The U.S. Naval Forces Central Command announced that the USNS Rappahannock fired upon a speedboat riding directly toward the vessel after it ignored repeated warnings to change its course.

The incident took place off of the coast of Dubai.

Prior to firing upon the advancing ship with a .50 caliber machine gun, the crew attempted non-lethal deterrence.

According to the AP one person was killed and three were wounded. 

The Rappahannock is a replenishment oiler, used to refuel naval vessels on the go. CNN said that the boat was a "small, white pleasure craft."

We will have more on this as it develops. 

In the meantime, check out $24 billion worth of defense contracts just announced >

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) gets a ton of funding to develop the science and techological future of the military.

This is the agency responsible for GPS, the internet and stealth planes. They're the real deal. 

We looked at their active projects to find the ones that might have massive civilian implications if they eventually produce real-world tech.

For this round, we focused on only their Defense Science Office and their Information Innovation Office, two of six DARPA branches. 

Something to replace complicated and often useless internet passwords

The Active Authentication project seeks to render overly-complex internet login info obsolete. 

As it stands, the difficult-to-remember passwords are easy to beat if you can find them, and offer no protection if the service is just left running. 

DARPA is looking into having biometric validation with a key point; They want to be able to authenticate users without any additional hardware needed, so there's no need fo an iris scanner on every iPad. 

The tech plays off of how each person uses the computer differently. It validates access based on how each individual user handles a mouse, types, makes contact with a touchpad and more. It's immensely intuitive tech. 

Putty that works as well as casts for broken bones

The military contends with traumatic injury each and every day. One of the most difficult injuries to treat is a compound bone fracture which require long healing and rehabilitation times.

Amputations are far too common. The screws and plates and rods necessary to successfully treat the beaks can lead to further complications. 

DARPA wants to make the way the military handles compound fractures far less medieval and far more space age. They're developing Fracture Putty which can be packed in and around a compound bone fracture and provide load bearing abilities in days. 

The putty would be bone-like during the healing process but would gradually degrade as the normal bone heals. 

A red-blood cell machine to make shortages a thing of the past

The most transfused blood product is red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body. When soldiers are wounded, one of the most important things to accomplish medically is to bring the red blood cell count back to survivable levels.

Unfortunately, the difficulties of transporting all of that blood and keeping the supply up is a major challenge for the military — not to mention civilian — medical system. 

DARPA's Blood Pharming program seeks to develop novel technologies to enable production of red blood cells that are ready to go on the spot.

The end goal is to use human cells to make an automated, mass produced blood machine of universal donor type cells. 

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As the debate over massive upcoming defense cuts gradually rises to a boil, House Republicans have called in the cavalry.

Dick Cheney — a former Secretary of Defense himself — will be meeting with house Republican leaders this week tom strategize on how to approach the upcoming fight, POLITICO reports.

According to reports from senior party leaders, Bush's Vice President will meet with the Majority Whip's team as well as Speaker John Boehner and Leader Eric Cantor — both of whom led last year's debt ceiling fight — to plan, advise and encourage House leadership on the response to the cuts. 

This week's House floor schedule will be dominated by talk of the cuts, which entail a $50 billion slash of the Department of Defense budget in January and $1.2 trillion worth of cuts down the line. 

Now, check out what got cut in the latest round of cuts >

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DUBAI (Reuters) - Indian fishermen who survived a hail of gunfire from a U.S. navy boat off the coast of the United Arab Emirates disputed U.S. claims that their boat drew fire after ignoring warnings to steer clear of the American vessel.

One Indian was killed and three others injured on Monday when the USNS Rappahannock, a refueling ship, fired on the fishing vessel, which the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet said approached at high speed and ignored repeated warnings.

The incident highlighted the potential for a rapid escalation of tensions in Gulf waters, where U.S. forces are expanding their presence as Washington ramps up pressure on Iran over its nuclear program.

The fishermen, hospitalized with gunshot wounds after the incident near Dubai's Jebel Ali port, said on Tuesday that they received no warning before the U.S. craft opened fire, and that their craft had attempted to avoid any contact with it.

"We had no warning at all from the ship, we were speeding up to try and go around them and then suddenly we got fired at," 28-year-old Muthu Muniraj told Reuters from hospital, his legs punctured by the rounds of the U.S. craft's .50-caliber gun.

