looks like the A-29 is manufactured in Florida as a joint venture between Embraer and Sierra Nevada. http://aviationweek.com/defense/first-super-tucano-accepted-us-air-force
That makes a little more sense...I hope. But Fifty million dollars a pop for a small single engine turbo-prop? I know it's government work, but that's insane. What's the odds the US ever gets paid for these things?
If they don't pay can take it out of the free money they give Nigeria every year, over $1.5B over the last 4 years. Don't see that gravy train stopping though.
Back in the 80's that was called Voodoo Economics; this is just the new version (see: wall, Mexico, pay.)
My my, there certainly is a lot of talk going on, isn't there? http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/11/politics/white-house-russia-syria-chemical-weapons/index.html What a wonderful distraction. Ron
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...-adviser-carter-page-report-article-1.3044954 That damned Carter Page....
No, but that was done over 25 years ago. More recently, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala and Indonesia have purchased these aircraft at an average cost of about ten million dollars a pop. Why is the US paying five times the going rate? And why do some people find a need to defend such waste?
The US unaware, Russia and Iran carve out bigger role in Afghanistan U.S. soldiers take position during an operation against Islamic State militants in Khot district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, April 11. (Ghulamullah Habibi/EPA) By Erin Cunningham April 12 at 8:21 PM KABUL — Iran and Russia have stepped up challenges to U.S. power in Afghanistan, American and Afghan officials say, seizing on the uncertainty of future U.S. policy to expand ties with the Taliban and weaken the country’s Western-backed government. The moves come as tensions have flared between the United States, Iran and Russia over the conflict in Syria, and officials worry that the fallout could hurt Afghanistan’s chances for peace. For years, Iran and Russia have pushed for a U.S. withdrawal. Now, as the Taliban gains ground and the White House appears to lack a clear Afghan policy, Iran and Russia have boosted support for insurgents and sidelined the United States from regional diplomacy on the war. Russia on Friday will host high-level talks on Afghanistan with Iranian, Pakistani and Chinese diplomats, the Kremlin said. But the United States, irked by Moscow’s recent outreach to the Taliban, has not confirmed whether it will attend. Russia has “begun to publicly legitimize the Taliban,” and recent Russian and Iranian actions in Afghanistan “are to undermine the United States and NATO,” the top commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Army Gen. John Nicholson Jr., said in Senate testimony in February. Pentagon identifies U.S. Special Forces soldier killed fighting the Islamic State in Afghanistan] The United States has roughly 8,400 troops in Afghanistan, most of whom are part of the NATO mission to assist Afghan forces. The remainder are part of a counterterrorism operation to target al-Qaeda and a local affiliate of the Islamic State. Nicholson said Iran and Russia “are communicating about the efforts” to support Taliban insurgents, and that Russia has “become more assertive over the past year.” “We know there is a dialogue. We know there is a relationship between Iran and Russia” in Afghanistan, he said. And Iran, which shares a long, porous border with Afghanistan, “is directly supporting the Taliban” in the western part of the country, he said. While Russia and Shiite Iran appear to be unlikely allies of a hard-line Sunni group such as the Taliban, the two countries have for years played the different sides of the conflict. Both supported the U.S.-backed ouster of the Taliban in 2001, and Iran was the chief benefactor of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. But Iran and Russia eventually soured on the U.S. presence, which they both gradually saw as a threat. “Iran is worried that with American troops in Afghanistan, the two militaries will end up confronting each other,” said Mohammad Akram Arefi, an Iranian-educated professor of politics at Kateb University in Kabul. “Iran also wants to revive its power in the region by having influence over Afghanistan. And with America here, they can’t have the type of influence they want,” he said. Russia, which also sees Afghanistan as part of its sphere of influence in Central Asia, has suggested that the Taliban is an effective bulwark against the rise of the Islamic State. A local branch of the Islamic State has staged deadly attacks but has struggled to gain a foothold beyond its base in eastern Afghanistan. [Afghanistan wooed a fugitive warlord, aiming to lure the Taliban, too. Now the deal is stuck.] In a swipe at the legitimacy of the Afghan government, Russia has questioned security forces’ abilities to target the group. Still, Iran and Russia have both denied