Prodigious Puffed up Phallus Produces Peril for Passaic, Paramis, Packanack, Pascoag, Pelham, and Philadelphia*

Everything the military does tends toward the phallic.
Compensating for Something?

Every time we drive north on 95 from Baltimore, we see some aerostats (tethered blimps}.

It's all a part of the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS) and today, a tether broke:

The U.S. military has two giant, unmanned surveillance blimps it uses to watch the East Coast from a base in Maryland. And one of them escaped its tethers Wednesday and floated aimlessly over Pennsylvania, downing power lines and cutting off electricity for tens of thousands of residents.

The incident started shortly after noon, when the blimp became detached from its anchor, NORAD said. Two F-16 fighter jets were scrambled to ensure it didn’t collide with other aircraft. By late afternoon, the dirigible had come down to the ground near Moreland Township in Pennsylvania — after drifting more than 100 miles — but not before leaving a trail of damage in its wake.

It was unclear how the aerostat got loose and how it came down, said John Cornelio, a spokesman for NORAD. He added it was possible that the aerostat's helium could have run out.

………

The blimp wreaked plenty of havoc. Frederick Hunsinger, the public safety director for Columbia County, Pa., said in an interview that the blimp’s heavy tether dragged for 20 miles across his county. There were no injuries within county borders, but the damage caused 35,000 to lose electricity, he said. Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania canceled classes as a result; 911 phone lines were overwhelmed.

………

Known as the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, or JLENS, the blimp is technically an aerostat -- a term for a lighter-than-air craft that is tethered to the ground. The $2.7 billion program is on a three-year test run to see whether it can help detect cruise missiles or enemy aircraft from 10,000 feet above ground.

………

The JLENS program “continues to drain money from taxpayers even though it serves no strategic purpose,” Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) said. “This incident is just another example of the problems inherent in an ill-conceived network of floating blimps that don’t provide any advantage over aircraft we’ve already bought.”

I am sure that the 35,000 people who lost power would agree with Representative Speier.

It does see  to be yet another DoD program where they are procuring without a meaningful need.

^*What can I say? The juxtaposition of penis humor and alliteration are comedy gold., and yes, it is one of the reasons that I made this post..

After 30 Years and Billions of Dollars the Missile Defense Contractors Still Cannot Solder a Wire Correctly

Notwithstanding the myriad tough technical problems that are involved, one would think that the Missile Defense Agency would at least be able to make the manufacturers make the interceptors to spec:

Two serious technical flaws have been identified in the ground-launched anti-missile interceptors that the United States would rely on to defend against a nuclear attack by North Korea.

Pentagon officials were informed of the problems as recently as last summer but decided to postpone corrective action. They told federal auditors that acting immediately to fix the defects would interfere with the production of new interceptors and slow a planned expansion of the nation's homeland missile defense system, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.

As a result, all 33 interceptors now deployed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County and Ft. Greely, Alaska, have one of the defects. Ten of those interceptors — plus eight being prepared for delivery this year — have both.

Summing up the effect on missile-defense readiness, the GAO report said that "the fielded interceptors are susceptible to experiencing … failure modes," resulting in "an interceptor fleet that may not work as intended."

………

One of the newly disclosed shortcomings centers on wiring harnesses embedded within the kill vehicles' dense labyrinth of electronics.

A supplier used an unsuitable soldering material to assemble harnesses in at least 10 interceptors deployed in 2009 and 2010 and still part of the fleet.

The same material was used in the eight interceptors that will be placed in silos this year, according to GAO analyst Cristina Chaplain, lead author of the report.

The soldering material is vulnerable to corrosion in the interceptors' underground silos, some of which have had damp conditions and mold. Corrosion "could have far-reaching effects" because the "defective wiring harnesses" supply power and data to the kill vehicle's on-board guidance system, said the GAO report, which is dated May 6.

………

Chaplain told The Times that based on her staff's discussions with the Missile Defense Agency, officials there have "no timeline" for repairing the wiring harnesses.

The agency encountered a similar problem with wiring harnesses years earlier, and the supplier was instructed not to use the deficient soldering material. But "the corrective actions were not passed along to other suppliers," according to the GAO report.

L. David Montague, co-chairman of a National Academy of Sciences panel that reviewed operations of the Missile Defense Agency, said officials should promptly set a schedule for fixing the harnesses.

"The older they are with that kind of a flawed soldering, the more likely they are to fail," Montague, a former president of missile systems for Lockheed Corp., said in an interview.

