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Russia to Modernize 30 Tu-22M3 Bombers by 2020 Sergey Piatakov About 30 Tu-22M3 strategic bombers from Russia's Long Range Aviation fleet will be modernized by 2020, Russian Air Force spokesman Col. Vladimir Drik said on Tuesday. "We plan to upgrade about 30 strategic bombers to the M3M standard,” Drik said. Tu-22M3 (NATO reporting name Backfire-C) is a supersonic, swing-wing, long-range strategic bomber that Russia uses mainly to patrol the skies over its southern borders, Central Asia and the Black Sea region. The Tu-22M3 has a flight range of 6,800 km (4,300 miles) and can carry a 24,000 kg (52,910 lb)...

By the U-Bomber’s concept of justice, one he shares with millions of jihadists around the world, an aggressive act is a permissible “defensive” act when waged against anyone defaming Muhammad. So fundamental a truth is this in the U-Bomber’s mind that he sees no need to include in his motion any details, real or invented, of any wrongdoing or provcative behavior on the part of the officers that could explain his outbrust of violence. He never says the officers flushed his Koran, or called him an Islamophobic name, or tried to read to him from the polytheist Bible. What he...

If terrorist methods are as widely available as automobiles, why are there so few Islamist terrorists? In light of the death and devastation that terrorists have wrought, the question may seem absurd. But if there are more than a billion Muslims in the world, many of whom supposedly hate the West and desire martyrdom, why don't we see terrorist attacks everywhere, every day?

Libya will not extradite Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie airline bombing, a minister in Libya's rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) said on Sunday.

When the Libyan intelligence agent convicted of the 1988 deadly bombing of Pan Am flight 103 was freed from a Scottish jail in 2009, he supposedly had just 90 days to live, thanks to advanced prostate cancer. In fact, that medical prognosis formed the basis for his release “on compassionate grounds.� But, yesterday, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi — the man a Scottish court of law found responsible for the deaths of 270 people — put in an appearance at a pro-Qaddafi rally, outraging the British government and reviving the debate of whether he should have been released in the first place....

US President Barack Obama had made a secret deal with Libyan rebel leaders to capture the freed Lockerbie bomber from Libya and return him to face justice in the US, the Mail on Sunday reported yesterday. The British daily quoted senior congressional sources in Washington as saying that Mr Obama had told the Libyan rebels through intermediaries that a condition of Washington's continued support was that they must hand over Abdelbaset al-Megrahi to US special forces if they enter Tripoli. The mission would involve Megrahi being flown to a neutral Arab country by US special forces and on to the

OSWEGO, Ill. -- A World War II bomber made what appeared to be an emergency landing in a cornfield on Monday, and all seven people on board escaped before it was consumed by fire, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. "The plane departed the airport, noted an emergency, and the pilot made what appears to be an emergency landing, after which the plane was consumed by fire," FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said in an e-mail. None of the passengers was injured. The accident occurred right after the plane, known as the "Liberty Belle," took off from the Aurora Municipal...

OSWEGO, Ill. -- A B-17 bomber that dates to World War II crashed and burned in a cornfield outside Chicago on Monday as it was headed to Indiana. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said aviation officials believe the seven people on board the plane escaped uninjured.

A WWII bomber plane crashed and caught fire near Chicago Monday morning. No one was injured. Seven people were onboard the plane. Officials say they all walked away from the crash. The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was at airport in Oswego, Illinois, to mark the 67th anniversary of D-Day. The bomber was grounded over the weekend due to mechanical problems and took off from Sugar Grove Airport at 9:30 a.m. The Daily Herald profiled the plane and D-Day event over the weekend. The restored B-17, called "Liberty Belle," is owned by Liberty Foundation. The plane was at Lunken Airport on...

Yesterday [Feb 23, 2011], the FBI arrested Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari for the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. His arrest marks the 38th successfully thwarted terrorist plot against the United States since 9/11. The FBI, with the help of concerned citizens, should be applauded for stopping the plot before it was able to mature. At the same time, it also highlights key failures of Congress and the Obama Administration in homeland security. According to the FBI, Aldawsari, a 20-year-old Saudi citizen and student at South Plains College in Lubbock, Texas, sent numerous e-mails to himself outlining “nice targets”...

