United StatesStory here.
For a country that has engaged in so many overseas conflicts over the decades, the US has surprisingly few armored vehicle designs to back up its airborne drop capability.
As Kotz pointed out, "US paratroopers today can paradrop only light armored vehicles such as the 2.6 ton Humvee, the 960 kg LSV and the 6.4 ton L-ATV, as well as the British-made M119 105mm towed howitzer.
A warplane from Saudi Arabia’s air forces fighting the Houthi movement in Yemen crashed on Sunday due to a technical fault while conducting military operations, a statement carried by the Saudi state news agency SPA said.Saudi led coalition conducted a special operation to evacuate the two pilots? Bullshit. The Saudis don't have the infrastructure in the area to conduct those type missions. Neither do any of their Arab allies.
The Houthi armed movement’s TV channel al-Massirah earlier said Houthi forces had shot down the fighter in Saada province, adding it was a Britain-made Tornado.
The Saudi statement said the plane had crashed in the war zone. It said the Saudi-led coalition conducted a special operation to evacuate the two pilots who survived the crash.
According to the Australian Defence Business Review website, Australian Army and Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group CASG, in charge of military acquisition have deployed a number of new Hawkei 4x4 Light Protected Vehicles to Iraq for operational trials with Task Force Taji, a combined Australian-New Zealand military training force located at the Taji Military Complex northwest of Baghdad.Story here.
The operational trial of the Hawkei 4x4 light protected vehicle by the Australian army in Iraq, is expected to take place until mid-2018. The Hawkei vehicles are deployed in Iraq in two and four door configuration.
The Hawkei vehicle was originally designed to meet an Australian Defence Force (ADF) requirement as part of a wider project to replace the ADF's fleet of operational support vehicles, Project Land 121 Phase 4 – Protected Mobility Vehicle (Light) or PMV-L.
In October 2015, it was announced that the Australian army will order 1,100 Hawkei vehicles t replace part of the Army's ageing Land Rover fleet. It is classified by the Australian Army as light protected mobility vehicles.
The Hawkei vehicle is manufactured by Thales Australia, which also makes the Bushmaster armoured personnel carrier, in Bendigo. Boeing, Plasan Sasa and PAC Group are partners of Thales, supporting the Hawkei project.
The Hawkei 4x4 light protected vehicle was designed to offer high level of protection against modern ballistic and mine explosion threats. A high level of built-in blast protection is combined with ballistic protection that can be scaled to match the operating environment.
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| 49 years ago today, Navy Lt. Vincent "The Grunt Padre" Capodanno received the Medal of Honor posthumously. He was the chaplain with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment during the Vietnam War. Forgetting about being wounded, flying bullets, explosions and chaos he sought to locate, comfort, minister and provide any aid he could from one Marine to the next. Machine gun fire suddenly hit the chaplain with more than 25 bullets when he reached a corpsman. |
Chinese President Xi Jinping encouraged thousands of People’s Liberation Army troops this week to display “the fighting spirit, fearing neither hardship nor death.”Story here.
Speaking in front of 7,000 PLA troops in northern China and dressed in military garb, the Chinese leader urged personnel to "create an elite and powerful force that is always ready for the fight, capable of combat and sure to win in order to fulfill the tasks bestowed by the Party and the people in the new era," the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.
A US Marine Corps UH-1 helicopter made an emergency landing on the eastern coast of the small island of Ikeijima in Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, NHK broadcaster reported on Saturday. The helicopter is reportedly deployed to the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa. No crew members were injured in the incident, NHK says citing prefectural police. US troops and aircraft have been repeatedly involved in incidents in Okinawa. The latest, on December 13, occurred when an American CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter lost a metal-framed window while flying over an elementary school.
