A fully operational SUSTAIN-type vehicle would also be the preferred low-cost way to get cargo and personnel to and from LEO [low earth orbit]…
TWO-STAGE-TO-ORBIT “BLACKSTAR” SYSTEM SHELVED AT GROOM LAKE?
—© Aviation Week and Space Technology, 5 March 2006…
U.S. intelligence agencies may have quietly mothballed a highly classified two-stage-to-orbit spaceplane system designed in the 1980s for reconnaissance, satellite-insertion and, possibly, weapons delivery…
…A large “mothership,” closely resembling the U.S. Air Force’s historic XB-70 supersonic bomber, carries the orbital component conformally under its fuselage, accelerating to supersonic speeds at high altitude before dropping the spaceplane. The orbiter’s engines fire and boost the vehicle into space. If mission requirements dictate, the spaceplane can either reach low Earth orbit or remain suborbital.
…Exactly what missions the Blackstar system may have been designed for and built to accomplish are as yet unconfirmed, but U.S. Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) officers and contractors have been toying with similar spaceplane concepts for years. Besides reconnaissance, they call for inserting small satellites into orbit, and either retrieving or servicing other spacecraft. Conceivably, such a vehicle could serve as an anti-satellite or space-to-ground weapons-delivery platform…
www.Iranian.ws (a U.S.-based Iranian Web site) polls, 13 March 2006
— 49 % of respondents believe the current Iranian regime will “go away because it is in its nature to be deposed by violent means.”
As to the question “If (or when) the time comes to choose between Iran or Islam,” 92 % chose “Iran.”
As to the question “Which is the right model of governance for Iran?” 45 % chose a republic, 34 % chose a monarchy, and only 8 % chose a theocracy.
As to the question “Do you support a separation of religion from state in Iran,” 81 % chose “Yes, of course,” and 16 % chose “No way.”
82 % of respondents rate Iran’s future under the current regime as “Not good.”
The poll Web site page http://www.iranian.ws/poll/ has a warning on it which reads: “According to some, you may turn to solid rock or may burn in hell for eternity by participating in our polls.”
PRATT & WHITNEY ROCKETDYNE COMPLETES MACH 5 TESTING OF WORLD’S FIRST CLOSED-LOOP HYDROCARBON-FUELED HYPERSONIC PROPULSION SYSTEM
— PR NewsWire-FirstCall, 27 July 2006
— CANOGA PARK, Calif.
— Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR), a business unit of United Technologies Corp., has completed testing of its hypersonic Ground Demonstrator Engine No. 2 (GDE-2) at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia…
The PWR GDE-2 produced significant hypersonic data results during several test runs conducted at Mach 5 conditions in the eight-foot High Temperature Tunnel at the Langley Research Center. The engine used standard JP-7 fuel in a closed-loop configuration to both cool engine hardware and fuel the engine’s combustor…
IRAN, RUSSIA: A NUCLEAR MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE
— Strategic Forecasting Inc., 27 September 2006—Russia and Iran have signed a contract for the delivery of 80 tons of nuclear fuel to Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power facility, which is scheduled to be completed in September 2007. Russia appears to be in the process of finishing updating its military doctrine. Closer economic ties with Iran will allow Russia to maintain a foothold in the Middle East while keeping pressure on the United States, which lacks the bandwidth to respond to Russia’s provocative moves.
PROLOGUE
“Group, atten-shun!”
The group of five hundred uniformed young men and women snapped to attention, and the reviewing party marched from their waiting position in a large white tent on the edge of the tarmac. The group leader saluted the reviewing party, who returned his salute. The reviewing party turned about-face as the flags of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Internal Defense Corps were marched out. The presiding officer of the reviewing party saluted, as did the entire assembly, followed by the playing of “Ey Iran,” a popular inspirational and patriotic song often preferred by the military over the pro-revolutionary official national anthem “Sorood-e Melli-ye Jomhoori-ye Eslami-ye Iran.” After the song concluded, the presiding officer stepped up to a podium, and the crowd of about two thousand guests and base employees were asked to be seated.
“Citizens, friends, families, and fellow warriors, I bid you welcome on this glorious and important morning here in Orumiyeh,” Major-General Hesarak al-Kan Buzhazi began. “I am proud to preside over this important occasion for the Islamic Republic of Iran. On behalf of His Holiness Imam Sayyed Mostafa Shīrāzemi, may God bless his name; president Masoud Ahmadad; senior adviser to the Supreme Defense Council His Holiness Hassan Mohtaz, may God preserve him; the chief of staff General Hoseyn Yassini; and the commander of the Revolutionary Guards Corps Lieutenant-General Muhammad Badi, I hereby activate the First Combined Border Defense Battalion.”
There was a short ceremony, during which Buzhazi unfurled the battalion flag and tied the combat-ready ribbon atop it, then handed the flag to its new commander and saluted him. Tall and slender, with gray hair worn slightly on the longish side and with a closely cropped gray beard and mustache, Buzhazi looked much younger than his sixty-one years. He wore a dark winter-weight fatigue jacket with no insignia on it except his general’s stars on his shoulders (but they were also black and hard to see from a distance), thick black fatigue pants, tanker boots, and a black visor cap with the earflaps folded up. He clasped the commander on the shoulders, kissed him on each cheek, returned his salute, and returned to the podium to finish his speech.
“I hope you all realize the significance of this ceremony today,” Buzhazi went on. His voice was deep, sharp, and clipped, and he spoke without notes. “As you know, the Supreme Leader, may God protect him, has ordained that one out of every ten citizens of Iran over the age of majority serve in the active or reserve military forces, so in case the forces of evil attack us, we can be ready. As we are a peaceful nation, maintaining a force this large is difficult and expensive, so persons not serving in the active-duty military forces are assigned to local militias, the Basij-i-mostazefin, what used to be called the ‘Army of the Oppressed.’ I don’t know about you, my friends, but I would not have liked being assigned to an army with the term ‘oppressed’ in its title.
“When I resigned my post as chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic and accepted the post of commander of the Basij, I found a force of willing and energetic men and women of all ages who desired nothing more than to serve their country, both as hard-working citizens and as defenders. What they lacked was proper training, motivation, and purpose. My goal was to transform the best of the Basij into a true fighting force, capable of not just assisting the active-duty forces, but complementing them. Ladies and gentlemen, and especially my fellow warriors, may I present to you, the First Combined Border Defense Battalion, The Lions, of the newly designated Islamic Republic of Iran Internal Defense Force!”
Amidst a round of enthusiastic applause, a procession of vehicles moved onto the tarmac from the north hangar area, surrounded by security guards in armored vehicles. The first vehicle was a ground support vehicle towing a single engine, two-man aircraft; the second was a road-mobile surface-to-air missile vehicle; and the third was a mobile anti-aircraft artillery vehicle.