Tokyo, Japan (CNN) — A body was found in the landing gear bay of an airplane that arrived at Tokyo’s Narita Airport Sunday, the airport announced.
The dead man was not carrying a passport or personal belongings, airport police said.
The man was of dark complexion and dressed in blue jeans and a red and dark blue long-sleeved shirt, police told CNN.

Police said he possibly froze to death and suffered a shortage of oxygen at high altitude, but did not provide a definite cause of death pending an autopsy.

A mechanic found the body in the landing gear bay, which was impossible to enter from the cabin, the airport said.

The Boeing 777, Delta Flight 59, which departed New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport at 12:53 p.m. ET Saturday arrived at Narita at 4:46 p.m. local time Sunday, the airport said.

“Delta is fully co-operating with the Japanese authorities, and there is (an) on-going investigation which is being led by the Japanese authorities. The airline has not issued an official statement at this time,” a Delta representative told CNN.

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By Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service

As the excitement builds in the minutes before the Super Bowl
kick-off, four Air National Guard F-15 Eagle fighter jets will scream over Miami’s
Sun Life Stadium in a dramatic show of military support for the big game.

The F-15s - from the Florida Air National Guard’s 125th Fighter Wing -
will time their fly-over to begin just as country music superstar Carrie
Underwood belts out the last note of the National Anthem, reported USAF Lt
Col Richard Bittner, the 125FW’s public affairs officer.

USAF Lt Col John Black, who goes by the callsign “Homer,” will lead
the formation, followed by Wing Commander Col Bob “Squirt” Branyon Lt Col
Mike “Speedo” Rouse, the 159FS’s commander, will be in position three, with
Col Bill Bair, commander of the 125FW’s operations group, holding up the rear.

After the pilots land at nearby Homestead Air Reserve Base, a
Miami-Dade Police helo will whisk them back to the stadium, where they’ll be
introduced to the crowd, Bittner said.

The Super Bowl fly-over is a first for the Air National Guard. The wing
has done fly-overs for other National Football League events, most frequently
over Jaguars games near its Jacksonville IAP. But Bittner said there’s a
special panache that comes with flying over the big daddy of football games.
“It’s a huge honor,” he said, calling it a recognition of the wing’s
impressive operational readiness posture, and its 24/7 mission of being ready to
scramble at a moment’s notice to protect US air space.

The fly-over is just part of the military support being provided as
the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts do battle during Super Bowl
XLIV. The Armed Forces Color Guard from the Military District of Washington
will kick off that support, marching onto the field before the game to
present the colors, accompanied by two drummers from US Air Force Band.

Meanwhile, as more than 75,000 fans enjoy the sold-out game, military
forces will be at work behind the scenes, supporting civil authorities to
maintain security in and around the stadium and in the skies overhead.

Fighter jets from the Continental US North American Aerospace Defense
Command Region will be airborne, working in coordination with the FBI, US
Customs and Border Protection, FAA and local law enforcement to enforce
flight restrictions over Miami during the game, reported its commander, USAF
Maj Gen Garry Dean.

USAF Col Randy Spears, commander of the 601st Air and Space Ops Ctr,
called the mission an extension of the eagle-eyes his airmen provide every day.
“The men and women of this AOC monitor the skies 24/7, 365 for the
contiguous United States, and Sunday’s special event is another part of our mission
set,” he said.

In addition, the FL-ANG’s 44th Civil Support Team will be on the
ground, poised to support civil authorities, as required. The 40-member team, a
mix of soldiers and airmen, is trained respond to any emergency situation,
including those dealing with weapons of mass destruction, said USAF Lt Col
Ron Tittle, a FL-ANG public affairs officer.

As in recent years, about 40 wounded Marine Corps warriors will be
enjoying the game in person, courtesy of tickets donated by the Cleveland
Browns. Meanwhile, thousands of US service members will be watching, too,
either at home or overseas, via Armed Forces Network broadcasts.

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A plane part fell off an Atlas Airlines Boeing 747 and landed in the parking lot of MIami International Airport on Friday, Feb. 5, 2010.

Stephanie Smith/CBS

At Super Bowl XLIV Super Bowl XLIV Media Day At Sun Life Stadium Some folks at Miami International Mall may have thought the sky was falling Friday afternoon when a piece of plane fell from the sky and landed in the parking lot.

