A C-17 Globemaster III ascends over Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., in July as Mount Rainier towers in the distance. Boeing announced it would end production of its C-17 in 2015. (Tech. Sgt. Sean Tobin / US Air Force)

Sep. 18, 2013 – Defense news

NEW YORK — Boeing announced Wednesday it would end production of its C-17 military transport aircraft in 2015, citing a difficult environment amid government spending cuts.

Boeing said it would close the C-17 final assembly plant in Long Beach, Calif., in 2015, after completing the 22 aircraft remaining to be built.

Nearly 3,000 employees will lose their jobs, including those at the Long Beach plant and in three other states: Arizona, Georgia and Missouri.

The workforce reductions will begin in early 2014 and continue through the shutdown, the Chicago-based company said in a statement.

“Ending C-17 production was a very difficult but necessary decision,” said Dennis Muilenburg, president and chief executive of Boeing Defense, Space & Security.

“Our customers around the world face very tough budget environments. While the desire for the C-17’s capabilities is high, budgets cannot support additional purchases in the timing required to keep the production line open,” he said.

Muilenburg noted that severe US government spending cuts, known as sequestration, had created significant planning difficulties for Boeing’s customers and the entire aerospace industry.

“Such uncertainty forces difficult decisions like this C-17 line closure,” he added.

The end of the Boeing airlifter program was expected to have a ripple effect on jobs throughout most of the country, a further blow to the lackluster economy where the unemployment rate is 7.3 percent and job growth is weak.

Boeing said the C-17 industrial team includes more than 650 suppliers in 44 states and, including Boeing, supports 20,000 jobs.

The C-17’s main rival is the A400M, made by European aircraft maker Airbus.

Boeing said it planned to take a charge of less than $100 million in the current quarter for the closure, but noted the decision would not affect its financial forecast for the year.

18 September 2013 by Oscar Nkala - defenceWeb

The Bulgarian and United States governments have signed an agreement paving the way for joint training of up to 8 000 Libyan Army soldiers, on a rotational basis, at two Bulgarian military bases run by the two nations as international efforts to rebuild Libya’s post-war army intensify.

The agreement comes two weeks after Britain, Italy, Turkey and France agreed to provide professional military training for up to 7 000 more Libyan soldiers, bringing the number of soldiers earmarked for training abroad over the next eight years to 15 000.

Bulgarian Defence minister Angel Nayednov told local media in the capital Sofia batches of between 150 and 200 Libyan soldiers will be trained on a rotational basis in the US-Bulgarian bases at Novo Selo and Graf Ignatievo.

Naydenov said although his government approved the US request for the hosting and training of Libyan troops, the two countries still have to work out the finer details of the programme.

“This is a bilateral proposal which is also being discussed within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and could be expected to become part of NATO’s mission for post-war reconstruction of Libya,” said the minister.

In terms of the initial proposal, US and Bulgarian instructors will train between 150 and 200 Libyan soldiers on a rotational basis over the next five to eight years. This agreement follows those entered into by Italy, Turkey and Britain to train a further 7 000 Libyan Army soldiers in their respective countries.

A spokesman for Libyan Army Chief of Staff Colonel Ali Sheikhi told local media up to 360 soldiers will be sent in batches for training abroad as part of an international military assistance plan for rebuilding the Libyan armed forces.

He said the details of the programme were initially negotiated between Prime Minister Ali Zeidan and representatives of the three European governments in June. “It has been agreed with Italy, Turkey, France and Britain to train ground army units for three months for each group,” the spokesman said.

The programme is expected to start shortly with the first batch of 360 Libyan Army soldiers headed for training in Italy on September 27 where they will attend professional military courses for up to three months. The army said the soldiers would be trained in basic infantry skills and military leadership at a British Army location in Cambridgeshire.

Britain has agreed to train a total of 2 000 Libyan soldiers while France, Italy and Turkey will share the remaining 5 000 soldiers earmarked for EU training. Sheikhi said the Libyan government is currently engaged in discussions with the governments of Turkey, Italy and Britain to increase the number of trainees and the length of their courses.