The second newly disclosed defect involves a component called a divert thruster, a small motor intended to help maneuver the kill vehicles in flight. Each kill vehicle has four of them.

The GAO report refers to "performance issues" with the thrusters. It offers few details, and GAO auditors declined to elaborate, citing a fear of revealing classified information. They did say that the problem is different from an earlier concern that the thruster's heavy vibrations could throw off the kill vehicle's guidance system.

The report and interviews with defense specialists make clear that problems with the divert thruster have bedeviled the interceptor fleet for years. To address deficiencies in the original version, Pentagon contractors created a redesigned "alternate divert thruster."

The government planned to install the new version in many of the currently deployed interceptors over the next few years and to retrofit newly manufactured interceptors, according to the GAO report and interviews with its authors.

That plan was scrapped after the alternate thruster, in November 2013, failed a crucial ground test to determine whether it could withstand the stresses of flight, the report said. To stay on track for expanding the fleet, senior Pentagon officials decided to keep building interceptors with the original, deficient thruster.

What sort of moron structures a multi-billion dollar multi-year defense system in such a way that there is absolutely no quality control?

To accelerate deployment, then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld exempted the missile agency from the Pentagon's standard procurement rules and testing standards.

(emphasis mine)

OK, that kind of moron.

Why the hell is the MDA still operating this way? 

Rumsfeld has been "spending more time with his family" for about 9 years, so one would think that the pentagon would be able to correct at least one of his f%$#-ups in the interim.


H/T the hairiest Saroff, aka Bear who Swims.
    o o
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      oo oo


This is a Very Good Idea

For many years, the Department of Defense's spending has been so byzantine that it has been impossible to conduct a meaningful audit of their spending.

a bipartisan group of Senators has put forward a bill that would strip the Pentagon of authority if this situation continues:

A bipartisan group of senators has introduced legislation that would impose penalties on the Defense Department if the agency fails meet a legally mandated goal of being fully auditable by September 2017.

The bill – sponsored by Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Rand Paul (Ky.) and Democrats Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Ron Wyden (Oregon) – calls for increased oversight every year the department fails to meet the target and would eventually strip the Pentagon’s ability to reprogram and transfer funds between its accounts.

“One of best ways to find the most accurate information about our military’s spending and priorities is to shed light on the Department of Defense budget without jeopardizing our national security secrets,” Manchin, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.

“It is simply unacceptable that the Department of Defense is the only major federal agency that has not completed a financial audit. Our bill will help to solve that problem,” he added.

Since 1997, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has been required to audit the federal government’s consolidated financial statements, but the watchdog agency has repeatedly said its reviews of the Pentagon are not based on accurate data.

In 2010, it was determined that nearly $6 billion spent to improve the agency's financial information was unsuccessful and GAO could not predict when the DOD would be able to provide these financial statements.

Considering that the volume of inefficiency, incompetence, and malfeasance in the Pentagon dwarfs that of the rest of the government, it's a step in the right direction.

The defense budget, and particularly the portion dealing with procurement, is a complete mess.

Why We Can't Have Nice Stuff

Because our definition of "Nice Stuff" includes aircraft that require 4 years of repair work after an engine fire:

Almost four years after the Air Force said a B-2 sustained “minor damage,” the aircraft returned to the fleet at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., on Dec. 16, according to the service.

An engine fire grounded the “Spirit of Washington” in 2010. Since then, Air Force maintainers and engineers have worked to get one of the 20 B-2 stealth bombers remaining in the Air Force fleet back in the air.

The fact there are only 20 B-2s in the Air Force’s fleet increased the urgency of the repair and helped Air Force officials to make the decision not to scrap the project even though it took three years and nine months to complete.

………

Maintaining the B-2’s stealth qualities added to the challenge, according to officials. A particular challenge was removing the charcoal created by the fire from the aircraft’s skin.

Maintainers created a process in which they used dry ice pellets to remove charcoal from the skin.

The increasingly exotic technology upon which The Pentagon relies have become unsustainable.

If You Want to Understand the Face of Modern Capitalism

Just read Aviation Week's savaging of Angela Merkel. (Paid Subscription Required)

Seriously, this article makes me feel a modicum of respect for Angela F%$#ing Merkel.

It centers on the role of Merkel of killing the BAE/EADS merger, and Aviation Week, which is at its core a defense industry newsletter, and as suchit does not approve of government "meddling."

The basic premise behind this is that after sucking up billions of government subsidies and contracts, they want to "unleash the free market" (Translation: move factories to China, overpay senior executives, and continue to get government money).