The part, which is about as big as a car, landed outside of the Dillard’s Department store.

The incident involved an Atlas Air Boeing 747 cargo light en route to Miami from Santiago, Chile, and took place at about 11:35 a.m. on Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration reported. The FAA’s Kathleen Bergen says the aircraft was on final approach when the part fell. The plane landed safely at MIA.

Atlas Air confirms that the part was a fiberglass fairing from one of its freighter aircraft. The sizeable part did not hit anyone or anything but workers from a nearby auto dealership said they heard it fall and it was very loud.

In a statement released by Atlas, the company said, “Atlas is grateful that no one was injured and is investigating the matter further. Atlas is also cooperating with the appropriate authorities in their review of this matter. Atlas takes this matter very seriously and will be conducting a thorough investigation.”

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By Graham Warwick:

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) is seeking funding in Fiscal 2011 for ArcLight, a program to flight-test a long-range, high-speed strike weapon based on the Raytheon SM-3 ballistic-missile interceptor.

ArcLight will be based on an SM-3 Block II booster stack and a hypersonic glider, and designed to carry a 100-200 pound payload more than 2,000 nautical miles. The weapon will be compatible with the Mark 41 vertical launch system and capable of launch from U.S. Navy warships and submarines as well as Air Force assets.

The program is getting under way in Fiscal 2010 with million in funding to conduct feasibility testing of new materials. The million sought in 2011 would cover testing of key technologies and begin concept development.

Darpa is seeking a total budget of .1 billion in Fiscal 2011, up from .99 billion in 2010. This includes 3 million for advanced aerospace systems, such as ArcLight, an increase from the 8 million provided in 2010.

Funding sought includes .6 million for the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) program, to cover wind tunnel, propulsion and seeker testing and begin building flight-test vehicles. Lockheed Martin has contracts to study two LRASM concepts: one high, fast and ramjet-powered; one low, slow and highly stealthy.

Darpa is a seeking million in 2011 to flight-test a subscale demonstrator for the Vulture extreme-endurance solar-powered stratospheric unmanned surveillance aircraft, and .4 million to begin building a subscale demonstrator for the Isis radar-carrying unmanned stratospheric airship.

Another million is sought for the Mode Transition program to fund the ground-test of a turbojet/scramjet turbine-based combined-cycle engine to power a hypersonic aircraft or air-breathing launch vehicle.

New programs planned to start in 2011 include Responsive, Reliable Access to Space, with million sought to develop reusable vehicle concepts, “which may include leveraging of commercial sector investments,” Darpa says.

Another planned new program is Counter-Unmanned Air Vehicles (C-UAV), with .1 million sought in 2011 to assess current threats and viable approaches to detecting small, slow, low-altitude UAVs.

Darpa is seeking funding increases in Fiscal 2011 for several programs, including .1 million to initiate design of the roadworthy vertical-takeoff-and-landing Transformer Vehicle; .8 million to begin design of the Mission Adaptive Rotor demonstrator; and .3 million for flight-tests to investigate the drag-reduction benefits of formation flight.

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By JOHN REED
Published: 4 Feb 2010 10:05

SINGAPORE - Boeing officials acknowledged this week that the company must lower the cost of the V-22 Osprey by up to 20 percent if they hope to sell the tiltrotor on the international market.

After decades of development and controversy the aircraft has finally entered combat service with the U.S. Marines and Air Force. However, if the company wishes to keep the production lines humming for international customers once the U.S. completes its predicted buy of 458 aircraft in the coming decade it must lower the cost, according to Phil Dunford, Boeing’s vice president of rotorcraft systems.

“We think that we really need to get 15 to 20 percent out of the price to really make it affordable internationally and we’re working hard on that,” said Dunford during a Feb. 3 press conference here.

While Boeing has been in talks with numerous countries about the tiltrotor, nearly all have told the defense giant they can’t afford the airplane, he added.

Before the company can bring down cost however, it must be able to increase the operational availability of the maintenance-intensive aircraft.

“It’s making sure we get the aircraft where it needs to be in terms of peak readiness,” said Dunford. “If you can drive the affordability of the airplane down it also helps the availability, because the price of all your parts goes down.”

All of this must be done while the company builds and supports the 458 U.S. aircraft, he added.

