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Washington (CNN) -- A U.S. Navy drone crashed Monday in a marsh near Salisbury, Maryland. The RQ-4A Global Hawk drone crashed during a routine training flight from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, according to Jamie Cosgrove, a spokeswoman for the Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons Program at the base.

Boeing Super Hornet faces emerging anti-access challenges  The US Navy is upgrading its fleet of Boeing F/A-18E/F fighters with new capabilities, but analysts question the Super Hornet's utility against emerging anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) threats. "Upgrading the F/A-18 family is a good idea, and it could extend their service lives," says analyst Mark Gunzinger of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA). "That being said, F/A-18-based platforms are short-range, lack unrefueled persistence, and are best suited for operations in relatively uncontested airspace." ©Peter Collins/Flightglobal But in the future, uncontested airspace is unlikely to remain the norm as potential adversaries...

The F-35 Lightning II is making good progress through flight testing this year, a top Lockheed Martin official says. Most of the biggest challenges faced by the programme should be well on their way to being fixed by the later part of the year. One major issue that has recently popped up on the US Navy's F-35C variant is that the aircraft's tail-hook has had to be redesigned. That is because the existing design has failed to catch an arresting cable during trials. Lockheed is working on a new improved hook design that should fix the problem. "We have modified...

Spanish aircraft carrier’s end could be near SPAIN’S Navy is considering mothballing the Principe de Asturias aircraft carrier as well as six Santa Maria-class frigates. The ships would remain on “restricted duties” awaiting a return to operational duties, Navy sources said. This could be the first step towards decommissioning the ships, experts believe. The medium term economic situation was unlikely to improve and ships deteriorate quickly when not in constant use, they pointed out. The vessels’ age also meant that they would require such substantial refits before returning to active service that this might not be cost-effective. By 2018 the...

The End Of An Era: The Transition From The Prowler To The Growler By David Parker Brown, on April 25th, 2012 at 4:45 am An EA-18G Growler sits at NAS Whidbey. Photo by Alex Jossi. I grew up knowing the Navy’s EA-6B Prowler very well — my father flew them for about 20 years. The aircraft was made tough, but all planes need to be replaced sooner or later. Recently, the Navy has started the transition from the EA-6B Prowler to the FA-18 based EA-18G Growler. Reader Alex Jossi had the opportunity to do some photography of the new Growler...

New warplanes 'less capable', secret paper shows Britain’s Armed Forces will be less able to undertake future military operations with the fighter jets ministers are preparing to buy in a cost-saving exercise, secret defence plans have revealed. The Daily Telegraph has seen a Ministry of Defence document setting out secret contingency planning for future British military operations in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, the Falklands and Africa. The highly-classified report which shows that planners have grave doubt on the jump-jets ministers now want to buy for the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers. David Cameron is poised to approve a decision to abandon...

New fighter will complement the F-35 The F-35 program is still ongoing and infamously over budget, yet the U.S. Navy is kicking off the early steps in the search for a sixth generation fighter to replace the current F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. This first step in searching for new fighter aircraft is a Request for Information from companies interested in participating with the program. The document reads, "To support OPNAV N98’s request, this is a Pre-Material Development Decision (MDD) market survey for the purpose of determining market interest, feasibility, and capability of potential sources and does NOT constitute a Request for...

Boeing shows off new Super Hornet display Boeing is showing off some of the advanced features it is proposing for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Some of these include conformal fuel tanks, an external weapons pod to reduce the jet's radar cross-section, better engines, and a new missile warning system among other improvements. Inside the cockpit (both cockpits in the case of the F-model) is a new single-screen color LCD display. But what is truly impressive is a new 3D situational awareness display mode--it overlays various threats and displays them in an easy to understand graphic. Terrain can be overlaid on...

Cameron in humiliating u-turn on future of Britain's aircraft carriers with return of jump jet David Cameron has agreed to an embarrassing U-turn on the future of the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers. The Prime Minister has decided to reverse a decision on the type of jets due to fly from the two warships. In doing so he has returned to a plan by Labour that he once derided as an ‘error’. Senior Downing Street sources say Mr Cameron has decided to follow military advice and abandon plans to buy the conventional F-35C Joint Strike Fighter after costs soared by £1.8billion....

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Two U.S. Marines were killed and two severely injured in the crash of a hybrid aircraft in Morocco on Wednesday, officials said. The Marines were taking part in joint U.S.-Moroccan military excercises located in the south of the country based in Agadir, said U.S. Embassy spokesman Rodney Ford in Rabat, who gave the toll. Capt. Kevin Schultz, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon in Washington, confirmed that the aircraft involved was an MV-22 Osprey, which takes off and lands like a helicopter and flies like an airplane. The aircraft was participating in a U.S.-Moroccan military exercise...

