Author: Michael

USN

The U.S. Navy has released the first pictures showing major components of a Chinese government surveillance balloon being recovered from the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina. A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighter shot down the balloon on Saturday after a more than week-long voyage through U.S. and Canadian national airspace. The War Zone‘s readers can bring themselves up to speed about what is known about the balloon and its flight in our prior reporting here.
The photographs in question, which were posted on the U.S.

Chinese Spy Balloon

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It’s a story that reads more like the latest Bond movie than a current headline, but it is true that a 2,000-pound, 200-foot-tall Chinese high-altitude spy balloon drifted across much of the continental U.S. before being shot down by a single Sidewinder missile fired from an Air Force F-22 a full 6 days after first being detected in U.S. airspace.

The Norwegian Government has procured 54 Leopard 2A7 main battle tanks (MBTs) – with the option to purchase 18 more units – from Krauss-Maffei Wegmann for over $1.8bn(NOK19.7bn).
Announced on 3 February, the first MBTs are expected to be delivered in 2026 and will replace the 42 Leopard 2A4 units acquired two decades ago.
The Leopard 2 has become the standard MBT for European defence. According to GlobalData Germany has 640 active units, Denmark has 44, and Finland has 100 2A4 and 100 2A6 units.

With the current Congress sworn in and back to business, one of the main priorities for the top member of the Senate Armed Services Committee is helping the U.S. military adapt to technological developments.
“First is reimagining how we fight. We are in a tremendously dynamic situation where technology is changing rapidly, techniques are changing rapidly, operational issues, we are truly multi-dimensional,” Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., told the Defense Writers Group Tuesday regarding issues he’d like the SASC to focus on this year.

The Department of Defense’s electronic health records system MHS Genesis has been implemented at 11 additional military health clinics.
The system, which uses Oracle Cerner Corp.’s Millennium platform, has been deployed to military treatment facilities in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Virginia, according to defense contractor Leidos.
Defense contracting giant Leidos announced Monday that it had delivered the system to 12,000 clinicians as part of the latest deployment.

FILE PHOTO: A line of cars waits to enter Andrews Air Force Base, Md. (Alex Brandon/Associated Press).

An unidentified man is in custody after breaching security at Joint Base Andrews Maryland, on Monday, said Maj. Lauren Hill, a spokeswoman for the base.
Andrews is where the president’s plane, Air Force One, is based. It is also the base that the defense secretary and other top government officials use for official travel.
“The intruder was immediately apprehended and taken into custody,” Hill told Task & Purpose on Tuesday.

After a year of record inflation, 2023 is starting off with good news for service members and Department of Defense civilians as the biggest pay raise in 20 years hits their bank accounts with a record 4.6% boost in annual salaries.
As extra money arrives this month, the question now is how can you make these additional funds go as far as possible in the new year. With any pay raise, there’s always the temptation to spend the difference on a fun “splurge.” But it’s worth taking into account that there are some easy ways you can actually make your pay increase go further.

The weapons that America’s generals have been receiving are incredibly rare and unique reflecting their users’ status in the military.
The post These are the pistols that America’s generals carry appeared first on Sandboxx.

The Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) has signed a contract for the global production of new generation sol-air moyenne portée/terrestre (SAMP/T) systems.
The contract was signed by OCCAR Executive Administration director Matteo Bisceglia and Eurosam managing director Eva Bruxmeier, on behalf of the Direction générale de l’armement (DGA) and SEGREDIFESA.
It secures the delivery of the new generation of medium-range air defence systems for the Italian Army and the French Air Force.

In his 2002 State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush lumped in Iraq, Iran and North Korea together as an “Axis of Evil.” At the time, many criticized the speech, wondering what North Korea had to do with Iran or Iraq – but at least one person was listening, apparently. 
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was visiting South Korean special operations forces in the United Arab Emirates on January 16, 2023.