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Washington (CNN) — Preparing the U.S. military to fight two major conventional wars is “out of date” and does not reflect the numerous challenges U.S. military forces could face in the future, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday.
Gates made that pronouncement as he revealed the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, the military’s strategic outlook. He said the military needs to start planning for multiple operations such as major disasters in the United States and various scuffles around the planet.

“We now recognize that America’s ability to deal with threats for years to come will depend importantly on our success in the current conflicts,” Gates said, pointing out this is the first time the anti-insurgent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been included in a Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) as long-term planning priorities.

He said the previous idea of planning for two conventional wars was “too confining and did not represent the real world that … our military forces are going to face in the future.”

The quadrennial review is a congressionally mandated document in which the Pentagon looks at future threats and the requirements to mitigate them. That the 2010 review was announced the same day as the 2011 Department of Defense budget was not an accident. The review is a major driving force behind how the Pentagon plans its budget.

The 2011 budget request “builds on the reforms begun in last year’s budget, changes that were broadened and deepened by the analysis and conclusions contained in the QDR,” Gates said.
A common theme between the fiscal year 2011 budget and the 2010 review is reform, something Gates has been pushing since his arrival in late 2006.
He announced the cancellation of a number of projects, saving billions of dollars, as well as the restructuring of the long-delayed next generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.

However, the Defense Department budget is up billion over last year, totaling 8.3 billion, including funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among the additions are an increase in the number of unmanned aerial vehicles — something also called for in the defense review — and putting a priority on adding new helicopters to the fleet.

Gates said the review calls for “a 75 percent increase over the next couple of years in the number of combat air patrols by the most advanced UAVs [and] increasing the availability of helicopters by procuring more aircraft.”

Both aircraft platforms are key tools in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Gates said they will total about billion.
Share your views on military plans

While special operations forces continue to be a priority, as they were in the 2006 review, the 2010 outlook places emphasis on adding more troops and improving the support for the elite troops.

That support will include new AC-130 gunship aircraft to protect the troops during combat missions as well as an additional 2,800 combat and support personnel who would improve intelligence and communications for the special operations forces in coming years, according to Gates.

Looking elsewhere in the world, the Pentagon still is keeping close watch on China.
“The lack of transparency and the nature of China’s military development and decision-making processes raise legitimate questions about its future conduct and intentions within Asia and beyond,” the review says.

The 2006 review was heavily focused on the threat of a large-scale conventional war with China and that country’s saber rattling over Taiwan. The 2010 version still stresses such threats from China, but also looks at the need to defend against a growing threat of cyberattacks — without directly tying China to past cyberattacks, according to Pentagon officials.

In another area, intelligence shows that terrorists have plotted to get their hands on biological, chemical or nuclear material to attempt attacks, and the Pentagon expects weapons of mass destruction to be a continued threat in the future. In response, Gates said, the military “will expand capabilities to counter WMD threats, strengthen interdiction operations, refocus intelligence requirements, enhance and grow international partnerships and thwart proliferation.”

The report recommends that the Pentagon develop a joint task force headquarters to oversee these operations.

One of the biggest costs for the Pentagon since 2001 has been in health care as the military handles the thousands of mentally and physically wounded troops each year from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, on top of taking care of day-to-day health care needs for troops and their families.

The health care budget rose from billion in 2001 to .7 billion in the latest proposal. The Pentagon will spend some .8 billion in the coming budget alone for expanding assistance counseling, child care and education to support military families, and another billion for wounded warrior initiatives, with a special focus on the signature ailments of current conflicts, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, Gates said.

The report also touched on how the military can respond to environmental concerns, and how the environment will affect what the military is called to do.
Future conflicts can be handled in an environmentally responsible way, it says, by using more solar power and biofuels, and increasing overall energy independence. It also points out that the Department of Defense “provides environmental stewardship” at hundreds of bases around the country.

Bigger challenges for the Pentagon will be environmental catastrophes and future conflicts fought around and over reduced resources, the review says.
It calls climate change an “accelerant of instability” and suggests the military in planning for future operations will have to take into account climate factors such as rising sea levels and reduced ice in the Arctic, in addition to what climate change could bring in terms of the spread of disease, mass migration and a scarcity of resources.

