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Tag: Manuel Noriega

  • Colombia Is Seeking To Modernize Its Air Force With These Jets And Weapons

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    The Fuerza Aeroespacial Colombiana (Colombian Aerospace Force) has relied on the Israeli-built Kfir fighter since its northern neighbor Panama was ruled by Manuel Noriega. This jet first entered service with its home country’s Air Force in the 1970s and it’s fair to say that it is no longer a pilots’ favorite. The half-century old technology is also becoming an issue for technicians as keeping these planes in the air safely gets more challenging with time.

    Colombia’s government shopped around with aerospace companies around the world to choose its next primary fighter jet. Among the considerations were America’s F-16, France’s Dassault Rafale, and the Chinese J-10CE. After lots of deliberation, Bogota struck a $1.9 billion deal with Saab to buy 18 Gripen E jets from the Swedish company. The deal also included renewable energy and infrastructure improvements and a line of credit from the Swedish government, and Colombia showed off its new planes at the nation’s International Aeronautics and Space Fair (F-AIR 2025) in July.

    For the nation of more than 50 million people that shares a border with five other countries the Gripen is a huge climb in terms of fighter technology. The Kfir debuted in 1975, but its design roots go back even further. The plane is actually a reverse-engineered copy of France’s Mirage 5, a jet that first flew in 1967. Although the Kfir’s replacement can’t be considered a fifth-generation fighter like the F-35 Lightning II, it still goes a long way in bringing Colombia’s air defenses up to date. Let’s take a closer look at the jet the country will use to close that generational gap.

    Read more: 11 Of The Most Iconic Ground Attack Military Planes In History

    about the Gripen E-series fighter

    Brazilian Gripen E flying past Christ the Redeemer statue on mountaintop – Tuomo Salonen / SIMFinnish Aviation Museum, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    The Gripen E Multirole fighter is the latest generation of the venerable machine and is powered by a GE F414G turbofan engine that can take it as fast as Mach 2 (over 1,500 mph) at altitude. The Gripen E has a maximum take-off weight of 16,500 kilograms (just over 18 US tons) and a design lineage that goes back to the 1980s. The E-Series is the latest member of the Gripen family and was introduced in 2014 as an upgrade over the previous C/D generation. Improvements included new avionics, greater range, and increased payload options. The Gripen-E is designed to operate in harsh Scandinavian conditions and can be scrambled from unimproved runways or roads. This operational ability made it an enticing buy for Brazil’s Força Aérea Brasileira and should be of help in the mountains and rainforests of Colombia.

    It’s also worth noting that although the original Gripen design is some decades old, the electronics and avionics are fully state of the art. Pilots have access to a digital cockpit including helmet-mounted and heads-up displays. The electronics suite also includes an advanced electronic weapons management and intelligence gathering system, and these and other features combine to make up Saab’s AI-powered Human-Machine Collaboration system. For battle the Gripen-E has ten pylons that can carry an array of pods and weapons like the long-lived Sidewinder, IRIS-T, R-Darter, A-Darter, and Derby missiles. It can be outfitted for a wide range of combat missions, and ground crews can turn one around for another sortie in as little as 10 minutes. With all these advantages, Colombia’s military leaders hope the Gripen E will keep the FAC flying for the next 50 years.

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    Read the original article on SlashGear.

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  • Today in History TUE JAN 03

    Today in History TUE JAN 03

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    Today in History

    Today is Tuesday, Jan. 3, the third day of 2023. There are 362 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Jan. 3, 1990, ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces, 10 days after taking refuge in the Vatican’s diplomatic mission.

    On this date:

    In 1777, Gen. George Washington’s army routed the British in the Battle of Princeton, New Jersey.

    In 1861, more than two weeks before Georgia seceded from the Union, the state militia seized Fort Pulaski at the order of Gov. Joseph E. Brown. The Delaware House and Senate voted to oppose secession from the Union.

    In 1868, the Meiji Restoration re-established the authority of Japan’s emperor and heralded the fall of the military rulers known as shoguns.

    In 1959, Alaska became the 49th state as President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation.

