U.S. Launches Drone from Aircraft Carrier for First Time

ExtraWorldNews 

breitbart

(AP) - A drone the size of a fighter jet took off from the deck of an American aircraft carrier for the first time Tuesday in a test flight that could eventually open the way for the U.S. to launch unmanned aircraft from just about any place in the world.

The X-47B is the first drone designed to take off and land on a carrier, meaning the U.S. military would not need permission from other countries to use their bases.

"As our access to overseas ports, forward operating locations and airspace is diminished around the world, the value of the aircraft carrier and the air wing becomes more and more important," Rear Adm. Ted Branch, commander of Naval Air Forces Atlantic, said after the flight off the Virginia coast. "So today is history."

The move to expand the capabilities of the nation's drones comes amid growing criticism of America's use of Predators and Reapers to gather intelligence and carry out lethal missile attacks against terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen.

Critics in the U.S. and abroad have charged that drone strikes cause widespread civilian deaths and are conducted with inadequate oversight.

Still, defense analysts say drones are the future of warfare.

The new Joint Strike Fighter jet "might be the last manned fighter the U.S. ever builds. They're so expensive, they're so complex, and you put a human at risk every time it takes off from a carrier," said James Lewis, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"This is the next generation of military technology _ the unmanned vehicles, the unmanned submersibles, the unmanned aircraft. This will be the future of warfare, and it will be a warfare that is a little less risky for humans but maybe a little more effective when it comes to delivering weapons and effect."

While the X-47B isn't intended for operational use, it will help Navy officials develop future carrier-based drones. Those drones could begin operating by 2020, according to Rear Adm. Mat Winter, the Navy's program executive officer for unmanned aviation and strike weapons.

The X-47B is far bigger than the Predator, has three times the range and can be programmed to carry out missions with no human intervention, the Navy said.

While the X-47B isn't a stealth aircraft, it was designed with the low profile of one. That will help in the development of future stealth drones, which would be valuable as the military changes its focus from the Middle East to the Pacific, where a number of countries' air defenses are a lot stronger than Afghanistan's.

"Unmanned systems would be the likely choice in a theater or an environment that was highly defended or dangerous where we wouldn't want to send manned aircraft," Branch said.

During Tuesday's flight, the X-47B used a steam catapult to launch, just as traditional Navy warplanes do. The unarmed aircraft then landed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland.

The next critical test for the tailless plane will come this summer, when it attempts to land on a moving aircraft carrier, one of the most difficult tasks for Navy pilots.

Earlier this month, the X-47B successfully landed at the air station using a tailhook to catch a cable and bring it to a quick stop, just as planes setting down on carriers have to do.

The X-47B has a wingspan of about 62 feet and weighs 14,000 pounds, versus nearly 49 feet and about 1,100 pounds for the Predator.

While Predators are typically piloted via remote control by someone in the U.S., the X-47B relies only on computer programs to tell it where to fly unless a human operator needs to step in. Eventually, one person may be able to control multiple unmanned aircraft at once, Branch said.

The group Human Rights Watch said it is troubled by what it described as a trend toward the development of fully autonomous weapons that can choose and fire upon targets with no human intervention.

"We're saying you must have meaningful human control over key battlefield decisions of who lives and who dies. That should not be left up to the weapons system itself," said Steve Goose, director of the arms division at Human Rights Watch.

Developed by Northrop Grumman under a 2007 contract at a cost of $1.4 billion, the X-47B is capable of carrying weapons and providing around-the-clock intelligence, surveillance and targeting, according to the Navy, which has been giving updates on the project over the past few years.

The X-47B can reach an altitude of more than 40,000 feet and has a range of more than 2,100 nautical miles, versus 675 for the Predator. The Navy plans to show the drone can be refueled in flight, which would give it even greater range.

Security concerns after 500 pounds of still-missing explosives stolen from federal bunker

Fox News

Around the same time the nation was transfixed on the hunt for the Boston Marathon bombers last month, thieves on the other side of the country pulled off a little-noticed heist -- swiping 559 pounds of explosives from a federal storage facility in Montana.
As of Friday, not one ounce of it has been found.
The incident, federal officials believe, was not terrorism-related. But it's the latest to raise security concerns in an age when authorities are warning about the desire of violence-bent terrorists to inflict mass casualties with bombs.
Rep. Steve Daines, Montana's only congressman, told FoxNews.com he's "deeply concerned" about the theft in his state and will be "closely monitoring" the investigation.
The explosives were stolen from a locked U.S. Forest Service bunker near Billings. Thieves took off with various emulsion-type explosives, cast boosters and detonating cord.
Federal officials weren't able to point to why the explosives were taken and have downplayed what could happen if they fall into the wrong hands. Some in the area -- who did not want to be named publicly -- believe the facility might have been looted by local miners or by private forestry-related companies that want to bypass buying the explosives legally.

