Friday, March 22, 2024

BREAKING: ATTACK AT CONCERT VENUE IN MOSCOW - MANY DEAD - COMPLEX IN FLAMES - LEADERS ASK TERRORISM OR FALSE FLAG?


COMPILED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES:


ABC NEWS: A shooting followed by an explosion were reported at Moscow's Crocus City Hall -- one of the biggest shopping and entertainment complexes in Russia -- on Friday evening, according to Russian state media. Russia's foreign ministry called the shooting and explosion a "terrorist attack."



Most of the building is engulfed in fire and the roof partially collapsed, Russian news agency Interfax reported.

More than 70 ambulance teams were sent to the sight of the attack, the governor of the Moscow region reported.

Several gunmen burst into the concert hall and opened fire with automatic weapons, state news outlet RIA Novosti reported.

Attackers then threw a grenade or incendiary bomb, starting a fire in the hall, according to Russian state media.

No official numbers on deaths or injuries have been released.

In Podolsk, near Moscow, public events were canceled due to the incident at Crocus City Hall, the head of the district said. The mayor of Moscow also cancelled all "sports, cultural and other mass events," in Moscow for the weekend.

The White House is aware of the incident in Moscow but has limited information as of now, according to National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby.

"The images are just horrible. And just hard to watch, and our thoughts, obviously, are going to be with the - the victims of this terrible, terrible shooting attack," Kirby said.

Kirby also reiterated the State Department's warning that all Americans in Moscow should avoid large gatherings, saying "they should stay put where they are, and stay plugged into the State Department for any additional updates and information."

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow had issued a warning on March 7, advising U.S. citizens to avoid large gatherings for 48 hours, saying extremists have "imminent plans" to target large scale gatherings in Moscow.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

UPDATES:
News outlets on social media app Telegram posted graphic videos that appeared to show several people being killed by the unidentified men and cited unverified death tolls several times higher than the FSB’s. Videos from outside the building showed an enormous blaze engulfing the roof, sending smoke billowing out into the night sky.


Officials described the attack as an act of terrorism. Some of them speculated that Ukraine, the country Russia launched a full-scale invasion against two years ago, was responsible, without providing any evidence.


Kyiv immediately denied any involvement. Dmitry Medvedev, a former president and current deputy chair of Russia’s security council, demanded the “total elimination of the terrorists and repressions against their families”. “If it is determined that these were the terrorists of the Kyiv regime [ . . . ] they must all be founded and mercilessly destroyed as terrorists, including officials from the country behind this evil deed,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s administration, said “Ukraine certainly has nothing to do with the shooting/explosions in the Crocus City Hall”, in a post on X. “It makes no sense whatsoever.”


Ukrainian Presidential Advisor, Mykhailo Podolyak has stated that Ukraine had nothing to do with the Terrorist Attack on the Crocus Concert Hall tonight in the Russian Capital of Moscow.

Last week, the U.S. State Department, through the embassy there issued a notice to all Americans in Moscow to avoid any large gatherings, concerts, obviously shopping centers, anything like that, simply for their own safety."

The U.S. has repeatedly urged its citizens to leave Russia amid growing tensions between the two countries over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago and the United States’ support of Kyiv in the war.

The embassy’s warning came on the same day that Russia’s Federal Security Service said it foiled a plot by an Islamic State-linked group to attack a synagogue in Moscow.

“A stop was put to the activity” by the group, Wilayat Khorasan, in Russia’s Kaluga region, just southwest of Moscow, the Federal Security Service said in a statement, Russian news agency TASS reported.

The statement also said the terror group “put up armed resistance to Russian FSB staff and as a result were neutralized by return fire."

It’s not clear if that incident and the U.S. warning are related.


Tuesday, March 19, 2024

USAF future plans include AI piloted "ghost fighter" drone swams.

THE DAILY MAIL 


The US Air Force has launched a $6 billion contract for 1,000 AI-piloted fighter jets that can fly 30ft above the ground at 600mph and make moves that are too dangerous for manned planes.

