Current Events in the Americas

CV32: Dark days ahead for the USAF? From Aviation Week's ARES Blog Decapitation Strike Posted by Bill Sweetman at 6/9/2008 7:03 AM CDT The firing of Air Force secretary Michael Wynne and service chief of staff Gen Mike Moseley will have repercussions that last years, possibly decades, and far outweigh the legitimate question as to whether USAF leaders have played their hand well. First of all, for almost a year from now, the USAF secretary's office will be filled by a caretaker. The chances that anyone with serious qualifications or goals would go through confirmation hearings in order to sit out the last few months of a lame-duck administration are zero.…

From Aviation Week Boeing Reveals Sub-Tracking ScanEagle Study Jun 9, 2008 Guy Norris/Aerospace Daily & Defense Report SEATTLE – Boeing, Insitu and the U.S. Navy are studying a variant of the ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that could be air-dropped from a P-8A or other aircraft to detect and stealthily track submarines over many hours. The magnetometer-equipped UAV, dubbed “MagEagle Compressed,” would “go out and find a submarine and follow it for 24 hours,” says John Hearing, senior manager for Boeing Tactical Unmanned Systems. The initiative is a direct outgrowth of ScanEagle Compressed Carriage (SECC), a project aimed at developing a version …

From Reuters, printed in today's San Diego Union Tribune: LA ORCHILA, Venezuela - Venezuela test-fired missiles in the Caribbean Sea yesterday in a display of military strength at a time of tense realations between Washington and leftist President Hugo Chavez. Five Russian Sukhoi fighter jets swooped over the military base on the island of La Orchila, dropping a half-ton bomb and firing a KH-59 missile at a seaborne target. A patrol boat fired an Otomat surface-to-surface missile at the same target. Buddha

Cruiser, amphib test Aegis today in shootdown By Audrey McAvoy - The Associated Press Posted : Thursday Jun 5, 2008 8:01:30 EDT HONOLULU — The U.S. military plans to intercept a ballistic missile in its first sea-based missile defense test since the cruiser Lake Erie shot down an errant satellite in a real-world mission earlier this year. The test, off Kauai, is the latest test of the Aegis ballistic missile defense program. The military will fire a Scud-like missile, which has a range of a few hundred miles, from the decommissioned amphibious assault ship Tripoli. The Lake Erie will fire two interceptor missiles at the target with the intention of shooti…

Analysis: How plans that don’t add up hurt fleet By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday May 27, 2008 11:18:34 EDT When Navy officials tell Congress they have confidence in their shipbuilding cost projections, lawmakers don’t believe them. When flag officers say they’ve got enough money for maintenance, fleet sailors wonder why high-tech warships aren’t combat-ready. When top admirals say they have a new maritime strategy, analysts struggle to match it with the shipbuilding plan. When business strategies override operational needs, officers wonder whether they are war fighters or executives. Navy leaders are suffering from a credib…

From Defense Aerospace The Pentagon, JSF and the Sacrificial Goat (Source: defense-aerospace.com; published June 5, 2008) By Giovanni de Briganti PARIS –-- The Senate Armed Services Committee’s June 3 hearing on the cost of Pentagon weapon programs has thrown up a couple of nuggets that demonstrate just how politically vulnerable the Joint Strike Fighter program has become. In his opening statement , SASC Chairman Carl Levin quoted a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report which estimated that recent cost overruns on the Pentagon’s 95 major weapons programs amount to $295 billion. To put that figure into perspective, Levin said, “For $295 bi…

Evaluating Novel Threats to the Homeland: UAVs and Cruise Missiles A report from the RAND Corp found in PDF format here.

Newsday.com Navy gets first "Growler" with Northrop Grumman radar jammer BY JAMES BERNSTEIN james.bernstein@newsday.com 3:09 PM EDT, June 2, 2008 The Growlers are coming. The EA-18G Growler, that is. The EA-18G is a new electronic attack airplane, and the first of them is to be delivered to the Navy Tuesday at the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in Washington state. Northrop Grumman's facility in Bethpage is a major contributor to the Growler, whose airframe is made by Boeing Co. Northrop Grumman engineers and technicians in Bethpage designed an advanced system -- called ICAP III, for improved capability -- that will aid the EA-18G in jammi…

Navy shows little interest in armed drones By Sebastian Abbot - The Associated Press Posted : Tuesday Jun 3, 2008 6:01:44 EDT ABOARD THE USS HARRY S. TRUMAN — The Navy lags well behind the Air Force in the development of armed drones — the unmanned aircraft now used increasingly in Iraq and Afghanistan — insisting that its “Top Gun” fighter pilots are still smarter, better and more flexible in combat. But the contrasting visions for the next generation of America’s air arsenal point to wider debates within the military about the pace of incorporating remote-control technology into future battle strategies. It also touches on differences in military cultur…

