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"... In service with the Navy and Marine Corps since 1983, the flexible design has gone through a Porsche 911-like evolution. Two type series of the original Hornet, the A/B and C/D preceded the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, a larger more capable version of the F/A-18 introduced in 1999. Since then the Super Hornet has been updated with “Block II” models and now there’s a “Block III” Super Hornet....

A ship, especially a warship that has a lot of problems, is often referred to as a cursed ship. The new American Ford class CVN (nuclear-powered aircraft carrier) has become a major disaster rather than a more effective new ship design. The number and severity of problems are certainly cursed at often enough by those who built or now serve on the Ford. It was not supposed to be that way. Several innovative new technologies were supposed to have made the Fords more effective and cheaper to operate than the previous, and similar appearing Nimitz class. Two of those new...

Recently leaked video sheds light on one of the F-35’s possible weapons configurations, previously dubbed as “beast mode” in a Lockheed Martin infographic. The video, dating back to November of 2018, depicts an F-35 simultaneously firing five air-to-surface missiles against five test targets. At least one of the targets-- a light vehicle-- can be seen moving. Though it is presently unconfirmed where the trial took place and what kind of guided bomb was used, defense expert Ian D’Costa offered some clarifying insight to The Aviationist: “It’s an F-35 at NTTR (Nellis Test and Training Range), I could be wrong, but...

One of the biggest questions surrounding the most recent known spate of UFO encounters with U.S. Navy pilots—those that occurred off the southeastern seaboard of the United States between 2014 and early 2015—pertains to how persistent they actually were. We know Super Hornet aircrews from Strike Fighter Squadron 11 (VFA-11), the Red Rippers, detected unknown objects multiple times on radar and one aircrew even had a close encounter visually with one of them, but what about the rest of the many Hornet squadrons based at Naval Air Station Oceana, not to mention the E-2 Hawkeye squadrons from nearby NAS Norfolk?...

Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier Crashes Outside MCAS Cherry Point; Pilot Safely Ejected By: Megan Eckstein May 20, 2019 8:49 PM A U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier conducts an aerial refuel during exercise Bayou Thunder off the coast of Louisiana, Jan. 29, 2019. The purpose of the exercise is to enhance Marine attack Squadron (VMA) 231’s air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities while also strengthening service interoperability with joint services. The aircraft is assigned to VMA-231, Marine Aircraft Group 14, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. US Marine Corps photo. A Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier crashed in North Carolina, and the pilot is being treated...

Congress has demanded that the Pentagon conduct a detailed assessment of the U.S. Marine Corps’ troubled CH-53K King Stallion program and examine potential alternatives, such as the CH-47 Chinook. Any decision to cut back CH-53K purchases, or abandon them altogether, would be a major blow to the manufacturer Sikorsky, now a part of Lockheed Martin, as well as a boon to Boeing, which makes the Chinook. Changes in the King Stallion program could also further delay Marines from getting a critically needed replacement for their aging CH-53E Super Stallions. Bloomberg was first to report the existence of the Congressionally...

<p>A charter plane carrying 143 people and traveling from Cuba to north Florida ended up in a river at the end of a runway Friday night, though no critical injuries or deaths were reported, officials said.</p> <p>A Boeing 737 arriving at Naval Air Station Jacksonville from Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with 136 passengers and seven aircrew slid off the runway into the St. Johns River, a NAS Jacksonville news release said.</p>

Get a good look at the U.S. Navy Blue Angels while you have a chance. They will be changing to a new plane in a couple of years. The Pensacola News Journal reports the team plans to switch from the F/A-18 Hornet to the F/A-18E Super Hornet in 2021 to mark the team's 75th anniversary. "The jet is more powerful, especially at lower altitudes, so we believe that our maneuvering will be more visible to the crowd and more impressive overall," Cmdr. Frank Weisser, a former Blue Angel pilot, told the Journal.

USS Gerald Ford Delivery Delayed Due to Extensive Nuclear Propulsion, Weapons Elevator Repairs; Carrier Won’t be Ready Until October CAPITOL HILL – Unforeseen problems in repairing USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) will push delivery of the carrier back to the fleet by three months, into October, Navy officials told a House Armed Services Committee panel on Tuesday. The initial 12-month post-shakedown availability (PSA) was designed to fix any problems that arose during the carrier’s first at-sea period, when the crew works the ship hard to help identify any problems in construction, as well as to tackle any work that the...

