Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Russia: Pacific Drill, FCS SUGV, X Maple Flag, + News

Al Qaeda Tape to Call for Use of WMDs (Pentagon/Al Qaeda: when U.S. Military Psyops flop worse than an S.N.L. Skit)
Authorities: New Tape to Urge Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction on Civilians
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/FedCrimes/story?id=4941724


Intelligence and law enforcement sources tell ABC News they are expecting al Qaeda operatives will post a new video on the Internet in the next 24 hours, calling for what one source said is "jihadists to use biological, chemical and nuclear weapons to attack the West."

There have been several reports that al Qaeda will release a new message calling for the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) against civilians," FBI spokesman Richard Kolko told ABC News in an e-mail. (cont...but do u need to read?...)

Report: Billions in defense spending unchecked
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D90U74D01&show_article=1

Russian 'killer of aircraft carriers' starts drills in Pacific
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080526/108442780.html

VLADIVOSTOK, May 26 (RIA Novosti) - The Varyag, a Russian Slava-class missile cruiser dubbed 'the killer of aircraft carriers,' has started a series of live-firing exercises in the Pacific for the first time since a recent overhaul, a fleet spokesman said Monday.
Varyag, the flagship of the Russian Pacific Fleet, was commissioned in Russia's Pacific Fleet in 1989 and re-entered service in early 2008 following a major refit that lasted almost a year.
"The Varyag's crew is scheduled to conduct a series of live firing drills against ground, surface, and air targets," said Captain 1st Rank Roman Martov.
He said the exercise was aimed at checking the performance of all on-board weapons systems.
"The cruiser is equipped with a powerful array of missile systems, torpedoes and artillery systems," Martov said, adding that NATO experts had dubbed Russian combat ships of this class "the killer of aircraft carriers," as it can carry 1,000kg of high-explosives, or a tactical nuclear warhead out to a range of 300 nautical miles...

Army Demos Video Game-Controlled Robot (FCS)
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/05/army-demos-vide.html

Making robots that are intuitive and easy to use is one of the many challenges of unmanned systems. It turns out iRobot's small unmanned ground vehicle (SUGV), one of the robots going into the Army's Future Combat System, can be controlled with a pair of specially equipped eye-glasses and a video-game handset. Bettina Chavanne, writing at Aviation Week's ARES blog, took the SUGV out for a spin this week at Ft. Bliss, in Texas: ...




Seven countries hone fighter pilot skills during Maple Flag
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123100233
5/27/2008 - COLD LAKE, Alberta, Canada (AFPN) -- Fighter pilots from seven different countries, including the United States, participate in Maple Flag 41May 5-16 and May 19-30 at Cold Lake in Alberta, Canada. "Ask any U.S. fighter pilot and he'll tell you the best part about flying here is the unrestricted air space," said Maj. Derrick Johnson, Maple Flag project officer from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Roughly 3,000 servicemembers are participating in this year's exercise, according to the 4 Wing Public Affairs. The exercise is divided into two periods; "Four Wing Cold Lake is proud to host Exercise Maple Flag 41, one of the largest coalition exercises in the world,"

Mock disaster drill at Kolkata Metro stations (India)
http://www.hindu.com/2008/05/25/stories/2008052551761100.htm

SIMULATED ATTACK: A team of the National Disaster Management Authority, with fire brigade, medical and Railway Police Force personnel, demonstrating how to combat a terrorist attack, at the Chandni Chowk Metro Rail station in Kolkata on Saturday.

KOLKATA: Sirens blared; passengers ran helter-skelter, panic writ on their faces; people lay on the ground writhing in pain and gasping for breath; police shouted eviction orders; medical staff rushed through the crowd with stretchers; and commandos took positions behind pillars, aiming their rifles at an unknown enemy.
This was the scene at the Chandni Chowk station of the city’s Metro Railway early on Saturday. It was no terrorist attack but a mock disaster management drill organised by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) at two underground railway stations. The exercise caught commuters unawares, even as volunteers as ‘mock commuters’ mingled with the passengers to simulate an attack scene at the stations......

Police stage mock terrorist attack in Hamilton (Canada)http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/375754
Operation Midnight Express was about as close to a terrorist attack as Hamilton would ever want to experience. It was an exercise staged over a 14-hour period at Pier 15 on the bay and was designed to test the ability of police and other agencies to deal with a major threat to public security....

Philippines, US to hold naval exercises near Spratlys: report
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jgg6_Kv4N_gdQ3FUI8OfmBXI8xrQ
MANILA (AFP) — US and Philippine forces will carry out joint naval exercises off Palawan, the closest major Philippine island to the disputed Spratlys chain in the South China Sea, a report said Saturday.
The joint exercises will begin Monday, Vice Admiral William Douglas Crowder, commander of the US seventh fleet flagship the USS Blue Ridge, told the Philippine Star newspaper.
About four US ships will sail to Palawan, southwest of Manila, for the combined naval war games involving about a thousand US and Filipino sailors, the newspaper said.
The Spratlys, a chain of islands and atolls believed to be rich in oil and gas deposits, are claimed in full or in part by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. All but Brunei have troops posted on some of the islands......

"Bold Monarch 2008"

NATO Drill
http://www.avionews.com/index.php?corpo=see_news_home.php&news_id=1090067&pagina_chiamante=index.php
Rome, Italy - For research and rescue of submersibles on trouble(WAPA) - "'Bold Monarch 2008', the most important international drill for the rescue of submarines on trouble, has started in the North Sea, Norway. Ending on next June, 6th, many International air-sea and submarine trims will join the drill as Canadian, French, Greek, British, Israeli, Italian, Norwegian, Holland, Polish, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian and American.

Russian TV Reports on Antiterror Drill at N-Plant
http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1401088/russian_tv_reports_on_antiterror_drill_at_nplant/
Strategic Simulation (Russia + China)
http://www.kommersant.com/p895011/The_first_visit_of_President_Medvedev_to_China/
Today starts Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to China, which is meant to prove Moscow’s assertion that the People’s Republic of China is Russia’s crucial geopolitical ally, and that they can challenge the West together. But Dmitry Medvedev will have to discuss problems in Beijing mainly. These include a drastic decrease in military and technical cooperation, the vague prospects of the energy alliance of Russia and China, and the Chinese government’s reluctance to back Moscow in its struggle against NATO expansion.

Argon ST, Inc. Awarded Next Phase of DARPA Robust Surface Navigation Program
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080527005844&newsLang=en
FAIRFAX, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Argon ST, Inc. (NASDAQ:STST), a leading systems engineering, development and services company providing full-service C5ISR (command, control, communications, computers, combat systems, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) systems and services to a wide range of defense and intelligence customers, was awarded a contract option for Phase 1B of the Robust Surface Navigation (RSN) program from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Scientists identify second H7 strain of bird flu that could cause pandemic
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article4009755.ece

Battling Bird Flu By The Numbers
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080527120211.htm
ScienceDaily (May 27, 2008) — A pair of Los Alamos National Laboratory theorists have developed a mathematical tool that could help health experts and crisis managers determine in real time whether an emerging infectious disease such as avian influenza H5N1 is poised to spread globally

US Emergency Rooms are not Ready for a Surge of Patients
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/05/emergency-rooms.html
In this month's Annals of Emergency Medicine, Maryn McKenna made a particularly strong case that emergency rooms were terribly overcrowded during flu season and they would not be able to handle the surge of patients who would appear in the event of a pandemic.

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