providing the Taliban with weapons or cash. In an emailed statement this week, the Russian Embassy in Kabul said that the claims were “absurd fabrications” designed to distract from the failure of the U.S. and NATO missions here. There is “a continuing series of groundless accusations against Russia about alleged support of the Taliban,” the embassy said. A Taliban spokesman also called the allegations untrue. “Our contacts with Russia are for political and diplomatic purposes only,” spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a phone interview. He did not say whether Taliban representatives would attend the Moscow talks. But U.S. and Afghan officials say that the relationship between Russia, Iran and the Taliban goes beyond just diplomacy, and that conflict with the United States elsewhere could prompt Iran and Russia to raise the stakes here. Afghan lawmakers have launched a probe into the alleged connections, including possible Iranian-Russian coordination to get weapons to insurgents in restive provinces in the south and the west. Gul Ahmad Azami is an Afghan senator from Farah province, along the Iranian border. He says he was briefed on reports showing weapons that had been transported into Farah from Iran, in part to ensure the allegiance of local commanders. Officials in Kabul, Helmand, Uruzgan and Herat all made similar claims. In Helmand province in the south, provincial governor Hayatullah Hayat listed the type of weaponry he says local insurgents receive from Russia with Iran’s help. The list includes land mines, sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and 82mm mortar rounds. “There is no doubt” the two countries are helping the Taliban, said Hayat, who said he, too, was briefed by intelligence officials. He claimed that Iranian advisers have been present on the battlefield, also citing intelligence reports and tribal elders in districts where there is fighting. The police chief in Uruzgan province, Ghulam Farooq Sangari, also told the Voice of America’s Afghan service that Russian advisers were assisting insurgents there, too. [Afghan government disappoints many, but some cling to hope] Neither of those claims could be verified, and U.S. military officials have not said whether Iranian and Russian personnel have been on the ground. But the assertions indicate the extent to which the debate over Russian and Iranian influence has dominated Afghanistan in recent weeks. “We are worried that Afghanistan will become another Syria, with world powers confronting each other here,” said Azami, the senator from Farah. While President Trump has taken a harsh stance on Iran, he has said little about what he envisions for the U.S. role in Afghanistan. In just the past several days, U.S.-Russian relations plummeted after a U.S. missile strike last week on a Syrian military air base. The U.S. administration says the air base was used to launch aircraft that allegedly carried out an April 4 chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians in Syria’s Idlib province. The state of U.S., Russian and Iranian relations will determine Afghanistan’s stability, officials here say. “First, people are concerned now about how Americans view Afghanistan, and whether or not they will change their minds about supporting us,” said Mohammad Nateqi, an adviser at the office of Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah. “The relationship between Afghanistan, the United States, and NATO has been very strong,” said Nateqi, who spent decades in Iran. “But if there are bad relations between Iran, the United States and Russia, it will be very dangerous for us.” Sayed Salahuddin and Walid Sharif contributed to this report. https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...c768bc-1eb8-11e7-bb59-a74ccaf1d02f_story.html
Officials: U.S. prepared to strike if N. Korea reaches for nuclear trigger The U.S. is prepared to launch a preemptive strike with conventional weapons against North Korea should officials become convinced that North Korea is about to follow through with a nuclear weapons test, multiple senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News. North Korea has warned that a "big event" is near, and U.S. officials say signs point to a nuclear test that could come as early as this weekend. Watch Cynthia McFadden Live Tonight on NBC Nightly News at 6:30pm The intelligence officials told NBC News that the U.S. has positioned two destroyers capable of shooting Tomahawk cruise missiles in the region, one just 300 miles from the North Korean nuclear test site. American heavy bombers are also positioned in Guam to attack North Korea should it be necessary, and earlier this week, the Pentagon announced that the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group was being diverted to the area. Related: Trump's Options for North Korea Include Placing Nukes in South Korea The U.S. strike could include missiles and bombs, cyber and special operations on the ground. The danger of such an attack by the