F-35C’s with Strike Fighter Squadron 97 (VFA-97) and EA-18G “Growlers” with Electronic Attack Squadron 136 (VAQ-136), both attached to Carrier Air Wing 2 (CVW-2).
April 14, 2024
Yesterday video footage was sent to me showing some footage taken in the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) confirming that the ship had arrived at the Gulf of Oman. The USS Carl Vinson has joined the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) in carrying out strikes against Houthi targets in western Yemen.
The USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) spotted entering the Gulf of Aden., passing to the north of Socotra Island. She was spotted by satilites of the European space agency.Location of USS Carl Vinson when photographed by satellites.
Media in Yemen is reporting Houthi areas receiving nearly daily strikes by US forces.
Aftermath of one of the strikes outside of Sanaa.
Targets have included Houthi weapons manufacturing and storage as well as platforms for launching these weapons. Also radar, and air defense systems as well as high level officers in the Houthi organization.
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.
Today the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet released several images showing the USS Nimitz (CVN 68) on their final deployments before her planned 2026/2027 decommissioning.
However, while the Nimitz is a good looking ship the rare part was one of its escorts in Carrier Strike Group 11 (CSG 11). Included in the pictures was USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001). One of only three commissioned Zumwalt-Class Stealth Missile Destroyer.
The Zumwalt-class Michael Monsoor, along with the Nimitz and the rest of CSG 11 are currently on deployment in the Pacific Ocean region.
Also included in the image are Arleigh Burke-Class Guided-Missile Destroyers; USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG l54), USS Gridley (DDG 101), and USS Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123) And U.S. Navy Replenishment Tanker, USNS John Lewis (T-AO-205).
To the future… and beyond.
The Zumwalt class was originally designed with littoral operations in mind and they were given a pair of Advanced Gun System (AGS) for their main guns. The AGS was designed for shore bombardment fire missions in support of ground operations however the ammo was very expensive (estimated at $800,000 to $1,000,000 per round in 2016) and only one ammo type was designed so now the gun has no ammo and the weapons is useless. The navy will eventually replace the guns with other systems like large Vertical Launch Cells for the navy’s hypersonic missile currently being tested by the USS Zumwalt. The AGS was designed around the time of the battleships being decommissioned. The navy was nervous about giving up its ability to carry out shore bombardment so the AGS was designed. The now canceled round that would have been fired by the AGS is the Long Range Land Attack Projectile (LRLAP) a rocket assisted precision GPS guided 155mm high explosive warhead that could fire 100 nautical miles.
USS Michael Monsoor.
Zumwalt’s odd shape came from the SC-21 (Surface Combatant for the 21st Century) research and development program started back in 1994. The program came up with many interesting designs such as the DD-21 or the destroyer for the 21st century, which has the distinctive hull now used by the Zumwalt class.
I see a bit of inspiration from the French La Fayette-class stealth frigate in both ships.
Concept art for the DD-21. The ship was thought up as a capable land, air and sea attack ship for the 21st century. This design went on to inspire the Zumwalt class. .
Aside from the DD-21 the SC-21 had several other interesting ideas I found in my research. One was called an arsenal ship. A massive floating missile platform with as many as 500 VLS cells loaded with Tomahawk cruise missiles. The ship was to be controlled by either a small crew or remotely piloted by crew members on one of the other ship. Todays navy thinking would have an aegis equipped cruiser other ship manually controlling this ship or possible one of the AWACS or AEW planes.
Concept art for the Arsenal ship.
The role this arsenal ship would have played is largely filled by the U.S. submarine fleet at the moment as the four oldest of the ballistic missile SSBN subs have been converted to the SSGN configuration. This change took the Trident missile cells and changed them out their nuclear payload for smaller but more numerous cruise missiles.
Tomahawk test-fire from USS Florida. 2008.
