US Destroyer Enters Mediterranean As Syria Tensions Build; Carrier On Standby

The Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2) on Sept. 4, 2018, via US Navy

 

An American battleship, the USS Bulkeley destroyer, has reportedly entered the Mediterranean and is headed for Syria, equipped with over 50 Tomahawk missiles. This deployment comes after previous reports of the attack submarine USS Newport News (SSN-750) arriving in the Mediterranean, and after the arrival Tuesday of A U.S. Marine Corps small attack carrier full of F-35B stealth jets, the USS Essex, in the Middle East region as detailed by the military website, Task and Purpose.

The Russian news agency Interfax now reports that American forces in the region possess up to 200 Tomahawk cruise missiles available to strike targets in Syria if ordered to do so.

Only One of Six Air Force F-35s Could Actually Take Off During Testing

During a mock deployment at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, just one of the $100 million Lockheed Martin F-35s was able to boot its software successfully and get itself airborne during an exercise designed to test the readiness of the F-35, FlightGlobal reports. Nonetheless, the Air Force plans to declare its F-35s combat-ready later this year.

Details surrounding the failed exercise were disclosed earlier this week in written testimony presented to Congress by J. Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon’s chief weapons tester.

Report: F-35 failed ‘real-world operational’ tests for deployment

An F-35B Lightning II conducts vertical takeoff flight operations aboard the USS Wasp in May. /U.S. Navy Photo/Spc. William Tonacchio

 

Tests of the F-35 fifth generation stealth fighter jet in May revealed serious operational deficiencies, according to a Pentagon report.

In another major setback for the $400 billion Joint Strike Fighter project, the report said that the F-35s launched from a U.S. Marine Corps amphibious assault ship were unreliable and failed to carry any weapons.

More Money, More Problems: F-35 Software Overwhelmed With False Alarms

New problems – namely, false alarms from overly sensitive threat-detecting sensors – have arisen with the beleaguered F-35 aircraft, so far the most expensive, and problem-ridden, piece of military equipment in US history.

The sensors on the fighter that are supposed to detect threats — like incoming missiles — often don’t know what they’re detecting and are returning a high rate of false alarms, Breaking Defense reports. In addition, it is proving difficult to integrate the “threat” data into the fighter’s onboard software.