USAF to develop new cruise missile

The US Air Force (USAF) is expecting to award sole-source contracts to four contractors to develop technology for its Long Range Standoff (LRSO) cruise missile programme.
Contracts will be awarded to Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. "These firm fixed price contracts will procure trade studies in support of the Long Range Standoff program in preparation for the Technology Development Phase," reads a US government contract solicitation notice. "The Government intends to solicit, negotiate and award to the contractors listed above using other than full and open competition procedures."
The new missile will most likely replace the aging and ever dwindling arsenal of nuclear and conventionally armed AGM-86 air launched cruise missiles. It will also likely replace the stealthy AGM-129, which is a somewhat newer design.
Responses to the tender must be in by 20 December. "The solicitation is further evidence that the air force is serious about fielding the next generation long-range strike family of systems, which will likely include standoff cruise missiles capable of penetrating contested airspace," says Mark Gunzinger, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
"We have tended to focus on platforms in the discussion of air force modernization, equally important is the development of new generations of weapons," says Dan Goure, an analyst at the Lexington Institute.
As integrated air defences become ever more lethal, the more difficult it is for existing systems to penetrate those defences. As such, the LRSO must be much stealthier and far more resistant to countermeasures than the weapons it replaces, Goure says. It must also have much longer range and potentially carry a variety of different payloads depending on the task. It could also be faster. Potentially, it might be able to loiter over an area or even be retargetable in flight.

Pentagon Envisions New Air Force One Presidential Jet

The Pentagon started a program today to develop and buy replacement Air Force One aircraft for presidential use after 2022, according to an official and a summary of the authorization memo.

Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition Frank Kendall has signed an “acquisition decision” memo which authorizes the Air Force to set up an office for the replacement program, which includes new Marine One helicopters available for use no earlier than 2020.

The first phase of the program will focus on completing a market analysis and assessment of performance requirements for the presidential transports, according to a defense official who spoke on the condition he not be identified since the decision memo hasn’t been released. These will be reviewed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff formal requirements board.

Air Force sex scandal: Lackland ousts basic-training commander

  Col. Glenn Palmer has been dismissed as the top commander for basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

HOUSTON -- A sex scandal at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas has led to the dismissal of the top commander overseeing basic training for every new American airman, officials said Friday.
Col. Glenn Palmer was commander of basic training for the 737th Training Group at the base near San Antonio, where more than a dozen military instructors in the last year have been charged with or investigated on suspicion of sexually assaulting recruits.
On Friday, officials confirmed reports by the Associated Press that Palmer had been relieved of duty by Col. Eric Axelbank, commander of the 37^th training wing at Lackland.
“Col. Palmer was relieved because Col. Eric Axelbank lost confidence in his ability to maintain a safe and secure training environment for our newest airmen,” Collen McGee, spokeswoman for the 37^th Training Wing, told the Los Angeles Times. Axelbank decided that, for the 737^th group, “a new leader is required to meet the current needs,” she said.
But, McGee added, “Col. Palmer did not create the environment that resulted in the misconduct.”
No replacement had been announced, she said.

Third X-51A Hypersonic Test Targeted For Mid-August

U.S. Air Force officials say the third, and possibly final, attempt to reach or exceed sustained speeds beyond Mach 5 with the X-51A hypersonic demonstrator is set for Aug. 14.
Describing the X-51A as “the key to the next step in hypersonics,” Air Force Research Laboratory Aerospace Systems Director Doug Bowers says that even the mixed success of the initial X-51A flights has proved invaluable to advancing the state-of-the-art. Speaking at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Joint Propulsion Conference earlier this week, Bowers said, “The first X-51 was mostly a success, the second flight was a hung store [failed to release from the B-2 mothership] and on the third the inlet started but un-started. Every flight test we’ve had has been a learning opportunity, and until we took it to flight we really didn’t know the unknowns.”
The latest X-51A includes a series of hardware and software changes to counter issues that are thought to have brought the last flight to a premature end after only 9.5 sec. of powered flight at around Mach 5. The second flight, on June 13, 2011, ended when the vehicle’s Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne SJX61-2 engine failed to transition from ethylene fuel to JP-7. The ethylene is used to start the scramjet, while JP-7 is used for sustained flight.

American Vs Russian Air Force: Which of The Two You Like More?

Asian Defence News

USMC hopes new method for tracking fatigue life will help extend Harrier to 2030

Washington DC - The US Marine Corps is switching to a new way of tracking the fatigue life of its Boeing AV-8B Harrier II fleet as it struggles to keep the venerable jump jet in service until 2030, the US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) says. But the USMC is also doing what it can to keep the Harrier's avionics up-to-date as possible, the service says.
 
