By Tony Capaccio (Bloomberg) The U.S. Navy’s new version of the tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft designed for missions at sea isn’t yet “operationally suitable” because it has only “partially met reliability requirements,” according to the Pentagon’s testing office.
Among the problems: Its ice protection system “accounted for 25% of the operational mission failures, which will result in mission aborts,” the Defense Department’s director of operational test and evaluation said in a non-public assessment marked “Controlled Unclassified Information” and obtained by Bloomberg News.
Otherwise, though, the test office found the CMV-22B Osprey is “operationally effective for carrier onboard delivery, medical evacuation, Naval Special Warfare support and search and rescue.”
The CMV-22B is a modified version of the widely used Marine Corps aircraft that lands and takes off like a helicopter and then flies like an airplane. It’s replacing the C-2A Greyhound, a nausea-inducing, claustrophobic aircraft first produced in 1965, to land cargo and people on aircraft carriers.
Spokespersons for Bell Helicopter Textron and Boeing Co., which jointly produce the Osprey, referred questions to the Naval Air Systems Command.
The new aircraft “will provide the Navy with significant increases in capability and operational flexibility,” according to a fact sheet from the command.
(Feb. 22, 2021) Medical personnel carry a simulated patient during a medical transport drill on the flight deck of Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70). The drill was the first-ever medevac by a Navy CMV-22B Osprey aboard an aircraft carrier. Vinson is currently underway conducting routine maritime operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Aaron T. Smith)
A command spokesperson, Megan Wasel, asked about actions the Navy was taking to address the test assessment, said the aircraft had just completed its first operational deployment this month “and successfully proved” its value “as part of the U.S. Navy’s Air Wing of the Future. In the coming months, we will be reviewing this first deployment in its entirety and will implement key lessons learned, with the goal of improving readiness, reliability, and combat capability.”
The Navy has purchased all of the planned 44 aircraft, Wasel said.
Navy operational tests evaluated the aircraft from January 2021 until mid-July 2021, and it has flown in limited fleet operations. It didn’t meet a requirement for 75% operational availability or a metric to fly longer than 12.5 hours before an “operational mission failure,” according to the test office assessment.
The aircraft’s HF radio “which is required for over-the-horizon communications to support” Navy operations far from shore “was inconsistent, demonstrating a 12% success rate for long-range, two-way communications,” according to the report.
NORFOLK, Va. – Petty Officer 2nd Class Ryan Kerns, a native of Bellwood-Antis, serves the U.S. Navy aboard one of the world’s largest warships, the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77).
Bush was commissioned in 2009 and is completing a pre-deployment work up cycle.
“Our Sailors’ hard work to return George Herbert Walker Bush to the operational fleet in 2021 was exemplary,” said Capt. Robert Aguilar, GHWB commanding officer. “They represent the best principles of service to the mission and the nation that our namesake, President George H.W. Bush, embodied.”
Kerns joined the Navy four years ago. Today, Kerns serves as a machinist’s mate (nuclear).
“Both my parents were in the military,” said Kerns. “A lot of my family was in the military. They inspired me to join. I was also interested in earning money for college.”
Growing up in Bellwood-Antis, Kerns attended Bellwood-Antis High School and graduated in 2017. Today, Kerns relies upon skills and values similar to those found in Bellwood-Antis to succeed in the military.
“I come from a small town with a great sense of community,” said Kerns. “Everyone knows how to work together like a small family. It’s similar aboard this ship. We work together, eat together and when we’re not working, we hang out together.”
These lessons have helped Kerns while serving in the Navy.
Kerns’s service aboard Bush follows the example of the ship’s namesake, the nation’s 41st President, George H.W. Bush. Bush is the only U.S. president to serve as a U.S. Navy aviator. During World War II he flew the TBF Avenger in Torpedo Squadron (VT) 51 and was stationed aboard USS San Jacinto (CVL 30). He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for a daring bombing run over the island of Chichi Jima.
The ship bearing Bush’s name is preparing for deployment amid ongoing strategic competition between the U.S. and its adversaries. In doing so, the ship and its Sailors continue the legacy of service to the nation that U.S. Navy aircraft carriers have provided for 100 years.
Since USS Langley’s (CV 1) commissioning 100 years ago this March 20, aircraft carriers and their ability to project American power around the globe have been a consistent tool in maintaining and improving U.S. national security interest and the prosperity of the American people.
