Page 2 - Aerotech News and Review 11-6-15

Briefs
Large-scale exercise set next month in
bomber training site
7KH¿UVWODUJHVFDOHH[HUFLVHLQDKXJHERPEHU He has been meeting with sailors for the last three
training area over the Northern Plains is scheduled
for early next month.
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The exercise is set Dec. 2-3 in the 35,000-square- engage sailors who might be reluctant to seek out
mile Powder River Training Complex over the
Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming, according to
Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota.
The exercise “is designed to train aircrew under
realistic scenarios,” and people in the region can
expect to see many different types of aircraft in
the sky, the Air Force said. Non-military aircraft
are urged to check Federal Aviation Administration
notices and avoid areas where the military planes
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The Air Force has said previously that as many
DVFLYLOLDQÀLJKWVDGD\FRXOGEHGHOD\HGZKHQ sailors at ease. AP
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large-scale exercises are conducted.
“This type of training is limited to 10 days each
year, with each exercise lasting no more than
three days, and (will) only occur once every three
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months,” the Ellsworth statement said.
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The FAA in March approved the plan to roughly
quadruple the training airspace, making it the larg-
est over the continental U.S. The move came over
the objections of some people in the region who
worry about military planes disrupting civilian
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Advocates say it will boost military training while
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reducing costs.
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The airspace will primarily be used by B-1
bombers from Ellsworth and B-52 bombers from
0LQRW$LU)RUFH%DVHLQ1RUWK'DNRWD7KH¿UVW The joining together of army, air force and navy
ÀLJKWVLQWKHH[SDQGHGWUDLQLQJDUHDRFFXUUHGLQ headquarters will make it easier to lead France’s
mid-September. AP
U.S. Navy admiral says sailing past Chinese
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isles not a threat
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the U.S. naval challenge last week to China’s sov-
ereignty claims in the South China Sea was not
designed as a military threat.
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Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr. spoke Nov. 3 to Stan-
ford University students studying at Peking Uni-
YHUVLW\GXULQJKLV¿UVWYLVLWWRWKH&KLQHVHFDSLWDO operations around the world, including in the anti-
DVFRPPDQGHURI863DFL¿F&RPPDQG Islamic State coalition in Iraq and Syria and in op-
Harris has been outspoken in his criticism of
China’s land reclamation in the South China Sea.
In March, he said China is “creating a great wall
of sand” that is causing serious concern about
PLOLWDUL]LQJUHHIVDQGDUWL¿FLDOLVODQGVLQDQDUHD dead, including the three Islamic extremist attack-
of competing territorial claims by several nations.
But in his remarks Nov. 3, he was mostly upbeat
in his assessment of prospects for improving rela-
tions with China. AP
Sikorsky’s Lockheed set to close
7KHFKLHI¿QDQFLDORI¿FHURI8QLWHG7HFKQROR- It will also help reduce costs and staff in the
gies Corp. says the $9 billion sale of Black Hawk
helicopter maker Sikorsky to Lockheed Martin
Corp. is set to close Nov. 6.
CFO Akhil Johri told industry analysts Nov. 3
that the sale has received all regulatory approvals.
The sale will generate about $6 billion in cash that
the Farmington, Conn., aerospace and building-
systems conglomerate will use to repurchase shares
beginning next week.
The company has said it expects the repurchases
ZLOORIIVHWWKHSUR¿WORVWZLWKWKHVDOHRI6LNRUVN\ dential palace.
Sikorsky accounted for $7.45 billion of United
Technologies’ $65.1 billion in revenue last year.
Sikorsky’s military business fell with U.S.
troops leaving Afghanistan and Iraq. Falling oil
prices also were a factor, with energy companies
ferrying fewer workers to and from deep-water oil
platforms. AP
Navy submarine force increases stress-
management services
The U.S. Navy’s elite submarine force is step-
ping up stress-management services for its sailors,
responding in part to elevated numbers of unex-
pected dropouts among younger service members.
2 hairdresser, library, swimming pool, sports rooms,
Navy Capt. Steven Wechsler is a psychiatrist tary might.
at Naval Submarine Base New London, Conn. The ministry said the exercise involved launches How to contact
from ground sites, sea and air in what appeared Aerotech News and Review
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submarines to introduce himself, and giving talks 4VJUF
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Russia, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, t1IPOF
mental health professionals at a military clinic and Iran and a dozen of other countries are meeting in t'BY
keep them focused. Vienna to discuss a Syrian settlement.
