Latest news with #UH-60BlackHawk
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Army offers reward for information about Black Hawk pilot's death in Honduras
The Army Criminal Investigation Division is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for the death of 1st Lt. Marciano Parisano earlier this month in Honduras. Parisano, 25, was serving as a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot with the 1st Battalion, 228 Aviation Regiment assigned to Soto Cano Air Base, near Comayagua, Honduras. The base is the headquarters for Joint Task Force-Bravo, the U.S. military's lead expeditionary force in Central and South America. On May 3, Parisano was found dead in Comayagua. He had been on a liberty pass from the air base. Honduran media reported that he was found near the Chiquito River area, and that police did not suspect that robbery was a motive in Parisano's death. Parisano was last seen on camera footage at 3:20 a.m. on May 2 outside Club Santos in Comayagua, a CID news release says. The club is located just off 1A Calle SE, between 5A Avenida SE and 6A Avenida SE, a CID poster says. Army investigators are asking people with credible information about the circumstances of Parisano's death to contact the Army CID MacDill Resident Unit at (912) 547-4626 or via WhatsApp at (571) 656-7842, the news poster says. Anonymous tips can be sent online to Originally from Cibolo, Texas, Parisano graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York in 2023, and he and his girlfriend became engaged to be married in April, according to the San Antonio Express-News. Joint Task Force Bravo posted a Facebook message on May 9 that included a statement from Parisano's parents, Tom and Jessie, who said they are 'committed to seeking justice for Marco.' 'We trust the authorities will do everything in their power to ensure that accountability prevails,' they said in the statement. 'No family should have to endure this kind of loss, and we hope that Marco's story will serve as a reminder that God's timing is unknown, and we must always be prepared.' Tom and Jessie Parisano also said their son made an indelible impression on all who knew him through his compassion, laughter, and dedication. 'No words can truly capture the depth of our grief, nor the pain of waking up each day without him,' they said in the statement. 'Marco was more than just our child — he was a bright light in our lives, a source of joy, kindness, and unwavering love. His presence was a gift, touching the hearts of everyone who crossed his path.' 18 Army Rangers suspended for allegedly firing blanks at Florida beach Hegseth announces accountability review of Afghanistan withdrawal Coast Guard rescue swimmers saved a worker stuck in hardening concrete after roof collapse This National Guard unit went completely analog to simulate a cyber attack Fewer reenlistment options for soldiers amid high Army retention
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Remembering the cost of freedom
Members of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment place flags at the headstones of U.S. military personnel buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in preparation for Memorial Day on May 22, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by) On September 11, 2001, I was 29 years old, deployed to Kuwait as an Army Aviator in the Indiana National Guard. I was flying a mission in a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter over northern Kuwait near the Iraq border when I learned that terrorists had attacked our homeland. I remember the flood of emotions that hit me — shock, sorrow, anger, and an overwhelming sense of resolve. In that moment, the mission became personal. The idea of service, which had always been central to my life, was no longer just about duty — it became about defending the people I loved, the nation I swore to protect, and the ideals that define us as Americans. As a soldier and an American, I am humbled by the memory of those we honor on Memorial Day. From the beaches of Normandy to the jungles of Vietnam, from the fields of Gettysburg to the deserts of Iraq, generations of selfless men and women have laid down their lives so that we may enjoy the blessings of freedom, security, and peace. Every headstone at Arlington National Cemetery, every name etched on a memorial wall, tells the unique sacrifice of a Soldier, Sailor, Airman, or Marine who gave everything in the service of something greater than themselves, and we will never forget them. The origins of Memorial Day trace back to the Civil War, a conflict so brutal it claimed more American lives than any war in our history. After the devastation brought about by that war, America committed to the idea of remembering and honoring our fallen. That brought about many of today's memorials, including the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in downtown Indianapolis. Over the nearly 250 years of our nation, what remains constant is the character of those who wear the uniform: courage, sacrifice, and a love of country that transcends self-interest. Whenever I am in Washington D.C., I find time to stop by the Lincoln Memorial and take a moment to reflect by reading the Gettysburg Address etched in the memorial wall. I always walk away humbled and with a renewed sense of purpose because of the words President Lincoln spoke that day. 