A USAF B-2 Spirit stealth bomber sits on the ramp at Andersen AFB in Guam "Tip of the Spear" USA. Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20060917.htm (medium, large) The Photographer Staff Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III, United States Air Force   Food For Thought From the September 2007 article "The Plane That Would Bomb Iran" by Robert D. Kaplan  http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2007/09/the-plane-that-would-bomb-iran/6133/   "The B-2 makes a statement. And that statement is, 'We mean business!'" He [U.S. Air Force Colonel Robert "Wheels" Wheeler] banged his fist on the table. Wheeler is the classic intense Air Force intellectual. He has degrees in both engineering and strategic studies and...

A USAF B-2 Spirit stealth bomber soars over the Pacific Ocean. Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20061021.htm (medium, large) The Photographer Tech. Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo, United States Air Force  

Libya: work abandoned on Lockerbie bomber's residenceWork has been abandoned on a new residence for Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, who was reported to have been evacuated from Tripoli before an international bombing campaign was launched. By Damien McElroy, Tripoli 6:25PM GMT 20 Mar 2011 A heavy police presence was deployed in the Damascus district of Tripoli, the upmarket suburb where Mr Megrahi lives, after an overnight bombing raid destroyed the city's air defences. Col Muammar Gaddafi's regime is in lockdown as a result of the UN-backed attacks and key figures have been evacuated from the city for their own...

It appears that planning for an advanced long-range strike and reconnaissance aircraft will remain rudimentary for a while. Finding the necessary “funding needed to get to a meaningful down-select is still an open question,” says Paul Kaminski, former Pentagon acquisition chief and current chairman of the Defense Science Board. “That’s one of the things I’m looking for in the [new defense] budget. From what I know about the technology so far, I don’t see the supersonic requirement and capability in the early block.” The U.S. Air Force is faced with rationalizing its investment in a new, long-range, bomber-reconnaissance aircraft while...

The U.S. Navy said it made a breakthrough in drone technology with the first flight of the X-47B, a bat-winged unmanned jet designed to take off and land from an aircraft carrier, one of the most complex and difficult feats in aviation.

More revelations about the British Government's insidious involvement in the release of the convicted Libyan mass murderer. Britain's no.1 civil servant, Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell has found that Labour did ''all it could'' to facilitate Libya in its appeal to the Scottish government to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds. In a statement to MPs, Mr Cameron said: ''Insufficient consideration was given to the most basic question of all - was it really right for the British government to facilitate an appeal by the Libyans to the Scottish government in the case of an individual who was convicted of murdering...

Industry Looks To New Bomber For Design Work Jan 28, 2011 By Graham Warwick Washington Where is the next combat aircraft? Domestic and export orders will keep U.S. and European production lines running through the middle of the decade. But development work is diminishing and design teams dissipating, and the gap between new programs stretches out. The U.S. Air Force and Navy have begun requirements definition and technology development for “sixth-generation” air dominance aircraft, notionally aimed at service entry in 2025-30. But despite Russia, and now China, unveiling F-22-class stealth fighters, U.S. budget pressures are likely rule out any significant...

The next time you get an annoying mass text message, you might want to think twice before getting upset. It could save your life. At least that’s what happened recently in Russia. Security sources tell the London Telegraph that a Russian Islamic terrorist plan was foiled on New Year’s Eve when a “Happy New Year” text detonated the terrorist’s suicide bomb prematurely:

A bomb has been detonated at the Domodedovo Airport in Moscow, killing at least ten people and wounding twenty others. Domodedovo is the busiest of the Russian capital’s three airports. Early suspicion has fallen on the “Caucasus Emirate,” an Islamist separatist movement in Chechnya, which has been held responsible for deploying two female suicide bombers against the Moscow Metro subway system in March 2010. Those attacks claimed over 40 lives. Chechen separatists supposedly trained a sizable group of “black widow” female bombers, and promised future terror attacks. Initial reports from the Domodedovo Airport suggested the new attack was the work...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A blast at Russia's largest airport Domodedovo on Monday killed about 20 people, news agency Itar-Tass reported, citing a law enforcement official.

