Free Republic

FLIGHT TEST: Dassault Rafale - Rampant Rafale By Peter Collins Most advanced Allied air forces now have operational fleets of fourth-generation fighters (defined by attributes such as being fly-by-wire, highly unstable, highly agile, net-centric, multi-weapon and multi-role assets). These Western types include the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon and Saab Gripen NG. The Boeing F-15E and Lockheed Martin F-16 have an older heritage, but their latest upgrades give them similar multi-role mission capabilities. Of the above group, only the Super Hornet and Rafale M are capable of aircraft-carrier operations. As these fourth-generation fighters' weapons, sensor systems and...

One of the last regular users of JATO (Jet Assisted Take Off) rockets is dropping the practice. The U.S. Navy Blue Angels acrobatic team will no longer feature their C-130 (called "Fat Albert", and used to haul around the maintenance personnel and their equipment) doing a quick and fiery takeoff using JATO rockets. This was always a crowd pleaser, partly because you hardly see it anymore. JATO was first developed in the 1920s, to get gliders into the air. Later, especially during World War II, and a few decades after, JATO was used for getting aircraft off the ground quickly,...

The U.S. Marine Corps today released video of its V-22 Ospreys arriving in Afghanistan. Ten MV-22s flew from the USS Bataan and are now operating in southern Afghanistan. The video is of MV-22Bs with the Marine Medium tiltrotor Squadron 263, 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit taking off in three waves from the flight deck of the Bataan. And here is video of the arrival and flight of the first Osprey to be use in Afghanistan.

I created a web site that focuses on the brand new classes of warships that the US Navy is currently building for the 21st century. It includes a lot of specifications, history, and good pictures of each class. The logo and links to the various ship classes are included below. (Picture intesive links) Just click on each of the Pictures or names of the vessels and they will take you to the page for that vessel at the site : http://www.jeffhead.com/usn21 These vessels are critical to our ability to maintain our unassailable edge in the near to mid-term future. Other...

Taiwan says China starts building first aircraft carrier Agence France-Presse First Posted 19:44:00 11/04/2009 Filed Under: Military, Foreign affairs & international relations TAIPEI – Taiwan said Wednesday that its giant neighbor China has started building its first aircraft carrier, a move analysts have said could raise military tensions in the region. The head of Taiwan's National Security Bureau told parliament construction of the carrier had begun, Lin Yu-fang, a legislator of the ruling Kuomintang party, told AFP. However, the security chief, Tsai Teh-sheng said the carrier's construction "has not been smooth" and that the Chinese navy may struggle to put...

While Russian admirals have been talking about building six aircraft carriers in the next decade, the president of Russia has recently ordered them to concentrate on smaller ships for the Black and Baltic Seas. The Black Sea fleet has been continually declining since the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. That decline is the result of new countries (like Ukraine and Georgia) inheriting old Soviet ships and bases. That was the dissolution deal. Whatever Soviet weapons or bases were normally were, belonged to one of the 14 new nations. Most of Russia’s high seas ships were based in northern Russia (the...

Super Hornet favourite in Indian and Brazilian tenders By Reuben F Johnson The Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is well placed to fulfil both the Indian and Brazilian fighter requirements, the company and its industry partners said on 28 October. Boeing and its Team Super Hornet partners – Raytheon and General Electric (GE) – presented a broad-ranging review of the F/A-18E/F's position in both the Indian Air Force's (IAF's) Medium-Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) programme for 163 aircraft plus 63 options and the Brazilian Air Force's F-X2 tender for the first 36 of what is projected to be a total of 120...

UAV NEWS NAVAIR And Augusta Demo Operations Of Multiple Swarms Of UAVs And Sensors EdgeFrontier products enable integration and normalization of data, events and control functions from diverse systems, as well as event processing and event and policy-based actions through a policy engine. For the demonstration, these capabilities resulted in a diverse, distributed, interoperable, intelligent network. by Staff Writers Morgantown WV (SPX) Oct 30, 2009 The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) recently demonstrated autonomous operations by multiple "swarms" of unmanned air and ground vehicles, unattended ground sensors, video cameras and other devices linked together in an intelligent network powered...