"The AV-8B is completing transition to a fatigue life expended model of structural fatigue tracking vice a total flight hour model that was used originally," NAVAIR says. "This model more effectively tracks the structural health of the aircraft by recording actual flight loads experienced instead of applying a worst case per flight hour service life penalty."
 
Once the transition to the new tracking methodology is completed, the USMC expects the AV-8B to remain structurally healthy without major modification until after 2030. "Structural modifications are a fact of life for any aging platform, however, as the predictive models must continuously evolve to keep pace with actual aircraft employment, emergent structural modifications/repairs will most certainly persist through end of service, independent of the actual date," NAVAIR says.
 
While the Harrier is structurally sound, securing a supply of spare parts has proven to be challenging for NAVAIR. "The focus is on development of an effective strategy that provides improved near/mid-term availability of high and low demand repairable and consumable material requirements to maintain readiness goals while providing long-term sustainment," NAVAIR says.
 
The problem was partially solved by purchasing 72 surplus BAE Systems GR9 Harriers, spare parts and associated support equipment from the UK. The UK aircraft and their associated hardware were transferred to the US over a period of five months, NAVAIR says. The addition of the British hardware to the supply chain will help the USMC sustain the Harrier to 2030. Previously, the lack of spares posed a real threat to the service's continued operation of the type.
 
"The sale of these [aircraft] supplies critically needed AV-8B aircraft parts," NAVAIR says. "Many of these parts are obsolete with no source of manufacture. As a result, the USMC has realized an immediate improvement in readiness."
 
Moreover, NAVAIR says: "Future capability is enhanced by the ability to maintain aircraft operability that would be otherwise be threatened by a dearth of necessary parts."
 
But contrary to media reports, the USMC never had any intention of flying the British jets. Nor did the service ever consider replacing the Boeing F/A-18D fleet with the GR9. "The USMC operation of UK Harriers was not under consideration," NAVAIR says.
 
Other NAVAIR Harrier sustainment efforts include entering into new contracts to improve the overhaul of repairable spare parts and long-term agreements for the supply of consumables.
 
"It is important to note, with the introduction of the additional material from the UK GR9 acquisition, the programme office is acutely sensitive to the fragility of the supplier/industrial base as the UK leaves the Harrier community and reduces the worldwide Harrier market to three remaining nations (US, Spain, and Italy)," NAVAIR says. "As a result, the programme office is taking a 'disciplined' approach to the infusion of the material into the US supply system."
 
Meanwhile, the USMC is doing what it can to keep the AV-8B's avionics relevant to 2030.
 
"Continuing modernization of the AV-8B is a must to reach the out of service date, both from a mission systems combat relevancy perspective and a survivability perspective," says Major William Maples, Harrier requirements officer at USMC headquarters. "The aircraft is funded for improvements to the Operational Flight Program (OFP), Required Navigation Performance/Area Navigation (RNP/RNAV) capability, and digital cockpit recorder over the next four years."
 
The effort is designed to ensure that the Harrier is digitally interoperable with the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF), Maples says. The Harrier is a vital part of a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) as its only fixed-wing combat aircraft. "The Harrier community will continue to bear a proportional load of Marine Expeditionary Unit and overseas contingency operations deployments through the end of its service life," he says.
 
The USMC has not ruled out future upgrades to the jet, and the AV-8B Joint Systems Support Activity at China Lake, California, continues to look for improvements that could be added to the aircraft. But "additional funding will need to be identified in future budgetary cycles to continue improvements to the avionics and survivability suites currently employed in the Harrier," Maples says.

Chinook helicopter

The Chinook helicopter although good for heavy transport of arms, men and ammunition it is not good for stealth operations against nimble footed infantries in the eastern hemisphere.


1 single RPG from an Afghan Taliban brought this massive mammoth down on 6th August 2011. Mind you the accurate range of an RPG is hardly 250 meters

The crash killed 17 SEALs, 5 Navy special operations troops who support the SEALs, three Air Force airmen, a 5-member Army air crew, 7 Afghan commandos and an Afghan interpreter in August 2011

 

An American fighter jet crashed during a training flight in the Middle East

A U.S. fighter jet F-15 crashed during a training flight in the Middle East, the crew was unharmed. The U.S. Air Force said the crash occurred'' in the southwest of Asia'' without giving more specific location.She added that the accident was not due to enemy fire.

