From the office of Defense Secretary Robert Gates:
"Today I provided my recommendation to the President for the nominations to the top civilian and military leadership positions in the Air Force.
"I recommended that Michael Donley be nominated to serve as Secretary of the Air Force.
"Mike Donley is presently the Director of Administration and Management for the Department of Defense, essentially charged with running the Pentagon and its many complex operations. Mike served as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management in the first Bush Administration and, for a period, as Acting Secretary of the Air Force. In order to minimize any disruption caused by this leadership transition, I have also recommended to the President that he designate Mike Donley as Acting Secretary of the Air Force effective June 21.
"I further recommended to the President that General Norton Schwartz be nominated to serve as Air Force Chief of Staff.
"General Schwartz is presently the Commander of U.S. Transportation Command, which is in charge of the Department's extensive transportation network and world-wide operations. Prior to that, General Schwartz served in senior joint military positions as Director of the Joint Staff, Director for Operations for the Joint Staff and Deputy Commander of Special Operations Command.
"In addition, I have recommended two additional Air Force military leadership changes.
"First, General Duncan McNabb, the current Air Force Vice Chief of Staff, has been recommended to take General Schwartz's place at US Transportation Command. General McNabb has spent most of his three-plus decades in the Air Force in the areas of lift, refueling and logistics making him an ideal candidate to assume the helm of this command.
"Second, I have recommended that the President nominate Lieutenant General William Fraser III, to follow General McNabb as the next Air Force Vice Chief. General Fraser is currently the Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In that role he is the Chairman's chief liaison and advisor on international relations and political-military matters. In addition to his numerous flying and command assignment in the bomber community, General Fraser has extensive wartime, contingency and humanitarian relief operational experience.
"I am confident that Mike Donley, General Schwartz and the new Air Force leadership team have the qualifications, skill and commitment to excellence necessary to guide the Air Force through this transition and beyond.
I don't know much about Donley, but I know Norty Schwartz and really like the dude. He's a good guy, understands unconventional fights and is an independant thinker. I can't think of a better leader to take the Air Force once and for all out of the Cold War mindset.
It's also noteworthy that Duncan McNabb will replace Schwartz at Transcom, and William Fraser will replace McNabb as Vice Chief. Why? Well, look at their resumes. McNabb is a longtime transport and rotor wing pilot (red-headed step children in the AF) and Fraser is a bomber pilot (another pariah in the fighter-dominated service). If the jet-jocks can't get their act in gear, then we'll get the slow-movers into the game so change can finally come...We'll see.
-- Christian
When my air conditioning broke in mid-July I was very nervous about the repair costs, but I remember that my real estate agent purchased a home warranty for my home. I called Nationwide Home Warranty and within a few hours my a/c was fixed for only a service call fee. My realtor really helped me out.
Ceremonies held at Holloman AFB, N.M., today marked the formal beginning of operations for the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor with the United States Air Force's 49th Fighter Wing.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today announced a new task force to recommend improvements needed to ensure top-level accountability and control of U.S. nuclear weapons, delivery vehicles and sensitive components.
A senior Turkish general says Turkey and Iran have carried out coordinated strikes against Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq. Over the past few months, Turkey has reportedly intensified its attacks against bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced the successful completion of the latest flight test of the sea-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) element, conducted jointly with the U.S. Navy off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii.
I believe I have seen the future replacement for the E-8C Joint STARS fleet (shown pictured), and it's not going to be a US Air Force aircraft.
The US Navy is preparing to replace the EP-3E ARIES II, an electronic intelligence aircraft, with a new-start acquisition program called EPX.
But the navy's requirements for EPX call for an aircraft that would not only spy on enemy electronic signals, like the EP-3E, but also find and track moving targets, like the E-8C.
Interestingly, the EPX program of record will acquire 19 to 26 aircraft to replace only 11 EP-3Es flying today. At the high end of that range, 26 aircraft would nicely replace all 11 EP-3Es and all 17 E-8Cs in service. (One E-8C is a testbed, and doesn't count.)
If the air force can't pay for an E-8C replacement to appear after 2015, or even to modernize the radar on the current fleet, watch for the navy to steal this mission with the EPX. It's the roles and missions equivalent of a pick-pocketing.
And it's happened before. In 1998, the air force lost the EC-135 Looking Glass mission to the navy's E-6 take-charge-and-move-out (TACAMO) aircraft. Now, it's happening again, unless the air force acts very quickly.
This all became clear to me during my weeklong tour of Boeing's defense sites based in the Pacific Northwest. Paul Summers, Boeing's capture lead for EPX, briefed reporters about the navy's requirements, explaining that the size of the future EPX fleet had grown from 14-19 aircraft to 19-26 aircraft since last year.
The obvious question later occurred to me: Why does the navy need 26 EPX aircraft to replace 11 EP-3Es. Clearly, the navy has bigger ideas for this fleet.
Paul also discussed the new radar for the EPX. This in itself is noteworthy. The EP-3E does not have a radar. The aircraft intercepts and maps enemy communications and other electronic transmissions.
We've known for about a year that Boeing and Raytheon have installed the new littoral surveillance radar systems (LSRS) on a subset of the P-3C fleet, giving the navy its own mini-Joint STARS capability.
It is now clear that the LSRS is the proverbial trojan horse, injecting the navy into the Joint STARS business for the long-term.
Paul also explained that Boeing will consider the LSRS or another radar for EPX. The only possible alternative is a new variant of Northrop Grumman's wide area surveillance sensor developed under the multi-platform radar technology insertion program (MP-RTIP).
This will force Northrop to make a tough choice. Northrop, you see, is the prime contractor the E-8C, so it has everything to lose if the navy takes over the mission. However, if the company decides to join Boeing's EPX bid, that could be a signal that it believes the air force will never get around to replacing the E-8C.
The navy has money in the budget beginning next year to launch EPX. The air force has no funds to replace E-8Cs for the foreseeable future, and now faces a potentially disruptive leadership transition.
I'm not a betting man, but, if I was in Northrop's position, I know where I'd place my bet.
The air force has only itself to blame. The folly of the E-10 program, which spectacularly failed to combine an E-8C, and E-3A AWACS and an airborne operations center onto the same platform, has left the air force without a discernible plan to replace its aging fleets of 707-based aircraft.