TROY, Mich., Sept. 18 (UPI)

Meritor Inc., an advanced engineering company, is touting two new electronic systems it says improve the mobility of military vehicles in all terrains.

The systems are SmartFlow Central Tire Inflation System and DriveCommand Drivetrain Control for customized tire pressure and drivetrain management through mud, sand and snow, on highways and cross-country terrain.

SmartFlow automatically monitors and adjusts tire inflation as needed with a single pneumatic control unit.

"Both systems improve vehicle performance for warfighters in extreme conditions because drivers can easily control tire pressure, differential locking and transfer case positioning," said Tim Burns, Meritor's vice president, North America. "Our engineering investment in developing these two electronic systems extends our defense product line to include wheel valves and electronics."

The U.S. Army and Marine Corps are expected to be first-time users of the systems, which can be integrated into any military vehicle with an onboard air compressor.

Both systems will be on display later this month at the Modern Day Marine defense tradeshow at Quantico Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Va.

Sep 17, 2013 ASDNews Source : Alliant Tech Systems, Inc

In August, ATK’s Defense Electronic Systems hosted a ceremony commemorating the delivery of the 100th production AARGM missile to the U.S. Navy. The event was held in ATK’s Ridgecrest, CA facility and was attended by approximately 70 distinguished guests including elected officials, community leaders, employees and industry partners, with Gordon Turner, Vice President Strike Weapons, emceeing the event.

Speakers included Bill Kasting, Vice President and General Manager of DES, Scott O’Neil, Naval Air Warfare Center-Weapons Division Executive Director,  Rear Admiral Mathias Winter, Program Executive Officer for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons, and 23rd Congressional District U.S. Representative Kevin McCarthy, the House Majority Whip.

Read more

WASHINGTON, 17 sept 2013 marine-oceans.com (AFP) -

Le secrétaire à la Marine américaine a ordonné mardi que des audits de sécurité soient réalisés pour toutes les installations de l'US Navy et du corps des Marines, a annoncé une responsable de la Marine au lendemain de la fusillade de Washington.

Cette décision intervient au lendemain de la fusillade dans un immeuble de bureaux de la Marine dans le quartier de Navy Yard à Washington au cours de laquelle un sous-traitant travaillant sur le site, Aaron Alexis, a tué douze personnes.

Un premier audit vise à "s'assurer que les règles de sécurité actuellement en vigueur soient maintenues", a expliqué cette responsable dans un courriel à l'AFP.

Un second est "un audit de sécurité plus large pour s'assurer que des règles de sécurité adéquates soient mises en oeuvre", a-t-elle ajouté sans plus de précisions.

Les deux audits concernent les installations situées sur le territoire américain, a précisé le secrétaire à la Marine, Ray Mabus, sur son compte Twitter.

Un début de polémique a vu le jour mardi avec la révélation d'un rapport de l'Inspection générale du Pentagone en cours de rédaction pointant des défaillances dans les contrôles d'accès aux installations de l'US Navy en raison de réductions budgétaires.

Ce rapport a été dévoilé par Time Magazine et sa teneur a été confirmée à l'AFP par un haut responsable du Pentagone.

Il constate que dans 7 des installations étudiées, dont celle de Navy Yard, "la Marine n'a pas alloué les ressources et les moyens adéquats pour vérifier efficacement les antécédents des sous-traitants extérieurs".

Le rapport constate également que 52 personnes condamnées ont bénéficié d'une habilitation de sécurité pour travailler sur ces installations, a rapporté le haut responsable du Pentagone.

Ce relâchement est dû à une réduction des "coûts des procédures de contrôles d'accès" à ces installations dans un contexte de coupes budgétaires touchant la Défense, conclut le rapport.

