DTN News: U.S. Department of Defense Contracts Dated June 2, 2014

Defense News: DTN News: U.S. Department of Defense Contracts Dated June 2, 2014
Source: K. V. Seth - DTN News + U.S. DoD issued No. CR-103-14 June 2, 2014
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - June 2, 2014: U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) Contracts issued June 2, 2014 are undermentioned;

CONTRACTS

AIR FORCE

Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training, Moorestown, New Jersey, has been awarded a $914,699,474 fixed-price-incentive-firm, cost-reimbursable and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for engineering, manufacturing and development, production and deployment for the Space Fence program. Work will be performed at Moorestown, New Jersey, and Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of Marshall Islands. The contractor will have 52 months after contract award to reach initial operational capability. Fiscal 2013 and 2014 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $415,000,000 are being obligated at time of award. The contract was competitively procured with two bids received. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/HBQK, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts is the contracting activity (FA8709-14-C-0001).

Raytheon Co., Marlborough, Massachusetts, has been awarded a $298,000,044 firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00002) for FA8705-13-C-0005 for the Family of Advanced Beyond Line of Sight Terminals (FAB-T) Command Post Terminals (CPT) Production program. As a result of this down-select decision, low rate initial production, full rate production and interim contractor support contract options may be exercised to deliver FAB-T CPT-Only Terminals. The Phase 2 production contract options for LRIP, FRP, and ICS may be exercised after completion of Milestone C. Work will be performed in Marlborough, Massachusetts and Largo, Florida. Fiscal 2013 through 2019 aircraft and other procurement funds are programmed for this effort, with $31,274 being obligated at time of award. Two bids were solicited and two received. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/HNSK, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity.

L-3 Communications, Platform Integration Division, Waco, Texas, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $41,500,000 undefinitized contract action for the procurement and modification of four Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance aircraft, training and spares in support of the counterterrorism efforts in Yemen. Work will be performed at Waco, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2015. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition, and is 100 percent foreign military sales for Yemen. The 645 AESG/WIJK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8620-14-C-3020).

The Garrett Container Systems, Accident, Maryland, has been awarded a $37,174,689 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Defensor Fortis - Load Carrying System 2 Kits and Accessories. This contract includes 36 distinctive pieces of equipment that all security forces personnel utilize on a daily basis, including Rifleman Kits, Team Leader Kits, M-203 Grenadiers Kits, M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon Gunner Kits, M-240 Machine Gunner Kits, Military Working Dog Kits and Multi-Mission Kits. Work will be performed at Accident, and is expected to be completed by May 31, 2019. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and all offerors were solicited using Federal Business Opportunities; three offers were received. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $3,000 are being obligated at time of award. The 771st Enterprise Sourcing Squadron, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, is the contracting activity (FA8054-14-D-0004).

NAVY

General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., San Diego, California, is being awarded a $20,745,556 modification to previously awarded cost-plus-award-fee contract (N00024-13-C-4404) for USS Boxer (LHD 4) fiscal 2014 phased maintenance availability. A phased maintenance availability includes the planning and execution of depot-level maintenance, alterations, and modifications that will update and improve the ship's military and technical capabilities. Work will be performed in San Diego, and is expected to be completed by December 2015. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance (Navy) and fiscal 2014 working capital (Navy) funding in the amount of $20,745,556 will be obligated at time of award. Contract funds in the amount of $20,745,556 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Southwest Regional Maintenance Center, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity.

Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Connecticut, is being awarded a $13,228,560 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to the previously awarded contract (N00024-13-C-2128) for procurement of Common Missile Compartment material. The contractor will be purchasing various long lead time parts to support the manufacture of the Common Missile Compartment for the Ohio Replacement Program. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Navy (37 percent) and the United Kingdom (63 percent) under the foreign military sales program. Work will be performed in Groton, and is scheduled to be completed by December 2017. Fiscal 2011 FMS and fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation funding in the amount of $13,228,560 will be obligated at time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Supervisor of Shipbuilding Conversion and Repair, Groton, Connecticut, is the contracting activity.