Helicopter Crash In Afghanistan: Video Purportedly Shows AH-64 Apache Wreck

Bagram Take-Off

Top Secret Stealth Helicopter Program Revealed in Osama Bin Laden Raid

VX-31 Dust Devils Celebrate Naval Aviation's Centennial With Retro-Painted F/A-18 Hornet

Throughout 2011, the Centennial of Naval Aviation (CONA) will be celebrated across the nation. Last year, Vice Admiral T.J. Kilcline, former commander of Naval Air Forces (CNAF) put the Navy’s year-long celebration plan in context when he said, “By supporting this important milestone each organization's hard work will serve to honor tens of thousands of naval aviation personnel and their families spanning many generations." Rear Admiral Mat Winter, commander of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD), challenged his military and civilian team members to honor the aircraft and the weapons that made them so successful in combat. Like many other Navy squadrons around the globe, Air Test and Evaluation Squadron THREE ONE (VX-31) painted one of its aircraft in a special commemorative paint scheme--one that pays homage to the rich heritage of NAWCWD China Lake, Ca., and the significant flight test contributions to our warfighting capability. “The entire China Lake workforce played a pivotal role in the history of naval aviation and we wanted to honor those achievements,” said Cmdr. Brady Bartosh, VX-31 Commanding Officer. “The aircraft known as COSO 101 was chosen because it accumulated over 4,000 flight hours. The F/A-18 is the Navy’s primary strike fighter aircraft, serving in combat operations over Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan.”

Cmdr. Ian Anderson, VX-31 Executive Officer and military aviation history buff, researched China Lake’s history for a design concept that would evoke this facility’s rich heritage. “We focused on the 1960s,” Anderson said, “which saw the development and introduction of innovative new weapons technologies that revolutionized air warfare and increased the combat potential of carrier aircraft during the Vietnam conflict and the Cold War.” After settling on a design concept, Anderson contacted his longtime friend, Capt. Rich Dann, CONA Director of History and Outreach for CNAF. Dann is also a published aviation historian, artist and a recognized expert on naval aviation paint schemes. Based on Anderson’s concept, Dann created a template that gave COSO 101 the look of a Douglas A-4C Skyhawk (China Lake’s primary weapons test aircraft) as it appeared during the late 1950s through the mid-1960s. 

Two months later, Chief Warrant Officer Chris Obenland and volunteers from VX-31’s Contract Oversight Team put the plan into action. Chief Petty Officers Kenneth Smart and Paul Williams, along with Mr. Sean Corcoran, spray-painted the historic colors onto COSO 101. This is the second NAWCWD aircraft to receive a retro-paint scheme as part of the commemoration. A few months earlier, an S-3B Viking from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron THREE ZERO (VX-30) at Point Mugu, Ca., was painted to match the colors of the Navy’s SBD “Dauntless” dive bombers that were flown during the Battle of Midway in 1942. Both NAWCWD squadrons reside within NAVAIR, led by Vice Adm. David Architzel.

On May 5, 1947, Armitage Field was commissioned under the official title U.S. Naval Air Facility (NAF), U.S. Naval Ordnance Test Station, Inyokern, Ca. Even in the late 1940s era of post-war drawdown, NAF operated nearly every carrier-based aircraft type, including the first wave of Navy jets. 

From 1958 through 1969, China Lake’s NAF Flight Test Branch developed and tested a wide array of new conventional weapons on A-4 Skyhawks. The Snakeye, Walleye and Rockeye bombs, and the Shrike anti-radiation missile tested here were all used in Vietnam. 

In December 1976, China Lake’s NAF aircraft and flight test mission were reorganized into the new Aircraft Department of the Naval Weapons Center Test and Evaluation Directorate. The Aircraft Department was disestablished in May 1995. Its personnel and functions were incorporated into the newly created Naval Weapons Test Squadron (NWTS) China Lake, part of Naval Test Wing Pacific. At that time, the iconic "Dust Devil" was adopted as the squadron logo and mascot. In 2002, NWTS was redesignated the VX-31 “Dust Devils.”

This retro paint scheme is a great way to acknowledge our rich history and remind ourselves of the importance of what we do on a daily basis,” said Cmdr. Bartosh. “As long as NAWCWD has such dedicated, talented artisans and relevant aircraft like COSO 101, naval aviation will continue to be the premier power projection enterprise as we move into our next 100 years of service.”

VX-31’s CONA commemorative paint scheme evokes the look of China Lake’s mid-1960s A-4 Skyhawks.