"We know warning signs and sounds and there were none; it was very sudden. My friend was killed, he's gone. I don't understand what happened."

A Fifth Fleet spokesman, Lt. Greg Raelson, asked whether the identification of the craft as a fishing boat made the threat cited by the Navy less likely, said an internal inquiry into the incident had not finished.

"Non-lethal measures were taken while attempting to signal the vessel," he said, adding that the fishing craft did not respond. "That was when the security team fired rounds from the .50-caliber ... Our ships have an inherent right to self-defense against lethal threats."

The United States has been particularly wary of attacks on its ships since two al Qaeda suicide bombers rammed an explosives-laden boat into the USS Cole in 2000, blowing a massive hole in its side and killing 17 U.S. sailors.

In Monday's incident, other members of the boat's crew, which consisted of six Indians and two Emiratis, said their boat had come under fire as it returned from trawling in waters off Jebel Ali.

"We were fishing and then on the way back they started shooting at us, so many shots, like a storm," said 35-year-old Muthu Kannan, who had a gunshot wound to the abdomen and a lower leg wired into place with metal rods.

"This is not the first time for us to go out in the boat and we all know what a warning is," said 26-year-old Pandu Sanadhan. "All I can remember is a lot of shooting."

ASSURANCES

An Indian government spokesman said he had assurances that Washington would provide a full account of the incident, and the Indian foreign ministry said it had no position on the issue of whether the fisherman were warned before the shooting.

But in the UAE, Indian ambassador M.K Lokesh told Reuters after meeting with the fishermen: "Obviously if they were warned they would not go close to such a big vessel. Even if shots were fired in the air, these fishermen would have moved away."

Asked if the Indian government would press for legal charges to be lodged against the U.S. sailors involved, he said: "We have to wait for the inquiry to be completed by the Dubai police before we move any further. But we are pushing for quick completion for the investigations."

Some Indian media appeared to blame the United States for the incident; one television channel ran headlines reading "Murder on the High Seas" and "No Regret, No Apology from America". In a statement, the U.S. embassy in New Delhi expressed its condolences to the families of the boat's crew.

Iran said the incident threatened to further destabilize a region already shaken by the international dispute over Tehran's nuclear program, which Washington and its allies believe is geared to make bombs.

Tehran denies it is seeking nuclear weapons and has repeatedly threatened to close the Gulf's outlet, the Strait of Hormuz through which 40 percent of the world's sea-borne oil exports are carried, if threatened over its nuclear plans.

"We have announced time and again that the presence of foreign forces can be a threat to regional security," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said during a news conference broadcast on state television.

The U.S. Navy said in February that Iran had built up its naval forces in the Gulf and prepared boats that could be used in suicide attacks.

"They have increased the number of submarines ... they increased the number of fast attack craft," said Vice Admiral Mark Fox, commander of U.S. naval forces in the region.

"Some of the small boats have been outfitted with a large warhead that could be used as a suicide explosive device. The Iranians have a large mine inventory."

(Additional reporting by Praveen Menon and Marcus George in Dubai and Ross Colvin in New Delhi; Writing by Joseph Logan; Editing by Myra MacDonald and Peter Graff)

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Guantánamo Bay is currently going through a rebirth of sorts – instead of being closed down, the terrorist detention facility run by Joint Task Force (JTF) Guantánamo is getting a new look.

The announcements of a $40 million communications upgrade – including a underwater fiber optic cable that will stretch to the coast of Florida – and multi-million dollar upgrades to the grounds all but guarantee that the 45-square-mile base will stay open indefinitely.

Gitmo currently houses 168 detainees after Osama bin Laden's alleged cook was repatriated to Sudan last week. The Supreme Court has refused to hear any new Guantánamo appeals even though 87 prisoners were cleared for release by President Obama’s Guantánamo Review Task Force. (It's unknown if prisoners are still given heavy anti-psychotic medicine before being interrogated.)

Since Gitmo costs about $140 million a year to operate, we became curious about the kind of amenities that taxpayer dollars provide to the detainees as well as the 6,000 troops and civilians who administer the facility. 

