Thread: The Four Decommissioned U.S. Aircraft Carriers Are

US ‘heading for disaster’ by putting empire over economy

Published: 24 May, 2012, 15:58

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An S-3B Viking, assigned to the "Scouts" of Sea Control Squadron Two Four (VS-24), is launched from the bow of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) in the Persian Gulf (Reuters/Nathan Laird/U.S. Navy photo)

The US could collapse like the USSR, because it pursues futile military policies at the expense of economy, says Clyde Prestowitz, ex-Counselor to the Secretary of Commerce in the Reagan Administration. He thinks this track is risky and destructive.

RT: In one of your recent articles called Trading Jobs for Military Bases, you say the US sacrifices its economic interests in the name of geopolitics.

CP: Yes, there is a very good recent example: the Obama administration has just announced a so-called pivot to Asia. So, the idea is that the US is switching the focus of its military and geopolitical activity from Afghanistan and Iraq and the Middle East to Asia, to the Pacific and to the China region. And it's doing it in a way that undermines its ability to invest, to be competitive with Chinese or Japanese or other Asian production.

RT: Is the military the only tool for the US left to influence the world?

CP: The US is suffering declining economic competiveness: we have a big trade deficit, we are heavily in debt to China and to the rest of the world. Our major source of international power is not economic, it's military. We are actually a lot like the former Soviet Union: the USSR didn't collapse because it lacked military strength, it collapsed because it lacked economic strength. The same things are now happening to the US.

RT: Do you think the US is collapsing?

CP: Well, not collapsing just yet, but it's not on a good track.

RT: What would you say if someone in the Administration told you the US protects its economic interests with the help of military means?

CP: Let's look at the so-called new pivot to Asia: we are beefing up our military deployments in the Western Pacific. But there is no threat to us in the Western Pacific! China is not going to invade the Unites States, North Korea's missiles can't reach the United States, American oil doesn't come through the Strait of Malacca. So, what is the threat? How is it that this military deployment is protecting our interests? It's an infatuation with empire, an infatuation with the exercise of power. It's a legacy of the Second World War and of the Cold War. We have a big national security machine and that machine is powerful politically and our system looks for a way to make itself useful and so that's what it does. But it is not clear to me that this is in the interest of the United States. The incentives in the system right now are for the production of tradable goods and the provision of tradable services to leave the US. The United States is not pursuing any of the policies necessary to reverse the incentives because its total focus is on geopolitical priorities.

RT: So, it's all about the US bases and expanding the US military around the globe?

CP: It's all about maintaining the primacy of the US national security establishment.

RT: At the expense of the US economy?

CP: Yes.

RT: The US has vast military presence in the Persian Gulf region where it keeps its eyes wide shut over human rights violation in Bahrain, arguably because of its Fifth Fleet Bahrain hosts. Do political and economic compromising of principles go hand in hand?

CP: Yes, they do. The situation in Bahrain is extremely painful to the US. In terms of human rights we clearly should be on the side of the Shiites. But we have sided with the ruling Sunni regime because of the Fifth Fleet base in the Gulf. And I think that we compromised ourselves.

RT: So, the US makes not only economic concessions, but political as well?

CP: Yes, I think that we are compromising our own principles.

RT: What sacrifices can the US offer to China to make it buy less Iranian oil?

CP: The US is asking China to buy less Iranian oil, the US is asking China to put pressure on North Korea to stop its missile program. So, we are asking the Chinese to do a lot of geopolitical things. What we do not ask the Chinese to do is to stop manipulating their currency, to keep their currency undervalued as a substitute for their exports. We don't complain about that. We say "Fine! Do it!"

RT: And Obama doesn't want a conflict because…

CP: By not forcing the currency issue, it makes it easier for the president to ask the Chinese to buy less Iranian oil. Or to ask the Chinese to pressure on the North Koreans to stop their missile program. He'd rather ask them to stop buying Iranian oil than he would ask them to stop manipulating their currency.

RT: Which in your view is damaging to the US economy?

CP: I think that the currency problem is a very significant challenge to the US economy and I think it's a more important challenge than the Iranian oil.

