Tuesday, March 11, 2014

DTN News - AIRLINES NEWS: Malaysia Airlines MH370 Plane 'CHANGED COURSE'

DTN News - AIRLINES NEWS: Malaysia Airlines MH370 Plane 'CHANGED COURSE'
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources CBC News
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 11, 2014The Malaysian military has radar data showing the missing Boeing 777 jetliner changed course and made it to the Malacca Strait, hundreds of kilometres from the last position recorded by civilian authorities, according to a senior military official.

The development injects more mystery into the investigation of the disappearance of Saturday's flight, and raises questions about why the aircraft was not transmitting signals detectable by civilian radar.

Local newspaper Berita Harian quoted Malaysian air force chief Gen. Rodzali Daud as saying radar at a military base had detected the airliner at 2:40 a.m. local time near Pulau Perak at the northern approach to the strait, a busy waterway that separates the western coast of Malaysia and Indonesia's Sumatra island.

A high-ranking military official involved in the investigation confirmed the report and also said the plane was believed to be flying low. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

Authorities had earlier said the plane, which took off at 12:20 a.m. and was headed to Beijing, may have attempted to turn back to Kuala Lumpur, but they expressed surprise that it would do so without informing ground control.

The search for the plane was initially focused on waters between the eastern coast of Malaysia and Vietnam, the position where aviation authorities last tracked it. No trace of the plane, which was carrying 239 people, has been found by the 40 planes and ships from at least 10 nations searching the area.

Earlier Tuesday, Malaysia Airlines said in a statement that search and rescue teams had expanded their scope to the Malacca Strait. An earlier statement said the western coast of Malaysia was "now the focus," but the airline subsequently said that phrase was an oversight. It didn't elaborate. Civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said the search remained "on both sides" of the country.

Also Tuesday, authorities said two people who boarded the flight using stolen passports were Iranians who had purchased tickets to Europe. Their appearance on the flight had raised speculation of a possible terrorist link.

Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said investigators had determined one was a 19-year-old Iranian, Pouria Nourmohammadi Mehrdad, and that it seemed likely he was planning to migrate to Germany.

"We believe he is not likely to be a member of any terrorist group," Khalid said.

Switched passports

Interpol identified the second man as Seyed Mohammed Reza Delavar, a 29-year-old Iranian, and released an image of the two boarding a plane at the same time. Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said the two men travelled to Malaysia on their Iranian passports, then apparently switched to their stolen Austrian and Italian documents.

He said speculation of terrorism appeared to be dying down "as the belief becomes more certain that these two individuals were probably not terrorists." He appealed to the public for more information about the two.

Malaysia Airlines, meanwhile, said it is investigating an Australian television report that the co-pilot on the missing plane had invited two women into the cockpit during a flight two years ago.

Jonti Roos described the encounter on Australia's A Current Affair. The airline said it wouldn't comment until its investigation is complete.

Roos said she and her friend were allowed to stay in the cockpit during the entire one-hour flight on Dec. 14, 2011, from Phuket, Thailand, to Kuala Lumpur. She said the arrangement did not seem unusual to the plane's crew.

"Throughout the entire flight, they were talking to us and they were actually smoking throughout the flight," Roos said.

Roos didn't immediately reply to a message sent to her via Facebook.

The missing plane took off from Kuala Lumpur, on the western coast of Malaysia, early Saturday en route to Beijing.

It flew across Malaysia into the Gulf of Thailand at 11,000 metres and then disappeared from radar screens.

Vast search area

The hunt began on Saturday near the plane's last known location. But with no debris found there, the search has been systematically expanded to include areas the plane could have reached with the fuel it had on board. That is a vast area in which to locate something as small as a piece of an aircraft.

China, where two-thirds of the passengers are from, urged Malaysian authorities on Tuesday to "speed up the efforts" to find the plane. It has sent four ships, with another four on the way.