All detainees are given a copy of the Koran and surgical masks so they can keep it off the floor and prevent guards from touching it

Compliant detainees are given "comfort items" such as games, extra sheets and an exercise mat

Compliant detainees have game options at the medium security facility within Camp Delta

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The U.S. Army posted a photograph yesterday that was pretty unexpected. 

Here, basketball legend and U.S. Olympic Team player Kobe Bryant is having a walking conversation with General Martin A. Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Even more, the two figures are conversing as they walk through Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery.

Yesterday, Dempsey and other leaders gave a motivational talk to the Olympic Basketball teams in D.C. just before they played a practice game last night.

Still, take a look at this incredible shot:

See inside the new Guantanamo Bay detention facility >

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A recent post at "The Madness of the Combat Medic" blog, calls our attention to a potentially drastic change to the military retirement program that is being considered by the Pentagon.

One of the recent initiatives the President—or at least the folks at the Pentagon—have put forward, is a 401K-style retirement system.  Along with Tricare hikes, it is assumed that this will somehow lower the personnel costs of the military.  The thinking appears to be that the benefits that the military enjoys are far better than any civilian job, so why not cut them? 

The answer to that is simple: It will remove one of the strongest incentives for young men and women in an all-volunteer military to sign up for service. We ask our young people to voluntarily put their lives at risk in ways that are unmatched in most civilian jobs, and that risk has always come with rewards that supercede those that can be found in the civilian job market.

When you think of America's military in the next 20 years do you think it will be a professional force that is able to weather the storms unforeseen on the horizon?  We have managed to hold our own with nearly 11 years of constant warfare—something it was simply assumed a modern representative Republic could never do.  How many of those troops would have returned again and again to the war zone, if not for [the better] benefits?  In this debate one should be sure to tread very lightly, lest the consequences cost more that they purport to save.

You can read the full post, here.

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The Army has a development program designed to recruit top Army athletes to play for the United States in the Olympic Games.

The Army World Class Athlete Program selects the best of the military to compete in martial arts, shooting and other events.

Since U.S. Army soldiers already train heavily, it's a great program for both the Department of Defense as well as the U.S. Olympic Committee.

In the Winter Olympics, you'll see marksmen and bobsledders who have a day job soldiering. This summer in London, you'll see ten Army soldiers playing for Team USA on the wrestling, boxing, shooting and other teams.

Sargent Spenser Mango

Event: Wrestling

Military Occupation: Transportation

Biography: Mango is a Greco-Roman wrestler. This is his second Olympic Games, competing in 2008 as well. He graduated from Christian Brothers College High School and attended Northern Michigan University, enlisting in 2010. 

Record: He's a four-time U.S. National champ. 

SFC Daryl Szarenski

Events: Free Pistol and Air Pistol

Military Occupation: Infantry

Biography: Szarenski is a four-time Olympic Team member. He's a 5-Time World Championship team member, and attended Rodger Williams University. He enlisted in the Army in October 1991.

Record: He's a 3-time USA Shooting Pistol shooter of the Year

Staff Sergeant Joe Guzman

Event: Boxing (Coach)

Military Occupation: Transportation

Biography: Guzman is a former boxer and is currently serving as the U.S. Olympic Team Boxing Trainer. He's an assistant coach this year. Guzman hails from Eloy, Arizona and enlisted in the Army in 1999. He started boxing when he was 12. 

Record: While new to coaching on this level, Guzman was the 3-time All-Army champ

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It's come seemingly out of nowhere, but lately the Persian Gulf peninsula nation of Qatar has become extremely close with the United States.

The Wall Street Journal broke the story the other day that the United States will be building a missile defense radar station at a top secret site in Qatar. While that's been widely reported, there have been  a recent bout of proposed foreign military sales to Qatar that have been largely under-reported.

Just last week, the agency behind the Foreign Military Sales Program told congress that they're interested in pursuing two huge sales to Qatar. 

Qatar requested 700 Hellfire missiles — to the tune of $137 million — that the Department of Defense just gave the necessary notice to Congress to ink the deal.

Even more, Qatar asked for 24 AH-64D Apache Attack Helicopters which are also in the pipeline for sale. That sale includes nearly 600 Hellfire missiles and 300 stinger missiles, as well as night vision goggles, 60 GPS systems, 30 radio jammers, 30 chain guns, and much more. 

That sale would go for $3.0 Billion. Only a congressional vote will stop it. 