S.T. Wooten Corp. Inc., Wilson, North Carolina, is being awarded $9,975,000 for firm-fixed-price task order 0003 under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract (N40085-13-D-5245) for repairing various areas of runways 23R and 14L at Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point. The work to be performed provides for the repair of deteriorated bituminous concrete at various locations on the airfield using asphalt concrete milling/overlay and sealcoating to extend the useful life of the airfield pavements. Work will be performed in Havelock, North Carolina, and is expected to be completed by March 2016. Fiscal 2014 operation and maintenance (Marine Corps) contract funds in the amount of $9,975,000 are being obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Three proposals were received for this task order. The Facilities Engineering and Design Command, Cherry Point, North Carolina, is the contracting activity.

ARMY

Northrop Grumman, Herndon, Virginia was awarded a $6,990,140 modification (P00039) to contract W31P4Q-12-C-0029 to acquire Rocket Artillery Mortar Warn Equipment for 2-44 Air Defense Artillery fielding six platoons. Fiscal 2014 other procurement funds in the amount of $6,990,140 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is Nov. 3, 2014. This contract involved foreign military sales to Afghanistan. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

UPDATE: Kalmar RT Center, Cibolo, Texas (SPE8EC-14-D-0019) has been added as an awardee to the multiple award contract #SPM8EC-12-D-0001 announced Jan. 24, 2012.

MOST RECENT CONTRACTS

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Contracts for May 20, 2014

Contracts for May 19, 2014

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth + U.S. DoD issued No. CR-103-14 June 2,, 2014 
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
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*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - INDIA NEWS: The Future of India's National Congress Dynastic Party Is In Doubt

Defense News: DTN News - INDIA NEWS: The Future of India's National Congress Dynastic Party Is In Doubt
*Descendants of Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi have had trouble governing a changing India
*Some see the end of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty in the Indian National Congress' huge election loss

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Shashank Bengali
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - June 1, 2014: It is one of the most storied names in political history, a party synonymous with modern India and an inspiration for revolutionary movements led by the likes of South Africa's Nelson Mandela and Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh.

But a disastrous performance in the recent national elections has many wondering whether this is the end for the Indian National Congress party.

The party that has led India for most of its 67 years as an independent nation was thumped out of power, winning a paltry 44 of 543 parliamentary seats — its lowest tally by far — and prompting serious questions about the leadership of the Gandhis, the first family of Indian politics.

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Aoun Sahi, Shashank Bengali

The descendants of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's erudite first prime minister, and his strong-willed daughter, Indira Gandhi, have proved less adept at governing a fast-changing India. With the party's last several years in power subsumed by corruption scandals and economic calamities, the once-revered family name increasingly reeks of a stale dynasty that has even longtime supporters clamoring for the Gandhis to step aside.

An editorial in the Hindustan Times, a national newspaper run by former Congress party lawmaker Shobhana Bhartia, said the party is "seemingly in terminal decline" and needs to find a new generation of leaders.

"It has to undergo a drastic mind-set change and reevaluate many of its core principles, among them the relevance of dynastic rule," the newspaper said.

Some critics are writing the party's obituary. "They are not going to come back," said Mohan Guruswamy, a prominent economist who has advised Congress' rival, the conservative Bharatiya Janata Party.

The party faithful counter that Congress has lost before and come back strong. "Congress has always fought back, and there is no reason it can't fight back again," said Eknath Gaikwad, a Congress lawmaker from south-central Mumbai.

Congress' decline represents an epochal change for a fractious nation long held together by the party's big-tent liberalism. It comes as India appears to be turning rightward after overwhelmingly electing the BJP, whose leader, new Prime Minister Narendra Modi, rails against Congress' signature welfare and affirmative action programs aimed at historically disadvantaged lower castes and the rural poor.