Le président de la commission de la Défense de la chambre des Représentants, le républicain Buck McKeon a critiqué dans un communiqué des "failles critiques" dans les procédures de sécurité.

Le secrétaire à la Défense Chuck Hagel "va sans doute ordonner une revue de ces conclusions", a estimé le haut responsable du Pentagone.

September 18, 2013: Strategy Page

Four years after entering squadron service, the U.S. Navy's EA-18G "Growler" electronic warfare aircraft is being upgraded with a communications technology that allows the EA-18G to share data instantly with other EA-18Gs and other types of aircraft (combat and support, like E-2 and E-3 AWACS). The new capability is JTIDS (Joint Tactical Information Data System). Development (by the U.S. Air Force) of this system began 30 years ago and mature examples of the technology only began showing up in the last decade. JTIDS is a datalink that gives the pilot complete and real-time situation report, showing what other pilots (and planes like the E-3) are seeing.

Pilots who tested JTIDS reported drastic increases in their situational awareness (a “sense of where you are”). For example, during combat training exercises pilots with JTIDS had a 4-to-1 kill ratio in their favor against pilots without JTIDS. Noting results like this the navy is adopting JTIDS not only to improve the capabilities of its own aircraft but also to improve data sharing with air force warplanes, which often carry out joint operations with the navy. JTIDs is just one of several new technologies navy aircraft will need to get their “combat Internet” working.

While a great idea in theory, the “combat Internet” has proved difficult to implement because of the need to make these digital data transfers robust enough to survive jamming and enemy efforts to eavesdrop. The required tech has gotten light, powerful and cheap enough for this in the last decade and now it’s just a matter of installing and testing it for the major types of combat and support aircraft. The air force is ahead of the navy in this respect but the navy is catching up, despite the recent budget cuts. Even with that most naval aircraft won’t be equipped with this data sharing technology until the end of the decade.

JTIDS was first tested on the EA-18G because this navy aircraft was designed to support navy and air force warplanes in combat. EA-18G saw combat for the first time over Libya in 2011. The EA-18G is equipped with the ALQ-99 radar jamming pod and an APG-79 phased array (AESA) radar, which also has some jamming capability (via the right software) as well as the ability to fry electronics. It was suggested that the EA-18G might have done this to some Libyan armored vehicles.

The EA-18Gs are replacing the aging navy EA-6Bs that now provide electronic protection against enemy radars and missiles for navy and air force aircraft. The air force retired their EF-111 electronic warfare aircraft in 1998, on the assurance that the navy would get the EA-18G into service before the EA-6Bs died of old age. The older 27 ton EA-6B carries a crew of four, while the highly automated 29 ton EA-18G will have only two people on board. The EA-18G carries up to five electronic warfare pods, plus two AMRAAM air-to-air missiles and two anti-radiation (HARM) missiles. It may be the last manned aircraft to handle the EW job. UAVs are becoming more capable, and will eventually take over this dangerous task.

In 2007, the navy received its first operational (as opposed to developmental) EA-18G. The navy has received 52 EA-18Gs (by the end of 2013), and another 30 will come after that (at the rate of about five a year). The U.S. Air Force and Marine Corps are planning on developing an electronic warfare version of the new F-35, or use a UAV, if the EA-18Gs are not plentiful, or powerful enough to provide all the electronic protection needed in future wars.

Despite the high expense all the electronic gear, the F-18G is not the most expensive combat aircraft out there. The F-22 costs $355 million each. The low budget F-18E costs $94 million each, while the F-18G goes for $105 million. The F-35 costs over $130 million (and growing). Even unmanned aircraft are pricy, with the Global Hawk costing $182 million each (with high end sensors). Older fighters, like the F-16, cost $60 million, and an F-15E goes for about $100 million. These prices constantly fluctuate because of the need to incorporate a share of the development cost for each aircraft built. While most development expense occurs before mass production begins, there is sometimes considerable additional development expense, or major refurbishment, later in the lifetime of an aircraft. Many modern warplanes cost more than most warships, and have the same high maintenance (periodic refurbishment and development of new components) expenses.  

