Tag: usmc

Teen missing for 18 days found in barracks at Camp Pendleton; Human Trafficking Task Force Investigating

A 14-year-old girl who ran away from her grandmother’s Spring Valley area home on June 9 was found last week inside the barracks at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department (SDSO) confirmed. The teen’s disappearance was reported to the Sheriff’s Department four days later by her grandmother.

“The grandmother reported to deputies that the teen had previously run away before, but always returned home quickly,” Melissa Aquino, SDSO’s media relations officer noted.

The girl, who has learning disabilities, was found in the barracks June 28 by military police, according to her aunt Casaundra Perez. Perez claims her niece was sold to a Marine for sex.

SDSO spokesperson Lt. David LaDieu told NBC 7 that the only involvement their department had was recovering the juvenile because she was listed as missing from their jurisdiction. However, Aquino confirmed SDSO was supporting the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) with their investigation, along with the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force.

A photo shared publicly on social media on July 2 showed a handcuffed Marine being escorted by military police on base on June 28. Captain Chuck Palmer of Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine Logistics Group confirmed a Marine was taken into custody and questioned by NCIS about his involvement with the girl that day.

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The U.S. Marines Are Getting Suicide Drones — Lots Of Them

In the near future, the United States Marine Corps will begin fielding a so-called suicide drone, essentially a quickly deployable — and expendable — flying bomb. Based on the UVision Hero-120, the loitering munition is the largest of the company’s short-range systems.

What It Can Do

Don’t let “short-range” fool you, however. Powered by an electric motor and controlled by a “man-in-the-loop” the Hero-120 has a maximum range of 40 kilometers, or nearly 25 miles, and can stay aloft for an hour. The canister launched drone has 8 pop-out fins and is remarkably lightweight.

The entire drone weighs just 12.5 kilos and packs a 4.5-kilo explosive warhead, presumably in its nose. Packed into multiple canister launcher-type pods, it is not hard to imagine large numbers of the Hero-120 sent aloft at once — and in fact, that is exactly what the Marine Corps wants to do.

The Marine Corps contracted with Mistral, an American weapon system company, to integrate the Hero-120 onto the LAV and JLTV land vehicles, as well as onto the LRUSV, a long-range remotely operated drone boat. When mated to a vehicle, multiple Heros could be stacked together, not unlike a multiple rocket launcher system.

The Marine’s new suicide drone will differ slightly from the Hero-120 however, though it is not exactly clear what this difference will be exactly. 

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US Marines Activate Space Unit As Race To Secure Low Earth Orbit Intensifies

On Friday, the Marine Corps activated a new, specialized unit called the Marine Corps Forces Space Command (MARFORSPACE) as a subordinate organization to US Space Command, which will “provide space operational support to the Fleet Marine Force while building a convergence capability to increase warfighter lethality,” read a US Space Command press release. 

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