UFO deployed to Afghanistan?
March 20th, 2012 | Afghanistan Aviation Camp Leatherneck | Posted by Gina Harkins
This photo shows what witnesses claim were seven lights hovering steadily above Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan in February 2010. Some suspect it was a UFO. (MUTUAL UFO NETWORK WITNESS DATABASE)
Forget “The X-Files.” This is “The Afghanistan-Files.”
A recently filed report on a UFO tracking website discusses an alleged sighting at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand province.
The report, submitted Feb. 26 by an unknown individual, describes an event on or about Feb. 7, 2010, when seven equally spaced lights were spotted in the sky. Through the duration of the sighting, none of the lights appeared to move or change. The report states that the lights were at a high altitude and didn’t blink, move or make any noise.
The witness was sitting in his office at the Marine logistics group compound when a Marine issued an alert about the lights. They stayed in the sky so long that people just started leaving.
“I hate to say it, but after maybe 45 minutes we just went back inside to work,” the witness wrote in his report to the Mutual UFO Network, a nonprofit that reviews reports of sightings and hosts a UFO database on its website.
A second Marine confirmed with Marine Corps Times that he saw the same lights at Camp Leatherneck in May or June of 2011.
Robert Hastings, a UFO expert and author of “Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites,” said there is a history of UFO sightings in war zones dating back to World War II, when both sides reported seeing secret enemy weapons. Sightings were also reported during Vietnam and the Persian Gulf War.
After reading the report and viewing the photos, Hastings said he believes what hovered above Camp Leatherneck was a bona fide UFO.
Jason McClellan, editor of Open Minds Magazine, a publication about UFOs, said military flares or Chinese lanterns can produce this effect in the night sky. But the length of time the lights stayed put, plus the witness report, make both of these unlikely, he said.
Hastings agreed.
For a more skeptical view, Marine Corps Times turned to military analyst Loren Thompson, chief operating officer at the Lexington Institute, a public policy think tank.
After reading the report, Thompson scoffed at the idea aliens would choose Afghanistan, of all places, to visit.
“It can’t be aliens, because they usually go to places that have leaders,” he said.
Marines with HMH-464 return to North Carolina from Afghanistan deployment
February 9th, 2012 | Aviation Battle Rattle Marjah Sangin | Posted by James Sanborn
Members of Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 464 are slated to return to Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., on Monday after a seven month deployment to Afghsnitan.
While downrange, “The Condors” provided assault support for 16 Marine and 5 coalition units moving a total of 35,000 passengers and 6.5 million pounds of cargo, according to Lt. Col. Alison J. Thompson, the unit’s commanding officer.
Check out this video produced by combat cameramen to hear Thompson speak about the unit’s experience downrange.
VMM-365 Marines replace 162 operating Ospreys in Afghanistan
January 24th, 2012 | Afghanistan Aviation | Posted by James Sanborn
Members of 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, pile into an MV-22B Osprey Jan. 17, at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. The flight was VMM-162's last on a six-month deployment.
Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 365 — The Blue Knights — deployed to Afghanistan earlier this month to replace VMM-162 which conducted its last mission there Jan. 17.
The Blue Knights out of Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., departed Jan. 6 and will take over resupply and transportation missions in Helmand province for 162 which spent six months at Camp Bastion. The Marines of 365 spent their final days at home preparing their Ospreys for an aircraft swap with the pilots of 162. Due to cost, units don’t take their own aircraft when they deploy. Instead they use Ospreys already in Afghanistan and give their own to the retuning squadron.
Smithsonian kicks off Marine aviation centennial exhibit
January 10th, 2012 | Aviation History and heritage | Posted by Dan Lamothe
The Smithsonian launched a year-long celebration of the Marine Corps’ aviation centennial Jan. 11 with an exhibit entitled “Fly Marines!”
The exhibit, created in conjunction with the National Museum of the Marine Corps, will draw on the Corps’ coffers of more than 5,500 works by 350 artists. The works were generated by the Marine Corps Arts Program, founded in 1942 to document the lives of Marines in combat and at home.
The exhibit will run through Jan. 6, 2013.
Afghanistan winter doesn’t cool fight for Marines in the air
January 4th, 2012 | Afghanistan Aviation Kajaki | Posted by James Sanborn
Marine air in Afghanistan has continued to see high operational tempo this year even during the normally peaceful winter months, said the Marine in charge of all air assets in NATO’s Regional Command Southwest.