Nixing the terms demanded by BAE may have been the best thing that Merkel has ever done.

If there is any industry that rivals the banksters for socializing risk and privatizing profits, it is the defense industry, and to treat it as anything but a ward of the state is a profound mistake.

Obama Will Definitely Nominate Hagel for Secretary of Defense

How do I know this, because in 1998, Chuck Hagel aggressively gay bashed James Hormel when he was nominated to be ambassador to Luxemberg:

The nation's largest LGBT rights group on Thursday called "unacceptable" comments former Sen. Chuck Hagel made in 1998 opposing a Clinton administration nominee because he was "openly aggressively gay."

The 14-year-old comments about Clinton's nominee to be ambassador to Luxembourg, James Hormel, came to light Thursday as Hagel is a front-runner to be nominated by President Obama for defense secretary in his second term.

Human Rights Campaign spokesman Michael Cole-Schwartz also said, however, that "we do not know ... how [Hagel']s views have evolved over time" and that the group "look[s] forward to hearing from Senator Hagel on these issues should he be nominated."

The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which works to support out LGBT presidential appointees, noted that times have changed since Hormel's nomination.

This would not be a SecDef who will move aggressively on removing the last vestiges of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" from the military.

His nomination, absent a serious and sincere mea culpa, would be a finger in the eye of the LGBT community, which would give Obama the sort of "Sister Souljah moment" opportunity that he loves so much, which is why I think Hagel will be nominated by Obama.

This Ain't About the Free Market

The news that BAE and EADS are in merger discussions has very little to do with the market or market efficiencies.

It's about EADS purchasing an entry in the the US market, one which BAE purchased when it bought United Defense,  Tracor,  LMCS, LMAES, etc.

Ironically, BAE sold its 20% share in EADS about 6 years ago.

The reality is that the defense market is essentially a monopsony, with governments in general, and the US government in particular serving as a single buyer, though with this merger the other end of the dynamic is heading more towards monopoly as well.

Thus, I find the protestations by BAE management that the French and German governments must not have the ability to exert realistic shareholder rights, together they own about 45% of EADS, to ring a bit hollow:

BAE Systems has insisted it will walk away from talks with EADS unless the combined European champion in aerospace and defence was allowed to operate as a normal company without political interference.

BAE is also insisting that the combined entity’s defence business would have to be based in the UK if the plan, news of which was leaked on Wednesday before the structure was finalised, is to go ahead.

Gee, a defense contractor must be kept free of political influence?

This deal is all about creating an entity that can manipulate the politics to its own advantage.

The insistence that the French and German governments sell out, if they didn't they would have about a 27% stake in the merged firm, is all about the company being able to whipsaw governments with  promises, or threats, about defense jobs.

$10 Billion

The program to extend the life of the B-61 nuclear bomb is looking to have a price tag in excess of $10 billion: (Paid subscription required)

In the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration, (NNSA), officials of nuclear weapons programs try to keep them out of the limelight. But extending the life of the B61 is attracting all kinds of unwanted attention.

The cost of the nuclear bomb has doubled, with estimates now projecting that the weapon designed to defend Europe could cost $10 billion. On top of the weapon's ballooning price tag, the Air Force is working on a $1.2 billion tail kit program that adds a limited guidance capability to the bomb. And the arms control community is starting to buzz about the implications.

News about the B61's cost growth and two-year schedule delay is gaining traction on Capitol Hill. The concern among lawmakers could have implications for the program and the NNSA that oversees the U.S. nuclear force.

B61 bombs are the oldest in the U.S. stockpile. They entered the force in the 1970s, and can be used on fighter jets and long-range bombers. The arsenal has five different versions, both strategic and tactical, focused on protecting NATO members.

The latest life-extension program (LEP) aims to extend their life , merging four of those variants, all with different-sized explosive capabilities, into the B61-12. The B61-12 would draw on the design of the smallest nuclear explosive, or yield, weapon. The administration says using one variant will save money, and the B61-12 weapon would add an advanced security system to prevent unauthorized access to the weapons.

Serious, $10 billion to standardize on one bomb variant, and $12.2 billion to give it a tail steering guidance system?

These numbers are f%$#ing nuts!

In the Latest Episode of "The Forever War"………

Obama has signed of on building an archipelago of secret drone bases in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula:

The Obama administration is assembling a constellation of secret drone bases for counterterrorism operations in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula as part of a newly aggressive campaign to attack al-Qaeda affiliates in Somalia and Yemen, U.S. officials said.