Why the sales? Well, as the U.S. moves additional carriers into the Gulf to contend with Iran, arming a local friendly monarchy — as the U.S. has been doing with neighboring United Arab Emirates — makes sense at a point. 

Now, meet the U.S. Army's 10 Olympic Athletes >

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Researchers built a model – based on WikiLeaks data – that was able to predict levels of violence throughout Afghanistan in 2010, reports Jon Bardin of the Los Angeles Times.

The research, published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, concluded that the project "allows deeper insights into conflict dynamics" by finding a general pattern of violence and providing a "strikingly statistically accurate" prediction of insurgent activity. 

Based solely on Afghan War Diary reports of violence from 2004 to 2009, the model could also anticipate how much the violence in each province would go up or down in 2010 despite the "surge" of 30,000 troops into the country.

"Our findings seem to prove that the insurgency is self-sustaining," Sanguinetti told the Times. "You may throw a large military offensive, but this doesn't seem to disturb the system."

The model could even predict activity in Afghanistan's relatively quiet northern provinces, leading the authors to conclude that the patterns existed everywhere.

From the LA Times:

"The model we employed is both complex and simple," said Guido Sanguinetti, an expert in computational sciences at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the study's senior author. "It doesn't take in any knowledge of military operations or political events, and it treats all types of violence exactly the same, whether it's a stop-and-search or a big battle."

Michael Ward, a political scientist at Duke University who has shown that location data can improve predictions of conflicts, said that the study shows why it's important to make as much data public as possible because without WikiLeaks the model would have been much harder to make.

Interesting sidenote: Paulo Shakarian, a West Point computer scientist, indirectly hinted at the ability of the government to collect and analyze U.S. internet communications when he told the Times that "we have large data sets from places like Facebook and Twitter that we can analyze with high-powered computers and get meaningful results."

SEE ALSO: The First Major 'Surge' Operation Shows Why The US Is Failing In Afghanistan >

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Twenty-two NATO supply vehicles were destroyed early Wednesday morning when the Taliban detonated a bomb on a fuel tanker and then opened fire on other NATO supply trucks, reports Amir Shah of AP. 

The vehicles – part of a convoy transporting fuel and other goods south into Afghanistan from Uzbekistan – were parked as the truckers rested. 

That makes 25 NATO supply vehicles destroyed this week after insurgents successfully attacked three vehicles south of Kabul a few days ago.

Al-Akhbar reports that the Taliban has vowed to target the supply routes (shown here by the Washington Post), which are critical for the flow of fuel, armament and provisions for coalition forces.

Pakistan re-opened its border crossings On July 4 after blocking NATO supply trucks for seven months in retaliation for U.S. airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on November 26.

Yesterday thousands of Pakistanis staged a sit-in at one of the main border crossings to protest the government's decision to re-open the routes.  

The border closure resulted in an additional estimated expense of about $100 million per month to U.S. taxpayers.

As Craig Whitlock and Karen DeYoung of the Post explained on July 4, NATO will confront a "mammoth logistical challenge" when winding down the war as "military logisticians are preparing to bring home 100,000 shipping containers stuffed with materiel and 50,000 wheeled vehicles by the end of 2014."

But for now the challenge lies in supplying the troops that are still fighting.

SEE ALSO: Researchers Successfully Predicted Violence In Afghanistan By Crunching WikiLeaks Data >

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"Why are all the good UFOs invisible?" one Gather.com user asked in response to the latest "invisible UFO" report posted to the site.

You might have thought a defining characteristic of a UFO would be visibility. But thanks to zealous alien hunters doggedly scanning the sky with night-vision cameras, a new class of flying objects that only emit infrared light has emerged from the darkness. Are they spies from the great beyond?

"Some people claim to see actual battles between UFOs up in the sky, using night-vision equipment," the ufologist Robert Sheaffer told Life's Little Mysteries. "Those devices magnify faint objects so much that the sky seems to be filled with invisible UFOs. In reality, of course, they are seeing owls, bats, moths, airplanes, satellites, etc." Night-vision optics trade low resolution for high sensitivity, he explained, so that points of light (such as distant satellites) spill out into circles that make the objects appear huge.

