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Jura The idiot

Jura The idiot

General
Jan 14, 2016
Jura said:
as to the incident with the two boats, let me tell you this:
  • recently I've read about US Navy careers wrecked by what appeared to me as insignificant in comparison with getting caught by Iranians;
  • now I saw in Internet coupla speculations about what's happened, but I wouldn't post about it until the release of something very official
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now the investigation is complete so I post
Navy riverine boss fired for errors that led to sailors' arrest by Iran
The head of 5th Fleet on Friday fired the commander of the task force in charge of the riverine squadron involved in a high-profile debacle that led to 10 sailors' arrest by Iran in January.

Vice Adm. Kevin Donegan ousted Capt. Kyle Moses for his role in the January incident, the details of which will be briefed to Congress and the public in the coming days. The disciplinary action against Moses, who headed Task Force 56 in the Persian Gulf, follows up on a previous administrative reprimand, Donegan said in the release.

"Several weeks ago, I had initially taken what I felt was appropriate administrative and corrective action involving Capt. Moses based on the preliminary results of the investigation, which I began immediately after we recovered our Sailors," Donegan said. "However, after thoroughly examining the findings of the final, comprehensive investigation, I determined that this additional action was necessary."

Task Force 56 leads the riverine squadrons in theater, as well as Seabees and explosive ordnance disposal units.

The firing is the second in what sources say will be a series of disciplinary measures for what has been a high-profile embarrassment for the U.S. Navy, which came on the eve of a nuclear deal with Iran.

The Navy release did not elaborate on specific problems or shortcomings by Moses that had led up to the sailors' arrest, which Navy leaders have said was the result of training and supervision lapses. Moses could not be immediately reached for comment Friday.

The Navy's investigation into the incident has been closed after months of review, said Navy spokesman Cmdr. Mike Kafka.

"The investigation is complete, and is being referred to appropriate commands for adjudication," Kafka said in a statement.

Ten riverine sailors were captured Jan. 12 and their high-speed special mission boats were seized when they drifted into Iranian waters around Farsi Island, a remote Iranian military outpost in the middle of the Persian Gulf. During their 16 hour detention, one of the U.S. sailors appeared to apologize while being videotaped, which became part of the flurry of Iranian propaganda publicized in the wake of the arrests.

Navy officials believe that a navigational error, along with some baffling errors in judgment on the part of the crew, led to their capture. Officials have suggested that the crew may have been taking an unauthorized shortcut through Iranian waters to meet up with a U.S. Coast Guard vessel for refueling.

Iran has awarded medals to the Revolutionary Guard Corps commandos involved in the sailors' arrest, which U.S. leaders have called illegal. Iran plans to commission a statue to commemorate the arrests.
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source is NavyTimes:
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Brumby

Brumby

Major
Navy to Demo Swarming Drones at Sea in July
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The
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will launch its first at-sea "air show" of dozens of drones swarming in formation late next month, officials with the Office of Naval Research said Friday.

The demo will feature more than 30 Raytheon-built Coyote unmanned aircraft systems launched in rapid succession and flying in formations, thanks to ONR's Low-Cost UAV Swarming Technology (LOCUST).

At $15,000 per unit, the drones are cheap enough to be expendable if needed and, launched at high numbers, they can overwhelm enemy forces while requiring little human supervision.

ONR wrapped up a series of land tests this week with an experiment at
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, where 31 of the 12-14 pound Coyotes were tube-launched in approximately 40 seconds and proceeded to conduct a series of swarm formations and maneuvers, Vice Adm. Rick Breckenridge, deputy commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, told an audience at the Pentagon on Friday.

"It's going to change some of the calculus of how we operate," Breckenridge said of the technology.

Lee Mastroianni, ONR's program manager for LOCUST, told Military.com that the at-sea demonstration would take place off the East Coast, with the swarm of UAVs launched from the Sea Fighter, a small-waterplane-area twin-hull platform used by ONR for experimentation and research.

"We'll launch large numbers of them, doing swarm operations, flying around, doing a number of different flight profiles, then doing a land recovery," Mastroianni said. "We're flying them in different flight configurations where they're in very tight, and then they're going to change the relationship they all are to one another."

The swarming technology allows the drones to relate to each other spatially and fly their swarm formations with minimal human direction or intervention, which Mastroianni noted is key for practical and efficient unmanned technology that decreases the warfighter's burden.

"We have an operator that's monitoring it, keeping eyes on what's going on, and can reach in and change things if they want to," he said. "But the reality is, [the drones are] flying themselves, they're performing their mission and the operator's supervisory. So it tremendously reduces the workload to be able to control large numbers of UAVs."

The swarm can expend enemy resources by drawing fire or safely conduct tasks such as intelligence-gathering or jamming communications that might otherwise be accomplished with manned aircraft.

Mastroianni said he plans to recover all the Coyote UASs used in next month's demonstration so he can refurbish and re-use the drones for future tests and to avoid having to send divers into the Atlantic Ocean to recover them.

But officials have said they hope to drive the unit costs even lower -- to $10,000 or below -- to make them even easier to expend if needed.

Following the demo, Mastroianni said he expects ONR to announce its outcome and to incorporate findings and lessons learned in future testing. He said officials plan to continue development on the capability of the swarming drones to conduct maneuvers across the battlespace.