    In 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced the United States was formally terminating diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba.

    In 1967, Jack Ruby, the man who shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, died in a Dallas hospital.

    In 1977, Apple Computer was incorporated in Cupertino, California, by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Mike Markkula (MAHR’-kuh-luh) Jr.

    In 2002, a judge in Alabama ruled that former Ku Klux Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry was mentally competent to stand trial on murder charges in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four black girls. (Cherry was later convicted, and served a life sentence until his death in November 2004.)

    In 2007, Gerald R. Ford was laid to rest on the grounds of his presidential museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, during a ceremony watched by thousands of onlookers.

    In 2008, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama won Democratic caucuses in Iowa, while Mike Huckabee won the Republican caucuses.

    In 2013, students from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, reconvened at a different building in the town of Monroe about three weeks after the massacre that had claimed the lives of 20 first-graders and six educators. The new 113th Congress opened for business, with House Speaker John Boehner (BAY’-nur) re-elected to his post despite a mini-revolt in Republican ranks.

    In 2020, the United States killed Iran’s top general in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport; the Pentagon said Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds force, had been “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members” in Iraq and elsewhere. Iran warned of retaliation.

    Ten years ago: Students from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, reconvened at a different building in the town of Monroe about three weeks after the massacre that had claimed the lives of 20 first-graders and six educators. The new 113th Congress opened for business, with House Speaker John Boehner re-elected to his post despite a mini-revolt in Republican ranks. No. 5 Oregon beat No. 7 Kansas State, 35-17, in the Fiesta Bowl.

    Five years ago: President Donald Trump signed an executive order disbanding the controversial voter fraud commission he had set up to investigate the 2016 presidential election after alleging without evidence that voting fraud cost him the popular vote; the White House blamed the decision to end the panel on more than a dozen states that refused to cooperate. A brutal winter storm delivered a rare blast of snow and ice to the coastal Southeast, giving parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina their heaviest snowfall in nearly three decades.

    One year ago: A jury in San Jose, California, convicted Elizabeth Holmes of duping investors into believing that her startup company Theranos had developed a revolutionary medical device that could detect diseases and conditions from a few drops of blood. The East Coast’s main north-south highway, Interstate 95, became impassable in Virginia after a truck jackknifed, triggering a chain reaction as other vehicles lost control during a winter storm; hundreds of drivers were stuck in place in frigid temperatures, some for over 24 hours. Expanding COVID-19 boosters amid an omicron surge, the Food and Drug Administration allowed extra Pfizer shots for children as young as 12.

    Today’s Birthdays: Actor Dabney Coleman is 91. Journalist-author Betty Rollin is 87. Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Hull is 84. Singer-songwriter-producer Van Dyke Parks is 80. Musician Stephen Stills is 78. Rock musician John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) is 77. Actor Victoria Principal is 73. Actor-director Mel Gibson is 67. Actor Shannon Sturges is 55. Actor John Ales is 54. Jazz musician James Carter is 54. Contemporary Christian singer Nichole Nordeman is 51. Musician Thomas Bangalter (Daft Punk) is 48. Actor Jason Marsden is 48. Actor Danica McKellar is 48. Actor Nicholas Gonzalez is 47. Singer Kimberley Locke (TV: “American Idol”) is 45. Actor Kate Levering is 44. Former NFL quarterback Eli Manning is 42. Actor Nicole Beharie is 38. Pop musician Mark Pontius is 38. R&B singer Lloyd is 37. Pop-rock musician Nash Overstreet (Hot Chelle (shel) Rae) is 36. Actor Alex D. Linz is 34.

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  • Today in History: December 20, Louisiana Purchase completed

    Today in History: December 20, Louisiana Purchase completed

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    Today in History

    Today is Tuesday, Dec. 20, the 354th day of 2022. There are 11 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Dec. 20, 1803, the Louisiana Purchase was completed as ownership of the territory was formally transferred from France to the United States.

    On this date:

    In 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union as all 169 delegates to a special convention in Charleston voted in favor of separation.