The air force's only hope to stay in the E-8C business may be to observe the adage: if you can't beat them, join them.
Establishing a true "joint" partnership to acquire and operate a new fleet of narrowbody-class aircraft to serve all of the specialized missions performed today by 707s looks like the only way back in. (This idea also has the charm of making sense.)
Indeed, it has been proposed several times in the past. The only difference now is that the air force won't be calling the shots.
The navy, meanwhile, is not in this position merely through good fortune.
In 2004, the navy picked the Boeing P-8A -- based on the 737-800ERX -- to replace the P-3C, giving itself a versatile and capable platform to expand into new missions.
That's not to say that Boeing won't have to face challengers to win the EPX contract. The navy is inviting other companies to compete for EPX, but it will be difficult for the Airbus A320 and the Embraer E190 to overcome the incumbent advantages of the P-8A.
Paul Summers told us that Boeing had to make more than 50 modifications costing $1 billion to simply adapt the basic 737 airframe to meet the navy's more demanding certification requirements. The A320 and the E190 would face similar costs, possibly killing the chances for holding a fair airframe competition on EPX.
I expect that the navy will try to level the playing field in other ways. Perhaps, the navy will select the P-8A as the baseline platform and invite bidders -- including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop -- to compete for the systems integrator role.
The shortest Arab-Israeli war, the Six-Day War, broke out on June 5, 1967. It lasted until June 10 when the Arabs were comprehensively defeated.
Sixty-four years ago, a multi-national force of more than 130,000 Soldiers embarked on what is to this day, the largest one-day military invasion in history.
The Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229 engine has been selected by the Royal Moroccan Air Force to power their new fleet of F-16 Block 52 aircraft.
Indonesia needs a high-tech operational marine equipment to monitor the situation at its sea and to save its territory.
Greg Combet, the Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement, today announce that the first Airbus A330 had arrived in Australia for conversion to a KC-30B Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) under Project Air 5402.
Harris Corporation, an international communications and information technology company, has been awarded $118 million in orders to supply the U.S. Marine Corps with Falcon II AN/PRC-117(F) multiband manpack radios.
SIDM, the French interim system of medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), has successfully completed its flight acceptance operations at Air Base 118, Mont-de-Marsan.
Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), Munich, and General Dynamics European Land Systems (GD ELS), Vienna, are teaming to develop and market a new generation, air deployable, autonomous and remotely operated 155mm artillery system.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today announced the resignations of Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley following an investigation revealing a decline in the Air Force's nuclear program focus, performance and effective leadership.
Here's another input from DT's publisher emeritus Chris Michel. This video shows a couple of B-2s launching, the second one not so well. Fortunately, the pilots punch out in time.
What's a couple billion among friends and taxpayers?
-- Ward
It's just like blowing up a building, or is it?
Type up some nefarious code, hack into a government system and "boom" you bring down the whole network without even firing a shot, right?
Well that's not how the Air Force's cyber warriors see it. To them, dropping a "logic bomb" into a computer network is the same as launching a 2,000-pound JDAM from a B-2 bomber at 20,000 feet -- you've done the same kind of damage but with different means.
So take cover from incoming.
You can use standard combat terminology in cyber warfare as you can with traditional warfare, said Col. Tony Buntyn, vice commander of Air Force Cyber Command, during a June 3 interview with military bloggers.
"You can find, fix, target, and engage an enemy," he said. "A target could be a [computer] network ... or it could be physical, with a [geographical] location. But we need the capabilities, just like we have in kinetic warfare, to engage targets when necessary."
Cyber warfare -- the use of computers and digital code to penetrate information systems and damage or infiltrate a foreign network -- is becoming an increasingly critical capability to the U.S. military. Because of the ease of access to powerful hardware and the ubiquity of hacker software, more countries and non-state actors are getting into the game, Pentagon and government officials say.
Countries like China, Russia and North Korea have quietly entered the cyber-warfare arena, already scoring significant hits against U.S. and other government computer and communications networks.
To computer warriors like Buntyn and his fellow Airmen, sometimes your defense is only as good as your offense.
"It could be either a kinetic or non-kinetic effect you want to achieve. And we need the ability to provide either," Buntyn said.
But when and how to use either method is based on the kind of conflict you're in.
"It depends on our target; it depends on our rules of engagement -- are we conducting open warfare with an adversary?" Buntyn explained. "If that's the case, then we don't really need to be discreet about it. When we drop a JDAM and leave a big smoking hole, that's not very discreet."
"If I can [locate] it and I can take it out with a kinetic attack ... and it meets the rules of engagement, then that might be the preferred method."
That works if you're targeting terrorist nodes and communication relays during an open conflict. But what about malicious network infiltration originating from a country with whom the U.S. is not at war?
"If it's an [Internet]-based target that's accessible to us and we can take it out electronically, reliably, then that may be the preferred method," Buntyn added.
Though China has become "cyber-enemy-number-one" recently, with stories of DoD network hacking attacks and millions spent by the PLA on its computer warfare capabilities, the Air Force isn't looking too hard over its shoulder at the rising cyber power in the Pacific -- despite Pentagon warnings.
"In the past year, numerous computer networks around the world, including those owned by the U.S. Government, were subject to intrusions that appear to have originated within the PRC. These intrusions require many of the skills and capabilities that would also be required for computer network attack," according to this year's Pentagon report on Chinese military power. "Although it is unclear if these intrusions were conducted by or with the endorsement of the PLA or other elements of the PRC government, developing capabilities for cyber warfare is consistent with authoritative PLA writings on this subject."
But to Buntyn, the threat is more diffuse, accessible to all and is proliferating more than on a simple state-to-state basis.
"The entry into this warfighting domain is very cheap. A 12 year old with a laptop can spend a couple hours on the Internet and achieve a pretty good capability," he said. "It's not limited to nation states. There are plenty of criminal organizations that are out there just trying to make a buck and they're using the same offensive tools that a nation-state would use."
-- Christian
Air Force officials say the B-1B Lancer sniper pod could be operational as early as this summer after accelerated testing cut the length of the sniper pod program from nine to three months.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates sacked the air force's civilian secretary and chief of staff, blaming them for two major blunders that shook confidence in US control over its nuclear arsenal.
More than 200 members of Holloman Air Force Base gathered to welcome the first two F-22 Raptors as they taxied into Hangar 301 here at 2:49 p.m., marking June 2 as an important date in 49th Fighter Wing history.