The types of items that were taken are often used in mines, to clear rockslides and construction trails, and to blow up animal carcasses. Strapping sticks of dynamite to a dead animal is a common method used in the region to dispose of the bodies. When animals -- like elk or horses -- start decomposing, the scent attracts bigger animals like bears to populated areas.
Carbon County Sheriff Thomas Rieger told FoxNews.com his office is working with federal authorities to find the culprit but admits it's disturbing to think that someone walked off with hundreds of pounds of bomb-making material.
"We still don't have any idea who done it," Rieger said, adding, "It's under a full investigation."
Daines, a member of the Homeland Security Committee, said he's looking into the investigation and it's "critical that the USFS, ATF and local law enforcement find answers about how the security of this site was breached and work to strengthen the security measures for these storage sites to ensure that a theft like this does not happen again."
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokesman Brad Beyersdorf said the agency is offering a $5,000 reward for information on the incident. Stealing explosives and possession of stolen explosives is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. To date, there have been no arrests made in connection to the case, though the Billings Gazette reports that the ATF is chasing some recent leads.
While Beyersdorf stressed that security at ATF-affiliated facilities in the country is tight, there have been an alarming amount of explosives lost from private sites over the past decade.
On Aug. 11, 2011, Travis McQueen broke into storage units at the Buckley Powder Company in Cass County, Neb., and stole 100 pounds of blasting agents, two cases of boosters and 3,000 feet of detonating cord. Authorities in the eastern Nebraska area put up flyers asking residents for help in cracking the case. An anonymous caller led federal agents to McQueen. Soon thereafter, authorities arrested Christopher Bousman in connection to the crime.
According to court records, McQueen stole the explosives and asked Bousman to help get rid of them. The two dumped the bulk of the stolen property into the Missouri and Platte rivers. McQueen was sentenced to 63 months in prison. On Monday, an Omaha federal judge sentenced Bousman to 18 months behind bars followed by three years of supervised release, Criminal Chief Jan Sharp told FoxNews.com.
Not much of the blasting agent was recovered after it was thrown into the river, Sharp said. The incident is the only sizeable theft of this nature in Nebraska.
In 2005, massive amounts of stolen explosives were also found after they went missing from the Cherry Engineering storage site near Albuquerque, N.M. ATF agents recovered 150 pounds of C-4 explosives, 250 pounds of sheet explosives, 20,000 feet of detonator cord and 2,500 blasting caps.
Federal authorities at the time said they didn't know what the thieves planned to do with the material but did say the amount that went missing was enough to flatten a large building. Most of the explosives eventually turned up in Bloomfield and Ignacio.
The problem of stolen dynamite isn't just a domestic one.
Missing explosives and other weapons made in the U.S. or under the guard of U.S. security forces, have mysteriously disappeared from multiple locations across the world -- most recently in Kuwait. The Interior Ministry said last month thieves broke into an unguarded warehouse and took 20,000 U.S.-origin M-16 assault rifles. Also lifted were 15,000 rounds of ammunition for 9mm pistols. According to Middle East Newsline, thieves broke down three doors before clearing out all the contents in the warehouse.  

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/10/500-pounds-still-missing-explosives-highlights-federal-security-flaws/#ixzz2SuB0B9Ac

17 Air Force officers stripped of authority to launch nuclear missiles

Security Clearance

www.usaukonline.com

By Barbara Starr

In an unprecedented action, an Air Force commander has stripped 17 of his officers of their authority to control and launch nuclear missiles.
The 17 are being sent to undergo 60 to 90 days of intensive refresher training on how to do their jobs. The action comes after their unit performed poorly on an inspection and one officer was investigated for potential compromise of nuclear launch codes, according to Lt. Col. John Dorrian, an Air Force spokesman.
The story was first reported by The Associated Press.
The action was taken by the deputy commander of the 91st Operations Group, Lt. Col. Jay Folds, whose officers run launch control centers for the Minuteman III nuclear missiles from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota.
Folds announced the action in an emotionally charged April e-mail to his unit, saying in part, "Did you know that we, as an operations group, have fallen - and its it time to stand ourselves back up?"
In that e-mail, Folds says, "We're discovering such rot in the crew force," while they are on alert status - standing watch over the nuclear force - that the unit is accepting of violations of weapons safety rules, and code compromises.
In words not often used by military officers, Folds told his troops to "crush any rules violators" and said, "We are, in fact, in a crisis right now."
CNN obtained a copy of the e-mail, which was also first obtained by the AP.
Dorrian confirmed that Folds was referring to a potential deliberate violation of Air Force rules regarding nuclear launch codes and the failure of his troops to report when they see potential violations.
The Air Force action affects only the 17 personnel deemed to need the training; others remain on duty.
The unit underwent a regular comprehensive inspection in March, according to Dorrian. The inspection consisted of an evaluation of 22 tasks. At the time, the unit was announced as having passed with a 'satisfactory" rating, which is third on a scale of five.
But on one of the 22 tasks involving launch operations, it was rated "marginal" which is one step above "unsatisfactory." Dorrian called it the equivalent of a "D" grade.
Then the incident of potential compromise of launch codes occurred. Dorrian said the investigation found no compromise, but did find the codes were "potentially handled improperly," by one officer, who is now facing discipline. All of this then led to Folds' e-mail and action, according to Dorrian.
Dorrian noted that while some in the Air Force might view Folds' e-mail as "emotional," his actions are fully supported at the highest levels of the Air Force. In other portions of his e-mail Folds told his unit:
– "Turn off the TVs."
– "Clean your patches, uniforms and get your hair cut."
– "Bring to my attention immediately any officer who bad mouths a senior officer."
While some nuclear officers are sent for retraining every year, this is the most extensive action taken to date, Dorrian confirmed. It comes after a 2008 Pentagon report was sharply critical of the Air Force for not focusing on the post-Cold War nuclear mission, and for a bomber that, in a flight over multiple states, carried nuclear-tipped missiles without the Air Force realizing it.

«Clic, imprimir, arma», un documental sobre las armas impresas en 3D

Microsiervos

En Vice: Click, imprimir, arma: la historia del movimiento de las armas creadas con impresoras 3d,

Cody R. Wilson. Wilson, de 25 años, es un estudiante de derecho en la Universidad de Texas que está trabajando en la construcción de armas semiautomáticas utilizando una impresora 3D. La primera vez que escuché su nombre fue hablando con un colega después de que Wilson subiera un vídeo en Indiegogo demostrando qué intenciones tenía con su recién adquirida impresora Stratasys 3D (una impresora que Stratasys le arrebató más tarde).

Uno de los problemas más evidentes es que este tipo de armas son invisibles para los detectores de metales, aunque la munición tiene que seguir siendo necesariamente de verdad y hay que poder comprarla. El percutor también tiene que ser metálico, aunque se trate de un clavo.

En EE UU se ha levantado bastante revuelo con el asunto. El verdadero problema, según Businessweek, es que en aquel país es más fácil comprar un arma que imprimirla,

Let's All Calm Down About 3D Plastic Guns — Con algo de conocimientos es posible hacer un arma en el sótano de casa, y hay formas menos complicadas de conseguirlas que utilizando un equipo informático de 10.000 dólares. Por internet puedes comprar cualquier cosa desde una pistola Glock de 9 mm a un rifle semiautomático de tipo militar con cargador para 30 proyectiles.

