Free Republic

Britain's armed forces are stepping up their contingency planning for potential military action against Iran amid mounting concern about Tehran's nuclear enrichment programme, the Guardian has learned. The Ministry of Defence believes the US may decide to fast-forward plans for targeted missile strikes at some key Iranian facilities. British officials say that if Washington presses ahead it will seek, and receive, UK military help for any mission, despite some deep reservations within the coalition government. In anticipation of a potential attack, British military planners are examining where best to deploy Royal Navy ships and submarines equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles...

In the last month, three of the four American SSGNs (former ballistic missile subs each now carrying 154 cruise missiles and SEAL commando teams) appeared in the Pacific and Indian oceans (the Philippines, South Korea and Diego Garcia). Some through this was a message for China, but, in fact, the SSGNs go where the potential trouble is. When questioned, U.S. Navy officials responded that, for the first time, all four SSGNs were operating at sea, in locations distant from their bases. Two years ago, the U.S. Navy completed the conversion of the last of four Ohio class ballistic missile submarines...

Hundreds of powerful US “bunker-buster” bombs are being shipped from California to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for a possible attack on Iran. The Sunday Herald can reveal that the US government signed a contract in January to transport 10 ammunition containers to the island. According to a cargo manifest from the US navy, this included 387 “Blu” bombs used for blasting hardened or underground structures. Experts say that they are being put in place for an assault on Iran’s controversial nuclear facilities. There has long been speculation that the US military is...

Final destination Iran? Exclusive: Rob Edwards Published on 14 Mar 2010 Hundreds of powerful US “bunker-buster” bombs are being shipped from California to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for a possible attack on Iran. The Sunday Herald can reveal that the US government signed a contract in January to transport 10 ammunition containers to the island. According to a cargo manifest from the US navy, this included 387 “Blu” bombs used for blasting hardened or underground structures. (snip) Contract details for the shipment to Diego Garcia were posted on an international tenders’ website...

The United States is transporting 387 "bunker-buster" bombs to its air base on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean as part of preparations for a possible strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, according to a report in Scotland's Sunday Herald. The U.S. government signed a contract in January with Superior Maritime Services to transport 10 ammunition containers to Diego Garcia from Concord, California. The shipment includes 195 smart, guided BLU-110 bombs and 192 Blu-117 2,000lb bombs.

B-1 went down around 11:30am EST.

23 November 2007 LONDON - The US military has stepped up chartering of tankers and requests for extra fuel in the US Central Command area, which includes the Gulf, shipping and oil industry sources say. A Gulf oil industry source said the charters suggested there would be high naval activity, possibly including a demonstration to Iran that the US Navy will protect the Strait of Hormuz oil shipping route during tensions over Teheran’s nuclear programme. The US Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) has tendered for four tankers in November to move at least one million barrels of jet and ship...

LONDON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. military has stepped up chartering of tankers and requests for extra fuel in the U.S. Central Command area, which includes the Gulf, shipping and oil industry sources say. The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC) has tendered for four tankers in November to move at least one million barrels of jet and ship fuel between Gulf ports, from Asia to the Gulf and to the Diego Garcia base, tenders seen by Reuters show. "They have been very active," said a ship industry source, familiar with the MSC tender process, who asked not to...

The key base used by the US military for air strikes in the Middle East is being made ready for a war against Iran, a Scottish newspaper reported. The Herald cited unnamed military officials as reporting that the Pentagon "is secretly upgrading special stealth bomber hangars on the British island protectorate of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities." The air base on Diego Garcia was used by the US military for the "shock and awe" bombardment of Iraq in 2003 as well as the heavy bombardment of Afghanistan in 2001. It was...

Hundreds of Indian Ocean islanders who were forcibly deported from their homeland by Britain 40 years ago won a battle yesterday which could see them set sail for an emotional return within days. The court of appeal in London found the British government guilty of "abuse of power" for attempting to prevent the Chagos Islanders from reclaiming land leased from under their feet by Britain to the US in the 1960s. Three judges upheld a ruling in the islanders' favour last year, ordered the government to pay their legal costs and withheld support for an appeal to the House of...