The Boeing KC-46 tanker is expected to meet its cost and schedule obligations, a U.S. Air Force general said. (Boeing illustration)

Sep. 17, 2013 - By MARCUS WEISGERBER – Defense News

WASHINGTON — Boeing should be able to meet the cost and schedule terms of the US Air Force’s KC-46 aerial tanker program, the general in charge of the much-watched effort said.

“Right now, based on this year’s government schedule risk assessment, it looks like with greater than a 90 percent probability the Boeing team will deliver the 18 tankers by 2017 as laid out in the contract,” Maj. Gen. John Thompson, Air Force program executive officer for tankers, said during a Tuesday briefing at the Air Force Association’s annual convention.

Boeing has met most of its contractual requirements early and is about 40 percent finished with the tanker’s development program, Thompson said.

The Air Force selected the Boeing 767-based tanker over an EADS A330 rival in February 2011. The contract for 179 of the aircraft is valued at $35 billion.

Low-rate initial production is scheduled to begin in 2015. Production is scheduled to ramp up to 15 tankers per year in 2017 and is expected to run though 2017, Thompson said.

“[The] bottom line from the operational assessment that was published in May is that from an effectivity, suitability and mission-accomplishment standpoint, the KC-46 is on track,” Thompson said.

Unlike many Pentagon procurement programs, the KC-46 program has remained on track despite sequestration cuts.

“From a funding perspective as the No. 1 modernization program in the United States Air Force, the people in the Department of Defense, the people in the Department of the Air Force [and] the people over on the Hill that gave us the flexibilities that we needed, took care of us,” Thompson said.

17 September 2013 by Oscar Nkala and Kim Helfrich - defenceWeb

US Army Africa Command (Africom) wants private contractors to move military equipment and supplies from the US to Egypt and 55 other countries within its Area of Responsibility (AOR) starting this month.

This comes hard on the heels of a transport contract awarded by the US Army’s Transport Command (US-TRANSCOM) to Berry Aviation to provide to provide air transport service in support of operations in western and central Africa. This contract is reportedly worth $49 million.

A solicitation notice issued by Africom Surface Distribution Services (ASDS) from its contracting office in Vincenza, Italy, on August 5 seeks contractors who will provide “transportation services of intra-theatre cargo within the Africom Area of Responsibility (AOR) and Egypt.”

The solicitation adds: “The contractor shall provide all necessary resources including logistics support and management to perform surface transport and distribution of general cargo within all fifty five (55) nations of the Africom AOR and Egypt.

In the solicitation document, Africom says materials to be transported, “although normally general in nature will not include sensitive cargo but may include hazardous materials.”

The solicitation notice adds contractors will not be required to transport classified equipment and materials, gunpowder, ammunition or military weapons and explosives.

It also states the successful contractors will not be required to move military tanks, self-propelled armoured combat vehicles with weapons, aircraft and spacecraft including satellites, radar or radio devices for remote control of weapons and equipment.

These developments come when at least one American military watcher, Nick Turse of TomDispatch.com, maintains Africom is involved in the A to Z of Africa.

“They’re involved in Algeria and Angola, Benin and Botswana, Burkina Faso and Burundi, Cameroon and the Cape Verde Islands. And that’s just the ABCs of the situation. Skip to the end of the alphabet and the story remains the same: Senegal and the Seychelles, Togo and Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia. From north to south, east to west, the Horn of Africa to the Sahel, the heart of the continent to the islands off its coasts, the US military is at work. Base construction, security co-operation engagements, training exercises, advisory deployments, special operations missions and a growing logistics network, all undeniable evidence of expansion—except at US Africa Command,” he wrote.

