HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFNS) -- A remotely piloted MQ-9 Reaper assigned to the 29th Attack Squadron sustained damage during landing here Aug. 24.

The accident occurred at the end of a local training mission. The 29th AS is a remotely piloted aircraft flying training unit.

No one was injured, and no private property was damaged.

A board is convening to investigate the cause of the accident.

Article by Air Force News Service

USS New Orleans (LPD 18) responded to a distress call during its pre-deployment exercise leading to the capture of more than 1,800 lbs. of alleged contraband Aug. 20, off the coast of San Diego.

New Orleans was scheduled to perform an underway replenishment with USS Makin Island (LHD 8) and the military sealift command replenishment oiler USNS Yukon when a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter notified the New Orleans of a vessel in distress.

While making best speed, New Orleans received word of possible dumping of suspected contraband from the vessel.

The Republic of Korea-United States Combined Forces Command exercise "Ulchi Freedom Guardian" runs through Aug. 26 with more than 530,000 troops participating from nine nations.

The Republic of Korea, United States and seven United Nations Command countries are taking part both on the peninsula and at U.S. military headquarters in the Pacific and the United States.

The F-35 integrated test force completed jet blast deflector (JBD) testing at the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) facility in Lakehurst, N.J. Aug. 13 with a round of two-aircraft testing.

F-35C test aircraft CF-1 along with an F/A-18E tested a combined JBD cooling panel configuration to assess the integration of F-35s in aircraft carrier launch operations.

"We completed all of our JBD test points efficiently," said Andrew Maack, government chief test engineer. "It was a great collaborative effort by all parties."

Dear LTC (ret.) Brown,

Eighty percent of the intelligence our adversaries collect is from "open source" that someone placed on unsecure websites.

What are they are looking for:

•Names/photographs of important people
•Present and future U.S. capabilities
•Meetings of top officials
•News about U.S. diplomacy
•Important government places
•Information about military facilities:
- Location
- Units
- Amount of lighting
- Exterior size and shape of buildings
- Number of Soldiers / officers
- Ammunition depot locations
•Leave policies
•Brigade and company names
•Degree & speed of mobilization

There we were one sunny Saturday in December on standby to help fight forest fires when we got the word to launch three aircraft. Everything was uneventful - or so we thought. Link No. 1 in the chain: the radar altimeter was written up on the aircraft as unreliable, which was a common occurrence at the time. A risk assessment performed by the crew determined it as an acceptable low risk since most of the aircraft had the problem. The crew would mitigate the risk by good crew coordination and ensuring the barometric altimeter was current and used for reference for height above the ground.

National Guard adjutants general along the East and Gulf Coasts are currently awaiting the potential landfall of Hurricane Irene, but are prepared to act if called upon by their governors, Guard officials said Aug. 23.

As of 3:30 p.m., the Florida National Guard 125th Fighter Wing, has upgraded to Hurricane Condition (HURCON) 3 and began to evacuate aircraft. They have not begun to evacuate personnel.

Sailors, civilians and families are closely watching the development of Hurricane Irene Aug. 23 as the storm's current track indicates a possible landfall along the Virginia and North Carolina coasts as early as Aug. 27.

As U.S. 2nd Fleet prepares to deal with the changing weather conditions, Navy families must also prepare to handle potential weather related disasters at home.