Taliban fighters usually take the winter off by shelving their arms until Spring or seeking refuge in Pakistan. But Marines have taken the fight to them this winter, forcing their way up through northern Helmand province to Kajaki during months that in years past have been relatively quite, said Maj. Gen. Glenn M. Walters, commanding general of 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward), in a U.S. Central Command news release. That has kept the aircraft that resupply and provide fire support for infantry busy.
By continuing to attack, they seek to keep the Taliban off balance and on the run, he said in a recent interview from Camp Leatherneck. The mission is likely to change however. With preparations under way to transfer authority of the air battle space to 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in early Spring, Walters said he anticipates a shift away from counter insurgency toward security force assistance. That likely means letting the Afghan National Army take a bigger lead on the ground.
Watch a video of the entire Q and A here:
Drug raids in Afghanistan choke off funding for Taliban
November 3rd, 2011 | Afghanistan Aviation Infantry | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Marines with 1st Battalion, 23rd Marines, unload thousands of pounds of illegal drugs from a vehicle during interdiction operations in southwestern Afghanistan on May 9. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Robert Carrasco/Marine Corps)
A new Pentagon report highlights a notable trend: Expanded military operations and counternarcotics raids in southern Afghanistan have helped to decrease the cultivation of drugs used to fund the insurgency there.
The decrease was the most striking in areas where coalition forces have a strong presence, particularly in Helmand province, said the “Report on Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan.” Nearly 20,000 Marines are deployed there as part of a 30,000-troop coalition force commanded by Maj. Gen. John Toolan, head of II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) and Regional Command-Southwest.
A version of the report is released every six months, outlining the changing face of the war. The latest one, dated October 2011, said the growth of opium-yielding poppy has declined in Helmand three years in a row. I wrote about the previous report here.
The Pentagon attributed the drop in drug production in part to counternarcotics operations spearheaded by coalition troops, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the National Interdiction Unit, a U.S.-funded counter-narcotics law enforcement unit that includes Afghan personnel. It falls under the Afghan National Police’s counternarcotics forces.
Together, the organizations plan and conduct raids, especially in Helmand and Kandahar provinces, where the cultivation of poppy is common. Three major raids were conducted in Helmand this fall, resulting in the destruction of several major drug-producing hubs, the report said.
In the first, DEA, NIU and coalition forces destroyed a laboratory in an unidentified area of Helmand on Sept. 17, seizing 6,120.4 pounds of morphine base, 4,293.8 gallons of morphine solution, 8.8 pounds of heroin, 2,299 pounds of sodium carbonate, 2,699.4 pounds of ammonium chloride and drug processing equipment. The NIU arrested nine people.
The second operation in Helmand occurred Sept. 26. Three more laboratories were destroyed, and coalition forces seized 13,057 pounds of morphine base, 2,855.7 gallons of morphine solution, 220 pounds of heroin, 7,216 pounds of sodium carbonate, 25 gallons of acetic anhydride, 6,270 pounds of ammonium chloride and processing equipment. The seizure was one of the largest ever made by combined forces in Afghanistan, the Pentagon report said.
The third Helmand operation occurred Sept. 28. DEA, NIU and ISAF forces reportedly seized 1,424.2 gallons of morphine solution, 6,072 pounds of sodium carbonate, 4,752 pounds of ammonium chloride and three heroin presses.
The 470-member NIU was established by the DEA as a specialized tactical element of Afghanistan’s narcotics police. The DEA trained 48 additional NIU members at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., this summer, the report said.
In a recent interview, Toolan told Marine Corps Times that coalition forces under his command also have stopped smuggling with helicopter-borne raids by special operators.
“With some of our special operations forces that are with us, we have conducted aerial interdiction using our helicopters and using our surveillance capabilities, both British and American,” he said. “When we identify movement across the desert, we can respond pretty quickly.”
This Marine Corps news release highlights some of the helicopter interdiction.
“Each [major] hit has been somewhere between 1,000 and 3,000 pounds,” said Capt. Orion Jones, a CH-53D pilot with Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463, in the release. “We pulled about 80 kilograms of refined heroin [on one stop]. That was a huge find.”
