Category: Military

Australia Looking at Procuring Russian Fighters

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I think that this is more gamesmanship than anything else. The Australian militaryreally want the F-22, but it has not been cleared for export, so so they claiming that they are evaluating the MiG-29 and the Su-35.

The Australians are not happy about having the buy the F-35 JSF, because it lacks the agility that they want, and because there are serious scheduling and budget issues.

The new defence minister has meanwhile warned that Canberra will not tolerate further delays or an increase in the cost of the F-35.

Additionally, Australia is making noises about canceling its $5.8 billion purchase of 24 F/A-18 E/F “Superhornets” as a part or reevaluating their defense needs.

My assessment is that they are playing chicken in an attempt to get the US Congress to change the law that prevents F-22 exports, though even with that hurdle taken care of, the development costs of an export version looks to be around $1 billion.

New Chinese Short Range AAM

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Ares recently posted a description of a new Chinese short range air-to-air missile.

Seeing as how I actually spent some time working in rockets and missiles (SAMs mostly) I though I’d look at their thoughts and add a few of my own:

First, the missile clearly has thrust vectoring, but it does not have any forward fins. These seem to run counter to each other.

A missile lacking forward fins typically has better long range kinematics (the ASRAAM, for example actually has beyond visual range capabilities), but the thrust vectoring shows a bias toward shorter engagement distances.

It should be noted that the fore body strakes probably contribute a quite bit to aerodynamic maneuverability, particularly at high speeds (you will note that the ASRAMM below lacks them)

The rocket motor is almost certainly relatively low thrust at launch, to allow for the vectoring paddles to work with relatively small actuators (the AIM-9X does not do this, but it is reusing an old motor). Additionally, since the thrust vectoring has little benefit at higher speeds, where aerodynamics work better, it’s likely that they are jettisoned shortly thereafter in flight.

The report states that the missile is an Imaging Infra Red system, and my guess would be that uses a scanning array, rather than a staring array (go to the Wiki link, it explains the difference fully). While there are applications where a staring array is crucial, such as astronomical devices, for AAMs, the advantages are in dispute, staring arrays are much more difficult to manufacture.

One possibility is that this is the product of South African and Chinese cooperation though, it looks a lot like the Denel A-Darter (see below). Note that the A-Darter has a 6″ diameter (166mm) as compared to the 5 inches of the Sidewinder, which implies superior kinematics because of greater fuel volume).

Military Ignoring “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” At Least Until You Come Home

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Actually the soldier in question is suggesting that the Military’s policies on gays serving may be changing, because he told his CO’s that he was gay, and because he’s been out for years.

Nope:

“This particular soldier’s unit only recently returned from the war to Fort Hood, Texas, so it’s premature to speculate on any future actions until the young man’s situation can be considered by his chain of command,” Boyce said in a statement.

Translation: Now that you’ve done your tour, and we no longer need you, you will be separated, you will have no benefits, and we want that enlistment bonus back.

Air Force Attempts Blackmail to Get More F-22s

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The USAF has been trying any means possible to keep the F-22 production line open.

This time, it is using the structural problems of the F-15 to do so.

Let’s be clear, this is a serious issue, but the USAF permanently grounding 180 aircraft is unnecessary.

It appears that the problem is the result of two things, the age of the airframe, and the fact that some of the longerons are defective.

That being said, the USAF personnel running around crying that the sky is falling, and so you get quotes like this:

“Do you try to patch a 25-year-old airplane that has been patched and patched and patched?” another senior Air Force official asked. “After the repairs, it will not be the same aircraft it was before.”

The answer, of course, is that it will be the same aircraft as before. The repairs are not cheap, my guess would be on the order of $200,000 to $300,000 per aircraft, and with a weight hit of somewhere between 50 and 100 kg.

Compared to something north of $150,000,000 for an F-22, it is an inexpensive solution.

One of the things that USAF is studiously quiet about is the fact that the F-15 is a superior platform for the interception of cruise missiles, because it has a larger antenna for its radar (Physics is a bitch, ain’t it).

Straights of Hormuz, Gulf of Tonkin, It’s All the Same

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This report sounds very familiar, a bunch of small boats, “threatening” US naval vessels.

While I have no doubt that the Iranians have detailed plans for an assault of US Naval forces, this is not how they would do it.

On Black Monday in 1987, the US and Iranians engaged in the largest surface engagement since the battle of Leyte Gulf, which resulted in the destruction of half the Iranian surface fleet.