KHAR, Pakistan – A burqa-clad female suicide bomber in Pakistan lobbed hand grenades, then detonated her explosive belt among a crowd at an aid center Saturday, killing at least 45 people in militants' latest strike against the authorities' control over the key tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Police believed it was the first time Islamic militants have sent a woman to carry out a suicide attack in Pakistan, where the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan against al-Qaida and the Taliban insurgents continues to spill over despite Islamabad's repeated claims of victory on its side of the porous border. The bomber, dressed in...

LUTON, England — Embarrassed officials at the Luton Islamic Center on Tuesday defended their decision not to report Taimour Abdulwahab to police after his extremist views alienated worshippers in this small city north of London. That decision became important when Abdulwahab blew himself up Saturday on a busy street in Stockholm, injuring two people and endangering many more — and, once again focusing unwanted attention on Luton, a nondescript city of 200,000 with a large Muslim population. Abdulwahab, who died in the blast, did not attract much attention in Luton, but he did alarm mosque elders with fiery rhetoric

(graphic warning) The jihad has come to Sweden. When I was checking on this story, the enemy media made no mention of the Islamic motivation or any connection to Islam. Fröken Sverige writes me : Suicidebomber in Stockholm, Sweden, blow him self up while screaming Allahu Akbar! But first he sent a warning to the secret police and to other islamists: Kill swedish people like Lars Vilks, kill the swedish people and their mothers and kids....

A source close to the family of the Lockerbie bomber Abdul Baset al Megrahi told Sky News Thursday his death is imminent and every day is "expected to be his last." Suffering from prostate cancer, the Libyan's health has rapidly deteriorated -- and his relatives said he has been in a coma and on life support for around a week. Al Megrahi -- who was convicted of killing 270 people by bombing a Pan Am jet in 1988 -- has been unable to walk for a number of weeks and is not expected to recover.

Portland Bomber Will Use Entrapment As DefenseNovember 30, 2010 07:56 PM EST But good luck to him. No terror case has ever won acquittal by using entrapment. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, a Somali-born naturalized U.S. citizen, has plead innocent to terror charges leveled against him. According to the FBI, he had several documented chances to back out of the attempted Christmas tree lighting bombing, but Mohamud’s defense claims that the very first meeting was not recorded, and that this meeting is the most important. This claim almost sounds like a conspiracy theory. The details of this case are not clear...

A British Airways computer expert who is alleged to have offered himself as a suicide bomber appeared in court today to deny terrorism charges. Rajib Karim, 31, of Newcastle upon Tyne, remains in custody and is due to go on trial on January 24 at Woolwich Crown Court in south east London. Bangladesh-born Karim appeared via videolink today at the Old Bailey where he pleaded not guilty to two charges of preparing for terrorism. Each count covers the period from April 13 2006 to February 26 2010 and includes the allegation that he 'offered to be a martyr or suicide...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Federal agents in a sting operation arrested a Somali-born teenager just as he tried blowing up a van he believed was loaded with explosives at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, authorities said. The bomb was an elaborate fake supplied by the agents and the public was never in danger, authorities said. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested at 5:40 p.m. Friday just after he dialed a cell phone that he thought would set off the blast but instead brought federal agents and police swooping down on him. Yelling "Allahu Akbar!" — Arabic for...

Maimed firefighter reminds Ayers of bombs' toll Blast victim eager to testify at UIC board hearing on ex-radical prof's honor Comments November 17, 2010 BY NEIL STEINBERG Sun-Times Columnist David Cales saw the bomb that blew off his hand. He was a 26-year-old Chicago firefighter, a pipeman on Engine 8 out of Chinatown, that April day in 1983 when his company answered the call after an explosion at a Near South Side restaurant. The second bomb was in a shopping bag. Cales looked inside, saw the three sticks of dynamite, and instinctively went to throw it off a roof crowded...

Bomber, missile and security forces were recognized for superior technical and weapons system expertise in the following award categories: Fairchild Trophy for Best Bomb Wing: 509th Bomb Wing, Whiteman AFB, Mo. Blanchard Trophy for Best ICBM Wing: 90th Missile Wing, F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo. Ellis Giant Sword Trophy for Best Bomber Maintenance: 7th BW, Dyess AFB, Texas Charlie Fire Team Trophy for Best Security Forces: 509th BW Best ICBM Operations Trophy: 90th MW Blackburn Trophy for Best ICBM Maintenance: 90th MW Best Bomber Nuclear Load Team Trophy: 5th BW, Minot AFB, N.D. Best Bomber Munitions Maintenance Trophy: 7th BW Best...

