blogspot.com/2011/04/asian-defense-news-singapore-news_08.html
"The skirt was in the style of a Scotsman's kilt, and had three of the original-style pockets on it, one at the side and two in the front. It looked quite professionally-made."
Describing the man as appearing to be in his mid-forties, he added that the skirt looked like it was made from an old Army No. 4 uniform, and even had button-on pockets sewn onto it.
While some netizens have labelled him a 'softie', others think we need to lighten up.
Insurance agent Tan Li Peng, 26, told Yahoo! Singapore, "First we have maids carrying our army backpacks, now men are donning 'army skirts'. I feel embarrassed as a Singaporean guy."
23-year-old undergraduate Royston Lin added, "It's strange to see a man walking around in a skirt in public. But I guess that's in the context of Singapore's social norms. In Scotland it would be perfectly acceptable. Perhaps he should be mindful of the culture he's in."
Others like 21-year-old student Nuraliza H. said, "I think we need to lighten up. He's just experimenting and having fun. After all, I've seen male runway models wearing kilts too."
Fashion-forward, or plain bizarre? You be the judge.
http://asiandefensenews.blogspot.com/2011/04/asian-defense-news-singapore-news.html
CONTRACTS
NAVY
DRS Technologies, Inc., Herndon, Va., is being awarded a $169,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price modification to a previously awarded contract (N65236-07-D-5120) for satellite internet protocol services to support Morale, Welfare and Recreation and other non-Global Information Grid operations and programs supported by Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Atlantic, European Office. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract, including this modification, to $497,000,000. Work will be performed in Southwest Asia (95 percent) and Europe (5 percent), and is expected to be completed December 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with proposals solicited via the Commerce Business Daily’s Federal Business Opportunities website, and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems e-Commerce Central website, with four offers received. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Atlantic, Charleston, S.C., is the contracting activity.
Alliant Techsystems, Inc. (ATK), Missile Subsystems and Components Division, Rocket Center, W.Va., was awarded on April 5 an estimated $29,000,000 cost, no-fee facilities acquisition contract for restoration projects in support of the Navy’s continuing restoration program at Allegany Ballistics Laboratory. The Allegany Ballistics Laboratory is a government-owned, contractor-operated, Navy Industrial Reserve Ordnance Plant. The Navy’s operating contractor is ATK. Work will be performed in Rocket Center, W.Va., and is expected to complete by April 2013. Funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-11-E-4310).
http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/2011/04/dtn-news-us-department-of-defense_07.html
BEIJING, China
The Chinese state news agency has posted photographs of an aircraft carrier under reconstruction that appears to show the warship near completion. Captions with the photos said that construction would end soon, and that the carrier is expected to sail later this year.
The photos of the carrier, the Varyag, which China bought from the Ukraine in 1998, appeared Wednesday on the Web site of Xinhua, the state news agency. It was the first time that Xinhua had given visual evidence of the carrier project, which is widely seen as a linchpin of China’s military modernization and naval ambitions. The carrier is being rebuilt in the waters of Dalian, a coastal city in eastern China.