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Two days ago GCR reported that a number of US cargo planes were moving equipment to the Middle East. We have some more information on that today after Admiral Samuel J. Paparo revealed today at a hearing with the Senate Armed Services Committee, that several Patriot battery’s had been taken from South Korea and the Indian Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) and transferred to Central Command (CENTCOM). The airlifts were cauteries out by dozens of C-17’s.
Admiral Samuel J. Paparo, Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
INDOPACOM covers the pacific and Indian Ocean region and is one of the most important military commands for the U.S. as they struggle against Chinese territorial interest with Taiwan as well as other parts of the first island chain. CENTCOM on the other hand, covers the Middle East region and is currently carrying out operations against the Iranian backed Houthis in Yemen. US assets have been reported as being moved to the Middle East in a suspected threat to Iran. US president Donald Trump has made it clear that if negotiations aren’t started with Iran, concerning Irans nuclear program, bombs will be the next step.
While Iran has little in the way of modern aircraft capable of defending against these hypothetical US strikes, what they do have is hundreds of medium and long range ballistic missiles. High level officials from the Iranian government have made threats towards U.S. military bases in the region as well as the bases of anybody who could help the US with a strike on Irans. This is where the patriot systems come in.
Patriot missile test
A patriot battery is made up of the following.
6-8 launchers
1 radar set (AN/MPQ-53 phased-array radar)
An Engagement Control station.
An Electrical Power Plant
And an Antenna Mast Group.
Patriot PAC 2 launcher in service in Israel. AN/MPQ-53 phased-array radar
A patriot battalion is made up of anywhere from 4-6 battery’s and 24-48 launchers as well as the single radar, power, and Fire Control Station each.
The Patriots in South Korea are apart of an I rig rated defense system and cover US assets in the country like Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek and Osan Air Base.
South Korea has asked the U.S. Department of Defense to temporarily deploy substitute assets, such as alternative air defense systems or combat aircraft, on a rotational basis to cover the hole left in their air defense network with the removal of these systems between February and March. The Patriots are expected to remain in the Middle East for the next at least six months.
The U.S. has dozens of bases and locations in the region that could come under fire in the near future as tensions rise in the region. Iran has already threatened US forces as a retaliation for a possible strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Israel all have their own defense networks (some supplemented by THAAD and Patriot systems.)
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.
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Video footage released on the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) social media channels show some recent launches from the USS Harry S. Truman as fighter F/A-18 Superhornets and EA-18G Growlers conduct air attacks on Houthi targets in Western Yemen.
Our dedicated service members of the Harry S. Truman carrier strike group are on station, launching continuous operations 24/7 against Iran-backed Houthis…#HouthisAreTerroristspic.twitter.com/37K8ktC1QB
Videos showing launches from USS Harry S. The Truman, currently deployed to the Red Sea.
Info has been limited coming out of Yemen on the exact nature of these strikes. Almost no pictures showing battle damage have been released by either side, leaving little to be analyzed. However footage was released by the U.S. president Donald Trump showing a strike on a large group of people he said were Houthis who had gathered to discuss military plans. The video shows only people an and isn’t close enough to distinguish between fighter and non combatants which has caused some to claim the strikes might have been on civilian tribals during a normal gathering. Even if this was a legitimate strike, the video doesn’t really show one way or another. It’s too far away to distinguish much beyond it’s a group of people gathered. In today’s world, where everything can be turned into your enemy’s propaganda it’s important to be as thorough as possible with your evidence. If the US President is going to release video like this I would like to see more details included.
Video released by the President showing a strike on alleged Houthi terrorist. This clip has caused some controversy since its release.
Moving the Pieces
The Middle East/ Central Command area has continued to witness an increase in US military assets and soldiers being transferred into the region. A large number of heavy and super heavy cargo lifters have been tracked making delivers to any of the various airbases. Dozens of C-17s and several C-5s arriving at Bahrain’s Isa Airbase. Units are even being pulled from other areas with the Pentagon reportedly ordering 2 Patriot batteries as well as a Thermal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).pulled from South Korea and moved to the Middle East.