The jets will bolster the current ailing and outdated fleet that leaders say is the smallest and oldest since the Air Force became a separate service in 1947.

The new fleet will be able to perform riskier maneuvers than unmanned aircraft, and will escort and protect crewed planes, carry weapons to attack targets on the ground and in the air and act as scouts.

Five companies are bidding for the contract: Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Atomics and Anduril Industries, but only the Boeing Ghost Bat has been flown publicly.

The Pentagon will choose two of the companies by summer to start building the jets and hopes to have hundreds completed within five years at an estimated cost of $10 to $20 million per plane.

The drones, known as Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), will be smaller than existing fighters at 20 to 30 feet long. They will be made to deter China and its growing military strength.

The newest jets will travel at just below the speed of sound, carrying missiles and weaponry to fire at enemy aircraft and targets on the ground.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told the Wall Street Journal: 'They offer a lot of things that traditional crewed fighter planes just aren’t designed to do.'

The newest models will be a step up from the small drones have become a key feature of modern battlefields in recent years in Ukraine and parts of the Middle East.

Larger drones, like the new fleet, are needed to tackle the vast distances of the western Pacific.

The planes rely on artificial intelligence to fly autonomously and adapt to changing conditions in combat.

One of the main new developers of flying software is Shield AI.

Their technology helped an uncrewed F-16 regularly beat some of the best Air Force pilots in simulated missions, allowing their planes to skim the ground at 600 miles an hour.

Ground controllers could manage 10 of the drones at once or they can be programmed to fly in swarms, overwhelming and confusing the enemy.

The planes should also be cheaper than manned aircraft as they are designed to be expendable, flying one or two missions before they are retired or destroyed, meaning they can be made with cheaper parts.

Friday, February 23, 2024

Russia looses another A-50 early warning aircraft.



The Ukrainian Air Force downed a rare Russian A-50 early warning and control aircraft over the Azov Sea on the evening of Feb. 23, Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk reported.

Ukraine's military intelligence agency confirmed the aircraft had been downed as a result of a joint operation with the Air Force. The downing is "another serious blow" to Russia's military capabilities, the agency said.

Oleshchuk posted on Telegram at around at 8 p.m. local time (UTC+2) to thank "all those who ensured the result."

Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti reported minutes later that "an unidentified aircraft crashed in the Kanevskoy District in Krasnodar Krai."

A second report from RIA Novosti said that two aircraft had crashed in the area, causing a large fire to break out at the crash site. A third update at around 9 p.m. UTC+2 time claimed that there had in fact only been one aircraft involved in the crash.

Kanevskoy District is situated on the coast of the Azov Sea, 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the front line in Ukraine.

HUR later said that the aircraft was downed near the city of Yeysk, which is located around 50 kilometers (32 miles) north of Kanevskoy District and is home to a Russian military airfield.

According the agency, the plane was a modernized version of the Soviet-built jet.



The Ukrainian Air Force had previously downed a Russian A-50 over the Azov Sea on Jan. 14. An Il-22 airborne control center was also reportedly damaged beyond repair in the same operation.

The A-50 provides several critical functions for the ongoing war in Ukraine, such as detecting air defense systems, guided missiles, and coordinating targets for Russian fighter jets. Russia possesses less than ten of these planes.

A-50 aircraft have an estimated price tag of around $350 million. The destruction of the jet is the latest in a recent uptick of downed Russian planes.

Thursday, February 15, 2024

WHITE HOUSE CONFIRMS RUSSIAN SPACE THREAT IS EMERGING SATELLITE WEAPON


WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House publicly confirmed on Thursday that Russia has obtained a “troubling” emerging anti-satellite weapon but said it cannot directly cause “physical destruction” on Earth.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said U.S. intelligence officials have information that Russia has obtained the capability but that such a weapon is not currently operational. U.S. officials are analyzing the information they have on the emerging technology and have consulted with allies and partners on the matter.

