Δευτέρα 4 Μαρτίου 2013

Greek soldiers leave Afghanistan



The Ministry of Defence of Greece completed the withdrawal of its units in Afghanistan. A special battalion left Kabul with all its equipment, said the ministry statement.
The mission of the Greek contingent in Afghanistan began February 17, 2002 has ended. The Ministry of Defence said the withdrawal by the reduction of the military budget and savings. His statement said that in 2011 the maintenance of the military mission in Kabul has cost 6.8 million euros in 2010, 7.7 million
In Afghanistan remain seven trainers officers of the HAF training Afghan pilots in the C-27A aircraft. They will leave upon completion of their mission.
You can read more about the Hellenic Contribution to the Reconstruction of Afghanistan here
Sources:

Here's Why Only One Stealth Nighthawk Was Ever Painted Gray


The Lockheed F-117A was not only the world’s first operational stealth aircraft, but also one of the most secret planes ever developed.
Conceived for secret night missions, the “Nighthawk” was restricted to fly only in darkness. In fact, in each operation from “Just Cause” in 1989 to “Iraqi Freedom” in 2003, the F-117s only flew after sunset.
Even if one example was lost in 1999 near Belgrade during “Operation Allied Force," the F-117A's unique design, which consisted in blending different angles, made the aircraft very hard to detect by air defense systems.
But low observability to radar alone was not sufficient to guarantee the plane to fly undetected through the enemy air spaces.
Works (the Lockheed legendary division that designed secret aircraft) found that to evade visual detection the best solution was a paint scheme in different shades of gray.
But since the F-117 had to fly only night missions, the U.S. Air Force stated that the Nighthawks had to be painted in black.
Gray Dragon 1
US Air Force
However, in 2003 one example of the F-117A was painted in gray with the task to determine if the aircraft could play a role in daytime missions. This Nighthawk was nicknamed “The Dragon” and the operational testing on the type was accomplished at Holloman AFB (Air Force Base), New Mexico, by the 53rd Test and Evaluation Detachment 1 (Det 1).
Flying two missions every day Det 1 pilots were able to determine their daytime capabilities and limitations.
The new kind of coat proved immediately that the “classic” black paint scheme wouldn’t be good during daylight operations. During the tests “The Dragon” was also upgraded with new software and hardware; furthermore the new paints were evaluated by measuring the impact that the gray had on the maintenance.
All these trials were necessary to provide an accurate evaluation of the daytime operations with the gray paint scheme, to ensure a 24-hour stealth presence above the future battlefields.
However, despite the good results of the trials, “The Dragon” would have been the only F-117 painted in gray: in fact, in 2005 when the USAF had to take a decision about repainting in gray the entire fleet , it was decided to retire all the Nighthawks.
The gray F-117 made its last flight on Mar. 12, 2007 at Holloman AFB.
takeoff nighthawk stealth

Russia to buy no more foreign drones




беспилотник самолет дрон
Photo: EPA

Russia will buy no more foreign-made drones. According to the Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technological Cooperation, Alexander Fomin, Russia has launched the production of its own drones.

Earlier, Russia bought drones in Israel to the tune of some 400 million dollars.
When commenting on the borrowing of foreign technologies, the official pointed out that the USSR was the first to invent a drone, based on the Tu-154 airliner, back in the 1960s.

F-35 returns to flying status



By Michael Hoffman Pentagon officials ended the six day grounding of the F-35 Thursday evening following the completion of an investigation into a broken engine fan blade on one of the aircraft. The investigation done by the F-35 program office and Pratt & Whitney, makers of the F-35 engine, found the crack was caused by “prolonged exposure to high levels of heat and other operational stressors,” said Kyra Hawn, the Joint Strike Fighter program spokeswoman, in a statement. Inspectors and engineers didn’t find any additional cracks in the engine of the aircraft in question or the rest of F-35s being tested, program officials said. “The engine in question is part of the F-35 test aircraft fleet and had been operated for extended time in the high-temperature environment in its mission to expand the F-35 flight envelope,” Hawn said in a statement. Seventeen test aircraft and 34 operational aircraft make up the F-35 fleet that includes three versions and stretches across the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. Tests on the Pratt & Whitney F135 will continue as the F-35 returns to flying status, Hawn said. Earlier in the week, Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, F-35 program chief, publicly slammed both Pratt & Whitney and the industry lead on the Joint Strike Fighter, Lockheed Martin. He criticized their decision making and their lack of urgency to pursue cost controls over the life of the program.