Irritated with the criticism and fallout from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' resignation, President Donald Trump on Sunday pushed the Pentagon chief out the door two months earlier than planned, an acrimonious end to a tense relationship that had been eroding in recent months. In a series of tweets, Trump appeared to questions why he had put Mattis in his Cabinet in the first place, and said deputy defense secretary Patrick Shanahan will take over as acting secretary on Jan. 1 to cover the accelerated departure. The sudden change strips Mattis of any chance to further frame national security policy or...

Jets fly over for the George Bush funeral

The final operational chapter of the Prowler career has just been written by the U.S. Marine Corps “Death Jesters” and their six EA-6Bs jets. Marine Corps Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron-2 (VMAQ-2) “Death Jesters”, the last of four Marine Prowler squadrons, has just completed its final deployment in Qatar, with the last six EA-6B in the U.S. military inventory. Four aircraft, using radio callsign “Trend 01-04” landed at Lajes, Azores, on their way back to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, from Al Udeid, Qatar, on Nov. 12, 2018. The remaining two aircraft would follow in a couple of...

Following the sinking of one of the world’s largest dry docks on October 29 in a shipyard in the far northwest part of Russia, officials have finally admitted that they are unable to continue work on Russia’s sole aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, for the time being. While Russia’s shipbuilding industry is reportedly looking into alternatives, no timely and viable solution to continue retrofitting work on the Russian Navy’s flagship has emerged to date. “We have alternatives actually for all the ships except for [the aircraft carrier] Admiral Kuznetsov. Our enterprises are in operation, [including] the Nerpa [Ship Repair Factory],”...

A British test pilot has made history by performing a ‘rolling landing’ with an F-35 stealth fighter onto the deck of an aircraft carrier Peter 'Wizzer Wilson', a BAE Systems test pilot, put the £120m aircraft down on HMS Queen Elizabeth without using its vertical landing system or a ‘tailhook’. Despite blustery conditions, he performed a more conventional short landing in a world first. The new landing technique means that the cutting-edge jet will now not have to jettison fuel or expensive weapons into the sea before it touches down on the aircraft carrier after a mission. The Royal Navy...

A US F-35 pilot was forced to eject midair after the $100million fighter jet crashed in South Carolina. The aircraft was completely destroyed in the crash during a training exercise Friday, officials said. The crash appears to be the first of its kind for the troubled F-35 program, marking an unfortunate moment for the most expensive plane in history. Speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of an official announcement, a defense official told AFP that the Marine Corps F-35 had crashed outside Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina.

The Chinese are rapidly building a world-class navy that, by 2022, could include as many as four aircraft carriers, according to current estimates. Already, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has fielded a pair of carriers: The Liaoning, a Soviet-era vessel that the Chinese spent many years refurbishing and which now serves primarily as a training ship; and the Type 002, which is currently undergoing sea trials and has yet to be named. There is a third carrier, the Type 003, under construction at the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, and there are “credible reports of a fourth ship of the...

“The US Navy awarded Boeing on Thursday an $850 million contract to design and build the MQ-25A Stingray, the Navy's first carrier-based unmanned refueling aircraft.”

Photos by Petty Officer 2nd Class Timothy SchumakerBoeing has received a $17 million contract for convert nine F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft for Blue Angels flight demonstration team, said in the statement of the U.S. Department of Defense on 13 August. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has contracted Boeing for the retrofit documentation and kits to convert nine F/A-18E (single-seat) and two F/A-18F (tandem-seat) aircraft into a Blue Angel configuration in accordance with engineering change proposal 6480. According to the DoD, work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be completed in December 2021. The Blue...

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea’s military has picked Boeing Co (BA.N) to supply the country’s maritime patrol aircraft in a contract worth around 1.9 trillion won ($1.71 billion), a senior company executive said on Monday. The South Korean procurement agency Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said separately that it had decided to buy the P-8 Poseidon aircraft through the U.S. government foreign military sales program. Kang Hwan-seok, a DAPA spokesman, told a media briefing the decision was made after a comprehensive review of legal aspects, cost, schedule and performance. Saab (SAABb.ST) and Airbus (AIR.PA) had also shown interest in meeting...

U.S. and French fighter pilots have spent nearly two months training alongside each other, exchanging tactics and comparing notes on what their Dassault Rafale and Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet jets can accomplish. During training at Naval Air Station Oceana and aboard USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77), the most note-worthing finding is how similar the two navies’ flight operations procedures aboard the carrier are, said both French and U.S. pilots. Still, each airframe comes with unique attributes, which made for some interesting mission training exercises. USNI News Graphic “The Rafale is a rocket,” Lt. Brandon Rodgers from the Golden Warriors of...