However, some of the invisible UFOs out there really are spies of a sort — or whatever else you choose to call military drones. [7 Things Most Often Mistaken for UFOs]

Consider, for example, an invisible triangle UFO recently caught on camera by the Laredo Paranormal Research Society, a Texas group. In their footage, captured using an infrared-sensitive third-generation night-vision camera and posted to YouTube July 13, an object composed of three evenly spaced glowing orbs streaked southward across the field of view and disappeared behind the roof of a house.

According to LPRS founder Ismael Cuellar, the "infrared-cloaked" object could not be seen with the naked eye, and cruised silently. "[We] have ruled out birds, bugs, airplanes, helicopters, and even flying drones by comparing them side by side as a point of reference," Cuellar told Life's Little Mysteries. This seems to leave just one explanation: It's a cloaked alien spaceship.

Not so, according to Ben McGee, a geoscientist, aerospace consultant, UFO skeptic and lead field researcher on the National Geographic series "Chasing UFOs." In McGee's opinion, all the signs point to this object being a border patrol drone with infrared anti-collision or identification lights. Here's why he thinks so.

"Nearly one-third of traffic through the nearby Laredo International Airport has historically been military in nature. Laredo is very near to the Mexican border. The military is increasingly using drones to assist with border security, which are small, quiet, and dim (to the naked eye) aircraft," McGee wrote in an email, adding that most drones are also triangular. [UFO Sightings Are 3,615 Times More Common than Voter Fraud]

This alleged drone oversaturated the camera's infrared sensor. Why? "Particularly with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), anticollision systems are of the utmost importance," he wrote. "One custom UAV lighting manufacturer recently announced custom infrared navigation lights for a major UAV defense contractor. Using these lights in 'constant-on' infrared mode would make the tail, belly, and wingtips extraordinarily bright in infrared, washing out the shape of the aircraft in-between."

And that description pretty closely matches the case.

"In short," McGee said, "high-intensity/close-range infrared lights interacting with a sensitive infrared camera is the problem — turning an aircraft into a triangular blob — rather than the infrared camera being the solution to revealing invisible triangles or pyramids zooming about our airspace."

 Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @nattyover or Life's Little Mysteries @llmysteries. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

• 10 Paranormal Videos Debunked
• 7 Huge Misconceptions about Aliens
• Are We Alone In the Universe? New Analysis Says Maybe

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The My Little Pony fan club extravaganza BronyCon went down at the Meadowlands in New Jersey a couple weeks ago, and some news from the scene has bled over into the military world.

Joe Gould at Outside The Wire reports that some of the BronyCon attendees were military servicemembers who include themselves among the My Little Pony fans called "bronies".

The Military Bronies even have a Facebook page that jumped from about 1,500 to over 2,000 "likes", after Gould's post went up, and is filled with interesting comments about what military life is like for such a unique subculture.

One commenter named Zane Raddue says: "I discovered MLP: FiM (My Little Pony: Friendship in Magic) during my second deployment to Afghanistan, and I haven't looked back! I've even turned a few of my brothers in arms into bronies!"

Equestria Daily has a forum dedicated to Military Bronies as well and commenter Octavia testifies to the number of servicemembers at BronyCon: "Wow, there seem to be more military Bronies at that event than I thought there would be. Really cool to see some love dedicated directly towards the Bronies serving in the military."

Beneath that commenter Archiveit posts: "One might assume My Little Pony and the military go together like a unicorn and an M2 machine gun." Followed by a link to this picture:

Equstria Daily also has the following photo, which along with another from Fox, allegedly showing service members in uniform with the rainbow Pony patch, seems to be causing the loudest outcry.

The Military Bronies on Facebook make clear:

"I want to make one thing clear. Regardless of how easy it is for others to claim this, we DO NOT promote wearing of unauthorized patches, badges or insignia on your uniform. I know that every branch in the US has a uniform regulation that prohibits such things, and we stand behind that regulation. I'm also certain that other countries have similar regulations. We do not recommend you do ANYTHING that goes against the regulations of your branch of service. Sorry to rant on that, but it's been stated by some that we all do this and I wanted to clarify that this is NOT the case."

To which commenter David Gillam replies: 

"Meh. If I can go to the PX (Post Exchange) and get joke tabs that read Dumba$$, infidel, and all the others we picked up for "under the flap", a Mil-Bronie aint so bad. Its a shame we dont have a separate cutie instead of stealing Rainbow's though."

