Wow - $US 100million down the drain again:




Brad Lendon

Updated 2 hr ago


A US Navy F-35 fighter jet crashed in central California Wednesday near Naval Air Station Lemoore, according to a Navy press statement.

The pilot ejected safely, and the cause of the crash, which occurred around 6:30 pm, is under investigation, the statement said.

Video from CNN affiliate KFSN showed fire and thick black smoke rising from the crash site in flat, open farmland near the air station, around 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of the city of Fresno in central California.

A local EMS crew was at the scene helping the pilot, and Cal Fire also responded, a Fresno County sheriff’s Office statement said.

The aircraft was assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron VF-125, known as the “Rough Raiders,” the Navy said. VF-125 is a Fleet Replacement Squadron, responsible for training pilots and aircrew.

The crashed jet was an F-35C, one of three variants of the F-35 Lightning II, designed for use on US aircraft carriers. The US Air Force flies the F-35A while the Marine Corps flies the F-35B, a short takeoff, vertical landing jet.

The crash of the aircraft, priced at around , was the second of an F-35 this year. An Air Force F-35A crashed at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska in January during a training mission. The pilot also ejected safely in that incident.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/23/china/china-aircraft-carrier-launch-system-in...




Updated 4 hr ago


Hong Kong and Seoul
—
China’s latest and most capable aircraft carrier has used its new electromagnetic catapult to successfully launch three types of aircraft, according to Chinese state media, which released footage of the launches for the first time to mark the technological breakthrough.

In footage released by state broadcaster CCTV on Monday, China’s fifth-generation J-35 stealth fighter, 4.5-generation J-15T fighter and KJ-600 early warning and control aircraft were seen taking off from the Fujian aircraft carrier using its advanced launching system, also known as EMALS.

State media hailed the tests as another “breakthrough” in China’s aircraft carrier development and a “milestone” in advancing its naval transformation.

The only other aircraft carrier in the world that has the EMALS system is the US Navy’s newest carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, which was certified for flight deck operations using the EMALS system in the spring of 2022.

The development comes as a US Congress delegation is in Beijing for talks aimed at bolstering bilateral exchanges including military-to-military communication, in the first such visit to China in six years.

The successful tests on the Fujian, which included both catapult launch and arrested landing, mean the ship’s commissioning – when it officially enters the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) fleet – could be only a few weeks away, said analyst Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain.


“China is the most rapidly growing military and the most rapidly growing nuclear power in the world. The US has the biggest military in the world and the biggest nuclear arsenal. It is dangerous for us not to be having regular communications about our capabilities and intentions, so we understand each other, and so that miscalculations and misunderstandings don’t lead to larger problems,” Smith told reporters in Beijing.

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In early June, the Navy's aircraft carrier formation conducted training in the Western Pacific. The picture shows the Shandong aircraft carrier launching carrier-based fighter jets.
China’s aircraft carriers send message in the open Pacific for the first time – and bigger and more powerful ships are coming

“We’ve seen this with our ships, our planes, their ships, their planes, coming entirely too close to one another. We need to have a better conversation about de-conflicting those things,” he said, while calling for the US and China to ramp up dialogue on nuclear weapons.

Setanta wrote on Sep 23^rd, 2025 at 9:13pm:



I miss him already.   

My plan:

$20 billion would be enough to build a multiple dry dock
to service the Virginia subs for 30 years -
maybe it would be more?
Brand new Virginia class subs would last us for at least 30 years
and be upgradeable if needed.

The other alternative would be to put all that money into
other military projects -
maybe looking at destroying a Chinese invading armada with missiles
or air launched torpedoes?
I don't think it's been well thought out -
it sounds like a white elephant to me.
I've yet to see a great justification -
Keating tore the whole idea apart easily.

Chamberlain said - there is peace for our time.

I don't think Neville believed his own words -
he just bought time to make enough Spitfires to stop the Germans
and it worked.

I think we need to read up on history:
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2018/04/did-neville-chamberlain-create-con...

We're in the same predicament.
We need to build up our defence quickly.
We can't wait till the 2040s to have a few submarines.
What are some faster solutions?
Air launched missiles to be able to sink any Chinese armada?