Estados Unidos bloquea la entrega de bomba antibunquer a Israel/Obama blocks delivery of bunker-busters to Israel

Estados Unidos ha desviado un cargamento de bombas antibúnquer para Israel, hacia una base en Diego Garcia, en el Oceano Indico. El cargamento de 387 bombas inteligentes había sido preparado para pre-posicionarlo en Israel, como parte del equipo militar que Estados Unidos mantiene en bases de la Fuerza Aérea Israelí. En 2008, Estados Unidos aprobó la solicitud israelí de este arma capaz de destruir instalaciones subterráneas, incluyendo instalaciones nucleares iraníes. Desde la entrada de la administración Obama, Estados Unidos ha sido reacio a aprobar grandes requerimientos de armas a Israel, lo que incluye la compra de Helicópteros AH-64D y nuevos F-15E.
Según fuentes del Congreso, esta política va a continuar en 2010, y es un embargo de armas encubierto. El ejército norteamericano tenía previsto pre-posicionar 195 BLU-110 y 192 BLU-117 en lugares no especificados de Israel. Estados Unidos utiliza estas base para su posible uso, o por parte de Israel, en conflictos en la zona.
La decisión del bloque de entrega parece ser que tiene que ver con la decisión israelí de construcción de nuevas colonias en Jerusalem. .
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The United States has diverted a shipment of bunker-busters designated for Israel. The U.S. military was ordered to divert a shipment of smart bunker-buster bombs from Israel to a military base in Diego Garcia. They said the shipment of 387 smart munitions had been slated to join pre-positioned U.S. military equipment in Israel Air Force bases.
In 2008, the United States approved an Israeli request for bunker-busters capable of destroying underground facilities, including Iranian nuclear weapons sites. Officials said delivery of the weapons was held up by the administration of President Barack Obama. Since taking office, Obama has refused to approve any major Israeli requests for U.S. weapons platforms or advanced systems. Officials said this included proposed Israeli procurement of AH-64D Apache attack helicopters, refueling systems, advanced munitions and data on a stealth variant of the F-15E.
"All signs indicate that this will continue in 2010," a congressional source familiar with the Israeli military requests said. "This is really an embargo, but nobody talks about it publicly."
Under the plan, the U.S. military was to have stored 195 BLU-110 and 192 BLU-117 munitions in unspecified air force bases in Israel. The U.S. military uses four Israeli bases for the storage of about $400 million worth of pre-positioned equipment meant for use by either Washington or Jerusalem in any regional war.
In January 2010, the administration agreed to an Israeli request to double the amount of U.S. military stockpiles to $800 million. Officials said the bunker-busters as well as Patriot missile interceptors were included in the agreement.
The decision to divert the BLU munitions was taken amid the crisis between Israel and the United States over planned construction of Jewish homes in Jerusalem. The administration, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has warned that Washington could reduce military aid to Israel because of its construction policy.
In 2007, after its war in Lebanon, Israel requested 2,000 BLU-109 live bombs from the United States. The 2,000-pound bomb, produced by Boeing and coupled with a laser guidance kit, was designed to penetrate concrete bunkers and other underground hardened sites. Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, was quoted as saying that his country faced its biggest crisis with the United States since 1975. A pro-Israel lobbyist said Oren was referring to the current U.S. embargo, which echoed a decision taken 35 years ago by then-President Gerald Ford after Israel's refusal to withdraw from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Oren has since denied the remark.

EL U-2 ESPIA, SIGUE OPERATIVO A PESAR DE SU LONGEVIDAD/U-2 spy planes, saved from scrap heap, find key role

El avión espía U-2, está viviendo una segunda juventud. Hace cuatro años el Pentágono iba a comenzar su retirada, pero fue bloqueada por el Congreso, al considerarlo todavía útil, debido a sus modernizaciones y al poder de sus sensores, lo que ha motivado que sea empleado frecuentemente en Afganistán. Ha pasado de buscar emplazamientos de misiles nucleares, para lo que fue diseñado, a detectar bombas en caminos, para combatir a los talibanes, así como a realizar misiones sobre Corea del Norte.
Actualmente, los pilotos de U-2 están en contacto directo con las tropas desplegadas en Afganistán, donde exploran los caminos por donde transitan las tropas y les proporcionan información cuando están bajo el fuego enemigo.
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The U-2 spy plane, the high-flying aircraft that was often at the heart of Cold War suspense, is enjoying an encore. Four years ago, the Pentagon was ready to start retiring it. But Congress blocked that move, saying the plane was still useful. And so it is. Because of updates and changes in the use of its powerful sensors, it has become the most sought-after spy craft in a very different war in Afghanistan. As it shifts from hunting for nuclear missiles to detecting roadside bombs, it is outshining even the unmanned drones in gathering a rich array of intelligence used to fight the Taliban.
All this is a remarkable change from the U-2's early days as a player in U.S.-Soviet espionage. Designed to find Soviet missiles, it became famous in 1960 when Francis Gary Powers was shot down in one while flying across the Soviet Union and again in 1962 when another U-2 took the photographs that set off the Cuban missile crisis.
Newer versions of the plane have gathered intelligence in every war since then and still monitor countries like North Korea.
Now the U-2 and its pilots, once isolated in their spacesuits at 70,000 feet, are in direct radio contact with the troops in Afghanistan. And instead of following a rote path, they are now shifted frequently in midflight to scout roads for convoys and aid soldiers in firefights.