Gandhi allies criticize the BJP as Hindu chauvinists, noting that none of its 282 Parliament members are from the Muslim community, which accounts for about 14% of India's 1.2 billion people. But as much as it sees pluralism as a founding principle, Congress has not embraced that ethos at the very top of its hierarchy, which is strictly a family affair.

Related story: From tea-seller to India's top job: The rise of Narendra Modi
Parth M.N.
Days after the election embarrassment, the mother-son team that leads Congress, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, met with advisors in New Delhi and reportedly offered their resignations. According to Indian news accounts in Indian media, the advisors spent more than half of the three-hour meeting imploring them not to go. The meeting ended with a unanimous statement of faith in the Gandhis' leadership.

"Not much time was left for any introspection," the Times of India reported dryly.

Longtime party officials say they have failed in campaigning, not in governing. Beginning in 2004, the party ushered in near-universal education, expanded food subsidies and introduced a landmark government transparency law. It also embarked on one of the largest welfare programs of its kind in the world, a rural employment system that guaranteed every household 100 days of wage-earning work a year. Officials say it has provided jobs to about 50 million of the poorest Indian households.

But after Congress won reelection in 2009, a parade of corruption scandals came to light. The welfare programs and economic liberalization increased incomes, which in turn pushed up prices of basic goods and contributed to inflation, one of the main complaints among working-class voters.

Scholarly Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was seen as a puppet of Sonia Gandhi and too weak to confront errant party bosses.

"The accomplishments were not well articulated, and they got lost in the hullabaloo of the election campaign," lawmaker Gaikwad said.

A 75-year-old party stalwart who joined Congress because he was inspired by Nehru, Gaikwad rejects any suggestion that the Gandhis find new blood to lead the party. Referring to the assassinations of Indira Gandhi in 1984 and Sonia Gandhi's husband, Rajiv, in 1991, he said that no family has sacrificed as much for India's democracy.

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Shashank Bengali
"It's because of the Gandhi family that I am in Congress," Gaikwad said. "They're the glue that keeps the Congress together, and Congress has laid the foundations of this country."

A younger group of party officials has begun to show hints of frustration with the family's stewardship, particularly that of the 43-year-old party vice president, Rahul. Square-jawed and Cambridge-educated, he had been billed as the party's leader of the future, but his diffident and distracted performances on the campaign trail have made him a national punch line., He eked out a narrow victory for his parliamentary seat in Amethi, a Gandhi family bastion for decades.

Some party insiders are said to want a bigger role for Rahul's sister, Priyanka, a political neophyte who nevertheless drew enthusiastic crowds in her few appearances on the campaign trail. The spitting image of her grandmother Indira, she carries political baggage: Her real-estate tycoon husband, Robert Vadra, is a fixture in Indian newspapers amid allegations of corrupt land deals.

"Everyone in India makes money the way the son-in-law makes money — it's the crony capitalist system — but the family is expected to be above all this," Guruswamy said.

Analysts see real danger for Congress because it suffered major election setbacks in its longtime strongholds in the so-called Hindi heartland of north and central India. With more Indians living in urban areas, Congress' rural base has softened. So, too, has its appeal as India's founding party, with a growing number of young voters more interested in private sector jobs and clean government.

Party stalwarts point out that Congress has been down before: in 1977, when it was drubbed at the polls after Indira Gandhi instituted emergency rule, and in 2004, when a BJP-led government swept into power for the first time. Both times, the party recovered to win the next national election.

"People have written our obituary before," Gaikwad said. "In five years the people will be disillusioned by Mr. Modi and they will come back to us."

Special correspondent Parth M.N. contributed to this report.

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Shashank Bengali
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
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DTN News - UKRAINE CRISIS: US Deploys Fighter Jets In Poland And Lithuania Amid Ukrainian Turmoil

Defense News: DTN News - UKRAINE CRISIS: US Deploys Fighter Jets In Poland And Lithuania Amid Ukrainian Turmoil

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources RT
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 11, 2014: The US is sending a dozen F-16 fighter jets and nearly 300 service personnel to Poland by Thursday as part of a training exercise in response to the crisis in neighboring Ukraine, the Polish defense ministry confirmed.