Sailors aboard USS George H.W. Bush, like Kerns, continue to burnish the legacy of the aircraft carrier fleet and naval aviation by providing the national command authority a flexible, tailorable warfighting capability as the flagship of a carrier strike group that maintains maritime stability and security in order to ensure access, deter aggression and defend U.S., allied, and partner interests.
Serving in the Navy means Kerns is part of a team that is taking on new importance in America’s focus on rebuilding military readiness, strengthening alliances and reforming business practices in support of the National Defense Strategy.
“The Navy can be anywhere we want,” said Kerns. “Having this presence around the world with the capabilities we have serves as a strong deterrence.”
With more than 90 percent of all trade traveling by sea, and 95 percent of the world’s international phone and internet traffic carried through fiber optic cables lying on the ocean floor, Navy officials continue to emphasize that the prosperity and security of the United States is directly linked to a strong and ready Navy.
Kerns and the sailors they serve with have many opportunities to achieve accomplishments during their military service.
“I’m proud of the supervisor qualifications I earned a few months ago,” said Kerns. “I coordinate orders between the watch officer and the watch standers. This covers two of the four propulsion units aboard the ship in addition to other parts in the reactor spaces.”
As Kerns and other sailors continue to train and perform missions, they take pride in serving their country in the United States Navy.
“Being able to serve our country helps ensure that we don’t lose what we have,” added Kerns. “If something were to happen, the Navy is the first service to respond because we’re already deployed around the world.”
Military experts in the U.S. are urging Western nations to bolster Ukraine’s air defenses, fearing that Russia will swiftly take over its former territory’s airspace in the opening moves of a possible invasion.
An air assault on Ukraine would test the limits of the U.S. and NATO’s willingness to remain active over a country they have scrambled to militarily assist in the past few months, they say. The outcome of a decision to fly into a worsening or expanding Russian offensive could reshape the military relationship between the Cold War adversaries and their allies for the first time in over three decades.
An initial onslaught of cyberattacks would likely be followed by air and missile strikes as an opening physical assault to control the skies, Seth Jones, who directs the international security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote Jan. 13.
Senior Airman Josiah Goodman, 934th Maintenance Squadron aerospace propulsion technician, texts his girlfriend “goodbye” as he waits for his C-130 to take off at Minneapolis-St. Paul Air Reserve Station on Feb. 16, 2022. (Chris Farley/Air Force)
That would challenge Ukraine’s air defenses, a particularly weak point in a military aviation enterprise already outmatched by Russian capabilities.
“The Russian forces staging or available to be used against Ukraine … are wholly modernized and capable of dominating Ukraine’s defenses,” including through airstrikes and their own anti-aircraft weapons, wrote Wesley Clark, a retired four-star Army general who served as NATO’s supreme allied commander from 1997 to 2000, in a Jan. 14 Washington Post op-ed.
Ukraine’s sizable stockpile of anti-aircraft missiles are largely outdated and are Russian-built weapons, which that military knows how to evade, said Philip Breedlove, a retired four-star Air Force general who served as head of U.S. European Command and NATO’s supreme allied commander from 2013 to 2016.
Breedlove was also the Air Force’s vice chief of staff in 2011-2012 before commanding U.S. Air Forces in Europe until May 2013. He now works as a Europe expert with the Middle East Institute.
Foreign nations have provided Ukraine with shoulder-fired Stinger missiles that can shoot down aircraft but are typically only useful against helicopters or certain drones. That solves only a small part of the air power problem, Breedlove said.
Airmen assigned to the 86th Airlift Wing load supplies onto a C-130J Super Hercules aircraft at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Feb. 4, 2022. U.S. Air Forces in Europe are prepared and strategically positioned to rapidly surge forces across the region to support the alliance and defend against any aggression. (Senior Airman Thomas Karol/Air Force)
Clark and Jones both urged the U.S. and NATO countries to send more air defense equipment to Ukraine without delay.
“Nations have a legitimate right to self-defense, and the United States and our allies have every right to provide such means now,” Clark wrote. “We should expedite the delivery of defensive means and insist that our NATO allies do likewise. No other act now can show more resolve to Putin.”
Another issue: a vulnerable air command-and-control enterprise that is geared to look west at the former Soviet Union’s foes, rather than east to modern-day Russia.
Ukraine owns Russian-made command-and-control systems, which makes them particularly susceptible to electronic jamming and attack by their creator, Breedlove said in an interview Thursday.