RT: The US does complain about that…

CP: No, Tim Geithner, the Secretary of the Treasury refuses to say that China is manipulating its currency. He will not formally say that because formally to say that would then compel him to take some action. He doesn't want to take any action because he knows that would cause a huge conflict with China.

RT: But we heard president Obama put together a team to deal with that very issue?

CP: Right, but he said he put together a team to deal with unfair trade practices, he didn't say currency practices. Remember that in the world of globalization, trade is handled by the trade representative, by the World Trade Organization. Trade does not include currency. Currency is always handled by Treasuries and ministries of finance and the IMF. Two separate tracks. So, when the president says he is dealing with unfair trade, he is not talking currency. And when he talks currency, he doesn't say “currency manipulation” because he doesn't want the conflict.

RT: US experts are concerned about China, it is a fear of China's dominance. Is it money? Mutual dependence? What is there really to be concerned about?

CP: No, there's not so much fear of China. There is more fear of the future of the US. If you think of globalization like the card game of bridge: each country has a hand of cards and you ask yourself "Which country has the best hand?" And if you were playing the game -whose hand would you like to play then? And if I look at all the cards, I would say the US still has good cards. I would probably prefer to play the US hand. But in bridge you can have a very good hand and you can still lose if you play badly. And right now I would say the US is playing very badly. We are not playing our cards well because we have focused on this geopolitical priority, on this national security priority. We keep playing the great game, putting troops in Afghanistan and fleets in the Persian Gulf and pivoting to Asia while other countries like China, like Brazil, like Germany are focusing on investing and educating and innovating and becoming more competitive. We are not doing that and that is the source for concern and worry in the US.

US

WND EXCLUSIVE

U.S. missiles infected with Chinese fakes

Report confirms '84,000 suspect electronic parts installed'

Published: 7 hours ago

By F. Michael Maloof

WASHINGTON – Fake electronic components from China have been discovered in thermal weapons sights delivered to the U.S. Army on mission computers for the Missile Defense Agency’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missiles and on military aircraft, including several models of helicopters and the P-8A-Poseidon, according to federal investigators.

Suspected electronic parts were found in the Forward Looking InfraRed, or FLIR, Systems being used on the Navy’s SH-60-B. The counterfeit parts were delivered by Raytheon, which alerted the Navy.

The new evidence comes reports that the problem with faked Chinese electronic components being installed in U.S. military systems is far more widespread that originally thought.

The G2Bulletin recently reported a U.S. Senate investigation revealed counterfeit electronics are being found in U.S. defense systems. The parts don’t just come directly from China anymore; they also are coming from suppliers in Britain and Canada who redirect Chinese products.

The Senate panel tracked some 1,800 cases of suspected counterfeit parts through the supply chain. It found that U.S. defense contractors had purchased many of the critical components from U.S. companies who in turn obtained them from Chinese firms but never subjected them to testing before handing them over to the U.S. military as part of their contract.

The Senate unit, whose investigators were denied access to Chinese firms by Chinese authorities, said that the evidence “consistently point(s) to China as the epicenter of the global trade in counterfeits.”

To put the growing problem into perspective, Gen. Patrick O’Reilly, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, said, “We do not want a $12 million missile defense interceptor’s reliability compromised by a $2 counterfeit part.”

Find out just what the U.S. government is doing about China’s antics, in “Bowing to Beijing.”

The military aircraft that have been affected include the SH-60B, AH-64 and CH-46 helicopters; and the C-17, C-130J, C-27J and P-8A Poseidon airplanes
Investigators said if the component in the FLIR’s Electromagnetic Interference Filter, or EIF, had failed, then the FLIR itself would fail and the SH-60B could not conduct surface warfare missions, which included firing its hellfire missiles.

A FLIR failure also would compromise the pilot’s ability to avoid hazards and identify targets at night, thereby limiting the SH-60B’s night mission capability.

A defense subcontractor in Texas had sold the components to Raytheon. The components prior to that sale traveled through four states and three countries, originating with a company called Huajie Electronics Ltd in Shenzhen, China.