The agreement to deploy US military forces in Poland was made between US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, and Poland’s Minister of National Defense Tomasz Siemoniak during a telephone conversation on Sunday, March 9, 2014, according to a statement on the official website of the Polish Ministry of National Defense.

"The squadron will number twelve F-16 planes and will transport 300 soldiers," Polish Defense Ministry spokesman, Jacek Sonta, confirmed to AFP.

Initially, the training exercise was planned to be smaller but was increased and pushed forward because of the “tense political situation” in neighboring Ukraine, added Sonta.

The ministry also said that the aim of sending the units is to “strengthen Polish - American cooperation.” Part of the preparation team of US Air Force has already arrived on Polish territory.

The fighters were sent on the initiative of the Polish government, an initiative immediately accepted by Washington.

On Monday, NATO also gave the go-ahead to Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) for reconnaissance flights over Poland and Romania in order help monitor the crisis in Ukraine.

Poland is a western neighbor of crisis-torn Ukraine - between the countries’ capitals, Warsaw and Kiev, there is less than 700 km.

Earlier, the Polish media reported that US fighter jets would be stationed at the Lask air force base in central Poland.

Washington is also sending four F-15 planes to Lithuania in response to “Russian aggression in Ukraine and increased military activity in Kaliningrad,” according to the Lithuanian Defense Ministry.

On Saturday, US Navy destroyer, the USS Truxtun, crossed Turkey's Bosphorus and entered the Black Sea. The ship, with around 300 crew, was heading to “previously planned” training exercises with the Bulgarian and Romanian navies. When the vessel appeared in the Black Sea, Fox News declared that NATO’s bolstering presence in the Black Sea is a “defensive” measure to counter “Russian military aggression” in Ukraine.

USS Truxton, one of the largest destroyers ever built for the US navy, will reportedly stay in the Black Sea till mid-March as the Montreux Convention allows a warship of any non-Black Sea country to stay in the region for 21 day only.

The situation in Ukraine is close to financial and humanitarian catastrophe after the armed coup which took place in February. There are mass protests in eastern and southern parts of the country against the self-proclaimed authorities in Kiev.

The Autonomous Republic of Crimea has scheduled a referendum for March 16 on whether it wants to remain part of Ukraine, or join Russia.

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources RT
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*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - UKRAINE CRISIS: NATO To Fly AWACS Planes Over Poland, Romania To Monitor Ukraine Crisis

Defense News: DTN News - UKRAINE CRISIS: NATO To Fly AWACS Planes Over Poland, Romania To Monitor Ukraine Crisis

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Reuters
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 11, 2014: NATO will start reconnaissance flights over Poland and Romania to monitor the situation in neighboring Ukraine where Russian forces have taken control of Crimea, the alliance said on Monday.

Ukraine is not a NATO member but Russia's intervention in Crimea has alarmed neighboring countries, including alliance members that used to be dominated by the Soviet Union.

Acting on a recommendation from the alliance's top military commander, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, NATO ambassadors gave the go-ahead to the AWACS flights, a NATO spokesman said.

AWACS (airborne early warning and control) planes will fly from their home airbases in Geilenkirchen, Germany, and Waddington in Britain, the spokesman said.

"These flights will enhance the alliance's situational awareness and all will take place solely over alliance territory," he said.

The flights will start soon and go on for as long as required, he added.

The Western military alliance announced a review of its cooperation with Moscow last week after Russian forces tightened their grip on Crimea, home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet, following weeks of upheaval in Ukraine which culminated in the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovich.

NATO allies met last Tuesday after Poland invoked a rule allowing any ally to consult with the others if it feels its security is under threat.