“Κρατικοί Hackers” διακινούν – υποκλέπτουν ένα terabyte δεδομένα την ημέρα



 Δύο δεκαετίες μετά και αφού η ασφάλεια των υπολογιστών άρχισε να βγάζει δισεκατομμύρια από την πώληση τεχνογνωσίας και λογισμικού που έχουν σχεδιαστεί για την προστασία των ανεπιθύμητων εισβολέων στο δίκτυο, οι ειδικοί λένε ότι τα δίκτυα αυτά είναι πιο ευάλωτα από ποτέ. Το συμπέρασμα προκύπτει από την έκθεση της εταιρείας διαδικτυακής ασφάλειας Team Cymru, στοιχεία της οποίας δημοσιεύονται αποκλείστηκα στο The Verge. Οι αναλυτές της ανακάλυψαν<…> μια τεράστια εξωτερική επιχείρηση hacking στην οποία διακινούνται – υποκλέπτονται ένα terabyte δεδομένα την ημέρα. Στα θύματα περιλαμβάνονται στρατιωτικές και πανεπιστημιακές εγκαταστάσεις και μια μεγάλη μηχανή αναζήτησης. Η έκθεση δεν προσδιορίζει το ποιος μπορεί να είναι πίσω από τις επιθέσεις, αλλά ο διευθυντής της εταιρείας Steve Santorelli παραδέχτηκε ότι, δεδομένου του ύψους των πόρων των επιθέσεων είναι προφανές ότι η ομάδα που κρύβεται πίσω από αυτές επιχορηγείται από κάποια κυβέρνηση. Μάλιστα χαρακτήρισε τις επιθέσεις ως υψηλότατης αξίας διαδικτυακή κλοπή σε βιομηχανικό επίπεδο. Η έκθεση έρχεται σαν συνέχεια αυτής της εταιρείας ασφάλειας Mandiant, η οποία εμφανίζει την Κίνα ως κύριο υπαίτιο των επιθέσεων που έχουν στόχο της αμερικανικές εταιρείες, προκειμένου να αποσπάσουν πολύτιμες πληροφορίες. Οι New York Times ανέφεραν ότι, η Ουάσινγκτον πιστεύει τώρα ότι η Κίνα έχει επίσης τη δυνατότητα να χρησιμοποιήσει το διαδίκτυο για να σαμποτάρει την παροχή νερού, να κλείσει σταθμούς παραγωγής ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας και να κάνει ζημιά στο χρηματοπιστωτικό σύστημα εχθρικών χωρών. Φαίνεται πως οι Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες βρίσκονται υπό πολιορκία εδώ και αρκετό καιρό …