One of the installations is being established in Ethi­o­pia, a U.S. ally in the fight against al-Shabab, the Somali militant group that controls much of that country. Another base is in the Seychelles, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, where a small fleet of “hunter-killer” drones resumed operations this month after an experimental mission demonstrated that the unmanned aircraft could effectively patrol Somalia from there.

The U.S. military also has flown drones over Somalia and Yemen from bases in Djibouti, a tiny African nation at the junction of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. In addition, the CIA is building a secret airstrip in the Arabian Peninsula so it can deploy armed drones over Yemen.

The rapid expansion of the undeclared drone wars is a reflection of the growing alarm with which U.S. officials view the activities of al-Qaeda affiliates in Yemen and Somalia, even as al-Qaeda’s core leadership in Pakistan has been weakened by U.S. counterterrorism operations.

This is completely nuts, the Pentagon is going to bankrupt us by placing a constellation of bases around the world that:

• We cannot afford.
• Creates terrorists by placing a foreign military presence in other sovereign nations.

This sh%$ simply has to stop.

The Stupidest F%$#ing Guy on the Planet*

It's Leon Panetta, who has decided to repeat the lies of Bush and His Evil Minions^™:

The joke got a round of appreciative laughs, but his comments Monday about al-Qaeda and the Iraq war raised eyebrows.

“The reason you guys are here is because on 9/11 the United States got attacked,” he told troops at Camp Victory, the largest U.S. military outpost in Baghdad. “And 3,000 Americans — 3,000 not just Americans, 3,000 human beings, innocent human beings — got killed because of al-Qaeda. And we’ve been fighting as a result of that.”

His statement echoed comments made by Bush and his administration, which tried to tie then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda. But it put Panetta at odds with Obama, the 9/11 Commission and other independent experts, who have said that al-Qaeda lacked a presence in Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Pressed by reporters to elaborate, Panetta said: “I wasn’t saying, you know, the invasion — or going into the issues or the justification of that. It was more the fact that we really had to deal with al-Qaeda here; they developed a presence here and that tied in.” His aides then intervened and shooed the press corps away.

This mother f%$#er is secretary of Defense? He was head of the CIA? And he still thinks that Saddam Hussein was behind 911?

Un-dirtyword-believable!

^*Yes, he takes the title from this guy, the reigning champion.

F136 Alternate Engine Included in Stopgap Spending Measure

So the alternate engine for the JSF is funded through March.

Some people see this as meaningless pork, but I remember the issues with Pratt and Whitney as the soul source supplier for F-15s and F-16s in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and it was ugly, so I am inclined to support the engine as a 2^nd best alternative, with the first best alternative to be cancellation of the JSF.

Barack Obama In Trying for Credibility in Defense, Destroys Our Military

Because Barack Obama and His Stupid Minions^™ are terrified about being accused of being soft on defense,^* that his future budgets will by expensive high tech weapons systems at the expense of operations, maintenance, and readiness:

U.S. spending on weapons through 2016 likely will grow faster than the overall defense budget, which will have annual increases of only about 1 percent above inflation, according to Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale.

“Our goal would be to get forces and modernization to grow by 2 or 3 percent,” Hale said in an interview, while saying that “it’s not a given.”

So Obama intends to spend money on crap we don't need, thereby diverting money from the crap we do need

Of course, the fact that we are already spending more money on defense than at any time since the end of the 2^nd World War, and he's still trying to increase the defense budget in real terms just buggers the mind.

Republicans support wasteful defense spending because:

• It's easy to demagogue.
• They find defense contractors an easy touch for donations.
• They want to ruin our finances so that we have to make cuts in social programs.

The Democrats support wasteful defense spending because:

• They are afraid that Republicans will call them names.

Truth be told, I am not sure which one is more pathetic.

^*It won't work, the Republicans will run against you as soft on defense anyway. As the saying goes, "The coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave man only one."

Talk About the Odd Couple…

Noted liberal Barney Frank and noted crazy wingnut Ron Paul have joined forces to cut the defense budget.

They are, of course, completely correct. Excessive defense spending is out of control, and is a clear and present danger to the safety and security of our society, but this tag team is a bit surreal.

Ground-launched IRIS-T fired

Click for Humongous Picture of IRIS-T SL Launch


MIM-72 Chaparral

Diehl BGT Defense has developed a ground launched derivative of its short range AAM IRIS-T.

The idea is that this system, IRIS-T SL, would be to the IRIS-T, as the Chaparral was to the Sidewinder.

One obvious difference here is that the IRIS-T has a lock after launch capability, and so does not need a trainable launcher, with the resulting savings in weight and complexity.