Soon after that meeting, U.S. officials said the Pentagon would more than double the number of U.S. fighter jets on a NATO air patrol mission in the Baltics and do more training with Poland's air force in an attempt to reassure allies.

The E-3 Sentry is an airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft that provides all-weather surveillance, command, control and communications needed by commanders of U.S. and NATO air defense forces. As proven in Desert Storm, it is the premier air battle command and control aircraft in the world today.

(Reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Reuters
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DTN News - AIRLINES NEWS: Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Mystery

Defense News: DTN News - AIRLINES NEWS: Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Mystery

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Fox News
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 10, 2014: Vietnamese aircraft spotted what they suspected was one of the doors belonging to the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 on Sunday, as troubling questions emerged about how two passengers managed to board the Boeing 777 using stolen passports.

The discovery comes as officials consider the possibility that the plane disintegrated mid-flight, a senior source told Reuters.

The state-run Thanh Nien newspaper cited Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of staff of Vietnam's army, as saying searchers in a low-flying plane had spotted an object suspected of being a door from the missing jet. It was found in waters about 56 miles south of Tho Chu island, in the same area where oil slicks were spotted Saturday.

"From this object, hopefully (we) will find the missing plane," Tuan said. Thanh Nien said two ships from the maritime police were heading to the site.

An authority told Reuters that it was too dark to be certain the object was part of the missing plane, and that more aircraft would be dispatched to investigate the site in waters off southern Vietnam in the morning.

Rahman said that the search area has been increased to 50 nautical miles, from 20, and includes 34 aircraft and 40 ships. Aircraft are conducting 12-hour searches, until sundown, while ships are scheduled to continue the search throughout the night.

Meanwhile, Interpol says no country checked its database for information about stolen passports that were used to board the Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared with 239 people on board Saturday less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, bound for Beijing.

In a sharply worded criticism of shortcomings of national passport controls, the Lyon, France-based international police body said information about the thefts of an Austrian passport in 2012 and an Italian passport last year was entered into its database after they were stolen in Thailand.

Interpol said in a statement it was investigating all other passports used to board the flight and was working to determine the "true identities" of the passengers who used the stolen passports.

"I can confirm that we have the visuals of these two people on CCTV," Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said at a news conference late Sunday, adding that the footage was being examined. "We have intelligence agencies, both local and international, on board."

Hussein declined to give further details, saying it may jeopardize the investigation. Hussein said only two passengers had used stolen passports, and that earlier reports that the identities of two others were under investigation were not true.

European authorities on Saturday confirmed the names and nationalities of the two stolen passports: One was an Italian-issued document bearing the name Luigi Maraldi, the other Austrian under the name Christian Kozel. Police in Thailand said Maraldi's passport was stolen on the island of Phuket last July.

A telephone operator on a China-based KLM hotline on Sunday confirmed to The Associated Press that "Maraldi" and "Kozel" were both booked to leave Beijing on a KLM flight to Amsterdam on March 8. Maraldi was then to fly to Copenhagen, Denmark, on KLM on March 8, and Kozel to Frankfurt, Germany, on March 8.

She said since the pair booked the tickets through China Southern Airlines, she had no information on where they bought them. The ticket purchases reportedly took place almost simultaneously, and the tickets were numbered consecutively, according to the BBC.

A U.S. official told Fox News that a key priority is clarifying the status of the passports, whether they were lost or stolen, and determining through airport security screening and video who got on the flight under those names.

The statements came as officials said finding the wreckage of the flight is “the utmost priority."

“There is still no sign of the aircraft,” Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director general of the Department of Civil Aviation, said during a news conference in Kuala Lumpur.

The U.S. Navy sent a warship, the USS Pickney, which was conducting training and maritime security operations off the South China Sea, and a surveillance plane. Singapore said it would send a submarine and a plane. China and Vietnam were sending aircraft to help in the search.

It is not uncommon for it to take several days to find the wreckage of an aircraft floating on the ocean. Locating and then recovering the flight data recorders, vital to any investigation, can take months or even years.

