US official: Navy plane may have crossed Venezuelan airspace
WASHINGTON (AP) - A U.S. Navy plane apparently accidentally crossed into Venezuela's airspace Saturday night, triggering protests from that country, according to a U.S. defense official familiar with the report.
The S-3 Viking aircraft, based in Curacao, was on a training mission in international airspace near Los Roques Island, Venezuela, and experienced "intermittent navigational problems," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The aircraft is used for counter-narcotics missions. Navy crew on the S-3 reported they had a brief radio conversation with air traffic control personnel in Maiquetia, and believed that they had mistakenly flown into Venezuelan airspace, the official said.
FAS Military Analysis Network describes the "training mission" plane as follows:
S-3B Aircraft are tasked by the Carrier Battle Group Commanders to provide Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and Anti-Surface Warfare (ASUW), surface surveillance and intelligence collection, electronic warfare, mine warfare, coordinated search and rescue, and fleet support missions, including air wing tanking.So this begs the question, what exactly were they training for? A heavily armed, high tech, spy plane near the region of Venezuela that Georgie's buddies in Columbia are trying to get to cede from Venezuela for the capitalist profit to be harvested there. And there is also a presidential compound where they flew over.
The S-3B Aircraft is manned and operated by an aircrew of four. The aircrew consists of a pilot, Copilot Tactical Coordinator (COTAC), acoustic Sensor Station Operator (SENSO), and Tactical Coordinator (TACCO). The S-3B Aircraft carries surface and subsurface search equipment with integrated target acquisition and sensor coordinating systems which can collect, process, interpret, and store ASW and ASUW sensor data. It has a direct attack capability with a variety of armament.
The S-3B's high speed computer system processes information generated by the acoustic and non-acoustic target sensor systems. This includes a new Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) and ESM systems suites. To destroy targets, the S-3B Viking employs an impressive array of airborne weaponry. This provides the fleet with a very effective airborne capability to combat the significant threat presented by modern combatants and submarines. Additionally, all S-3B aircraft are capable of carrying an inflight refueling "buddy" store. This allows the transfer of fuel from the Viking aircraft to other Naval strike aircraft, thus extending their combat radius.
The S-3B Aircraft is a modified S-3A Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) aircraft, with increased ASW and new Anti-Surface Warfare capabilities through improvements to various mission avionics and armament systems. It has increased capabilities through improvements to the general purpose digital computer, acoustic data processor, radar, sonobuoy receiver, sonobuoy reference system, and electronic support measures, and includes the installation of an electronic countermeasures dispensing system and the Harpoon Missile System. It also encompasses provisions for the Joint Tactical Information Distribution System. The Communications Control Group [CCG] provides improved communication capability and greatly improved reliability over the Switching Logic Unit and Intercommunication System used in the S-3A. The Global Positioning System [GPS] modification replaces the Tactical Air Navigation (TACAN) portion of the S-3B Aircraft TACAN Inertial Navigation System once TACAN is phased out. This new navigation system will also comply with the requirement for the S-3B Aircraft to have Federal Aviation Administration certifiable GPS Radio Navigation capability. The GPS will provide increased operational capability and mission effectiveness by providing precise navigation position information during all phases of aircraft operations. The AN/USH-42 Mission Recorder Reproducer Set [MR/RS] replaces the obsolete and unsupportable RO457 Video Signal Recorder. It allows for multi-channel recording of S-3B Aircraft Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar, Forward Looking Infrared, and mission avionics data. The capability for in-flight video recording, in-flight and post-flight playback, analysis, and duplication are also new features.
We already know that our own UAV did the bombing of the FARC camp in Ecuador for the Columbian government. Where in spite of the massive bombing, those "incriminating" laptops survived only to be determined that the data had been accessed and altered AFTER all the "rebel terrorists" there were dead.
Uhm-hmm. Yeah, right. Keep your eyes on the shell with the ball under it. The excuses are getting thin.