“First this is not an active capability that’s been deployed and though Russia’s pursuit of this particular capability is troubling, there is no immediate threat to anyone’s safety,” Kirby said. “We’re not talking about a weapon that can be used to used to attack human beings or cause physical destruction here on Earth.’’

The White House confirmed its intelligence after a vague warning Wednesday from the Republican head of the House Intelligence Committee, Ohio Rep. Mike Turner, urged the Biden administration to declassify information about what he called a serious national security threat.


“It’s obvious that Washington is trying to force Congress to vote on the aid bill by hook or by crook,” Peskov said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies. “Let’s see what ruse the White House will use.”

The capability is space based and would violate an international space treaty, to which more than 130 countries have signed onto, including Russia.

The White House said it would look to engage the Russians directly on the concerns. Even as the White House sought to assure Americans, Kirby acknowledged it was a serious matter.

“I don’t want to minimize the potential here for disruption,” Kirby said.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan was scheduled to brief lawmakers Thursday on Capitol Hill on the Russian threat.


Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Rep Turner leaks information on "serious national security threats." UPDATE: POSSIBLE SPACE BASED NUKES?



Washington
CNN —


House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner has made information concerning a “serious national security threat” available to all members of Congress to review, the committee said on Wednesday.

While Turner and the White House remained vague on what the threat entailed, two sources and a US official tell CNN the threat is related to Russia. Multiple sources familiar with the intelligence characterized it as “very sensitive.”

One of the sources who has seen the intelligence confirmed that “it is, in fact, a highly concerning and destabilizing” Russian capability “that we were recently made aware of.” But House Speaker Mike Johnson later sought to soothe concerns about the unspecified threat, saying there is “no cause for alarm.”

“We just want to assure everyone steady hands are at the wheel,” Johnson said. “We’re working on it and there’s no need for alarm.”

While the Wednesday warning was vague, the United States has long been concerned about Russian military capabilities and the country’s destabilizing influence in Europe and around the world as the war in Ukraine continues, with the prospects of additional US aid being sent to Kyiv shaky.

Earlier Wednesday, Turner sent his Congressional colleagues a letter saying the urgent matter is “with regard to a destabilizing foreign military capability.”

Turner said in the letter to his congressional colleagues that the House Intelligence Committee voted on February 13 to make certain information available for lawmakers to review and says members have time to view this between Wednesday and Friday.

Turner is also calling on President Joe Biden to declassify “all information relating to this threat.”

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said he had personally reached out to set a meeting with top lawmakers on national security committees before Turner warned publicly of what he termed the “serious national security threat.”

Sullivan signaled some frustration with Turner for preempting that meeting, scheduled for Thursday with his public statement, saying he was “a bit surprised Turner came out publicly today”

“I reached out to see Turner,” Sullivan said. “Turner has gone out publicly. I’m going to go see Turner tomorrow. That’s where I want to leave things for today.”

He declined to elaborate on the nature of the threat.

“I’m not in a position to say anything further from this podium at this time,” he said.

He emphasized the Biden administration has “gone further and in more creative, more strategic ways, dealt with the declassification of intelligence in the national interest of the United States than any administration in history.”

“So you definitely are not going to find an unwillingness to do that when it’s in our national security interest to do so,” he said

This story has been updated with additional information.


The White House's national security adviser said Wednesday that he had already scheduled a classified meeting with congressional leadership before a top House Republican requested that President Joe Biden "declassify all information" that relates to "serious national security threat."

Two sources familiar with deliberations on Capitol Hill said the intelligence has to do with the Russians wanting to put a nuclear weapon into space.

This is not to drop a nuclear weapon onto Earth but rather to possibly use against satellites.

"It is very concerning and very sensitive," said one source, who called it "a big deal."

While not addressing the subject matter directly, multiple members of Congress have described the issue as serious -- but nothing that should cause public alarm.



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