En otros países, caso de España, es mucho más difícil comprar armas y munición de este tipo. Por ejemplo, en España «la razón de defensa de personas o bienes, por sí sola, no justifica la concesión de la licencia» para armas cortas, informa la Guardia Civil. En EE UU es al contrario, ésta razón es en la que se basa el derecho a tener y llevar armas.

De nuevo se demuestra —como leí por ahí hace poco, no recuerdo dónde— que según se utilice la tecnología puede ser buena o puede ser mala, pero nunca es neutra.

Pentagon: North Korea moving closer to developing nuke that can hit U.S.

NBC News

Jon Chol Jin / AP

A man walks by a poster reading "Severe punishment to the U.S. and their followers" in the central district of Pyongyang, North Korea, on Thursday, May 2, 2013.

By Andrew Rafferty, Staff Writer, NBC News

North Korean advances in nuclear technology are moving the country closer to its goal of being able to strike the United States with an atomic weapon, according to a new Pentagon report submitted to Congress on Thursday.

Though the unclassifed version of the report gave no timetable for when North Korea may have the ability to hit North American soil with a weapon, it did say recent progress is in line with the country's desires to soon be able to carry out such an attack. 

"These advances in ballistic-missile delivery systems, coupled with developments in nuclear technology ... are in line with North Korea's stated objective of being able to strike the U.S. homeland," the report said. 

The report added: "North Korea will move closer to this goal, as well as increase the threat it poses to U.S. forces and allies in the region, if it continues testing and devoting scarce regime resources to these programs."

The Pentagon assessment to lawmakers is required by law and comes after a period of escalating tensions between the two countries. The report calls North Korea one of America's "most critical security challenges" in the region because of its pursuit of nuclear weapons coincides with "provocative and destabilizing behavior."

Washington and Pyongyang began 2013 in a standoff after the North launched of a satellite into space last December, which the report cites as a major contributor to the country's long-range capabilities. That was followed by a nuclear test in February of 2013, which led to sanctions from the United Nations that only brought more threats from the cantankerous country.

Still, the report also noted that North Korea has yet to complete some of the necessary steps required for the country to develop a weapon that can reach the U.S.  It stated that they have not yet tested a re-entry vehicle necessary for a warhead to get back inside the Earth's atmosphere and hit a target.

The report also indicates that newly minted leader Kim Jong Un will follow in his father's footsteps in practicing "coercive diplomacy" and development of military capabilities to deter outside attacks.

Secret weapon? How thermal imaging helped catch bomb suspect

usnews

www.worth1000.com

Thermal-imaging devices have been used to seek out pot-growing operations, map Martian geology — and now, to watch the prime suspect in this week's Boston Marathon bombings as he was holed up in his last hiding place.

Authorities said helicopters equipped with thermal imagers spotted the heat signature of a person inside a tarp-covered boat, sitting in a backyard in Watertown, Mass. Police used the sensors after a woman in the area reported seeing a trail of blood leading to the boat. The thermal readings confirmed that there was someone under the tarp, and that the person was still alive.

"Probably been there all day," a senior police official told NBC News. "He wasn't moving at first. He is now."

After monitoring the body in the boat for more than an hour, police moved in and seized the wounded bombing suspect, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Thermal imagers can spot the signature of a body or other heat source even if it's inside a house, a vehicle, or in this case, a vessel. Walls may stop visible-light wavelengths, but infrared wavelengths can still pass through. The variations in heat emissions can be picked up by camera chips designed to be sensitive to the infrared part of the spectrum. The signature would be particularly noticeable when there's a significant difference between the background temperature and the temperature of the heat source.

Police have long used such devices to find out whether marijuana is being grown inside a house, using heat lamps. In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled that the use of thermal scans to monitor heat sources inside a person's home should be considered a "search" under the Fourth Amendment, and thus would require a warrant. The court said such scans could reveal private details about the homeowner, including the time of night when "the lady of the house takes her daily sauna and bath."

Thermal imagers have been taken to other worlds — for instance, aboard NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, which analyzes variations in the composition of the Red Planet's surface using the Thermal Emission Imaging System, or THEMIS.

Immigration authorities have used thermal scanners to look for the signs of fever among arriving passengers, and researchers have been experimenting with them as a lie-detector technique.

In 2009, FBI investigators used thermal imagers to search for bodies in the neighborhood where Cleveland serial killer Anthony Sowell lived. That may well have been the most notorious case where the technology was brought to bear. Until now.

Guns and garden gnomes: 3-D printer revolution is now

Technology on NBCNews.com

LANCE ROSENFIELD / Redux Pictures

LANCE ROSENFIELD / Redux Pictures

Cody Wilson, who is in the process of developing a gun that will be printed on a 3-D printer, in Austin, Texas.

Addressing a packed auditorium at Austin’s South by Southwest festival last March, Bre Pettis, keynote speaker and co-founder of MakerBot, one of the leaders in desktop 3-D printers, described the increased interest and affordability of his company’s product as heralding the “the next Industrial Revolution.”

"Revolution" is often used even when the result doesn't match the definition — a complete change from the way things were before. Add "Industrial," and the comparison implies not just a change in manufacturing, but society as well, from improved living standards to changes in social class structure. Whether — and how — desktop 3-D printing can bring such changes is much debated, and remains to be seen.

Thanks to companies such as MakerBot, the bulk, expense and technical inefficiency that kept the 30-year-old technology known as Additive Manufacturing — or 3-D printing — confined to major laboratories and factories, is a thing of the past. Now, for less than $3,000, anyone with basic computer skills and an interest in learning more can download and personalize or create a computer-assisted design (CAD) that a printer will fabricate, layer by layer of filament.

