Current Events in the Americas

From Aviation Week GPS Issue Latest In History Of JASSM Problems Jul 31, 2007 Amy Butler/Aerospace Daily & Defense Report At least eight components of the Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) have caused problems during the stealthy cruise missile's troubled past, contributing to the missile's 42 percent failure rate in recent months. All of the issues are being addressed and some of the involved systems are being fixed or replaced (see chart p. 2). The steady stream of issues, though, demonstrates a pattern of failures that traces back to the first lot of deliveries. As part of a get-well plan for the $5.8 billion prog…

Source: Defense Budget - Priorities & Choices January 2012 (PDF is attached) Okay boys and girls, it looks like the final cuts to the US Defense budget have been made and it ain't pretty. Here's the mountain tops above 10,000ft version ... No Ford class CVN slip ... but the sub force won't get two VA class for a year. Marines won’t be happy with L class cuts/slips LCS and JHSV both got slammed pretty hard on the budget mat, with major program cuts. "To ensure sufficient resources to protect these strategic priorities, we will reduce the number of ships by slowing the pace of building new ships and by accelerating the retirement of some existing sh…

Ship named in honor of 9/11 to be christened By Alan Sayre - The Associated Press Posted : Friday Feb 29, 2008 16:21:38 EST AVONDALE, La. — Standing before the massive New York, Jennifer Adams seemed moved by the spirits of the 2,750 people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks at the World Trade Center. “Our angels will watch over the men and women serving on this ship so the events of Sept. 11 will never happen again,” said Adams, who co-founded an association of family members and friends of 2,974 people who died when terrorist-hijacked airliners crashed into the twin towers in Lower Manhattan, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, and of survivors, recov…

From Marine Corps Times Navy: Super Hornet rep for problems untrue Corps may be responsible for bad rap By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer Posted : Sunday Jun 17, 2007 9:09:10 EDT NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — Inside Naval Air Systems Command headquarters at this southern Maryland base, Navy program officials for the F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter program have heard the stories circulating in the Pentagon. Their aircraft, the stories go, can’t carry certain weapons, can’t fly high enough, can’t go fast enough. Design problems such as wing flutter plague the plane and — perhaps worst of all — parts that will wear out fast enough to severely…

From DefenseNews Venezuela's Chavez Offers Russia Use of Airbase By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Published: 15 Mar 16:25 EDT (20:25 GMT) CARACAS - Venezuela has offered Russia unlimited use of an air base off its Caribbean coast for Moscow's strategic bombers, President Hugo Chavez said in a television address March 15. "I told [Russian] President [Dmitry] Medvedev that any time Russia's strategic aircraft need to land in Venezuela to meet their strategic aims, Venezuela will be at their service," Chavez said. Chavez's comments - made during his weekly television program "Hello Mr. President" - follow Russian media reports one day prior that Moscow had been offe…

Hypersonic threat simulation test UAV to be employed next year from Stratolaunch: https://www.stratolaunch.com/vehicles/talon-a

From Jane's USN announces SIGINT aircraft replacement programme By Martin Streetly 11 December 2007 As part of its post-Aerial Common Sensor intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting (ISRT) recapitalisation effort, the US Navy (USN) published a broad agency announcement (BAA) in November 2007, regarding an Electronics Patrol Experiment (EPX) programme intended to find a replacement for the service's existing EP-3E signals intelligence (SIGINT) aircraft after Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17). The BAA document states that the programme is intended to "recapitalise the EP-3 aircraft to provide tactical, theatre and national level ISRT support to carrier s…

From Air Force Times Tanker contract award delayed to Feb. 29 By Gayle S. Putrich - Staff writer Posted : Wednesday Oct 24, 2007 7:20:58 EDT The Air Force is pushing back the award date of the $30 billion, 179-plane tanker contract until Feb. 29, according to industry and congressional sources. The service originally expected to award the contract for its top procurement priority before the end of this calendar year. Air Force officials did not provide comment by Oct. 23. Two competitors are vying for the contract: EADS and Northrop Grumman, offering an A330 variant called the KC-30, and Boeing with its modified 767 tanker. The Air Force has said it plan…

