A US Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk operated by the 1st Battalion, 228th Aviation Regiment under Joint Task Force-Bravo crashed in Honduras on Wednesday.
I reached out to US SOUTHCOM for any info they could give me and received this via email.
Pilots flying a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter made a precautionary emergency landing approximately five miles east of Soto Cano Air Base at 9:34 a.m. Wednesday. All five crew members were evaluated by medical personnel, and no significant injuries have been reported. The aircrew was performing routine training in the area. An investigation is being conducted to determine the cause of the incident. The aircraft and aircrew are assigned to 1-228th Aviation Regiment out of Soto Cano Air Base near Comayagua, Honduras.
Steven Mcloud (SOUTHCOM Media relations officer)
The crashed Sikorsky Uh-60 Blackhawk.
The Blackhawk received significant damage on impact appearing to have snapped its tail off. The fuselage appears mostly intact, likely saving the crews life, although injuries were initially reported. Those injuries haven’t been confirmed but were reported by other outlets who spoke with Carlos Padilla, head of Air Navigation at the Honduran Civil Aeronautics Agency (AHAC).
Before the crash the crew had declared an emergency Mayday distress signal according to AHAC.
Video of the aftermath of the crash.
The military will conduct its investigation and depending on the findings will release its report sometime in the future. Whether this crash was mechanical or pilot error is yet to be determined.
At 10:04am local time, Thursday, during a training exercise, a South Korean fighter jet, a KIA KF-16 dropped 8 bombs on the town of Pocheon in South Korea, near the border with North Korea.
Some of the damage shown as well as a quick snap of the aftermath of the explosion.
While only one of the bombs is thought to explode the damage destroyed a church and several other buildings. Thankfully although a reported 7 that were injured, some in critical condition and were hospitalized, there were no fatalities. All injured remained conscious, many involved had bone fractures and breaks and one man caught shrapnel in his neck while driving.
A South Korean Air Force official said ” Our KF-16, abnormally dropped 8 shells of MK-82 bombs, it landed outside of firing range.” The Air Force continued that they would be investigating the incident and apologized for the damage cause.
Korean KF-16 the licensed South Korean version of the F-16. MK-82
Rumors were pretty heavy across social media last night, most people were trying to push a narrative that the U.S. accidentally bombed a South Korean town which isn’t true. The U.S. and South Korea havent trained together yet since the new presidential administration and will be conducting their first drills on March 10-20 as reported several days ago by AP. Ever since twitter did away with the old way it used to do verifications, you very often will see supposedly verified blue check mark accounts, lying for clicks. Just something to be aware of.
Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) ships, first spotted last week according to Australian officials, have carried out a military drill in the Tasman Sea, the area between Australia and New Zealand. The drill, carried out on Friday, consisted of ship maneuvers as well as a live-fire component. Air traffic in the region was warned only moments before the live fire drills started and were forced to divert to other routes.
“We haven’t been given a reason as to why they’re here in this configuration with this set of ships, with these different set of capabilities, and we don’t really have a sense of, you know, we haven’t been told where they’re going and why.”
Said New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. He continued
“They are in international waters, they are completely within the balance of international law and the UN Convention on the law on the sea, which is important, it is important that all countries have freedom of navigation, it works for us when we are out and about in the world as well.”
The task force of Chinese ships was led by Type 055 destroyer Zunyi. Also was the Type 054A Frigate Hengyang, and Type 903 replenishment ship Weishanhu.
February 17 concluded a 24 hour flight for a number of US aircraft that went on a “show of force” mission. Also called a “force projection” demonstration through the Middle East.
Flying out of RAF Fairford, South of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, 2 US B-52 Stratofortress long range bombers made their way south over Europe and into the Mediterranean and then on to the Middle East.
The Bombers were joined by a number of escorts from 4 regional partner nations at various points during its mission as well as at least 2 U.S. F-15 Strike Eagles.
B-52s flying with 2 US F-15 Strike Eagles as well as two unknown partner nation F-16s Vipers.
“Bomber Task Force missions demonstrate U.S. power projection capability, commitment to regional security, and ability to respond to any state or non-state actor seeking to broaden or escalate conflict in the CENTCOM region”said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, CENTCOM commander.