“I take you back to 2014, when the Russians invaded and occupied Crimea. When they flipped that switch to take over Crimea, they completely, absolutely, 100% disconnected the military garrisons in Crimea from Kyiv,” he said. “Some of that was electronic warfare.”
Ukraine still lacks the ability to move through each step of air operations, from sensing a threat and identifying what it is, to targeting and shooting at it, Breedlove added.
“In the face of a dedicated Russian attack, with Russian air forces bringing their full force down to bear on Ukraine, they would not be able to defend their sovereign airspace,” he said.
Airman 1st Class Stephen Knotts, 436th Aerial Port Squadron ramp services apprentice, positions a cargo loader to an aircraft during a foreign military sales mission with Ukraine at Dover Air Force Base, Del., Feb. 10, 2022. (Roland Balik/Air Force)
U.S. Air Force and allied tanker and transport planes continue to help move people and equipment into Ukraine and the wider region.
The service on Friday referred questions on the specifics of their activities to Pentagon headquarters, and Air Mobility Command spokesperson Lindsey Wilkinson declined to comment on any considerations for a last-minute evacuation effort.
“Air Mobility Command — like any military unit — plans and prepares for a wide array of contingencies and humanitarian events,” she said in an email.
Lessons learned from Operation Allies Refuge, the frantic effort to fly more than 124,000 evacuees out of Afghanistan as the country fell to Taliban extremists last summer, will inform the Air Force’s planning going forward, Wilkinson added.
The White House has warned Americans in Ukraine it would not rescue them if war breaks out before they leave. The State Department estimated that about 6,600 U.S. citizens wete in the country as of October, plus additional American travelers.
If an invasion does unfold, Breedlove doubts U.S. planes will offer much direct support, like airborne transport for the Ukrainian military. Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support is more likely to last throughout a conflict, he said.
A screenshot capture at around 9 p.m. EST Feb. 18, 2022, shows a U.S. Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance drone flying over Ukraine. (Courtesy of Flightradar24.com)
American spy planes, including RQ-4 Global Hawk drones and RC-135V/W Rivet Joints, have routinely patrolled Ukrainian airspace and nearby areas like the Black Sea for several weeks. Still, it’s unclear how much intelligence data the U.S. and NATO countries send to Ukraine.
The issue has raised concerns on Capitol Hill. A bipartisan group of Senate Intelligence Committee members wrote to President Joe Biden on Feb. 9 and pushed him to share as much information as possible with Kyiv.
The intent to gather useful data would remain, and possibly intensify, in an invasion, Breedlove said.
“The things I would be thinking about are, how do I adequately surveil such that I can help the Ukrainians?” Breedlove said. “That would begin to not only talk about Ukraine, but Belarus and the north part of the Black Sea.”
Intelligence-collection satellites may prove particularly important in an invasion, though Russia could try to jam their signals and blind their cameras. Breedlove believes drones and manned aircraft could still collect helpful information from a distance as well.
“We have often thought about how and where we could fly in a way that gives us coverage of international airspace and would make it an act of war for Russia to come out there and get them,” he added.
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The U.S. and NATO have begun reinforcing their attack aircraft in Eastern Europe, from American F-35A Lightning II fighter jets at Germany’s Spangdahlem Air Base to F-15E Strike Eagles at Poland’s Łask Air Base. But their role in what may come next is murky.
Clark recommended dispatching NATO air assets to Romania, Bulgaria and Poland as a precaution. Though some Eurofighters and foreign F-15 and F-16 fighter jet models are nearby to police NATO airspace — ideally to deter Russian military planes — he believes further air power would “reassure these allies and contain any spillover of Russian military action” into NATO territory.
“The time for this is now, before any action begins, rather than rushing forward in the face of Russian action, when the risks of accidental hostile encounters would be much higher,” he said.
Breedlove also suggested activating NATO’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, its most responsive military force that can mobilize within days in case conditions go south.
Experts differ on whether Russia would gamble with taking on U.S. or NATO aircraft in various scenarios.
Senior military fellows at the Atlantic Council argued Feb. 16 that Russia’s air-dominance training has signaled its willingness to engage outside aircraft if they try to intervene in Ukraine.
