Trailing the Knights

Screaming through the air at 400 knots or 740kmh, six red-and-white fighter jets curve gracefully over the showground, flying barely 3m apart. On cue, they break ranks, streaking out and up, painting a perfect bomb burst of smoke trails as their machines surge skyward.

“Smoke off… go!” commands the team leader. The billowing white abruptly ceases as they rendezvous for the next manoeuvre.

Vid: http://www.razor.tv/video/1304064/playerwi...video_m=1304064

These are the Black Knights – the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) aerobatics team.

First formed in 1973, the team pulls together some of the best fighter pilots in the service to perform at air shows, and this year in particular, at Singapore’s Jubilee weekend celebrations. Only flying instructors with at least 500 flying hours are eligible to make this year’s team, the 14th in the RSAF’s history.

Formed just six months ago, they train five days a week, practising over the Southern Islands.




While on the ground, the aircraft are taken care of by flight line crew such as Corporal Sean Lim (left), 20, and Third Sergeant Koh Tiang Lip (right), 22, who are checking the exterior of the F-16, while Military Expert 2 Claire He (centre), 32, polishes the inside of the jet's air intake.




Black Knight 6 Major Chang Haw Ning performs the Low & Slow, flying his F-16C so slowly (120 knots or 222kmh) that the leading edge flaps are fully extended to prevent the aircraft from stalling. During this manoeuvre, the nose of the aircraft pitches up so that the pilot can barely see out of the front of the cockpit


Demonstrating the agility of the front-line fighter aircraft, Black Knight 4 Major Derek Chan (left) flies his aircraft in a straight line while Black Knight 3 Major Kevin Lim makes a break to the left.


Black Knight 5 Major Eugene Lim and Black Knight 6 Major Chang Haw Ning, the Lead and Opposing Solos of the Republic of Singapore Air Force aerobatic team, execute a rolling manoeuvre close to each other.

Unlike many aerial display teams, such as the Royal Air Force Red Arrows and the Patrouille de France, the Black Knights are not a permanent or full-time show.

The eight aircraft (two spares), six pilots and 50 ground crew are drawn from combat-ready squadrons and can be returned to operational duties at a moment’s notice.

Because of this, the Black Knights fly unmodified front-line fighters, the F-16C Fighting Falcons, but painted in red-and-white livery featuring the crescent moon and five stars – symbols on Singapore’s flag.

To understand what these military aviators endure, I attended an aviation physiology training course (and passed the exam), experienced oxygen deprivation in a hypobaric chamber (solving maths questions took longer than usual), and attempted the Somatogyral Turntable – a rotating black box designed to make one lose all spatial perception when seated inside.

My biggest challenge, however, was riding the Human Training Centrifuge, a high-tech gondola whirled at speed to generate a continuous gravitational force.

For this, I wore a tight-fitting anti-G suit with air bladders that would automatically inflate during moments of high acceleration.

I also practised the anti-G straining manoeuvre – tensing all the muscles in my lower body and keeping my chest fully expanded while taking short breaths. Both of these would increase my overall blood pressure and maintain circulation to the brain, preventing the G-induced loss of consciousness that could lead to accidents.

I pulled on a control stick and was pressed into the seat as the gondola accelerated. In the background, I could hear an instructor calmly counting off the numbers. At 6.5Gs, I released the controls and was immediately overwhelmed by intense nausea as the machine decelerated.

In comparison, the Black Knights Lead and Opposing Solos endure up to 9Gs as they perform manoeuvres that will push the aircraft to their limits during the Jubilee weekend 25-minute display – one of the longest routines put up by the team.

After the final flypast come Aug 9, the aircraft will be returned to their grey paint scheme, and the crew will rejoin their operational squadrons. The Black Knights will once again disband, until the next big occasion.

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/trai...?xtor=EREC-16-2[ST_Newsletter_PM]-20160305-[Video+of+the+year%3A+Trailing+the+Knights]&xts=538291

The RSAF Black Knights fly in a modified Arrow Head formation (left) during a photo shoot over the South China Sea. The six-ship vertical stack (right) is a particularly difficult formation to maintain as the pilots have to continually adjust their positions relative to one another, with the amount of correction needed by each pilot increasing down the stack


Black Knight 5 Major Eugene Lim (right) and Black Knight 6 Major Chang Haw Ning, the team Lead Solo and Opposing Solo, demonstrate a Needle Cross manoeuvre.


Major Chang Haw Ning, call sign "Jerky", flies the Opposing Solo position in the Black Knights aerobatics team. The 35-year-old is a flying instructor with 145 Squadron, and has flown over 2,500 hours in his 14 years with the air force.






Captain Devdutt Sasidharan, 29, call sign "Gambit", flies the Right Wingman, or No. 2 position in the Black Knights. An F-16 fighter flying instructor with 145 Squadron, he has over 1,500 hours of flight time in his nine years with the air force.