While being mainly a power projection mission the bombers also took part in dropping live munitions on several target ranges located in partner nations.
Live fire range bombing (location unknown released by US CENTCOM)
These bombers are apart of the 69th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron that just started the U.S. Air Forces first European bomber deployment for the year. They will fly out of RAF Fairford and are under command of U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFA).
Some of the B-52s in Europe had already been photographed earlier this week when a picture was released by USAFE out of the cockpit of a B-52 showing them flying alongside French Dassault Rafales, Swedish Saab JAS-39 Gripens, and Finnish F/A-18 Hornets,other photos were later released of the the flight. (shown below)
Operation APEX COMMANDER shows the U.S. Bombers operating with European allied fighters.
“Bomber Task Force missions reinforce our ability to rapidly project combat power, demonstrating U.S. lethality and readiness in a dynamic security environment,” Maj. Gen. Joseph Campo, U.S. Air Forces in Europe–Air Forces
While the U.S. has shown a desire to back away from European security it’s likely that the bomber deployments will, at least for the moment remain. US Allies do not, for the most part, have the ground attack capabilities that aircraft like the B-52, the B-1 and the B-2s can bring (as well as the new B-21 Raider. and interest in training alongside these bomber forces remains high.
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.
Arleigh Burke-Class Guided-Missile Destroyer, USS Preble (DDG-88) utilizing its High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-Dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) Weapons System.
USS Preble (DDG-88) firing its HELIOS system.
Helios is apart of a larger program aimed at the development of Solid State Lasers (SSL). Some of the other lasers being developed include the
-Ruggedized High Energy Laser (RHEL);
-Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy (ODIN); -Solid State Laser Technology Maturation (SSL-TM)
-High Energy Laser Counter-ASCM Program (HELCA), for shooting down anti-ship cruise missiles.
All of these I’ve listed are in varying states of development and wont be fielded until a future date however HELIOS has been in a testing phase since 2021 and now has been fully integrated into the combat systems of at least the USS Preble (DDG-88) where it will be used to counter drones, small boat threats and missiles.
The main advantage of the direct energy weapons is the price. Lasers cost about $1 to fire compared to some missiles getting into the tens of millions of dollars.
Russias losses in Ukraine for the month of January reached almost 50,000, the second highest since the early days of the war.
According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the month of January 2025, the Russian armed forces lost 48,240 soldiers and 573 Russian armored vehicles and 230 tanks. In the Russian order of battle this is roughly equivalent to 3 motorized rifle divisions. In that time the Russian army has managed to take roughly 500 sq. kilometers (193 sq miles) in the Kursk Region as well as Ukraine. These numbers are almost identically to December of 2024 numbers except they took 100km more territory.
The situation in Ukraine remains much as it has the past couple months. Ukrainian forces continues to reinforce defensive points while Russia has kept its army’s pushing into enemy territory. Ukrainian forces have stepped up the intensity of attacks on Russian oil and gas infrastructure, with the Ukrainian security services (USB) targeting the regions of Volgograd and Astrakhan.
Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant
Future daily briefs will have more Ukraine reporting as I reconnect with my sources and find new ones.
Iraqi airstrike kills 5 ISIS operatives in Iraq.
On January 31, Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), supported by U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted an airstrike near Kirkuk, Iraq. The attack killed 5 ISIS fighters according to CENTCOM.
“An initial post-strike clearance found multiple explosive suicide belts and other materials,”
CENTCOM confirmed in a statement, underscoring the strike’s role in weakening the group’s operational capabilities.
“ISIS remains a threat to the region and beyond, and CENTCOM, along with partners and allies, will continue to aggressively pursue these terrorists to protect the homeland,”
This operation was backed by Coalition Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CTF-OIR), which provided intelligence and technical support for the strike.
U.S. forces have recently stepped up strikes against ISIS targets since the fall of the Assad Regime in Syria. With the state being weakened it was a possibility that Daesh could attempt a comeback.
On the same note….
US Africa Command carries out airstrikes on ISIS in Somalia.
On February 1st, 2025, US president Donald Trump, in his first major U.S. Strike overseas since he took office, ordered US forces to carry out airstrikes on ISIS targets in Northern Somalia in the Golis Mountains. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that “multiple operatives” were killed in the strike.