Pettis is not the first to make the “next Industrial Revolution” comparison. For some within the maker community — subculture of tech-based do-it-yourself-ers — the increased accessibility of 3-D printer technology means "the end of consumerism.” Conversely, tech analysis firms Gartner predicts that 3-D printing could create opportunities for new product lines created in-house by local retailers. And Daniel Suarez, who spent a decade developing logistics and production planning software for major multinational corporations (and is also a best-selling novelist who writes about near-future technologies) predicts that "3-D printing will be a disruptive economic force in the next two decades — but I also think this disruption will benefit average Americans by causing a resurgence in local manufacturing."

Fervor over 3-D printing’s potential has only increased since SXSW, when Pettis introduced a prototype for the MakerBot Digitizer, which will scan small objects with the end goal of 3-D fabrication. He illustrated the Digitizer’s potential with a projection of a garden gnome, scanned to create … another garden gnome.

For those who don’t so much see an endless supply of home-printed garden gnomes as “revolution,” so much as a shot at getting on A&E’s “Hoarders,” there’s Cody Wilson, the notorious public face of Defense Distributed. Wilson is a University of Texas law student recently licensed to manufacture guns by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In March, Defense Distributed, much to the consternation of gun control advocates, printed the plastic lower receiver for an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle — the portion of a firearm that carries the serial number — which that can fire more than 600 rounds.

Scary, legal and — as Wilson points out — a 3-D printed result that actually does something.

MakerBot

Wilson latched on to Pettis’s garden gnome to express his frustration with the maker community to make something more than geegaws during his riveting yet sparsely attended SXSW presentation about Defense Distributed and DefCAD, an open-source CAD design website he launched after MakerBot’s Thingiverse CAD site dumped all the gun designs from the site following the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.

A cursory scan on Thingiverse finds a sea of files to create iPhone cases, and myriad holders and stands, but other than clock components, parts to complete a cigar box ukulele, and a theoretical design for a working camera, there isn’t a lot on the open source data base that does stuff.

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Wilson is using the platform of 3-D printing to make a political statement about— and push the boundaries of — liberty and the freedom to share information. “I think this isn't a project about firearms, it’s a project about political equality,” Wilson recently told NBC’s Nightly News.

The potential Wilson sees for for 3-D printers isn't just about guns, but prosthetics and other medical devices, even drugs, putting the means of production in the hands of the people.

Pettis and Wilson are often portrayed as polar opposites in the 3-D printer movement, but they both face the inevitable roadblock of all new digital technology — intellectual copyright law.

"When it comes to 3-D printers, groups producing tools, weapons, and reproducing patented or copyrighted objects will be where all the debate and legal fireworks will occur," Suarez told NBC News.

"Sure, a copyright holder might get upset when individuals reproduce their trademarked cartoon character as little plastic tchotchkes, but I suspect this will follow the same path as digital music and torrented video — namely, there will be several high profile legal cases against perceived infringers until big companies realize technological advances have made this an unstoppable tide."

And so begins the revolution.

7 Marines killed during explosion at Nevada's Hawthorne Army Depot

Fox News

An explosion at a military ammunition storage facility in Nevada during a Marine Corps training exercise killed seven U.S. Marines and wounded several others, military officials said.

The North Carolina-based Marines with the 2nd Marine Division were killed late Monday when a 60-millimeter mortar exploded during a live-fire training exercise at Hawthorne Army Depot as they were preparing to fire it.

The Marines immediately issued an indefinite moratorium on firing of all such mortars worldwide until an investigation clears as safe the type of weapon and ammunition in the tragedy. The moratorium could last for weeks or months.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity said it was not immediately clear whether the mortar exploded prematurely inside its firing tube or whether more than a single round exploded. The official was not authorized to speak about the accident. 

The cause of the incident remains under investigation. The investigation will focus on whether the Marines followed procedures to properly fire the weapon, whether there was a malfunction in the firing device or in the explosive mortar itself, the official said.

The identities of those killed were not released pending notification of their families, officials said in a statement from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp LeJeune, N.C.

"We send our prayers and condolences to the families of Marines involved in this tragic incident. We remain focused on ensuring that they are supported through this difficult time," said Maj. Gen. Raymond C. Fox, the force's commander. "We mourn their loss, and it is with heavy hearts we remember their courage and sacrifice."

 Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, the area's major trauma hospital, took nine patients, including one who died, three who are in serious condition and five who are in fair condition, according to spokeswoman Stacy Kendall. All the patients are men under the age of 30, she said. Kendall described their injuries as penetrating trauma, fractures and vascular injuries.

The 60mm mortar is a weapon that traditionally requires three to four Marines to operate but it's common during training for others to observe nearby. 

Earlier, Russ Collier, an official at the facility, told KRNV-TV that the explosion was an accident unrelated to the ammunition that is stored at the military facility near the small desert community of Hawthorne.

The 147,000-acre depot, established in 1930, is about 140 miles southeast of Reno. The facility stores and disposes of ammunition, and provides long-term storage for industrial plant equipment. It's comprised of nearly 3,000 buildings — including igloos, supply warehouses and munitions sheds — throughout more than 230 square miles.

Since World War II, when the facility became the staging area for ammunition, bombs and rockets for the war, Hawthorne has held an important place in U.S. military history. The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection said the depot employed more than 5,500 people at its peak. Nevada was chosen for the location because of its remoteness in the wake of a crippling explosion at the government's main depot in New Jersey in the 1920s.

The facility had an operating budget of $270,000 and a payroll of $2.88 million in fiscal year 2009, according to its website.

Nevada's political leaders expressed their sympathy on Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., gave his condolences to victims of the explosion during a morning speech on the Senate floor.

Nevada Republican Sen. Dean Heller tweeted, "Thoughts and prayers are with the families who lost a loved one in the Hawthorne Army Depot explosion. Grateful for their service."

