dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

Flight data recorders likely found from 2 Marine Corps aircraft that crashed off Japan coast

Three distinct signals thought to be from the flight data recorders from a Marine Corps KC-130J and F/A-18D that crashed off the coast of Japan last month have been detected, the Marine Corps confirmed Sunday.

Five crew from a KC-130J assigned to Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, or “Sumos” squadron, and the pilot of the two-person F/A-18D Hornet assigned to Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 242, or “Bats,” were killed Dec. 6 in an accident over the Philippine Sea that has been described by Japanese defense officials as a midair collision.

The investigation into what caused the crash is expected to take months, the Marine Corps previously said.

'Eternally missed’: Marines identify 5 KC-130J crew members killed in midair collision off Japanese coast

The lone survivor in the tragic midair collision has since been released from the hospital and Corps officials have not released the Marine’s name.

The Navy dispatched a salvage team from Yokosuka Naval Base Dec. 17, and arrived at the scene Dec. 18 with a TPL-25 towed pinger locator.

“On Dec. 19, signals were detected and by Dec. 21, the team was able to confirm three distinct pingers at a depth of approximately 3,000 meters (9,843 feet)" the Marine Corps said in a statement. “Two of the pingers are thought to mark the location of the KC-130, one of which is co-located with the KC-130s digital flight data recording device, and the third pinger is associated with the F/A-18.”

Marines identify F/A-18 pilot killed in collision off Japanese coast, KC-130 crew still missing

Five Marines on board a downed KC-130 are still missing.

The Marine Corps said it could not definitely say the signals belong to the lost aircraft until they are salvaged. However, given the extreme depth of the location of the signals, salvage and recovery will have to be “weighed by an overall risk assessment encompassing weather, sea state, water depth, underwater current and seabed environment.”

The search for survivors was called off after a massive, multi-day operation with Japanese, U.S. and Australian forces was unable to find the missing Marines, despite combing nearly 35,000 square nautical miles of ocean.

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/01/06/pingers-from-kc-130j-fa-18d-japan-crash-detected/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Socialflow+MIL&utm_source=twitter.com

Navy SEAL arraigned on war crime charges

Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward “Eddie” Gallagher was arraigned Friday morning at Naval Base San Diego on a long list of criminal charges, including the premeditated murder of a wounded Islamic State prisoner of war.

At the same time, his case drew the attention from an unlikely lawmaker, Rep. Duncan Hunter — a Marine combat veteran who himself is facing a long list of federal criminal charges — who urged President Donald Trump to personally intervene to end the SEAL’s prosecution.

Military prosecutors contend that Gallagher, 39, is a callous murderer who stabbed to death the defenseless teenage detainee on May 3, 2017, near the Iraqi city of Mosul and also gunned down unwitting civilians with his sniper rifle, bragged about racking up kills and threatened to intimidate and publicly out SEAL buddies who complained to superiors and investigators about him.

Investigative files leaked to Navy Times revealed authorities probing allegations that Gallagher mutilated the teenage prisoner’s dead body, posed with the corpse during a re-enlistment ceremony and attempted to cover up the alleged crimes when he returned to California.

But the same dossier uncovered a Naval Criminal Investigative Service interview of a pair of high-ranking Iraqi officers present during the unnamed teenager’s death.

They insisted “Chief Ed” committed no crimes and that the boy died from battlefield wounds inflicted by Iraqi government forces.

According to the files, NCIS also failed to locate and exhume the alleged victim’s body for an autopsy.

On Friday, prosecutors handed over 1,700 pages of documents, including text messages they say show Gallagher trying to intimidate witnesses, The Associated Press reported.

One of the SEAL’s attorneys, Phil Stackhouse, dismissed them as "hearsay and double hearsay statements” ginned up by disgruntled platoon members who wanted to depose a demanding enlisted leader.

Attorneys representing Gallagher, a married father and 19-year Navy veteran who was prepping for retirement before his indictment, have said he’s the victim of a smear campaign by platoon malcontents and have vowed to clear his name.

NCIS documents cast doubt on Navy SEAL’s guilt in slaying of Islamic State fighter

Interviews with two senior Iraqi military leaders contradict nearly every aspect of the federal case against Gallagher, 39, who faces up to 18 criminal counts, including premeditated murder for allegedly stabbing to death a badly wounded Islamic State detainee near Mosul on May 3, 2017.

By: Carl Prine

Navy Region Southwest commander Rear Adm. Yancy B."Lurch" Lindsey greenlighted Gallagher’s charges following a legal review of the SEAL’s two-day Article 32 hearing in November.

A military judge said that his court-martial trial will commence between Feb. 19 and March 1, with at least a third of his panel composed of enlisted personnel.

A former member of the House Armed Services Committee who represents a large chunk of San Diego County, Republican Hunter doesn’t want it to get that far.

In a statement emailed to Navy Times on Friday, Hunter said that he’d personally reviewed Gallagher’s case and concluded that the military’s prosecution suffered from “inconsistent testimony” by other SEALs and a lack of physical evidence tying him to the detainee’s death.

Hunter accused military prosecutors of “bias against our warfighters” and called the Navy’s criminal justice system “political.”

He urged Trump “to personally review and dismiss this case, taking an American hero out of a prison cell and back on the front lines where he belongs.”

Hunter was an early and avid supporter of Trump and had been rumored for a high post in his administration that never materialized.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/01/05/seal-arraigned-on-war-crime-charges/