Also F-35s are reportedly being moved to Al Udeid Airbase in Qatar and Djibouti International Airport in the UAE. Diego Garcia is now housing at least 6 B-2 “Spirit” long range strategic stealth Bombers, as was reported by multiple outlets (including GCR).
It’s clear to those of us who have followed the region for any considerable amount of time that tensions between Iran and the combined United States and Israel are at the highest they have been since Irans ballistic missile attacks on Israel On 1 October 2024.
🇮🇱⚔️🇮🇷 Iranian ballistic missile barrage on Israel.
No amount of American "de-escalation" talk will save Iran from what Israel is about to do now. pic.twitter.com/2CIfEwiHa0
A post from Twitter showing the October 1sr attack on October 1St 2024.
Right now the U.S. and the rest of the western world are concerned what would happen if Iran were to produce nuclear weapons. They believe that them doing so would be a threat to the safety of the Middle East and everybody else. And so, Iran doing so is a red line for the U.S. and more so Israel. Where so the Yemeni Houthis fit in all of this? After all, it’s the Houthis that the U.S. is currently attacking with almost daily bomb and missile strikes.The Houthis are just apart of the game. They are a sort of proxy of Iran in that Iran supplies them with military equipment and training as well as support on the economic side. While their attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea have caused some economic woes for the worlds seafaring nations who traverse the Red Sea, I can tell you that the Houthis are not the people being talked about when the pentagon ask to bring a THAAD system into the Middle East. It’s not why they are shipping in mass amounts of supplies and airplanes (along with the squadrons to fly them and their support crews.) While the USS Harry S Truman might be parked in the Red Sea it’s a good bet the USS Carl Vinson will go into the Gulf Of Oman or through the Strait of Hormuz.
It takes alot to get the U.S. military machine moving as much and as fast as they are right now. Once that machine starts cranking, getting it stopped is another matter.
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.
Very soon I’ll have some audio content for those who do decide to sign up. It’s something I’ve been planning for a while and I’m very pumped to get into that. I’m the type of person that at this point it’s more strange that I don’t have some sort of podcast :D. I’m hoping to start that in the next week or so. Later will come some video projects I have some ideas for as well but teaching myself how to do all that I’m envisioning has been a little more challenging.
All of your support means the world to me. GCR has become the most important thing to me in my life besides my family and it means something that it receives so much support.
As always and from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un revealed the country’s new airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) jet at an event at Pyongyang International Airport.
The plane is designed around the body of a Ilyushin Il-76 Candid, the same plane used for the Russian’s Beriev A-50 “Mainstay” and the Chinese Shaanxi KJ-2000 “Mainring”. The name of the new North Korean airplane has not been released as of yet.
Russian “Mainstay “ flanked by two Russian MiG-31’s.Chinese “Mainring”
One thing noticed about the North Korean version of this aircraft is that it lacks the normal amount of antenna one would usually expect in these types of planes. This could signal a lack of features found in Russian and Chinese version. Another difference, at least to the Russian Mainstay is that the radome on top does not spin. This is similar to the Chinese version. Fixed radomes like this house 3 fixed phased array radars that each cover 120 degrees of the sky for a fill 369 degrees.
North Korean leader Kim Jung Un climbs aboard new NK AWAC’s. Diagram showing the degrees of coverage from the plane.
Images of the interior of the plane were also released showing at least seven individual workstations and several flatscreens for displaying mission data. AEW&C aircraft typically have large crews for operating the radar as well covering traffic control duties for friendly aircraft and mission control for different units. The exsist acne of this plane has been known for over a year as satilite pictures were released showing the plane under construction. The Warzone has an older write up on the possible capabilities of North Korean AEW&C’s that I would like to include.
Kim Jung Un tours the interior of the NK Airborne Early Warning & Command airplane.