Κυριακή 3 Μαρτίου 2013

Κινέζοι hackers εικάζεται ότι βρίσκονται πίσω από την επίθεση στην EADS



Για άλλη μια φορά hackers που υποστηρίζονται από την Κίνα κατηγορούνται για επιθέσεις hacking, αυτή τη φορά για επίθεση στην EADS, την κατασκευάστρια εταιρεία του Eurofighter και τη γερμανική εταιρεία χαλυβουργίας ThyssenKrupp. Σύμφωνα με το Der Spiegel, η EADS, Ευρωπαϊκή Εταιρεία Αεροναυπηγικής Άμυνας και Διαστήματος και η ThyssenKrupp, έγιναν στόχος επιθέσεων hacking που προέρχονται από την Κίνα,<…> όπως αναφέρουν ανώνυμες πηγές του περιοδικού και στις δυο εταιρείες. Οι τελευταίες υποτιθέμενες επιθέσεις αποκτούν μια άκρως σοβαρή διάσταση καθώς η EADS αποτελεί ένα σημαντικό παράγοντα άμυνας στην Ευρώπη και είναι υπεύθυνη για το Eurofighter, το οποίο η RAF έχει ως αιχμή του δόρατος. Η εταιρεία κατασκευάζει και στρατιωτικά μη επανδρωμένα αεροσκάφη, κατασκοπευτικούς δορυφόρους, ακόμη και τους πυραύλους των Γαλλικών Πυρηνικών Όπλων. Επίσης, είναι υπεύθυνη για την Airbus, το οποίο σημαίνει ότι η εισβολή στα συστήματα της και η απόκτηση πρόσβασης σε ευαίσθητα δεδομένα και σχέδια θα μπορούσε να επιφέρει δυνητικά πολύ καταστροφικές στρατιωτικές και πολιτικές συνέπειες.

Diving into the abyss aboard Britain's world-leading submarine rescue system




Eleven years after 118 submariners met a grisly death at the bottom of the ocean in the Kursk, a British team has developed the most advanced underwater rescue system in the world. Andrew Preston watches them go into action 