Additionally, the missile appears to be modified more than in the Chaparral, where the missile was basically a standard AIM-9D Sidewinder, while the IRIS-T SL uses a booster motor to get the missile out of the tube and up to speed, as well as an a shroud to protect it during the launch phase.

I'm kind of surprised that it's not a vertical launch, but that may be a trade off of coverage versus complexity of the launcher.

Inouye to Propose Changes to Franken Anti-Rape Amendment?

Well, we know that appears that defense contractors really hate Al Franken's amendment limiting their ability to use binding arbitration to keep things like rapes of employees and discrimination cases from appearing from in open court.

Well, it now appears that, in addition to the 30 pro rape Republicans and the Obama administration, there are now reports Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye is looking at stripping out the amendment.

This would be regrettable, because the law currently supports the rights of defense contractors to gang rape a woman and lock her in a box, and so the law needs to be changed.

I contacted his office, and have not heard any response at press time yet.

Full text of Franken's amendment after break:

Sec. 8104. (a) None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any existing or new Federal contract if the contractor or a subcontractor at any tier requires that an employee or independent contractor, as a condition of employment, sign a contract that mandates that the employee or independent contractor performing work under the contract or subcontract resolve through arbitration any claim under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or any tort related to or arising out of sexual assault or harassment, including assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, or negligent hiring, supervision, or retention.
(b) The prohibition in subsection (a) does not apply with respect to employment contracts that may not be enforced in a court of the United States.

Word of New Russian SAM System

RuAF General Alexander Zelin is saying that Russia is looking at developing the S-500 air defense system, and that it should have significantly improved capabilities over the S-400 (NATO designation SA-21 Growler) currently in deployment with Russian forces.

Not much in the way of specifics beyond it having a 600km (!) range, which implies that it has the kinematics to perform anti-IRBM duties too.

Russia Sustains High-Speed Propulsion Effort

Russia is funding hypersonic research (paid subscription required) involving ram/scram jets and pulse detonation engines (PDE).

Russia actually has some history here, having done extensive with the KH-90 Mach 5 cruise missile (NATO designation AS-19 Koala, bottom pic, and video [in Russian] below) which was dropped as a result of START II restrictions.

Law Change on F-22 Exports Proposed

You know, 10 years ago, this might have meant somehing:

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted unanimously Thursday to approve an fiscal 2010 Defense spending bill that would allow the Defense Department to develop an export version of the radar-evading F-22 Raptor fighter jet.

Now, not so much.

If the line gets restarted, here is what you have to do:

• Replace almost every chip on the plane with one that whose line wasn't shut down in the past 5 years (the US fleet has spent large amounts on building up inventories of these chips prior to shutdown of their lines).
• Rewrite the software for the new chips.
• Rewrite the software so that potential opponents will not be able to get critical information on the functioning of the US F-22 fleet.
• Improve the reliability of the coatings.
• Develop a new sensor suite so that potential opponents will not be able to get critical information on the functioning of the US F-22 fleet.
• Integrate non-US weapons (France & UK mostly) into the airframe.
• Keep the cost per plane at current levels.
• Be able to deliver the plane in less than 5 years.

If we are asking for all that, how about a pony too?

Gee, It's not Only Boeing that Has Wing Drop Issues

When I interviewed with Lockheed-Martin Fort Worth in the late 1990s, I talked with 3 or 4 people, and they all took pot-shots at the recently discovered problems with wing drop on the then new F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet.

In tight turns in the transonic range, there would be unequal lift generated because the shock wave locations would be slightly different, and so you would get wing drop.

It now appears that that the F-35 JSF is at risk of the same behavior, at least for the extended wing CTOL carrier C model (also here), so they have put some spoilers outboard of the wing fold (see picture) just in case they cannot deal it with flap scheduling.

In the scheme of things, it's not a particularly big deal, but considering the constant razzing the boy in Fort Worth gave Boeing over the Super Bug, it is a bit amusing.

Veto Threat on F-22 and F136 Authorizations

President Obama has threatened a veto on both programs.

I'm of a mixed mind on the programs.

While it is clear that the F-22 is overpriced, and does not address foreseeable threats, the F136 alternate engine for the JSF seems like a good idea.

The P&W F100/GE F110 engine competition saved a lot of money, and produced more reliable engines.

What's more, the F136 seems to have more growth potential than the F135, and this is needed, particularly for the STOVL F-35B.

Additionally, the funds to continue F136 development are about the cost of procuring just 2 more F-22s.