Global Conflict Reporting

Category: US News

  • Northrop Grumman building apart of facility making ballistic missile parts destroyed by a large explosion.

    By. Scott Jackson

    04/17/20225

    On wendsday morning, April 16, in Promontory, Utah, authorities are investigating a large explosion that destroyed a building that was apart of the Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems facility involved in building rocket motors.

    The building is a complete loss after yesterday mornings explosion.

    Local police received the report of the explosion at 7:38am. Soon after they asked that people stay clear and evacuate the area if necessary as the fire was still going.

    Video taken from KSL chopper 5 that shows the aftermath at the scene.

    “There was an incident in one building at our Promontory, Utah facility this morning and we are working to determine the cause. Employees working in or near the building today are accounted for and there are no significant injuries reported,”

    -a statement from Northrop Grumman.

    Before being squired by Northrop Grumman in 2018 the facility was owned by a company called Orbital ATK. The facility specializes in making solid rocket motors for the military as well as NASA and other commercial aerospace companies. This facility is making the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) stage-one solid rocket motor.

    Full-scale qualification static fire test of the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) stage-one solid rocket motor at Northrop Grumman’s facility in Promontory, Utah, March 6, 2025. 

    The Sentinel ICBM program will eventually field 400 missiles in silos and 259 additional units for testing and demonstration. Northrop Grumman is the largest SRM production company in America and one of the o my companies. The only other major company The only other major SRM producer in the United States is Aerojet Rocketdyne, which became part of L3Harris in 2023

    Thank you for reading. I hope you get as much out of what I’m doing here as I get out of making these reports. If so I would invite you to join my Patreon. Doing that would help me more than I can describe. I’ve kept it as cheap as possible to become a member. It’s only a $1.00. However a dollar from even half of my Facebook followers would be a life changing amount of money for me and for this page.

    Thank you for all the support over the years. Here’s to many more. 

    -Scott

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  • North and South Carolina experiences a wave of wildfires. (Videos)

    North and South Carolina experiences a wave of wildfires. (Videos)

    03/02/2025

    By. Scott Jackson

    Firefighters across North and South Carolina are currently battling a staggering 175 wildfires. Windy and dry conditions across the states has caused for growing concern as evacuation orders are issued.

    The ongoing fires have burned over 4000 acres over the weekend and continued into Monday. South Carolina governor Henry McMasters issued some localized evacuation orders as well as a state of emergency allowing for federal funds and resources to be made available although I don’t have specifics for that as of yet.

    The cause of these wildfires is unknown in most cases however one in Polk County, North Carolina was caused by a downed power line. Conditions on the ground with low humidity and little rain haven’t helped matters. U.S. forest service put out an alert that improper and careless debris burning had caused some of the blazes. The U.S. forest Service was one hit with a wave of layoffs recently, some expect wildfires to increase as part of the forest services job is brush cleanup as well as other wildfire preventative measures.

    (I’ve reached out to the forest service and will update when I hear back.)

    Map shows the location of some of the larger blazes.

    The Myrtle beach area of South Carolina has been impacted by heavy fires. As always local reporting can’t be beat so I’m including it here:

    https://amp.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/article301310494.html

    Video from the Myrtle Beach Area.

    The Blue Ridge Mountains fire in North Carolina is threatening the communities of Saluda and Tryon, which are located near the South Carolina border. Reporting here.

    https://www.tryondailybulletin.com/2025/03/03/tryon-forest-fire-30-contained-has-burned-over-500-acres/

    The South Carolina National Guard has been mobilized to aid in the fire fighting efforts. Several Blackhawk Helicopters have been dispatched to carry water. No word from the White House on the ongoing situation.

  • Nimitz-Class Aircraft Carrier USS Harry S. Truman collided with a vessel at the Egyptian port of Said.

    Nimitz-Class Aircraft Carrier USS Harry S. Truman collided with a vessel at the Egyptian port of Said.

    By:Scott Jackson

    February 13th,2025
    USS Harry S. Truman.

    Yesterday at around 11:46pm local time the US Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) collided with the M/V Besiktas-M, a merchant vessel at the Egyptian port of Said near the mouth of the Suez Canal.

