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US Navy hopes to increase AIM-9X range by 60% The US Navy is hoping to increase the range of the new Raytheon AIM-9X Block III by some 60% over current Sidewinder variants due to the unique needs of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) says. The new weapon is scheduled to become operational in 2022. "The Block III range requirement was in response to Joint Strike Fighter requirements in the 2020+ timeframe," NAVAIR says. "The design is anticipated to increase AIM-9X employment ranges by 60%." NAVAIR says the current Block II AIM-9X already...

‘A chance to see the future’: U.S. Navy lands fighter-jet sized drone on aircraft carrier for first timeBrock Vergakis, Associated Press | 13/07/11 4:03 PM ET The U.S. Navy successfully landed a drone the size of a fighter jet aboard an aircraft carrier for the first time Wednesday, showcasing the military’s capability to have a computer program perform one of the most difficult tasks that a pilot is asked to do. The landing of the X-47B experimental aircraft means the Navy can move forward with its plans to develop another unmanned aircraft that will join the fleet alongside traditional...

WASHINGTON The U.S. Naval Academy is investigating allegations that three members of its football team sexually assaulted a female midshipman at an off-campus house last year, a Pentagon spokesman said Friday, and a lawyer for the woman says she was "ostracized" on campus after she reported it. The names of the players were not made public and the athletic director deferred comment to a Naval Academy spokesman, who said school leadership were monitoring the investigation but declined further comment. The allegation is the latest in a string of sexual assault cases that has drawn attention in Congress and at the...

Raytheon ship-defense missile passes Navy testing The Navy has completed the first series of developmental and operational testing of a ship-defense missile system made by Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems. In at-sea testing of Raytheon’s Rolling Airframe Missile Block 2, the system's missiles engaged two targets in “tactical dual-salvo scenarios” designed to demonstrate the advanced missile's defensive capabilities. The missiles “successfully engaged high-speed, maneuvering and sub-sonic, maneuvering targets,” with all four missiles meeting test objectives, Raytheon said in a news release. Raytheon and its manufacturing partner, RAMSYS of Germany, were awarded the second U.S. Navy RAM Block 2 low-rate production contract...

Boeing aims to keep building F/A-18 jets through 2020 By Andrea Shalal-Esa Published May 10, 2013 Reuters WASHINGTON – Boeing Co could keep building its Super Hornet fighter jet and a modified electronic attack version through 2020, the company said, given prospects for over 200 foreign sales and what it sees as up to 150 more sales to the U.S. Navy. Michael Gibbons, Boeing vice president for F/A-18 and EA-18 programs, spent part of this week pitching additional sales of Boeing's last fighter jet to congressional staffers in a triple-wide trailer packed with simulators, displays and souvenirs. His mission? To...

Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri, according to the 9-11 commission report, was the mastermind of the Oct. 12, 2000, attack on the U.S.S. Cole that killed 17 U.S. sailors. Nashiri was also the target of an "unauthorized" CIA interrogation technique (that had not been legally vetted by the Justice Department) that is described in a May 7, 2004, CIA inspector general's report that was partially declassified by the Obama administration this week. CIA officers blew smoke in Nashiri's face, according to the report, and they used cigars. The IG's office described this smoke-blowing as one of several "unauthorized or undocumented techniques"...

MIAMI (Reuters) - Guantanamo war crimes prosecutions of five prisoners charged with plotting the September 11 hijacked planes attacks will be delayed by two months because of lost files caused by Pentagon computer problems, U.S. military officials said on Wednesday. A weeklong pretrial hearing had been set to begin on Monday in the death penalty case against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the attacks, and four alleged co-conspirators. The judge overseeing the case postponed the hearing until June 17 at the request of defense lawyers who said three to four weeks' worth of their confidential work files had...

Boeing unveils updated F/A-XX sixth-gen fighter concept Boeing The Boeing concept also features canards, which is somewhat of a surprise because the motion of those forward mounted control surfaces is generally assumed to compromise a stealth aircraft's frontal radar cross-section. But the lack of vertical tail surfaces suggests the aircraft would be optimized for all-aspect broadband stealth, which would be needed for operations in the most challenging anti-access/area denial environments. Also of note in the manned version of the company's F/A-XX concept is the placement of the cockpit-rearward visibility appears to be restricted without the aid of a sensor apparatus...

Hamburg First German Ship to Deploy in U.S. Carrier Strike Group By Lt. Timothy Gorman ABOARD FGS HAMBURG (F220) AT SEA (NNS) -- The German Sachsen-class frigate Hamburg (F220) is the first German ship to fully integrate and deploy with an American carrier strike group, and April 3 marks her second week of operating in the North Arabian Sea with USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) (IKE). The Hamburg will stay a part of the strike group until the group's completion of operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet Area of Responsibility. Both Rear Adm. Michael Manazir, commander CSG 8, and...

Leaked Navy memo says $440 million LCS lack firepower, need review The Littoral Combat Ship, a vessel intended to replace aging vessels in the U.S. Navy and be small and speedy for use in shallow waters, lacks the firepower it needs, a top U.S. Navy commander said in a classified memo, according to Bloomberg. Vice Admiral Tom Copeman, the commander of naval surface forces, said the Navy should consider a ship with more offensive capability after the first 24 vessels are built, according to a Navy official who asked not to be identified discussing the confidential document, Bloomberg reported. Admiral...