This post has been edited by Fat & Fluffy: Mar 7 2016, 12:07 PM

North Korea threatens pre-emptive nuclear strike on South, US




North Korea threatened "indiscriminate" nuclear strikes against South Korea and the US mainland if the two allies push ahead with joint military drills scheduled to begin on Monday.

SEOUL: South Korea and the United States kicked off their largest-ever joint military drills on Monday, prompting fresh warnings from North Korea of "indiscriminate" nuclear strikes against Seoul and the US mainland.

The annual exercises always raise tensions on the divided Korean peninsula and the situation is particularly volatile this year, given the North's recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch and its fury over the tough UN sanctions imposed by the international community in response.

Participation in the joint drills -- known as Key Resolve and Foal Eagle -- has been bumped up this year to involve 300,000 South Korean and 15,000 US troops, as well as strategic US naval vessels and air force assets.

In a statement issued hours before the exercises began, North Korea's powerful National Defence Commission said it was prepared for an "all-out" military counter-offensive.

"As the joint military exercises to be staged by the enemies are regarded as the most undisguised nuclear war drills aimed to infringe upon the sovereignty of (North Korea), its military counteraction will be more preemptive and offensive nuclear strike to cope with them," the statement said.



WEAPONS ON 'STAND-BY'

The threat came just days after leader Kim Jong-Un ordered the country's nuclear arsenal to be placed on standby for use "at any moment," in response to the sanctions resolution adopted last week by the UN Security Council.

Pyongyang has issued similar, dire warnings of nuclear attack in the past, usually during periods of elevated military tensions.

While the North is known to have a small stockpile of nuclear warheads, experts are divided about its ability to mount them on a working missile delivery system.

The National Defence Commission said plans for what it called a "pre-emptive nuclear strike of justice" had been drawn up by the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army and ratified by Kim Jong-Un.

The plans would come into operation in the event of "even the slightest military action" by the North's enemies, it said.

"The indiscriminate nuclear strike... will clearly show those keen on aggression and war, the military mettle of (North Korea)," said the statement carried by the North's official KCNA news agency.

Targets would include operational theatres on the Korean peninsula, but also US bases on the mainland and in the rest of the Asia-Pacific region.

'FLAMES AND ASHES'

"If we push the buttons to annihilate the enemies even right now, all bases of provocations will be reduced to seas in flames and ashes in a moment," the statement added.

Despite a pair of successful long-range rocket launches, most experts believe North Korea is years away from developing a genuine inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the US mainland.

Pyongyang has long condemned the Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises, which stretch over nearly two months, as provocative rehearsals for invasion, while Seoul and Washington insist they are purely defensive in nature.

The size of this year's drills was ramped up as a show of strength in the face of the North's fourth nuclear test on January 6 and February's rocket launch, which was seen as a disguised ballistic missile test.

A UN Security Council resolution adopted last week laid out the toughest sanctions imposed on Pyongyang to date over its nuclear weapons programme and will, if implemented effectively, apply significant economic pressure on Kim's regime.

It breaks new ground by targeting specific sectors key to the North Korean economy and seeking to undermine the North's use of, and access to, international transport systems.

Pyongyang has rejected the sanctions as "unfair, illicit and immoral" and vowed to keep building its nuclear arsenal.

The National Defence Commission said the US and its allies had failed to realise how the "outrageous" sanctions made "this land boil like a crucible of battle."

South Korea is set to unveil tougher unilateral sanctions against the North on Tuesday -- a move that is likely to draw further threats of retaliation from Pyongyang.

- AFP/de

Lawmaker asking why Navy SEALs don't have enough rifles







Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/articl...l#ixzz42D84LLqr
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“REVOLT” AT RAQQA: ISIS ENDGAME ?



There have been a number of reports, so far without any visual confirmation, that some 200 militants have switched sides and seized part of the city of Raqqa, which is usually referred to as the “ISIS capital.” One has to consider the distinctive possibility such reports represent an effort by local Sunni forces to establish a truce with at least one of the three forces marching in the general direction of Raqqa–the Syrian Arab Army, the Kurdish militias, and even the still more distant Iraqi forces which are currently aiming their offensive at Mosul. Given that ISIS has been declared beyond the pale by all the parties to the Syria peace process, it also means that the Sunni political actors in eastern Syria and western Iraq (and their foreign sponsors, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar) who have provided a considerable portion of both the expertise and manpower for ISIS have to shed their ISIS label if they are to have a place of their own at the negotiating table. Not unlike Austria which was a rather enthusiastic component of the Third Reich, and which contrived to be “liberated” rather than “occupied” by the victorious powers of World War II, here too the Sunni tribes have to make it look like they are being liberated.