When pressed on reports of fake passports used by at least two passengers on board the flight and the possibility of a terrorist attack, Rahman re-stated that the priority is to find the aircraft and that any probe investigating a terror link is independent of the search mission. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has also said it is “too early to make any conclusive remarks.”

Earlier, Malaysia’s air force chief told reporters that military radar indicated that the plane may have turned from its flight route before losing contact.

Rodzali Daud didn't say which direction the plane might have taken when it apparently went off route.

"We are trying to make sense of this," he told a media conference. "The military radar indicated that the aircraft may have made a turn back and in some parts, this was corroborated by civilian radar."

Malaysia Airlines Chief Executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said pilots were supposed to inform the airline and traffic control authorities if the plane does start to return. "From what we have, there was no such distress signal or distress call per se, so we are equally puzzled," he said.

Vietnamese air force planes spotted two large oil slicks late Saturday in the first sign that the aircraft had crashed. The slicks were each between 6 miles and 9 miles long, the Vietnamese government said in a statement.

But there was no confirmation that the slicks were related to the missing plane, but the statement said they were consistent with the kinds that would be produced by the two fuel tanks of a crashed jetliner.

The plane was carrying 227 passengers, including two infants and 12 crew members when it “lost all contact,” with Subang Air Traffic Control at 2:40 a.m., two hours into the flight, the airline said. The plane was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. Saturday.

Around the time the plane vanished, the weather was fine and the plane was already at cruising altitude, making its disappearance all the more mysterious.

Just 9 percent of fatal accidents happen when a plane is at cruising altitude, according to a statistical summary of commercial jet accidents done by Boeing. The plane was last inspected 10 days ago and found to be "in proper condition," Ignatius Ong, CEO of Malaysia Airlines subsidiary Firefly airlines, said at a news conference.

The lack of a radio call "suggests something very sudden and very violent happened," said William Waldock, who teaches accident investigation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz.

The plane "lost all contact and radar signal one minute before it entered Vietnam's air traffic control," Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of staff of the Vietnamese army, said in a statement issued by the government.

U.S. officials said late Saturday that a team of safety experts had been dispatched to Southeast Asia to assist in the investigation. Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board told Fox News that the team, which includes investigators from the agency and technical experts from the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing, had been sent to the region despite the fact that the plane had not been located due to the lengthy travel time from the U.S. and the team's desire to be in a position to assist local authorities right away. The FBI is also assisting in the search.

Meanwhile, a former intelligence official told Fox News that the information about stolen passports from two adjacent European countries, combined with recent warnings for flights to the United States about the risk of possible shoe bomb attacks, is concerning.

The airline said onboard the plane, there were 152 passengers from China, 38 from Malaysia, seven from Indonesia, six from Australia, five from India and three from the U.S. and others from Indonesia, France, New Zealand, Canada, Ukraine, Russia, Taiwan and the Netherlands.

The U.S. State Department later confirmed in a statement that three Americans were aboard the jetliner.

In the United States, a friend confirmed to the Associated Press that an IBM executive from North Texas named Philip Wood had been aboard the jet. Freescale Semiconductor, a company based in Texas, also confirmed Saturday that 20 of its employees -- 12 from Malaysia and eight from China -- were passengers.

The airline says the plane's pilot is Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a 53-year-old who has been with the airline for over 30 years. The plane's first officer is Fariq Ab.Hamid, a 27-year-old who joined the airline in 2007. Both are Malaysians.

At Beijing's airport, authorities posted a notice asking relatives and friends of passengers to gather at a hotel about nine miles from the airport to wait for further information, and provided a shuttle bus service.

Malaysia Airlines has 15 Boeing 777-200 jets in its fleet of about 100 planes.

The 777 had not had a fatal crash in its 20-year history until the Asiana Airlines crash in San Francisco in July 2013.

Fox News' Catherine Herridge and Dan Gallo, as well as The Associated Press contributed to this report.

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Fox News
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