Free Republic

A billion dollar antiballistic radar system is being planned for development in Hawaii in order to counter nuclear ICBM threats from somewhere. Even though, at the present moment, there aren’t any threatening postures from nations with ICBM tech, the need to spend 1$ billion on detecting and combatting those ICBMs is apparently greater than ever before, at least according to some congressmen.

The parents of a U.S. engineer found dead in Singapore last year said on Wednesday they will not take part in the rest of a coroner’s inquiry into his death, which they say was linked to a project involving the transfer of sensitive technology to China. In a statement issued through their lawyers, Rick and Mary Todd said they had lost confidence in the system investigating the death of their 31-year-old son, Shane, who was found hanging in his Singapore apartment last June. The Todds did not appear in court on Wednesday, the day after a U.S. medical examiner they...

Something flew over the west coast in late October, that much we know. But the mystery plane disappeared before anyone could figure out what it was and has defied all attempts at identification since. Was it a classified U.S. government aircraft, a flying saucer, or something else? The War Zone reports that in the afternoon of October 25, air traffic controllers started querying commercial airline pilots flying between Portland and Seattle, asking if they could help identify a mystery object. The object in question didn’t have a traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) transponder turned on, was not responding to radio...

Anzac class frigate HMAS Toowoomba undocking after completing its Anti-Ship Missile Defence upgrade. (Defence) The UK government is considering fitting Australian radar systems on future Royal Navy warships. A capability study that will look at the feasibility of fitting CEA Technologies’ CEAFAR active phased array radar on UK ships will begin early next year, Minister for Defence Industry Christopher Pyne has confirmed. The announcement, which was made by UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Minister for Defence Procurement Harriett Baldwin during a visit to Adelaide, came after the Australia/UK Defence Industry Dialogue that took place in the UK. “A...

A ship bound for Syria from North Korea and detained in Cyprus on an Interpol alert for suspected arms smuggling was carrying an air defense system, Cypriot authorities said. The shipment was billed as weather-observation equipment on the freight manifest of the Panamanian-flagged Grigorio 1. The ship was carrying 18 truck-mounted mobile radar systems and three command vehicles. "The radars on the 18 trucks appear to be part of an air defense system," a police spokeswoman said.

A few days ago, Aug 23, I sent a post explaining the workings on the navigation bridge of a typical Naval Vessel. A few of my fellow Naval Veterans corrected me on something. We never referred to our Officer on the bridge as the OIC (Officer in Charge). His title was OOD! (Officer of the Day) Sorry, I knew that, but must have had a brain freeze! I also was incorrect on the number of personnel involved on a vessel the size of a CRUISER or DESTROYER. I should have known better! My navigation experience was mostly aboard the USS...

Reports of satellite navigation problems in the Black Sea suggest that Russia may be testing a new system for spoofing GPS . On 22 June, the US Maritime Administration filed a seemingly bland incident report. The master of a ship off the Russian port of Novorossiysk had discovered his GPS put him in the wrong spot – more than 32 kilometres inland, at Gelendzhik Airport. After checking the navigation equipment was working properly, the captain contacted other nearby ships. Their AIS traces – signals from the automatic identification system used to track vessels – placed them all at the same...

Yesterday’s news, aside from the usual Trump obstructing, colluding, and making money on his investments, included a ship collision. As described by ABC, a “Navy destroyer collides with container ship off coast of Japan.” NBC had a similar headline, “Navy destroyer collides with ship off Japan.” Fox News worded their headline a little differently, “US Navy involved in collision.” As did CNN saying, “Navy destroyer collision off Japan.” It was a terrible accident as US sailors are missing and potentially injured or worse, but my point is regarding the choice of words describing what happened.

The first ALPHA - ELM-2258 radar installed on the first Hetz class Saar 4.5 missile boat. The new radar replaces the main search radar and, eventually, will augment and later replace the ELM-2221 weapon guidance radar seen on the right. Photo: IAI The Israel Navy has recently equipped the first Saar 4.5 (Hetz Class) missile boat with a new, multi-mission, digital phased array radar system developed and produced in Israel by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Elta Systems. The Advanced Lightweight Phased Array (ALPHA, designated ELM-2258) radar system is the newest radar system installed on those missile boats, replacing the previous...

Damning New Evidence: Obama Surveilled Trump BEFORE Prez Nom & Comey BURIED Evidence Radar has obtained the explosive documents sent to the U.S. Congress. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is covering up a massive “wiretapping” conspiracy — and one that did target President Donald Trump — conducted by spies acting on Barack Obama’s orders! That’s the bombshell claim of NSA/CIA contractor-turned-whistle blower Dennis Montgomery, 63, who — like Edward Snowden after him — spirited 47 hard drives and 600 million-plus documents, many classified, from America’s top spy agencies. “Those documents have been buried in (FBI Director James) Comey‘s files for...