Giving the official line Turse goes on: “To hear Africom tell it, US military involvement on the continent ranges from the miniscule to the microscopic. The command is adamant it has only a single ‘military base’ in all of Africa: Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. The head of the command insists that the US military maintains a ‘small footprint’ on the continent. Africom’s chief spokesman has consistently minimised the scope of its operations and the number of facilities it maintains or shares with host nations, asserting only ‘a small presence of personnel who conduct short-duration engagements’ are operating from ‘several locations’ on the continent at any given time”.

He quotes Colonel Tom Davis, Africom director of public affairs, as saying: “Other than our base at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, we do not have military bases in Africa, nor do we have plans to establish any”. Davis admitted the US has temporary facilities elsewhere. . supporting much smaller numbers of personnel “usually for a specific activity”.

Another solicitation notice (HTC711-13-R-R016) issued in July seeks dedicated fixed wing service for the deployment and extraction of US military personnel involved in operations in the central African region.

It specifies contractors must be able to transport personnel and willing to carry hazardous cargo including ammunitions for small arms, signal flares, smoke grenades, blasting caps, rockets, mines and explosive charges in the central African theatre of operations.

“The contractor will be asked to routinely take off and land on improved and unimproved dirt airfields of a minimum of 1 800 feet in length to support resupply and personnel transportation requirements,” part of the solicitation note reads.

It said routine locations involved in the operations could include airfields such as Entebbe in Uganda, Obo and Djema in the Central African Republic. The operations will also support the training of counter-narcotics law enforcement agencies from Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Niger, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Uganda, Togo, Guinea and Mali.

Apart from these developments the US Military has been supporting construction all over Africa for its allies.

A report by Hugh Denny of the Army Corps of Engineers issued earlier this year references 79 such projects in 33 countries between 2011 and 2013 including Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Cote D’Ivoire, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tunisia, The Gambia, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia with a reported price tag of $48 million.

In addition to creating or maintaining bases and engaging in military construction across the continent, the US is involved in near constant training and advisory missions. According to Davis, the command is slated to carry out 14 major bilateral and multilateral exercises by the end of this year. These include Saharan Express 2013, which brought together forces from Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Liberia, Mauritania, Morocco, Senegal, and Sierra Leone, among other nations, for maritime security training; Obangame Express 2013, a counter-piracy exercise involving the armed forces of among others Benin, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Togo; and Africa Endeavour 2013, in which the militaries of Djibouti, Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire, Zambia, and 34 other African nations took part.

And it’s not only on land and in the air that US forces are making their presence felt more. The Defense Logistics Agency is preparing to buy 65 000 metric tonnes of marine gas oil for Africom operations.

Information obtained by defenceWeb also shows from April 2014, Africom Ships’ Bunkers programme will order fuel to be delivered “into US vessels for US Department of Defense and federal civilian agencies by barge, truck, or pipeline”.

The command is seeking up to 27 000 metric tonnes of fuel for delivery to US Air Force and Navy assets in Seychelles, an island nation off the coast of East Africa. Neighbouring Mauritius is next with a maximum order of 10 000 metric tonnes of fuel.

Other destinations for Africom fuel supplies are Tanzania, Cape Verde, Senegal, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Namibia.

September 18th, 2013 defencetalk.com

The Philippines and the United States will begin war games near disputed South China Sea waters this week, showcasing fast-expanding military ties and likely further stoking tensions with China.

The annual exercises, which involve 2,300 marines from both sides, will take place amid the backdrop of ongoing negotiations to further increase an American military presence and the deployment of its hardware in the former US colony.

They also come three weeks before US President Barack Obama is due to visit Manila, a huge moment for the Philippines as it looks for US support amid a worsening row with China over rival claims to parts of the South China Sea.

“The Chinese will view these military exercises as yet another example of the Philippines stirring up tensions in the South China Sea and of the US taking advantage of the situation to increase its military presence,” regional security expert Ian Storey told AFP.

Beijing, which insists it has sovereignty to nearly all of the South China Sea, has repeatedly railed at the Philippines for refusing to back down in the territorial dispute and seeking to draw the US closer.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have competing claims to parts of the sea, which is believed to sit atop vast deposits of fossil fuels, but China has been particularly angered at the Philippines for being the most vocal.