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Russian Tu-22 nuclear-capable bombers have recently patrolled the skies over Belarus, they noted. Training exercises can also shed light on possible moves in the future, including ground-attack practice with Su-25 planes on Feb. 10 and scrambling Su-35S fighters to capture and destroy an unresponsive air target seen as a stand-in for American or NATO jets.
“Advanced fighter aircraft and surface-to-air missiles Russia has deployed to Belarus provide the anti-access … “bubble” that covers much of the Ukrainian airspace — a further warning against any NATO nation entering Ukrainian airspace in the event of further hostilities,” the Atlantic Council fellows wrote.
Breedlove questions whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would give the U.S. a reason to return fire, inside Ukrainian borders or in broader Europe. The decision to shoot back would be left up to Biden, the commander in chief, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, he said.
“[Putin] knows where he can go and stay below the line of NATO’s response. I think that tripping the NATO wire is not something he wants to do,” Breedlove said, declining to speculate further.
An F-15C Eagle assigned to the 493rd Fighter Squadron sits ready to perform a NATO Enhanced Air Policing mission at Łask Air Base, Poland, Feb. 11, 2022. During enhanced air policing, jets and aircrew are ready to respond to any airborne threat at a moment’s notice. (Tech. Sgt. Jacob Albers/Air Force)
To keep Russia on its toes, the retired Air Force general favors turning the regional air policing mission into one of air defense. He believes the rules of engagement governing what pilots can do during air policing are “wholly inadequate” outside of peacetime.
Fighter jets are tasked with identifying and addressing renegade aircraft, such as when American and European fighters intercepted Russian military jets that veered near their airspace over the Baltic Sea and in the High North on Feb. 3. Yet they can’t fire unless fired upon when flying over a foreign country, he said.
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For now, experts want to see more firepower — like F-35s, F-22 Raptor jets and naval cruisers or destroyers — spread across Europe.
“[Putin is] most afraid of NATO forces, capabilities and weapons in the forward area, so that’s what I’d give him,” Breedlove said. “I would send him a message: ‘Your bad behavior is going to cost you what you most did not want.’”
Rachel Cohen joined Air Force Times as senior reporter in March 2021. Her work has appeared in Air Force Magazine, Inside Defense, Inside Health Policy, the Frederick News-Post (Md.), the Washington Post, and others.
COLORADO SPRINGS – Legendary Air Force head wrestling coach Wayne Baughman passed away the evening of February 16, at home surrounded by his family. He was 81 years old.
A distinguished member of the national wrestling hall of fame, Coach Baughman was born and raised in Oklahoma and wrestled collegiately at the University of Oklahoma where he won a national championship.
After college, Coach Baughman put together one of the finest international wrestling careers in United States history. He won five national championships in Freestyle, nine in Greco, and one in Sambo. He captured gold at the 1967 Pan American Games and was a member of three Olympic teams. He is the only American wrestler to have won a national championship in all four recognized styles.
Baughman’s athletic accolades may only be shadowed by his remarkable coaching career. Coach Baughman led the USA as head coach on five world championship teams and was the head coach of the 1976 US Olympic Freestyle team.
As a former Air Force officer himself, Coach Baughman was instrumental in keeping Air Force active in wrestling. Baughman served two stints as head coach of the Falcons, from 1974-84 and 1988-2006. He produced a record of 183-134-4 in 27 seasons and led the Falcons to the 1991 WAC championship. Baughman coached 16 individual WAC champions and seven Western Regional champions while earning Colorado collegiate coach of the year honors five times. Baughman coached four NCAA All-Americans and a National Finalist while at the Academy.
“Coach Baughman is such an important figure in our program and in the sport of wrestling. We are so grateful for the time we got to spend with him,” head wrestling coach Sam Barber said. “He lived an incredibly full life, and he touched so many people’s life in such an extraordinary way. The impact he had on the program has elevated us to where we are today, not only did he lay the foundation, but he led a path of excellence that every Cadet Athlete can aspire to follow. He will be missed but never forgotten, his legacy will live on in perpetuity every time an Air Force Wrestler steps on the mat.”
Vice athletic director Colonel Thad Allen adds, “Coach Baughman has been a lifelong mentor to so many wrestlers. I can honestly say, of all the people at the Academy, he had the largest impact on me during my time there and since. He’s a stalwart friend, mentor and coach.”
“As a 19-year-old student athlete it was difficult to understand the championship, no holds barred toughness of a man like Wayne Baughman,” said Matt Ciccarello, a former athlete and assistant coach. “As a 52-year-old man, I constantly reflect and am thankful for the impact that Coach and Betty have had on me throughout my life. We were and are better officers, husbands, fathers and men because of the influence of Coach and Betty!”
