Current Events in the Americas

From Aviation Week Pentagon Eyes New Tanker RFP By August Jul 9, 2008 By Michael Bruno Boeing and a Northrop Grumman-EADS team will be able to re-bid wholly new proposals for the U.S. Air Force KC-X refueling tanker program, and the Pentagon's acquisition chief expects to choose a winner by the end of the year, officials said today. The defense secretary, Air Force secretary and Defense Department acquisition chief John Young told Pentagon reporters that the move is an attempt to provide a valid acquisition decision as quickly as possible while speeding toward delivery of the new aerial refuelers. Nevertheless, Young said the program's cost and initial opera…

From AOL Defense [excerpt]

New Warship’s Big Guns Have No Bullets (DefenseNews)

From Navy Times Newest amphib set for commissioning Saturday By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer Posted : Thursday Jan 22, 2009 15:47:35 EST LONG BEACH, Calif. — Escorted by tugboats and heavy security, the Navy’s newest amphibious transport dock, the Green Bay, glided into a berth here Tuesday afternoon, a few days ahead of its official commissioning into the Navy’s fleet. The 684-foot, 25,000-ton ship, with its distinctive silhouette framed by a pair of covered masts, will be formally commissioned Saturday morning. The fourth ship in the LPD 17 San Antonio class, Green Bay will be the first one commissioned on the West Coast. The Navy is holding the cerem…

From Navy Times Sub skipper fired after collision Attack boat Newport News surfaced beneath Japanese tanker By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Jan 30, 2007 11:35:42 EST The skipper of the attack submarine Newport News was relieved of command Monday in Bahrain following a Jan. 8 collision with a Japanese oil tanker in the chokepoint of the Persian Gulf known as the Strait of Hormuz. Cmdr. Matthew A. Weingart was relieved of command by Rear Adm. Douglas J. McAneny, commander of Combined Task Force 54, “due to lack of confidence in his ability to command,” according to a statement from Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain. Capt. Norman A. …

Next-Generation Harpoon Missile Offered to Navy (DOD Buzz) Cue Brains' disdain.

Next Large Combatant Might Be a Flight IV Destroyer (Seapower)

Comments on future carrier operations with drone tankers: https://www.themaven.net/warriormaven/sea/navy-to-pick-first-ever-carrier-launched-drone-later-this-year-v3X6RkePYkuPMMd6lUvKOg

From Air Force Times Nighthawk takes final bow at Dubai By Wendell Minnick - Staff writer Posted : Thursday Nov 15, 2007 7:31:11 EST The Air Force’s F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter made its last air show appearance in Dubai this week. Two Nighthawks were on static display and one took part in the daily flight demonstrations. Pilots and maintenance crews made themselves available to answer questions. “After 25 years in operation, it is the last air show appearance in the world,” said one maintenance crewman. The F-117, which completed combat missions over Iraq, Kosovo and Panama, is now facing the end of its mission life after 26 years of operation. The …

From Air Force Times Deputy SecDef: No more Raptors needed By John T. Bennett - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Jan 29, 2008 11:35:26 EST PASCAGOULA, Miss. — Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England defended his position that the Air Force needs no more than 187 F-22 Raptors, saying Saturday that several Pentagon studies have concluded that number is sufficient to tackle future threats. In recent months, senior Air Force officials have intensified their public campaign for 381 of the Lockheed Martin-made fighters. Senior Pentagon officials recently approved an Air Force plan to purchase four more Raptors, a move that will bring the planned buy to 191 warplanes.…

From Ares No more sonobuoy launcher for MH-60R? Posted by Bettina Chavanne at 7/21/2010 7:37 AM CDT This morning at the Farnborough Air Show, U.S. Navy program manager for H-60, Capt. Dean Peters, talked about issues facing the MH-60R helicopter's sonobuoy launcher. Peters said the aircraft's Airborne Low Frequency Sonar (ALFS) worked so well during last year's deployment of the aircraft there "was not much need for the [sonobuoy] launcher." The potential exists, he says, to "take out the sonobuoy launcher," and launch fewer buoys using a different type of launch system. The goal is reduce the amount of cabin space taken up by the launcher. "We have to r…