For the Philippines, the dispute will continue to be “the central driver” of efforts to intensify its alliance with the US, according to Storey, a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

The Philippine-US Amphibious Landing Exercises (Phiblex) will begin on Wednesday at a naval base in Zambales, a province on the western coast of Luzon island facing the South China Sea.

It is about 220 kilometres (135 miles) from Scarborough Shoal, a group of rocky outcrops in the Philippines’ internationally recognised exclusive economic zone which has been occupied by Chinese vessels since last year.

Scarborough Shoal has become the prime focus of the territorial dispute in recent weeks, with the Philippines accusing China of erecting concrete structures there.

The war games, which will last three weeks, will involve two US warships and live ground fire exercises, according to the Philippine military.

Staff planning exercises will also be held “that will increase the capability to conduct bilateral maritime security and territorial defence operation”, the US embassy said in a statement.

Neither side, however, would release the specific locations for the sea drills.

The exercises take place as the allies are moving closer to a planned deal that would expand the US troop presence in the Philippines, which wants the agreement struck before the end of the year.

The pact would allow the United States to bring military hardware on to local bases, and formalise more US troop visits.

The United States had a permanent military presence at two bases in the Philippines until 1992.

The bases were closed amid nationalist opposition, but the current administration of President Benigno Aquino has rallied pro-US sentiment to counter China.

Even ahead of the pact, there has been a “surge” in recent years of US troops passing through the Philippines, according to John Blaxland, a security and defence analyst at the Australia National University’s College of Asia and the Pacific.

This has dovetailed with Obama’s strategic “pivot” to Asia, which in turn has fuelled long-held Chinese concerns about the US trying to encircle China.

“The Philippines is one of the most enthusiastic supporters for the rebalancing in Asia, and the US is very happy to have regained routine access, if not formal basing at the naval and air facilities there,” Blaxland told AFP.

Storey also said that independent research data showed there had been an increase in US military visits.

The number of US warships making calls in the Philippines “has increased dramatically” to 80 this year, he said.

A Philippine Navy officer, who asked not to be named, confirmed the increase in port calls to Manila as well as in Subic, the former US naval base in Zambales.

AFP asked the US embassy in Manila for data on US military visits to the Philippines in recent years, but no information was provided.

A uranium enrichment facility at Qom, Iran - An facility for storing chemical warheads near Damascus

6/9/2013 Ronen Solomon - israeldefense.com

An analysis by Ronen Solomon: postponing a military strike in Syria will commit the US military to striking with the use of aerial bombardments, in order to hit underground bunkers where advanced weapons have been stored

In the past week, US defense officials have claimed that the timing of the operation against Syrian military and government targets, or primarily against the regime's HQs that supervise Syria's unconventional arsenal, will not influence the objectives of the operation, and that it can also be done in a month from now.

This information, delivered by the architects of the strike, is valid on the assumption that the US planned the use of fighter aircraft in advance, and not just the utilization of massive fire of Tomahawk missile from the naval vessels cruising through the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Advanced weapons have been transferred within Syria, apparently including the transfer of chemical warheads from  regular bunkers to underground facilities dispersed in the region. This began once that it was understood that the plan for an attack could be on its way with a notice of just days, and would probably include the area where Division 155 - responsible for firing the chemical rockets at the eastern and western suburbs of Damascus - was operating.

Division 155 commands over numerous warehouses of missiles and artillery in the Damascus sector, which can also carry chemical warheads. Most of the infrastructure is routinely deployed or stored in semi-revealed bunkers. However, Syria also constructed underground facilities near the bases deep in the mountain for times of war. The characteristics of these facilities resemble those built by Iran near the city of Qom, in order to protect its nuclear facilities against attacks. The similarity is not accidental - most of Syria's underground infrastructures were constructed with Iranian and North Korean assistance, and are controlled by the Syrian military's elite units also responsible for securing the chemical weapons.