The Nato submarine rescue vehicle (SRV) mates with a bottomed sub
The Nato submarine rescue vehicle (SRV) mates with a bottomed sub. Nemo is the most advanced in the world and is jointly owned by Britain, France and Norway
The British co-pilot of the rescue vehicle  speaks slowly and deliberately into his microphone: ‘Lima, Lima, Lima.’ 
The signal is broadcast directly into the Mediterranean Sea via ‘underwater telephone’ using low frequency sound waves. The message is picked up in the control room of the Alrosa, a Russian submarine from the Black Sea fleet. The code words mean that the Nato rescue vehicle, known as Nemo, has successfully ‘mated’, or docked, with the Russian sub.
At the same time a diver clambers through a hatch in the floor of Nemo with a spanner. He follows up the message with two loud taps on the hatch of the  submarine casing beneath him, then after a short pause taps a third time. This is the signal that it is now safe for the Russian crew to open the outer hatch. The  two vessels have established a hydrostatic water-tight seal, and suction is now the only thing holding them together 300ft underwater.
All this is happening on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea just off the coast of Cartagena in south-east Spain. Shortly afterwards the submarine hatch of the diesel submarine opens and a smiling Russian face appears. History has been made.
The SRV prepares to launch from the back of the Norwegian mother ship, KL Sanderford, in the Mediterranean
The SRV prepares to launch from the back of the Norwegian mother ship, KL Sanderford, in the Mediterranean
When it was built during the Cold War, the Kilo-class Alrosa was designed for anti-submarine and anti-ship warfare. Its mission was to snoop, avoid detection, and try to track and, if required, attack Nato forces. Now, for the first time, a Russian submarine is actually taking part in a Nato exercise.
Inside the rescue vehicle it is cramped and humid. In the forward compartment, with its bulbous  clear acrylic nose on the front, the pilot and co-pilot sit surrounded by joysticks and a myriad of dials and switches. Behind them, a Navy diver acts as the operator for the rescue chamber, which in an emergency can deliver up to 15 people at a time to the surface, or two injured submariners on stretchers.
But today special guests are moving the other way. Squashed together in the back of Nemo, their heads bent forwards and knees touching from benches on either side, are military VIPs from Russia, the U.S. and other Nato nations, who cross from the module into the submarine, led by General Nikolai Makarov, Chief of Defence Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. 
This exercise comes 11 years after the Kursk disaster, when 118 Russian submariners were left to die 350ft down in the Barents Sea. Back then the Russian government refused to ask for assistance after an explosion onboard sank the submarine. 
It is still unclear how many died in the initial explosion and how long the other survivors stayed alive, although grim tales have since come out of tapping being heard from inside the hull. What remains a possibility is that some of those men might have been saved.
‘The Russians learned many lessons after that,’ says Captain David Dittmer of the U.S. Navy. 
‘But when a Russian auxiliary sub with seven men on board became entangled in lines and stuck on the Pacific Ocean floor in 2005 they did ask for help, and a British remote vehicle was sent to cut them free. They were just one hour short of their oxygen running out.
‘Now the Russians have changed further and are very enthusiastic to participate. They publicly want to be portrayed as leaders in this field. Submariners are a family too; we all understand that we have an enemy in common: the sea.’
Nato’s submarine rescue system is the most advanced in the world and is based in Faslane just north of the Firth of Clyde. 
Nemo was built in North Yorkshire and Britain is a world leader in this technology. The system is jointly owned by Britain, France and Norway, and is now managed by Rolls-Royce. The £75 million cost for development, construction and the first ten years of its life is shared three ways.
Nemo can operate in heavy seas, in waves up to 16ft high, and can rescue from depths of 2,000ft beneath the surface. Beyond that, submariners recognise that there is no hope – their boat will simply implode and be blasted into pieces.
This latest ‘free-swimming’ vehicle replaced an earlier LR5 rescue vehicle, the idea for which came to former Royal Navy submariner Roger Chapman after he almost died when he was trapped 1,575ft down in a civilian mini-submarine in 1973. He and a colleague had been laying a telephone cable in a two-man sub on the bed of the Atlantic, 150 miles off the cost of south-west Ireland. After three and a half days they were found and pulled to safety.
The Faslane-based submarine rescue vehicle (SRV), which weighs 30.2 tons and travels at just under four knots
The Faslane-based submarine rescue vehicle (SRV), which weighs 30.2 tons and travels at just under four knots
The LR5 has since been leased to Australia, while the British have also sold systems to Singapore, South Korea and the LR7 rescue vehicle to China. At a recent submarine rescue conference a Chinese admiral made it clear to members of the British contingent, through an interpreter, that China would have bought more had our defence export rules not forbidden it.
For the ‘Bold Monarch’ exercise in the Mediterranean, diesel submarines from Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Russia were ‘bottomed’, with rescue vehicles from Italy, the U.S., Russia and Sweden as well as Nemo, along with specialist divers and hyperbaric medical teams working to help rescue them. 
The 2,000 participants in the exercise included  representatives from more than 20 nations; so as well as a historic meeting for Russian submariners with Nato, it also gave a Greek officer the chance to go onboard a Turkish submarine.
‘By their very nature submarine missions are secretive, except in the conduct of search and rescue, which brings nations together,’ says Rear Admiral Ian Corder, commander for allied submarine operations in the north Atlantic region.