Coach Baughman’s funeral service will be held on Saturday, March 12 at Crossroads Chapel, 840 North Gate Blvd, Colorado Springs, CO 80921. The service will commence at 1:30 p.m. MT. At the request of the Baughman family, in lieu of cards or flowers, please consider a gift to the Wayne Baughman Wrestling Program Endowment. For more information, please visit https://www.afacademyfoundation.org/.
BOZEMAN, Mont.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–TechLink, the U.S. Department of Defense’s technology transfer intermediary, announced on Friday the availability of license agreements for the U.S. Army’s suite of IP covering Colorimetric Sensor Arrays and the VK3, a portable chemical and biological agent testing device.
Invented by scientists at the U.S. Army’s DEVCOM Chemical Biological Center, the handheld tester uses a digital camera and microprocessor to identify chemicals or biological agents by analyzing colorimetric assays.
Associated with this invention, the U.S. Government has been granted three 20-year U.S. utility patents:
U.S. Patent 11,231,404 “Sampling and Detection Kit for Chemical and Biological Materials,” issued on Jan. 25, 2022.
U.S. Patent 11,221,319 “Sampling and Detection Kit for Chemical and Biological Materials,” issued on Jan. 11, 2022.
U.S. Patent 10,408,809 “Sampling and Detection Kit for Chemical and Biological Materials,” issued on Sept. 10, 2019.
This intellectual property covers both a device and a method for collecting, analyzing, and identifying chemical and biological samples in solid or liquid form. The analysis compares the color change of Colorimetric Sensor Arrays over time with signatures for known materials and compounds from a library.
This patented configuration enables the compound library to identify the unique indicator-response signatures that provide accurate classification of a wide-variety of chemical and biological agents.
Through technology transfer, the U.S. Army’s world-class research and IP portfolio represent a business opportunity (view all available technologies here).
Interested companies are invited to learn more and submit a patent license application. Terms of a license agreement are negotiable.
TechLink’s staff of certified licensing professionals provide free consultation and licensing assistance to interested parties.
“The Army’s Chemical Biological Center has a unique role in tech development that cannot be duplicated by private industry or research universities,” said Christie Bell, senior technology manager at TechLink. “Technologies designed to help our Armed Forces often have commercial potential and this is one of them.”
About TechLink
TechLink is a Department of Defense Partnership Intermediary for Technology Transfer per Authority 15 USC 3715. For 20 years, TechLink has facilitated public-private partnerships with DOD research centers and laboratories.
Andre, Nathan and Diego Jeronimo are seniors at Dublin Coffman High School. The three have decided to join the U.S. Army Reserves together.
DUBLIN, Ohio — Deciding what to do after high school can be quite challenging more so now than ever. This is especially true for seniors as try to navigate their next steps in life through an ongoing pandemic.
Over the past couple of years as the fight against a silent killer has raged, a band of brothers has witnessed the power of serving. Now, they’re answering a call to duty.
It’s often said good things come in threes. For the U.S. military, a set of three is coming in the form of siblings. Triplets to be exact.
“We do a lot of stuff together and it’s hard to even think about us being separate,” Nathan Jeronimo said.
Andre, Nathan and Diego Jeronimo are all seniors at Dublin Coffman High School.
“How often does it happen? The name mix-up?”, asked 10TVs Andrew Kinsey “All the time, all the time – even my parents do it. They mess up all the time,” Nathan said.
Over the past 17 years, they have done nearly everything together. Yet as close as this trio is, each has grown into their own unique identities – possessing different individual strengths.
“My brother Andre, he found wrestling. Diego, he found more of an interest in mathematics. For me, I like science and theater,” Nathan said.
Strengths that will soon help them serve the country they love.
“We saw the military as an opportunity to pretty much open our minds, and we can prove our life – outside of school,” Andre said.
That optimistic outlook and desire for a bright future led the three to the U.S. Army Reserve. Making a commitment, recruiters say they’ve had difficulties getting others to make for the past year and a half for various reasons, including COVID.
For the Jeronimo’s, the decision to join was unanimous, sparked by an older brother – already enlisted. But their parents needed a little more convincing.
“It took a while for them to be open about it. To get them convinced. At the end of the day they gave us the thumbs up to be 100% in,” said Nathan Jeronimo.