Naval Air Station (NAS) Whidbey Island ushered in the next generation of naval electronic attack aircraft with the official arrival of its first EA-18G Growler, June 3.
Raytheon Company system integrator of the Patriot Air Defense System, successfully led a team in the launch of the Patriot's newest interceptor, the Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) version of the PAC-3 missile, during a recent test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
Changes in technology and adversary behavior will invariably produce new threats that must be assessed by defense and homeland security planners, and a decision must be made about whether they merit changes in current defenses or the development of new defensive approaches.
The Boeing Company today announced that Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has completed the first in-country modification of a 737-700 into an Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) platform for Turkey's Peace Eagle program.
The U.S. Navy has completed developmental testing of a BAE Systems fiber-optic towed decoy, and has begun operational tests on the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet...
The nation's first Littoral Combat Ship, Freedom (LCS 1), has successfully completed another testing milestone with the "light off" of the new warship's twin gas turbine propulsion engines as it undergoes final preparation for sea trials.
The Royal Navy’s new advanced naval air defence system, PAAMS (Principal Anti-Air Missile System), was successfully test fired for the first time on 4th June from the trials barge Longbow at the French DGA’s CELM (Centre d’Essais de Lancement des Missiles ) test range near the Ile du Levant off the French coast.
Officials in Iraq say 19 U.S. service members died in Iraq in the month of May, the lowest monthly casualty toll since the start of the war five years ago.
South Korea on Wednesday launched the third and latest of its 214-class submarines to be commissioned by the end of next year, bringing the total number of submersibles in the country to 12, Yonhap news agency reported.
Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. Has completed and launched the third 1,800-ton class submarine for the Korea Navy.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Spain of Block IV Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles as well as associated equipment and services.
The Boeing Company delivered the first fleet EA-18G Growler airborne electronic attack (AEA) aircraft to the U.S. Navy's Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 129 on Tuesday at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash., ahead of schedule and within budget.
Elbit Systems Ltd. and Lockheed Martin inaugurated the avionics simulation system delivered to the Israeli Ministry of Defense (IMOD) for the Israel Air Force (IAF) F-16I Sufa aircrew flight and system trainer.
The Army National Guard is receiving new, front-line, state-of-the-art UH-72A helicopters, which will improve its capability to perform home security missions, disaster relief, search and rescue, medical evacuations, counterdrug and other vital missions.
From Pentagon guru Colin Clark's additions to the lead story on Military.com.
A source with close ties to the senior Air Force leadership told Military.com that the likely replacement for Moseley is Gen. John D.W. Corley, commander of the Air Force's Air Combat Command. The source said that Corley had been tagged to replace Moseley in the fall, when Moseley was due to retire. This source, and an industry source, said that Wynne's successor was unlikely to make it through the Senate's nomination process before the end of the Bush administration and would serve as acting secretary.
MORE...
Initial congressional reaction was positive. Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, praised Gates for appointing Schlesinger to lead the nuclear weapons study and made it clear he accepted Gates' decision to oust the senior leaders during a time of war.
"The incidents at Minot and Barksdale Air Force Bases and the misshipment of missile nose cones to Taiwan should never have happened," Skelton said in a statement released Thursday evening. "I look forward to reviewing Admiral Kirkland Donald's report on what went wrong with the Air Force's management of nuclear weapons security and safety."
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), a new member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also praised Gates for his actions. "What is so encouraging is that Secretary Gates is walking the walk on accountability," she said in a statement.
Rock on DoD Buzz-master!
-- Christian
We're working on getting the details, folks, but we hear that Gen. Mike Moseley got the boot today and Wynne is on the way out too.
Can you say "loose nukes" compounded by a sharp case of "next-war-itis?"
More to follow soon.
MORE FROM Military.com:
Defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley and Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne to step down.
A public announcement was expected later in the day. There was no immediate word on who would be nominated to replace Moseley and Wynne.
The Air Force has endured a number of embarrassing setbacks over the past year. In August, for instance, a B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown across the country. The pilot and crew were unaware they had nuclear arms aboard.
The error was considered so grave that President Bush was quickly informed.
-- Christian
The Pentagon's acquisition czar, John Young, is regarded pretty highly on Capitol Hill but he's got a tough sell when he tells lawmakers and reporters that the military is getting a handle on how well it buys the nation's weapons. See my story on military.com for the details.
After his testimony yesterday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, I asked Young if the acquisition system is broken, as might seem self-evident to those who look at the enormous increase of $295 billion in the acquisition costs of the 95 major defense acquisition programs over the last few years.
Young said he did not think the system was broken. He pointed to comments at the hearing by the Government Accountability Office's acquisition expert, Katherine Schinasi, who said the structure of the system was sound.
Then Young launched into a lament about the paucity of acquisition officials available to manage the growing number of large programs. He pointed to the enormously difficult process he faces in trying to hire mid-career people from industry to bolster the ranks of weapons buyers. Part of the difficulty the Pentagon faces, he made clear, is that there just aren't enough new ideas and improved processes moving back and forth between government and industry because of this lack of mid-career people.
To someone who has covered acquisition since 1996, much of what Young said had the ring of truth. At the same time he didn't answer the unasked question: if you don't have enough buyers, then why don't you ask Congress for permission and money to hire a whole bunch more.
Perhaps that will come next.
-- Colin Clark
Few car owners would ever think of pouring water down the gas tank; however, as Air Force officials here continue initiatives to redefine the Air Force's energy culture, more Airmen might picture water as an energy source.
A new US general took command of NATO forces in Afghanistan Tuesday, vowing to deal with rebels who stood in the way of stability, as new attacks killed around two dozen people including three alliance troops.
Contacts between the American and Iranian naval fleets would be useful once the Islamic Republic stopped backing violence in Iraq, the top US naval commander in the Middle East said in an interview published Wednesday.
The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded BAE Systems a contract for the supply of up to 10,000 Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV), worth up to US$2.2 billion, with US$1.65 billion of funding already agreed.
In less than six months, Saab Barracuda has delivered prototype camouflage systems fitted to the Australian Army for the M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks and M88A2 Hercules Armoured Recovery Vehicles, giving them higher survivability on the battlefield.
The 432nd Wing here that flies the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles was designated an air expeditionary wing by Air Combat Command officials in May.