The May 2008 ieee Spectrum magazine had an engaging article describing some attempts to prevent sabotage of military electronic components as more and more of those components originate outside of government production facilities and outside of US facilities. I've finally gotten around to tracking down the online version. You can find it at: http://spectrum.ieee.org/may08/6171 The topic really crosses a number of my interests, electronic design, weapons systems, Harpoon... So far I can't imagine how one goes about modelling cyber attacks in our games, let alone faulty chips. Is there a 1 in 1000 chance that all of your F-22 are going to become unuseable in a scena…

From Aviation Week Development On Latest Upgraded AMRAAM Slips May 30, 2008 Amy Butler/Aerospace Daily & Defense Report The U.S. Air Force is again extending Raytheon’s contract to design and produce a significant upgrade to its radar-guided Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). The AIM-120D – which adds a Global Positioning System receiver, conformal front-end antenna and a two-way datalink to the weapon – has recently encountered problems during the transition from design work into the production phase, according to program officials at the Air Armament Center, Fla. The improvements are expected to boost the missile’s accuracy and range, a…

From Defense Aerospace Op-Ed: A History Lesson On Why the F-22 Fighter Is Essential (Source: The Lexington Institute; issued May 20, 2008) By Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D. Imagine that in 1902, Secretary of War Elihu Root had told President Teddy Roosevelt the difficulty of suppressing the Philippine Insurrection proved future weapons would need to be useful in conducting irregular warfare. I know, you aren't so clear on what the Philippine Insurrection was. But it was a big deal at the time: 130,000 U.S. troops were deployed in a multiyear counter-insurgency campaign, and over 4,000 of them died. U.S. forces tortured prisoners. Insurgents committed atrocities. Very …

USS Russell DDG-59

From Aviation Week House May OK Doubled Virginia Production May 16, 2008 Michael Bruno/Aerospace Daily & Defense Report The U.S. House is on track to consider – and likely approve – legislation that could double annual production of the Virginia-class attack submarine to two boats starting in fiscal 2010, a year ahead of the U.S. Navy’s latest plans. The move stems from a $422 million plus-up in authorized funding for Virginias that Republicans on the Democratic-controlled House Armed Services Committee (HASC) secured May 14. It also comes after the HASC seapower subcommittee last week added $744 million to accelerate dual annual production from the Navy…

From Aviation Week Pentagon Revives Standoff Missile May 2, 2008 Bettina H. Chavanne The Pentagon certified a critical need for the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) program May 2, following the program's breach of Nunn-McCurdy acquisition law. John Young, Pentagon acquisition chief, certified a restructured JASSM program in four categories, affirming that the program is essential to national security; there are no alternatives to the program that would provide "equal or greater military capability" for less money; new estimates for procurement are "reasonable" and the management structure for JASSM acquisition is "adequate" to manage and control…

Nice article on the B-1B Lancer ... The Bone is back ... and from the article, a link to a pretty cool video:

Drool ... From Flight International DATE: 28/04/08 SOURCE: Flightglobal.com Raytheon lifts veil on ramjet-powered HARM By Stephen Trimble Raytheon today unveiled a new concept for revolutionizing the accuracy, range, speed and perhaps even the mission of the quarter-century-old AGM-88 high-speed anti-radiation missile (HARM). The concept replaces the AGM-88’s dual-thrust rocket motor with a dramatically more powerful ramjet engine. Guidance is also upgraded with satellite-based navigation, fiber-optic gyroscopes and new software. The new weapon could boost Raytheon’s competitive fortunes against a US Navy-sponsored upgrade: the Alliant Techsystems…

See Ethics & International Affairs It is Philip Coyle, after all, so we shouldn't be surprised by his conclusions, but ouchie!

From New York Times April 25, 2008 Lesson on How Not to Build a Navy Ship By PHILIP TAUBMAN With the crack of a Champagne bottle against its bow, the newly minted Navy warship, bedecked with bunting, slid sideways into the Menominee River in Wisconsin with a titanic splash. Moments before the launching on Sept. 23, 2006, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chief of naval operations, told the festive crowd of shipbuilders, politicians and Navy brass assembled at the Marinette Marine shipyard, “Just a little more than three years ago, she was just an idea; now Freedom stands before us.” Not quite. The ship — the first of a new class of versatile, high-speed combat vesse…

From Marine Corps Times Corps weighs gunship firepower options By Trista Talton - Staff writer Posted : Thursday Apr 24, 2008 21:21:53 EDT JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — More brains. More brawn. Now, maybe, firepower. With their digitally upgraded cockpits and larger load capacity, the Marine Corps’ growing fleet of KC-130J Super Hercules refuelers has been hailed as a major step up from its predecessors. But the question of whether these aerial gas stations should be outfitted with weapons systems is a concept still on the drawing board. A brief obtained by Marine Corps Times highlights various ways the KC-130J can be outfitted with firepower. Written by a major …