    Position of the ships at the time of writing. (2:25PMEST) Both ships seems to be moving under their own power. Highlighted vessel is the Truman, the other goverment vessel shown to the south of it is the Guided Missile Destroyer USS Jason Dunham (DDG 109) a part of its Strike Group.

    Statements from navy officials say that no flooding occurred because of the collision and that the Truman was undamaged and her nuclear power plant was safe and secure. The status of the Besiktas-M is unknown at this time.

    M/V Besiktas-M

    The Truman was most recently deployed to the Red Sea and Mediterranean to combat the threat from Iranian backed Houthis in Western Yemen, as well as projecting power in the region and supporting other US and allied forces in the area. Recent Iranian actions have made maintaining a force in the Middle East increasing only important.

    The Truman will likely continue or already has continued on its journey back to the Red Sea area. It was returning from a port call in Souda Bay, Crete Greece. NSA Souda Bay provides logistical and operational support to the components of the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group

    BWhile it might seem absurd to think a merchant vessel could get close enough to a carrier to collide with it in the first place because of the almost absurd amount of security around a U.S. Aircraft Carrier. However, in a restricted space such as close to the Suez Canal there isn’t room for everybody to maintain a distance from the carrier strike group and from how I understand it, all anybody can do is follow the international maritime “rules of the road” which have no requirements that merchant vessels make way for a carrier. All the U.S. can legally do is ask them to keep their distance. That’s how I understand it but if I’m wrong I welcome corrections.

    Update

    (5:00PM EST)

    Some more info has come on the merchant ship Besiktas-M. It is a Panamanian-flagged bulk cargo ship. The ship has been heading north through the Suez canal heading to its destination states as being Constanta in Romania on the Black Sea. The Truman was heading south at the time when the mishap took place. The bulk carrier is said to have moderate damage above the waterline but continued under its own power.

  • Navy Growler crashes over San Diego harbor. 

    Navy Growler crashes over San Diego harbor. 

    By: Scott Jackson

    February 12,2025
    EA-18G Growler.

    Today, at around 10:15 PDT A US navy Boeing EA-18G Growler Electronic Attack Jet assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 135 crashed while taking off at NAS (Navel Air Station) North Island. The pilot and copilot are both unharmed as they ejected into the San Diego harbor and were picked up. The crew were originally picked up by a sport fishing charter boat the M/V Marietta, before being transferred to a Customs and border patrol craft according to radio calls made in the area that were recorded. The customs patrol boat  transported them back to shore where they are now receiving medical attention at UC San Diego Health. 

    With the crew being recovered emergency crews will respond to the wreckage to investigate as well as clean up and debris and fuel from the crash. According to radio calls from the area there is a large amount of fuel and the navy has dispatched response teams.

    The cause of the crash is under investigation. 

    CCTV Video shows the EA-18G Growler coming in down in a quick descent. Essentially falling out of the sky. The camera barely catches it.

    The aircraft had traveled to San Diego for ongoing exercises, leaving its home airbase at NAS Whidbey Island in Washington State. It’s unknown if the aircraft was taking part in the Bamboo Eagle 25-1 exercise currently taking place in the pacific. 

    NAS Whidbey Island

    Bamboo Eagle is a massive event focused on a possible high stakes conflict in the Pacific Ocean with China. Being led by the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center in Nellis it has brought dozens of not hundreds of military aircraft to the region for this combined arms operation with the U.S. and several key allies. 

    Video taken from twitter user San Diego web cams shows footage from their livestream as well as the radio calls that happens after the crash.

    The EA-18G Growler is the U.S. Navy’s Electronic Attack aircraft that began to replace the EA-6B Prowler around the late 2010s. Based on the airframe of the F/A-18(E/F) It has since then become an integral part of the carrier air wing. The Growler swapped out the Super hornets main cannon with a strong AN/APG-79 AESA Radar. The plane has 9 weapons hard points but will almost always have 5 of those hard points taken up by ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming pods. The hard points that are left open are usually equipped with either AIM-120 AMRAAM for air threats or more likely AGM-88 HARM Anti-Radiation Missile that track enemy radar signals. The two wingtip rails that would usually hold AIM-9X sidewinders was replaced for AN/ALQ-218 passive radar warning receivers to detect enemy radar.

    While mostly known for jamming enemy radar enemy communication can also be jammed by the Growlers suite of comms jamming systems.