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Boy Scout Frankie Slemmer may have bitten off a big chunk as he started to restore a Shaw veteran Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star. Due to lack of materials, labor and plans he hasn't embarked on the restoration part for his Eagle Scout project. Still, Slemmer hopes to give the 1954-vintage, two-seat trainer a make-over, and to earn the title of Eagle Scout. Notable Scouts who earned the rank of Eagle Scout are Medal of Honor Recipient Leo K. Thorsness, astronaut Neil Armstrong, and former President Gerald Ford, Jr. Slemmer became interested in planes when he joined the...

BreakingNews San Diego media: 9 missing after collision of Coast Guard C-130 and Marine Cobra helicopter off the SD coast. BNO News working to confirm.

U.S. and international air forces are becoming interested and open to utilizing off-the-shelf equipment in low-intensity, counter-insurgency and counter-drug operations in remote areas. The U.S. Navy is already evaluating an armed version of Embraer’s EMB-314 Super Tucano under a classified evaluation program known as ‘Imminent Fury’. The Navy is currently evaluating a single aircraft and is seeking a budget of $44 million to embark on a larger program. The Special Operations Command, Air Force and US Marine Corps are also interested in employing off the shelf assets for low-intensity Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance and rapid target engagement. Armed Super Tucanos...

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – A Navy T-34 jet trainer with two people aboard has gone missing off the Texas gulf coast. U.S. Coast Guard officials said an air traffic controller at Corpus Christi's naval air station lost contact with the crew about 3:20 p.m. Wednesday. The single-engine T-34 was last reported near Port Lavaca. The Coast Guard has dispatched a helicopter, jet and boats to search for the jet. Port Lavaca is about 75 miles northeast of Corpus Christi.

In Russia, the fifty man crew for the first Yasen (Graney) class SSGN (nuclear powered cruise missile sub) arrived at the Sevmash shipyards where their boat is being built. The crew was put together four years ago, and has been training ever since. The crew will continue training, increasingly on the first boat of the class (the Severodvinsk), which will be launched in a few months and enter service within two years. Last July, construction began on a second Yasen class SSGN. Russia plans to complete six boats of this class within the next six years. Construction of the first...

Welding torches flare at dusk in the coastal Chinese city of Dalian as workers mill about on the flight deck of an unfinished aircraft carrier once intended for the Soviet navy.

KABUL, Oct. 26, 2009 – Separate helicopter incidents today claimed the lives of 11 U.S. servicemembers and three U.S. civilians in Afghanistan, military officials reported. Officials of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said four U.S. servicemembers died when two ISAF helicopters apparently collided over southern Afghanistan, and seven U.S. servicemembers and three U.S. civilians were killed when their helicopter went down “due to unconfirmed reasons” in western Afghanistan. In addition to the four servicemembers killed in the apparent collision incident, two more were injured, officials said, adding that hostile fire is not believed to be a factor. In the...

Navy surrenders one new aircraft carrier in budget battle Michael Smith The Royal Navy has agreed to sacrifice one of its two new aircraft carriers to save about £8.2 billion from the defence budget. The admirals, who have battled for a decade to secure the two new 65,000-ton carriers, have been forced to back down because of the soaring cost of the American-produced Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft due to fly off them. The move is a blow to the navy’s prestige and has come on the heels of Gordon Brown’s announcement last month that he was axing one of...

VIRGINIA BEACH One person was killed and eight others were injured when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed on a Navy ship during joint training with the Army. The services were doing "fast rope" exercises 20 nautical miles off Fort Story about 8 p.m. Thursday, sliding down a rope from helicopters and landing on the fast combat support ship Arctic, when one of the Army helicopters made a hard landing, said Capt. Cate Mueller, a Navy spokeswoman. It was unclear whether the injured were from the Navy, the Army or both. A Navy news release this morning says that members of...