As first-generation Americans, each brother has his own personal reasons for taking the non-traditional route and enlisting. However, they each share a sense of duty and a desire to succeed in life, and all three agree – one day might have them going separate ways for the first time ever.
“eventually that will happen at one point, but at the end of the day we all are still going to be brothers. It doesn’t matter where we go. we are family until the end “, explained Diego Jeronimo.
A bond that will hold strong as the three embark on this next chapter of their lives, as they always have – together.
When the three head off in July they will be based at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, which is roughly 600 miles away from home. They will be together in the same unit, training to be combat engineers.
A new U.S. Space Force video “demands action” on space debris and asks the private sector for their help cleaning up the growing space mess.
The video was released Jan. 5 on the Space Force’s SpaceWERX website (its technology branch) to push a program called Orbital Prime, which aims to test out an on orbit-system within two to four years. The first solicitation is due Feb. 17.
Space debris, said Vice Chief of Space Operations Lt. Gen. David Thompson in the video, “demands action and provides an opportunity for partnership in the search for innovative solutions to recycle, reuse or remove these objects.”
Space Force’s ask for partnerships took place weeks after an anti-satellite test by Russia in November produced so much debris that the risk of strikes to the International Space Station has increased measurably, according to NASA.
Related:Is Earth-moon space the US military’s new high ground?
This SpaceWerx diagram outlines the goals of on-orbit spacecraft servicing, assembly and manufacturing for space sustainability. (Image credit: SpaceWerx/U.S. Space Force)
The crew on the orbiting complex was forced to take shelter in their return craft in November, while ground control takes measures to assess or dodge debris in consultation with the Department of Defense, which tracks space junk.
Space Force hopes to address more general space junk issues in low-Earth orbit through testing in-orbit debris removal technologies. Phase 1 awards are valued at $250,000 and Phase 2 at $1.5 million.
“Our vision in this partnership is to aggressively explore those capabilities today, in the hope that we and others can purchase them as a service in the future,” Thompson said in the video.
Lt. Gen. David Thompson, Space Force’s vice chief of space operations, testifying at a past congressional committee. (Image credit: SASC)
While there are well over 20,000 trackable pieces of space debris, what also concerns the Space Force is the number of smaller objects (such as screws or flecks of paint) that would not be able to be tracked.
Industry representatives have more generally pointed to the rise of large-scale satellite constellations as another potential threat in mitigating space debris, as SpaceX’s Starlink constellation alone has produced several near-misses in recent months.
“Our goal through Orbital Prime,” Thompson said, “is to partner with innovative minds in industry, academia and research institutions to advance and apply state of the art technology and operating concepts in the areas of debris mitigation and removal.”
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
A metaverse that lets guardians go to space virtually is especially appealing to the Space Force because its members don’t get to go in real life
HERNDON, Va. — The Space Force should take advantage of the industry’s massive investments in immersive digital technology and develop a virtual environment for guardians, said Lisa Costa, the service’s chief technology and innovation officer.
“We could create our own version of the metaverse,” Costa said Feb. 10 at the AFCEA Space Force IT conference.
The metaverse is a growing buzzword in the tech world used to describe an interactive 3D virtual environment. “There’s a lot of hype associated with the term metaverse,” she said. “But on the other hand, a lot of money is going into this idea” to it’s worth looking at ways the Space Force can tap into this investment.
In a military metaverse, service members could collaborate, train and conduct any number of activities, Costa said. She noted that 86% of U.S. airmen and guardians from the ages of 18 to 34 view themselves as gamers. “How do we take advantage of those skills?”
Businesses are jumping on this bandwagon, developing realistic, physically accurate digital twins that simulate natural environments or industrial operations.
A metaverse is especially appealing to the Space Force because guardians normally rely on digital representations of the space domain to do their jobs, Costa said. While sailors go to sea to learn naval warfare and soldiers go to the field for combat drills, guardians don’t get to go to space unless they become NASA astronauts.
“The only way they experience their domain of operations is with a display of visual data,” she said. A virtual reality environment would provide them “situational awareness and understanding what their options are so they can make decisions.”
The technologies that make up the metaverse include virtual reality as well as augmented reality that combines the digital and physical worlds. Costa said Space Force guardians could digitally engineer satellites, for example, and develop new capabilities for space operations.“And that’s kind of the vision for where we want to go next,” she said. “Training our guardians and taking advantage of the investments that industry is making.”