"I am deeply saddened to hear of the incident at the Hawthorne Army Depot this morning," Republican Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said in a statement. "The men and women who work and train there put service ahead of self each and every day. Kathleen and I wish to extend our deepest sympathies to those killed and their families. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have been injured and we pray for their speedy recovery."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/03/19/explosion-during-training-at-hawthorne-army-depot/#ixzz2O0liSGnf

Al Qaeda, Hamas Bid on Guns and Bombs in Secret Desert Auctions

foxnews

Terrorists with links to Al Qaeda and Hamas drive in for the clandestine arms auctions. (Reuters)

By Paul Alster 

The weapons that helped Libyan rebels oust dictator Muammar Qaddafi are turning up for sale at clandestine auctions in Egypt’s lawless Sinai Desert, where shadowy buyers purchase firearms for Al Qaeda and Hamas operatives, sources told FoxNews.com.

The illicit sales take place in the barren Sinai peninsula, where Moses is believed to have wandered with the children of Israel for 40 years. Auctions announced through the grapevine bring caravans of foreigners, all with huge sums of money at their disposal and all with the same mission, Israel Defense Force sources told FoxNews.com.

The vast and rugged desert area inhabited by an estimated 250,000 Bedouins has borders with Egypt, Gaza and Israel, as well as a long coastline on the Red Sea. While the location makes it easy for buyers to come from various regions, it also combines with the impromptu nature of the auctions to make them almost impossible to stop.

“There are more and more contacts between Al Qaeda and the small groups in Sinai,” a senior source in the Israel Defense Force told the Washington-based Investigative Project on Terrorism.

“There are more and more contacts between Al Qaeda and the small groups in Sinai.”

- Senior source in the Israel Defense Force

The hosts of these auctions aren’t just doing it for the money, the source said. Al Qaeda-linked jihadists are becoming more and more influential in the region, and playing a large role in who shows up for the auctions and who leaves with the bombs, anti-tank missiles, rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons that are peddled there.

“If at the beginning we saw these tribes supporting terror cells for the sake of money, now we see it becoming more an ideological support, and we see more and more cases that these groups of Al Qaeda-influenced extreme jihadists are becoming more powerful than the tribes," the source said.

With Libya rendered an unstable tribal nation rife with internal power struggles between secular moderates and radical Islamists in the wake of Qaddafi’s ouster, accountability for weapons in the north African country is impossible. The U.S., which denies directly supplying arms to the Libyan rebels, is concerned about weapons being sold in the region.

“The potential for proliferation and smuggling of unsecured small arms and weapons in the region is a concern to the U.S. government and the international community,” a U.S. State Department official told FoxNews.com.

The New York Times reported in December 2012 that the Obama administration secretly gave its blessing to arms shipments to Libyan rebels from Qatar, only to express alarm when evidence mounted that Qatar was turning some of the weapons over to Islamic militants.

Qatar, strong supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, may well have been playing both sides of the game, as the U.S official strongly hinted to The New York Times. The weapons being auctioned in the Sinai desert almost certainly include many sent by Qatar to Libya, a disturbing consequence that had been flagged early by some American officials.

The weapons don’t always travel too far before they are deployed. A violent ambush by Islamist rebels from Sinai on an Israeli bus and a civilian car near Eilat, in August 2011, killed eight Israelis and got the attention of IDF officials. The bombs, anti-tank missiles and automatic weapons used in the attack were more sophisticated than typically seen, and the fleeing terrorists fired an RPG at an Israeli helicopter pursuing them.

The State Department official who spoke to FoxNews.com said the U.S. is working with Libya to contain weapons, and with Egypt to stop their spread once they make it to the desert.

“The Libyan government has assured us that security is its No. 1 priority,” the official said. “We remain concerned about the security situation in the Sinai, and continue to engage with the Egyptian government about this issue. We believe the Egyptian government recognizes potential threats from the Sinai as well. Securing the Sinai is vital to peace in the region.”

Under President Mohamed Morsi, Egypt has started to take action against the radical jihadists, including Hamas, which ironically is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood that propelled Morsi into office. Stopping the spread of the weapons originating from Libya is no diplomatic issue – it is in Egypt’s own interest.

Last August, 16 Egyptian border police were surprised in the night and killed by terrorists attacking from Sinai who went on to breach the Israeli border before six of the attackers were killed by Israeli forces. The fact that Egyptian forces were targeted demonstrated that for hard-core Al Qaeda-inspired Islamists, even the Muslim Brotherhood is not radical enough and is viewed as the enemy.

Egypt has been increasingly intercepting weapons in the Sinai over the last month, including the interdiction of two tons of weapons bound for the Gaza Strip two weeks ago. Egyptian forces have also flooded as many as 200 smuggling tunnels into the Hamas-governed strip, making weapons deliveries significantly harder.

Morsi’s efforts have Israeli security services mildly encouraged, although Egypt alone may not be able to neutralize the proliferation of Qatari-supplied weapons that originally reached Libya with tacit U.S. approval. And the threat of those weapons being turned on U.S. and other Western citizens in the Middle East and potentially around the globe remains.

Paul Alster is an Israel-based journalist who blogs at www.paulalster.com

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/02/26/arms-that-freed-libya-turning-up-at-desert-auctions-and-in-hands-terrorist/#ixzz2M1o5pcBu

Dorner died of self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, authorities say

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'Smart guns' use technology to identify owner

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Iran gives stealth drone secrets to Russia

WND/ By Reza Kahlili

Russia has helped decode an American stealth drone that was captured by Iran 14 months ago in exchange for its secrets, a source has told WND.

Last week, Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards air and space division, announced the decoding of the drone, while Islamic regime media aired aerial footage below from the drone showing some of its operational capabilities.

“Some (Guards officers) believed that America would send its commando unit to destroy (the drone) while others were of the opinion that the U.S. would not risk having its forces get caught by us, creating a bigger problem for themselves, and that they might just do an air raid to destroy it,” Hajizadeh said. “We gave it a 10 to 15 percent chance on the air raid, and because of that we ordered an alert at all our missile bases to be ready to launch against all U.S. bases (in the region) if they did take any action.”

When the drone was captured, President Obama said, “We’ve asked for it back. We’ll see how the Iranians respond.”

According to Hamidreza Zakeri, a former intelligence officer of the regime who has defected to Europe, Iran and Russia had long been working on trapping a U.S. drone.