"As we come to a close on this chapter, we'll be exploring all those different things," he said. "I expect to be busy for quite a few years."
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FORBIN

FORBIN

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
Benedict: Life Extension for Trident II Missile ‘is Essential’

WASHINGTON — While the Navy’s top acquisition program is a replacement for the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines, the admiral responsible for the Navy’s strategic systems said June 24 that his top priority is extending the service life of the Trident II missiles that arm the Ohios and will go into the first of their replacements.

The Trident II D5 missiles also are deployed in Great Britain’s Vanguard strategic submarines and will continue to arm their replacement, Vice Adm. Terry Benedict said during an Air Force Association breakfast June 24.

“The Trident was planned originally for a service life of only 25 years. However, it will serve throughout the remaining service life of the Ohio and Vanguard classes, and it will be the initial on-load of the Ohio replacement and [Vanguard] successor submarines,” taking it “long beyond its original service life,” Benedict, director of Strategic Systems Programs, said.

Life extension therefore “is essential to ensuring that the Trident remains the successful sea-based deterrent that it has been since the early ‘90s,” he told a forum on strategic deterrence.

Prolonging the operational life of the D5 requires upgrading or replacing all the strategic weapon systems and subsystems, including launchers, the navigation, fire control and guidance electronics and the W88 nuclear warheads in the Trident’s re-entry vehicles, he explained.

The continued reliability and accuracy of the updated missiles is being tested in an extensive schedule of flight tests that will total 14 shots over 18 months, in preparation for a planned initial operational capability in fiscal 2017, he said.

Benedict is part of the Navy team working to plan and then produce the replacements for the Ohio strategic deterrence submarines, which will begin to retire in 2029. The other team members are the program executive office submarines, which heads the overall design effort, and Naval Nuclear Reactors, which is developing the nuclear power plant that is expected to last the entire service life of the new boat.

The admiral said his primary responsibility for the Ohio replacement was the middle section, which includes the common missile compartment (CMC) and the other strategic systems.
The CMC, which will have 16 missile tubes and the monitoring and control systems, also will go into the Vanguard replacements. The two navies worked closely to design the compartment and in a “truly unique” arrangement, each country will produce the CMCs it needs in its own shipyard, Benedict said.

Construction of the first 15 US missile tubes began in 2015, and the Navy is about to let a contract for the next 30, he said.

To reduce the technical risk for both the U.S. and U.K. programs, SSP is leading the development of the Strategic Weapons System Ashore integration and test site at Cape Canaveral, Fla., Benedict said.

The admiral praised the Navy’s historic cooperation on the strategic submarine programs with the British, and said that relationship would not be affected by Great Britain’s vote Thursday to “exit” the European Union.

Benedict said that based on a telephone exchange he had that morning with his Royal Navy counterpart, “I have no concern.” The Brexit vote “was a decision based on its relationship with Europe, not with us. I see yesterday’s vote having no effect.”

While concentrating on the service life extension of the Tridents, Benedict said his office also is beginning work on a new strategic missile to replace them sometime in the future. In that effort, he has been cooperating with the Air Force, which is actively seeking a replacement for its Minuteman III ground-based strategic missiles. That effort appears to be focused mainly on finding as many common subsystems as possible to help both services save money.

While expressing his support for all three legs of the nuclear deterrent Triad, which also includes the Air Force strategic bombers, Benedict noted that the Navy not only provides the “most survivable” leg, but is responsible for 70 percent of the deployed nuclear warheads under the 2010 New Start Treaty with Russia that limits each nation to 1,550 deployable warheads.

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FORBIN

FORBIN

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
26 Nations to Participate in World’s Largest Maritime Exercise

SAN DIEGO — Twenty-six nations, 45 ships, five submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel will participate in the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, scheduled for June 30 to Aug. 4, in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California, according to a June 23 release from Commander, U.S. Third Fleet.

The world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain the cooperative relationships are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans. RIMPAC 2016 is the 25th exercise in the series that began in 1971.

Hosted by U.S. Pacific Fleet, RIMPAC 2016 will be led by U.S. Vice Adm. Nora Tyson, commander of the U.S. Third Fleet (C3F), who will serve as the Combined Task Force (CTF) commander. Royal Australian Navy Rear Adm. Scott Bishop will serve as deputy commander of the CTF, and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Rear Adm. Koji Manabe as the vice commander. Other key leaders of the multinational force will include Commodore Malcolm Wise of the Royal Australian Navy, who will command the maritime component; Brig. Gen. Blaise Frawley of the Royal Canadian Air Force, who will command the air component; and the amphibious task force will be led by Royal New Zealand Navy Commodore James Gilmour.

Three nations — Denmark, Germany and Italy — will participate in RIMPAC for the first time, in 2016.

This year the Trident Warrior experimentation series will highlight fleet innovation during amphibious operations in the Southern California operating area, and feature a Harpoon missile shoot from a littoral combat ship, the U.S. Navy’s newest surface platform.

The theme of RIMPAC 2016 is “Capable, Adaptive, Partners.” The participating nations and forces will exercise a wide range of capabilities and demonstrate the inherent flexibility of maritime forces. These capabilities range from disaster relief and maritime security operations to sea control and complex warfighting. The relevant, realistic training program includes amphibious operations, gunnery, missile, anti-submarine, and air defense exercises as well as counter-piracy, mine clearance operations, explosive ordnance disposal, and diving and salvage operations.

This year’s exercise includes forces from Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the People’s Republic of China, Peru, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, the United Kingdom and the United States.

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