Suspect parts also were found in the C-130J and C-27J, two military cargo planes equipped with display units that provide the pilot information on aircraft performance, engine status, fuel use, location and warning messages, according to documentation from Senate investigators.

The display units were manufactured by L-3 Display Systems, a division of L-3 Communications. L-3 Display Systems manufactures the display units for Lockheed Martin, which is the prime contractor for the C-130J. For the C-27J, L-3 Display Systems manufactures the display units for Alenia Aeronautica, a subcontractor to L-3 Integrated Systems.

Display Systems, however, learned that a memory chip used in the display units was a suspect counterfeit. By the time it was noticed, however, the company had installed counterfeit components in more than 500 display units, including in units for the C-27J, the C-130J and C-17 aircraft, and the CH-46 helicopter used by the Marine Corps.

“Failure of the memory chip could cause a display unit to show a degraded image, lose data, or even go blank,” the Senate report said.

While L-3 Display Systems told Alenia after discovering the problem, neither L-3 nor Alenia told the U.S. Air Force for nearly a year after it was discovered that the C-27Js were affected by the suspect parts.

According to the Senate report, L-3 Display Systems had bought the suspect memory chips from an electronics distributor in California. That distributor had bought the chips from Hong Dark Electronic Trade, a company in Shenzhen, China.

In fact, the Senate investigators had uncovered the fact that L-3 had purchased tens of thousands of Hong Dark electronic components that had entered the U.S. defense supply chain.

According to Senate investigators, the U.S. Air Force had reported that more than 84,000 counterfeit electronic parts purchased from Hong Dark “entered the DOD supply chain and many of these parts have been installed on DOD aircraft.”

Senate investigators said that these counterfeit parts are driving up defense costs, in addition to compromising safety and national security.

For example, the Middle Defense Agency had learned that mission computers for THAAD missiles contained suspect counterfeit memory devices. If the devices had failed, MDA said the THAAD missile itself would have failed.

In this case, the memory devices were purchased by Honeywell from an independent distributor. Honeywell had installed them on mission computers which it sold to Lockheed Martin which in turn supplied them to MDA.

Honeywell and Lockheed Martin informed MDA when they determined the parts were suspect and fixed the problem.

However, the cost to fix the problem, which MDA reimbursed to the two companies, was nearly $2.78 million.

“Counterfeit electronic parts pose long-term reliability problems, and reliability is a major driver in the overall cost of a weapon system,” the Senate report said.

The problem of coping with potentially counterfeit parts stems from a policy decision that was made years ago during the Clinton administration to give priority to off-the-shelf components as a way to reduce cost. But they also were supposed to be tested and current investigations indicate that such testing isn’t always occurring.

In the Fiscal Year 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, there are a number of provisions to address weaknesses in the defense supply chain, such as those identified by Senate investigators.

The NDAA has provisions to strengthen the inspection regime for imported electronic parts. The NDAA also has provisions to eliminate purchases from unknown and frequently suspect suppliers, given that counterfeit parts often change hands many times before being purchased by defense contractors.

The Senate report said that aggressive inspection and testing practices are necessary to catch counterfeit parts that make it into the supply chain.

“When suspect counterfeit parts are identified, they must be reported,” the report said. “Failing to do so allows suspect suppliers to operate with impunity and puts everyone at risk.”

The earlier article said the issue appears to be connected to “unvetted independent distributors who supply electronic parts for critical military applications.”

The problem of faked or counterfeit products from China, as well as contaminated products, are issues on which WND has reported for years.

WND columnist Phyllis Schlafly wrote last year about fake computer chips that were being purchased by the U.S. military for use in U.S. warplanes, ships and communications networks.

She wrote that malfunctions traced to the chips were being reported as early as 2005. Targeted were computers aboard U.S. F-15 fighter jets at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia.

Even at that point, officials said at least 15 percent of the spare and replacement chips the Pentagon was buying were counterfeit.

Officials in the National Intelligence Agency and the FBI expressed concern then that the fakes could let the Chinese gain access to secure systems inside the United States.