We have seen a very similar process unfold less than a decade ago in Iraq. Alarmed by the growing power of the Shia militias and political parties in Iraq, and also by the 2006 success of the Hezbollah against the IDF, the US decided to make a separate peace with the Sunni insurgents. This became the “Sunni Awakening”. However, the Sunnis were hardly “asleep” for the previous three years–they were in fact the insurgents, with only a small smattering of foreign fighters. Once the US came around and sought out the Sunnis as allies, the foreign fighters were mostly evacuated, a few most odious ones were “promoted” (to martyrdom), and the story became how the brave Sunni tribes defeated al-Qaeda which supposedly held them captive for three full years! This led to a series of US-brokered power-sharing deals among Iraq’s major ethnic groups before the arrangement broke down and gave us the Iraqi component of ISIS.

Now it looks like the Sunnis might be poised to repeat that disappearing trick, except that now they will “defeat” ISIS just as they “defeated” al-Qaeda” in 2006. They really have no other choice: the tide of the war has turned against them decisively, they are rapidly losing their logistical lifelines and oil revenues, and the foreign fighter component is already being evacuated for redeployment in more promising theaters–perhaps Libya, perhaps Afghanistan and Central Asia… The only question is, with whom will the ISIS Sunnis strike their deal? There really are only two options: Assad and Russia on the one hand, or US and the Kurds on the other. Erdogan seems to have wanted to become the third option, because a Turkish land invasion down the ISIS-controlled corridor would have had the effect of “liberating” the Sunnis from ISIS as well, but that never came to pass for reasons well discussed elsewhere. Therefore the second (US-backed) option seems like a better deal to them since it would still allow them to salvage something of their original project, namely Sunni autonomies in the two countries so extensive as to make the national border between them irrelevant (which is what ISIS proclaimed a couple of years ago when it declared the Sykes-Picot Treaty moot), to the point of these two autonomies really representing two halves of a de-facto Sunni state. Since the US wants to create a Sunni state between Iran and Syria in order to isolate Hezbollah and create a “pipeline corridor” between Saudi Arabia and Turkey, it has refrained from genuinely fighting ISIS and now would likely jump at the opportunity to strike a deal with them. Assad and the Russians, on the other hand, would hardly agree to a deal like that which makes them less attractive as negotiating partners. And the more inroads the SAA makes into the pro-ISIS Sunni areas, the more likely are the Sunnis to “liberate” themselves and then prostrate themselves before their US “saviors.”

That is most likely the reason ISIS has been trying so hard to take Deir-ez-Zor in recent days, in spite of heavy fighting on other fronts, and to resist the SAA advance on Palmyra. The presence of the Syrian military right in the heart of ISIS territory endangers the idea of Sunni separatism. We can expect ISIS to continue these attacks and focus their defensive efforts against the SAA rather than against US-backed forces in the region, much as Nazi Germany did in the final months of World War 2. However, if the SAA manages to reach Deir-ez-Zor and Raqqa ahead of the competition, it will undo this last-ditch Sunni effort to snatch a victory out of jaws of defeat

https://southfront.org/revolt-raqqa-isis-endgame/

Satellite Imagery: China Expands Land Filling at North Island in the Paracels























http://thediplomat.com/2016/03/satellite-i...n-the-paracels/

Western opposition also got to see who is talking... for example US RAND corporation and UK RUSI is probably better informed than Huff Post and the 'Daily Wail'

+10 about not trusting RT, sputnik, tass or their proxies like russia insider, southfront

Cannot see the black drinking tube? The Camelbaks themselves are inside their packs.

One still has the Camelbak tag.

What Role Will Russia Play in the US-Chinese South China Sea Drama?









Read more: http://sputniknews.com/asia/20160305/10358...l#ixzz42DKPCH3M

Why KD Pahang NO 172 is in the picture pulak

Unit specific acquisition so you'll see a mix of brands and colours

i see, does ATM have this concept of army store? can public buy surpluses?

U.S. military spending millions to make cyborgs a reality





http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/07/politics...plants-cyborgs/

U.S. airstrike kills more than 150 at Somalia terrorist camp, military says





https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpo...150-in-somalia/

Turkey shelling Syrian Kurdish militia in northern Aleppo - YPG





https://www.rt.com/news/334811-turkey-shell-ypg-syria/

IS forging migrant army in Libya





http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/forging-...libya-912479375

Week twenty-one of the Russian military intervention in Syria: the calm before the storm?





http://www.unz.com/tsaker/week-twenty-one-...fore-the-storm/

FBI Busts American CEO For Allegedly Shipping Rocket Powder To Iran





http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016...er-to-iran.html

Meet Captain Crunch, the Pentagon's Gun-Eating Machine





http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/w...eating-machine/