Another example of an underground facility suspected of being tied to the unconventional weapons project is located near the city of Masyaf in Syria's western Hama governorate. This is where Syria constructed warehouses in the depth of the mountain apparently used to store equipment and nuclear materials tied to the reactor project that was destroyed in Al Kibar.

Such facilities can only be breached and destroyed through the use of 'bunker busters'. The GBU-28s 'bunker buster' bomb can be launched from F-15I aircraft,  when the target marking is done with a laser beam. The bomb has was given its nickname since it is intended to detonate only after it pierces through the defenses of structures protected deep in the ground.

The educated use of these bombs or similar ones could send a signal to Iran - which is closely observing the developments - as to the ability to damage its underground nuclear facilities, in the event that a diplomatic agreement is not reached.

18/09/2013 latribune.fr

La présidente brésilienne, Dilma Rousseff, a reporté sa visite d'Etat à Washington prévue le 23 octobre, Brasilia jugeant insuffisantes les explications des Etats-Unis au sujet de récentes révélations fournies par l'informaticien américain Edward Snowden sur des cas d'espionnage américain au Brésil.

La présidente brésilienne, Dilma Rousseff, a reporté sa visite d'Etat à Washington prévue le 23 octobre, Brasilia jugeant insuffisantes les explications des Etats-Unis au sujet de récentes révélations sur des cas d'espionnage américain au Brésil. "Tenant compte de la proximité de la visite d'Etat prévue à Washington - et en l'absence d'un éclaircissement satisfaisant des faits avec des explications à la hauteur et l'engagement de cesser les activités d'interception -, les conditions pour la tenue de cette visite à la date fixée au préalable ne sont pas réunies", a annoncé ce mardi dans un communiqué le service de presse de la présidence brésilienne.

Rappelant que le président américain, Barack Obama, avait téléphoné à Dilma Rousseff lundi soir pendant 20 minutes, le communiqué ne masque pas l'exaspération du gouvernement brésilien sur cette affaire d'espionnage des communications privées de la présidente et de ses proches collaborateurs par les services secrets américains. "Les pratiques illégales d'interception des communications et de données de citoyens, entreprises et membres du gouvernement brésilien constituent un fait grave, qui porte atteinte à la souveraineté nationale", souligne Brasilia, qui ne se satisfait pas des explications avancées par Washington depuis ces révélations.

Embarras des Etats-Unis

Le porte-parole de la présidence américaine, Jay Carney, qui a annoncé le premier ce report, a préféré expliquer qu'un tel déplacement "ne devrait pas être éclipsé par un seul dossier, quelles que soient son importance ou les difficultés qu'il présente". La tenue de la visite dépendait selon le Brésil des explications fournies par Washington sur ces révélations de médias brésiliens s'appuyant sur des documents de l'Agence nationale de sécurité américaine (NSA) fournis par l'ex-informaticien américain Edward Snowden au journaliste américain du Guardian Glenn Greenwald, qui vit à Rio de Janeiro. "Le gouvernement brésilien est sûr qu'une fois la question résolue de façon adéquate, la visite d'Etat se fera dans les plus brefs délais", a indiqué Brasilia.

La chaîne de TV Globo a révélé au cours des dernières semaines que la NSA avait espionné les communications de Dilma Rousseff et de ses proches collaborateurs et de millions de Brésiliens ainsi que les données de la plus grande entreprise du Brésil, le géant pétrolier Petrobras. Après la révélation de cette affaire, Brasilia avait annoncé le report du voyage de l'équipe qui devait préparer la visite d'Etat de Dilma Rousseff aux Etats-Unis dans l'attente d'explications.

