DoD: Cyber Security

As part of President Obama’s cyber security plan, the White House is planning on announcing that Melissa Hathaway, the current top cyber security adviser, will oversee a 60-day review of federal cyber security efforts. Insiders have stated that after this assignment, she will likely be offered the position of cyber czar. Hathaway serves as the cyber coordination executive at the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and was senior adviser to former Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell. She is also as chair on the National Cyber Study Group, as well as a senior-level interagency body that played a lead role in the development of President Bush's Comprehensive National Cyber security Initiative.
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Current Affairs: Bailout is raising tension

U.S. Taxpayers Risk $9.7 Trillion on Bailout Programs

Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The stimulus package the U.S. Congress is completing would raise the government’s commitment to solving the financial crisis to $9.7 trillion, enough to pay off more than 90 percent of the nation’s home mortgages.

The Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have lent or spent almost $3 trillion over the past two years and pledged up to $5.7 trillion more. The Senate is to vote this week on an economic-stimulus measure of at least $780 billion. It would need to be reconciled with an $819 billion plan the House approved last month.

Only the stimulus bill to be approved this week, the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program passed four months ago and $168 billion in tax cuts and rebates enacted in 2008 have been voted on by lawmakers. The remaining $8 trillion is in lending programs and guarantees, almost all under the Fed and FDIC. Recipients’ names have not been disclosed.
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SAR: Osprey Practice

A CV-22 Osprey aircraft from the 8th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla., flies Jan. 31 over Florida's Emerald Coast. While over the water, the crew practiced using a hoist, which is used to rescue stranded people. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Julianne Showalter)
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Current Affairs: Sunday SITREP

World headlines in no particular order

USA: Congress grumbles over bill competition
USA: Two plague carrying mice disappear from NJ lab
RUSSIA: Russia rattles sabers in Obama's direction
VATICAN: Pope to address Jews after bishop denies Holocaust
ECUADOR: Ecuador expels American official
IRAN: The US must rethink its policies for reconciliation
AUSTRALIA: Plagued by floods and bush fires
ISRAEL: Polls predict Netanyahu win
PAKISTAN: Group claims to be holding UN official
ATLANTIC OCEAN: First woman to swim the Atlantic Ocean
AFGHANISTAN: Obama may be putting brakes on Afghan Surge?
MEXICO: Mexico sends more police to airports to protect travelers
BRITAIN: Britain accuses Iran of intimidating staff
CHINA: China uses artillery to fight drought
EUROPE: Global economic woes worry Europe

USAF: Drill Team

USAF: AF Reaching out all around the world

From our friends at Air Force Live the Official Blog of USAF Public Affairs!

C-17 Reaches Across the Globe -- vlog
US Air Force C-17s recently delivered Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs) to the Marines in Afghanistan. Technical Sergeant Cohen Young (who wrote about his experiences in Sadr City, Iraq) was on board the flight for the mission with the 535th Airlift Squadron as part of the Defense Media Activity, Hawaii. Follow the above link to get the video of his experiences.
Posted by Paul F. Bove, Air Force Public Affairs.

CHAPLAIN: One for those who also serve, lest we forget...

Hat tip to BlackFive.net

SAR: Japan's RESCUE FORCE

So how come we dont "explosevly depress the extreme disasters" in the US?

Aerospace: Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) system

The Boeing Company has successfully completed initial satellite testing and has demonstrated end-to-end mission functionality of the ground and space systems of the integrated Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) system.

When launched in spring 2009, SBSS will revolutionize the nation's Space Situational Awareness with enhanced performance by providing around-the-clock visibility to detect distant space objects without interference from weather, atmosphere or daylight.

"The SBSS team is making good progress on the path toward launch," said U.S. Air Force Col. James Jordan, the Space Situational Awareness Group commander in the Space Superiority Systems Wing at the Space and Missiles Center in Los Angeles. "The flexibility and capacity of the SBSS system are critical to space situational awareness."
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CAP: CAP Assists in Missing Snowmobiler Search

A young man and woman huddled over a trembling snowmobile engine for warmth as temperatures dropped and the sky darkened overhead. With no cell phone and little fuel left, the stuck snowmobile riders prayed they could make it through the night and someone would find them the next day. Hours after the engine had sputtered to a halt and they were shivering in the early morning after the sun came up, their prayers were finally answered.

Thanks to the help and hard work of rescue workers and snowmobilers dashing through the snow of the Big Horn Mountains Sunday morning, Chris Stockton and Jaylane Tennant of southern Montana have returned home safely.