'The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.' As we approach this long weekend and the unofficial start of summer, let us remember the true meaning of Memorial Day — to honor the cost of freedom and remember those who paid it for us. This weekend is for the people who never made it home, whose lives were cut short in the pursuit of liberty. To my fellow service members, past and present, I say thank you. To the Gold Star families, know that your loved ones will never be forgotten — their sacrifice lives on in the heart of this nation. And to all Americans: may we honor the fallen not just today, but every day, through our commitment to the values they fought and died to protect. Honoring their names means more than offering gratitude. It means carrying forward the ideals they believed in — freedom, justice, and unity — and understanding that the fight to preserve them is never over. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
USA Today
20-05-2025
- USA Today
'Are you joking?' Montana National Guardsmen accused of landing Black Hawk for elk antlers
'Are you joking?' Montana National Guardsmen accused of landing Black Hawk for elk antlers The charges stem from a May 4 incident in which the men are accused of landing the UH-60 Black Hawk on a private ranch near Melville. A defense attorney says the men are innocent until proven guilty. Three members of the Montana National Guard are facing trespassing charges after authorities say they landed a Black Hawk helicopter on a ranch to collect elk antlers. The guardsmen are identified as: 30-year-old Michael Vincent Bray, 30-year-old Perry Wray Woodland, and 36-year-od Deni Lynn Draper. They face charges of misdemeanor criminal trespassing in Sweet Grass County Justice Court with an appearance in court scheduled for May 28, Bray's lawyer, Nathan Hulling. told USA TODAY on Tuesday. The charges stem from a May 4 incident in which the guardsmen are accused of landing the UH-60 Black Hawk on the ranch of Linda McMullen near Melville, approximately 80 miles northeast of Bozeman, multiple media outlets have reported. Bray's citation alleges he was the one to land the helicopter, the Big Timber Pioneer reported. The Montana National Guard confirmed to USA TODAY that the guardsmen were on a training flight from Billings to Helena and that four elk antlers have been returned to the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Sweet Grass County Sheriff Alan Ronneberg told the Pioneer that "it is not the usual trespass call." "I've never seen anything like it before," he told the outlet. Hulling said that Bray intends to plead not guilty and that the guardsmen are "innocent until proven guilty." "We are at the very beginning of the judicial criminal process so there's still a ton of fact-finding to be done," Hulling said. National Guard investigating alleged trespassing Major General J. Peter Hronek, the adjutant general for the Montana National Guard, said in a May 14 statement on Facebook that an internal investigation is underway. "If true, this behavior does not align with the values of the Montana National Guard. Misuse of military equipment erodes the trust we strive to uphold with the people of Montana," Hronek wrote. Ronneberg said in a news release that sheriff's office, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks and the Sweet Grass County Attorney's Office are working in to determine if other charges will be filed. What happened on Linda McMullen's ranch? McMullen told the New York Times that a neighbor spotted the helicopter land on her property while she was traveling in Nevada. 'He said, 'Linda, there's a green Army helicopter landed on your place, picking up elk antlers,'' McMullen told the Times. 'I said, 'Are you joking?' He said, 'I'm looking at them with binoculars.'' McMullen told the Pioneer that she spoke to a high-level National Guard official who promised to return the antlers and requested that she not press charges. "They used the excuse, 'These are good guys,' that I don't want to ruin their careers," McMullen said. "They should have thought about that before doing this. I think people need to know this is happening." She added that she felt the incident was "an egregious violation of trust in our government," according to the Times. McMullen did not respond to USA TODAY's request for comment. Elk antlers are listed on Claw, Antler and Hide Co. for a retail price between $96 and $308, with one set selling for $453. The Times reported that a freshly shed brown antler can sell for up to $14 a pound and weigh as much as 12 pounds. Attorney: Guardsmen deserve benefit of the doubt Hulling pointed to his client's "long and distinguished service history." "We need to give them the benefit of the doubt and we need to let the justice system play out, which is why we're entering a not guilty plea," Hulling said.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Army aviation charts new course as it grapples with surprise cuts