U.S. is that it could provoke the volatile and unpredictable North Korean regime to launch its own blistering attack on its southern neighbor. "The leadership in North Korea has shown absolutely no sign or interest in diplomacy or dialogue with any of the countries involved in this issue," Victor Cha, the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies told NBC News Thursday. On Wednesday, North Korea said it would "hit the U.S. first" with a nuclear weapon should there be any signs of U.S. strikes. On Thursday, North Korea warned of a "merciless retaliatory strike" should the U.S. take any action. "By relentlessly bringing in a number of strategic nuclear assets to the Korean peninsula, the U.S. is gravely threatening the peace and safety and driving the situation to the brink of a nuclear war," said North Korea's statement. North Korea is not believed to have a deliverable long-range nuclear weapon, according to U.S. experts, nor does it yet possess an intercontinental missile. South Korea's top diplomat said today that the U.S. would consult with Seoul before taking any serious measures. "U.S. officials, mindful of such concerns here, repeatedly reaffirmed that (the U.S.) will closely discuss with South Korea its North Korea-related measures," foreign minister Yun Byung told a special parliamentary meeting. "In fact, the U.S. is working to reassure us that it will not, just in case that we might hold such concerns." U.S. Officials Are Aware of the Risk "Two things are coming together this weekend," said retired Adm. James Stavridis, former commander of NATO and an NBC analyst. "One is the distinct possibility of a sixth North Korean nuclear weapons detonation and the other is an American carrier strike group, a great deal of firepower headed right at the Korean Peninsula." The U.S. is aware that simply preparing an attack, even if it will only be launched if there is an "imminent" North Korean action, increases the danger of provoking a large conflict, multiple sources told NBC News. "It's high stakes," a senior intelligence official directly involved in the planning told NBC News. "We are trying to communicate our level of concern and the existence of many military options to dissuade the North first." "It's a feat that we've never achieved before but there is a new sense of resolve here," the official said, referring to the White House. The threat of a preemptive strike comes on the same day the U.S. announced the use of its MOAB — or Mother of All Bombs — in Afghanistan, attacking underground facilities, and on the heels of U.S. missile strikes on a Syrian airbase last week, a strike that took place while President Trump was meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago. North Korean soldiers turn and look towards leader Kim Jong Un as they carry packs marked with the nuclear symbol as they parade during a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the Korean War armistice in Pyongyang, North Korea on July 27, 2013. Wong Maye-E / AP, file Multiple government officials familiar with the situation say President Trump has talked to Chinese president Xi twice about North Korea since their Florida summit. China has since sent its top nuclear negotiators to Pyongyang to communicate the gravity of the situation to the North, officials say. On Wednesday, President Xi called for a peaceful resolution to the escalating tensions. Moscow has weighed in as well: "We are gravely concerned about Washington's plans regarding North Korea, considering hints about the unilateral use of a military scenario" the Putin government said in a press release issued on Tuesday. South Korea Must Sign Off Implementation of the preemptive U.S. plans, according to multiple U.S. officials, depends centrally on consent of the South Korean government. The sources stress that Seoul has got to be persuaded that action is worth the risk, as there is universal concern that any military move might provoke a North Korean attack, even a conventional attack across the DMZ. Tensions have escalated on the Korean Peninsula, as this Saturday marks the anniversary of the birth of the nation's founder — Kim il-Sung, grandfather of the current leader, Kim Jong-un. At the highest levels in South Korea and the U.S., sources told NBC News, there are fears North Korea could mark the "Day of the Sun" by testing a nuclear device. read more here http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u-s-may-launch-strike-if-north-korea-reaches-nuclear-n746366
and in other news.... http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/13/politics/trump-russia-british-intelligence/index.html
If the world ends in nuclear war at least we can be happy knowing we were safe from Hillary's 33,000 emails.
I used to worry about things like North Korea testing out nukes but we have such a smart, sane man calling the shots now that I'm sure we'll all be okay
Considering who has the launch codes, I'm beginning to think those Doomsday Preppers might have a point...