Today marks the 66 anniversary of the battle of Midway Island, a key engagement that, if it had gone the other way, would have potentially crippled the U.S. naval capability for good. I know you guys are more into looking at the future of defense, but sometimes I think it's good to step back and remember how we got where we are.
From the Navy history center:
The Battle of Midway, fought over and near the tiny U.S. mid-Pacific base at Midway atoll, represents the strategic high water mark of Japan's Pacific Ocean war. Prior to this action, Japan possessed general naval superiority over the United States and could usually choose where and when to attack. After Midway, the two opposing fleets were essentially equals, and the United States soon took the offensive.
Japanese Combined Fleet commander Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto moved on Midway in an effort to draw out and destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet's aircraft carrier striking forces, which had embarrassed the Japanese Navy in the mid-April Doolittle Raid on Japan's home islands and at the Battle of Coral Sea in early May. He planned to quickly knock down Midway's defenses, follow up with an invasion of the atoll's two small islands and establish a Japanese air base there. He expected the U.S. carriers to come out and fight, but to arrive too late to save Midway and in insufficient strength to avoid defeat by his own well-tested carrier air power.
Yamamoto's intended surprise was thwarted by superior American communications intelligence, which deduced his scheme well before battle was joined. This allowed Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the U.S. Pacific Fleet commander, to establish an ambush by having his carriers ready and waiting for the Japanese. On 4 June 1942, in the second of the Pacific War's great carrier battles, the trap was sprung. The perseverance, sacrifice and skill of U.S. Navy aviators, plus a great deal of good luck on the American side, cost Japan four irreplaceable fleet carriers, while only one of the three U.S. carriers present was lost. The base at Midway, though damaged by Japanese air attack, remained operational and later became a vital component in the American trans-Pacific offensive.
This brings up an excellent point, though. My good friend Bob Dudney, the editor of Air Force magazine, recently wrote an editorial cautioning against Gates' rhetorical punch at the services' obsession with future technological developments -- or "next war-itis" as he put it.
Are Pentagon leaders really serious about this? Is Gates himself serious about it? He has embraced a stylized image of a future world landscape dominated by shadowy, lightly armed enemies sallying forth from remote redoubts and engaging in nonstop urban warfare. In case Mr. Gates has forgotten, it was not that long ago that the US had to use main conventional forcesprincipally air forcesto win the 1991 Gulf War. More recently, high-end forces were needed to fight in Bosnia, Serbia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. None of these operations would have been possible without advanced, front-line weapons.
Gates wants to cure the services of "next-war-itis," but he would only weaken the patients.
Neither Gates nor anyone else can safely predict the likelihood of major conventional war. Surely the Pentagon leader is aware of the huge buildup of fighters, warships, and other modern arms in China and Russia, as well as regional threats posed by the likes of North Korea and Iran. If it is true that the eruption of a major clash of conventional arms is not likely, it is because US air, sea, and land forces are strong enough to deter any aggressive moves. That is hardly a reason for turning away to deal with lesser problems.
While I see Gates' point, I also think it's important to hedge against future "full spectrum" threats. You can easily modify training to accommodate new battlefield problems, but developing and fielding equipment -- something as big as a fighter jet or an aircraft carrier -- for such an unseen eventuality could prove fatal.
So take some time today to consider how things could have been if the battle of Midway had gone the other way, and how differently that desperate time might have unfolded had the U.S. truly prepared itself for resurgent powers with full-spectrum threats in the interwar years.
(Thanks to NC for the Dudney gouge)
-- Christian
Last Monday the Defence Ministers of Sweden and Finland entered the debate in Dagens Nyheter on closer cooperation in defence matters.
On Saturday the Indian Air Force pilots landed a Russian-built Antonov-32 transport aircraft at the Daulatbeg Oldi air base in Ladakh province of Indian administered Kashmir.
About 7,000 Soldiers from the 101st Airborne and 4th Infantry Divisions deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan are wearing helmet sensors to help Program Executive Office-Soldier improve upon the safety features of the advanced combat helmet.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Tuesday that Iran's quest for nuclear capacity must be stopped by all possible means, and urged the world to warn Tehran of its devastating repercussions.
Air Force Materiel Command members are using remote maintenance technology to repair air traffic control and landing systems, or ATCALS, and perform remote flight inspections, saving the Air Force millions of dollars.
Greg Combet, the Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement, today announced that following a successful operational test program, Australia is receiving operational capability from the Wideband Global Satellite (WGS) Communications system.
In a drizzly ceremony today, we will witness Secretary of the Navy Don Winter accept the delivery of the first EA-18G Growler to the USN's fleet readiness squadron.
This would be a fairly routine affair except for a couple of very distinguishing facts: first, the event is occurring exactly according to the original schedule and, second, Boeing's five-year-old development program is not over-budget.
It'd be nice to think those two facts weren't so extraordinary, but, in the world of military acquisition, it is.
To be sure, there remain a few caveats. The operational test phase begins in September, which will expose any unresolved design or technology glitches. The Government Accountability Office reported in March that a few software issues need to be fixed before operational tests can be performed. We'll see how that pans out, but none of the issues sound like show-stoppers.
Some of the more cynical observers (blush) might also say that Boeing and the Navy cheated with the EA-18G.
This is not the same as starting a new weapon project from scratch. The airframe for the EA-18G is based on the design of the already proven F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the electronic warfare package is based largely on the ICAP III suite already flying on the EA-6B Prowler. The ALQ-99 jammer is merely a decade-old, upgraded version of a pod that first flew in 1971 (and needs to be retired as threats evolve over the next decade).
But it's also not fair to Boeing to dismiss the complexity of this project. Repackaging the ICAP III to fit inside the Growler involved no small risk. The "football" ALQ-218 receiver mounted on the EA-6B's tail was split into two pieces and installed in the more aerodynamically harsh environment of the EA-18G's wingtips. I'm still curious how they managed to pull off the ALQ-218's radome, which must be sturdy enough to survive on the wingtip, yet not too sturdy to interfere with the operations of the embedded antenna.
Integrating the all-new Raytheon-made Communications Countermeasures Set (CCS) also added some complexity to the project, as did the introduction of the highly useful interference cancellation system (INCANS), which allows the EA-18G to continue jamming an enemy radar even while the pilot continues to communicate with other friendly aircraft.