AUSTRALIA'S military chiefs favour the US over Europe in a planned $4 billion naval combat helicopter buy that is generating high-level concern among senior government ministers and local defence industry leaders. In a classified submission sent to defence ministers John Faulkner and Greg Combet, the military chiefs have opted for the US Navy's MH-60R Seahawk as the best choice for the Royal Australian Navy's new rotary wing anti-submarine warfare platform. The military chiefs favour an early decision on the Sikorsky MH-60R, arguing that it represents a cheaper, risk-free solution for Australia compared with its competitor, the European NH90 naval frigate...

CORONADO — The USS Ronald Reagan and three warships in its strike group returned to San Diego today following a five-month deployment that included air strikes in support of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and operations against pirates off Somalia. Thousands of family members lined the docks at Naval Air Station North Island to greet the arrival of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and at Naval Base San Diego to welcome home the crews of the guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville and the guided-missile destroyers USS Gridley and USS Howard. There are more than 5,000 sailors and aviators on the four ships, which...

India Mulls Land-Based E-2D Oct 19, 2009 Neelam Mathews/New Delhi The Indian navy is reevaluating the design of its future aircraft carriers and showing interest in the U.S. Navy's Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (Emals), which is in development by General Atomics. Emals uses a linear motor drive instead of steam pistons to accelerate aircraft for takeoff. India uses short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (Stovl) Sea Harriers from its current carrier, the INS Viraat, which is near retirement. The navy has been waiting some time for the refurbished Russian carrier Admiral Gorshkov, now due for delivery in 2012, and is working with Fincantieri of Italy...

You know it’s been a good evening when Mom, Dad, and the kids all leave a party ebullient. The party in question was a fund-raising reception aboard the USS Hornet, which is a floating museum. The guests of honor were members of the Blue Angels team. My husband was a bit dubious about the whole thing, but I bought the tickets, and bullied, and arranged, and fought my way through two hours of traffic to make it happen — and I am happy to report that I was in the pleasant position of being able to say “I told you...

Link Only. This is what makes me fear for the Navy and the rest of the armed forces. The Navy has as much chance of realizing this as it does of landing a ship on the Klingon Homeworld by 2020. Stupifying ignorance and Greenism. Obama will repeal the laws of thermodynamics as soon as he finishes arming his National Civil Youth Corps. "The Great Green Fleet" will have to be powered by sails ands oars or run on pixie dust and unicorn droppings.

British Harrier pilot diverted bomb mid-flight to save civilians A British Harrier pilot managed to abort a bomb attack in mid-flight, steering a smart bomb away from its intended Taleban target after a group of civilians strayed into the target area, footage released by the Ministry of Defence showed today. The footage, which was shot from the camera on the jet last year but has been only now declassified, shows that the bomb had already been launched when its target, a Taleban commander in a vehicle, stopped next to a group of civilians. The RAF pilot then made the snap...

On 13 October 1775, the Second Continental Congress authorized the raising of the Continental Navy. Today, our Navy celebrates its 234th Birthday. Thank you to all who have served, who currently serve, and who will serve in the future.

Chinese Carrier Strike Posted by Douglas Barrie at 10/12/2009 7:48 AM CDT Chinese ambitions may be to give its carrier air wing an air-to-surface role from the outset, at least if what appears to be a mock-up of a naval Flanker is to be taken at face value. Numerous images of an intriguing facility claimed to be at the Wuhan ship design institute have appeared on the internet in the past few days. The images show a building on which an aircraft carrier’s main superstructure is being fabricated, along with a large roof area that could be used to practise...