Army aviation leaders were caught off guard by some of the sweeping changes to the service's overall force structure and are now scrambling to align plans with the top brass' shifting vision, which includes abrupt moves to cancel or scale back key programs like a modernized aircraft engine, spy planes and larger runway-dependent unmanned aircraft. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll issued memos within a day of each other earlier this month announcing major changes to command structure and formations and changes to acquisition and modernization efforts, including canceling programs while boosting others. But, despite the surprise, leaders across the aviation branch said they are embracing change and working to shape the role aviation will play in future operations. The announcement from the top 'was a little abrupt,' Maj. Gen. Clair Gill, commander of the Army's Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Novosel, Alabama, told reporters at the Army Aviation Association of America's annual conference in Nashville, Tennessee, last week. 'Some of the decisions that were made were not exactly what we had proposed, but they were decisions in the context of the folks in the Pentagon who are looking at the entirety of the Army budget, the priority systems which are not all aviation-centric,' Gill said. 'I would even argue that we're not the Army's priority. We're looking at air-and-missile defense, counter-[unmanned aircraft systems], UAS protection,' he said, adding that with a fixed budget, decisions on what to prioritize are tougher. 'It's no surprise that the Army made some tough cuts. Some of them were just maybe deeper than we thought they were going to be,' Gill said. Some portions of the restructuring effort demonstrate how the Army is looking to transform its aviation capability, which begins with divesting old equipment. The service was already deep into that effort, Gill noted. Toward the end of 2023, the Army decided to trim its UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopter fleet by 8%. Months later, it canceled its Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft competition before selecting a winner to build prototypes. It also divested its Lima and Victor model UH-60s in favor of modernizing the service's most capable variant, the Mike model. The service was already working on ways to end the AH-64 Delta-model Apache attack helicopter fleet and move over to a pure fleet of the most modernized version, the Echo-model. 'All the Army Transformation Initiative did was accelerate,' Gill said. 'They made some very clear decisions that sort of answered a bunch of [requests for information] that we had.' As part of the new cuts, the Army has decided to end procurement of the Gray Eagle UAS for the active force, cancel a competitive effort to replace the Shadow UAS with a new Future Tactical UAS and halve the number of new spy planes it planned to buy as part of the High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System, or HADES, program. The Army also said it plans to cease developing the Improved Turbine Engine Program, a decades-long effort to replace the engines in Black Hawks and Apaches. The ITEP engine powered a Black Hawk in a hover for the first time last week. The Army also plans to inactivate one air cavalry squadron per combat aviation brigade in the active component and said it would cancel the planned activation of the 12th CAB, according to an Army execution order obtained by Defense News. Aviation leadership had 'teed up a number of options' related to equipment and formations and had already shared them with Army leadership, Gill said. The branch was supposed to head into an Army Requirements Oversight Council meeting this month with some of those proposals. 'I think with some of those proposals, all this did was accelerate a whole bunch of staff churn and just say, 'Hey, here's where we are,'' he said. Even so, Gill noted 'we only got this two weeks ago, and so we don't know all the details of it,' Gill said. 'I think our job, collectively, as is the case for the rest of the Army, is to do mission analysis on what we were told to do and then provide options to senior leaders, and in some cases, it'll be ways that we can execute exactly what they told us to do. And it might be even like, you know, saying, 'Hey, here are all the consequences. Is that still the order?'' While some decisions may have been surprising, Army aviation leaders said they acknowledge the need for change across the service. 