Une gifle à Obama

Barack Obama "comprend et déplore les préoccupations qu'ont causées au Brésil les révélations d'activités présumées d'espionnage des services secrets des Etats-Unis", a déclaré la Maison Blanche, visiblement soucieuse d'apaiser le différend diplomatique. Le président américain "s'est engagé à travailler avec la présidente Rousseff et son gouvernement à travers les voies diplomatiques pour surmonter cette source de tension dans la relation bilatérale", a-t-elle précisé, tout en prévenant que la révision promise des activités des services secrets américains "demanderait plusieurs mois".

Pour un analyste en politique internationale de Brasilia, David Fleischer, le report de la visite constitue une véritable "gifle" diplomatique pour Barack Obama, dont les arguments, avancés lors de ses entretiens avec Dilma Rousseff au G20 de Saint-Petersbourg puis au téléphone lundi, n'ont apparemment pas suffi. Mais selon David Fleischer, cette décision est davantage à mettre en rapport avec la baisse de la popularité de Dilma Rousseff au Brésil depuis la fronde sociale de juin et la perspective de la présidentielle d'octobre 2014. "Elle se montre comme une présidente ferme, elle a donné une gifle à Obama, le leader le plus puissant de la planète", explique David Fleischer. "Une attitude ferme (qui) suscite la sympathie de la population brésilienne", renchérit Tullo Vigevani, de l'Université de Sao Paulo.

Et maintenant ?

Le vice-président américain, Joe Biden, avait souligné lors d'une récente visite au Brésil que la visite de Dilma Rousseff marquerait "une nouvelle ère dans les relations" entre le Brésil et les Etats-Unis. Elle devait être la première visite d'Etat d'un président étranger cette année, un égard réservé aux partenaires les plus stratégiques de Washington. "Nous sommes au pire moment des relations bilatérales entre le Brésil et les Etats-Unis depuis 30 ans", a résumé Alberto Pfeiffer, spécialiste du Groupe d'analyse et de conjoncture internationale (Gacint) de l'Université de Sao Paulo.

"Ce voyage était appelé à sceller un rapprochement commercial entre le Brésil et les Etats-Unis qui étaient très éloignés au cours des neuf dernières années", a regretté de son côté le directeur de l'Association des exportateurs du Brésil (AEB), José Augusto de Castro.

Sep. 17, 2013 - By BRIAN EVERSTINE – Defense News

The A-10 will likely see its last flight if sequestration continues, the chief of US Air Combat Command said today.

The Air Force will be forced to look at cutting single-mission aircraft under continuing budget cuts because more savings will be realized by ending the full weapon system, including infrastructure and training, as opposed to cutting just squadrons. With the F-35 coming online to take over the close-air support role, the venerable Thunderbolt II will be a likely target, Gen. Mike Hostage told reporters at the Air Force Association's Air and Space Conference.

“This is not something I want to do,” Hostage said, explaining that no decisions had been made.

Hostage said he had already talked to Army officials about losing the A-10 and using other jets to take over the close-air support role. The Army was “not happy” about the possibility, Hostage said.

“I will not lose what we have gained in how we learned to support the Army,” Hostage said. “I had to make sure the Army understood that I am not backing away from the mission.”

Hostage said the service can do the close-air support role with the F-35, but it would be more expensive and “not as impressive” without the famous GAU-8 Avenger 30 millimeter gun.

“In a perfect world, I would have 1,000 A-10s,” Hostage said. “I can’t afford it. I can’t afford the fleet I have now. If I cut the fleet in half, do I save enough to get through this problem?

“My view is, while I don’t want to do it, I would rather lose the entire fleet and save everything I do in the infrastructure.”

Hostage’s comments follow similar statements from both acting Secretary of the Air Force Eric Fanning and Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh that single-mission aircraft would need to be cut if budgets continue to decrease.

“If we go into [fiscal year 2014] with sequestration still in effect, and we need to achieve those savings, you have to look at cuts,” Fanning said Monday. “You can’t get your money out of installations because they won’t support [base realignment and closure]. You can’t get money out of people fast enough. It takes about a year to get savings out of people."