“While it’s questionable to what degree more complex battle management and command and control functions could be mastered by North Korea, and hosted aboard an AEW&C aircraft, the ability to extend airborne radar coverage over considerable distances would be a great advantage, either providing prior warning of a potential attack from South Korea and/or tracking incoming aircraft and missiles during at least the opening moments of a conflict. The data it collects could also be shared with surface-to-air missile operators to help provide extra warning to enhance their operations. More importantly, it would provide a new tool for daily surveillance of North Korean and South Korean airspace and an avenue to learn to better perfect AEW&C capabilities.”
They went in to include.
“Ultimately, an airborne radar, as found in an AEW&C aircraft, provides a ‘look down’ capability that can spot aircraft, cruise missiles, or drones among the ground clutter and is far less restricted by high terrain compared to ground-based radars. No such radar was previously available to North Korea.”
“On the other hand, there are no signs that North Korea is converting more than a single Il-76 for the AEW&C mission, which means this kind of coverage would be necessarily limited.”
A shot of the plane under construction back in 2024. Shot from earlier this year.
It’s likely but unclear how much support North Korea received from China or Russia in the construction of the craft. One thought is that Russia provided help with the project in exchange for North Koreas recent aid in Russia’s invasion into Ukraine. North Korea earlier sent around 10,000 soldiers to help in Russia Kursk region and just recently it was announced that 2,000 more were being dispatched to the region.
An ongoing story in Europe as 4 US soldiers have gone missing during a training exercise being carried out in Pabradė, a town near the border between Lithuania and the Belorussian border. The four were all apart of 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division and based at Fort Stewart, Georgia.
A comment from the commanding general
“I would like to personally thank the Lithuanian Armed Forces and first responders who quickly came to our aid in our search operations,” said Lt. Gen. Charles Costanza, the V Corps commanding general. “It’s this kind of teamwork and support that exemplifies the importance of our partnership and our humanity regardless of what flags we wear on our shoulders.”
The army later put out a statement that the crews M88 Hercules armored vehicle they had last been seen in had been found submerged in a body of water and that recovery efforts were ongoing. Members of the U.S. army as well as the Lithuanian army are working to recover the vehicle with the help of civilian agencies.
It’s very likely that the crew was in the vehicle when it was submerged as they probably would have showed up by now. The army would understandably want to notify the families and recover the body’s before any announcement is made.
Our thoughts are with the families and those who knew them.
The U.S. Department of Defense has ordered the USS Carl Vinson(CVN-70) to the Middle East after its current deployment ends. All this is with the backdrop of a nonstop U.S. offensive on Iranian backed Houthi terrorist in Western Yemen,ongoing for over a week.
USS Carl Vinson Transitions the Philippines Sea Jan. 2 2022.
Currently the USS Carl Vinson along with her CSG have been assigned to the 7th fleet in the East Asia region but will leave for the Middle East soon. The CSG is expected to take two-three weeks to arrive when it will join the USS Harry S. Truman already in the region. The Truman has been carrying out daily strikes on Houthi targets. Truman’s deployment was scheduled to end soon but was extended at least a month, possibly longer.
Recent footage showing operations from the USS Harry S Truman Strike group as they carry out strikes against the Houthis.
The USS Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group is at last sighting made up of Ticonderoga-Class Guided missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59)as well as the Arleigh Burke-Class Guided Missile Destroyers USS Sterett (DDG 104) and USS Ralph Johnson (DDG 114).
Makeup of the Carl Vinsons Air Wing.
The USS Carl Vinson was the Navy’s test bed for integrating 5th generation fighter jets into the Carrier Air wing. Specifically adding F-35C’s Lightning II which are capable of being launched from the Carrier. The F-35’s are a great addition to the fleet, adding an impressive Multi-Mission capable airframe to an already dominant group of war fighting planes. The officers of the Carl Vinson noted that the F-35 paired really well with the electronic attack capabilities of the EA-18G Growler. Using them together in combined operations made for a hard to beat team, heavy jamming and EW mixed with the amazing stealth of the F-35.