'We need to divest faster, and we need to iterate and procure and probably continue to iterate and procure on newer technologies that we think are emerging, given the context of the operating environment that we see both east and west of us,' Gill said. One of the newer priorities for the Army within the aviation portfolio is to accelerate the service's planned procurement of a Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft, which Textron's Bell is building in the prototyping phase. The goal now is to try to deliver some production-level platforms to soldiers by 2028 instead of in 2031. The Army is also planning to focus on developing and rapidly fielding UAS and launched effects across the force to operate at different echelons and across a wide variety of mission sets. As Army aviation becomes a more complex array of manned, unmanned and uncrewed systems, branch leadership is working to design a force that relies more heavily on sending drones forward on the battlefield rather than manned aircraft to do some of the missions manned aircraft used to do, like armed reconnaissance. As part of an initiative begun by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George over a year ago, the service started a 'transformation in contact' initiative where units were given new capabilities and free rein to use them extensively during exercises to see what works and what doesn't and how new equipment might work in various formations. A large focus of the effort was on bringing UAS into the fold at the brigade level. George also pushed for a new, more flexible way to fund UAS procurement rapidly and more often. The aviation branch is 'absolutely changing the ways we've been doing business,' Brig. Gen. David Phillips, the Army's program executive officer for aviation, said at the Army Aviation Association of America conference last week. 'We're executing in ways that we haven't before by building these tranches of capability a lot faster and that's in every level of UAS space today,' Phillips said. 'We always joke that two things change the outcome of programs … elections and wars,' Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman, the Army's G-3/5/7 aviation director, said. 'We just had an election and we'll have another in four years and we'll have a change of Congress in two years. All of those things impact … our ability to do what the Army wants to do and we have to work within that constraint,' he added. 'I think you'll see some of that play out here over the next few months,' Braman noted.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal report reveals the cause of mysterious drone sightings — but major mystery remains
Federal officials knew in mid-December that some of the mysterious drones spotted in the skies over New Jersey and New York were authorized aircraft — but withheld that information from the American public, as President Trump suggested many months ago. An internal slideshow presentation arranged by Transportation Security Administration officials debunked four of the New Jersey drone sightings as optical illusions created by sanctioned aircraft. 'The alignment of the aircraft gave the appearance to observers on the ground of them hovering in formation while they were actually moving directly at the observers,' reads a slide about several reported sightings over Somerville, NJ the night of Nov. 26, 2024. The slides were first shared by and also included an explanation for the three drone sightings over the Salem Nuclear Power Plant and the adjacent Hope Creek Generating Station on Dec. 12, 2024 — a day before the Federal Aviation Administration imposed airspace restrictions over New Jersey. The report dispels Dec. 5, 2024, sightings of drones along the Jersey coastline as 'aircraft arrivingfrom the South on approach into JFK' that 'turned toward land around Sea Girt, flying for 2 to 3 minutes toward the coast, turning back out to sea, and flying 3 to 5 minutes straight away from the coast.' Those aircraft — a Cessna C150 and UH-60 Black Hawk – would've appeared to hover in the sky to anyone on the ground, according to the feds. Both aircraft were authorized to be in the area. A second Dec. 12 account of a drone over Clifton, N.J., dispersing some sort of a gray mist was also dismissed as another plane: a Beechcraft Baron 58, which experienced turbulence, 'dropped approximately 100 feet before regaining altitude.' The rapid change 'over the wing's surfaces cause wingtip vertices,' or condensation clouds, 'that may appear as gray mist.' But the incomplete presentation failed to address some of the more notable sightings, including the swarm of 12 to 30 drones spotted Dec. 8 over the Atlantic by patrolling members of the U.S. Coast Guard. A sailor who spoke to The Post about the incident said they were sent out to look for drones when 'they found us.' 'They appeared out of nowhere' at about 9 p.m., and followed the boat for approximately 15 minutes, he said. When the vessel shifted course, so too did the drones. 'They had four propellers. Seven feet across. The flashing lights, like you've seen. The festive green, red, and white lights.' Trump accused the Biden administration in January of knowingly keeping New York and New Jersey residents 'in suspense.' Added Trump: 'For some reason, they don't want to tell the people, and they should. Our military knows and our president knows. And for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense.' In December, Biden said there was 'nothing nefarious' in the sky. Members of Congress concurred following a classified briefing.