ESTADOS UNIDOS OFRECE RADAR ASTOR A INDIA/US offers ASTOR airborne radar to India

Estados Unidos ha ofrecido su radar de mas alta tecnología a la India, el radar de vigilancia aérea ASTOR, cuyas capacidades han sido descritas como inigualables por oficiales norteamericanos. El sistema ya está siendo utilizado en Afganistán por el Ejército Británico y la RAF, cinco de ellos en aviones Bombardier Global Express. El ASTOR puede detectar las mas pequeñas variaciones de movimiento en una zona, y obtiene conclusiones sobre la actividad. El sistema consiste de un radar a bordo de un jet Bombardier Global Express 'Sentinel'. Oficiales hindúes tuvieron contacto con el avión en el Paris Air Show en Junio de 2009.
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US offers latest airborne radar to India
After a range of top fighter aircraft and other weapon systems, the US has now offered another sophisticated system to India, the Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR), whose capability has been described as "unmatched" by a former US navy official.
According to Admiral Walter F Doran, president Asia for Raytheon, Indian officials had already been briefed on "this latest radar, for highly effective 24-hour surveillance and target acquisition capability".The system is being operated now by the British Army and Royal Air Force (RAF) in Afghanistan with five ASTOR aircraft and eight ground stations. ASTOR can even detect minor variations in surface levels, like digging and filling of earth at the same place, and draw conclusions about activity. The system consists of an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar on board the Bombardier Global Express 'Sentinel' business jet. Indian officials first visited the aircraft displayed at the Paris Air Show in June 2009 and have followed up with discussions.

ISRAEL DESEA INSTALAR SUS PROPIOS SISTEMAS EN EL F-35 /ISRAEL F-35 DEMANDS

Según el Jerusalem Post, el ministerio de defensa Israelí, ha comunicado a Estados Unidos que solamente comprará el F-35 Lightning II si al menos el 50% de los sistemas de aviónica son de fabricación israelí.
Una de las máximas de Israel es la capacidad de instalar sus propios sistemas tecnológicos en sus fuerzas armadas, pero Estados Unidos ha rechazado el acceso al software del avión, al igual que ha hecho con otras naciones.Por otra parte, según Bloomberg.com, el F-35 solo ha realizado el 10% de los vuelos de prueba previstos en 2009, por los retrasos que lleva el programa.
El programa contempla 5.000 vuelos. El número de aviones a comprar en el periodo 2011-2015 se ha reducido en 122 unidades y mas de 2,8 billones de USD, serán destinados a desarrollo en lugar de a la compra. La fase de desarrollo se va a alargar 1 año, hasta Octubre de 2015. La planta de Lockheed Martin en Bethesda, Maryland, planea construir 2.456 F-35 para la USAF, US Navy y los Marines a un coste estimado de 298 billones USD.


The Jerusalem Post reports that the Israeli Defence Ministry has told the US it will only buy the F-35 Lightning II if at least 50% of its avionics systems are replaced with Israeli-made technology.
Of prime concern is Israel’s ability to install its own electronic-warfare and radar systems, but so far the US has refused to agree to access to the aircraft’s software code, just as it has similarly blocked other partner nations’ requests.
The report says that Israel thinks it will have a “qualitative edge” over other F-35s if it can install its own systems.
On the other hand, according Bloomberg.com, F-35 jet flew only about 10 percent of its planned test flights last year because of delays in delivering aircraft.
Sixteen of 168 planned flights were completed in fiscal 2009, the second year of flight testing, according Pentagon. The program calls for 5,000 sorties to prove the aircraft’s flying capabilities, electronics and software.
The testing backlog is one reason Defense Secretary Robert Gates has delayed the program, cutting planned purchases of the plane by 122 in fiscal years 2011 through 2015. More than $2.8 billion that was budgeted to buy the military’s next-generation fighter would instead be used to continue its development, according to a 2011 budget document.
The development phase must now be extended by at least one year, to October 2015.
The program entered fiscal 2009 at “significant risk” of not meeting its goals, and that risk will increase through 2012 because flight testing hasn’t kept pace “ due to the failure to deliver test aircraft,” Gilmore wrote in the report.
Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed plans to build 2,456 of the fighters in three variants for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. The current estimated cost is $298 billion.