“The guys that were working down out of Hurlburt, they’re combing through social media and they see some moron standing at this command. And in some social media, open forum, bragging about the command and control capabilities for Daesh, ISIL. And these guys go: ‘We got an in.’ So they do some work, long story short, about 22 hours later through that very building, three [Joint Direct Attack Munitions] take that entire building out.”
Although the U.S. Air Force did not release any further information about the location of the headquarters or the aircraft that carried out the attack, the story is quite interesting as it proves that not only are social media used by ISIS for propaganda and recruiting purposes, they are also used by U.S. intel team to identify ground targets, supplementing ISR (Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance) activities conducted with the “usual” platforms, like satellites, spyplanes and UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles).
U.S. and NATO soldiers are always made aware of the risk of using social media and, generally speaking, digital technologies which embed information that can be exploited by the adversaries in various ways. Still OPSEC (Operations Security) breaches occur.
In 2007 four Apache helicopters were lost in Iraq because of smartphone geotagging: insurgents were able to determine the exact location of the AH-64s and successfully attack them because some soldiers had taken pictures on the flightline and uploaded them (including geotagging data) to the Internet.
Popio neku vise.... Drunk Marine releases fire suppression system in Kadena hangar
Citat:Air Force officials are investigating how a drunk Marine was able to enter an aircraft hangar at Kadena Air Base and activate the fire-suppression system, releasing flame retardant foam in the vicinity of at least one aircraft.
The incident occurred at 1:45 a.m. May 23, according to officials from 18th Wing public affairs. The Marine was arrested.
Povlace iz upotrebe C-145A ( M-28 )
AFSOC retires two-thirds of C-145A fleet
Citat:The US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) is retiring two-thirds of its PZL Mielec C-145A light cargo fleet, just two years after it moved to its current home at Duke Field, Florida.
The twin-engined Pratt & Whitney PT6A-65B turboprop-powered C-145A has previously been used for AFSOC’s foreign internal defence – the training of foreign forces – but it is now to retire 11 of the type to Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona; the “boneyard” of US government aircraft.
Five of the M28 Skytruck-derived aircraft will remain in service with the 919th Special Operations Maintenance Group to support continued training and proficiency sorties, AFSOC says. The retirement comes two years after the type moved to Duke AFB after a stint being deployed from Cannon AFB, New Mexico, from 2011 to 2013.
Citat:“It seems our maintenance mission is ramping down due to fewer aircraft, but that isn't the case at all,” Maj Terrell Eikner, 919th Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Sqn (SOAMXS) commander, says. “The operations tempo remains the same. We just have fewer aircraft to meet those demands.”
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/afsoc-re.....et-414622/
Problemi za KC-46
Chemical mix-up during testing damages Boeing tanker
Citat:In a new setback just weeks before the planned first flight of a fully outfitted KC-46 Air Force tanker, the Boeing plane’s fueling system has been damaged by a chemical mix-up, temporarily grounding the jet.
The jet — the first test plane outfitted with working air-refueling systems and designated as a tanker — was at the fuel dock on Paine Field last week when mechanics used the wrong chemical during a test of the fuel system, according to people familiar with the details.