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STOVL F-35 - Progress Report: “Lockheed Martin flew the third F-35B STOVL test aircraft - BF-3 - on Feb.2. It is the fifth JSF to fly, and F-35 chief test pilot Jon Beesely was at the controls for the hour-long flight from Fort Worth.

Photo: Lockheed Martin

F-35 program general manager Dan Crowley says BF-3 should ferry to Pax River this month to join BF-1 and BF-2. The fourth F-35B - BF-4, the first JSF mission-system test aircraft - is on the flight line at Fort Worth.

BF-4 has been loaded with the first block of mission-system software - Block 0.5 - which has been turned on several times on the ground without any problems, says Crowley, adding: ‘We’ve had no problems with software stability.’

At Pax, Crowley says, BF-1 has seven flights to go to the first vertical landing (engine supplier Pratt & Whitney says six, but may not be counting the actual VL flight). He expects the long-awaited feat to be accomplished in ‘mid- to late February’.

After four flights in powered-lift STOVL ‘Mode 4′, with the lift system engaged, BF-1 has flown down to 3,000ft and 120kt, which puts the aircraft into the ’semi-jetborne’ flight regime, says Crowley, where propulsion and flight control is integrated.
“

(Via Ares.)

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(CNN) — Iran said Wednesday it had launched a rocket carrying a rodent, two turtles and some worms into orbit, claiming it as a successful advance in a space program that has raised international concerns.

The official Islamic Republic News Agency said the “home-built” Kavoshgar-3, or Explorer-3 rocket was launched at a ceremony to commemorate this month’s anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that overthrew Iran’s monarchy.
Iran, which is trying to contain a political crisis after violent protests erupted following the disputed re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is expected to mount a series of high profile events to mark the anniversary.
State-run Press TV quoted Iranian Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi declaring the launch a success and describing Iran’s space program as “peaceful.”

“Iran will not tolerate any un-peaceful use [of space] by any country,” he said.
Last year the U.S. State Department expressed “grave concern” over Iran’s announcement it was planning a series of satellite launches.

“Developing a space launch vehicle that could… put a satellite into orbit could possibly lead to development of a ballistic missile system,” State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood said at the time. “So that’s a grave concern to us.”

The Pentagon called the plan “clearly a concern of ours.”
“Although this appears to be [a] satellite, there are dual-use capabilities that could be applied to missiles, and that’s a concern to us and everybody in region,” Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell said at the time.

The United States is among nations expanding sanctions against Tehran amid concerns over Iran’s test-firing of long-range missiles capable of reaching European and Israeli targets, and a program of uranium enrichment.
IRNA said the rocket launched Wednesday was “designed to send consecutive aerial images to ground and measure environmental information.”

Press TV quoted Iranian space officials saying live video transmission and telemetry allowed the rat or mouse — named Helmz-1 — turtles and worms to be monitored during their space voyage.

The Fars news agency said later Wednesday that the animals had returned to Earth and were being studied by scientists.
In August 2008, a claim by Iran that it had successfully launched a vehicle capable of carrying a satellite into orbit were dismissed by the Pentagon, which said the rocket had been too unstable to leave the Earth’s atmosphere.

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Wednesday, February 03, 2010
By MARK MAZZETTI, The New York Times

WASHINGTON — America’s top intelligence official told lawmakers on Tuesday that Al Qaeda and its affiliates had made it a high priority to attempt a large-scale attack on American soil within the next six months.

The assessment by Dennis C. Blair, the director of national intelligence, was much starker than his view last year, when he emphasized the considerable progress in the campaign to debilitate Al Qaeda and said that the global economic meltdown, rather than the prospect of a major terrorist attack, was the “primary near-term security concern of the United States.”

At Tuesday’s hearing, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California and chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, asked Mr. Blair to assess the possibility of an attempted attack in the United States in the next three to six months.

He replied, “The priority is certain, I would say” — a response that was reaffirmed by the top officials of the C.I.A. and the F.B.I.

Citing a recent wave of terrorist plots, including the failed Dec. 25 attempt to blow up an airliner as it approached Detroit, Mr. Blair and other intelligence officials told a Senate panel that Al Qaeda had adjusted its tactics to more effectively strike American targets domestically and abroad.

“The biggest threat is not so much that we face an attack like 9/11,” said Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A. director. “It is that Al Qaeda is adapting its methods in ways that oftentimes make it difficult to detect.”

