Page 2 - Aerotech News and Review 11-4-16

Briefs
Air Force applying study of OSU ath- letes to Special Forces
An Air Force laboratory is studying football players and other athletes from Ohio State Uni- versity in research intended to benefit the play- ers and help researchers understand demands on special forces teams in action.
More than 100 wrestlers along with men’s and women’s lacrosse players will join the research roster that already includes Buckeye football players, The Dayton Daily News reported.
Josh Hagen, a researcher with the 711th Hu- man Performance Wing, said the goal of the study is to develop a sports science strategy for all of OSU’s athletic teams.
This involves tracking biometric data that can be used to develop training workloads and re- covery plans.
“It makes you more cognizant of the things you can do,” said Joe Burger, a 22-year-old se- nior linebacker. “You can definitely tell a dif- ference and seeing a difference makes you a believer.”
According to Hagen, the information is also useful to understand the demands placed on spe- cial operations forces when conducting missions.
The research agreement between the Air Force Research Laboratory and OSU is not a financial deal. The two entities only exchange knowledge.
“There’s no other school that has a relation- ship like this,” said Doug Calland, OSU’s as- sociate athletic director for sport performance. “It’s really been unbelievably helpful to know because we’re going to go hard just like the mil- itary does. They train hard and we’re training hard, and we need to make sure that we’re doing that in the right way.” AP
Russia blames U.S. for near-collision of planes over Syria
A Russian military spokesman is blaming the United States for a near-collision of the coun- tries’ warplanes in Syrian airspace.
Major-General Igor Konashenkov said in a statement Oct. 29 that the Oct. 17 incident in- volved a Sukhoi-35, Russia’s most advanced fighter jet, and an American E-3 radar plane near the city of Deir al-Zour. Konashenkov said Rus- sia had informed the U.S. military of the Su-35’s intent to fly in the area.
But, Konashenkov says the American plane unexpectedly descended by about one kilome- ter (0.6 miles) and came within 500 meters (0.3 miles) of the Russian plane
The incident was first reported Oct. 28 by a U.S. military spokesman, who said it had been raised with Russian commanders but deliberately not made public.
Konashenkov said the Americans apologized for the incident. AP
Prosecutors: Two U.S. men tried to export military parts to Iran
Federal prosecutors charged two California men with conspiring to smuggle fighter-jet parts to Iran in a scheme they allege dates to 2009.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles said in a statement Oct. 28 that the pair worked with two Iranian nationals to break laws that restrict exports to the longtime U.S. adversary.
A nine-count federal indictment unsealed Wednesday alleged that Zavik Zargarian of Glendale tried to help one of the Iranians pur- chase more than $3 million worth of parts for fighter jets, including F-15s and F-18s. Their would-be supplier was an undercover federal agent.
Prosecutors also say Vache Nayirian of Los Angeles exported more than 7,000 fluorocarbon rubber O-rings, which could have military uses, including for aircraft landing gear.
To evade detection, the shipments went to
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other destinations in the Persian Gulf before be- ing routed to Iran, where the national air force received them, prosecutors said.
Both defendants have been assigned court-ap- pointed attorneys and pleaded not guilty Oct. 26. The attorney representing Nayirian questioned the strength of the government’s case, given that it began seven years ago and a grand jury pro- duced the indictment in 2014.
“Any time you have this huge delay, you won- der what’s the reason,” attorney Michael Shan- non said.
Zargarian’s federal public defender did not return a call requesting comment Oct. 28.
The indictment also named Zargarian’s Glen- dale-based company, ZNC Engineering, as well as Iranian nationals Hanri Terminassian and Hor- moz Nowrouz.
U.S. District Judge S. James Otero set a Dec. 20 trial date. AP
Marine Corps jet crashes in California desert; pilot safe
A Marine Corps jet fighter crashed and burned Oct. 25 in the Southern California desert, but the pilot ejected safely, a spokesman said.
The twin-engine F/A-18C Hornet crashed around 6 p.m. near the end of a training flight at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center.
“Initial reports say that he had touched down and after he touched down, he needed to eject,” said First Lt. John P. Roberts, a Marine spokes- man.