It's reasonable to question whether the navy should have been still more ambitious. Why not introduce an all-new, digital-era jamming pod with the first delivery of the EA-18G? Why not design a next-generation jammer aircraft around a more stealthy platform, like the navy's forthcoming F-35C due to be delivered in 2015? Why not challenge your contractor -- to which you're paying billions of dollars -- to invent something completely new, versus "repackaging" two familiar systems?
At the end of the day, the navy is getting exactly what it paid for, on-time. In this day and age, maybe that's all you can really ask for.
The prestigious Berlin Air Show (ILA) attracted around 250,000 visitors over six days and saw contracts worth some five billion euros ($7.8 billion) sealed as it drew to a close on Saturday, May 31.
And to follow up from yesterday's story on Military.com, it turns out the U.S. has also expressed some interest in odering some Tucanos.
Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer is participating in preliminary negotiations to sell the U.S. government eight 314-B1 Super Tucano light attack and training planes for use in Iraq, the company said June 2.
The plane maker is offering Washington the Super Tucano in a tender process opened by the U.S. government, according to an Embraer spokesman who declined to be named in keeping with company policy.
More...
Brazilian law prohibits a private company from selling arms for use in existing conflicts, but the spokesman said the plane was not shipped with any armaments and was intended for training purposes in the U.S.
If the U.S. government decides to buy the Tucano from Embraer and requests that they be outfitted with weapons, at that point the Brazilian government would have to step in and negotiate the sale, the Embraer spokesman said.
And I posed the question to our boy Steve Trimble who's an oft contributor to DT and he had this to say:
This appears to be the long-awaited purchase of Super Tucanos by the USAF on behalf of the Iraqi Air Force. Im not sure what preliminary negotiations means. There were three or four other candidates for the order, and they may still be in the running. Its possible that the USAF remains in preliminary negotiations with all of the possible bidders, which include the Hawker Beechcraft T-6, the Pilatus PC-9 and perhaps the Korea Aerospace KT-1 Wong Bee. (The T-6 and PC-9, by the way, are essentially the same aircraft.) As far as I know, the USAFs senior leadership remain adamantly opposed to buying such an aircraft for its own purposes, preferring to employ the unmanned MQ-9 Reaper and the A-10 for the same basic mission.
I'll try to ping my sources in the FMS office in Iraq to see what the deal is...More to follow.
[Photo: totally Photoshopped]
-- Christian
Australian troops have lowered the flag on their highly successful commitment to the security of southern Iraq and the training of the new Iraqi Army.
The European Commission welcomes the adoption in Dublin on Wednesday 28 May of a multilateral convention to ban all cluster munitions within eight years.
Pratt & Whitney's F135 short-takeoff/vertical-landing (STOVL) propulsion system powered the first F-35B Lightning II's STOVL-mode ground test at Lockheed Martin's STOVL Operations Test Facility in Fort Worth, Texas.
The 25th armoured brigade of the Greek armed forces has put the first LEOPARD 2A6 HEL supplied by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) into service.
The Saab Gripen Demonstrator aircraft powered by a GE F414G engine successfully completed its first flight on May 27 at Saab, Linkoping, Sweden. The flight lasted 30 minutes and completed all planned goals.
Our freind Nich Schwellenbach over at the Project on Government Oversight dredged up a pretty damning report from the Pentagon's Defense Contract Management Agency that calls Lockheed Martin's aircraft division to the carpet for not keeping close track of costs.
Lockheed Martin, the worlds largest defense contractor, does "not provide the requisite definition and discipline to properly plan and control complex, multibillion dollar weapon systems acquisition programs," states the executive summary of a November 2007 Pentagon report obtained by the Project On Government Oversight. Questions about this report are likely to be raised this morning at a Senate Armed Service Committee hearing on weapons acquisition.
The report by the Defense Contract Management Agency found that Lockheed Martins military aircraft division based in Fort Worth, Texas, is not compliant with contractually-required industry guidelines for tracking and managing costs called the "Earned Value Management System." EVMS helps contractors and the government spot potential cost problems before they balloon out of control. This April the GAO reported $295 billion in cost growth for the 95 major weapons systems it reviewed bringing their estimated total price tag to $1.6 trillion.
The report will be highlighted today at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee which will ask questions about "acquisition of major defense weapons systems" of John Young -- who needs no introduction -- and Katherine Schinasi, the GAO's Managing Director of Acquisition and Sourcing Management (whatever the heck that means)...Our boy Colin Clark will be there to hear what's what and he'll have some follow-up gouge for you on what goes on.
The decline of Pentagon and contractor emphasis on EVMS was an unintended consequence of 1990s acquisition reform, Dr. James I. Finley, the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology, told POGO. EVM is getting more attention throughout industry now that the DoD is stressing compliance.
Ouch...
-- Christian
Coalition airpower integrated with coalition ground forces in Iraq and the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan during operations June 1, according to Combined Air and Space Operations Center officials here.
The Russian displays at the ILA-2008 International Aerospace Exhibition, held in Berlin from May 27 to June 1, can be described as epoch-making.
Lockheed Martin has received a $90 million contract to support U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps MLRS launchers. Lockheed Martin's Life Cycle Contractor Support (LCCS) system will support more than 300 launchers through 2010.
Future Combat System Spin Out 1 items, currently being evaluated by Soldiers at Fort Bliss, Texas, were demonstrated earlier this month on Capitol Hill.
Rheinmetall Defence and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) have announced their new cooperation agreement on the marketing of the Heron TP UAV reconnaissance system for long-range operations in the Bundeswehr programme SAATEG (“imaging surveillance system for the depth of the deployment theatre”) during the Berlin Air Show ILA 2008.
AeroVironment, Inc. (AV) today announced that The Netherlands Ministry of Defence, acting through its Defence Materiel Organization (DMO), has awarded AV a contract for RQ-11B (Raven) small unmanned aircraft systems.
Alert for those who sell and build the nations military and intelligence satellites. You know that space programs have been wallowing in hip-deep trouble for most of the last four years. Well, John Young, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics (in the picture), is trying to do something lasting about it by signing a memo by the end of the week creating a new director-level position one of only seven in the department reporting directly to him for space and intelligence capabilities.
My source says the position is being created because there just isnt enough focus on space and intelligence programs (a lot of the big intel programs are space programs) at the OSD level. It will oversee not only satellites but the enormous and often underfunded ground systems they depend on.