A shopping mall in Beijing suspended advertising on its large outdoor LED screen to display a search timer — an image of an airplane along with a digital clock marking the time since contact with the flight was lost.

Assuming the plane crashed into the ocean or disintegrated in midair, there will likely still be debris floating in the ocean, but it may be widely spread out and much may have already sunk. In past disasters, it has taken days or longer to find wreckage.

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources CBC News
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News: U.S. Department of Defense Contracts Dated March 11, 2014

DTN News: U.S. Department of Defense Contracts Dated March 11, 2014
Source: K. V. Seth - DTN News + U.S. DoD issued No. CR-045-14 March 11, 2014
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 11, 2014: U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) Contracts issued March 11, 2014 are undermentioned;

CONTRACTS
 
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
 
Draeger Medical Inc., Telford, Pa., has been awarded a maximum $140,000,000 modification (P00067) exercising the third option period on a five-year base contract (SPM200-07-D-8003) with five one-year option periods for anesthesia machines, monitors, ventilators and related accessories.  This is a fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract.  Location of performance is Pennsylvania with a March 11, 2015 performance completion date.  Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, federal civilian agencies, and Department of Veterans Affairs.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa.
 
Genesis Vision, doing business as Rochester Optical*, Rochester, N.Y., has been awarded a maximum $50,000,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for optical frames.  This is a three-year base contract with two one-year option periods.  Location of performance is New York with a March 10, 2015 performance completion date.  Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and federal civilian agencies.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa., (SPM2DE-14-D-7559).
 
NAVY
 
Computer Systems Center Inc.*, Springfield, Va., is being awarded a $12,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the development and fielding of command, control, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting systems for Deployable Tactical Operations Center Components.  Work will be performed in Springfield, Va., and is expected to be completed in March 2018.  Fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation, Navy funds in the amount of $1,200,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.302-1.  The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, Calif., is the contracting activity (N68936-14-D-0013).
 
Mikel, Inc.*, Fall River, Mass., is being awarded a $6,689,497 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-11-C-6295) to exercise options for engineering and technical services for combat systems of the future.  Work will be performed in Middletown, R.I. (77 percent), Fall River, Mass. (10 percent), Manassas, Va. (10 percent); Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (2 percent) and North Kingstown, R.I. (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by September 2014.  Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance, Navy funding in the amount of $365,000 will be obligated at time of award and contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  This contract was not competitively procured, as award is being made under the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(5)-Authorized or Required by Statue 15 U.S.C. 638 (r)-Aid to Small Business.  The Naval Sea System Command, Washington D.C., is the contracting activity.
 
AIR FORCE
 
The Boeing Co., Defense, Space and Security, Kent, Wash., has been awarded a $10,814,354 modification (001) on an existing indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (F19628-01-D-0016) for trade studies and analysis for the Japan AWACS mission computing upgrade DMS 3.X requirements planning and hardware procurement to procure end of life hardware.  This contract action is implemented as a modification to delivery order #0097 under the AWACS modernization and sustainment support basic contract.  Work will be performed at Kent, Wash., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2014.  This is an unclassified foreign military sales contract for Japan.  Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/HBSK, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., is the contracting activity.   
 
*Small Business



*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth + U.S. DoD issued No. CR-045-14 March 11, 2014 
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

DTN News - UKRAINE CRISIS: US Deploys Fighter Jets In Poland And Lithuania Amid Ukrainian Turmoil

DTN News - UKRAINE CRISIS: US Deploys Fighter Jets In Poland And Lithuania Amid Ukrainian Turmoil
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources RT
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 11, 2014The US is sending a dozen F-16 fighter jets and nearly 300 service personnel to Poland by Thursday as part of a training exercise in response to the crisis in neighboring Ukraine, the Polish defense ministry confirmed.

The agreement to deploy US military forces in Poland was made between US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, and Poland’s Minister of National Defense Tomasz Siemoniak during a telephone conversation on Sunday, March 9, 2014, according to a statement on the official website of the Polish Ministry of National Defense.

