SpaceX launched the first Falcon Heavy mission in over three years

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is back in business. It has now launched the first Falcon Heavy mission in over three years. This is a towering rocket and the most powerful one currently in operation. The rocket is carrying the classified USSF-44 mission for the U.S. Space Force. It is also the first operational national security mission for Falcon Heavy. The mission took off from a launchpad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Earlier, launch was the Space Test Program-2 (STP-2) mission in June 2019. At that time, it carried experimental satellites on a demonstration flight for the Pentagon. Falcon Heavy’s base is reusable. However, the company landed just the side pair of the three rocket boosters. Its central core dropped into the ocean as traditional rockets do. The purpose was to meet the Space Force’s high-performance requirement for this mission. The hiatus in Falcon Heavy launches is attributable to the readiness of customers on its schedule. Incidentally, the company has completed three since the rocket’s debut in February 2018. SpaceX launches Falcon Heavy, the world’s most powerful rocket, on Space Force mission.

This original schedule of USSF-44 mission was for late 2020. There was plan for two other Falcon Heavy missions for this year – one for the Space Force and the other for NASA. However, customer payloads are also not ready yet. In fact, there is a backlog of about a dozen missions for Falcon Heavy still to come. SpaceX continues to launch its Falcon series of rockets at a high rate. The latest mission was the company’s record 50th launch this year and the company continues to work on the even larger Starship rockets that could replace them.

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$200 million Shanghai Pentagonal Mart is practically deserted

The $200 million Shanghai Pentagonal Mart is a giant shopping mall in China and had been designed as a replica of the Pentagon but, it has been left virtually abandoned because the space is too expensive and too confusing. It was built in 2009 and is believed to be bigger than the Virginia headquarters of the U.S. Defense Department - it is a sprawling setup spread across over 70 acres.
This has been reported in foxnews.com dated 26 January 2016.

This mega mall is reportedly the largest vacant building in Shanghai and, in spite of the demand for retail space, has sky-high rent. When it had been opened, it was heralded for being a shopping mecca with the potential to attract hundreds of thousands of shoppers a day. The owners Shanghai Megamall had even indicated that they had signed thousands of tenants, including a number of Western brands.
Unfortunately, most of them have left and shopkeepers say its interior is like a labyrinth. Only a small portion of its stores have been leased out, mainly on the outer ring, but the interior is virtually abandoned.
Of course, hopes are not lost because Shanghai Disney Resort, which is located just 5 miles away from the Pentagonal Mart, is set to open in June and that is expected to bring increased traffic and improve business.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Planned airstrike by the US has eliminated a top leader of Khorasan Group

#Pentagon #BasharalAssad #KhorasanGroup #Syria The Pentagon has revealed that a planned airstrike by the United States has eliminated a senior al-Qaeda militant in north-western Syria. The person was Muhsin al-Fadhli and he was targeted two weeks ago while he was travelling in a vehicle near Sarmada.
He was killed on 8 July near Sarmada, only 7-Km from Syria's border with Turkey.
This has been reported in bbc.com dated 22 July 2015.

Fadhli has been described as the leader of a network of veteran al-Qaeda operatives. They are also known as ‘Khorasan Group’ and had allegedly planning to carry out external attacks against the US and its allies. Fadhli is believed to have been close to Osama Bin Laden and one of the few al-Qaeda members who had received advanced warning of the 11 September 2001 attacks.
It seems before the US began air strikes on Islamic State (IS) across Syria in September, they had targeted areas near the northern city of Aleppo – the targets were not IS positions, but buildings that were supposed to be used by the Khorasan Group. This group consisted of about 50 veteran militants from Afghanistan and Pakistan, North Africa and Chechnya.
These militants had been sent to Syria by al-Qaeda's leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Their mission was not to wage a war against the government of President Bashar al-Assad but embraced a whole of other activities like developing external attacks, constructing and testing improvised explosive devices and recruiting Westerners to carry out operations.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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US Army plans to cut 40,000 jobs by September 2017

#barackobama #Pentagon #ISIS The US Army now has a strength of around 490,000 and this is planned to be reduced to 450,000 by September 2017 – or, a cut of 40,000 soldiers from its ranks over the next two years. There are also plans to further reduce 17,000 civilian job cuts as part of the cost-saving initiative.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 8th July 2015.

Once implemented, it would make the US army the smallest it has been since just before it entered the Second World War.
These plans have raised concerns over the country's defense capabilities because it had been argued in budget documents in 2013 that going below 450,000 troops could mean the US could not win a war. Incidentally, at the peak of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US Army had some 570,000 soldiers.
Moreover, this revelation just when US President Barack Obama has said the US should step up its campaign against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, is a bit strange, especially when the President has indicated that a long battle lay head.
What he probably meant was the fight with the ISIS. He had said that it will not be quick and it would be a long-term campaign because it would take time to root them out. That should be the job of local forces on the ground with training and air support from the US coalition. It may be recalled that only last month the Pentagon had announced it was sending a further 450 US troops to act as advisors to Iraqi troops in their efforts to seize back the western city of Ramadi from the IS militants.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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United States to train Syrian rebels to fight the ISIS in Syria

#AshtonCarter #SyrianRebels #ISIS #Pentagon The United States has undertaken training program for selected batches of Syrian rebels with the intention of building a formidable force that would be able to take on and defeat the Islamic State militants. This has been revealed in bbc.com dated 8 May 2015.
The information as given by Ashton Carter, the US defense secretary, is that about 90 people were being trained in a secure location, and they would be paid by the United States. Other groups of fighters would also be given training at sites in Jordan, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

He has also indicated that supporting the troops militarily on the battlefield has not been ruled out. Nearly 4,000 fighters had volunteered for the program but, only 400 were selected after screening.
Ashton Carter has made it clear that the role of the force would be to take on the Islamic State and not the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. In case the rebels engaged the Syrian army, it would be viewed separately.
It seems the fighters will be paid by the United States, and, when deployed, will continue to receive back up and support from coalition forces – of course, there would be conditions. Right now there are about 450 coalition forces involved in the training at the four sites and 350 of them are Americans. The Pentagon has plans to train and arm 15,000 rebels over the next three years.

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A-10 Warthog proves its worth - sends ISIS fighters fleeing for cover

#A10Warthog #Pentagon #closeairsupport #ISIS #strela The A-10 Thunderbolt, nicknamed ‘Warthog’ has a roaring engine, 30-mm. cannon and its nose is painted like a toothsome, snarling beast. It is sending the ISIS fighters fleeing for cover. It seems the fighters are scattering like cockroaches on the Iraqi desert plains.
In fact, the Warthog has sparked panic in the ranks of ISIS after bombing its elements and flying in spaces close to the ground. A sortie took out several terrorists in ISIS-controlled territory near Mosul and even though the fighters tried to bring it down with 4 Strela missiles, the aircraft remained intact – it has covering shell made of titanium.
The result was that the ISIS fighters literally ran away leaving the bodies of their dead behind and carrying the wounded with them to escape.
In the opinion of some, the A-10 Thunderbird or Warthog is ideal to counter the ISIS – the plane is not as fast as fighter aircraft and also lacks the graceful lines of other fighter jets. But it requires extremely low maintenance, flies low, can practically hover over a battlefield, land almost anywhere. It also packs a 20-foot-long, 2.5-ton, seven-barrel Gatling gun that can fire more than 1,100 rounds of 30-mm. bullets. Moreover, the titanium shell that wraps around the bottom of its cockpit invincible - and difficult to shoot down. In short, ideal in the role of close air support.
Unfortunately, the Warthog is fighting for survival because the Pentagon believes it can save $4.2 billion in operation and maintenance costs over five years by retiring all 283 of the Air Force’s A-10s – the last of these aircraft had rolled off Fairchild Republic’s assembly line in 1984.
In view of its show of strength in its tackling of the ISIS fighters in Iraq, it is possible that the A-10 would get a new lease of life and be spared retirement in fiscal 2015.