Frogmen, mini-subs to operate from nuke motherships Reports have emerged that the US Navy is upgrading its submarine base at the isolated tropical atoll Diego Garcia, which is formally British territory. The base improvements will allow its new class of SSGN nuclear submarines to operate from Diego Garcia, which is potentially noteworthy. The tiny island group is situated in the middle of the Indian Ocean, giving the US and its allies access to various strategic maritime choke points such as the Straits of Hormuz – the entrance to the Gulf – and the pirate-plagued waters of the Bab-el-Mandeb at the...

5/19/2006 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- A B-1B Lancer struck a Taliban-associated compound May 17 near Kandahar, Afghanistan, in support of coalition ground forces conducting operations to detain individuals suspected of terrorist activities. The bomber responded to an immediate air support request with a GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munition, destroying the compound from which the Taliban members were attacking. Coalition ground forces reported approximately 15 to 20 Taliban were killed from the air strike. These individuals were active members of the Taliban network and conducted attacks against coalition and Afghan forces. Additionally, they conducted attacks against Afghan government officials and...

LONDON (Reuters) - Indian Ocean islanders expelled by Britain to make way for a U.S. military base on Diego Garcia won the right on Thursday to go home after almost 40 years in exile. Two judges ruled in favour of the Chagos islanders who had fought a protracted legal battle with the British government, which blocked their return to the idyllic archipelago where they had eked out a living fishing and coconut farming. The 2,000 Chagossians were expelled by Britain and dumped hundreds of miles (km) away on the shores of Mauritius and Seychelles. For years they have lived as...

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Larry Littrell, a B-52 pilot deployed to a forward operating location with the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, just reached 5,000 flying hours in the B-52 during a combat mission over Afghanistan. He has been flying the B-52 for 19 years. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. John Rohrer U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Larry Littrell Forward Deployed B-52 Pilot Surpasses 5,000 Hours By Master Sgt. Scott King 40th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, April 6, 2006 — Reaching milestones is not uncommon in the Air Force, but some milestones...

B-52 Munitions Airmen Support Enduring Freedom Ops The airmen's goal is to provide 100 percent on-time deliveries using 100 percent reliable weapons, culminating in 100 percent bombs on target. By U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Scott King 40th Air Expeditionaly Group Public Affairs OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, March 31, 2006 — A group of U.S. Air Force airmen supporting Operation Enduring Freedom attribute their unit's tight-knit camaraderie to their demanding work environment. These airmen build bombs for the B-52 Stratofortress aircraft providing close air support over Afghanistan. "I feel the mission here is vital. Our 'Buffs' flying above enemy territory...

DIEGO GARCIA — On a secluded atoll in the Indian Ocean, the United States has created a floating aircraft carrier that houses 1,700 personnel who call it Camp Justice. But intelligence analysts contacted by The Toronto Star say the little-known British possession, leased to the United States in 1970, is also part of a network of secret detention centers being operated by the Central Intelligence Agency to interrogate high-value terrorist suspects beyond the reach of U.S. or international law. The newspaper’s sources claim that the prisoners, sometimes called "ghost detainees" or the "new disappeared," are being subjected to treatment that...

General Than Shwe is planning to relocate the War Office's Army headquarters in Rangoon to Central Burma. New Offices for the War Office in Central Burma are nearing completion and many Junior Generals do not want to move since the area lacks good schools for their children. The official reason given for the relocation of the War Office is that General Than Shwe fears an invasion by American forces. A U.S. Marine Expeditionary Force with attack helicopters and F-14 fighter jets could secure a landing base near Rangoon. They could then hand out 50,000 U.S. Army surplus M-16 Rifles to...

Diego Garcia was not affected by the Andaman Tsunami of 26 December 2004. It is located south of the tip of India, well with in range of what the tsunami, with a max elevation of 22 and an average elevation of only 4 feet. Civilians monitoring shortwave radio reported on rec.radio.shortwave that a female operator, in answer to a query from an aircraft after giving weather information, reported no ill effects from the earthquake.

US island base given warning Bulletins sent to Diego Garcia 'could have saved lives' Richard Norton-Taylor Friday January 7, 2005 The Guardian A British-owned American base on an island in the Indian Ocean received prior warning of the tsunami from the US, the Guardian has established. Unlike countries devastated by the huge wave, the military base on Diego Garcia was alerted by America's tsunami warning centre on Hawaii in the Pacific . The base - officially called the British Indian Ocean Territory and described by the American military as the "best-kept secret in the navy" - was warned because it...