A Russian military team from its air and space division had secretly entered Iran days after a strategic agreement between the two countries in 2007 and was stationed at Revolutionary Guard bases to help the Guards with its weapons program and access to modern U.S. technology.

Get the inside story in Reza Kahlili’s “A Time To Betray” and learn how the Islamic regime “bought the bomb” in “Atomic Iran.”

After studying the stealth drone’s travel routes and its surveillance of Iran’s skies, the Russians successfully hacked into the system of one of the RQ170s and forced it to land in Iran Dec. 4, 2011.

With this collaboration, all the information of the stealth drone is now in the hands of the Russians, and much has been given to Iran’s Defense Ministry. Russia in turn provided Iran with the information on its anti-air defense system S300. Russia, because of international sanctions against Iran, could not deliver the actual S300 system.

Other information passed to Iran included technology on the American fighters F35 and X36, which eventually resulted in the Defense Ministry publicly unveiling its new jet fighter, the Qaher 313, with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boasting of the advanced features of this super stealth fighter.

However, according to the source, the fighter shown by Iranian media was merely a shell model and not operational and that the regime has only tested the smaller size. The project originally was scheduled to be completed in 2016, but due to the sanctions and economic problems, the regime has had problems following through with the timetable.

Russian-Iranian collaboration goes back many years. After the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s and the formation of the new republics, oil reserves in the Caspian Sea became an issue among the neighboring countries, resulting in disputes with Iran, which claimed half of the reserves.

Russia worried about the impact of the increased importance of this new market and the possible decrease in value of its Siberian oil fields, where over 40 percent of its income is based on its export of gas and oil. Vladimir Putin made a special trip to Iran in 2007 over the issue.

Because the Caspian-Caucasus region could play a significant role in the world economy and world policy, Putin in his meeting with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was able to significantly expand Russia’s collaboration with the Islamic regime. He also got an agreement on the division of Caspian oil reserves and a bigger Russian role in transporting the oil out of that area.

The 10-year agreement called for the expansion of commerce between the two countries of up to $200 billion and military and secret projects totaling $350 billion.

It was the first time a Kremlin chief visited Iran since Josef Stalin’s trip in 1943.

Russian collaboration extends to the regime’s missile, nuclear and even bio-weapons programs. Sources in the Islamic regime previously have revealed exclusively to WND the existence of secret bio-weapons site in Iran, where, with the help of Russia, Iran has mastered production of eight microbial agents, arming its missiles with biological warheads, and a nuclear site at which, with Russian help, laser technology is enriching uranium.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/02/iran-gives-stealth-drone-secrets-to-russia/#UyJLOG7EKGeIEv1m.99

Pentagon, State and CIA backed plan to arm Syrian rebels

security

By CNN's Adam Levine

The top two officials at the Department of Defense said Thursday they supported a proposal made at one point by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and CIA Director David Petraeus to arm Syrian rebels, something the Obama administration has so far resisted.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey said in testimony to a Senate committee that they backed a proposal last summer to provide weapons to the Syrian opposition fighters. U.S. officials tell CNN’s Elise Labott that the White House knocked down the proposal.
Appearing at a hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the two defense officials were asked by Arizona Senator John McCain, the leading Republican proponent of a more aggressive backing of Syrian rebels, if they supported the idea of arming the opposition.
“We do,” answered Panetta.
“We did,” answered Dempsey.
Panetta and Dempsey did not get a chance to explain the response as Senator McCain moved on to another topic.
The administration has resisted arming the rebels citing concerns about the infiltration of extremists groups who would possibly use those weapons against other targets. For now the administration has provided millions in humanitarian aid. The CIA has also sent agents to vet the opposition group to try to better understand its composition.
But last December, the U.S. designated a key Syrian rebel group, the al-Nusra Front, as a terrorist entity. U.S. officials argued it was a necessary step that will not weaken the ability of other rebels to combat the Syrian military.
President Barack Obama spoke of the hesitation of getting more involved in Syria in an interview last month with CBS News.
“Syria is a classic example of where our involvement, we want to make sure that not only does it enhance U.S. security, but also that it is doing right by the people of Syria and neighbors like Israel that are going to be profoundly affected by it. And – and so it’s true sometimes that we don’t just shoot from the hip.”
Senator McCain used the answer by Panetta and Dempsey to urge the president to consider the plan, saying in a statement released to the press ““the time to act is long overdue, but it is not too late.”
“The crisis in Syria represents a graphic failure of American leadership. I urge the President to heed the advice of his former and current national security leaders and immediately take the necessary steps, along with our friends and allies, that could hasten the end of the conflict in Syria,” McCain said in the statement.

Iran's New Qaher 313 Stealth Fighter Would Be Perfect For Attacking The US Navy

businessinsider 
Robert Johnson and David Cenciotti, The Aviationist 

Iran yesterday revealed its most recent indigenous fighter jet — the “Qaher 313″. The prototype Q-313 was presented to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as a ceremonial gift during the country's Ten-Day Dawn celebration. The festivities commemorate the 1979 revolution when the U.S. embassy in Tehran taken by force. 

In the previous days, the Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi had said, “The aircraft will be different from the other fighter jets Iran has already made.”

Indeed, based on the first photographs released by the FARS News Agency, the new stealthy jet has a peculiar design. It features hard edges and those distinctive edges and angle of the U.S. F-22 and the twin tail shape much similar to that of the F-35 Lightning II.

The Q-313 has large, seemingly fixed canards, and little wings whose external section is canted downward, while the canopy material is at least odd (based on its transparency, it looks like Plexiglas or something like that).

The cockpit seems basic (a bit too much for a modern plane – note the lack of wiring behind the front panel).

The air intakes are extremely small whereas the engine section lacks any kind of nozzle — above all — the aircraft is way too small. Click here for more pictures at the Aviationist >

Putting aside the Qaher's implausible aerodynamics and Hollywood sheen, last week's announcement of a coming new domestic fighter was not insignificant given the Iranian air force has no more than a few dozen strike aircraft.

