Current Events in the Americas

From Flight Global DATE: 22/09/09 SOURCE: Flight International RAF Typhoons arrive for Falkland Islands mission By Craig Hoyle Four Eurofighter Typhoons from the UK Royal Air Force have arrived at Mount Pleasant airport in the Falkland Islands, where the type will soon replace the service's Panavia Tornado F3 to deliver air defence services. The Typhoons left RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire on 12 September accompanied by a spare aircraft, and were flown to the South Atlantic with support from in-flight refuelling aircraft. The fighters have been drawn from the RAF's 3 Sqn, but left the UK without unit markings. Pictured shortly before its departure fro…

Australian warships in NY to mark alliance at sea THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 5:54 PM EDT, July 19, 2009 Read AP Article here. NEW YORK - The United States and Australia are celebrating a friendship at sea that has lasted more than 100 years. On Sunday, two Australian warships arrived in New York to commemorate the relationship between the two nations -- naval allies in every major conflict since World War I. The HMAS Sydney and HMAS Ballarat docked at Pier 88 on Manhattan's West Side, where encounters of a very personal kind also were celebrated. "We met on a tour of Europe last month, and we hit it off big time!" said American college student Masha …

Research begins on new anti-ship missile By Philip Ewing - Staff writer Posted : Monday Jul 13, 2009 6:34:55 EDT Find NavyTimes article here. Even as some Navy commanders quietly worry about the potential threat from foreign anti-ship missiles, fewer American warships have gone to sea in the past decade with anti-ship weapons of their own. But that might change. Surface ships could get a powerful weapon to use against surface targets as part of an experimental program announced in late June — the first new U.S. anti-ship missile in a quarter-century. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Office of Naval Research issued a $10 million co…

From the July 2009 issue of Proceedings Put the Navy in the Lead! Lieutenant Commander Bart L. Denny, U.S. Navy (Retired) Ballistic-missile defense has been a hot-button issue since the first V-2s smashed into England. Today, the Navy is best positioned to provide that defense. The U.S. Navy has an emerging capability in evolved versions of the long-serving Standard Missile and Aegis weapon system to defend against short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles in the mid-course and terminal phases of flight. With further development, sea-based ballistic-missile defenses (BMD) will give the United States the ability to defeat even the largest, longest-range …

From Navy Times Next-gen carrier launch system could be shelved By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer Posted : Monday Apr 6, 2009 15:46:34 EDT A decision point is looming for the Navy’s biggest shipbuilding project: whether to launch carrier aircraft using cutting-edge — but untried, over-budget and behind-schedule — electromagnetic technology, or return to heavy, bulky, maintenance-intensive steam catapult systems that offer proven reliability. Acting Navy Secretary B.J. Penn and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead are to be briefed in mid-April by service officials on the status of the electromagnetic aircraft launch system, which is to be instal…

From Navy Times Navy: Forrestal to be scrapped or sunk By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer Posted : Friday Jun 26, 2009 12:08:05 EDT The famous aircraft carrier Forrestal will be cut up for scrap or sunk as an artificial reef, the Navy has determined. “Right now, the two disposal options being considered are partial dismantling and recycling or full dismantling and recycling,” said Katie Roberts, a spokeswoman at Naval Sea System Command. A partial dismantling would result in the hulk of the ship sunk as an artificial reef, as the carrier Oriskany was in 2006. Forrestal, named for former Navy Secretary James Forrestal, was the site of a horrific fire Jul…

From Flight Global DATE:25/06/09 SOURCE:Flight International Obama threatens vetoes on F-22, F136 decisions By Stephen Trimble The Obama administration has threatened to veto legislation that would extend production of the Lockheed Martin F-22 and continue funding the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 alternate engine at the expense of the Lockheed F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The White House threat, delivered to Congress on 24 June, strikes back at a vote last week by the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) that re-inserted funding for both programmes in the fiscal year 2010 defence authorisation bill, and draws a clear line in the sand against "earmarks" …

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…

From DefenseNews Boeing Pitches 777 Tanker; Labels New USAF Bid 7A7 By karen walker Published: 15 Jun 2009 19:05 PARIS - Boeing is preparing to offer either the 777 or the 767 airframes when it rebids the U.S. tanker contest, the company said June 15. Speaking at the Paris Air Show, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) president and CEO Jim Albaugh said he expected to see a request for proposals (RFP) this summer for the new U.S. Air Force tanker competition. "I expect it will not have nearly as many requirements as the last one," he said. Boeing lost out on the last hotly competed tanker contest to a joint bid by Northrop Grumman and EADS that wa…

From Air Force Times New gunship plan: 8 modified MC-130Ws By Sam LaGrone - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Jun 2, 2009 16:28:08 EDT Special Operations Command plans to convert eight existing C-130 variants into multi-role gunships to support the wars in Iraq in Afghanistan. As part of the fiscal 2010 budget, the Defense Department has set aside $31.6 million to begin equipping eight MC-130Ws with limited gunship capability, according to budget documents. The additional firepower will buttress the two dozen aging AC-130H/U Spectre and Spooky gunships, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and Air Force Secretary Michael Donley told members of Congress during a M…

