U.S. stealth bomber lands in Colorado after emergency
The Air Force says a Missouri-based B-2 stealth bomber landed in Colorado Springs after an unspecified emergency.
A spokesman for the 21st Space Wing at Peterson Air Force Base, Sgt. Brian Bender, says the base’s first responders responded to an emergency involving the plane at about 4:20 a.m., Oct. 23.
He referred questions about the bomber’s emergency to Whiteman Air Force Base in Warrensburg, Mo., because it is the aircraft’s home base.
Officials at the base did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.
The B-2 costs about $1 billion, is designed to evade enemy radar and carries a two-person crew. AP
NATO chief says nuclear buildup unlikely despite US threats
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Oct. 24 that he does not expect a nuclear buildup in Europe as tensions rise over U.S. threats to pull out of a Cold War-era missile agreement amid allegations that Russia is violating the pact.
The United States insists that Russia’s 9M729 missile system contravenes the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and NATO allies agree that is probably the case. The pact between Moscow and Washington bans an entire class of weapons — all land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (310-3,410 miles).
Experts say the Russian system would operate at lower altitudes, making it tough to bring down. It could reach targets across Europe and even the U.S. west coast if stationed in Siberia.
Despite concerns about its capabilities, Stoltenberg said he does not “foresee that allies will deploy more nuclear weapons in Europe as a response to the new Russian missile.” But he added that the 29 member countries of the world’s biggest military alliance are now assessing
the implications of the new Russian missile for our security.
“We don’t want a new Cold War. We don’t want a new arms race,” he said at a news conference announcing the start of NATO’s biggest military exercises since that era of tensions ended in 1991.
The Trident Juncture maneuvers in Norway — which shares a border with Russia — will involve around 50,000 personnel, 65 ships, 250 aircraft and 10,000 vehicles. The hypothetical scenario involves restoring Norway’s sovereignty after an attack by a “fictitious aggressor.”
The wargames come weeks after Russia held its biggest post-Cold War military exercises, in cooperation with China.
Tensions between NATO allies and Russia soared in the 1980s during the so-called “Euromissiles crisis” when the United States deployed cruise missiles in Europe to counterbalance a perceived threat from Russia’s SS-20 nuclear warheads.
The European Union has urged both the United States and Russia to uphold the INF treaty, saying the pact is one of the cornerstones of European security. But Stoltenberg stopped short of calling on Washington, the biggest and most influential NATO member, to stay in the treaty.
“The INF is a landmark treaty but the problem is that no treaty can be effective, can work, if it’s only respected by one part,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels, noting that the “U.S. is in full compliance.”
He said that based on U.S. estimates and Russia’s reluctance to discuss the missile system with NATO, “the most plausible explanation is that Russia is in violation of the treaty.” AP
Retired U.S. general says war with China likely in 15 years
The former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe says it’s likely the United States will be at war with China in 15 years.
Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges said at a Warsaw security forum on Oct. 24 that European allies will have to do more to ensure their own defenses against Russia as Americans focus more on the Pacific.
Hodges said: “I think in 15 years — it’s not inevitable, but it is a very strong likelihood — that we will be at war with China. The United States does not have the capacity to do everything it has to do in Europe and in the Pacific to deal with the Chinese threat.”
Hodges, now with the Center for European Policy Analysis, was U.S. Army commander in Europe during 2014-17. AP
Northrop Grumman third quarter earnings snapshot
Northrop Grumman on Oct. 24 reported third-quarter net income of $1.14 billion.
On a per-share basis, the Falls Church, Va.,-based company said it had net income of $6.54.
The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $4.35 per share.
The defense contractor posted revenue of $8.09 billion in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $8 billion.
Northrop Grumman expects full-year earnings to be $18.75 to $19 per share, with revenue expected to be $30 billion.
Northrop Grumman shares have fallen roughly 1 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has increased 2.5 percent. The stock has increased slightly more than 3 percent in the last 12 months. AP
Boeing third quarter profit rises 31 percent, tops expectations
Boeing’s third-quarter profit soared 31 percent to $2.36 billion as airlines continued placing orders for new planes to meet growing demand for travel.
The results beat expectations, and Boeing raised its forecast for full-year earnings per share.
Boeing says passenger traffic climbed 6.8 percent in the first eight months of this year as a growing global middle class opens up to travel.
Even a few hiccups, such as this month’s shutdown of European low-cost carrier Primera Air, which couldn’t find financing, do not lessen Boeing’s bullishness. CEO Dennis Muilenburg says most of his airline customers are doing fine.
“The airline industry is very healthy overall across all of the different types of business models, including low-cost carriers,” Muilenburg said Wednesday on a call with analysts and reporters. Boeing predicts the world will demand 43,000 new passenger planes over the next 20 years.
Boeing delivered 190 airliners in the quarter. That is down 12 from the same period last year, but Boeing remains ahead of its 2017 pace. It took 171 net orders, contributing to a backlog that Boeing values at $491 billion and which includes more than 5,800 commercial planes.
Executives said they are getting a grip on supplier problems that have caused production delays for the 737, its most popular plane. Fuselages are again being delivered by Spirit AeroSystems, and the company expects a normal schedule of deliveries from engine maker CFM International by the end of the year, they said.
Boeing also runs a large defense business, which recently won Pentagon contracts for a new military training jet and an unmanned plane designed to refuel Navy fighter jets.
The company took a $691 million charge for early investments in those programs, but Muilenburg said there is a potential $60 billion market — in planes and follow-on services — for the T-X trainer jet and the MQ-25 drone. They are “franchises that are measured in decades,” he said.
Excluding what Boeing considers non-repeating gains and expenses, the Chicago-based company said it earned $3.58 per share. That beat the $3.45-per-share average forecast of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.
Revenue rose 4 percent to $25.15. Five analysts in the Zacks survey had expected $23.72 billion.
Boeing said it now expects to pose full-year adjusted earnings of $14.90 to $15.10 per share — an increase from a prior forecast of $14.30 to $14.50 per share — with revenue between $98 billion and $100 billion.
The company raised its forecast of full-year revenue by $1 billion, to between $98 billion and $100 billion.
Boeing shares, a component in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, began the day up 19 percent this year, compared with a 2.5 percent gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. AP