Video at link

DALLAS – FBI officials who arrested a Jordanian man plotting to blow up a Dallas skyscraper offer a different portrayal of the apologetic young man who spoke politely to the judge during his two day sentencing hearing. FBI officials told The Associated Press that 20-year-old Hosam Smadi believed he was committing an act on the scale of the September 11th attacks and would get away with it. Agent Tom Petrowski says Smadi "intended to die" for Osama bin Laden.

"The Spirit of Hawaii" -- a U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bomber -- taxies to get into formation at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, USA, during the "Beast Walk" Exercise on June 22, 1998. Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-200905.htm (medium, large)   The Photographer Senior Airman Jessica Kochman, United States Air Force  

A 22-year-old Lebanese immigrant accused of placing a backpack he thought contained a bomb near Chicago's Wrigley Field is no terrorist, just someone seeking quick fortune and fame in America, his attorney and a friend said Wednesday. But a federal judge denied bail for Sami Samir Hassoun, determining he is dangerous and a flight risk. "It's hard to imagine a more serious crime ... Although it was thwarted, it had the potential to kill many people," U.S. District Judge Susan Cox said Wednesday afternoon at Hassoun's detention hearing.

The cancer-stricken Lockerbie bomber can get out of bed and walk although he is clearly a very sick man, said the father of a victim after visiting him in Libya. Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi invited Jim Swire, whose 23-year-old daughter Flora was one of 270 killed in the 1988 bombing, to visit him and the two men spent an hour together on a hospital ward in Tripoli on Tuesday. (Snip) Swire, who last saw Megrahi in a Scottish prison in December 2008, said late Sunday that the Libyan looked better than he expected during what he described as a "man-to-man

The Lockerbie bomber has secretly resumed hospital chemotherapy sessions in an attempt to beat his cancer, the Daily Mail can reveal. A year after Abdelbaset Al Megrahi was sent home to Libya to die with just three months to live, he is now making regular trips to a top medical centre for the 'very best care that money can buy'. (Snip) But the Mail has learned he is once again receiving help from cancer specialists, which his family hope will provide a 'miracle cure' and extend his life still further - possibly by more than 18 months. According to sources

Scottish officials say US memo giving grudging support to freeing Abdelbaset al-Megrahi undermines president's criticisms Barack Obama is under growing pressure to release a letter that reveals the US grudgingly supported freeing the Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds. The letter was sent to Scottish ministers by a senior diplomat at the US embassy in London last August, eight days before Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was released from prison because he was dying from inoperable prostate cancer. Obama's administration has refused to allow publication of the letter, in which the US says allowing Megrahi to live at home in Scotland would be "far...

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Ted Poe (TX-02) and Rep. Michael McCaul (TX-10) sent a letter to Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Howard Berman, requesting that the committee launch a full investigation into the prisoner-transfer agreement of Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi. “The House Foreign Affairs Committee owes it to the 189 Americans killed in this terrorist attack to immediately launch a full investigation into this matter,” said Rep. Poe. “The allegations that a company used their influence to secure the release of a mass murderer in exchange for financial gain are an affront to justice and should not...

LONDON (AFP) – Scottish ministers on Wednesday defended their decision to free the Lockerbie bomber after renewed US anger over the release threatened to spoil the new British premier's first visit to the White House. Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said he did not regret freeing Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds last August. And Salmon denied claims from US lawmakers that the release formed part of an oil deal between BP and resource-rich Libya. "If you take a decision in good faith, you don't regret it," Salmond, the leader of Scotland's devolved government, told BBC radio. He...

On August 20, 2009 Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was released from prison in Scotland and allowed to return to Libya where he was expected to die within three months. According to the UK Telegraph, one of the physicians who examined Megrahi last summer has recently said that the infamous Lockerbie Bomber could live for another 10 or even 20 years. Professor Karol Sikora who serves as the dean of medicine at Buckingham University may have had a much larger role in Megrahi's release than was previously thought. The Scottish government insists Kenny MacAskill, the justice minister who took the final...

