Sea & Sky
Sometimes you come across a photo that is just so perfect, that nothing else need be said. Ecce:
Postcards from Deployment: Homeward Bound
SJS, Since the last post card not much else has changed out here. We are just approaching the International date line again. So soon we are going to repeat a day to catch up for the day we jumped over about eight months ago. So in preparation (or as a cruel joke) one of the…
Wednesday’s Roll-up of Missile Defense News
Two items of note for today’s summary — France may be seriously studying missile defense and Russia’s at it again (re. European Phase Adaptive Approach – PAA). Parlez-vous la Défense de Missile Balistique ? A recent 65-page study on BMD, written by three members of Parliament at a think tank linked to the National Assembly…
Postcards From Deployment — Oh Those Cruise Mustaches!
Well, it’s been a short piece since we last heard from our deployed correspondent, Charles, and that from Hong Kong. He checks in today (well, actually a couple days ago but we’ve been a mite bit overtasked at the day job of late.. Yeah, yeah, yeah — whine, whine….) with another underway note: SJS, So…
Iran’s Long-Range Missile Program: New Launch Facility Revealed
Last month Iran unveiled a new long-range missile, the Simorgh, as a follow-on to the Safir SLV. Putatively identified as a space launch vehicle, it bears strong familial ties to the TD-2 prototype SLV/ICBM launched last April (2009). Since then, some analysts have noted that while the airframe has made an appearance sooner than the…
USS Ranger (CVA-61/CV-61) Foundation
Third ship of the Forrestal-class CVA’s – the first supercarriers . . . Veteran of Vietnam and Desert Storm, Southern Watch and Restore Hope . . . Last ship to bear the storied name, Ranger, that began with John Paul Jones . . . Decommissioned in 1993 as part of the post-Cold War rush to…
Angles and Dangles . . . CVN-style
As part of the sea trials coming out of a yard period, you put the ship through its paces to include high speed runs and extreme turns. When we pulled IKE out of the yards on my first at sea period as her ‘gator (navigator) we did the whole nine-yards, including a high speed run…