Most of those it inherited from the prior regime during the 1979 revolution. That regime change, involving a huge U.S. hostage situation, made it far more difficult to maintain the country's then-new fleet of American F-14s.

Tehran has a domestically built fighter already. At least a handful have been sighted during air shows and displays, but this new model is a drastic change in design and ability.

Of course, Iran is famous for building models and systems it never intends to fly, but if this is an actual prototype it may be designed to fill a uniquely Iranian requirement.

Wikimedia Commons

Air dominance against the nearly 200 aircraft of the U.S. Fifth Fleet out of Bahrain isn't a realistic goal for Tehran. What it would look to do in any open engagement with the U.S. would be to overwhelm American surface ships with small, high-speed boats, and missiles of its own. 

Those boats would immediately be set upon by a fleet of U.S. helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. Most naval experts are quick to point out that a fight between a helo' and a boat generally isn't much of a fight at all. Un-distracted helicopters have immense advantages, but once they start taking fire or need to react to other airborne attacks, that changes.

Perhaps Iran isn't imagining a fleet of stealthy fighter/bombers, based on some design similar to this new display, but a few dozen single seat craft with an array of missiles, a couple guns, and the ability to fly low and slow over the Gulf.

A string of planes to compliment the one military project they've been working hardest over the last decade, but rarely ever mention. That plane would be a handy addition to cover the Bradstone based speed boat, they believe can take on the Fifth Fleet and bring down the U.S. Navy.

While Iran does have a few HESA Shahed light attack/recon helicopters, they're

Lorne Campbell Design Bradstone Challenger

 modestly armed and have a limited range of a couple hundred miles.

Iran's other domestically produced jet, the Saeqeh fighter is designed to engage other fighters in mid-air combat also not a practical choice against the might of the U.S. Fleet.

A Qaher variation against the Bradstone would fill a niche, but is obviously pure speculation. But speculating has some value when examining Iran's military projects because like most countries, the weapons Tehran speaks of the least seem to mean the most. 

This couldn't be more true than in the case of the ill-gotten Bradstone and Iran's blossoming missile inventory that's about as extensive and diverse as it is deadly and proven.

We'll be sure to follow with any additional Qaher updates.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/irans-new-indigenous-fighter-qaher-313-david-cenciotti-2013-2#ixzz2JxJ8N2xM

Anderson Cooper Confronted at CNN on Sandy Hook: ‘You Were in Front of a Green Screen and You Are a Liar’

theinnoplex

By Shepard Ambellas
theintelhub.com
February 3, 2013

After it was reported by two credible alternative news websites such as theintelhub.com and infowars.com Anderson cooper was caught staging an interview at a Sandy Hook funeral by way of green screen technology.

Now in a turning point Anderson Cooper was confronted by a US Citizen in response to the green screen reports.

Please watch the following video:

Shooting Death Of Navy Seal To Be Blamed On All Vets!

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'American Sniper' author Chris Kyle fatally shot

 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Chris Kyle, 38, a former Navy SEAL sniper and author, was shot and killed at a Texas gun range Saturday, along with another man, Chad Littlefield, and police have arrested a suspect, Eddie Routh, 25. Mark Schnyder of KXAS reports and TODAY's Lester Holt takes a look back at an interview with Kyle from last year.

By Gil Aegerter and Alastair Jamieson, NBC News

A former Navy SEAL who wrote "American Sniper," a best-selling book about his lethal career as a marksman in Iraq, was shot to death with another man at a gun range near Stephenville, Texas, on Saturday. 

Chris Kyle, 38, and the other man were found dead at the shooting range of Rough Creek Lodge on Saturday afternoon, Texas Highway Patrol spokesman Lonny Haschel told KXAS.

The gunman, identified as Eddie Ray Routh of Lancaster, Texas, was arrested after a brief pursuit, Trooper Haschel said. The other victim was named as Chad Littlefield, aged 35.

Kyle, a Texas native who grew up hunting, served four tours in Iraq with Navy SEAL Team 3. His shooting during battles in Ramadi and Fallujah became legendary, and insurgents nicknamed him the "Devil of Ramadi" and put a bounty on his head.

He was credited with 160 confirmed kills, including one in 2008 in which he said he fired from 2,100 yards away -- 1.2 miles.

The Star-Telegram described him as "America's deadliest sniper."

Haschel said Routh is believed to have shot the victims at around 3:30 p.m. local time (4:30 p.m. ET) before leaving the shooting range and returning to his home in Lancaster in a Ford pickup truck.

The link between Routh and the two victims wasn't immediately clear, Haschel said. The Dallas Morning News reported that Routh was 25 years old and had military training.

Routh was arraigned Saturday night on two counts of capital murder, said Haschel.

Rough Creek Lodge is a resort and conference center about 90 miles southwest of Dallas and 24 miles southeast of Stephenville in the Texas Hill Country. Lancaster is just south of Dallas.

NBCDFW.com

Chris Kyle was credited with 160 kills during his time as a Navy SEAL marksman.

In a February 2012 interview with NBC News, Kyle said he didn’t want to put the number of kills in the book but the publisher insisted.

“If I could figure out the number of people I saved, that’s something I would brag about,” he told NBC News' Lester Holt. 

After leaving the Navy, Kyle founded Craft International, which provides training to military, police, corporate and civilian clients, Reuters said.

"It just comes as a shock and it's staggering to think that after all Chris has been through, that this is how he meets his end, because there are so many ways he could have been killed" in Iraq, Scott McEwen, who co-wrote "American Sniper," told Reuters.

Kyle appeared on the NBC reality TV show "Stars Earn Stripes" last year.

Kyle was married with two children.

White House releases photo of Obama shooting shotgun

politicalticker

(CNN) - One could say this photo shoots down any remaining skepticism.

The White House on Saturday released a photo of President Barack Obama shooting skeet last August, backing up a claim he made in a recent interview that some Republicans questioned.

