Current Events in the Americas

Frigate pretends to be the enemy Fredericton tries to sneak up on other navy ships in exercise By Rachel Boomer The Daily News ABOARD HMCS FREDERICTON - Her motto is "Stalker of the Seas" - and this week, that's exactly what HMCS Fredericton is doing. Sometime between midnight and 7 a.m. today, the Fredericton will sneak up on comrades from the Canadian task group, including HMCS Halifax, HMCS Athabaskan and HMCS Preserver. By disguising her lights and speed to make her look like a container ship or a fishing vessel, Fredericton may just get close enough to - theoretically - do some damage. This, of course, is exactly what an enemy might do, given th…

From Enterprise to Enterprise (USNI Proceedings, February 2013)

CV32: For anyone not already aware, this was the tragic crash that claimed the life of mil blogger Carroll LeFon (aka Neptunus Lex): From Flight Global [excerpt]

From Aviation Week CV32: Unfortunate, because it indirectly puts greater pressure on the already strained F-22 and F-35 [excerpt]

Developed because the fighter-bomber shortage, and implementing the pending introduction of F-35C: http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a26833/us-navy-approves-boeings-f-1-8/

Future US Air Force Missile: Speeds Up To Mach 6.5 The X-51A program could mean that long-range strikes take a fraction of the time needed now. By Gordon Lubold, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor In the hunt for Osama bin Laden and other individuals the military considers high-value targets, the US Air Force is pursuing a new program that could put a missile on a target in minutes instead of hours. The Air Force is developing a "hypersonic" engine designed to fly bombs at Mach 6.5 speed, or more than 4,000 miles per hour, allowing commanders a chance to conduct long-range strikes on targets in a fraction of the time it takes now. The program, k…

From Defense Aerospace Bush Signs Fiscal 2009 Defense Budget Into Law (Source: U.S Department of Defense; issued October 14, 2008) WASHINGTON --- President Bush signed the fiscal 2009 defense budget into law today, authorizing a $512 billion base to support military readiness, as well as $66 billion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The law also authorizes a 3.9 percent pay raise for service-members, to take effect Jan. 1. This represents a one-half-percent increase over Bush’s initial request. Bush signed the bill into law this morning without issuing a public statement, before leaving the White House to meet with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates …

FY 2013 Program Acquisition Costs by Weapon System (PDF)

From Aviation Week GAO Sustains Boeing Tanker Protest Jun 18, 2008 By Michael Bruno Congressional auditors today handed Boeing some salvation and sided with the U.S. behemoth's protest against a U.S. Air Force award over an aerial refueling tanker to an international team led by Northrop Grumman and EADS. The Government Accountability Office, in citing several problems with the USAF's decision-making process, called for the embattled armed service to re-open talks with the competing industry teams and then make a new source selection. "Our review of the record led us to conclude that the Air Force had made a number of significant errors that could have a…

GAO: Air Force Needs More Information Before Divesting A-10 (DefenseNews) Link to GAO report (pdf)

More bad news on JSF, as far as the GAO is concerned ... JSF: Additional Costs and Delays Risk Not Meeting Warfighter Requirements on Time

From Defense Aerospace Op-Ed: Gates Goals Undercut Air Force Capabilities and Leaders (Source: Lexington Institute; issued April 21, 2009) Air Force chief of staff Norton Schwartz faced biting criticism from his service's senior leaders in a video teleconference last week. They accused him of betraying the service's requirements process by siding with defense secretary Robert Gates in terminating key air power programs without rigorous analysis, and signaled that Schwartz's credibility is at risk among his Air Force peers. Doubts about Schwartz have been rife since Gates selected him to replace the less pliable T. Michael Moseley last summer, after Moseley cl…

Will succeed ADM Mullen on 30 September

General Dynamics' Work On Marine Corps Vehicle Under Fire In Congress General Dynamics Corp. demonstrated poor performance the last 12 years in developing a new U.S. Marine Corps amphibious warfare vehicle that's now almost five years behind schedule, a top lawmaker said Tuesday. The transport has repeatedly failed tests designed to show it can perform without breakdowns. The cost per vehicle has risen to $13.3 million from $5.31 million, calculated in mid-1990s dollars. In 2007 dollars, the cost is estimated at $21 million apiece. Still, the Marine Corps has paid Falls Church, Virginia-based General Dynamics its fixed fee of $43 million, almost 80 percent…

USA Today May 8, 2007 Pg. 1 General: Air Fleet Wearing Down Warplanes Have Cracked Wings By Tom Vanden Brook, USA Today LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. — The Air Force's fleet of warplanes is older than ever and wearing out faster because of heavy use in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the service's top combat commander. Gen. Ronald Keys, who leads the Air Combat Command, points to cracked wings on A-10 attack planes and frayed electrical cables on U-2 spy planes. Compared to 1996, the Air Force now spends 87% more on maintenance for a warplane fleet that is less ready to fly, Air Force records show. They also show that as the wars in Iraq an…

Topping Off a Carrier: GERALD R FORD (CVN 78) Island Landing (DefenseNews' Intercepts blog) Lots of pics.

From Defense Aerospace [excerpt] CV32: Rumors and reports that Global Hawk, well, sucked, have been floating for around some time now. Unfortunate, really.

From Navy Times September 22, 2006 Goodbye to the F-14 By Tom Vanden Brook USA Today VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The Navy today is holstering the F-14 Tomcat, the top gun in its Cold War arsenal and one of the most recognizable warplanes in history. Maintenance costs for the F-14 have soared, and a more versatile, cheaper-to-keep replacement, the F/A-18 Super Hornet, has taken its place. Yet the Super Hornet is unlikely to surpass the F-14’s following. Furiously fast, deafeningly loud and lethal to enemy aircraft, the Tomcat had already attained legendary status by the 1980s. The 1986 film “Top Gun,” in which Tom Cruise portrayed an F-14 pilot in training, ce…

From Aviation Week's ARES Blog Good Night Nighthawk Posted by Bill Sweetman at 3/11/2008 8:29 AM Today, March 11, the USAF is holding an official retirement ceremony at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, for the Lockheed Martin F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter. By the end of next month, all the remaining F-117s will have been retired into secure storage at the Tonopah Test Range base in Nevada, which was the type's first operational base. The F-117 has been on its way to retirement since the early 1990s, when plans for a modernized version were passed over in favor of the Joint Strike Fighter. A Serbian missile battery shot down a Nighthawk in March 1999, raising que…

From Navy Times Swedish sub heads to sea, readies for mock battle against 3rd Fleet By Gidget Fuentes Times staff writer POINT LOMA, Calif. — With their fill of margaritas, burritos and some American-style barbecue hamburgers, a Swedish navy crew took their attack submarine Gotland into the Pacific Ocean and prepared to wage mock battle and combat operations with U.S. 3rd Fleet. On July 11, Gotland slipped from the submarine piers at the Point Loma Naval Base and glided from San Diego Bay into the Pacific’s tepid, deep waters for a three-week training cycle at sea. For a crew more accustomed to the frigid waters of the Baltic and sub-Arctic region, this …