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Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier Crashes Outside MCAS Cherry Point; Pilot Safely Ejected By: Megan Eckstein May 20, 2019 8:49 PM A U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier conducts an aerial refuel during exercise Bayou Thunder off the coast of Louisiana, Jan. 29, 2019. The purpose of the exercise is to enhance Marine attack Squadron (VMA) 231’s air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities while also strengthening service interoperability with joint services. The aircraft is assigned to VMA-231, Marine Aircraft Group 14, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. US Marine Corps photo. A Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier crashed in North Carolina, and the pilot is being treated...

While Secretary of State Hillary Clinton boozes it up in Australia and the Pentagon grapples with more floozy eruptions, outraged military families are still waiting for answers about the forgotten 9/14 attack on Camp Bastion. Muckrakers and distraction engineers are having a front-page field day with the so-called "sex scandal." But for surviving relatives and colleagues of heroic Marine Lt. Col. Christopher Raible and Sgt. Bradley Atwell, it's the national security scandal at Afghanistan's Camp Bastion that deserves headline coverage. There's been a virtual blackout of the alarming story in the national press. As I reported last month, the meticulously...

U.S. forces are now simultaneously striking the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria from the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Gulf for the first time, the Navy announced Thursday. U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers embarked on the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer began striking ISIS from the Arabian Gulf on Thursday, joining U.S. aircraft striking ISIS from the carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Mediterranean Sea. "Today, U.S. naval forces are striking ISIL simultaneously from both the Mediterranean and the Arabian Gulf," said Vice Adm. Kevin Donegan, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, using another acronym for ISIS....

About 1,300 people were evacuated after a Marine jet carrying ammunitions crashed in a Yuma, Arizona neighborhood Wednesday. The pilot ejected safely. A Marine spokesperson said the jet was trying to land when it crashed in the backyard of a home about a mile from Marine Corps Air Station-Yuma. Authorities say there have been no reports of injuries related to the crash. A Marine spokesperson said the AV-8B Harrier was carrying four 500-pound bombs and 300 rounds of 20-milimeter ammunitions. A one-mile area around the crash site was evacuated so a military explosives disposal team could safely retrieve the ordnance....

The crash occurred early Wednesday evening. Television reports show at least one home on fire on a residential street in Imperial, about 90 miles east of San Diego. Lance Cpl. Christopher Johns, a Marine spokesman, says the jet was a Harrier from Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona, but he has no further details.

The commandant of the Marine Corps on Monday took the extraordinary step of firing two generals for not adequately protecting a giant base in southern Afghanistan that Taliban fighters stormed last year, resulting in the deaths of two Marines and the destruction of a half a dozen U.S. fighter jets. It is the first time since the Vietnam War that a general, let alone two, has been sacked for negligence after a successful enemy attack. But the assault also was unprecedented: Fifteen insurgents entered a NATO airfield and destroyed almost an entire squadron of Marine AV-8B Harrier jets, the largest...

TWO US Marine Corps jets have been forced to drop four unarmed bombs on the Great Barrier Reef. The two AV-8B Harrier jets each dropped two 226kg bombs on the world heritage-listed reef in an emergency jettison during a training mission on Tuesday. The incident came ahead of Exercise Talisman Saber, a biennial training operation between Australian and US forces based at Shoalwater Bay on the central Queensland coast. The dropped bombs had not detonated and a US official has reportedly said the chance of any of them exploding is "extremely remote". A Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority spokeswoman...

<p>KABUL—The Taliban's weekend assault on a major coalition base was one of the most determined and effective ever seen in Afghanistan, according to details released Sunday, destroying six U.S. combat jets and damaging two others.</p> <p>In addition to the Taliban strike, which killed two U.S. Marines Friday night, two separate insider attacks by Afghan service members claimed the lives of six coalition troops. A lethal coalition airstrike, meanwhile, threatened to raise additional tensions in the country, amid reports of civilian casualties.</p>

Italy seems certain to scale back its major investment in Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, heightening uncertainty over the troubled stealth jet's future. Defence Minister Giampaolo Di Paola has said repeatedly since January that the country's originally planned order of the 131 supersonic warplanes by 2018 was being "reviewed" because military spending cuts were necessary as part of Prime Minister Mario Monti's austerity plan to shore up public accounts. General Claudio Debertolis, secretary general of the Defence Ministry and the country's armaments chief, confirmed to lawmakers on Tuesday that cuts were expected. "There will be a revision of...

Navy's £5bn Harrier jet replacement 'unable to land on aircraft carriers' The Royal Navy's multi-billion pound fighter plane programme is under threat amid claims that its new all-purpose jets cannot land on aircraft carriers, it has emerged. Leaked Pentagon documents claim a design flaw in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) has caused eight simulated landings to fail. The “F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Concurrency Quick Look Review” claimed the flaw meant that the “arrestor” hook, used to stop the plane during landing, was too close to the plane’s wheels. When a fighter lands on an aircraft carrier an arrestor cable catches...