Costa said all the military services could benefit from this technology and the Space Force, due to its small size, could test it out and see if it can be scaled up for use across the U.S. military.
SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — Thirteen veterans who died in recent years but whose remains were never claimed have been honored in a funeral service in northern Louisiana, as a crowd of people who didn’t know them but who wanted to pay their respects looked on.
Most of the 13 veterans served in Vietnam while one fought in the Gulf War, the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office said in a news release. They ranged in age from 60 to 72 at the time of their death.
The service was the result of work by Caddo Parish Death Investigator Katrina Wright, who was asked by a nurse at a local hospital to help find the family of a veteran who had died and didn’t have family to claim him. After a series of calls that yielded no solution, the veteran’s remains went to the coroner’s office. That left Wright feeling angry.
“I didn’t understand how this could happen to people who fought for this country,” she said in the news release.
Eventually, Wright and Christina Currington from the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs started researching other veterans whose remains had not been claimed. They tracked down discharge papers and tried to track down family members in an effort to determine whether they qualified for a military burial.
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They started with 21 veterans altogether. One family claimed one of the veterans, and the women are still researching seven others.
Local television station KTBS reported that honor guards from the four branches of the military in which the veterans served were on hand for the funeral service; they gave flags to representatives from veterans organizations in the area in the veterans’ memories. The cemetery director thanked those who came to pay their respects.
“I want to thank the Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas region for being the family for these warriors, for not allowing them to be buried alone, and for giving them the honor they are due,” Don Howard said, according to the television station.
The veterans who were laid to rest were: Army PV1 Mark Vincent Fox, who died Oct. 5, 2012; Army Sgt. 1st Class Ernest Roy Dill, who died May 26, 2018; Army Sgt. Perry Jenkins Jr., who died May 28, 2019; Army Spec. 4, Phillip Gregory Vogelman, who died Feb. 10, 2019; Army PV2 Charles Emmett Whittington II, who died Jan. 16, 2017; Army PFC Clifton Williams, who died June 23, 2014; Air Force Airman 1st Class Terrance Keith Hunt, who died Jan. 18, 2016; Marine Corps PFC Frances Marion Neely, who died Feb. 10, 2015; Navy Seaman James Edward Rountree, who died Aug. 5, 2016; Navy Seaman Recruit Harvey Lee Ramsey, who died Nov. 19, 2014; Navy Seaman Recruit Johnnie Ferrell Watkins, who died March 3, 2016; and Navy Seaman Recruit/Army PV1 Edward Troy Rash Jr., who died June 6, 2017.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Two North Pacific right whales photographed near Unimak Pass on Feb. 8, 2022. (Photo courtesy Josh Trosvig / F/V Cerulean)
This article originally appeared at KUCB.org and is republished here with permission.
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Josh Trosvig is the captain of the Cerulean, a 58-foot boat currently fishing for cod in the Bering Sea, about 80 miles northeast of Unalaska.
On a sunny day earlier this month, while he was waiting for the tide to change, he said he spotted something that looked like a large tote bobbing on the surface of the water, about 300 feet from his boat.
It turned out to be a group of whales.
But not just any whales.
“I’ve seen a lot of whales — thousands, tens of thousands in my 35 years of fishing out here,” Trosvig said. “But this was unique. I’ve never seen whales feed like that.”
Trosvig didn’t know it at the time, but the whales he was watching were North Pacific right whales. They’re critically endangered. And scientists say Trosvig is likely the first person to take photos and video of the whales feeding in the Bering Sea in the winter.
It took emailing between a few scientists until the whales were identified, because the sight is so unusual. Trosvig’s footage and other photos from fishermen prompted officials to call on fishing boats to exercise caution in the area.
Also, scientists say the images could help fill in some mysteries about the very small whale population.
Rolling along the water’s surface ‘like bulldozers’
As Trosvig stood on his boat, looking out at the water, he said the whales moved almost “like bulldozers.”
They’d pop their heads up and roll along the water’s surface for minutes at a time — feeding behavior he’s never witnessed before.
At first, he said, he thought they might be bowhead whales feeding on marine invertebrates, based on their color and size. But he wasn’t sure. So he took out his phone and recorded them. Then, he sent the video to an assistant area management biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor.