Russian Navy to buy 24 MiG-29K carrier-based fighters 09/10/2009 MOSCOW, October 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Navy will buy at least 24 MiG-29K (Fulcrum-D) fighters to be deployed on the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, an unnamed Defense Ministry official said on Friday. He added that deliveries of the carrier-based multirole fighters would start in 2010. The MiGs will subsequently replace the Su-33 (Flanker-D) carrier-based fighters, even though their service life does not expire until 2025. Military analyst Konstantin Makiyenko suggested that production of new Su-33 aircraft was possible but not cost-effective, given the small production volumes, whereas considering that India...

Italy's newest aircraft carrier like a son-captain By Jo Winterbottom LA SPEZIA, Italy (Reuters Life!) - Italy's newest aircraft carrier is a pretty big baby. But the Cavour's captain sees his ship as exactly that: a son growing up before his eyes. "I saw the ship growing day by day. So I feel it's like a son," Captain Gianluigi Reversi told Reuters in a recent interview aboard the 27,500 tonne ship. The Cavour is docked at La Spezia while it undergoes maintenance following a year of tests, before it goes into full service probably some time in 2010. Reversi became...

Navy to soon declare unmanned craft operational for patrols Oct. 4, 2009 Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST The Israel Navy plans to begin using unmanned naval craft in the coming months for patrols along the Mediterranean coast, senior IDF officers said on Sunday. Called unmanned surface vehicles, the ships are operated by remote control from a land-based station and are highly maneuverable, allowing them to conduct a wide range of missions, including patrols of the coast, without endangering navy personnel. One system that the navy has already purchased is the Protector, which was developed by Rafael Advanced Systems Ltd....

Here's the Mig-29KUB landing on aircraft carrier the Admiral Kuznetsov for the first time. Some very nice cockpit video footage. The dapper looking guy with the moustache talking on the deck is Mikhail Pogosyan who heads the new United Aircraft Corporation's military division including the old Sukhoi and MiG operations. These aircraft are destined for the Indian Navy. Fast forward to 25s into the movie if you're stuck for time! Video I love seeing the pilot's eyeballs coming out on stalks as he takes the wire.

THE USS RONALD REAGAN… Seeing it next to the Arizona Memorial really puts its size into perspective...ENORMOUS! When the Bridge pipes 'Man the Rail' there is a lot of rail to man on this monster: shoulder to shoulder, around 4.5 acres. Her displacement is about 100,000 tons with full complement. Capability Top speed exceeds 30 knots, powered by two nuclear reactors that can operate for more than 20 years without refueling 1. Expected to operate in the fleet for about 50 years 2. Carries over 80 combat aircraft 3. Three arresting cables can stop a 28-ton aircraft going 150 miles...

Pakistan Navy acquires ASW helicopters from China KARACHI: Pakistan Navy has acquired Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) helicopters Z9EC from China. The induction ceremony was held here on Wednesday at Naval Aviation Base. Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Noman Bashir was the chief guest on the occasion. This is the first batch of the series of six helicopters to be procured as per the contract signed with M/s China National Aero Technology Import and Export Corporation (CATIC). The Z9EC helicopters have been built according to the specific requirements of Pakistan Navy and are capable to detect and destroy submarines. The...

Russia tests Indian fighter jets on board its aircraft carrier MOSCOW, September 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's MiG aircraft maker said on Tuesday it has successfully tested on board the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier four MiG-29 carrier-based fighter jets due to be delivered to India. Russia and India signed a contract on January 20, 2004, stipulating the supply of 12 single-seat MiG-29Ks and four two-seat MiG-29KUBs to India as part of a $1.5 billion deal to deliver the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, currently being retrofitted in Russia for the Indian navy. "During the tests on September 28-29, the MiG-29K and...

Two French navy Rafales crashed into the Mediterranean early this evening during an exercise from the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. One of the two pilots has already been picked up alive and a massive search operation is under way to find the second pilot. For the moment no more details are available.