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It’s a model that the Navy intends to replicate at The exercise involved the launch of a Kalibr $PSQPSBUF)FBERVBSUFST
its six other homeports for submarines in Virginia, cruise missile from a ship in the Caspian Sea. Ear-
Georgia, Hawaii, Washington state, southern Cali- lier this month, Russian navy ships launched 26
Subscriber Services
fornia and Guam. such missiles at targets in Syria as part of Mos- 4VCTDSJQUJPOT UP "FSPUFDI /FXT
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Wechsler himself served in the submarine force cow’s air campaign that began Sept. 30. AP PS GPS POF ZFBS 'PS NPSF JO
for years, and he said that experience helps put GPSNBUJPO
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France’s army chiefs, facing new threats, get broke no rules
new ‘Pentagon’ The Navy has determined a military jet pilot who Story ideas, letters, editorials
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a missile strike and a highly secured operational many residents, broke no federal rules. &"WF,
room is hidden underground. France’s army chiefs $"
are moving into their new defense ministry, aimed 2I¿FLDOVVDLG2FWWKDWWKH-DQÀ\RYHU
at allowing a quicker response to the threats faced complied with all Federal Aviation Administration Web Site
rules and Navy safety regulations. "DDFTTUIF"FSPUFDI/FXTXFCTJUF
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by the country — especially terrorism. The Los Angeles Times says the Navy’s report 4VCNJTTJPOTGPSVQDPNJOHFWFOUT
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previously dispersed around a dozen different ,
sites are now based in the $4.6 billion, dubbed the 7KHDIWHUQRRQÀ\RYHU²HVWLPDWHGDWEHWZHHQ 'PSRVFTUJPOTDPODFSOJOHUIFXFCTJUF
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2,500 to 3,000 feet — frightened some people. BFSPUFDIOFXTDPN
Several residents on Twitter reported that the Where you can get
military operations abroad, said Jean-Paul Bodin, ORXGORZÀ\LQJMHWZDVQRLV\HQRXJKWRVHWRII Aerotech News and Review
secretary general for the administration of the De- FDUDODUPVZDNHEDELHVDQGVFDUHRI¿FHZRUNHUV 'PSJOGPSNBUJPOPO"FSPUFDIEJT
fense Ministry. “This enables us to be in contact USJCVUJPO
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Station Lemoore, located southwest of Fresno, to
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also to mobilize the staff quicker when needed.” the Bay Area and back. AP FWFSZ'SJEBZTFSWJOHUIFBFSPTQBDFBOE
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France’s military is highly active internation- OJB
ally, with about 7,000 French troops involved in %ULWDLQWRNHHSWURRSVLQ$IJKDQLVWDQ DPQZEFBEMJOFJTOPPOPOUIF5VFTEBZ
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Britain will extend the stay of about 450 soldiers PUIFSUIBOTQBDFVTFE
erations against extremists in Africa’s Sahel region.
An additional 7,000 troops have been mobilized in Afghanistan throughout 2016, the defense sec- :PVS DPNNFOUT BSF XFMDPNFE BOE
to patrol sensitive sites across France, following retary said Oct. 27 following a similar announce- FODPVSBHFE8SJUFUPUIFBEESFTTCFMPX
attacks in Paris in January on satirical newspaper ment by the United States to extend its military
Charlie Hebdo and a kosher grocery that left 20 presence there. t 1VCMJTIFS1BVM,JOJTPO
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ers. British military personnel will continue to carry t &EJUPS4UVBSU*CCFSTPO
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Bodin said the new military organization will Afghan army and supporting NATO operations in .BOBHFS1BVM,JOJTPO
make the army’s decision-making process “more Kabul, Michael Fallon said. Aerotech News and Review
HI¿FLHQW´ He said the decision follows a review of Brit-
456 E. Ave. K-4, Suite 8
ain’s commitment “in light of the performance” Lancaster, CA 93535
headquarters, as part of a government plan to re- of Afghan security forces and the overall security
duce France’s military from 270,000 people to situation in Afghanistan. The soldiers were due to e-mail: editor@aerotechnews.com
240,000 by 2019, he said. leave the country by the end of this year. Visit our web site at www.aerotechnews.com
The ministry’s employees left behind historical Britain, a partner in the U.S.-led coalition that November 6, 2015
buildings in the center of Paris for the new modern fought the Taliban in Afghanistan following the
site, in a quiet district in the south of the capital. Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, formally ended its 13-year
campaign in October 2014 though it kept several
Yet Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian keeps
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18th century, closer to Parliament and the presi- hundred soldiers there in advisory roles.
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The new ministry is to be inaugurated by presi- and 456 died. AP
dent Francois Hollande next month. It is named
the “Hexagone-Balard” — the hexagon being the Faulty cap contributed to helicopter crash
shape used to describe France’s mainland, and also Military investigators say an improperly in-
the shape of the heart of the building.
stalled filter cap contributed to a Marine Corps
)URPWKHRXWVLGHWKHVHYHQÀRRUVWUXFWXUHORRNV helicopter crash at a California base that killed
like a modern fortress with its white opaque glass the Marine pilot and her co-pilot, but they stopped
front. It is topped by the largest solar-paneled roof short of say there was any wrongdoing.
of Paris.
The Marine Corps Times in a story Oct. 25 de-
Inside, it evokes a small university campus with tailed the report of the probe into the Jan. 23 ac-
its succession of gardens surrounded by blue and
green facades, and a series of facilities including a cident near the Twentynine Palms base that killed
the pilot, Maj. Elizabeth Kealey, and the co-pilot,
restaurants and preschools for the staff’s children. &DSW$GDP6DWWHU¿HOG7KHQHZVSDSHUREWDLQHG
6SHFL¿FPLOLWDU\HTXLSPHQWLVEHLQJNHSWWRS the report through a Freedom of Information Act
secret — even from the architects. AP
request.
Russia holds war games involving numerous $WWKHWLPH.HDOH\ZDVDFDSWDLQDQG6DWWHU¿HOG
missile launches
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Russia’s Defense Ministry says the military has
conducted a series of ballistic and cruise missile Squadron 169. Both were posthumously promoted.
launches from various sites across Russia in the
latest demonstration of the nation’s resurgent mili- Investigators cited numerous missteps, including
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