A video, taken by Chinese beach goers shows one of Chinas new invasion ships.
Several weeks ago, satellite imagery was taken of a number of Chinese PLA Navy harbor ships being in various states of being built and near complete. These ships have large bridges that can be deployed from the front as well as a system for raising the ships out of the rough waters making loading and unloading of equipment quick.
This image released by Allsource analysis shows the shipyard where the harbor ships are being built. 4 are shown here with more being expected to be built. Image from Navel News shows a diagram of how the ships operate. The “Mulberry harbor” pulls up to the beach and deploys its stabilizers and bridge, other ships holding troops and vehicles pull up to the rear of the ship and unload straight through to the beach.
These ships would allow China’s Navy to attempt to quickly land a sizable ground force at whatever point of an island as they wanted to. In a Taiwan invasion scenario these could be used to overwhelm defenders by spreading out the insertion points all across the island. China would also be able to quickly deploy such a large ground force that the U.S. would have little hope of managing to get them all off of the island without a long,drown-out confrontation that even if they could carry out would leave much of the island in ruin.
There is little to these ships making the build time very quick.
I reached out to PACOM but I’m still waiting on a statement. I’ll update if I get a response.
Most amateur analysts seem to believe that these ships would make easy targets and wouldn’t last more than a few minutes under fire. However. These ships are ment to be deployed into any sort of direct combat, and would also have the cover of the missile defense of the Chinese PLA Navy. These ships would be deployed after the bulk of any resistance was taken care of.
Early on Tuesday morning Ukraine targeted the Moscow region with its largest drone attack on the Russian capital since the start of the war, damaging high rise buildings and leaving at least 2 dead and 20 wounded including several children. Additionally, air traffic at all 4 of Moscow’s airport and the city’s train system was suspended and delayed.
The drones approved the city in several waves according to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin who put out a statement to local and international media.
I‘ve added some videos of the attack taken by locals and local news.
The scene from around the city as hundreds of drones attack Moscow and the regions around it.
All of this comes after Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s failed meeting with US president Donald Trump in which the two plus the Bice President JD Vance argued on live tv about the state of the war. After that meeting all US aid shipments to Ukraine were canceled along with all US supplied intel. The cancelation of the intel and supplies has been reversed but not before Russia made large gains taking back dozens of settlements that were held by Ukraine for months inside of Kursk. Tomorrow I’m going to do an overall update on the date of the war in Ukraine on all fronts, so stay tuned for that.
U.S. flagged tanker M/V Stena Immaculate, which had been chartered out by U.S. military Sealift command to carry around 220,000 barrels of Jet fuel for the U.S. military according to a spokesperson for the command. The ship was at anchor off the coast of England near Hull and Leeds when a Portuguese-flagged cargo ship Solong collided with the tanker. The incident sparked a massive fire in both ships as the Jet A1 fuel carried by Stena Immaculate ignited. Maritime tracking data confirms that the Solong failed to slow down or maneuver before the impact. An investigation will reveal more details but will take days or weeks to complete.
Photo from nearby as fire tugs attempt to fight the blaze from the Jet fuel.
A distress call was made by crew from the Stena Immaculate explaining what had happed and asking for ships with fire fighting equipment for assistance. The call also warned that the crew was evacuating. As of the last update from the scene 39 crew from the ships had been rescued, with most being hospitalized, all but one have since been released.
A look at the final position of both ships from Maritime Traffic data.
While jet fuel leaking into the coast of England and the North Sea might seem like a big deal(and it is) jet fuel will evaporate quickly and what doesn’t will be degraded rather quickly. The other problem is the cargo being carried by the Solong. Sodium Cyanide also known as cyanide salt has several industrial uses like extracting gold and metal from ores and being used in fumigation of ships and warehouses. However it’s highly toxic to animals and humans and can cause death rapidly.
Data showing the hours leading up to and the accident as well as the accident on maritime traffic.
Global Conflict Reporting 
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