Current Events in the Americas

From Defense Aerospace Northrop Grumman's Second E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Pilot Production Aircraft, Delta Two, Completes Successful First Flight (Source: Northrop Grumman Corp.; issued Dec. 19, 2007) ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. --- The second E-2D Advanced Hawkeye development aircraft, known as Delta Two, built for the U.S. Navy by prime contractor Northrop Grumman Corporation, completed its first flight in just over two hours from the company's Florida manufacturing and flight test center Nov. 29 followed by a second flight Dec. 4. “The first flight of our second development aircraft signals another major program performance milestone for the E-2 program and for Tea…

From Air Force Times New tanker named but still not selected By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer Posted : Monday Dec 17, 2007 7:14:43 EST The Air Force doesn’t know who is going to build the KC-X tanker, but the service has decided what to call the jet. Drum roll, please. The KC-X is designated KC-45A. While the service didn’t make a formal announcement about the KC-45A naming, the designation has started to appear in briefings given by Air Force officials and a service spokesman confirmed the name. Technically, KC-45A is the tanker’s mission design series name. The “KC” designates the jet as a tanker. Why “45A” was chosen isn’t clear, other than it does…

Navy decommissions last coastal minehunters By Zachary M. Peterson - Staff writer Posted : Sunday Dec 16, 2007 9:00:05 EST The Navy bid adieu to its last four Osprey-class coastal minehunter ships Dec. 1, leaving the service to rely on 14 Avenger-class minehunters and the nascent Littoral Combat Ship program to fill the niche mission of surveying shallow coastal waters for mines. The decommissioning ceremony was held at Naval Station Ingleside, Texas. The ships — Black Hawk, Cormorant, Kingfisher and Shrike — were capable of clearing harbors and other coastal waters of various types of underwater mines. The ships were commissioned between 1996 and 1999. T…

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 International DATE: 11/12/07 SOURCE: Flightglobal.com Production of first Boeing P-8A begins at Spirit By Graham Warwick Spirit AeroSystems has begun production of the fuselage for the first Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime-patrol aircraft, a derivative of the Next Generation 737 under development to replace the US Navy’s Lockheed P-3 Orion. Loading of the assembly jig began at Spirit’s Wichita, Kansas plant on 11 December, and the first fuselage is scheduled to be dispatched by rail car 100 days later to Boeing’s 737 final-assembly line in Renton, Washington on 19 March 2008. The first P-8 is one of five – three flight-test aircraft and two…

From Jane's USN announces SIGINT aircraft replacement programme By Martin Streetly 11 December 2007 As part of its post-Aerial Common Sensor intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting (ISRT) recapitalisation effort, the US Navy (USN) published a broad agency announcement (BAA) in November 2007, regarding an Electronics Patrol Experiment (EPX) programme intended to find a replacement for the service's existing EP-3E signals intelligence (SIGINT) aircraft after Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17). The BAA document states that the programme is intended to "recapitalise the EP-3 aircraft to provide tactical, theatre and national level ISRT support to carrier s…

Course-changing missiles tested for LCS By Kris Osborn - Staff writer Posted : Thursday Dec 6, 2007 6:24:42 EST FORT BLISS, Texas — The Army has begun initial test firing of prototypes of a next-generation precision land missile that is able to be redirected toward new targets while in flight and can hit targets on-the-move up to about 24 miles (40 kilometers) away, Army officials said. The Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System (NLOS-LS), slated to field with other Army Future Combat Systems’ so-called spinout technologies by 2010, is designed with both GPS and infrared guidance systems. Tested at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., the NLOS-LS launcher carries 15 Pre…

From Flight International DATE: 30/11/07 SOURCE: Flightglobal.com USAF: F-15s risk catastrophic design weakness By Stephen Trimble The US Air Force Boeing F15A-D Eagle fleet is grounded after preliminary findings of a crash investigation show signs of a design weakness. Air Combat Command (ACC) ordered the stand-down until the airframes can be inspected. An inspection checklist is being prepared by the Warner-Robins Air Logistics Center, an ACC spokesman says. An ongoing investigation of a 2 November crash is focusing on potential failure of the F-15’s upper longerons near the canopy seal. Recent inspections found cracks in this same area on two o…

Dangerous waters: Ignoring operational art at sea could doom U.S. maritime strategy BY MILAN VEGO armedforcesjournal The new U.S. maritime strategy to be unveiled this fall is expected to fill the lack of a clear and well-articulated vision of the role of U.S. maritime forces in defense and protection of the national interests at sea and of those of its allies and other friendly nations. However, the lack of sound theory and doctrine for the employment of maritime forces at the operational level of war might pose some serious limitations and ultimately doom the execution of the new U.S. maritime strategy. This situation might not be acute in the case of the empl…

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 Defense Aerospace Op-Ed: Crusading Navy Secretary Cancels 300-Ship Fleet (Source: The Lexington Institute; issued Nov. 6, 2007) By Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D. With all the breaking news last week -- martial law in Pakistan, Hillary besieged by pygmies -- you may have missed the big announcement coming out of the U.S. Navy. Hard-charging Navy Secretary Donald Winter has brought his crusade for fundamental reform in the shipbuilding industry to its first major milestone, effectively canceling plans for a 300-ship fleet. That's the likely long-term consequence of his decision to terminate a contract with General Dynamics for a new warship called the Litto…

From Navy Times Building a better BMD Admiral seeks an expanded upgrade for anti-missile ships By Ben Iannotta - Special to the Times Posted : Sunday Nov 4, 2007 8:46:19 EST North Korea was hot on everyone’s minds when the Navy decided to rush missile-defense software and interceptors onto 18 of its 84 ships equipped with the Aegis computerized weapon systems. But now, with Iran increasingly on the minds of U.S. strategists, the admiral who runs the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense program for the Missile Defense Agency is asking to expand the upgrade effort — even before the large-scale Aegis upgrade planned to start in 2012. “The question right now is: Wit…

From Air Force Times Tanker contract award delayed to Feb. 29 By Gayle S. Putrich - Staff writer Posted : Wednesday Oct 24, 2007 7:20:58 EDT The Air Force is pushing back the award date of the $30 billion, 179-plane tanker contract until Feb. 29, according to industry and congressional sources. The service originally expected to award the contract for its top procurement priority before the end of this calendar year. Air Force officials did not provide comment by Oct. 23. Two competitors are vying for the contract: EADS and Northrop Grumman, offering an A330 variant called the KC-30, and Boeing with its modified 767 tanker. The Air Force has said it plan…

From Air Force Times Design flaw puts F-22s in shop for repairs The Associated Press Posted : Monday Oct 22, 2007 8:15:34 EDT SALT LAKE CITY — The Air Force is speeding up its timeline for bringing the F-22 Raptor to Hill Air Force Base for repairs after a design flaw that military officials have known about for years has reappeared. The problem with the Air Force’s newest fighter jet is that the composition of some mechanical access panels makes the Raptor susceptible to corrosion. Military officials changed the design to fix the problem, but it is back and about two-thirds of the military’s fleet of the planes is suffering from corrosion. “So the world…

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

From Defense Aerospace New Maritime Strategy Released (Source: US Department of Defense; issued Oct. 17, 2007) The Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard have released “A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower,” a unified maritime strategy that explains the comprehensive role of the sea services in an era marked by increased globalization and change. This is the first time a unified maritime strategy has been signed by all three of the sea services. The strategy integrates seapower with other elements of national power in addition to that of friends, partners and allies. It states that protecting the homeland and winning the nation’s wars is matched by…

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 Jane's Arleigh Burke-class destroyers 'buckling' under stress, admits USN By Tara Copp 11 October 2007 Serious structural defects have been identified throughout the United States Navy's fleet of Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, Jane's can reveal. The navy (USN) has admitted that many of the 51 ships currently in service are buckling under the stress of higher-than-anticipated loads at sea. The impact of rough-sea slamming on the bow has led to warping of main transverse bulkhead beams and some of the cribbing, a source said. Repairs and strengthening work is already being carried out on the latest Flight IIA ships as well as vessels from the ear…

Navy CG(X) Cruiser Program: Background, Oversight Issues, and Options for Congress Source: Congressional Research Service (No public website) Ref: Order Code RL34179 Released Sept. 20, 2007 27 pages in PDF format The US Navy is currently developing technologies and studying design options for a planned new cruiser called the CG(X). Navy plans call for procuring the first CG(X) in FY2011, at an estimated cost of about $3.2 billion, and 18 more CG(X)s in subsequent years. If the CG(X) is equipped with a nuclear power plant, which is an option currently being considered by the Navy, then advance procurement funding for the first CG(X) could appear in the FY2009 …

From Air Force Magazine, October 2007 issue October 2007 , Vol. 90, No. 10 The Navy plans to build many more flattops, and they won’t be “Gary Hart carriers.” Seven New Carriers (Maybe) By Otto Kreisher Today’s Navy leaders are in a bind. With the size of the fleet at 277 warships, and with a stated requirement for 313, the service faces a broad, long-term, and expensive shipbuilding task. Senior officers are struggling to find the money, with no assurance of success. In the midst of all this, however, there is at least one certainty. Navy leadership is staunchly committed to buying many more big-deck, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers—the most powerf…