Free Republic

A Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II carrier variant successfully completed testing in which it was dropped from heights of more than 11 feet during a series of simulated aircraft-carrier landings. The tests validated predictions and will help confirm the F-35C's structural integrity for carrier operations. The jet, a ground-test article known as CG-1, underwent drop testing at Vought Aircraft Industries in Grand Prairie, Texas. No load exceedances or structural issues were found at any of the drop conditions, and all drops were conducted at the maximum carrier landing weight. The drop conditions included sink rates, or rates of descent, up...

Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group (CSG) entered the 5th Fleet area of responsibility (AOR) June 18 after completing a successful transit through the Suez Canal. Truman CSG is relieving Dwight D. Eisenhower CSG as part of a routine rotation of forces during a scheduled deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Maritime Security Operations (MSO) and theater security cooperation (TSC) efforts in the region. "I am very proud of the men and women of the Truman Carrier Strike Group as we join the 5th Fleet," said Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, commander, Carrier Strike Group 10. "We have trained hard...

The Boeing Company today announced the start of flight tests for a B-1 Lancer bomber upgraded with new digital avionics for the aft cockpit, including a line-of-sight Link 16 data link. The B-1 Fully Integrated Data Link (FIDL) made its first flight test on June 4 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The four-hour flight was conducted by the U.S. Air Force around the local Edwards test ranges. The crew successfully tested the Link 16 data link by sending and receiving text messages and receiving virtual mission assignment data such as target coordinates for a weapon. Link 16 adds line-of-sight...

This is driven by Norway and Australia's involvement in the F-35 fighter program and the need for a new ammunition round capable of meeting all requirements and ensuring lethality against both soft and hard targets. This will include cooperation on the Norwegian ammunition concept, APEX, and a special training round as well as Thales' frangible ammunition round called APFI. The APEX development and qualification effort is now fully funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Defense and Nammo. "This cooperation will create a new platform for ammunition business between two industry leaders. Nammo's APEX concept is based on more than 20...

The Pentagon’s Airborne Laser (ABL) is being prepared for a late July test in which it will attempt to shoot down an ascending target missile from twice the distance of the aircraft’s previous intercept tests, the program’s top official said. Originally conceived as an operational military system that would use a high-power chemical laser to destroy ballistic missiles in the early stages of flight, the ABL platform — only one has been built — has been relegated to the role of technology test-bed. The program is funded by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) through September, but its future is...

For nearly 50 years, Strategic Air Command maintained an unsparing, no-nonsense operational culture. After the Air Force disestablished the legendary SAC at the end of the Cold War, however, USAF’s nuclear element slowly drifted away from that exacting standard. It was a mistake, as everyone now will readily, almost compulsively, concede. That certainly goes for Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz, the officer chosen to head USAF’s new Global Strike Command. “If there is one unchanging, immutable truth” about the nuclear arsenal, said Klotz, “it is that it demands constant and undivided attention.” That didn’t carry on in the post-SAC years,...

F-35 Joint Strike Fighter short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) variant flew faster than the speed of sound for the first time June 10, achieving a significant milestone. The aircraft accelerated to Mach 1.07 (727 miles per hour) on the first in a long series of planned supersonic flights. "For the first time in military aviation history, supersonic, radar-evading stealth comes with short takeoff/vertical landing capability," said Bob Price, Lockheed Martin's F-35 U.S. Marine Corps program manager. "The supersonic F-35B can deploy from small ships and austere bases near front-line combat zones, greatly enhancing combat air support with higher sortie-generation rates." The...

Defense analyst and consultant Loren Thompson is hearing some of the same things we are about the budget pressure induced friction growing between the Navy and the Marine Corps: “Among other things, the Corps wants about 38 amphibious warships, more robust surface fire support, greatly enhanced vertical agility in its air wings, and a more versatile landing vehicle. The Navy doesn’t want to buy hardly any of this. Its future force posture supplies about 20 percent fewer amphibious warships than Marine planners say they need. The DDG-1000 destroyer, which was designed around long-range guns that could deliver sustained rates of...

US forces will regain control over a major annual military exercise with South Korea amid rising tensions with the North following the sinking of one of Seoul's warships, officials said on Thursday. Seoul's defence ministry said the Combined Forces Command led by US General Walter Sharp will retake control of the computerised war game called Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) from this year. In 2008 and last year the South's military took control of the exercise, to prepare for a scheduled transfer of wartime command in the military alliance. UFG, which is due to start in mid-August, is the world's largest...

Is this the end of the line for Velcro? According to USA Today, the US army has decided to ditch that once most fashionable and space-age of fasteners from the pockets of trousers issued to soldiers in Afghanistan, and replace it with the humble button. The Velcro fasteners have, apparently, been failing to cope with bulging pockets – as well as collecting dirt and sand and even, with that unmistakable, fingers-on-blackboard ripping sound, betraying soldiers' positions to the enemy. US sergeant Kenny Hatten wrote on an army website, "Buttons are silent, work just fine in the mud, do not clog...

East-Asia-Intel.com, June 9, 2010 The Obama administration is debating whether to dispatch the aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS George Washington to waters near Korea as a show of force. The strike group would ratchet up pressure on North Korea over its provocative sinking of the South Korean ship Cheonan in March that killed 46 sailors. The carrier strike group would be sent for a joint U.S.-South Korean anti-submarine drill. The drill was put on hold June 4. Officials in the Obama administration are opposing the exercises and the carrier strike group deployment over concerns that the show...

Amid restructuring and soaring cost projections, the Joint Strike Fighter is ticking off milestones that were expected months ago, but the gathering test pace must be maintained if the program is to stay on its new track and avoid further delays and cost growth. In two key milestones, the first Lockheed Martin F-35 mission-system test aircraft, BF-4, has returned to flight after modification, and the 737-based Cooperative Avionics Test Bed (CATBird) has begun flying with the latest Block 1 software for the mission system. Development of all software (on and off board) is more than 80% complete, but the mission-system...

In a high-threat environment, the Navy’s AEGIS vessels have a problem. They cannot be re-armed. AEGIS cruisers have 122 vertical launch system (VLS) cells, while the destroyers have 96. Each magazine is “multi-use,” composed of specialized land attack and self-defense weapons, so a desired missile may not be available in sufficient numbers. Complicating matters, AEGIS vessels sometimes sail with a partially-filled magazines, and missile reliability rates aren’t often anywhere near 100%. CSBA expert Jan Van Tol, in his recent AirSea Battle monograph ,is the latest to highlight this vulnerability, and pointedly suggests that, given the way high-end warfare is likely...

Delays and cost overruns for the Lockheed Martin F-35 have not changed the US Air Force's plans to deactivate about 250 fighters later this year, says Chief of Staff Gen Norton Schwartz. The USAF, however, has begun destructive tests on Boeing F-15s and Lockheed F-16s to prove the viability for a potential service life extension programme, says Schwartz, who spoke to reporters on 30 March after a breakfast speaking event hosted by the Air Force Association. "At 10-15% of the cost [of a new fighter] you could perform a SLEP," Schwartz says, "which would get us close to where we...

The U.S. Air Force said on Tuesday that it hopes to extend the life of its existing fighter planes as needed rather than to buy new older-model fighters that would siphon funding away from Lockheed Martin Corp's next-generation F-35 fighter.Air Force Chief of Staff Norton Schwartz told reporters that any move to buy new F-15 fighters built by Boeing Co or F-16s built by Lockheed would take money away from the F-35 fighter program. Instead, the service would prefer to do service life extensions for the older fighters, at about 10 to 15 percent of the cost of buying new...