Soundtrack for the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter
October 5th, 2011 | Aviation Pop culture | Posted by Tony Lombardo
The F-35B has started sea trials. You can read more about that here. Rather than settle for natural sound, a couple of new videos have pumped up the excitement by adding a musical score.
The Navy, on its official YouTube channel, used Drowning Pool’s “Bodies.” An intense song, no doubt, what with its constant refrain of “Let the bodies hit the floor!” and all. Navy tweeted the video with the warning “BAD GUYS BEWARE.”
The F-35 Joint Program Office used this video. While much more tame, the score seems inspired by Michael Bay’s films.
What do you guys think? Does this increase your interest in the new jet?
Floating over Marine Week with a helmet camera
June 24th, 2011 | Aviation Marine Week | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Marine Week wraps up in St. Louis on Sunday, so it seemed like a good time to play catch-up on what’s going on in the Gateway City.
In this video, filmed near the famous Gateway Arch, Marines demonstrate a special patrol insertion/extraction. They take off with a CH-46 helicopter from a helipad on the Mississippi River, providng a pretty sweet aerial view of the city from Cpl. A.J. Lugo’s helmet camera:
In another highlight, Cpl. Justin McLoud threw the opening pitch before the Cardinals game Wednesday night.
Other events this weekend include martial arts demonstrations, military working dog exhibitions and a simulated amphibious assault at the Arch. A closing ceremony will be held Sunday at 10:30 a.m., with a performance by the Silent Drill Platoon afterward at city’s War Memorial.
In case you’ve been following along, another controversy has erupted during the event, too.
In addition to Lt. Col. Shane Tomko offending politically correct sensibilities with his tank wisecrack during the Cardinals-Phillies game on Tuesday, the St. Louis mayor’s chief of staff, Jeff Rainford, has apologized after suggesting that three Marines who were robbed at knifepoint in the city were drunk at the time.
Marines recovered downed French jet in Afghanistan
June 1st, 2011 | Afghanistan Aviation | Posted by Dan Lamothe
French and Italian forces conducted an 81-mile combat logistics patrol with Marines on May 27 retrieve a downed French F-2000 Mirage jet in Bakwa district, Afghanistan.
Last week, a French F-2000 Mirage jet crashed in western Afghanistan. The pilots weren’t hurt, but it raised questions about how NATO forces would recover it.
The answer: Call in the Marines.
As this Marine Corps news account shows, troops with several units pitched in, including Combat Logistics Battalion 8, 2nd Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company and Marine Wing Support Squadron 272. The Army’s 129th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion provided equipment for the May 27 mission, teaming with a French aircraft recovery team and Italian team.
The jet crashed in Bakwa district, an area of Farah province that Marines patrolled regularly in 2009 and 2010. It now falls under Regional Command West, commanded by Italian forces, but with its close proximity to Marine bases in Helmand and Nimroz provinces, Marines in RC-Southwest were called in for the job.
Marine officials said the EOD team and an aircraft recovery firefighting team with MWSS-272 worked with the French team to dismantle the jet. The wings were loaded onto an Logistics Vehicle System Replacement heavy hauler, and the body onto an M870 trailer.
The news release said the Marines conducted an 81-mile convoy to get to the jet from RC-Southwest. It doesn’t say which base they left from, but based on geography, something in Delaram would make sense. Before the Corps turned Farah over to RC-West, Forward Operating Base Delaram served as a hub for operations in the province.
Marine Harriers to replace Hornet jets in Afghanistan
May 24th, 2011 | Afghanistan Aviation | Posted by Dan Lamothe
AV-8B Harriers with Marine Attack Squadron 513, of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., rest at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, following their May 20 arrival. (Photo by Pfc. Shaun Dennison)
The Marine Corps released an interesting update this morning: An AV-8B Harrier squadron out of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., will soon replace a Hornet squadron out of MCAS Beaufort, S.C. in Afghanistan.
Yuma’s Marine Attack Squadron 513 has arrived at Kandahar Airfield, and will replace Beaufort’s Fighter Attack Squadron 122 beginning today, according to this news release.
Like the Hornet squadron, VMA-513 will operation from KAF to provide close air support to Marine and Afghan forces in southwestern Afghanistan. They’re scrambled in for help when there are “troops in contact” with the enemy on the ground, typically known as a TIC.