The Russians are starting trials with a radar roughly equivalent to the Longbow for the Kamov Ka-52 helicopter, with a roughly 30km range. (paid subscription required)
The cost for the 2nd seat and radar that were added in the upgrade from the Ka-50 is that a lot of the armor has been removed to keep weight below 10 metric tonnes.
Mostly I’m posting this for the picture, because I’ve always found the coaxial helicopters to look “cool”
This is the 2nd F-35-B doing its first air to air refueling:
Israel has neglected its trainers for a while, I think that their Fouga Magisters were retired as primary trainers only a few years ago, and that they still use the A-4 Skyhawk as an advanced trainer, so it comes as no surprise that the IAF has done some test flights in the supersonic T-50 trainer.
They are also looking at the BAE Hawk and the (also supersonic, but barely) Aermacchi M-346, which ironically started as a Russian design.
Still, it’s $25 million a pop for the T-50….Great googly moogly.
I would note, however that these were nowhere near full power, and the program has been dropped from the 2010 budget anyway.
During the test, the modified Boeing 747-400F aircraft took off from Edwards Air Force Base and used its infrared sensors to find a target missile launched from San Nicholas Island, Calif. The Boeing-developed battle management system aboard ABL then issued engagement and target location instructions to the beam control/fire control system, which acquired the target and fired its two solid-state illuminator lasers to track the target and measure atmospheric conditions. ABL then fired a surrogate high-energy laser at the target, simulating a missile intercept. Instrumentation on the target verified that the surrogate high-energy laser hit the target.
(emphasis mine)
I think that this program is a dead end for a number of reasons, the defense draw-down, the rise of the UAV, and the fact that there have been significant advances in high energy solid-state lasers, which makes the chemical technology used by the ABL an expensive, and highly toxic, relic.
The Marine Corps is looking for a UAV cargo carrier that can handle the rigors of operation in Afghanistan, and the Boeing A-160T Hummingbird and the Kaman K-MAX. (paid subscription required)
The goal is to be able to carry 750-1000 lbs at a density altitude in excess of 12,000 feet.
Boeing probably has the edge on UAV operations, though Kaman’s partnership with Lockheed-Martin may close the gap on this, but the K-Max has a lot more in the way of flight hours under harsh conditions, both in firefighting and logging operations.
I lean toward Kaman, because with a twin main rotor design, it may handle better in high altitudes, like the Hindu Kush.
It looks like Russian attack boats Akula class according to reports, are patrolling off of the US coast.
The military says that they are not concerned, and that they tracked them all the way here:
Two nuclear-powered Russian attack submarines have been patrolling off the eastern seaboard of the United States in the first mission of its kind so close to shore in nearly a decade, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
The Pentagon said it was not alarmed by the maneuvers, carried out by what officials described as Soviet-designed Akula-class submarines in international waters as little as 200 miles off the coast.
Interesting in all this is the rather matter of fact statement that there was no problem tracking the boats:
The official said the Navy was able to track the submarines as they made their way through international waters off the American coastline. This can be done from aircraft, ships, underwater sensors or other submarines.
It makes me wonder if this was not intended to be public in the first place. The Russians have already leased a sub to India, and there are other potential customers, and patrolling off the US coast, if it makes it into the papers, is an advertisement for the product.
The Akulas may not be Virginia class boats, but they are pretty quiet, after all.
Then again, maybe they just wanted some good cigars, as some of the reports note that at least one of the boats paid a visit to Cuba.
It’s to name the next United States Navy nuclear powered aircraft carrier the USS ENTERPRISE.
Actually, I’m not too set on the name….If they called it the Lexington, Saratoga, Enterprise, Ranger, Hornet, Midway, Coral Sea, or something with some history, but the idea that is being push by whack job Republicans, that it be named after Barry Goldwater, is just plain stupid.
Goldwater served in the USAF, and quite honestly, his claim to fame is having been crushed in a presidential election.