The pilot appeared to have no major injuries, but he was taken to a local hospital as a pre- caution, Roberts said. “He’s OK and doing well right now,” he said.
The aircraft burned, Roberts said.
There was no immediate word on what caused the crash.
The Hornet was assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 31 from Marine Corps Air Station Beau- fort in South Carolina, Roberts said.
The sprawling air base, 140 miles east of Los Angeles in the Mojave Desert, trains pilots from around the country.
In July, another F/A-18C warplane went down during a training mission at the base, killing the pilot.
In August, an F/A-18D made an emergency landing after a warning light alerted the pilot to a possible fire. The problem was traced to a seal failure that tripped on-board sensors. AP
New Mexico National Guard launches probe into bonuses
The New Mexico National Guard is investi- gating whether soldiers received improper enlist- ment bonuses like those paid to some soldiers in California who have been told to give them back, New Mexico National Guard Joseph Vigil said late Oct. 23.
Vigil did not say whether officials have un- covered examples of New Mexico guard mem- bers receiving improper enlistment bonuses but said in a statement that “we here in New Mexico are doing our due diligence to determine if any of our members are affected by this matter,” Vigil said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter Oct. 26 ordered the Pentagon to suspend its effort to seek repayments of enlistment bonuses given to thousands of California National Guard members who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The announcement does not end the reim- bursement process but postpones collection ef- forts while the Pentagon and Congress look for a long-term solution.
Vigil said recovery of bonuses given to guard members is a routine matter when “a soldier or airman fails to live up to his or her enlistment contract.”
He added, “We will work to identify and re- solve any issues related to this matter to ensure that we fulfill our commitment to our Guard members as well as our taxpayers.”
Carter’s decision followed angry reaction from congressional Republicans and Democrats who demanded he relieve the burden on Guard members following a Los Angeles Times report last weekend that California soldiers were being asked to repay debts that in some cases totaled more than $25,000.
The White House said earlier this week that President Barack Obama had warned the Defense Department not to “nickel and dime” soldiers who were victims of wrongdoing by overzealous re- cruiters. AP
Philippine, Japanese leaders sign mili- tary, economic deals
The leaders of Japan and the Philippines agreed Oct. 26 to cooperate in promoting re- gional peace and stability and endorsed Japan’s provision of patrol boats and military training aircraft to bolster Philippine maritime security, without discussing their alliances with the U.S., whose relationship with Manila has quickly be- come strained.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he expected Japan to continue playing an important role in maritime security in the region, including the South China Sea, where Manila has territorial disputes with Beijing. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said South China Sea disputes af- fect peace in the entire region and that he wel- comed Duterte’s recent efforts to improve ties with China.
Japan and the Philippines signed agreements including Japan’s provision of two coast guard boats and T-90 military trainer aircraft as part of its contribution to step up Philippine maritime security capability. Japan also agreed to support infrastructure and agricultural promotion proj- ects in the Philippines to help economic devel- opment.
The two leaders did not mention the Japan- U.S. security alliance, or one between the Philip- pines and Washington. Japan is a staunch U.S. ally and hosts 50,000 American troops, while Duterte, who took office this summer, has re- peatedly spoken of distancing his country from Washington, often in crude terms.
The presence of U.S. troops in five Philippine military camps was established under a security deal signed under Duterte’s predecessor as a counterbalance to China’s growing military as- sertiveness in the region.
Earlier Oct. 26, Duterte said that he wants his country to be free of foreign troops, possibly within two years. “I want them out,” he said. AP
Iran Revolutionary Guard unveils mari- time ‘suicide’ drone
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has unveiled a new drone for use by its naval units, suggesting it could be a “suicide drone” that would crash into ships.
The unveiling comes as Iranian forces have had a series of tense encounters with the U.S. Navy.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency pub- lished photos of the drone Oct. 26, saying it has a range of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) and a flight time of four hours.
Tasnim says the drone, powered by two small propellers, “can collide with the target and de- stroy it, (whether) a vessel or an onshore com- mand center.”
Iran’s Guard and the military already have drones but the announcement of a maritime “suicide” drone comes amid what the U.S. says is an uptick in provocative naval acts by Iran. AP
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November 4, 2016