Russia said on Saturday it had started talks with France for an unprecedented deal to buy a new helicopter-carrying assault warship from NATO-member France. The Russian government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported last month that the ship, which can carry 16 heavy helicopters, 470 airborne troops and other gear, costs 700 million euros (995 million dollars).

PORTLAND, Maine — A new Coast Guard rule has closed down fishing grounds around a remote Maine island following the discovery of unexploded bombs on the ocean bottom from when the Navy used the rocky outcropping as an aerial bombing range. The Coast Guard put the rule into effect last week. It establishes a safety zone banning mariners from the shallow lobster-rich waters around Seal Island.

A Pratt & Whitney F135 engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has been damaged during qualification ground-testing. The news comes as the Pentagon scrutinizes the F135’s costs and Congress prepares to decide the future of the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 alternate engine. The conventional takeoff and landing F135 was 2,455 cycles into a 2,600-cycle durability test leading to initial service release when “sparks were noticed coming out of the jet pipe,” says a P&W program expert. The engine was still running and capable of producing thrust when it was shut down. Inspection revealed tip damage to a “handful” of blades...

An impression of how a controversial future giant aircraft carrier would look in its home base has been unveiled today by the Royal Navy.The computer-generated image has been created to give an impression of the scale of the next generation of warships which are due to enter service in 2015.It shows one of the carriers alongside at Portsmouth Naval Base, Hampshire, where it would take up three jetties.     Ministry of Defence computer generated image of how a controversial future giant aircraft carrier would look in its home base was unveiled today by the Royal Navy. It shows one...

Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009 U.S. floated plan to withdraw fighter jets Japan stayed silent in light of North Korea, realignment worries Kyodo News The U.S. government sounded out Japan in early April about pulling out all of the approximately 40 F-16 fighters from Misawa Air Base in Aomori Prefecture, possibly beginning later this year, sources close to Japan-U.S. relations said Friday. As part of the ongoing review of the U.S. defense strategy by the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, the United States at the time also told Japan of an idea to remove some of the more than 50...

US clears Hawkeye E-2D aircraft for India Gulshan Luthra, Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, September 13, 2009 The US government has cleared yet another high technology system for India, the "futuristic" shipboard Hawkeye E-2D aircraft for Airborne Early Warning (AEW) and battle management. The clearance has been described by diplomatic sources as a fallout of the "successful" visit of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the signing of the End User Monitoring Agreement (EUMA) of military equipment being supplied or sold by the US to India. Like the Boeing P 8I Maritime Multi-mission Aircraft (MMA), of which the Indian Navy...

Stealthy Italian submarine will train with U.S. Navy The ITS Scire is paying a visit to Mayport to take part in a Joint Task Force Exercise. By Timothy J. Gibbons From its high-tech fuel cell engine to its automated torpedo loading system, the ITS Scire proudly shows off the advanced technology crammed into its narrow body. But being on the crew of a cutting-edge fighting vessel doesn't mean one has to ignore the comforts of life - which perhaps is why cans of extra virgin olive oil manage to find a corner amid the fearsome torpedoes. From the espresso machine...

Russia to call tender for foreign helicopter carrier 11/09/2009 KALININGRAD, September 11 (RIA Novosti) - Russia plans to hold an international tender for the purchase of a helicopter carrier, involving France, Spain and the Netherlands, the country's Navy chief said on Friday. "I can confirm that negotiations are being held, but there is likely to be a tender," Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky said, adding that other countries could also be involved. He said there were no negotiations with the United States - "for understandable reasons," adding that the U.S. authorities were "highly sensitive" about the transfer of new technology, especially dual-purpose...

On 9/11/09, my son had just started his third year in a Manhattan high school. Although about a mile north of Ground Zero, he saw the thin coating of ash covering the cars, and he inhaled the stench of burning buildings and suffering humanity. It took a long time to get home to the northern suburbs that night, but as we finally sat at dinner, not knowing what to expect next, I asked him if this had changed his plan to attend the US Naval Academy. He replied that, had he not been too young, that he would already have...

