Kandi Koko

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Air Force on Tuesday confirmed for the first time that it is flying a stealth unmanned aircraft known as the "Beast of Kandahar," a drone spotted in photos and shrouded in secrecy.

The RQ-170 Sentinel is being developed by Lockheed Martin and is designed "to provide reconnaissance and surveillance support to forward deployed combat forces," the air force said in a brief statement.

The "RQ" prefix for the aircraft indicates an unarmed drone, unlike the "MQ" designation used for Predator and Reaper aircraft equipped with missiles and precision-guided bombs.

Aviation experts dubbed the drone the "Beast of Kandahar" after photographs emerged earlier this year showing the mysterious aircraft in southern Afghanistan in 2007.

The image suggested a drone with a radar-evading stealth-like design, resembling a smaller version of a B-2 bomber.

A blog in the French newspaper Liberation published another photo this week, feeding speculation among aviation watchers about the classified drone.

The air force said the aircraft came out of Lockheed Martin's "Skunk Works," also known as Advanced Development Programs, in California -- the home of sophisticated and often secret defense projects including the U-2 spy plane, the F-22 fighter jet and the F-117 Nighthawk.

The photo of the drone in Afghanistan has raised questions about why the United States would be operating a stealth unmanned aircraft in a country where insurgents have no radar systems, prompting speculation Washington was using the drones for possible spying missions in neighboring Iran or Pakistan.

The Sentinel was believed to have a flying wing design with no tail and with sensors built into the top side of each wing, according to published photos.

The RQ-170 is in line with Defense Secretary Robert Gates' request for more intelligence and surveillance resources and with the Air Force chief of staff's plans to expand the fleet of unmanned aircraft, the air force said.

The new drone is flown by the 30th Reconnaissance Squadron out of Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, which is under Air Combat Command's 432nd Wing at Creech Air Base, also in Nevada.

The United States has carried out an extensive bombing campaign against Al-Qaeda figures in Pakistan using the Predator and larger Reaper drones.

Robots or "unmanned systems" in the air and on the ground are now deployed by the thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan, spying from the sky for hours on end, searching for booby-traps and firing lethal missiles without putting US soldiers at risk.

SOURCE: Yahoo!

This is the second time that Sarah Palin's photo on the cover of the Newsweek magazine has caused controversy.

The first was in 2008 when the cover showed a super close up of the Alaskan Politician. The photo was not edited to remove her wrinkles and other dermatological imperfections which her supporters claimed was a backhanded attempt by the "biased" magazine to show and highlight her flaws.

I think that maybe they did scrimp of the editing of her wrinkles and what not but to say that by showing wrinkles is an insult and that it shows her weaknesses is a bit too overboard for me. Wrinkles or no wrinkles what should matter is the substance behind her face, in her brain, who cares if our politicians are wrinkly old ladies or gentlemen as long as they prove that they are comfortable in their own skin to show the masses and emphasize that how you look is not the most important thing and that they are of course competent for the job or office that they are seeking.


The second controversial photo is the one wherein she is wearing a sports attire that is snug and a little on the short side that has sparked outrage with her conservative supporters. I haven't read the article that comes with it yet but i saw the photo and from the cover I don't see why it is sexist and why people are making a big deal out of it. There was nothing indecent or sexual about the photo, the bits the needed to be covered were covered and the pose and the setting in the photo also seemed mundane to me. I think that the outrage perhaps is because of the overly negative mindset of people always assuming that things are done with malice or that things are more sexualized that they really are. I don't know.. maybe that's just me but I really think that the rage about the whole thing is really more than its worth.

One of my favorite Ryan Higa vids :)) it is made of win

Starring Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx

I heard on the news last night that when we was talking about this time magazine cover that he was humbled at how he has become a global household name because he was just a poor nobody way back when. He said that he is honored to be the face of his people to show the world that the Philippines is a small but mighty country.

Pacman for the win!

Louisville Slugger, the manufacturer was found guilty for 18 year old Brandon Patch's death. The courts have also ruled that they should pay the Patch family $850,000.

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Do you think that the manufacturers should be blamed for this? or do you think that it's just an accident?

She was born Taylor Allison Swift on December 13, 1989 in small town Wyomissing, Pennsylvania.

Her first album Fearless is one of the biggest selling albums of 2008. It's full of great power-pop ballads so if you haven't listened to it yet, give it a try. I didn't like it so much at first but then the songs grew on me.

He's apparently $6 M dollars behind on his taxes and he blames his financial manager and business partner Samuel J. Levin whom he accuses of pocketing millions over the years that they've worked together.

Cage has been selling his luxury homes to get out of his financial pitfall.

About everything and anything :D