General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products said it will produce additional 20mm gun systems for use on U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft. The order for the weapons came under a contract modification from the Naval Air Systems Command worth $7.8 million, the company said. "General Dynamics has successfully produced the weapon system for the F/A-18 for more than 25 years," said Steve Elgin, vice president and general manager of armament systems for General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products. "The M61A2 F/A-18 gun system continues to be relevant, affordable and extremely effective." The M61A2 gun system is a six-barrel Gatling...

Navy personnel are busy preparing to teach the next generation of Sailors how to work with and fly the newest military aircraft, the F-35C Lightening II Joint Strike Fighter, as Strike Fighter Squadron 101 (VFA-101) readies for their stand-up ceremony May 1 on Eglin Air Force Base. The F-35 is a single seat, multi-role fighter aircraft with the capability to perform ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defense missions. The aircraft is in full production at the Lockheed-Martin plant in Fort Worth, Texas. The F-35 is designed to eventually replace the F/A-18 Hornet and AV-8B Harrier tactical fighter aircraft and was...

Landing a V-22 Osprey helicopter-style on the sprawling flight deck of the nuclear aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush was a snap, says Marine Corps test pilot Capt. Dan McKinney. With Lt. Col. David Weinstein, McKinney did it a dozen times on March 20 – six landings in daylight, six at night. After their first two touchdowns, sailors perched in the carrier's superstructure to watch the helicopter-airplane hybrid Osprey's first-ever carrier qualification landings, conducted off the coast of North Carolina, started giving the pilots "a lot of thumbs-up." Marine leaders hope the Osprey's "carrier quals," scheduled to continue in May...

(CNN) -- A Navy jet crashed Friday into some apartments near Virginia Beach, Virginia, sending flames and thick black smoke into the air, a military spokesman and a witness said. Two apartment buildings were on fire, CNN affiliate WTKR reporting, citing witnesses. The jet was from Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The crew of the two-seater F/A-18 safely ejected, but their condition wasn't known, a Navy spokesman said. The plane is from a training squadron, the Navy said. George Pilkington, an eye witness to the crash, said he was the plane flying low,...

No other details as yet. Just reported as an emergency blurb on local radio. Prayers requested for all affected! A Navy F-18 out of NAS Oceana has crashed into an apartment comp0lex in Virginia Beach VA at the intersection of Birdneck Rd and I 264.

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and the U.S. Navy have successfully completed a flight test of the prototype Distributed Targeting System-Networked (DTS-N) on a Super Hornet. The system is designed to enhance the F/A-18E/F fighter jet’s targeting capabilities. The test took place in late 2011 at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division Advanced Weapons Lab in China Lake, Calif., and was conducted by Air Test and Evaluation Squadron VX-31. DTS-N is based on the Boeing Adaptive Architecture developed by the company’s Phantom Works division. It expands the capabilities of the soon-to-be-operational F/A-18E/F Distributed Targeting System by providing a dramatic...

During a recent reception for naval officers serving in Russia’s Northern Fleet hosted by Dmitry Dmitriyenko, the governor of Murmansk Oblast, changes to combat training and the achievements of the 2011 training year were highlighted. Admiral Vladimir Korolev, the Commander of the Northern Fleet, outlined these issues after reminding his audience of the significance of the fleet in protecting Russia’s security. Korolev claimed that combat training in the Navy intensified during 2011, saying that crews of the nuclear submarines in the Northern Fleet had carried out eight successful launches of ballistic missiles, including four in the framework of the Bulava...

The Australian Government is moving ahead with the conversion of the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) 12 Boeing-built F-18 Super Hornet fighter aircraft to the EA-18G model, dubbed Growlers, under a refit programme. Australia's Defence Minister Stephen Smith and Defence Materiel Minister Jason Clare said in a joint statement that more than $19m will be spent for the purchase of lead item electronic equipment. The long lead item electronic equipment for the conversion include electronic systems, antennas and high frequency modulation receivers that will be procured through the US Foreign Military Sales route. The Government has already formally delivered a...

The Pentagon is focused on resolving complex software issues on the new Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jet, even as it struggles to drive down costs, a top Pentagon official said on Friday, noting that software failures could "bring us to our knees." Air Force Major General John Thompson, the No. 2 official in charge of the huge multi-nation warplane development program, said the latest restructuring of the program had given officials enough resources and time to address future challenges. "Both the hardware and the software issues that we're addressing are all within the realm of being resolved," Thompson told...

The Pentagon's recent decisions to dial back F-35 production over concerns about aircraft maturity added $6 billion to the program's total price, according to a new report that forecasts the cradle-to-grave cost of the Joint Strike Fighter to be $1.5 trillion -- a 15 percent increase over last year's $1.3 trillion forecast. In a statutorily required report delivered to Congress today, the Office of the Secretary of Defense provided details of the F-35 program that the Pentagon's acting acquisition executive, Frank Kendall, formally restructured yesterday by approving a new program baseline that incorporates updated cost, schedule and performance estimates for...