The North Big Horn County Search and Rescue Squad received a report from the Sheriff’s Office at 7:45 a.m. Sunday of two snowmobile riders that had been reported overdue by family members. The only information they were given was that two individuals were riding tandem on one snowmobile and were lost – somewhere in the Big Horns off Hwy. 14A.

According to NBHSAR Captain Scott Allred, the search was authorized soon after. Snowmobile teams were staged at the Crystal Creek rest area and were on the ground searching at about 10 a.m. Rescue workers were joined by several Lovell citizens with snowmobiles, members of the Lovell Volunteer Fire Dept., crews from Bear Lodge and a Civil Air Patrol plane searching from the sky.
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USAF: USAF PA in Tanzania

Senior Airman Daniel McKittrick celebrates with children Jan. 21 before a water project dedication in Magu, Tanzania. The project will provide clean drinking water to villagers in the region. Airman McKittrick is a public affairs broadcaster with the Combined Task Force - Horn of Africa. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Joseph L. Swafford Jr.)
Air Force Link

USAF: Bug Out at Elmendorf!

February 6, 2009: The U.S. Air Force is moving its aircraft from Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, to escape an eruption by a volcano (Mount Redoubt). Volcanoes put out lots of gritty ash, which damages or destroys jet engines. A coating of ash, not to mention flying rocks and lava, is also bad for aircraft, and the equipment used to maintain them.
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DoD Joint Forces - Knowledge Advanced Visualization Environment

(SUFFOLK, Va., - Feb. 5, 2009) -- A new laboratory being built at U.S. Joint Forces Command here will enable analysts and warfighters alike to "step into" data fields like those that bombard them during real-life missions.

The "knowledge advanced visualization environment," or KAVE, will expose many of the variables and "what ifs" associated with real-life operations, explained Army Maj. Caeli Hull, the command's deputy division officer for innovation and experimentation.

Users will don 3-D glasses before stepping into the 18-by-10-foot structure. State-of-the-art computer effects and multiple data feeds delivered through screens on all four walls and the floor will converge to create a realistic, three-dimensional environment.

Hull called the KAVE a big step forward in helping joint warfighters and planners view real-world operational data in innovative ways.
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Current Affairs: It doesnt just happen in China

WASHINGTON — A Georgia peanut plant knowingly shipped salmonella-laced products as far back as 2007, at times sending out tainted products after tests confirmed contamination, according to inspection records released Friday.
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Current Events: Deal or no Deal?

POINT: Senate Set to Vote Next Week on Stimulus After Accord on Cuts

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate is slated to vote early next week on an economic stimulus package totaling at least $780 billion that President Barack Obama said is needed to prevent the economy from sinking into a deeper recession.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, scheduled a key procedural vote for 5:30 p.m. Washington time on Feb. 9 after a dispute over the measure’s size was resolved yesterday. If the procedural hurdle is cleared, Reid said a vote on the bill would take place on Feb. 10.

If it passes, lawmakers will attempt to reconcile the Senate bill with an $819 billion stimulus bill the House approved last month. Democratic congressional leaders are pushing to deliver a final bill to Obama by the end of next week.
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President Obama's economic recovery package will actually hurt the economy more in the long run than if he were to do nothing, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.

COUNTER POINT: Congressional Budget Office Says stimulus will harm in long run

CBO, the official scorekeepers for legislation, said the House and Senate bills will help in the short term but result in so much government debt that within a few years they would crowd out private investment, actually leading to a lower Gross Domestic Product over the next 10 years than if the government had done nothing.
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Aerospace: Global Hawk

Hat Tip, One Marines view.

This is a photo of the Global Hawk UAV that returned from the war zone recently under its own power (Iraq to Edwards AFB in CA). Not transported via C5 or C17...

Notice the mission paintings on the fuselage.

It's actually over 250 missions.... (And I would suppose 25 air medals).

That's a long way for a remotely-piloted aircraft.

Think of the technology and the required quality of the data link To fly it remotely.

Not only that but the pilot controlled it from a nice warm control panel at Edwards AFB.

Really long legs-- can stay up for almost 2 days at altitudes above 60k.

The Global Hawk was controlled via satellite; it flew missions during OT&E that went from Edwards AFB to upper Alaska and back non-stop.

Basically, they come into the fight at a high mach # in mil thrust, fire their AMRAAMS, and no one ever sees them or paints with radar. here is practically no radio chatter because all the guys in the flight are tied together electronically, and can see who is targeting who, and they have AWACS direct input and 360 situational awareness from that and other sensors.

The aggressors had a morale problem before it was all over. It is to air superiority what the jet engine was to aviation.

It can taxi, take off, fly a mission, return, land and taxi on its own. No blackouts, no fatigue, no relief tubes, no ejection seats, and best of all, no dead pilots, no POWs.