Some of the responsibilities being placed in this new slot are coming from John Grimes office. He is assistant secretary of Defense for networks and information integration and his main job is to serve as principal adviser to the Secretary of Defense for non-intelligence space and information superiority. But the position also ensures that intelligence data is as fused as possible and can be distributed. And he oversees DISA, which provides commercial and military satellite communications services.
A congressional aide who follows space and intelligence issues said the new position is a good first step to try and reintegrate black and white space and strengthen the idea of an executive for space. For those who dont follow space acquisition closely, the executive agent for space is Mike Wynne, who also serves as Air Force Secretary. The executive agent is supposed to make sure that unclassified and classified space programs are run well and meets the nations needs. He is supposed to be the one-stop shop for most space acquisition and budget issues and is supported by the National Security Space Office. But the black and white sides of space have drifted pretty far apart over the last four years, with the NRO withdrawing its personnel and budgetary support about two years ago from the space office.
But the congressional aide does not think the black and white sides of space are going to be well integrated during Bush because of issues in the office of the Director of national Intelligence. But the new position should help keep the need for a strong executive agent for space front and center.
-- Colin Clark
Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff warned that the Hezbollah resistance movement is the greatest threat to US national security. Hezbollah is known or suspected to have been involved in numerous terror attacks against the U.S., Israel or other Western targets, and includes the 1983 suicide truck bombings in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. Marines at their barracks and 58 at the French military barracks. Intelligence officials in the U.S. and Britain believe Hezbollah cells may use their computer expertise and capabilities to launch cyber attacks.
A 2002 CIA report warned a number of terrorist groups are beginning to plan attacks on western computer networks. The report went on to say that al-Qaeda and Hezbollah were becoming more adept at using the internet and computer technologies. In more recent reports they name Sunni extremists Hezbollah and Aleph as groups believed to be developing cyber terrorism plans. For terrorist groups, cyber weapons are cheap, easy to acquire and difficult to detect or track and are quickly becoming a common weapon in their arsenal.
While Hezbollah's capabilities to launch such an attack are questionable, the intelligence community in U.S., Britain and Israeli are taking the threat seriously. Why, because Hezbollah showed its increasing technological sophistication and capabilities during its war with Israel back in 2006. Once Israel began bombing Hezbollah targets, the intelligence sources say cyber space began. While intelligence analysts are convinced conventional terror remains Hezbollah's main strategy and weapon, some believe that it could activate sleeper cells in order to open a second front in cyber space. Intelligence sources know that terrorist groups including Hezbollah, the Abu Nidal Organization, and UBL's Al-Qeida Organization are using computerized files, email, and encryption to support their operations.
Hezbollah Profile (AKA Hizbollah, Hizbu'llah)
Established In the 1980s
Home Base: Lebanon, but it also has cells in North/South America, Asia, Europe and Africa.
Support: Iran and Syria provide substantial organizational, training and financing.
Orientation: Hezbollah is a radical Iranian-backed Lebanese Islamic Shiite group
Funding: estimated at $60 million annually
Size: Hezbollah's core consists of several thousand militants and activists
Equipment: Hezbollah possesses up-to-date information technologies - broadband wireless networks and computers.
Cyber Capabilities: Global Rating in Cyber Capabilities -- Tied at Number 37
Hezbollah has been able to engage in fiber optic cable tapping, enabling data interception and the hijacking of Internet and communication connections.
Cyber Warfare Budget: $935,000 USD
Offensive Cyber Capabilities: 3.1 (1 = Low, 3 = Moderate and 5 = Significant)
Cyber Weapons Rating: Basic -- but developing intermediate capabilities
Web Site: http://www.hizbollah.org or www.hizballah.org
Ties: Hezbollah has close ties with Iran. Many believe that Hezbollah is a surrogate for the Iranian army
Fact: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declared May 8, 2008 that the Shiite militant group's communications network is its most important weapon, and that the government's decision to target the network was tantamount to a declaration of war. In Hezbollah's view, its communications technology is just as essential for the group's survival as its missiles.
Hezbollah is on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist organizations. The FBI says it now considers Hezbollah operatives more capable and robust than even Al Qaeda terrorists. With Hezbollah's interest in developing advanced cyber weapons, their capabilities will continue to increase. As we have seen, the proliferation of cyber weapons is rapidly expanding and no longer limited to nation states and organized criminal groups. The cyber arms club now includes terrorist groups. Using new hacking techniques, taking advantage of security vulnerabilities and using simple proven cyber attack methods, terrorists have the capability to attack us in way not seen before. Key infrastructure systems that include utilities, banking, media/TV systems, telecommunications and air traffic control systems have already been compromised. No one knows if cyber terrorists created trap doors and left logic bombs allowing them to easily bypass security systems and disrupt our critical infrastructure in coordination with traditional style attacks.
The first of the manned ground vehicles in Future Combat Systems will be unveiled in the week leading up to the Army's 233rd birthday, June 14.
US President George W. Bush lost a close ally in the Iraq war as Australian combat troops pulled out Monday to honour an election pledge by the new centre-left government.
The U.S. Army reported Thursday that the suicide rate among its soldiers continued to rise last year, and is now nearly double the rate recorded before the invasion of Iraq.
In an effort to modernize its aging tanker fleet, the Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman a contract to build the KC-45 aerial refueling aircraft in February.
Thanks to the research already carried out over the last few decades – for example, the development of three successive generations of the Fenestron tail rotor – Eurocopter now has the quietest range of ) helicopters in the world.
Rheinmetall will soon be responsible for running the GÜZ, one of the world’s most advanced combat training centres, a German Army facility located in the Altmark district of Saxony-Anhalt.
Chile officially welcomed the Almirante Condell (the former-HMS Marlborough) into the Chilean fleet at a Commissioning Ceremony yesterday, Wednesday 28 May 2008.
Germany unexpectedly announced on Thursday, May 29, that it would complete the destruction of its arsenal of cluster bombs in line with a new international treaty proposing a complete ban of the dangerous weapons.
Russia is against NATO expansion toward its borders in principle, the prime minister said in an interview with French daily Le Monde released on Saturday.
The Italian Army has successfully conducted two test firings of its Aster 30 missile as part of the operational evaluation of the SAMP/T air defence missile system.