Diego Garcia located near deep-sea trench HONOLULU, Hawaii (AP) -- Location and underwater topography helped protect the strategic U.S. military base on the remote island of Diego Garcia from the killer tsunami that raced across the Indian Ocean. Pacific Fleet officials in Honolulu said Navy facilities and operations on the tiny British-governed atoll were not affected by the December 26 earthquake or the tsunami it caused. Ships stationed at the base have been sent to Southeast Asia to help the relief effort. "Favorable ocean topography minimized the tsunami's impact on the atoll," the Navy said on its Web site for...

WASHINGTON — A Navy support facility located near the center of the Indian Ocean was spared any damage from Sunday’s devastating ocean surges. Officials said the Diego Garcia Navy Support Facility, which houses about 1,700 military personnel and 1,500 civilian contractors, suffered no damage related to Sunday’s earthquake and ensuing tsunamis. Personnel at the facility’s billeting office contacted by Stars and Stripes on Monday reported no unusual activity or problems over the weekend. Diego Garcia, the southernmost island in the Chagos Archipelago, sits about 1,000 miles south of India and roughly 2,000 miles from the earthquake’s epicenter. But officials in...

Reuters finally broke the story about USS Abraham Lincoln and it's task force bringing aid to the northern tip of Sumatra in Indonesia, and briefly mentions some of the aid being given to Sri Lanka, but there is more to the story... Resupply ships, such as AORs, are detaching themselves from the aircraft carrier task force and from Diego Garcia and are fanning out to more isolated islands and using their three launches and two helicopters to bring aid to those in need. The plan is to make two deliveries to each community they come across. The first, sadly enough,...

Diego Garcia Personnel Safe, Facilities Intact Following Tsunami Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory – Navy personnel on board Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean are safe following the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that had devastating effects on Southeast Asia. Facilities and operations were not affected. Favorable ocean topography minimized the tsunami’s impact on the atoll. Diego Garcia is part of the Chagos Archipelago, situated on the southernmost part of the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge. To the east lies the Chagos Trench, a 400 mile long, underwater canyon that ranges in depth from less than 1,00 meters below the...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29, 2004 — Three Marine Corps disaster relief assessment teams are on the ground or about to arrive in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, and at least two P-3 aircraft are conducting initial reconnaissance of damaged areas as a wide range of other Defense Department assets works its way to tsunami-stricken regions of the Indian Ocean. U.S. Pacific Command has marshaled assets ranging from carrier strike groups to water purification ships to aircraft to provide emergency support for victims following the Dec. 26 earthquake and subsequent tsunamis, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the...

As sad as it is, the SE Asia earthquake is not the worst natural disaster ever. In 1991, Bangladesh suffered from Typhoon that killed about 140,000 people. Before that, in 1970, the country also lost 300,000 people from natural disaster. The SE Asia disaster, however, seems to be a significant one because there are many Westerners, including 'celebrities', died in this unfortunate event. Please look at the website that list of the worst 100 natural disaster in the 20th century. They also include famine and epidemic, though.

Evacuation from beaches cut deaths by hundreds in Kenya By Adrian Blomfield in Nairobi (Filed: 29/12/2004) Quick thinking by officials in Kenya may have saved hundreds of lives after the navy, police and ports authority instituted emergency precautions before tsunamis battered the east African coast. The official death toll in eastern Africa stood at 123 last night but is expected to rise significantly once rescue workers reach isolated parts of Somalia, where entire towns and villages are said to have been submerged. However only three people died in Kenya, one of whom is believed to be a western tourist, according...

DIego Garcia has a decent sized base on it and if I remember correctly, not a lot of height to the island. Anyone know if it was hit and if so how much damage?

The key United States military base in the Indian Ocean has been unaffected by the tsunamis which have devastated parts of Asia, The Washington Post has reported. Diego Garcia, a British territory about 1,500 kilometres south of India, hosts about 3,200 US military personnel and civilian contractors and many US long-range bombers and Navy ships. Lieutenant Colonel Bill Bigelow, a spokesman for US Pacific Command in Hawaii told the newspaper the US base was apparently safe. "There are no reports of any damage there," Lt Col Bigelow said.