No More U.S. Battleships? "For the first time since the 1890s, the U.S. Navy soon could be without a battleship," Defense News says. The Senate, in its version of the fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill, authorizes the Navy to dispose of the battleship Wisconsin and transfer it to the state of Virginia. And a provision in the House version of the defense bill would transfer the battleship Iowa to the Port of Stockton, Calif. Only two battleships remain in Navy custody: the Wisconsin, berthed at Nauticus maritime center in downtown Norfolk, Va., and the Iowa, moored in a mothball fleet at Suisun Bay, Calif. Per an agreement dating from the 1990s between the…

For some time thinking on this issue, but no new advaced communications system breakthrough. At last is only a simple radio link with a submarine surface-piercing mast antenna, increasing the submarine exposure and vulnerability (very probably employed submerged in the VLF/LF receiving-only function): https://news.usni.org/2016/05/16/aerovironment-to-supply-blackwing-mini-uavs-for-navy-attack-guided-missile-submarines OE-538/BRC: http://www.sippican.com/stuff/contentmgr/files/474e4a92db6e2ad9c7446b939a122dc4/sheet/oe_538.pdf More generic concepts here: http://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/docs/voices.htm

No Rest For A Cold Warrior The legendary U-2 spy planes are busier than ever as they head toward a phaseout By Kevin Whitelaw Flying at over 70,000 feet above sea level, a lone pilot of an American U-2 spy plane scoured the rugged Afghan mountains near the southern city of Kandahar during a classified mission in mid-September. While the plane's high-tech camera was sending back detailed photographs of the Taliban strongholds below, coalition soldiers operating in the area got embroiled in a firefight with insurgents. The U-2, which flies too high to be heard or seen on the ground, was dispatched to relay images of the battle, locate any targets, and identify p…

From Air Force Times NORAD not moving — for now By Erik Holmes - Staff writer Posted : Wednesday Dec 12, 2007 12:41:59 EST Congress has put the brakes on a plan to relocate North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command from the secretive Cheyenne Mountain Air Station, Colo., to Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. The 2008 defense authorization bill approved Dec. 6 by the House and Senate armed services committees orders that the move not go ahead until the Office of the Secretary of Defense submits to Congress a cost-benefit analysis and final plans for the relocation. OSD must also include in its report a security and vulnerability asses…

From Flight Global [excerpt]

From Jane's Navy International Northrop Grumman wins US 'Tango Bravo' contract By Richard Scott Northrop Grumman Newport News has been awarded a USD12.7 million contract by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the US Navy, to develop and test a new weapon handling and launch system, as part of the 'Tango Bravo' submarine technology exploration initiative. The new weapon handling and launch concept is predicated on eliminating the submarine's torpedo room from inside the ship's pressure hull and moving the launchers outside the hull. This change would eliminate complex machinery and free up valuable space inside the hull. The Northrop Grumm…

From Northrop Grumman news release U.S. Navy Awards $1.16 Billion BAMS UAS Contract to Northrop Grumman LOS ANGELES - April 22, 2008 - The U.S. Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) an 89-month, $1.16 billion contract for System Development and Demonstration (SDD) of the service's new Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Unmanned Aircraft System (BAMS UAS) program. The BAMS UAS will provide the U.S. Navy with a persistent maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) system to protect the fleet and provide a capability to detect, track, classify, and identify maritime and littoral targets. "We are honored that the Navy selected ou…

From Aviation Week Northrop Apparently Lands NGB Prototype May 28, 2008 Bill Sweetman/Aerospace Daily & Defense Report Northrop Grumman received contracts totaling more than $2.5 billion for secret aircraft programs in the first quarter of 2008, strongly supporting reports and indications that the company has won a U.S. Air Force contract to build a prototype for the Next Generation Bomber (NGB) program. First-quarter results issued April 26 state that Northrop Grumman “was awarded approximately $2.6 billion for restricted programs during this period.” The results showed a comparable increase in backlog for the company’s aircraft business, the Integrated…

Northrop unveils first MQ-4C Triton