The shaft-driven lift fan propulsion system that will enable the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter to perform short takeoffs and vertical landings (STOVL) operated for the first time in the aircraft during ground testing on Sunday, May 25.
The Navy’s newest airborne electronic attack asset, the EA-18G Growler, will be accepted by the commander of the Electronic Attack Wing at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington, during a dedication ceremony at Whidbey June 3.
In a bid to strengthen the offensive prowess of its armed forces, Indian government has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to acquire 22 attack helicopters.
This morning Military.com has a story on America's most famous (or infamous) private security contractor, Blackwater USA, purchasing a light attack aircraft.
Report Says Blackwater Bought Fighter (AP)
A subsidiary of U.S. military security contractor Blackwater Worldwide has purchased a fighter plane from the Brazilian aviation company Embraer, a Brazilian newspaper reported June 1.
The 314-B1 Super Tucano propeller-driven fighter - the same used by the Brazilian military - was bought for $4.5 million and delivered to EP Aviation at the end of February, according to the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper.
First of all the headline is misleading. The Tucano isn't a "fighter" unless you're a seriously third world air force. But it has been bandied around as a good answer for a "counter-insurgency" aircraft. So Blackwater has clearly done some research (and been reading DT, I have to assume) on the best plane to fight a dirty war. It's interesting, too, that the company is buying new. Seems to me there'd be a lot more surplus gear on the market for them to snap up -- and keep it low profile as well.
It was not clear if it was Embraer's first sale of a military-style aircraft to a private company. EP Aviation has 33 planes and helicopters registered with the FAA, according to the agency's Web site, only one of which is from Embraer.
Officials with Brazil's government and Embraer declined to comment on the Estado report. Phone calls to Blackwater were not returned.
The sale was apparently approved, the Estado report noted, by Brazil's president in a deal negotiated with the U.S. government.
Brazilian law prohibits the sale of arms to companies or for use in existing conflicts.
It does worry be a bit each time a company like Blackwater continues this arms build up. Sources tell me they've got a "Spectre'-like" gunship already, and they've been buzzing around Baghdad in spec-ops-style armed Little Birds. So what happens when a contract with the US Gov goes bad -- say Congress pulls funding from a contract midway through the agreement. Will Blackwater use this kind of equipment to come collect what it's owed? Seems far fetched, I know, but Blackwater officials are downplaying the Tucano buy to curb fears.
The newspaper reported that Blackwater president Gary Jackson said the plane would be used for training.
The plane sold to EP Aviation did not include the two .50-caliber machine guns normally attached to the wings.
Oh, I'm sleeping better already...
-- Christian
On May 27, 2008, in the Shonefeld (Germany) the ILA’2008 International air show started its work.
The Sokol aircraft plant, based in Nizhny Novgorod, central Russia, is to launch production of the MiG-29M/M2 Fulcrum fighter plane, the company's general director said on Friday.
The former joint head of European aerospace group EADS, Noel Forgeard, has been detained by police on suspicion of insider trading, French media reported Wednesday, May 28.
Here's some amazing footage forward to us by the man who brought DT to the masses, Chris Michel. You can imagine the order these guys were issued: "You see that mushroom cloud, boys? Go get it!" And dig those equine gas masks . . .
Nuclear war is not only survivable . . . it can be fun!
-- Ward
Last week we had exoskeletons...this week it's bionic arms. And I think this is from the guy who invented the Segway.
[Source: All Things Video]
Enjoy!
-- Christian
At my old job, we used to always joke that it wasn't news unless the Washington Post, New York Times or AP reported it -- even if we'd done the story a month earlier.
Well, here's another case of the "it ain't news" phenomenon. We've been covering the heck out of this issue for more than a year, but when the chief says something about it and the AP hears it, well, then, Stop the Presses!
From today's Military.com headlines:
The military is reviewing Soldiers' complaints that their standard ammunition isn't powerful enough for the type of fighting required in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army's highest-ranking officer said Thursday. But Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army chief of staff, said it was too soon to say whether the Pentagon will switch.
Current and former Soldiers interviewed by The Associated Press said the military's M855 rifle rounds are not powerful enough for close-in fighting in cities and towns in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Speaking with reporters at a conference in Huntsville, Casey said leaders are constantly soliciting feedback from Soldiers in the field and were aware of complaints about the M855 ammunition.
"To effectively prepare them we have to adapt as the enemy adapts, and that is some of the feedback we have gotten," Casey said. "We'll evaluate it quickly and then we'll decide how we want to proceed."
But Casey said it would be premature to say if the Pentagon will consider a different type of ammunition.
"I can't tell you exactly what we're going to do," he said.
How much do you want to bet the answer to that question is "nothing"...? Kinda like the M-4 debate, huh?
-- Christian
The Army, unhappy that the House Armed Services Committee plans to cut $200 million from its top modernization program, plans a June 11 assault on the House side of the Capitol using elements of its Future Combat System. Relax! Its a joke.
But the Army really does want to show the Hill just how effective FCS can be and how much it is beginning to produce capabilities soldiers use in Iraq now or in the near future. And it does plan a June 11 demonstration on the Hill.
Lt. Gen. Stephen M. Speakes, the Armys deputy chief of staff for programs, spoke Thursday afternoon with reporters and one of his first points was that the Army does have a vision when it comes to FCS. I asked Gen. Speakes how the Army is answering the HASC, which made a fairly compelling argument. Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), chairman of the House Armed Service airland subcommittee, said he cut 5.5 percent of program funding to reduce concurrency of network and manned ground vehicle development and reduce program management costs. On top of that, the subcommittee shifted $33 million from long-term portions of the program to near-term elements that have a chance of being fielded by 2011. Abercrombie made it clear that technical reasons werent the only justification for the reduction. FCS, he said, continues to operate in violation of many major Department of Defense acquisition policies, including the basic and long-standing policy requiring full and adequate testing of equipment before production begins. If that sounds to you like the Democratic complaints about the Missile Defense Agencys approach to acquisition, you win a Kewpie doll.
Gen. Speakes very respectfully offered this justification when I asked him how the Army is answering the House criticisms: This is an integrated program. You cant break it apart and still deliver the capabilities. Also, Speakes said the service plans to show lawmakers just how much FCS is influencing the fight, citing the FRAG kit 5 armor used on Humvees, which he said is the precursor for FCS armor. The first version of the crucial FCS network, progress on which has been criticized by the Government Accountability Office in recent reports, is being tested at Fort Bliss. Most of all, Speakes said, the pressure in on us to deliver and to make the capabilities we are talking about and make them real. We think we are answering that test.