It didn’t get much coverage because of the stock market crash that day.

The Iranians have a very good idea of how much they are over matched, even in littoral waters like the Persian Gulf.

They won’t be broadcasting threats on the radio and broadcasting, “Your ships will explode in a couple of minutes”.

Any attack will be conducted in small boats, launched from a number of different locations, and it will be conducted in radio silence.

There was no attack, or any provocation, just some testosterone laden maneuvering.

The Surge is Working!!!

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A string of suicide bombings in has hit Iraq: (see also here)

  • On Tuesday, a suicide bombing killed 36 and wounded at least 35 others in Baghdad’s Zayouna (the worst attack since August)
  • A female suicide bomber attacked a checkpoint of neighbourhood patrol volunteers Wednesday morning in Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, reports Reuters. The attack killed 10
  • The abduction and killing of five relatives on Tuesday morning in Jalawla, one of the five killed was a policeman.
  • fighters from Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia kidnapped a farmer and killed his son in Dhuluiya, and stole 200 of the farmer’s sheep. (not going with the obvious comment)
  • The severed head of a member of an called Awakening Council, the Sunni Militias created and armed by David Petraeus was found north of Muqdadiya.
  • Gunmen killed three people in a village 40 miles south of Kirkuk.

We need to get out sooner, rather than later. We are doing no good there.

Indo-Russian Collaboration on PAF FA (T-50)

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This plane is intended to replace the Su-27 series, and it now appears that
Russia and India are in a 50-50 workshare.

I’m not entirely sure what this would mean, though the Indians are looking to use this aircraft on their carrier.

The company-to-company discussions ffollow an October 2007 intergovernmental agreement between Russia and India signed an on the cooperative development of a fifth-generation multi-role fighter. “This will be 50/50 cooperation in terms of intellectual property, resources and money,” said [Sukhoi CEO Mikhail] Pogosyan.

It appears that the Indian variants will have entirely Indian avionics, which is likely the result of Indian industrial policy.

In developing independent avionics, they may have an opening with upgrades of the aircraft sold to 3rd countries.

As to the 50/50 split, my guess is that this is more of offset numbers than real sharing. This is the crown jewels of Russian aerospace.

A quick note, the fact that the project is called the T-50 means that it has some variant of a delta wing. Were it swept wing, it would be something like S-50, which is why Sukhoi’s forward swept wing demonstrator was called the S-37.

Bush Pocket Veto of Troops Pay Raise is Invalid

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I understand that Bush is threatening a veto of the latest defense authorization bill.

It appears that inconveniencing banks means more to him than giving our troops the payraise they deserve.

That being, this rather insightful analysis is correct: If he wants to do this, then he has to put his name on the veto with those crayons sharpies that he is so fond of. He cannot use the pocket veto, because Congress is still technically in session.

The Senate has remained in session to prevent recess appointments, and as such his claim, “The adjournment of the Congress has prevented my return of H.R. 1585 within the meaning of Article I, section 7, clause 2 of the Constitution”, is completely without merit.

If you really find this provision so bad, stop behaving like what Ahnuld would call a “Girlie Man”, and put your name on a veto that cuts pay for the troops.

Don’t worry, it’s not like any or your kids will be affected.

Adventures in Bad Desense Technology Reporting

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I’ve seen the story all over the net about successful Russian test launch of the RSM-54, or Sineva from the Tula, Delta IV class submarine earlier this month.

There was much talk about it was a “hybrid ballistic missile that in its final stages becomes a modified cruise missile” is actually a bit of a misnomer.

…., is a hybrid ballistic missile that in its final stages becomes a modified cruise missile. In this guise, the warhead cannot be targeted by anti-missile systems that rely on a ballistic trajectory for their calculations.

This is a misnomer. What we have is called a “MARV”, MAneuverable Reentry Vehicle, and it is fairly old news.

The Pershing II which actually reached deployment in the 1980s in Europe before being retired under the INF treaty had such a system, though not for ABM evasion, they coupled it with a terminal radar for a CEP under 30 meters.

For a strategic system it would likely be used for evasion, and there are reports of it being used on the Trident reentry vehicles.

You can see see the aerodynamic surfaces, and the radome on this picture of a Pershing II launch from Wiki.

Swedish Company Tests Hyper Velocity Missile

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It’s supposed to be able to achieve Mach 5.5 at sea level, that’s about 4200 miles per hour.