One of those infidel patches is below and we've also written about them here >

Finally, this YouTube video apparently taken during a military luncheon at BronyCon seems to sum up the passion of the Military Bronies. The group sings the song Twilight, the name of a Pony from the show, and shout Semper Filly at the end. A twist on the Marines motto Semper Fidelis.

Now check out China's military might >

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South Korean prosecutors have secured a warrant for the arrest of an active duty U.S. Army private suspected of smuggling 7.5 pounds of synthetic marijuana into the country, RTTNews reports. 

The soldier, from the 2nd Infantry Division, allegedly smuggled about 3,400 grams of synthetic marijuana – known by brand names Spice or K2 – into South Korea from Hungary and the United States via international air mail between August last year and January of this year, according to an official from Seoul Central Prosecutor's office. 

The Yonhap news agency reported that the quantity smuggled has an estimated street value of $175,500, making this the largest drug smuggling case in South Korea history. 

The private will be transferred to South Korean custody on Monday, according to the 2nd Infantry Division of U.S. Forces in South Korea and reported by K.J. Kwon of CNN.

Authorities said that at least five more U.S. citizens, including a former U.S. soldier, will be prosecuted in the case, and prosecutors may expand the investigation into other sales channels involving Koreans. 

Under the Korea-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, which governs the legal status of U.S. service members stationed in South Korea, prosecutors will be required to indict the unnamed soldier within 24 hours of the American's arrest.

In South Korea illegal drug users or traffickers can face a maximum five-year prison sentence or a fine of about $44,000.

SEE ALSO: These Tea Party Pictures Of Obama May Get This Marine Dishonorably Discharged >

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Switzerland just became the 75th state to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The treaty was designed to ban the use of cluster bombs because they often kill civilians when they fall and when they lay around on the ground unexploded. 

But the United States Air Force loves the things. 

The bombs were used during the initial invasion of Iraq. While the Air Force initially wanted a pile of 17,000 bombs, they've since settled for a target of 5,000. They're unguided, uncontrolled, and weigh half of a ton. 

The bombs work by dumping 40 hockey-puck style bomblets out during descent, spreading them out over an area around 1,200 ft by 500 ft and carpet bombing 13 acres. They each cost $360,000 minimum.

The controversy of the bombs — manufactured domestically by Textron — lies in its failure rate. A percentage of the submunitions fail to explode, leaving undetonated high explosives lying on the ground.

For instance, in the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon, more than a million cluster bombs were used,  an estimated 40% of which failed to detonate on impact. The devices caused more civilian casualties in Iraq in 2003 than any other weapon system.

Advocates of the ban claim that one in four casualties of the bombs are civilian children who play with the brightly colored projectiles well after the end of the conflict.

This can kill people even after the conflict has ended; in fact, human rights organizations estimate that one in four casualties of cluster bombs 

As of right now, the United States will have no part in the treaty. During the negotiations, the U.S. ensured that signers could still work with cluster bomb users. That means that the military can still work with the U.K., Afghanistan and most of the European Union. 

Still, Switzerland's agreement to destroy its stockpile is a big win for ban advocates. The signing comes a year after the U.S. agreed to sell India the bombs, so the treaty still has a way to go. 

Now, meet the U.S. Army's ten Olympic athletes >

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The Yellow Jacket is an iPhone case currently seeking funding on Indie Gogo. In addition to shielding your phone from the elements, it also packs a walloping 650,000-volt punch when needed. When you're not using that feature, it also functions as an external battery that provides up to 20 hours of additional talk time.

It's the brainchild of Seth Froom, who came up with the idea after being robbed in his home. Check out the pitch video below, which features a surreal reenactment of the incident.

If you want an iPhone case that can crumple an attacker while protecting your phone, it'll cost you $100 right here.

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Via one of the Pentagon’s official Twitter feeds, this week marks a “milestone” in the development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with its first international delivery.

Officially announced via a joint briefing by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and his British counterpart Philip Hammond, the short takeoff F-35C variant is ready to be delivered to the first country to join in the development partnership with the U.S.

The British government had at one point sought to purchase the F-35B carrier variant JSFs, though the plan was scrapped once the cash-strapped nation saw the costs of outfitting its Queen Elizabeth class carriers balloon upwards.

