Current Events in the Americas

From Air Force Times F-22 near perfect in combat exercises By Seamus O’Connor - Staff writer Posted : Monday Jul 30, 2007 11:47:18 EDT The F-22 Raptor is the world’s most advanced fighter, but is it invincible? Internet rumors have swirled for months over whether any F-22s had been taken down in simulated combat exercises. Discussion forums are rife with Navy pilots touting a controversial photo appearing to show an F/A-18F Super Hornet gunning down a Raptor. The F-22’s debut combat exercise was at Northern Edge in June 2006. According to Air Force data, the dozen F-22s in attendance racked up an unprecedented kill record of 144-0 the first week alone an…

From Defense Aerospace F-22A Crash Claims Life of Edwards Pilot (Source: US Air Force; issued March 25, 2009) EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --- An Air Force F-22A crash March 25 near here claimed the life of an Air Force veteran and Lockheed Martin test pilot. David Cooley, 49, of Palmdale, Calif., died when the F-22A he was piloting crashed northeast of the base here. Mr. Cooley worked as a test pilot with Lockheed Martin, and was employed at the 411th Flight Test Squadron, 412th Test Wing, on Edwards. Mr. Cooley joined Lockheed Martin in 2003 and was a 21-year veteran of the Air Force. He worked at the F-22 Combined Test Force, where a team of Lockheed…

In the news, but they're not novelty news: http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/NGC-In...5468/#more-5468 But in retrospective, the case is worst. I remember to read some time ago the same thing in Norman Polmar & K.J. Moore "Cold War Submarines" about the very bad welding in Los Angeles and Ohio classes, giving for the Ohio class SSBN a test depth of 300 meters and for Los Angeles/Providence/San Juan SSN a test depth of only 290 meters (in consecuence, both classes only capable of intermediate depth in the PC game scale), compared with the gived test depth in the same book for the previous Thresher/Permit and Sturgeon classes of 400 meters (both classes capable …

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

Navy DDG-51 and DDG-1000 Destroyer Programs: Background and Issues for Congress (pdf, Congressional Research Service)

The Air Force Can Never Deliver Enough Close Air Support for the Army (War on the Rocks)

Boeing Tests Redesigned Harpoon Anti-Ship Missile (Naval News) Like the sim, the missile just won't go away. ☺️

Revolutionizing Electronic Warfare JSF Will Combine Strike, Jamming, Intelligence ISRJournal By MICHAEL FABEY August 23, 2005 The U.S. Marine Corps wants its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) to be more than an affordable replacement for the Harrier close-air-support plane; it wants the next-generation aircraft to jam the cell phones that trigger roadside bombs. “For about the past six months, the Marines have been coming to us and asking if there was anything the JSF could do to support the guys on the ground, to shut down a communications system,” said David Jeffreys, a program manager with F-35 maker Lockheed Martin. And in February, the Marines…

From AOL Defense [excerpt]

An alternative for Canada ... from CASR [excerpt]

The Case for Strategic Discipline During the Next Presidency (War on the Rocks) The lack of banter here - let alone debate - following the US election has been somewhat surprising to me. How about it? In the context of Harpoon relevant scenarios, do you think the world is a scarier place? Less scary?

From Defense Aerospace Want Real Missile Defense Soon? Put KEI to Sea (Source: The Lexington Institute; issued April 23, 2007) By Daniel Goure, Ph.D. More than six years into the Bush Administration and what do we have to show for its investment of billions of dollars in missile defense? Precious little is the answer. To defend the nation we are relying on a waterlogged Ground-Based Missile Defense (GMD) site at Fort Greeley, Alaska with about a dozen interceptors. A few more missiles have been deployed at Vandenburg AFB in California. There are a small number of Navy cruisers equipped with the Aegis ballistic missile defense system and a number of Army PAC-3 …

From Air Force Times Raptor funding switch raises concern By Erik Holmes - Staff writer Posted : Monday Jul 30, 2007 19:06:20 EDT The Air Force is worried that the House Appropriations Committee’s decision last week to strip $364 million from the service’s F-22 modernization program and redirect it to the permanent change of station account will cause delays and cost overruns to the F-22 program. An Air Force official said Monday that the service will appeal Congress’ decision. “The F-22A program is currently assessing the impacts,” the official said, “and anticipates the proposed cut would drive significant program restructure, cost increases and schedu…

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

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…

From Defense Aerospace Boeing Delivers First Production EA-18G Growler to U.S. Navy (Source: Boeing Co.; issued Sept. 25, 2007) ST. LOUIS --- The Boeing Company yesterday delivered the first production EA-18G Growler to the U.S. Navy ahead of schedule and within budget. "The Growler team put together a program plan that...has remained on cost and schedule, while meeting or exceeding all performance parameters. I don't get to say that very often about our programs," said The Hon. Delores Etter, assistant secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition, during the delivery ceremony at Boeing Integrated Defense Systems facilities in St. Louis. …

From Defense Aerospace

From USNI Proceedings, Oct 2011 [excerpt]

From Navy Times Fleet scrambles to meet BMD ship demand By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer Posted : Monday Jan 4, 2010 8:17:17 EST No sooner did the Aegis ballistic missile defense system become operational in 2008 than combatant commanders started asking for BMD-equipped ships to begin patrolling their areas. U.S. Central Command needed a “shooter” in the northern Persian Gulf. European Command wanted one in the eastern Mediterranean. Pacific Command already had Aegis ships with limited BMD capabilities on guard around Japan for a potential launch from North Korea. The demand for BMD ships is expected to increase, driven in part by rising concerns a…

F-35's French rival pitches 'Canadianized' fighter jet (CBC News)