The article makes the suggestion that this might have been designed to be used with a multi transmitter anti-stealth radar system. Basically, you would target the missile on coordinates, and have no terminal guidance, so a shorter flight time would reduce error from the target changing course.

It would also be a potent anti-tank weapon, relying on kinetic energy for a kill, but it does appear to be a bit large for that application, as the 45 kg CKEM and 5 foot long(see picture below) can destroy any known armored vehicle.

The Saab-Bofors vehicle appears to be at least twice that size.

Bush and His Evil Minions&trade Back Down on Attempt to Seize Control of JAG Corps

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Yesterday, I mentioned how Bush was attempting to put political hacks in charge of the military’s legal corps, one would assume that they were doing this because they have so completely f$%#ed up real trials, so they wanted false ones.

Today, they have backed down. Reviews and promotions will be handled through the military chain of command, not through political hacks.

My guess is that a few dozen of the people involved with the Gitmo trials made it clear that they would resign their commissions if this went through.

Bush and His Evil Minions™ to Muzzle JAG Corps

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No surprise here, whenever professional standards or honesty get in the way of a Bush administration policy, you can be sure that Bush administration will find a way to punish those who choose to do the right thing.

The former JAG officers say the regulation would end the uniformed lawyers’ role as a check-and-balance on presidential power, because politically appointed lawyers could block the promotion of JAGs who they believe would speak up if they think a White House policy is illegal.

I want my country back.

Gripen Upgraded Engine Cheaper

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It turns out that in addition to providing 20+% more thrust, the F-414 has about the same air flow requirements, meaning no major redesign of the inlets, and it is actually cheaper than the F-404 derived RM12 that it replaces.

Of note, the AESA that they are looking at installing is angled:

Which could give lower radar cross section, and possibly better azimuth performance if the antenna rotates.

What is really amazing is that they expect the proof of concept demonstrator to fly next year.

To the degree that there is a Mirage III type success of this generation of aircraft, I think that it will be the Gripen, though purchases of the previous generation (or half generation depending on how you count) F-16s may still dominate the market because of the relatively low cost.

Former Gitmo Prosecutor Blasts Military Commissions, Bush and His Evil Minions™ Order Him Not to Testify Before Congress

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Interesting, Colonel Morris Davis, former prosecutor writes an OP/ED for the LA Times about why he stepped down from his position as prosecutor as the Pentagon’s Chief War Crimes Prosecutor blasts the military commissions process because he, “”elt that the system had become deeply politicized and that I could no longer do my job effectively or responsibly.”

He goes on to state that the commissions lacked the, “atmosphere of honesty and impartiality”, essential to legitimacy. He accuses the convening authority (basically the people who will act as judge and jury)), of, “Intermingling convening authority and prosecutor roles perpetuates the perception of a rigged process stacked against the accused.”

Further he believes that the trials can be conducted largely in open court, and that closed door proceedings further degraded the legitimacy of the proceedings.

The Senate Judiciary Committee called him, but did not subpoena him, to testify before them on these and related issues, but he was ordered not to appear.

Orwell is spinning so rapidly in his grave that you could power all of Bristol with him.

Mitch McConnel Hates Our Troops

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In an interview with the Grayson County News-Gazette, he said the following:

“I won’t tell you everything is great in Iraq; it is not. But we want to keep a steady flow of funds so that we don’t disrupt the military,” said McConnell. “Unfortunately, most of our friends on the other isle are having a hard time admitting things are getting better; some days I almost think the critics of this war don’t want us to win. Nobody is happy about losing lives but remember these are not draftees, these are full-time professional soldiers.

Gee…So I guess he thinks that “full-time professional soldiers” don’t have parents, or wives, or Fiancées, or children, or girl friends.

Or maybe he’s trying to say that it was OK for him, as a draftee in the late 1960s, do give another soldier a hand job in the shower to get out, because he was a draftee, nto a “full-time professional soldier”.

Oh, well.

Pentagon Support for Useless, Overprices Boondoggle Gains Strength

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Yes, after years of lobbying, it looks like the Pentagon may support buying more F-22s.

It’s expensive, it’s designed for use against the non-existent Warsaw Pact, it has no advantages in a counter-insurgency campaign, and it is highly limited (the JSF is a far better bomb truck).

Additionally, any new production will have to update computer hardware and software, because the original architecture is obsolete.

Yet another indication that the USAF should be reintegrated into the Army. This is a toy for the wild blue yonder set.