    In 1864, Confederate forces evacuated Savannah, Georgia, as Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman nearly completed his “March to the Sea.”

    In 1945, the Office of Price Administration announced the end of tire rationing, effective Jan. 1, 1946.

    In 1963, the Berlin Wall was opened for the first time to West Berliners, who were allowed one-day visits to relatives in the Eastern sector for the holidays.

    In 1987, more than 4,300 people were killed when the Dona Paz (DOHN’-yuh pahz), a Philippine passenger ship, collided with the tanker Vector off Mindoro island.

    In 1989, the United States launched Operation Just Cause, sending troops into Panama to topple the government of Gen. Manuel Noriega.

    In 1995, an American Airlines Boeing 757 en route to Cali, Colombia, slammed into a mountain, killing all but four of the 163 people aboard. In Bosnia-Herzegovina, NATO began its peacekeeping mission, taking over from the United Nations.

    In 1999, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that homosexual couples were entitled to the same benefits and protections as wedded heterosexual couples.

    In 2001, the U.N. Security Council authorized a multinational force for Afghanistan.

    In 2002, Trent Lott resigned as Senate Republican leader two weeks after igniting a political firestorm with racially charged remarks.

    In 2005, a federal judge ruled that “intelligent design” could not be mentioned in biology classes in a Pennsylvania public school district, delivering a stinging attack on the Dover Area School Board.

    In 2016, President Barack Obama designated the bulk of U.S.-owned waters in the Arctic Ocean and certain areas in the Atlantic Ocean as indefinitely off limits to future oil and gas leasing. Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova was injured in her playing hand by a knife-wielding attacker at her Czech Republic home and underwent surgery. (The attacker was sentenced to 11 years in prison.)

    Ten years ago: The State Department acknowledged major weaknesses in security and errors in judgment exposed in a scathing independent report on the deadly Sept. 11, 2012 assault on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya. The National Hockey League, in a labor fight with its players, announced the cancellation of the 2012-13 regular-season schedule through Jan. 14, 2013.

    Five years ago: The House gave final congressional approval to a $1.5 trillion tax overhaul, the biggest package of tax changes in a generation and the first major legislative achievement of President Donald Trump and House and Senate Republicans; some Republicans warned of a potential backlash against an overhaul that offered corporations and wealthy taxpayers the biggest benefits. Cardinal Bernard Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston, died in Rome at the age of 86; his failure to stop child molesters in the priesthood had triggered a crisis in American Catholicism.

    One year ago: In a major step to fight climate change, the Biden administration raised vehicle mileage standards to significantly reduce emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases. Warning that extremism in the ranks was increasing, Pentagon officials issued detailed new rules prohibiting service members from actively engaging in extremist activities. Federal health officials said the omicron variant had accounted for an estimated 73% of new U.S. coronavirus infections in the preceding week. CBS and Universal Television said actor Chris Noth would no longer be part of the CBS series “The Equalizer” in the wake of sexual assault allegations against him; Noth had vehemently denied the allegations.

    Today’s Birthdays: Original Mouseketeer Tommy Cole (TV: “The Mickey Mouse Club”) is 81. R&B singer-musician Walter “Wolfman” Washington is 79. Rock musician-music producer Bobby Colomby is 78. Rock musician Peter Criss is 77. Former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue is 76. Psychic/illusionist Uri Geller is 76. Producer Dick Wolf (“Law & Order”) is 76. Rock musician Alan Parsons is 74. Actor Jenny Agutter is 70. Actor Michael Badalucco is 68. Actor Blanche Baker is 66. Rock singer Billy Bragg is 65. Rock singer-musician Mike Watt (The Secondmen, Minutemen, fIREHOSE) is 65. Actor Joel Gretsch is 59. Country singer Kris Tyler is 58. Rock singer Chris Robinson is 56. Actor Nicole deBoer is 52. Movie director Todd Phillips is 52. Singer David Cook (“American Idol”) is 40. Actor Jonah Hill is 39. Actor Bob Morley is 38. Singer JoJo is 32. Actor Colin Woodell is 31.

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