If you are going to name carriers after one term (GHW Bush) and ½ term unelected (Gerald Ford) presidents, you should name this one after LBJ or WJC, but I do not think that we should name warships after anyone.
The Indian Defense (or is Defence) Ministry has initiated a project to create a “digital soldier”, called Futuristic Infantry Soldier-As-A-System (F-INSAS), and it seems to be analogous to the Pentagon’s recently canceled suspended “Land Warrior” system.
Of course, this ambitious system in juxtaposed with the Indian Defense R&D programs, which have taken more than 30 years to take a tank and an aircraft from concept to operational deployment, and 22 years to develop an anti-tank missile, so I see this as very likely being another complete cluster f$#@.
I’m not sure why Indian defense R&D is so completely fracked, but they have our own Pentagon beat on this, which must be scary for the Indian soldier and taxpayer.
The US Navy is looking to place a high power solid state laser abroad selected naval vessels in the nest 12-18 months. (paid subscription required)
It appears that they will be using Northrop Grumman’s JHPSSL (Joint High Power Solid-State Laser), which uses 15kw blocks that can be ganged together to create a more powerful beam, as a basis for the weapon, and its intended target is small boats.
As to how viable the system is, if the Navy deploys it to the waters off Somalia’s coast to fight pirates, then they think that it can be made to work under combat conditions, if not then there is a lack of confidence in the system.
Specifically, the Los Angeles class boat the USS Toledo:
Two cracks have been discovered on the hull of the USS Toledo, a potentially fatal flaw that could have led to water leaks and, ultimately, hull failure if the submarine submerged, the Navy confirmed Tuesday.
Toledo crew members on Friday found the 21-inch-long crack in the exterior topside hull under the sail and a corresponding 1-inch crack in the pressure hull underneath.
From the picture, it’s one of the later models of the Los Angeles class, it has bow planes, not sail planes, so it should be well before the fatigue life of the hull is reached, and it was found by the crew, but still, cracks in pressure hull of a sub…Yikes!!!
Hopefully this is a one-off, and not a systemic problem.
There it is again!!!
It appears that the Chinese Communists are developing genetically engineered furries as super-soldiers.
With no respect for the norms of civilized behavior, they intend to inflict furrie soldiers with mutant 3rd eyes (see top pic) upon an unsuspecting world.
And you know what’s paying for their inhuman efforts?
McDonald’s Happy Meal toys, that’s what.
Every time one of your kids gets happy meal toys, the PLA puts a penny on their evil plans.
They must be stopped!
General James Cartwright, vice-chairman of the JCS, has announced that the so-called two war strategy will be dropped at the next DoD Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR).
This is an unalloyed good. Not only has this policy, that the US should be able to defeat two “near peer” opponents in short order, created a ruinously expensive military, but it has also created a military that is ill suited to the current conflicts that we are involved in, where over-reliance on high-tech, and under reliance of boots on the ground, has led to our military losing, as opposed to winning, hearts and minds on the ground.
Yes, I know, this picture of an F-18 doing a flyby at the start of a boat race on the Detroit river is an artifact of a long lens and forced perspective, but it’s still an impressive photo.
(click for full size)
China is apparrently developing a dedicated electronic attack aircraft based on its JH-7 attack aircraft.
The JH-7 is a fixed geometry attack aircraft similar in size to the Panavia Tornado, and it has been sighted bedecked with numerous jamming pods.
Because the US military is pulling out of the cities.
You know when someone throws you a going away party, and you’re not invited, maybe they just aren’t that in to you.
Seriously, excerpts do not do justice to his essay on Mohammed Jawad, where he describes the US government torturing a 12-16 year old boy, and now is attempting to use his tortured confession to keep him confined, but here are the last 2 ‘graphs:
There is no credible evidence against Jawad, and his torture-induced confession has rightly been ruled inadmissible by a military judge. But the Obama administration does not feel that he has suffered enough. Not only have administration lawyers opposed defense efforts to secure Jawad’s freedom, but they are using, as the primary basis for their opposition, the fruits of the confession that was obtained through torture and has already been deemed inadmissible — without merit, of no value.