Schlafly wrote at the time: “The U.S. bought 59,000 counterfeit microchips from China for use in our warships, planes, missile and antimissile systems but fortunately were discovered they are fake in time. How many didn’t we catch?”

One Senate investigator even discovered that electronic components had been harvested from “e-waste” and sometimes were sold on public sidewalks and in public markets in China.

There also are whole factories in China with up to 15,000 people employed for the purpose of counterfeiting products.

WND has not been alone in its reporting. DefenseTech also reported on the danger: “You don’t have to be a genius to see the safety nightmare presented by fake parts on incredibly complex systems like submarines, fighter jets and tiltrotors.”

On a related issue, WND has led the way in reporting on contaminated or defective consumer products coming out of China.

During a one-month period, 17 of 28 products recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission were Chinese imports.

They included:

• Hammock stands that are unstable and cause those who use them to fall to the ground in alarming numbers: About 3,000 imported by Algoma Net Co. of Wisconsin and sold in Kohl’s, Target and other retail outlets have been called back. There have been at least 28 reports of brackets cracking or breaking and consumers falling to the ground.

• Toy castles that could choke your young child: Some 68,000 Shape Sorting Toy Castles produced by Infantino were recalled after at least four reports of children nearly choking on colored beads that slid off the toy and lodged in their throats.

• Kids jewelry that could poison them: About 20,000 Essentials for Kids Jewelry Sets have been recalled by the CPSC because of toxic levels of lead in the paint – a frequent problem with products from China.

• Magnet toys that could perforate your child’s intestines: About 800 Mag Stix Magnetic Building Sets were recalled by the CPSC, which found the plastic sticks can be swallowed or aspirated. The agency found one 8-year-old girl was hospitalized after swallowing loose magnets. Extensive surgery was required to remove the magnets and repair intestinal perforations.

Other products found to have problems were portable baby swings that entrap youngsters, swimming pool ladders that break, faulty baby carriers that result in babies falling out and getting bruised, Easy-Bake Ovens that trap children’s fingers in openings, resulting in burns, oscillating tower fans whose faulty wiring results in fires, exploding air pumps, oil-filled electric heaters that burn down homes, notebook computer batteries that burn up computers and circular saws with faulty blade guards.

Found to have been contaminated in recent years are Chinese products ranging from pet food to seafood intended for humans.

A WND study showed the Food and Drug Administration found products intended for human consumption tainted with pesticides, carcinogens, bacteria and banned drugs.

China was found to be raising most of its fish products – intended for the U.S. – in water contaminated with raw sewage and compensating by using dangerous drugs and chemicals, many of which are banned by the Food and Drug Administration.

Also, the deadly contaminant found in Chinese-made toothpaste – diethylene glycol – is a solvent used in antifreeze that killed 107 Americans when it was introduced in an elixir 70 years ago.

A resurgence in lead-poisoning cases in U.S. children was linked to Chinese imports – toys, makeup, glazed pottery and other products that contain significant amounts of lead and are being recalled by the CPSC on a regular basis.

Imports from China were recalled by the CPSC twice as often as products made everywhere else in the world, including the U.S., showed a WND study of 2007 government reports.

WND reported how China was shipping to the U.S. honey tainted with a potentially life-threatening antibiotic as well as adulterating exports with sugar.


F. Michael Maloof, staff writer for WND’s G2Bulletin, is a former senior security policy analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He can be contacted at mmaloof@wnd.com.

U.S. missiles infected with Chinese fakes

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Another US warship arrives in Persian Gulf to join Fifth Fleet

USS Enterprise (CVN-65) nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (file photo)

Sun Jul 8, 2012 6:11AM GMT


[The USS] Ponce's primary mission is to support mine countermeasures operations and other missions, such as the ability to provide repair service to other deployed units."
A spokesman for the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain


The US navy has added another warship to its Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, in an attempt to bolster America’s military presence in the Persian Gulf.

The USS Ponce - previously slated for decommissioning - arrived at the base on Thursday, a fleet spokesman in Manama said, Reuters reported.