Ten years ago today: the U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat’s attack on Saddam’s yacht Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) was a huge success for the U.S. Navy’s F-14 squadrons: over Iraq, Tomcat pilots and radar intercept officers (RIO) flew different kinds of missions such as air defense, precision bombing, FAC (A) – forward air control airborne, strike coordination and reconnaissance (SCAR) and photo-reconnaissance. Among the squadrons that took part to OIF there was the VF-2 “Bounty Hunters” that were embarked on the USS Constellation (CV-64). Some of their Tomcats were equipped with the Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance Pod System (TARPS) for recce missions,...

US Navy may add conformal fuel tanks to F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fleet The US Navy is considering adding conformal fuel tanks (CFTs) onto its fleet of Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighters, sources say. The twin dorsally mounted tanks are expected to be tested this summer. The USN does not deny that it is interested in the conformal tanks, but says that it cannot comment on the project at this time. "As of right now this information is proprietarily owned between Boeing and Northrop [Grumman] and PMA-265 cannot talk to it," the Naval Air Systems Command says. PMA-265 is the...

US Navy Instruction Confirms Retirement of Nuclear Tomahawk Cruise Missile The U.S. Navy has quietly removed the nuclear Tomahawk cruise missile from its inventory, a new Secretary of the Navy Instruction shows. By Hans M. Kristensen Although the U.S. Navy has yet to make a formal announcement that the nuclear Tomahawk land-attack cruise missile (TLAM/N) has been retired, a new updated navy instruction shows that the weapon is gone. The evidence comes not in the form of an explicit statement, but from what has been deleted from the U.S. Navy’s instruction Department of the Navy Nuclear Weapons Responsibilities and Authorities...

Cutting whole U.S. Navy buy of F-35s would hurt: top officer (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy's top officer on Tuesday underscored his commitment to the C-model, or carrier variant, of Lockheed Martin Corp's (LMT.N) F-35 fighter jet, saying it would be "detrimental" if the Navy decided not to buy any of the new radar-evading plans. But Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert left the door open for possible adjustments in the Navy's planned purchase of 260 jets, saying that the Navy was just "getting into the discussion" about how many of the new F-35s the Navy would need, and...

On the right the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) passes the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) in the Red Sea's Strait of Bab el-Mandeb on June 21, 2011. Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20060917.htm (medium, large) The Photographer Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (MC2) Brooks B. Patton Jr., United States Navy  

Unreal… Team Obama Leaves Americans Stranded in Libya; Military STILL on Standby Posted by Jim Hoft on Thursday, February 24, 2011, 5:07 PM The Obama Administration won’t send the military to rescue US citizens in Libya. They don’t want to look like war-mongers. Stranded: An estimated 600 U.S. citizens are stuck on board the Maria Dolores (pictured) in Tripoli, and won’t leave until at least Friday (Daily Mail)The Obama Administration is STILL grappling with whether or not to send the military into Libya to rescue US citizens.CNN reported, via HotAir: The senior U.S. official also said the “prudent planning” for...

Is it actually possible that, as you read this, the United States Navy has only one supercarrier battle group at sea? Read on - and be amazed. Look no farther than these two news items, both from today's Sunday Times of London, to see the effect of two decades of shrinkage in the size of the United States Navy and the retreat of the Royal Navy from the high seas: • For the first time in two centuries, British businessmen and others have formed a private navy to protect shipping off the pirate-ridden coast of Somali on the Horn of...

CORONADO, Calif. (NNS) -- The first Special Warfare Combatant Craft (SWCC) class for the new rates of Special Warfare Boat Operator (SB) and Special Warfare Operator (SO) graduated during a commencement ceremony at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado Nov. 9 The new ratings replace previous source ratings, which had been used to distinguish SEALs (Sea, Air, Land) and SWCC by job classifications, and will allow SEALs and SWCC to take advancement exams relating to their own rating. All active-duty graduates of Basic Underwater Demolition School and Basic Crew Member School officially became SOs and SBs Oct. 1. The changes for Navy...

A Senate committee has refused to approve a promotion to admiral for a Navy officer who, as a young fighter pilot during a training mission, deliberately shot down an Air Force plane whose flier has suffered a life of pain from his forced ejection. The Senate Armed Services Committee took no confirmation vote on the nomination of Capt. Tiimothy W. Dorsey as the 112th Congress ended. Because the Senate did not act, the nomination goes back to the White House. The Navy has the option of trying to resubmit his nomination during the 113t Congress, which convened Thursday.

Why China’s Tu-22 bombers would represent a serious threat to U.S. Navy aircraft carriers As already happened in the past for other posts published on this blog, one the most interesting comment to The Aviationist’s recent article on China’s alleged purchase of the entire Tu-22 production line from Russia, has come from Aviationintel.com‘s Tyler Rogoway. Tyler has analyzed the controversial news for his excellent site and given his permission to share his perspective here for The Aviationist’s readers. Why China’s Tu-22 bombers would represent a serious threat to U.S. Navy aircraft carriers If, and I stress the if, this report...