"The squadron will number twelve F-16 planes and will transport 300 soldiers," Polish Defense Ministry spokesman, Jacek Sonta, confirmed to AFP.

Initially, the training exercise was planned to be smaller but was increased and pushed forward because of the “tense political situation” in neighboring Ukraine, added Sonta.

The ministry also said that the aim of sending the units is to “strengthen Polish - American cooperation.” Part of the preparation team of US Air Force has already arrived on Polish territory.

The fighters were sent on the initiative of the Polish government, an initiative immediately accepted by Washington.

On Monday, NATO also gave the go-ahead to Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) for reconnaissance flights over Poland and Romania in order help monitor the crisis in Ukraine.

Poland is a western neighbor of crisis-torn Ukraine - between the countries’ capitals, Warsaw and Kiev, there is less than 700 km.

Earlier, the Polish media reported that US fighter jets would be stationed at the Lask air force base in central Poland.

Washington is also sending four F-15 planes to Lithuania in response to “Russian aggression in Ukraine and increased military activity in Kaliningrad,” according to the Lithuanian Defense Ministry.

On Saturday, US Navy destroyer, the USS Truxtun, crossed Turkey's Bosphorus and entered the Black Sea. The ship, with around 300 crew, was heading to “previously planned” training exercises with the Bulgarian and Romanian navies. When the vessel appeared in the Black Sea, Fox News declared that NATO’s bolstering presence in the Black Sea is a “defensive” measure to counter “Russian military aggression” in Ukraine.

USS Truxton, one of the largest destroyers ever built for the US navy, will reportedly stay in the Black Sea till mid-March as the Montreux Convention allows a warship of any non-Black Sea country to stay in the region for 21 day only.

The situation in Ukraine is close to financial and humanitarian catastrophe after the armed coup which took place in February. There are mass protests in eastern and southern parts of the country against the self-proclaimed authorities in Kiev.

The Autonomous Republic of Crimea has scheduled a referendum for March 16 on whether it wants to remain part of Ukraine, or join Russia.

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources RT
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

DTN News - UKRAINE CRISIS: NATO To Fly AWACS Planes Over Poland, Romania To Monitor Ukraine Crisis

DTN News - UKRAINE CRISIS: NATO To Fly AWACS Planes Over Poland, Romania To Monitor Ukraine Crisis
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Reuters
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 11, 2014NATO will start reconnaissance flights over Poland and Romania to monitor the situation in neighboring Ukraine where Russian forces have taken control of Crimea, the alliance said on Monday.

Ukraine is not a NATO member but Russia's intervention in Crimea has alarmed neighboring countries, including alliance members that used to be dominated by the Soviet Union.

Acting on a recommendation from the alliance's top military commander, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, NATO ambassadors gave the go-ahead to the AWACS flights, a NATO spokesman said.

AWACS (airborne early warning and control) planes will fly from their home airbases in Geilenkirchen, Germany, and Waddington in Britain, the spokesman said.

"These flights will enhance the alliance's situational awareness and all will take place solely over alliance territory," he said.

The flights will start soon and go on for as long as required, he added.

The Western military alliance announced a review of its cooperation with Moscow last week after Russian forces tightened their grip on Crimea, home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet, following weeks of upheaval in Ukraine which culminated in the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovich.

NATO allies met last Tuesday after Poland invoked a rule allowing any ally to consult with the others if it feels its security is under threat.

Soon after that meeting, U.S. officials said the Pentagon would more than double the number of U.S. fighter jets on a NATO air patrol mission in the Baltics and do more training with Poland's air force in an attempt to reassure allies.

The E-3 Sentry is an airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft that provides all-weather surveillance, command, control and communications needed by commanders of U.S. and NATO air defense forces. As proven in Desert Storm, it is the premier air battle command and control aircraft in the world today.

(Reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Reuters
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS