Current Events in the Americas

Just as AIM-9X-II: http://www.naval-technology.com/news/newsus-navy-achieves-ioc-on-raytheons-aim-120d-amraam-missile-4551297

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…

AIM-120D still troubled as Nammo comes aboard (Jane's)

AIM-424 “Malice” Very Long-Range Air-To-Air Missile Emerges From The Shadows (Updated) (The War Zone)

by Staff Sgt. Matthew Bates, Air Force News Agency Source: Air Force Link - Air Force armada all about the ammo

From DefenseNews Posted 09/24/07 14:53 U.S. Missile Defense Agency Budget Funds ABL By TURNER BRINTON The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee fully funded the Missile Defense Agency’s Airborne Laser (ABL) for 2008, likely keeping the program on track for a critical test in 2009 in which the modified Boe¬ing 747 aircraft will attempt to shoot down a target missile. The House trimmed $50 million from the White House’s $548.8 mil¬lion request for the futuristic weapon system in its version of the 2008 defense appropriations bill. The Senate marked up its version of the bill Sept. 12. The House and Senate armed services committees had recom¬mended slashing $250 m…

From Flight International DATE: 08/09/08 SOURCE: Flight International Boeing nears first light test for Airborne Laser By Stephen Trimble Boeing is nearing the first light of the 1MW-class energy beam on board a parked YAL-1 Airborne Laser (ABL). The key milestone for the missile defence programme was originally scheduled for late August. Powering-on the laser on board the aircraft is one of the last major critical steps before the first airborne shootdown test of a ballistic missile target, scheduled during August 2009. As of 29 August, Boeing was in the process of activating each of the subsystems for the six-module laser, says the company's ABL pr…

From Ares Airborne Laser Shoots Down Scud-Like Target Posted by Robert Wall at 2/12/2010 5:32 AM CST At times it seemed like the day might never come, but the Airborne Laser now has destroyed a boosting ballistic missile in what may be one of the biggest breakthroughs for laser weapons to date. The highly modified Boeing 747-400, designated YAL-1A, performed the feet at 8:44 p.m. pacific time at the Point Mugu naval air warfare center sea range off California, shooting down a liquid-fueled, Scud-like target. The Missile Defense Agency says the intercept sequence took place within 2 minutes of the target being fired. ABL has been years in the making an…

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…

Airborne Mine-Detection System Enters Production Source: Northrop Grumman Jun. 17, 2005 eDefense The US Navy has announced that the Northrop Grumman (Melbourne, FL) airborne laser mine-detection system has reached Milestone C – signifying the end of system development and demonstration – and is now poised to enter its production phase. The airborne laser mine-detection system uses light-detection and ranging technology to detect, classify, and localize floating and near-surface moored sea mines so that ships can maneuver through clear sea lanes. Contained in external equipment pods mounted on a Navy MH-60S helicopter, the mine-detection system also provide…

From Flight International DATE: 17/10/07 SOURCE: Flightglobal.com EXCLUSIVE: US considers Airbus A380 as Air Force One and potentially a C-5 replacement By Stephen Trimble The Airbus A380 has attracted interest from the US Air Force (USAF) as a cargo freighter and as a large VIP transport in the Air Force One class, says an industry source. EADS last summer responded to two separate inquiries by the USAF’s Air Mobility Command (AMC) about the A380, which is a double-decker jet delivered to Singapore Airlines on 15 October after a long delay. AMC’s first request asked EADS to submit data about the A380F Freighter for potential use as a military airlifter…

From Free Beacon [excerpt]

New big-deck amphib AMERICA (LHA 6) takes to the sea for the first time (DefenseNews, Intercepts blog)

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 Defense Aerospace Raytheon, Aerojet Test New Propulsion System for Air-Launched Missile Defense System (Source: Raytheon; issued May 14, 2007) TUCSON, Ariz. --- Raytheon Company has demonstrated a key propulsion component of the Network Centric Airborne Defense Element (NCADE) program. NCADE is a missile defense system that will affordably leverage operational tactical missile technologies and infrastructure. As part of the NCADE risk-reduction program, Raytheon and partner Aerojet tested an advanced hydroxylammonium nitrate thruster that provided more than 150 pounds of thrust for longer than 25 seconds. This test, which took place at the Aeroje…

Los Angeles Times December 9, 2005 Lockheed In U.S. Airship Deal By Reuters Lockheed Martin Corp. won a $149-million contract Thursday to build a prototype unmanned airship about 17 times the size of a Goodyear blimp that would hover about 60,000 feet above the Earth. The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency said the High-Altitude Airship would be untethered, be able to remain in place for one month over a designated place, and be able to carry as many as 500 pounds of sensors that could detect enemy ballistic missiles. Missile Defense Agency spokesman Rick Lehner said the program was aimed at exploring the possibility of using the airship to track and detect ballisti…

Pg. 3 An SR-72? Lockheed Martin's New Mach-6 Spy Plane By Vago Muradian Ten years after the U.S. Air Force retired the SR-71 spy plane, Lockheed Martin's legendary Skunk Works appears back at work developing a new Mach-6 reconnaissance plane, sources said. The Air Force has awarded Lockheed's Advanced Development Projects arm a top-secret contract to develop a stealthy 4,000-mph plane capable of flying to altitudes of about 100,000 feet, with transcontinental range. The plan is to debut the craft around 2020. The new jet--being referred to by some as the SR-72--is likely to be unmanned and, while intended for reconnaissance, it could eventually tra…

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…

Analysts: Air power crucial upon new threat By William H. McMichael - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Jan 15, 2008 6:19:03 EST If the U.S. were to face a new conventional threat, its military could not respond effectively without turning to air power, officials and analysts say. That is the ultimate upshot of the war in Iraq: a response elsewhere would consist largely of U.S. fighters and bombers — even, perhaps, some degree of nuclear strike — because so many ground troops are tied up in Operation Iraqi Freedom. And that leaves at least some senior U.S. leaders and analysts crossing their fingers. “I believe that we, as a nation, are at risk of mission…

From DefenseNews [excerpt]