Speakes approach on all this may have been influenced by Rep. Jim Saxton (R-NJ), ranking member of the airland subcommittee. In a recent blog about FCS, Saxton said the Army needs to spend less time trying to save the FCS program; and more time explaining how soldiers want and need the capabilities that FCS brings to the fight.
Speakes also addressed the challenge in Defense Secretary Robert Gatess May 13 speech in Colorado, when he said the military must beware of planning to fight the next war and find itself unready for the current one.
He said that FCS, which he saw in action at Fort Bliss, must continue to demonstrate its value for the types of irregular challenges we will face, as well as for full-spectrum warfare. Speakes said FCS will be able to go anywhere and handle any fight. It is, for example, being modified to better cope with the threat from IEDs, he said.
Well see whether the House Democrats and Gates buy in. Reminder the Senate Armed Services Committee fully funded the administrations $3.6 billion request for FCS.
-- Colin Clark
The Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China were unforgiving "enemies" from the mid-1950s through the end of the Cold War. True, the two communist giants did - with great caution - collaborate to arm and train the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. But politically and even ideologically they were enemies.
Indeed, after President Richard M. Nixon's visit to China in 1972 the United States and China entered a period of limited cooperation aimed against the Soviet Union. Over the past 35 years this relationship has had up and downs - in the 1980s the Reagan administration began a military relationship, which included the establishment of a U.S. "listening post" in China to intercept Soviet communications; during the Clinton administration there was considerable technology transfer to China, while U.S.-China economic ties grew precipitously.
Following the demise of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991 Russia and China entered a new relationship, which soon included massive sales of Russian military equipment to China including high-performance aircraft, destroyers, submarines, and other advanced weapons. Now Russia and China have reached a new level of cooperation - some might label it collaboration.
Russia's new president, Dmitri Medvedev, has just completed a visit to Beijing. With China's President Hu Jintao, Medvedev has signed a joint statement declaring that Russia and China are ready to push forward a new level of economic cooperation between their nations. Medvedev said that his country's relationship with China is now a driving force on the world stage and can no longer be ignored - that the international community can no longer make major decisions without the participation of the two countries. He added that Russia will continue to pursue close ties with China, even if it makes other countries uneasy. "Our activity is not directed against any other country but serves to maintain an international balance," Medvedev said of Russia's new level of cooperation with China.
Among the other declarations of the two leaders during the May visit by Medvedev, they joined in criticizing plans of the United States to build a missile defense system in central Europe. From the start of that effort the Russian government believed that its purpose was to neutralize Russia's IBCM force.
Both China and Russia are veto-wielding permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, where they have coordinated positions on controversial issues such as independence for Kosovo, which both countries oppose, as well as the Iranian nuclear issue. And, unlike most Western nations, Russia has not voiced concerns about China's human rights record or its assault on the protest movement that erupted against Chinese rule in Tibet last March.
This was Medvedev's first official foreign trip since becoming Russia's president earlier in May. That action in itself is of major international significance. During their May meeting President Hu accepted an invitation from Medvedev to visit Russia in 2009.
The two leaders also signed a $1 billion agreement for Russia to build a uranium enrichment facility in China. Not publicized, their staffs also discussed an increase in military cooperation between the two countries.
Meanwhile, Russian air and ground forces are dispatching planeloads of humanitarian aid to China to help with earthquake relief efforts.
Not yet clear are the long-term implications for the United States and other Western states of the new Russia-China relationship. Prior to the recent meeting in Beijing, alarmists in the United States called attention to Russian military sales to China. These are expected to increase. Less attention has been given to the more important implications of Chinese efforts to increase influence and to obtain critical resources in Africa and the Middle East. Russian-Chinese collaboration could certainly exacerbate this situation.
Our boy Steve Trimble posted a piece this morning on a series of hover pit tests conducted by Lockheed Martin with it's F-35B prototype -- they're calling it the BF-1.
Hover pit tests completed two days ago moved the first short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (STOVL) variant of the Lockheed Martin F-35 within days or weeks of its first flight.
A Lockheed spokesman confirms the propulsion system for the STOVL demonstrator named BF-1 completed a series of conversions from conventional mode to vertical landing mode.
The tests were conducted at Lockheeds hover pit, where the aircraft is tethered to the ground on top of a steel grate. The pit allows Lockheeds engineers to measure vertical thrust generated by the engine.
The hover pit is the last major stop before the first flight event for BF-1, which has been scheduled for late May or early June.
Despite the need to complete hover pit tests before first flight, the lift-fan that helps power the aircraft during STOVL mode will not be engaged in a flight test for several more months. BF-1 will fly in conventional mode throughout the first flight.
This is pretty exciting because to most observers, this is the most endangered model of the F-35 (though some could argue each has its own equal level of program risk based largely on available funds in each of the services).
But in terms of technical risk, the STOVL JSF clearly has a lot to prove. The lift fan concept is an intriguing one, and if it works, could prove far less risky for the kinds of expeditionary operations its "B" model customers intend for it.
Getting the aircraft airborne has wider implications for Lockheed. The US Department of Defense has linked the release of production funding for the first batch of six F-35B low rate initial production (LRIP) aircraft to completing the first flight event.
In addition, BF-1 is the first weight-optimized airframe produced after Lockheed re-designed all three variants in 2005 to reduce or offset weight by as much as 2,268kg (5,000lbs).
The F-35B, on order by the US Marine Corps, the UK Royal Air Force and UK Royal Navy, is the first western aircraft to combine supersonic speed with the STOVL capability.
I've had the good fortune to have observed this program from its initial stages back when it was Boeing vs Lockheed in the concept demonstrator phase. I saw the LM version in the hover pits at its Skunkworks facility out in Cali back then and have been eagerly awaiting the real thing for a long time.
The Marines are gonna be psyched when this thing gets into production since clearly the AV-8B is more than ready for retirement.
(Gouge: NC)
-- Christian
One of the least understood reforms by the House of Representatives Democratic leadership was its creation last year of a Select Intelligence Oversight Panel within the House Appropriations Committee.
I