Current Events in the Americas

From Military.com http://www.military.com/news/article/navy-...ml?ESRC=navy.nl Buddha

Find it here. Navy Christens Littoral Combat Ship Freedom The U.S. Navy will christen Freedom, the first littoral combat ship (LCS) at 10 a.m. CDT on Saturday, Sept. 23, during a ceremony at Marinette Marine Corp. in Marinette, Wis. The future USS Freedom acknowledges the enduring foundation of our nation and honors American communities from coast to coast which bear the name Freedom. States having towns named Freedom include California, Indiana, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The 378-foot Freedom will be the first U.S. Navy ship to carry this class designation. Birgit…

Navy christens newest attack sub By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer Posted : Monday Apr 23, 2007 15:24:07 EDT The fourth Virginia-class submarine, the $2.3 billion North Carolina, was christened Saturday in Newport News, Va., in front of a crowd of thousands. Vice Adm. Jay Donnelly, commander of the submarine force, told the pre-commissioning crew, “Never fear, your turn to deploy will come soon enough,” according to a Navy announcement. The North Carolina joins the Virginia, Texas and Hawaii as the first ships of the post-Cold War submarine class. The North Carolina is scheduled to be commissioned in 2008. The Navy expects to buy 30 Virginia-class subs. …

From Defense Aerospace Another Significant Milestone For Joint Strike Fighter Program (Source: Australian Department of Defence; issued April 23, 2007) The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program has achieved another significant milestone with the approval of funding for Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP). As of 23 April 2007, the first JSF test aircraft has completed 14 test flights. Test pilots have been impressed by the aircraft’s maturity so early in the test program and its excellent handling qualities. The aircraft has already been flown to 30,000 feet, 0.8 Mach, and 16 degrees Angle of Attack with all systems working as designed, including: - the Pr…

From Aviation Week Fire Scout Test Aimed At Coast Guard Sep 25, 2008 By Graham Warwick/Aerospace Daily & Defense Report The first flight of an MQ-8B Fire Scout with multimode maritime radar has removed a major obstacle to U.S. Coast Guard interest in the shipborne vertical-takeoff-and-landing unmanned air vehicle (VUAV), manufacturer Northrop Grumman believes. The off-the-shelf Telephonics RDR-1700B imaging surveillance radar completed a functional check flight on Northrop’s company-owned Fire Scout, aircraft P6, on Sept. 19 at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona (Aerospace DAILY, Sept. 23). The radar has since been removed to allow testing of another payload…

Argentina threatens companies over Falklands oil drilling (CNN)

A Reagan Doctrine for the Twenty-First Century (Free Beacon) I miss Ronnie.

Canada considering RAAF classic Hornets? (Australian Aviation) Please, no.

APG-83 SABR AESA radar very probably for USMC F/A-18C/D: https://www.naval-technology.com/news/northrop-installs-production-apg-83-radar-usmcs-f-18c-hornet/

From Defense Aerospace Growler Zaps Through Initial Testing (Source: US Naval Air Systems Command; issued April 20, 2007) The Navy’s next-generation electronic warfare aircraft has completed the first phase of test and evaluation, and is set to receive hardware and a final build of software that will make it the world’s most capable aircraft of its kind. The EA-18G Growler has finished an ambitious regimen of flight tests since the arrival of Growler test prototype aircraft EA-2 at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. in late November. The team has implemented a new concept of Integrated Test and Evaluation, concurrently completing both system developmenta…

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…

Ouchie! From Defense Aerospace Program Official Offers Cash Rebate on JSF (Source: defense-aerospace.com; published March 24, 2009) By Giovanni de Briganti PARIS --- Pricing of the Joint Strike Fighter has always seemed to be firmly rooted in fantasy, and the outgoing head of the JSF Program Office has again demonstrated just how divorced this program is from reality. The “official” unit price quoted by Lockheed Martin for the JSF remains pegged at about $65 million, although even Lockheed recently admitted that it won’t know the exact price until 2012. JSF Program Office (JPO) director Major General Charles Davis now tells Jane’s Defence Review t…

From Defense Aerospace Army Cancels Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System (Source: US Department of Defense; issued May 13, 2010) The Department of Defense announced today that it authorized the Army to cancel the Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System and transition management responsibilities for system development and acquisition from the old Future Combat System (FCS) program - currently aligned under Program Executive Office Integration (PEO I) - to the PEOs that already manage similar systems. Both decisions are a result of the Capability Portfolio Reviews, a new process the Army implemented in February. The Army’s vision is to have an effective, affordable and mode…

Just learned the ARC is planning three additional hulls of their 80m 20 de Julio class offshore patrol vessel (OPV). The ships are based on the Fassmer 80-meter design. This will bring the class up to a total number of five when completed. FWFS, Greg Emerson, DM1(SW), USN-Retired Renton, WA, USA

U.S. Army To Lockheed: Stop Working On ACS By GOPAL RATNAM defensenews The U.S. Army asked Lockheed Martin to stop work on the $879 million Aerial Common Sensor program contract for a new spy plane after a review found that continuing the current effort would delay the program by two years and lead to additional costs. In a Sept. 14 statement, the Army’s Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM), Fort Monmouth, N.J., said Lockheed had 60 days to resolve problems that company officials found in June. “Although we're issuing a stop work order, it is important to note that we’re not terminating the contract at this time,” said Edward Bair, the Army’s progra…

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…

Aviation Week Lockheed Flies First STOVL JSF Jun 12, 2008 Graham Warwick Lockheed Martin has flown the first short-take-off-and- vertical-landing (STOVL) F-35B, in conventional-take-off (CTOL) mode, clearing the way for funding to be released for production of the first six U.S. Marine Corps aircraft. The 44-minute flight of aircraft BF-1, the first production-representive F-35, from Lockheed’s Fort Worth, Texas, plant also marked the start of a five-year, 5,000-plus test program involving three variants of the Joint Strike Fighter: the CTOL F-35A, STOVL F-35B and aircraft carrier-capable F-35C. F-35B lead test pilot Graham Tomlinson, from JSF industrial…

BBC News Story That's a Type 45, which is a lot more powerful than the T23 currently there...

From Defense Aerospace [excerpt]

Navy Ohio Replacement Sub Class to Be Named for D.C. (USNI News) The Columbia class.