U.S. to transfer fighter jet technology to Brazil for purchase deal www.chinaview.cn 2009-09-10 10:51:56 P RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. administration has agreed to transfer the F-18 Super Hornet fighter jets' technology to Brazil if the Brazilian government chooses to purchase U.S. jets. The U.S. embassy in Brazil made the announcement on Wednesday, two days after the Brazilian government said it is in negotiations with France for the purchase of 36 fighter jets to renovate the Brazilian fleet. The main argument for choosing the French planes was the French government agrees to transfer the jet's technology....

The U.S. Marine Corps is acting as the lead service on the Bell-Boeing MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor, with three deployments to Iraq under its belt and a squadron flying from the deck of the USS Bataan amphibious assault ship. Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (Afsoc) is growing its own fleet of CV-22s, steadily building hours and mission profiles. The Marines have recently suffered critiques from Washington for cost and performance issues, most notably in a May Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that cited the aircraft’s “unresolved operational effectiveness and suitability issues.” But the service takes exception to several...

    ~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Naval Air Warfare Center, China Lake, CaliforniaThe Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division (NAWCWD) is an organization within the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), dedicated to maintaining a center of excellence in weapons development for the Department of the Navy (DoN). NAWCWD has two locations in Southern California; China Lake hosting the land test range and Point Mugu hosting the sea test range. Nestled in the quiet Indian Wells Valley at the south eastern foot of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California, China Lake is the premier land range and...

A manufacturing problem with the U.S. Navy's new Virginia class SSNs (nuclear attack subs) has delayed the commissioning of a new boat, the USS New Mexico. The ceremony will be delayed from November 21st, to sometime in January or February. The problem has to do with bolts that were not manufactured to specifications. These bolts hold together the track system that is used to move torpedoes and other weapons around the "weapons room". The poorly manufactured bolts will hold the tracks together under peacetime conditions. But in the stress of combat (like depth charges or violent maneuvers) they are likely...

MiG-29K fighters ready, but no carriers Vishnu Som, Wednesday September 2, 2009, Moscow Brand, spanking new MiG-29K fighters for the Indian Navy are ready for delivery after years in development, except there's one major problem -- the aircraft carrier they were meant to be deployed on the Gorshkov, is no where near ready. As India and Russia continue negotiations for a final price on the Gorshkov, these jets will be based at Goa with no carrier to be deployed on. The saga to fix a final price on the Gorshkov, a second hand carrier being refurbished for the Indian Navy,...

Indian Navy Mulls Northrop Advanced Hawkeye Sep 2, 2009 By Neelam Mathews NEW DELHI — Last month’s export authorization from the U.S. government now permits Northrop Grumman to have discussions with the Indian navy on the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, a platform that provides a highly adaptive form of airborne early warning and control (AEW&C). A U.S Navy representative, E-2 New Business Manager John Beaulieu, last week made an eight-hour presentation to the Indian navy on the E-2D after a request for more technical clarifications following a request for information last year. “We’ve been building up to this ... The partnership...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Somali pirates holding a hijacked ship off the coast of Somalia fired at a U.S. Navy helicopter as it made a surveillance flight over the vessel, the first such attack by pirates on an American military aircraft, the Navy said Thursday.

Navy grounds Sea Harrier fleet after crash TNN 26 August 2009, 01:23am IST NEW DELHI: Navy has grounded its Sea Harrier fighters, which operate from the country's solitary aircraft carrier INS Viraat, as a precautionary measure after one of the jump-jets crashed last Friday. Sources said the Sea Harrier fleet, which is down to just eight single-seat fighters and three twin-seater trainers now, will undergo systematic checks to ascertain whether a "technical defect'' caused the crash off Goa, which killed the pilot, Lt-Commander Saurabh Chandra Saxena. Apart from the acute shortfall in the number of fighters to operate from the...