…and just a few weeks ago it was warned here that the F-35 program was touted as combat ready — out of rushed haste, not confidence.
Key Points
- The Pentagon’s director of operational testing has warned that the F-35 programme is still at risk of failing to deliver its full combat capability at the conclusion of SDD
- The USAF and the USMC have declared IOC with interim 3i combat software, while the USN has said that it will wait until 3F software is complete
America has for far too long focused all its concentration on chasing an endless supply of terrorists in the Middle East, which are proxies of the Soviet Union designed to distract and drain economic and strategic resources, all while it rearms and modernizes.
Pentagon warns that civil wars, collapsed states and new wars have increased instability around the world while the US military advantage of other countries has declined.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Civil wars, collapsed states and new wars have increased instability around the world while the US military advantage of other countries has declined, the US Department of Defense’s new 2015 National Military Strategy warned.
“[G]global disorder has significantly increased while some of our comparative military advantage has begun to erode,” the document released on Wednesday said. “We now face multiple, simultaneous security challenges from traditional state actors and trans-regional networks of sub-state groups.” Continue reading
WASHINGTON, December 22 (Sputnik) — The US Air Force will implement sections of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) restricting use of the Russian-made RD-180 rocket engine, which is used to deliver US national security payloads into space, an Air Force spokesperson told the Sputnik news agency on Monday.
“The Air Force is committed to ending reliance on the Russian RD-180 as soon as possible and is assessing the specific impacts from restrictions on its use,” Air Force spokesperson Captain Chris Hoyler said. Continue reading
In case you didn’t realize how dependent the United States is on Russia, this shows you the depth. Today, America also can’t even send humans into space without renting a seat from Russia. The U.S. is willfully committing suicide and is beyond the point of no return.
RD-180 rochet engines are produced at Moscow region’s Khimki-based power engineering company Energomash
WASHINGTON, August 21. /ITAR-TASS/. US company United Launch Alliance (ULA) has received Wednesday first two Russian rocket engines RD-180 under a contract to buy 29 such engines, ULA spokesperson Jessica Rye told ITAR-TASS.
On Tuesday this week, the Washington Times reported that a spokesperson for the US Department of Defense confirmed plans to put Pentagon advisers in Ukraine.
“Within the next few weeks, a group of Defense Department representatives who specialize in strategy and policy will head to Kiev to evaluate specific programs that the United States may want to help bolster,” reporter Maggie Ybarra wrote for the Times. Continue reading
Rare earth elements from China are being used to build weapons systems sold to the US Department of Defense, according to American geologist Victoria Bruce in an article written for Truthout, a nonprofit news organization based in the United States.
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According to Bruce, participants at the meeting were outraged to discover that various top US weapon systems including Lockheed Martin’s F-16 fighter, Raytheon’s ground-to-air missile system, Boeing’s Ground-Based Midcourse Defense missile system, Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk, and General Atomics’ MQ-1 Predator would not work at all without China-sourced rare earth materials. After learning this fact, a number of the participants promised to take action. Continue reading
Social science is being militarised to develop ‘operational tools’ to target peaceful activists and protest movements
A US Department of Defense (DoD) research programme is funding universities to model the dynamics, risks and tipping points for large-scale civil unrest across the world, under the supervision of various US military agencies. The multi-million dollar programme is designed to develop immediate and long-term “warfighter-relevant insights” for senior officials and decision makers in “the defense policy community,” and to inform policy implemented by “combatant commands.”
Launched in 2008 – the year of the global banking crisis – the DoD ‘Minerva Research Initiative’ partners with universities “to improve DoD’s basic understanding of the social, cultural, behavioral, and political forces that shape regions of the world of strategic importance to the US.” Continue reading
In what can be considered today’s bizarre news, Washington is buying military helicopters from Russia. “International law” (no such thing) aside, this compromises national security, let alone increases dependency on an enemy nation like the US now does via NASA to bring our astronauts into orbit.
From the state-run (FSB/KGB) propaganda outlet, RIA Novosti:
WASHINGTON, April 4 (By Maria Young for RIA Novosti) – The US Department of Defense said Thursday it plans to sidestep a Congressional ban to purchase 30 helicopters from Russian state-owned defense firm Rosoboronexport, despite objections from US lawmakers who allege that the firm has equipped the Syrian government to commit brutal crimes against civilians.
“The Department of Defense (DOD) has notified Congress of its intent to contract with Rosoboronexport for 30 additional Mi-17 rotary-wing aircraft to support the Afghanistan National Security Forces (ANSF) Special Mission Wing,” Pentagon spokesman James Gregory told RIA Novosti in emailed comments. Continue reading
Global Geopolitics 