    Australian EA-18G Growler

    While the growler with its jamming pods can defeat all current air and surface threats it comes up against its future is always in question as new and more advanced radars are developed and fielded and it’s jamming pods become out of date. The airframe is only as good as its equipment that needs to be updated in the near future.

    Author note.

    We here at GCR respect and appreciate any aircraft and crew capable of the roles of SEAD and DEAD. Suppression and destruction of enemy air defense is one of the most important roles in the always critical task of establishing aerial supremacy. The Growler holds a special place in my heart as did the Prowler that came before. Hats off to all of today and yesterday’s Electronic Attack Planes as well as the F-4 that carried out the insane Wild Weasel missions.

    If you are somebody with knowledge of this story contact Scott at GCR. My contact info is on the Website and I would love to talk on or off the record regarding this story.

  • Airplane crash in Pennsylvania leaves 6 dead and questions to be answered.

    January 31st, 2025

    By. Scott Jackson

    A ring camera catches the Learjet as it falls from the sky.

    An airplane operated by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, in Pennsylvania crashed earlier today leaving 6 dead. 

    The plane was a medical transport plane carrying two pilots, two doctors, the patient and a family member and crashed shortly after takeoff. As the crash happened in the middle of the city the horrific explosion was recorded by several different cameras showing multiple angles, including one bystander who was a couple dozen feet away when the plane hit the ground. 

    The flight departed Philadelphia Airport (PNE) for Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri at 23:06 UTC(7:06PMEST), reaching a maximum altitude of 1,650 ft at 23:06:54. Its last recorded ADB-S reading showed the plane losing altitude at a vertical rate of -11,008 ft per minute. 

    Some data on the flight from Flightradar 24.
    A visualization from ADS-B Exchange.

    Not much is known about why the plane crashed. Possible icing conditions have been given as an explanation but we can’t yet confirm anything. 

    Several houses in the area of the crash were set on fire and fire fighters are currently fighting those fires. 

    A video from a bystander who witnessed the ground impact from several dozen ft. away.

  • American Airlines regional passenger jet collided with a U.S. army helicopter in Washington DC.

    January 30th, 2025

    By. Scott Jackson

    Wreckage of Flight 5342
    Search and rescue efforts underway.
    Images from a rescue helicopter show the debris in the river.

    PSA Flight 5342, a Bombardier CRJ700 passenger jet ,registered N530EA, was on a Wichita, Kansas -to-D.C path when on final approach for runway 33 at Ronald Regan Airport (DCA) when a Blackhawk helicopter, carrying 3 people collided with the plane sending it into the Potomac river with its 60 passengers and 4 crew aboard.  One person on the ground was also killed as both aircraft fell into the river. 

    ADS-B exchange shows the flight of the CRJ at the time of impact.
    ADS-B shows the path of the Blackhawk before impact.

    A search a rescue effort involving over 300 people has failed to turn up any survivors. 18 body’s have been pulled from the river at the time of writing. 

    Initially, there was some confusion on the identity of the helicopter as it was first mistakenly reported as apart of the DC metro police fleet and then again misidentified as UH-60 used for VIP transport. Heather Chairez, a spokesperson for the joint task force-National Capital Region confirmed the aircraft was a UH-60 Blackhawk on a training mission. 

    Airports have altitude restrictions for helicopters, usually keeping them around 200ft above ground level at the point of impact the plane would have been around 400-500 ft. Audio released after the accident confirms that the plane was pointed out to the helicopter crew. It’s likely that when asked to confirm they could see the plane, they might have looked at another plane that was coming in at the same time to land on a different runway. The plane was in a blind spot that would have been difficult to see.

    More information will come out in the following days. This is all based on information I’ve gathered from statements given by officials as well as open sources and could possibly be flawed.

    Info will be added here as it come out.

    Updates.

    • Helicopter was with Bravo Company 12th Aviation Battalion at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. It was conducting a training flight at the time of the crash.
    • Several aviation enthusiasts around the DC area have said that a crash like this around Ronald Reagan was a case of “when not if” Helicopters regularly fly that route down the river coming within a couple hundred feet of airplanes on final.

    Hi, this is Scott. I just wanted to say that my heart goes out to those affected by this accident. Tragedies like this are the hardest for me to write about but I know that doesn’t compare to the pain felt by those affected.