As the C.I.A. continues its drone attacks aimed at Qaeda operatives in Pakistan, the officials also said that the network’s splinter groups in Yemen and Somalia were taking on more importance.

But Mr. Blair began his annual threat testimony before Congress by saying that the threat of a crippling attack on telecommunications and other computer networks was growing, as an increasingly sophisticated group of enemies had “severely threatened” the sometimes fragile systems undergirding the country’s information infrastructure.

“Malicious cyberactivity is occurring on an unprecedented scale with extraordinary sophistication,” he told the committee.

His emphasis on the threat points up the growing concerns among American intelligence officials about the potentially devastating results of a coordinated attack on the nation’s technology apparatus, sometimes called a “cyber-Pearl Harbor.”

He said that the surge in cyberattacks, including the penetration of Google’s servers from inside China, was a “wake-up call” for those who dismissed the threat of computer warfare. “Sensitive information is stolen daily from both government and private-sector networks, undermining confidence in our information systems, and in the very information these systems were intended to convey,” Mr. Blair said.

In another departure from last year’s testimony, Mr. Blair appeared alongside other top intelligence officials, including the heads of the C.I.A., the F.B.I. and the Defense Intelligence Agency. Last year, the intelligence director sat alone before the committee, a partly symbolic gesture intended to demonstrate the authority of the director, whose office has been criticized for commanding little power over America’s 16 intelligence agencies.

At times, the senators seemed more interested in debating one another than in hearing testimony from witnesses. Midway through the hearing, partisan bickering broke out about whether terrorist suspects ought to be tried in civilian courts and whether the man charged as the Dec. 25 bomber should have been given Miranda rights that could protect him against self-incrimination.

As senators traded barbs, the intelligence officials stared stonily ahead or shuffled their notes.

The intelligence chiefs also raised warnings about nuclear proliferation, particularly focusing on Iran and North Korea.

Mr. Blair said that Iran “has the scientific, technical and industrial capacity to eventually produce nuclear weapons,” and that the discovery of a secret enrichment plant near Qum heightened suspicions about Iran’s intentions to build a nuclear bomb.

Still, he said that Tehran was following a “cost-benefit approach” to its nuclear decision-making and that it remained unclear whether Iran’s leadership would make a political calculation to begin producing weapons-grade uranium, allowing other nations to “influence” that decision through diplomatic steps.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10034/1033043-84.stm?cmpid=news.xml#ixzz0eULPfe48

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Virgin unveiled the latest addition to Richard Branson’s luxury fleet on Friday: an underwater plane that will fly riders into the depths of the Caribbean Sea.

Guests on Necker Island, a retreat in the British Virgin Islands, will be able to dive underwater in a submarine dubbed the Necker Nymph for ,000 a week. But that’s only after shelling out around 0,000 for a one-week stay on Necker, the private island owned by billionaire and Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson.

Beginning on Feb. 20, two riders and a pilot and will be able to take the plunge from land, or from a boat. The underwater plane uses the downward pressure on its wings to fly through the water for up to two hours at a time, while an open cockpit will give riders a 360-degree view.

The Necker Nymph’s typical speed is 2 to 5 nautical miles per hour and it can dive more than 100 feet, said Karen Hawkes, a spokeswoman for Hawkes Ocean Technologies, the company that designed the Nymph.

A statement released Friday by Virgin Limited Edition, the luxury arm of Virgin Hotels, described the Nymph’s launch like a plane’s takeoff. “Gliding on the water’s surface like an aeroplane on a runway, one of the three pilots will operate the joystick to smoothly dive down.”

Vacationers will be able to fly the Necker Nymph while chartering the Necker Belle, Branson’s 105-foot yacht, or the submarine can be launched from shore. Necker Belle is rented out to guests for ,000 a week, bringing the full Necker Island experience to more than 0,000 per week.

Riders must follow SCUBA procedures and be trained or accompanied by a certified pilot before entering the underwater plane. SCUBA tanks are mounted in the submarine and passengers must wear masks while underwater, said Hawkes.

The Necker Nymph claims “near-zero” environmental impact because its “positive buoyancy prevents the sub from landing on a reef, and its low light and noise emissions ensure the fragile ocean ecosystems remain undisturbed,” Virgin said.

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