The Lockerbie bomber could survive for 10 years or longer, according to a cancer specialist who last year said he would be dead within three months of his release. Professor Karol Sikora, who assessed Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi for the Libyan authorities almost a year ago, told The Sunday Times it was "embarrassing" the bomber had outlived his three-month prognosis. Megrahi, 58, is the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of a US Pan Am jumbo jet over Lockerbie, which left 270 dead. The Scottish government provoked outrage from the United States when it released him from prison in...

Here is raw video that catches a homicide bomber who took part in an attack on a Pakistani that killed at least 50 people, and wounded hundreds of others.......

U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer heavy bombers (assigned to the 28th Bomb Squadron in Dyess Air Force Base, Texas) on a training mission in New Mexico, USA1600 x 942 pixels + 2208 x 1300 pixels + 3200 x 1884 pixels + via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20060914.htm The Photographer Master Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald, United States Air Force  

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- A B-17 bomber that lay in a New Guinea swamp for decades after being forced down during a World War II combat mission has been returned to the United States after years of salvage efforts. The forward fuselage of the so-called "Swamp Ghost" was displayed Friday at the Port of Long Beach in an emotional, patriotic ceremony attended by kin of some of the now-deceased aircrew.

The Obama administration has failed to keep congressional intelligence officials in the loop on the investigation into the botched Times Square bombing, as required by the law, the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate intelligence committee charged in a letter this week. "Having to fight over access to counterterrorism information is not productive and ultimately makes us less secure," wrote Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein and Vice Chairman Christopher S. "Kit" Bond in a letter to President Obama on Thursday. The senators said the lack of information has "caused serious friction in the relationship of the committee, on...

Times Square bomb suspect eyed other targets, official saysBy the CNN Wire Staff May 18, 2010 8:33 p.m. EDT New York (CNN) -- The man accused of attempting to set off a car bomb in Times Square considered other targets in and around New York before the failed attack, an investigator said. Faisal Shahzad, 30, pondered attacks on Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Terminal, the World Financial Center and Connecticut helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky, going so far as to case some of the targets, a senior counterterrorism official with oversight of the investigation said Tuesday. Dressed in a gray sweatsuit, free of...

WASHINGTON, May 10, 2010 – Iraqi forces working with U.S. advisors arrested a suspected vehicle bomber and four accused extortionists in Iraq in recent days, military officials reported. Iraqi forces arrested a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq member during a combined May 7 operation about 70 miles northeast of Baghdad. The suspect is believed to have ties to vehicle-bomb attacks and high-level al-Qaida in Iraq leaders in Diyala province. On May 6, Iraqi forces in search of a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq extortion leader arrested four suspected al-Qaida in Iraq members during a combined operation in eastern Mosul. Information and evidence...

The alleged would-be Times Square terrorist was disowned by the Pakistani Taleban yesterday as American politicians called for him to be stripped of his US citizenship so he can be tried by a military tribunal. Faisal Shahzad — nicknamed the “Idiot Bomber” for a series of blunders leading to his arrest — was praised by a spokesman for the Pakistani Taleban but disowned in the same breath. “We don’t even know him,” a spokesman said. In New York, an Emirates jet was held on the runway at Kennedy airport for the second time in four days yesterday, amid reports that...

Are the NYT's and James Risen at fault here? Investigators of the failed car bombing in Times Square are looking for a money courier they say helped funnel cash from overseas to finance a Pakistani-American's preparations to blow up the crude gasoline-and-propane bomb in the heart of New York, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. Investigators have the name of the courier they believe helped Faisal Shahzad pay for the used SUV and other materials to rig up a car bomb that would have caused a huge fireball in Times Square if it had gone off, the official...

A man who sold accused Time Square bomber Faisal Shahzad fireworks said the alleged terrorist seemed like a "typical, average American guy."

"(Law enforcement) interviewed Mr. Shahzad ... under the public safety exception to the Miranda rule. ... He was eventually ... Mirandized and continued talking." -- John Pistole, FBI deputy director, May 4 All well and good. But what if Faisal Shahzad, the confessed Times Square bomber, had stopped talking? When you tell someone he has the right to remain silent, there is a distinct possibility that he will remain silent, is there not? And then what? But let's assume you're wedded to the civilian law-enforcement model, as is the Obama administration. At least make an attempt to expand the public...