 

VX-31 Dust Devils Celebrate Naval Aviation's Centennial With Retro-Painted F/A-18 Hornet

By Lt. Brian Culver, VX-31 Public Affairs Officer

Throughout 2011, the Centennial of Naval Aviation (CONA) will be celebrated across the nation. Last year, Vice Admiral T.J. Kilcline, former commander of Naval Air Forces (CNAF) put the Navy’s year-long celebration plan in context when he said, “By supporting this important milestone each organization's hard work will serve to honor tens of thousands of naval aviation personnel and their families spanning many generations." Rear Admiral Mat Winter, commander of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD), challenged his military and civilian team members to honor the aircraft and the weapons that made them so successful in combat. Like many other Navy squadrons around the globe, Air Test and Evaluation Squadron THREE ONE (VX-31) painted one of its aircraft in a special commemorative paint scheme--one that pays homage to the rich heritage of NAWCWD China Lake, Ca., and the significant flight test contributions to our warfighting capability. “The entire China Lake workforce played a pivotal role in the history of naval aviation and we wanted to honor those achievements,” said Cmdr. Brady Bartosh, VX-31 Commanding Officer. “The aircraft known as COSO 101 was chosen because it accumulated over 4,000 flight hours. The F/A-18 is the Navy’s primary strike fighter aircraft, serving in combat operations over Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan.”

Cmdr. Ian Anderson, VX-31 Executive Officer and military aviation history buff, researched China Lake’s history for a design concept that would evoke this facility’s rich heritage. “We focused on the 1960s,” Anderson said, “which saw the development and introduction of innovative new weapons technologies that revolutionized air warfare and increased the combat potential of carrier aircraft during the Vietnam conflict and the Cold War.” After settling on a design concept, Anderson contacted his longtime friend, Capt. Rich Dann, CONA Director of History and Outreach for CNAF. Dann is also a published aviation historian, artist and a recognized expert on naval aviation paint schemes. Based on Anderson’s concept, Dann created a template that gave COSO 101 the look of a Douglas A-4C Skyhawk (China Lake’s primary weapons test aircraft) as it appeared during the late 1950s through the mid-1960s. 

Two months later, Chief Warrant Officer Chris Obenland and volunteers from VX-31’s Contract Oversight Team put the plan into action. Chief Petty Officers Kenneth Smart and Paul Williams, along with Mr. Sean Corcoran, spray-painted the historic colors onto COSO 101. This is the second NAWCWD aircraft to receive a retro-paint scheme as part of the commemoration. A few months earlier, an S-3B Viking from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron THREE ZERO (VX-30) at Point Mugu, Ca., was painted to match the colors of the Navy’s SBD “Dauntless” dive bombers that were flown during the Battle of Midway in 1942. Both NAWCWD squadrons reside within NAVAIR, led by Vice Adm. David Architzel.

On May 5, 1947, Armitage Field was commissioned under the official title U.S. Naval Air Facility (NAF), U.S. Naval Ordnance Test Station, Inyokern, Ca. Even in the late 1940s era of post-war drawdown, NAF operated nearly every carrier-based aircraft type, including the first wave of Navy jets. 

From 1958 through 1969, China Lake’s NAF Flight Test Branch developed and tested a wide array of new conventional weapons on A-4 Skyhawks. The Snakeye, Walleye and Rockeye bombs, and the Shrike anti-radiation missile tested here were all used in Vietnam. 

In December 1976, China Lake’s NAF aircraft and flight test mission were reorganized into the new Aircraft Department of the Naval Weapons Center Test and Evaluation Directorate. The Aircraft Department was disestablished in May 1995. Its personnel and functions were incorporated into the newly created Naval Weapons Test Squadron (NWTS) China Lake, part of Naval Test Wing Pacific. At that time, the iconic "Dust Devil" was adopted as the squadron logo and mascot. In 2002, NWTS was redesignated the VX-31 “Dust Devils.”

This retro paint scheme is a great way to acknowledge our rich history and remind ourselves of the importance of what we do on a daily basis,” said Cmdr. Bartosh. “As long as NAWCWD has such dedicated, talented artisans and relevant aircraft like COSO 101, naval aviation will continue to be the premier power projection enterprise as we move into our next 100 years of service.”

VX-31’s CONA commemorative paint scheme evokes the look of China Lake’s mid-1960s A-4 Skyhawks.

A VX-31 Contract Oversight Team member applies “glossy gull gray” paint to COSO 101. U. S. Navy photo by Mike McGinnis

 An A-4C Skyhawk from NAF China Lake test fires a Shrike anti-radiation missile in the 1960s. U. S. Navy photo.

 VX-1's retro-painted COSO 101, seen on China Lake's flight line, evokes memories of the base's historic contributions to naval aviation