Jump jets to fall victim to spending cuts New jump jets for the next generation of Royal Navy aircraft carriers will be cancelled to save money. By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent Published: 9:00AM BST 30 Aug 2010 In a move that could put hundreds of British manufacturing jobs at risk, defence chiefs are ready to abandon plans to buy a vertical-landing fighter jet for the Royal Navy. Instead, a cheaper conventional-landing warplane will replace the Navy’s Harriers when they retire. Related Articles BAE wins £574m Harrier contract Afghanistan: Who is going to stand up and fight for Britain's short-changed soldiers...

DAHANEH, Afghanistan – Helicopter-borne U.S. Marines backed by Harrier jets stormed into a strategic Taliban-held town in southern Afghanistan before dawn Wednesday, battling to gain control of the area ahead of next week's presidential elections.

Flying the Sea Harrier: a test pilot's perspective By Craig Hoyle Royal Navy Cdr Nigel "Sharkey" Ward and the Royal Air Force's David Morgan gained their place in British military folklore by flying the navy's British Aerospace Sea Harrier FRS1 fighter with distinction during the 1982 Falklands War. Flight International's UK test pilot Peter Collins offers a rare insight on flying the "SHAR", having sailed south aboard the rapidly completed aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious as the combat action drew to a close. Freshly posted to Germany as an RAF Harrier GR3 ground-attack pilot, Collins was recalled to the UK after...

May 15, 2008 With naval battles on the high seas now virtually extinct for the U.S. armed forces, the navy's role has become more one of infantry invasion and airstrike support - and with this new role comes a need for vessels more suited to littoral (just offshore) operations. The initial order was placed back in 2005, and the first delivery, the U.S.S. Independence, has just been launched, a speedy trimaran with helicopter decks, a stealthy radar profile and a healthy array of arms. It's configurable to suit a wide array of littoral combat missions, including minesweeping, anti-submarine and surface...

WASHINGTON: The ongoing naval wargame in the Bay of Bengal involving five nations does not "target" China but is designed to shape strategic choices by regional actors like India, a senior Pentagon official has said. "This exercise does not target China. It is designed to shape strategic choices being made by all regional actors. Malabar is a sign of responsible stakeholders interested in promoting peace and security by a visible presence," said Brigadier General John Toolan, Principal Director for South and South East Asia at the US Department of Defence. The four-day 'Malabar Exercise' started on September 4 with the...

RAF fighter jets have been fired upon by surface-to-air missiles in Afghanistan. The Harriers provide crucial air support for British troops carrying out operations against the Taliban in the lawless Helmand province to the south of the strife-torn country. Squadron Leader Damien Killeen, 33, operational commander for the Harrier detachment based in Kandahar, said Taliban forces had a number of American, Russian and Chinese weapon systems at their disposal. Sqn Ldr Killeen said: "There have been engagements against aircraft, isolated engagements, whilst low flying - small arms, rocket propelled grenades, small rockets - the standard arsenal. We haven't suffered any...

AL ASAD, Iraq (April 9, 2006) -- Sweat slowly drips off of the Marines as they carefully raise the 500- and 1000-pound munitions to the weapons carriage on the AV-8B Harrier - the Flying Nightmares are readying for action. Marine Attack Squadron 513, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, is the first Harrier squadron to employ the Joint Direct Attack Munitions in a combat zone. "With this new feature on our jets, we will be able to hit targets more accurately, therefore making us a more effective squadron," said Lt. Col. Willis E. Price, commanding officer, VMA-513. The...

An RAF Harrier was destroyed and another has been damaged in a rocket attack in Afghanistan, it emerged yesterday. The jets were on the ground at a military airfield at Kandahar in the south of the country when they were damaged early on Friday morning. First reports of the attack from the Ministry of Defence made no mention of the damage to the aircraft and failed to disclose that one of them had been destroyed. The RAF has only six Harrier GR7A jets - each worth £20 million - in Afghanistan, all of them from No 3 (Fighter) Squadron based...

AL ASAD, Iraq, Sept. 28, 2005 — For many people, doing two jobs at once is an unwelcome burden. For hard-charging Marines, it's a challenge and a chance to become better at both. Maj. Keith Couch, the acting commanding officer of Marine Wing Headquarters Squadron 2 (Forward), is leading his squadron in war while simultaneously flying combat missions in Iraq, protecting Marines and soldiers with their boots in the sand. “Flying combat missions and commanding MWHS-2 work hand-in-hand,” said the native of Leslie County, Ky. “Commanding headquarters squadron, you have the advantage of getting a firsthand perspective of what is...

Release A050916b CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, AR RAMADI, Iraq – Coalition Forces conducted an air strike Sept. 15 against a known terrorist safe house and weapons cache in the western Al Anbar Province border town of Karabilah . The target was an abandoned school used by al-Qaida in Iraq terrorists to carry out attacks against local civilians and Coalition Forces. At the time of the strike, terrorists were also observed firing mortars from outside of the building. Two AV8-B Harrier jets destroyed the building using precision-guided 500 lb. bombs. Multiple secondary explosions were observed by Coalition Forces after the strike. Nine...