The F-35 program, envisioned as a cheaper single engined alternative to the too-hot-for-export F-22, has been marked by cost overruns (though, really, what Pentagon program hasn't been), which have caused headaches for would-be foreign buyers that seek to justify not only per unit purchase price, but also the operational costs of maintaining the aircraft.  

The Joint Strike Fighter currently counts on partnerships with eight nations, including the UK, Canada, Turkey and Denmark--a framework that ostensibly offers offset development costs for the aircraft, along with potential purchases.

The Netherlands, which has already ordered two test planes, is currently mulling whether to scrap plans to purchase the F-35 altogether in light of new austerity measures, with a proposal by its leading party (Labour) likely to be submitted prior to September elections to end the country’s JSF participation.

Japan, which had originally wanted to purchase the twin engined F-22, is slated to procure an initial delivery of four F-35s, though the deal had to be massaged by the U.S. as the aircraft’s price tag rose to $120 million from the initial $110 million.

As the scale of the project has shifted due to postponed production in the U.S., this has in turn impacted per unit price. Still, despite these hurdles the program has seen success, such as Israel’s planned purchase of 20 F-35 fighters for its air force,  a deal valued at $2.7 billion. In addition, Norway has finalized its first “firm” order for two of the aircraft, and plans to eventually order 50 – the $10 billion deal would mark that country’s largest ever public purchase.

These deals help, though as Battleland's Winslow Wheeler recently pointed out in his own excellent piece, the GAO's recent oversight report on the aircraft seems to suffer from a startling amount of creative optimism. Despite the aircraft’s ever fluctuating price tag, the F-35 remains the only fifth-generation stealth game in town, and the U.S. has thus far managed to keep the program moving forward, albeit at a slower pace than it first imagined. The future of the program now seems to hinge on maintaining the current production outlook stable, thus preventing future unit price increases as international buyers seek to replace their ageing aircraft fleets.

Now, check out China's response to the F-35 >

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A couple of weeks ago, news broke that the Israelis applied to the IMF for a bridge loan on behalf of the Palestinian Authority ($100 million out of $1 billion the PA requested). Though the IMF turned them down, this is a big, underreported development.

I have spoken to several sources in the business and political activist communities on both sides, and they all say this is major and that events are clearly moving in a new direction on the ground. Even if we consider simply how chilly the official relationship has been recently — Abbas applying unilaterally to the UN last year — and how unlikely the Palestinians are to repay, this is a significant financial liability Israel has volunteered to undertake, and indicates some important new development underway.

Possibly, this is no less than a prelude to negotiations — the many internal political intrigues that have taken place on both sides meanwhile add to this conclusion, even as the collapse of Israel's governing coalition threatens to push any new peace initiative further into the future — but there are several other important possibilities as well. 

Most importantly, it seems credible that the PA is finally on the verge of a complete financial collapse. It has been teetering on the brink for over a year, and has been in a permanent state of financial crisis since its inception. This threatens an outbreak of chaos and violence. Recently, Saudi Arabia just offered to provide the 100 million to the PA, though this does not detract from the significance of the joint IMF application

A fairly little-known but important document by the Palestinian Strategy Study Group — a diverse group of intellectuals, business people, and other Palestinian activists — examined a range of possible outcomes of the diplomatic process updated last year. Here is a brief summary-excerpt:

 Scenarios acceptable to many or most Palestinians are:   

1. A fully sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, and a just settlement that fulfills the Palestinian refugees’ right to return and compensation. 
2. A single bi-national state for Israelis and Palestinians. 
3. A single democratic state in which all citizens are treated equally before the law. 
4. A confederation between Jordan and an independent Palestinian state.    

1.  Continuation of the status quo, with open-ended and intermittent negotiations providing cover for continuing Israeli settlement on Palestinian land and the consolidation of the occupation. 
2. A Palestinian state with temporary borders and limited sovereignty, permanently under the effective control of Israel. 
3. Unilateral separation by Israel with imposed borders and restrictions on the movement of Palestinians.
4. Any notions involving the absorption of Gaza by Egypt and the West Bank by Jordan, or other comparable arrangements.