“Ponce's primary mission is to support mine countermeasures operations and other missions, such as the ability to provide repair service to other deployed units," added the spokesman, whose name was not mentioned in the report.

This is the fifth US navy ship that has joined the US base in Bahrain since late June.

The other four mine countermeasures (MCM) ships arrived at the Fifth Fleet on June 23 to be deployed for a seven-month period in an area of operations, including the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean.

Washington has been weighing various alternatives to boost its military presence in the Middle East, particularly across the Persian Gulf.

A US Senate report indicates that the United States has now nearly 15,000 troops in three bases across Kuwait - three times the average number of American forces in the Middle Eastern country before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

According to the report, having the military bases throughout the region is a "lily pad" model to allow for a rapid deployment of military forces.

The American forces have also been stationed in Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

ASH/HJL/MA

PressTV - Another US warship arrives in Persian Gulf to join Fifth Fleet

Third US Aircraft Carrier Returning Unexpectedly To Mideast Ahead Of Schedule


Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/10/2012 13:00 -0400
The last time the US navy sent three aircraft carriers into the Arabian Sea/Persian Gulf was just a few short weeks before WTI broke above $110, and aggressive military tensions, coupled with concerns of an imminent invasion of Iran by Israel and/or 'others', were running high. Then summer arrived, as did the need to lower the price of gas and crude ahead of a veritable cornucopia of central banks easing into June and July, not to mention the need to keep gas as low as possible into the July 4th holiday. Now that the peak summer months are behind us this is all changing, and 4 months ahead of the presidential election, the need to have the "Wag the Dog" put option to round up the troops, not to mention votes, has arrived, as has the need to return to an outright aggressive military stance where Iran is concerned. Which is why we were not very surprised to learn that that Middle East veteran aircraft carrier, the CVN-74 Stennis, is going right back into Mordor, a few short months after it came back from its long stint in the Fifth Fleet, and will shortly complete the trio of aircraft carriers stationed within miles of Iran.

From Kitsapsun:

"Bremerton-based aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis is returning to the Middle East much sooner than expected. The Navy hasn't officially announced the new deployment plan for the Stennis, said spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Zach Harrell." The ship came home to Naval Base Kitsap on March 2 after seven months of launching planes into Iraq and Afghanistan. Generally, it wouldn't go back to the Fifth Fleet area of responsibility for four to five years, after a deployment to the Western Pacific and a maintenance period. But with Iran making threats, crew members learned Saturday they'll be leaving again in late August for eight months."

Oh, it is Iran making threats? We get it. Just like Syria is making threats to Turkey after the country "aggressively" took down a Turkish jet which was amicably flying over Syrian territory.

At least with the Stennis back, the US public can sleep soundly because Iran will not feel at all threatened with not two but three carriers, not to mention however many supporting ships:

Two U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups — USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Enterprise — are now in the Middle East. The Navy has doubled the number of minesweepers in the region, to eight, and moved a converted amphibious transport and docking ship, the USS Ponce, into the Persian Gulf to serve as a floating staging base for military operations or humanitarian assistance. Its first job will be as a hub for mine-clearing, according to Pentagon officials.

At least unlike the the Enterprise, which is currently on its final lifetime assignment for some reason in the Persian Gulf, the Stennis at least is veteran when it comes to all matters Middle Eastern.

The Stennis is familiar with Iranian threats. During its last deployment, which ran from August 2011 to March 2012, it exited the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz. The chief of Iran's military was quoted as telling "the American warship that passed through the Strait of Hormuz and went to the Gulf of Oman not to return to the Persian Gulf." The Stennis just went about its business, launching planes to help troops in Afghanistan, though family and friends back home were worried by the news coverage.

U.S. officials said the ships were in international waters, and they won't tolerate any effort by Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-sixth of the world's oil is transported.

During its last deployment, the Stennis air wing conducted 13,389 sorties in support of troops in both wars, and rescued Iranian cargo ship sailors from pirates.

Finally, for those curious where US naval interest lie, here is the latest naval update map courtesy of Stratfor:




Third US Aircraft Carrier Returning Unexpectedly To Mideast Ahead Of Schedule | ZeroHedge

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