"Up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time," Obama said, answering a question about whether he had fired a gun before. He said that his daughters had not participated but that he has "a profound respect for the traditions of hunting that trace back in this country for generations. And I think those who dismiss that out of hand make a big mistake."
The caption accompanying the official White House photo says it was taken at Camp David - the Maryland presidential retreat - on August 4, 2012, his 51st birthday.
Obama's answer drew skeptical reviews from Republicans, including Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, who spoke Monday on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront."
"If he is a skeet shooter, why have we not heard of this? Why have we not seen photos? Why hasn't he referenced this at any point in time?" Blackburn said.
Then she issued something of a challenge to the president: "I think he should invite me to Camp David, and I'll go skeet shooting with him, and I bet I'll beat him."
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told CNN's Jessica Yellin at Monday's briefing for reporters that Obama goes "to Camp David with some regularity, but I'm not sure how often he's done that" sport, which involves shooting clay discs with a shotgun.
He was also asked whether there were any photos, and if one could be provided to reporters.
"There may be, but I haven't seen it," he said.
Carney added, "When he goes to Camp David, he goes to spend time with his family and friends and relax, not to produce photographs.”
Carney said on Wednesday that he had no reaction to Blackburn's comments.
Reporters are not typically permitted to cover Obama's personal activities at the secluded retreat.
The release comes as Obama is advancing a slate of measures he says will prevent gun violence, including reinstituting an assault weapons ban, limiting the size of gun magazines, and requiring background checks on all gun sales. He also signed a series of executive actions relating to gun violence.
While the assault weapons ban has its proponents on Capitol Hill, some members of Congress are skeptical it will pass, considering Republican opposition and wary Democrats who represent conservative districts and states.
Vice President Joe Biden led Obama's gun violence task force convened after the December 14 shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.
He acknowledged to reporters after a Thursday meeting with Democrats on Capitol Hill that "Nothing we are going to do is fundamentally going to alter or eliminate the possibility of another mass shooting or guarantee that we will bring gun deaths down." Obama had made similar comments earlier in the month.
The president will take his gun-related platform on the road to Minnesota on Monday.
National Rifle Association spokesman Andrew Arulanandam reacted to the photo, telling CNN, "One picture does not erase a lifetime of supporting every gun ban and every gun control scheme imaginable."
– CNN's Gregory Wallace, Shirley Henry, Ashley Killough and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report

Iran Smuggling Weapons to Allies

foxnews

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is accussing Iran's paramilitary force of an intensified campaign to destabilize the Middle East by smuggling antiaircraft weapons to its militant allies.
Iran's export of so-called manpads -- antiaircraft missiles that can be carried by a single person -- represent what Panetta called a dangerous escalation.
"There is no question when you start passing manpads around, that becomes a threat—not just to military aircraft but to civilian aircraft," Panetta told The Wall Street Journal in an interview describing shifting threats to the U.S. as he prepares to leave his post. "That is an escalation."
Western officials have long worried about the spread of such weapons and the risk they pose to airline passengers as well as to military helicopters and jets.
Recent U.S. intelligence pointed to new efforts by Iran to smuggle manpads, but few shipments had been intercepted before Jan. 23, when Yemen, aided by the U.S., intercepted a boat carrying the weapons.
"It is one of the first times we have seen it," Panetta said.
U.S. investigators said evidence indicated the missiles were supplied by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Tehran's paramilitary force.
Iranian officials didn't respond to requests for comment about distributing weapons to regional allies.
Mr. Panetta said the U.S. is stepping up efforts to counter the Iranian threat, and is leading a multination exercise in the United Arab Emirates though Feb. 7 to improve the interdiction of Iranian arms and other weapons. The defense secretary called the exercise critical to building up Arab capabilities to help halt Iranian arms transfers, including the smuggling of manpads.
The disclosures by Mr. Panetta came as he prepares to step down after 19 months as defense secretary, a period marked by an intensified focus on Iran as concerns mount about its nuclear ambitions, an expanded campaign of drone strikes against militants in several countries, and the emergence of a new Al Qaeda haven in Africa.
Click here to read more from The Wall Street Journal:

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/02/panetta-iranian-threat-spreads/#ixzz2JmMyIgRt

North Korea warns US of retaliation

foxnews

Jan. 30, 2013: South Korea's rocket lifts off from its launch pad at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Korea. (AP)

SEOUL, South Korea –  North Korea is threatening to retaliate for what it calls U.S. double standards over recent rocket launches by Pyongyang and U.S. ally Seoul.

A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman did not elaborate on what that might entail in his comments Saturday to the official Korean Central News Agency. But Pyongyang has recently threatened to conduct its third nuclear test in response to what it calls U.S. hostility.

Washington says Seoul's rocket launch Wednesday had no military intent while Pyongyang's in December was a test of banned ballistic missile technology.

The U.N. Security Council has imposed new sanctions on Pyongyang for its launch. Pyongyang says it should be allowed to launch satellites for peaceful purposes.

Both Koreas say their satellites are working properly. U.S. experts say Pyongyang's satellite is apparently malfunctioning.

Pyongyang's state television made no mention of the South Korean launch Wednesday, but about an hour after liftoff it showed archive footage of North Koreans cheering the North's three-stage rocket from last month. Images from the launch frequently appear in North Korean propaganda.

The satellite launched by Seoul is designed to analyze weather data, measure radiation in space, gauge distances on earth and test how effectively South Korean-made devices installed on the satellite operate in space. South Korean officials said it will help them develop more sophisticated satellites in the future.

South Korea did need outside help to launch the satellite: The rocket's first stage was designed and built by Russian experts. North Korea built its rocket almost entirely on its own, South Korean military experts said earlier this month after analyzing debris retrieved from the Yellow Sea in December.

Kim Seung-jo, South Korea's chief space official, told reporters that his country should be able to independently produce a rocket capable of putting a satellite into orbit by as early as 2018.

Spending on science and technology is expected to increase under South Korea's incoming President Park Geun-hye, who takes office next month. She pledged during her campaign to increase such spending to 5 percent of South Korea's GDP by the end of her five-year term.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/02/02/north-korea-threatens-us-over-rocket-launches/?test=latestnews#ixzz2Jlg6iIuD