“I firmly believe that knowledge is power, especially when it comes to the oceans,” Trosvig said. “We know more about the universe outside our solar system than we do about the depths of our own ocean. And for proper fisheries management and ecological management of the ocean, it’s critical for all of us to work together.”
Asia Beder manages groundfish fisheries in the Bering Sea-Aleutian Islands region. When she got the video from Trosvig last Tuesday, she dug through her marine mammal identification books, trying to identify the dark whales with white bumps on their heads and jawlines called callosities.
But she said she wasn’t completely sure what species they were. So she forwarded the video to NOAA fisheries for help.
“The simple email of, ‘Can you ID this?’ which I’ve seen many times for fish and crab and other animals, turned into a big thing,” said Beder, who works for the state Fish and Game office in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor.
The video of the whales then made its way to Jessica Crance who helped solve the mystery. She’s a research biologist based in Seattle with the Marine Mammal lab at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center — part of NOAA Fisheries. She said she helped identify the whales in the video as North Pacific right whales.
Beder, in Unalaska, was shocked.
“I don’t know anything about right whales, to be honest,” she said. “I know they exist, and I knew the population was low. But I didn’t realize how low, and so these sightings are really important.”
Eastern stock whale population falls from thousands to about 30
Right whales are among the rarest of all marine mammal species and have never been documented in the Bering Sea in winter months. They’ve been listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act since 1970 and are depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
There are three different types of right whales: the North Atlantic, the Southern and the North Pacific. And the North Pacific right whales are split into two stocks: the eatern and the western.
“The western right whale is over in Japanese and Russian waters,” Crance said. “They number somewhere in the low hundreds, maybe 300 to 500 animals. The eastern stock is critically endangered.”
Scientists estimate there are only about 30 animals left in the eastern stock. That’s because the large baleen whales became the target of whaling in the 1800s. According to NOAA, the right whale got its name because it was the right whale to hunt — it moved slowly and would float after being killed.
“It’s estimated that anywhere between 25,000 and 35,000 animals were taken in just a few decades,” Crance said. “So that brought the population to maybe around the high hundreds of animals. But then in the 1960s, the Soviets began hunting right whales illegally, and took over 700 additional whales. That decimated the population, and brought it down to what we think are their current numbers of roughly 30 animals.”
Crance — who has been studying right whales for more than a decade — said the eastern stock feeds in the southeastern Bering Sea during the summer months. But because there are so few of them to track, it’s still unknown where they go the rest of the year.
“Prior to this, we assumed that they all migrated south, much like every other large whale population,” said Crance.
Because of Trosvig’s video, researchers are now thinking some of the whales may stay in the Bering Sea through the winter.
Crance said because they know so little about the eastern stock — including even how long they live — every single sighting increases their knowledge considerably.
That knowledge helps them continue to monitor and study the right whale population, she said.
Tracking whales by the white bumps on their heads
NOAA has a catalog of whales they’ve seen before, with corresponding numbers or names, Crance said. And they’re able to track specific whales based on their callosities.
But Trosvig’s video and photos are too far away to confirm if they’ve seen the whales before.
“There’s no way to know if these are known individuals or are new to us,” Crance said.
There are a few known right whales that have been spotted in the Bering Sea in the past. But they were observed in the spring and summer.
For instance, Phoenix, a juvenile right whale, was spotted in the Bering Sea in 2017 — the first juvenile to be seen there in more than a dozen years. He was viewed as a sign of hope that the population might recover, said Crance.
Notchy was named for the notch on its flukes, and is the first and only North Pacific right whale to have been matched to both a high and low latitude area, according to Crance. Notchy was photographed in April of 1996 in Hawaii and, four months later, in the Bering Sea in Alaska. Notchy has made at least one migration, according to Crance, and is the only documented migration they have for this population.
Crance said Tuesday that NOAA hasn’t received any new images of the whales spotted by Trosvig in the past week or so.
But NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Coast Guard are urging boaters to be careful in the area of Unimak Pass so they don’t harm the whales if they’re still nearby. The area is a major transit zone for ships not just in and out of Dutch Harbor, but also to the rest of the world.
“Because they’re so critically endangered, every animal is crucial to the health of this population,” said Crance.
Also, Crance said, she hopes fishermen will continue to document the whales when they see them, and send photos and videos to Fish and Game or NOAA.
“Every sighting that we get helps put one more piece of the puzzle together to try and understand the migration and movement patterns of these animals,” she said.
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