From Defence Aerospace South American Submarines Enhance U.S. Navy’s Fleet Readiness (Source: US Navy; issued April 14, 2005) NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- In a joint agreement with Colombia and Peru, one diesel-electric submarine from each of these two countries is deploying to the United States in April to enhance fleet readiness by participating in a number of naval exercises. BAP Antofagasta (SS 32) from Peru and ARC Pijao (SO 28) from Colombia have begun a deployment to participate in major Atlantic Fleet exercises, including Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) and Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFEX) for the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) Carrier Strike…

Man, what is the Navy coming to? From Military.com today:http://www.military.com/news/article/navy-tops-2010-with-18th-co-firing.html?ESRC=navy.nl Buddha

From Aviation Week Tanker Teams Start Posturing for USAF Competition Jun 19, 2009 Amy Butler/Paris Both teams vying for a massive U.S. Air Force contract to build refueling tankers appear to be taking on a more collegial tenor as they await release of the Pentagon's requirements next month, but this newfound spirit could be the calm before the storm in a third attempt for the service to select a new design. Boeing and Northrop Grumman/EADS North America engaged in a volley of assaults about their designs during the past two years, and last year Boeing was on the offensive against the U.S. Air Force customer after it selected the Airbus A330-tanker based desi…

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 Aviation Week [excerpt]

From Defense Aerospace Air Force Selects Developer for Combat Search And Rescue Replacement Vehicle (Source: US Air Force; issued Nov. 9, 2006) WASHINGTON, D.C. --- The Honorable Michael W. Wynne, Secretary of the Air Force, announced today the selection of Boeing Co., Boeing Helicopter, Ridley Park, Pa. to provide the new Combat Search and Rescue Replacement Vehicle, also known as CSAR-X. The announcement comes at the end of a fair and open competition, and thorough evaluation of multiple proposals allowing the Air Force to fulfill its number two acquisition priority. "The Air Force is the only service with forces dedicated to the critical mission of…

Carl Vinson strike group using first deployment with F-35C, beefed-up air wing to hone advanced operations (DefenseNews, 10 August 2021) Note the expanded contingent of EA-18G and E-2D.

From Defense Aerospace Iranian Influence, Terrorist Links, Threaten Latin American Security (Source: US Department of Defense; issued March 17, 2009) WASHINGTON --- Iran is increasing its presence in Latin America, and Hezbollah, a terrorist organization it sponsors, is making inroads in drug trafficking in Colombia, the commander of U.S. Southern Command told Congress today. Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis told the House Armed Services Committee he shares concerns expressed by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates about Iranian activity in Central and South America. Iran has opened six embassies in the region during the past five years and is promoting Islamic acti…

Seagoing Radar Rig Placed atop XBR Platform By GLENN W. GOODMAN Jr. April 14, 2005 From DefenceNews. A 2,000-ton phased-array X-Band Radar (XBR) designed for ballistic missile defense was placed atop the Sea-Based XBR platform, a nine-story converted oil-drilling rig, at a shipyard in Corpus Christi, Texas, on April 3. The oceangoing, football-field-sized platform was set to relocate to the Gulf of Mexico for verification testing. This summer, it begins a five-to-seven-month voyage around Cape Horn to its primary base at Adak in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. The Sea-Based XBR will gather data in Missile Defense Agency Ballistic Missile Defense System tests across …

CV32: Read this article and tell me what program comes to mind. From Aviation Week [excerpt]

Defendant testifies in Aegis secrets trial By Gillian Flaccus - The Associated Press Posted : Wednesday May 2, 2007 7:26:11 EDT SANTA ANA, Calif. — A Chinese-American engineer accused of conspiring to export defense technology materials to China took the witness stand in his federal trial Tuesday and denied he was trying to give information to the Chinese government. Defense attorney Ronald Kaye immediately asked defendant Chi Mak about three computer disks containing material presented at technical conferences, including a paper on a propulsion system called quiet electric drive that is intended to reduce the ability to detect submarines. “Did you give t…

Navy can use sonar despite environmental fight By Paul Elias - The Associated Press Posted : Friday Aug 31, 2007 18:04:17 EDT SAN FRANCISCO — The Navy can use high-power sonar during exercises off the Southern California coast, despite the technology’s threat to whales and other marine mammals, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. National security interests outweigh the possible harm to marine life, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined in overturning a judge’s order banning the practice. “The public does indeed have a very considerable interest in preserving our natural environment and especially relatively scarce whal…