F/A-18 Super Hornet
The strikes were carried out by planes from the navy and Air Force. FA-18 Super Hornets took part from the USS Harry S. Truman currently stationed in the Red Sea.
While the main threat in the area has been Al-Shabab, ISIL has been involved in attacks in Southern and Central Somalia. Even while facing the threat of US bombings as well as the policing actions of the Somolian Security Forces, and a fierce rivalry with Al-Shabob ISIS (ISIL) continues to grow and gain a strong foundation in the country.
US Forces kill senior operative of Terror Group Hurras al-Din in Syria.
The aftermath of the airstrike that killed Muhammad Salah al-Za’bir in Northwestern Syria.
On January 30th US CENTCOM (Central Command) forces conducted an airstrike in northwestern Syria targeting a senior operative of the US classified Terror group Huertas Al-Din (HaD) an affiliate of Al-Qaeda. The target was Muhammad Salah al-Za’bir a former ISIS member who later went on to become a member of the Syrian At-Qaeda branch. Not much else is known about him besides that CENTCOM describes him as a “Senior member” in the group.
A statement from CENTCOM on the strike:
“The airstrike is part of CENTCOM’s ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organize and conduct attacks against civilians and military personnel from the U.S., our allies, and our partners throughout the region and beyond”
It ends with a warning from commander of CENTCOM, Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla.
“CENTCOM will continue to hunt and kill or capture terrorists and defend our homeland against groups that plot to attack U.S. and allied personnel,”
Statement from new U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
The U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was sworn in the day before yesterday. This is some of what he had to say today in a messages to the forces.
“…The President gave us a clear mission: achieve Peace through Strength. We will do this in three ways – by restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding our military, and reestablishing deterrence.
-We will revive the warrior ethos and restore trust in our military. We are American warriors. We will defend our country. Our standards will be high, uncompromising, and clear. The strength of our military is our unity and our shared purpose.
-We will rebuild our military by matching threats to capabilities. This means reviving our defense industrial base, reforming our acquisition process, passing a financial audit, and rapidly fielding emerging technologies. We will remain the strongest and most lethal force in the world.
—We will reestablish deterrence by defending our homeland — on the ground and in the sky. We will work with allies and partners to deter aggression in the Indo-Pacific by Communist China, as well as supporting the President’s priority to end wars responsibly and reorient to key threats.
We will stand by our allies – and our enemies are on notice.
All of this will be done with a focus on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards, and readiness.
I have committed my life to warfighters and their families.
Just as my fellow soldiers had my back on the battlefield, know that I will always have your back. We serve together at a dangerous time. Our enemies will neither rest nor relent.
And neither will we. We will stand shoulder to shoulder to meet the urgency of this moment.
Like each of you, I love my country and swore an oath to defend the Constitution. We will do that each and every day,”
-End statement
Pete Hegseth during his confirmation hearing.
Hegseth, a veteran and former Fox News personality only narrowly won his confirmation for SecDef with a Vice President tie breaker after the 3 republicans in the Senate joined with every democrats to vote no. His confirmation hearing was filled with allegations of past misconduct( that he denies) and claims that he is too inexperienced in leading a large organization like the U.S. military.
Russian oil refinery struck by a wave of Ukrainian drones.
Ukraines most effective strategy throughout the war has been the destruction of Russian logistics on the frontlines and behind the lines using missiles and drones. This constant picking away at the Russian war machines supplies has kept Russia pulling for stockpiles nobody thought would ever be needed. Supplies that went untouched for decades are now being pulled from occasionally (especially with regard to armored vehicles). This strategy worked so well that Ukraine decided to expand on it with unrelenting attacks on Russian oil production. The thought is simple: try to make fighting the war too costly to continue to fight.Russia is supposed to be an oligarchy and no matter how many of their rich and powerful Putin has thrown out of windows they do still hold some power in the country and can cause him problems.
Overview of the Ryazan Oil RefineryLoading and storage area, both of which sustained damage in the attack.