He is based in the Nato building at the high-security military headquarters in Northwood, just outside London. Down a spiral staircase from his office and below ground is the Maritime Operations Centre, with one side wall covered in giant screens.
At the moment counterpiracy is a major focus here, but if a sub were to get into trouble in the north Atlantic region, for which he is responsible (from the North Pole as far south as Gibraltar), then this is where the rescue operation would be co-ordinated.
If a submarine is in danger it will release UHF/VHF indicator buoys, which broadcast using reserved  maritime frequencies. They can also release buoys linked to satellites which send signals with an ID for the submarine which can only be recognised by its own country’s authorities. 
Rescuers can then log on to a password-protected website, which holds details of all the potential rescue systems around the world, and their availability, and they can plan via instant messaging and in secure chat rooms.
Admiral Sir Trevor Soar sits with senior pilot Tom Heron in the front of the SRV
Admiral Sir Trevor Soar sits with senior pilot Tom Heron in the front of the SRV
But it’s once they are alerted that the problems begin: how deep is the stricken submarine, how bad is the damage, what is the state of the sea, how is the submarine positioned, is there debris around it, and how many injuries are there?
Submariners can evacuate via escape locks if it is not too deep, but nowadays they are encouraged to wait – they can survive for up to seven days on a bottomed boat, unless something catastrophic has happened. Nemo is designed to make its first rescue within 72 hours. 
First, a ‘vessel of opportunity’ has to be chartered. This must have at least 4,400sq ft of deck space, and will deliver Nemo to the location of a stricken submarine. A total of 1,007 such vessels are being tracked at the moment, most of them working in the offshore oil industry. They cost between £17,000 to £40,000 per day to charter. Today’s ‘mother ship’ is Norwegian, the second biggest tug in the world, which is so new it still smells of paint.
But Nemo is just one part of an entire rescue system. First an ROV (Remotely Operated Vessel) is sent to check the state of the sub, look for debris and, if required, deliver a pod containing equipment for oxygen generation and carbon dioxide extraction, as well as water and food. 
A two-man portable decompression chamber at the front of the Transfer Under Pressure (TUP) unit - it can be docked with the main chamber to transfer patients
A two-man portable decompression chamber at the front of the Transfer Under Pressure (TUP) unit - it can be docked with the main chamber to transfer patients
If a submarine is damaged then those on board will more than likely be experiencing high levels of pressure deep under the sea – so the other vital part of the Nato set-up is the TUP (transfer under pressure) system, which is designed to prevent rescued men suffering decompression sickness, or the bends. If Nemo acts like an ambulance then this is the hospital.
When it returns to the surface and is raised into its cradle it docks with two decompression chambers, which can house 72 crew members. A special medical chamber holds up to six. If required there are also two pods, which look like Apollo capsules, which can be used to air-transport under pressure anyone seriously injured to a hospital. 
A control room above the chambers is manned by British and French divers who together monitor those inside using CCTV cameras, and watch gauges that measure the oxygen, carbon dioxide and pressure levels. It takes 28 lorries and seven giant transport planes (four C-17s and three Antonov AN124s) to carry the entire system.
The Affray was the last British submarine to be lost with all hands, off the coast of Alderney in 1951, but there have been many accidents since.
Inside the portable chamber, in which a patient and an attendant can be airlifted to hospital while under pressure
Inside the portable chamber, in which a patient and an attendant can be airlifted to hospital while under pressure
‘Most of these have been in relatively shallow water,’ says Commander Charlie Neve, the UK authority on submarine escape and rescue. 
‘Accidents are most likely to happen in busy shipping lanes when a submarine is on the surface and also at night when the black submarine is difficult to see.
‘There have been plenty of potential disasters. In 2002 Trafalgar hit the seabed off the Isle of Skye, in 2008 Superb struck an underwater pinnacle in the Red Sea, and then last year the new Astute ran aground. There’s also the memory of the Thetis in Liverpool Bay in 1939, which stunned people at the time. The water was not that deep, only about 150ft, and her bow became wedged on the bottom while her stern was sticking up in the air. People couldn’t believe that we couldn’t get the men out – it just seemed unbelievable – but we lost 99 men there.’
British and French divers monitor the decompression chambers from the control room above
British and French divers monitor the decompression chambers from the control room above
Once the Alrosa has surfaced again, some of the submariners come out into the light to gather on the upper deck of the Spanish ship Galicia, to mingle with other nationalities and shake hands in the early evening sun. One Royal Navy medic, who is back from a trip to see how Russian sailors live and work aboard one of their ships, says they were  ‘surprisingly welcoming. It was just like one of ours really, with family pictures everywhere and lots of dead pot plants.’
The next time they will all gather will be in three years’ time in the seas around Poland. 
‘We all hope never to have to use these skills but it does give confidence that it won’t matter who or where you are, help will be there,’ says Captain Damiar Shaykhutdinov of the Russian navy.
‘Maybe one day Russia can host a similar exercise in our waters.’
Then, for his submarine crew, it’s back down below to return to Sevastopol or wherever the Alrosa is ordered to go, once more unseen and unheard.