Be sure to check back here at Business Insider Military & Defense because I have some interesting points and quotes on several of these options, including recent quotes by Israeli officials which allude to the last option. I'll be writing about the outcome of the Egyptian elections (pushing Israel and the PA closer together, strengthening Hamas), about Jordan (which, rumor has it, might be Hamas's next base), and also about the influence of the US presidential elections.

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With a buildup of U.S. naval power in the Persian Gulf and Iranian promises to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, Hezbollah has stepped in to offer an insight on how easily Iran could back up its threats.

The official Hezbollah site Moqawama has posted an interactive infographic showing Iran's missiles surrounding an American aircraft carrier. It's apparently written by Sayed Hadi Mousavi who has a Facebook page here that says he lives in Tehran.

The missiles are:

Zafar: These are small, powerful missiles installed on Iran's fleet of power boats and have radar eluding capabilities.

Nasr: Cruise missiles said to be capable of destroying a three-ton ship. Known to be fired from small boats, the Nasr could possibly be fired from helicopters and submarines as well.

Kowsar: A medium range (up to 12 miles), land-based, anti-ship missile reportedly able to defeat electronic jamming systems and stay on course to its target. Some reports put this as the missile that Hezbollah fired at two Israeli warships in 2006, killing four Israeli servicemembers.

Noor: A reverse engineered Chinese missile with a range of up to 100 miles.

Qadar: One of the most powerful missiles in the Iranian arsenal with a range of about 125 miles.

Tondar: Turbojet-powered ballistic missile.

Saeqhe: The infographic says this anti-ship missile is capable of hitting naval targets up to 186 miles away.

Persian Gulf: Another smart missile said to able to hit targets up to 186 miles away.

Click on the missiles for additional information and watch them fall to the deck of the carrier and explode.

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U.S. and Israeli officials are asserting that Iran and its proxy Hezbollah are responsible for the bombing in Bulgaria that killed five Israeli tourists and two Bulgarians, according to multiple media reports. 

Yesterday the Times of Israel reported that Bulgarian media identified the bomber, but the Swedish secret service and Bulgarian officials denied it.

Reuters has obtained a restricted NYPD document titled "Suspected Iranian and/or Hezbollah-linked Plots Against Israeli or Jewish Targets: 2012 Chronology" that lists the Bulgaria bombing as the latest of nine 2012 plots linked to the Islamic Republic or its proxies.

Nicholas Kulish and Eric Schmitt of the New York Times cite a senior American official who said that the bomber had been "acting under broad guidance" from Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and its primary sponsor Iran to hit Israeli targets when opportunities arose.

The official claimed that the attack was in retaliation for the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists that is believed to have been carried out by Israeli agents. 

Two other American officials and a senior Israeli official "confirmed" that Hezbollah was behind the bombing, according to the Times. but all the officials declined to specific intelligence that linked Hezbollah to the attack.

Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel of Haaretz report that Israeli security officials said that Iran was behind the bombing with the possible aid of Hezbollah. 

Iran has denied the accusations.

Reuters reports that Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov told parliament he hoped that DNA analysis of samples from the bomber would be done in 3-4 days, adding that the attacker was not a Bulgarian citizen.

Bulgaria's interior minister said that the suspect had been in Bulgaria for at least four days but authorities still don't know where the suicide bomber came from or where he stayed, according to CNN.

Joby Warrick of the Washington Post points out that an "eerily similar" attack was foiled in Cyprus on July 7 when authorities detained a Lebanese man who reportedly confessed to entering the country to attack planes and buses used by Israeli tourists. U.S. and Israeli officials, according to Warrick, said that similar plots were foiled in Kenya and Mexico.

Warrick added that U.S. officials "cautioned that there was, as yet, no firm evidence linking Iran or its allies to Wednesday’s attack."

Nevertheless the assertions echo the words of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said that the attack "was part of a global campaign of terror carried out by Iran and Hezbollah." On Wednesday he said "Israel will react powerfully against Iranian terror."

Tensions have risen between the West and Iran as nuclear talks have broken down. Iran has threatened to closed the Strait of Hormuz – Hezbollah even released an infographic that offers how it could be done – amid Netanyahu's threats to attack Iran’s nuclear sites so that the Islamic Republic doesn't arm itself with nuclear weapons.

SEE ALSO: Bulgaria Bomber Was A Caucasian Dressed Like A Tourist With A Fake Michigan License >

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