[Jawad’s former prosecutor] Colonel Vandeveld is no longer on active duty and has joined the effort by military defense lawyers and the American Civil Liberties Union to secure Jawad’s freedom. Six years of virtual solitary confinement, he said, is enough for someone who was not much older than a child when he was taken into custody.
(emphasis mine)
Barack Obama, tear down that wall.
But he won’t because it’s inconvenient.
As near as I can figure out, the pity is that both sides cannot lose, see here, here, and here.
You have the corrupt land owning/political class in one corner, and a megalomaniac president in the other.
One waits to see what Obama will do beyond condemning this, because even if the President is a jerk, as it appears, this is a coup.
The costs of the “Brigade Combat Teams” are escalating, according to the CBO.
When I worked on FCS,* they were called a “Unit of Action,” and I didn’t get it then.
The final word on this is in the final ‘graph of the linked post:
And the kicker? While the BCTs are supposed to be able to deploy faster to meet immediate needs, the report contends that while they will be able to respond more quickly than the Division model currently in use, “they require roughly the same amount of time to transport their equipment overseas.”
FCS, the gift that keeps giving.
*Full disclosure, I worked on the Future Recovery and Maintenance Vehicle, FRMV, “wrecker” variant of the FCS-MGV† from 2003-2006 at United Defense (later BAE Systems after the Carlyle Group sold me to buy Dunkin Donuts).
†Future Combat Systems-Manned Ground Vehicle. These are the ones that are the tanks and APCs. As opposed to the various unnmanned vehicles, networking technologies, etc. that form the full FCS along with the MGVs.‡
‡Yes, I have worked everywhere. Maybe I can’t hold down a job, but more likely this has been my role as “technical hit man”, where you are parachuted in to take care of a specific need.
Stars and Stripes is reporting that the US Army has barred one of its reporters from embedding with a unit because they found his coverage too aggressive:
Asserting that Stars and Stripes “refused to highlight” good news in Iraq that the U.S. military wanted to emphasize, Army officials have barred a Stripes reporter from embedding with a unit of the 1st Cavalry Division that is attempting to secure the violent city of Mosul.
…
Despite the opportunity to visit areas of the city where Iraqi Army leaders, soldiers, national police and Iraqi police displayed commitment to partnership, Mr. Druzin refused to highlight any of this news,” Major Ramona Bellard, a public affairs officer, wrote in denying Druzin’s embed request.
…
The Army’s denial of Druzin’s embed request appears to violate the Pentagon’s established ground rules regarding embedded reporters, which state: “These ground rules recognize the inherent right of the media to cover combat operations and are in no way intended to prevent release of embarrassing, negative or derogatory information.”
Whoever gave this order, and whatever superiors backed them up on this, are in violation of military regulations, federal laws, military policy, and the basic values of this republic, and Barack Obama should fire them.
There is no allegation of a security breach, just that the reporter was not “cooperative.”
As a results of GE’s work on the Integrated High Performance Turbine Engine Technology (IHTET) research program, GE has managed to increase the thrust of the F-414 engine by 20%, which would take it from its current 22,000 lbs to about 26,400 lbs of thrust, and Boeing is looking to using this engine as an inducement to sell more of it’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EF-18G Growler on the export market (paid subscription required). (See also here).
Basically, there is a new core, which the US Navy wants to increase durability, and reduces fuel consumption by about 3%, and a new fan, which can be used to increase thrust, and which the navy does not want.
Boeing is offering the 2nd option to other customers, which is a sort of acknowledgement that the “market” finds the F/A-18 E/F (and G) to be a little bit poky compared to the competition.
It might also make SAAB’s Gripen NG, my fighter obsession du jour, more attractive, as the increased durability engine would save costs and give it somewhat longer legs, and the 20% increase in thrust, which might require a new inlet, because mass flow increases, would offer a very significant increase in performance.