George Elliott was one of two servicemen manning a radar station on Oahu the morning of Dec. 7, 1941. When he reported a huge sighting on his radar screen, he was ignored.At 2 a.m. on April 1, 2001, I was sitting at my computer in my Laguna Beach condo working on a website I’ve long since forgotten when an email popped up with nothing in the subject line. “Do you know who I am?” “Another April Fool’s joke,” I thought to myself as I moved my cursor up to click the Delete button. Then I glanced down and noticed the...

(Yossi Zeliger/Flash90) Israeli drone Report: India Inks $1.4 Billion Deal for Acquisition of Israeli Radar Systems and Drones Print Email 4 Comments Nov 27, 2016 Related: Drones Indian Air Force Israel Aerospace Industries Israel-India relations Share Tweet Email Next year will mark the 25th anniversary of the 1992 establishment of full diplomatic relations between Israel and India. By: Barney Breen-Portnoy/The Algemeiner India signed a $1.4 billion contract with Israel Aerospace Industries earlier this month for the acquisition of two airborne early warning and control radar systems and ten unmanned aerial vehicles, Air&Cosmos International reported this week. The deal was said...

Hollywood's child sex ring is about to be blown wide open, thanks to Corey Haim's deathbed confession A tabloid is reporting that one of Hollywood's most recognizable faces is a child rapist and will soon be outed. Shocking? Yes. Surprising? Hardly. Because former child stars have been talking about this for years. It was a horrifying moment in one of TV's most oddly compelling reality shows when, on The Two Coreys, Corey Haim broke down revealing he was raped as a kid. After Haim's 2010 death, Corey Feldman elaborated that his friend was raped by a Hollywood bigwig at just...

A Chinese firm has reportedly developed and tested a radar system that uses quantum entanglement to beat the stealth technology of modern military craft, state media said. The first Chinese quantum radar was developed by the Intelligent Perception Technology Laboratory of the 14th Institute in CETC, according to Xinhua news agency. CETC stands for Electronics Technology Group Corporation, a defense and electronics firm. The radar was tested in mid-August, Xinhua said in a Thursday report. The system was able to detect a target at a range of 100 kilometers in a real-world environment, the report said. The device employs single...

DID Amelia Earhart survive her plane crash? This is the most likely theory, with evidence emerging that she was making contact for days after her plane disappeared.The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) believes Earhart safely landed her plane when it disappeared in 1937 and died as a castaway. During a presentation in the US last month, TIGHAR’s Ric Gillespie backed up all of the group’s theories. Earhart’s plane was last seen on the radar on July 2, 1937. After becoming the first woman pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, she embarked on a mission to fly...

Rheinmetall Canada and IAI subsidiary ELTA Systems (IAI/ELTA) have joined forces to propose the state-of-the-art, operationally proven MF-STAR radar for the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) programme. Like this team’s success in bringing the battle-proven Medium Range Radar (MRR) of ‘Iron Dome’ fame to the Canadian Army, ELM-2248 MF-STAR will provide the RCN with a built-in-Canada, cutting-edge, fully digital, multifunctional Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) naval radar for long-range air and surface surveillance and tracking. The MF-STAR radar is based on the same radar technology as the MRR currently in production at Rheinmetall Canada’s plant in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec. Saar 5 class...

On March 22, Comet P/2016 BA14 (Pan-STARRS) flew just 2.2 million miles (3.5 million kilometers) from Earth, making it the third closest comet ever recorded. The last time a comet appeared on our doorstep was in 1770, when Lexell’s Comet breezed by at about half that distance. Through a telescope, comet BA14 looked (and still looks) like a faint star, though time exposures reveal a short, weak tail. With an excellent map and large amateur telescope you might still find it making a bead across the Big Dipper and constellation Bootes tonight through the weekend.

The much maligned F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has yet another problem with its software: the radar stops working requiring the pilot to turn it off and on again. The Lockheed Martin plane, which has been in development since 2001 and is the most software-driven warplane ever built, has experienced several failures and setbacks that have seen its cost balloon and its delivery delayed. Each jet is now expected to cost about £100m. From structural problems that made it vulnerable to lightning strikes – ironic given it’s called the Lightning II – to weight issues, bugs within its software and its...

AESA radars have changed aerial combat, offering a quantum leap in range, resolution, fast scanning capabilities, stealthiness and reliability among many other advantages. But, an AESA’s somewhat narrow field of view can still be an issue. SAAB has come up with a ingenious solution to this problem—spin an angled AESA radar array around on a platter. This system, which is called a repositioner, is ingenious as it allows the Gripen NG’s Raven ES-05 radar to gain another 40 degrees of scanning ability to either side of the aircraft’s nose. This is in addition to the 60 degrees AESA radar sets...

The Indian Air Force (IAF), after years of opposing the indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA), now accepts it is on track to be a world-class light fighter. The specifications of the new Tejas - termed Standard of Preparation-2018 (SoP-18) - were agreed in New Delhi on September 23, between the air force and the Tejas' designers and manufacturers. One hundred SoP-18 Tejas fighters will join the IAF, starting 2018-19. The key battle-winning capability in the SoP-18 Tejas is "active electronically scanned array" (AESA) radar that Israel will develop jointly with India. This was the clincher that made the IAF...