The refinery targeted was the Ryazan oil refinery almost 300 miles from Ukraine. It has been targeted by drones multiple times in the past 72 hours and has suspended all operations. The most recent attack took place on January 26th at 1:00AM (Russia time) Video discovered of one of the attacks shows a massive fireball as a result.
The full extent of the damage is yet unknown but we do know that among the damaged equipment that the oil storage was set ablaze as well as equipment used to load the product into rail cars.Russian media claims that the plants AVT-4 unit, which processes the crude oil into fuel distillates, was heavily damaged.
The Ryazan oil refinery is one of Russia largest with the capacity to process 17 million metric tons of oil a year.The profit from this oil is used to fund Russia’s war in Ukraine which is growing costlier as the years go by. Neither side can keep this up forever but with these attacks on important and valuable Russian targets Ukraine hopes to tip the scales in their favor.
Andriy Kovalenko, a reporter in Ukraine said on his Telegram channel ” The refinery plays an important role in providing fuel for both the civilian and military-industrial complex of Russia,”.
M/V Golbon and M/V Jairan, Two Iranian flagged containerships have reportedly been loaded with over 1000 tonnes of sodium perchlorate at a Chinese port over the past several days.
M/V JairanM/V Golbon
Sodium perchlorate is used to make ammonium perchlorate which can be used as a solid propellant in ballistic missiles and is controlled under the Missile Technology Control Regime, an international Anti- Proliferation group.
Good afternoon. This is the return of the GCR Daily Briefing. For those who are new this is a daily article I used to do where I pick a couple headlines from around the world and I do a little write up on it. The world is increasingly turbulent and it’s more important than ever to stay up to date in the events taking place in our world.
US President Trump orders 1000 national guard to the border.
The Pentagon-on the orders of President Donald Trump, has ordered 1,500 troops to join the already 2,500 soldiers to the US and Mexican border.These forces are ordered to “to support the activities of the Secretary of Homeland Security in obtaining complete operational control” and provide troops and supplies. The soldiers will also help build border fortifications and walls. These troops are apart of a larger force of 10,000 that will eventually make it to the border to help Customs and Border Protection (CBP) according to a leaked CBP memo being reported in the press.
This is all apart of a larger immigration policy put in place on the Trumps administrations first day in office. Surging troops to the border as well as using DoD bases as makeshift “holding facilities” until ICE can build more facilities. The above mentioned memos show that ICE will be drastically increasing the number of ICE holding facilities.
Trumps plan is to use the military to completely seal the border from migrants and asylum seekers. Migrants, who have long come to the U.S. to work in the farm industry will be picked up crossing into the US and deported before being able to ask for asylum or any sort of hearing.
At this point the southern border is effectively closed. Even those trying to enter the country legally have been turned away. This policy is likely to affect food prices for a time as the USDA Economic Research Service reported that in agriculture the number of migrant laborers was 59 percent and another 45% in the animal farm industry.
//UK
UK navy shadows Russian spy ship through the English Channel.
HMS Somerset shadows Russian Spy ship Yantar.
This week a Russia Spy ship (technically an oceanography ship),Yantar (also know as Cruys) has been shadowed by the UK Navy this week as the ship made its way through the English Channel.
In November this ship had been loitering above the area where several undersea cables were but was surprised by a Royal Navy Submarine when it surfaced near them to let the Yantar crew know that they were being closely monitored and warned them off. The ship left the area for the Mediterranean but returned this week and has been shadowed by the HMS Somerset(F82), a Type 23 Frigate.
The Russian Spy Zship Yantar.
Russian ships have even connected to sabotage of undersea cables in the recent past in the Baltic so no chances are being given in in the English Channel.. The Yantar is equipped with a small submersible that can be used to go down to the ocean floor and tamper with communications and power cables, potentially adding devices to the cables so Russia can access the data.
The UK has taken a lead role in countering the threat of Russian attacks on critical undersea infrastructure in the European seas and oceans. They have announced they will send several P-8 Poseidon and Rivet Joint maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft for the Baltic Sentry activity announced after the damage to the ESTLINK2 cable. Baltic Sentry is a NATO mission that aims to bring different maritime and aerial assets into the Baltic area and integrate them into the protection of the area.
Global Conflict Reporting 
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