From Defense Aerospace Op-Ed: Killing The President’s New Helicopter Wastes $8 Billion (Source: Lexington Institute; issued June 2, 2009) Four months into his first (and possibly only) term, President Barack Obama is beginning to grasp the severity of the government's fiscal crisis. Washington is spending $5 billion per day it does not have; the bond market is signaling that it will demand much higher interest rates to absorb all the debt the Treasury needs to place; the dollar is weakening; and the outlook for the administration's ambitious domestic agenda is dimming. The White House is rethinking how to reform healthcare and searching for savings in entitle…

From Flight Global DATE: 12/05/09 SOURCE: Flightglobal.com Boeing: Airborne Laser test aims to defy 'stunt' and 'one-shot wonder' labels By Stephen Trimble A Boeing official says the YAL-1 Airborne Laser (ABL) will seek to pre-empt critics of the programme's first shootdown test scheduled later this year by choosing a deliberately difficult engagement scenario. Both the first shoot-down attempt and a follow-on test will engage targets simulating the design and trajectory of short range ballistic missile (SRBM), Boeing Michael Rinn told reporters attending a week-long media tour. To engage a relatively low-altitude SRBM, the 747-400F-based ABL's megaw…

From DefenseNews Commissioning Party to be on Unfinished Carrier By christopher p. cavas Published: 18 Dec 17:33 EST (22:33 GMT) Ready or not, U.S. Presidents Bush 41 and 43 will gather in Norfolk, Va., early in the new year to commission 41's namesake aircraft carrier, even though the ship won't be quite ready for delivery. Construction delays mean the future USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77) won't be able to carry out sea trials and be accepted by the Navy before the Jan. 10 commissioning - the normal sequence of events for a new ship, the Navy and shipbuilder Northrop Grumman said Dec. 18 in separate statements. Legal custody of a new ship is transferred…

From Army Times Report: JCAs cut from Army budget By Sam LaGrone - Staff writer Posted : Wednesday Apr 29, 2009 11:51:28 EDT The Joint Cargo Aircraft is no longer joint. Army funding for the C-27 Spartan — the small tactical airlifter intended for both the Army and the Air Force — has been stripped from the budget, a defense official familiar with the decision said Monday. The Air Force will retain its 38 planes under the revised plan, but the Army, which wanted 40 C-27s to replace its aging C-23 Sherpas, will receive none. The 40 Army planes were to be assigned to the Army National Guard, many to districts at risk of losing their Guard missions due …

From Aviation Week Split-Buy USAF Tanker Concept Gaining Favor Jan 29, 2009 By Amy Butler As the Pentagon attempts to craft a way forward to replace the KC-135 aerial refueling fleet, the option of a split buy of two models is back and gaining attention on Capitol Hill, according to officials close to the tanker program. The idea is sure to be a topic of discussion as the chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa. ), travels this week to Alabama, where Northrop Grumman and EADS were proposing to assemble their tanker design. Murtha is expected to visit Boeing’s Washington state facility in the coming weeks as well. …

From Aviation Week's Ares Blog What Did The Air Force Really Want? Posted by Bill Sweetman at 4/10/2009 10:41 AM CDT Dr Rebecca Grant probably isn't going to get offered a job in the Gates team. In a strongly worded brief [CV32: Also appended below], the respected air power analyst argues that the USAF did have a cogent, established need for another 60 F-22s - but never had a chance to present it before Gates slammed a gag order on all senior officers involved in the budget process. "Gates kept Bush-Rumsfeld holdovers in crucial program analysis posts and formed a small team to cut the budget in secret, a technique he mastered as CIA director. Next, in F…

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…

Find NavyTime article here. No more enemy combatants, no more combat operations, what next...back to a kinder and gentler term forward deployed forces. It's ok though, we were in MEU's and on ARG's and were no less dangerous. Amphibs, warships split up by new plan By Philip Ewing - Staff writer Posted : Monday Apr 20, 2009 10:49:18 EDT The Navy is breaking up the deployments of amphibious ships and surface combatants formerly known as expeditionary strike groups, part of a top-down review that could have far-reaching consequences for how sailors and Marines spend time at sea. For the past six years, ESGs paired a big-deck amphib and two small-d…

From Ares Blog Out Comes The Gates Chopper Posted by Bill Sweetman at 4/6/2009 7:50 AM CDT Defense Secretary Robert Gates takes the podium at 1330 DC time today, to announce what's expected to be the most important set of defense program cuts in decades. Webcast will be here. Without trying to pretend we know who will be rejoicing and who will be crying into their martinis when Happy Hour draws a veil over the the ravaged streets of Crystal City, here are some of the key points everyone will be listening for. F-22: Gates could cut the program off; approve 20 more aircraft, but no more than that; or clear the next 20 and let the Quadrennial Defense Revie…

From Flight International DATE: 03/04/09 SOURCE: Flight International Brazilian fighter programme ready to fly By Rebecca Barrett Financial constraints and an unwillingness to commit investment impeded Brazil's first attempt at a fighter programme. But the age of its fighter fleet now threatens the nation's security to the point that the government's back is against the wall and it has been forced to respond. Fortunately for Brazil, it appears that the pieces necessary to complete the project are in place. Years of strong economic growth will be the backbone of support for Project FX-2. The programme will offer Brazil a capital return on its investment …