A number of different threads have people inquiring to the status of Diego Garcia -- which has US citizens on it. There have been a number of comments in articles that it is okay, but no post to this effect. Diego Garcia is in Deep Water and is unaffected by Tsunamis. In the Freerepublic Article: SUMATRA QUAKE REVISED TO 9.0 MAG http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1308750/posts Now inside this article, there a number of comments that confirm Diego Garcia is okay: Post #129 -- Diego Garcia Yahoo Message Groups Post #143 -- Pentagon Duty Officer reports no damage in Diego Garcia. Post #254 --...

They are all FINE on Diego Garcia, the quake wasn't even felt. My son is stationed there and we recieved an email from him last night. This is also a small bit of information that may help us all understand why a tsunami most likely (never say never) could hit there. Diego Garcia is at the top of the Chagos Trench located just to our east (hence the island chain name of Chagos Archipelago). This trench is very deep and the steepness of the grade from the trench to the top of the island does not allow tsunamis to build...

With its combination of long range, high speed and large weapons payload, the B-1 bomber is proving to be a valuable asset during the air campaign over Iraq, according to members of the 405th Air Expeditionary Wing who fly the aircraft. The B-1 has demonstrated its flexibility by flying a number of missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom, members of the 405th AEW said during a Pentagon teleconference with reporters this week."We are hitting a wide range of targets," wing commander Col. James Kowalski said March 25 from an undisclosed location in the Central Command area of responsibility. "[We're hitting] suppression...

Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, described by Major General Rashid Qureshi, the media spokesman of President General Pervez Musharraf, as "the kingpin of al-Qaeda", was arrested by Pakistani intelligence officials from the house of the son ( Abdul Qadoos) of a local women's leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI), at Rawalpindi over the weekend, and handed over to officials of the US intelligence community based in Pakistan. The latter immediately airlifted him to the US naval base in Diego Garcia for interrogation. It is understood that an Arab and the Pakistani son of the JEI leader was also arrested by the Pakistani authorities...

It looks out of this world - and its price tag certainly is. The critics of the darkly sinister, bat-wing B-2 stealth bomber said that, at $2bn per plane, it was too expensive to use. But, with its radar-cheating shape, it has evaded them - and its enemies on the battlefield - through its ability virtually to disappear. It led the bombing campaigns in Kosovo and Afghanistan and, if there is to be a military showdown with Iraq, it will lead the charge again. The BBC had a rare opportunity to visit the beast in its lair, at the vast,...

WASHINGTON, Oct 31, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- The Air Force has quietly dispatched special climate-controlled shelters for B-2 stealth bombers to air bases in England and the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, Air Force officials said Thursday. It is widely expected that if President George W. Bush decides to use military force to disarm Iraq's Saddam Hussein, B-2 bombers will feature prominantly in the air campaign. They could operate from their home base in Missouri, but the Air Force would prefer they fly from "forward operating locations" - Diego Garcia and England's Royal Air Force base at...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- The Air Force is making arrangements to erect special shelters for B-2 bombers on the British military base on Diego Garcia, an island in the north Indian Ocean, an arrangement that will dramatically increase the utility of the long-range bomber in the event of a war with Iraq, a defense official confirmed Tuesday. The plan to establish a base for the aircraft on Diego Garcia has been under consideration for the last three years and is not directly tied to possible hostilities with Iraq, the official said. Nevertheless, having B-2s able to fly from...

Military Chiefs have hired 10 cargo ships to carry armoured vehicles, helicopters, ammunition, tanks, ambulances and other materials to the region. The build up is the first clear sign of military preparations for a possible U.S. led war against Iraq. It is thought that Britain may join any attack led by its American allies.The US Air Force is also preparing arsenals of precision guided weapons and spare parts, including airplane engines, at depots in the Middle East.'We don't know where the next contingency might be, but we want to get this into the hands of the war fighters,' Air Force...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One of Osama bin Laden's top deputies, Abu Zubaydah, is being held at a U.S. naval facility on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, Time magazine reported on Sunday. Zubaydah is the highest-ranking al Qaeda member known to have been taken into U.S. custody during Washington's war against terrorism triggered by the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States that killed about 3,000 people. U.S. officials, who have been interrogating him for months, have steadfastly refused to disclose where he was being held. Before his arrest in Pakistan in April, Zubaydah, a 30-year-old Pakistani, was thought...