Current Events in the Americas

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

From DefenseNews Admiral: Capability More Vital for U.S. Navy Than Numbers By ANDREW SCUTRO The U.S. Navy does not need to be larger, just more able, said Vice Adm. Joe Sestak, deputy chief of naval operations for warfare requirements, at the Navy League’s March 22-24 Sea Air Space expo in Washington. Sestak said the Navy plans to fight as a smaller, more concentrated joint network to meet the demands of carrying on the potentially endless global war on terror, fighting a large-scale conventional war and reacting to other contingencies. “Our Navy of the future is not measured in numbers of ships,” he told a seminar on force projection. “It’s measured in c…

Find it here. MEU BLT Preps for Nighttime Boat Raids Marine Corps News | Lcpl. Bryan A. Peterson | September 25, 2006 Kin Blue, Okinawa, Japan - More than 100 Marines and sailors with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit's battalion landing team rehearsed boat landing raids Sept. 11 at Kin Blue. The daytime rehearsals helped prepare the A Company Marines and sailors of 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, for a difficult nighttime operation at Camp Schwab later that day, according to 1st Sgt. Tracy Offutt, the company first sergeant. "We need to be able to sustain our capabilities in over-the-horizon small boat amphibious operations," Offutt said. "Practicing d…

Just when things couldn't get worse for the LCS program ... From DefenseNews Posted 04/25/07 22:34 Fire Strikes New U.S. Navy Ship By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS A fire broke out on board the U.S. Navy’s littoral combat ship (LCS) USS Freedom early April 25, damaging a ship that already has had more than its share of problems. The Freedom is under construction at Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wis., under a program managed by Lockheed Martin. The ship, launched in September, is about 80 percent complete, said Diana Massing, a spokesperson for Lockheed. The fire, which burned for nearly an hour, broke out about 5:30 a.m. in a starboard-side berthing compartment in…

Excerpts of interest from Navy Times 2010 lookahead: What’s ahead in the new year Staff report Posted : Monday Jan 4, 2010 6:13:39 EST CARRIERS & STRIKE GROUPS • The Dwight D. Eisenhower is scheduled to deploy in January. [CV32: The Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group left Norfolk on 2 January, to be followed by the Carrier Air Wing Seven, the destroyers McFaul, Carney, and Farragut, and the cruiser Hue City. The strike group is headed to the Indian Ocean] • The Harry S. Truman will follow a couple of months later, marking its second eight-month deployment in as many years. • Enterprise, late coming out of the yard, will be back in acti…

A tall order ... From Flight Global DATE: 04/02/10 SOURCE: Flight International SINGAPORE 2010: Lockheed says F-35s will replace USAF F-15s By Stephen Trimble Lockheed Martin has added all variants of the Boeing F-15 to an internal analysis of US Air Force platforms the company believes will be replaced by the F-35A Lightning II. Lockheed now predicts the F-35A will replace the F-15C/D air superiority fighter and the F-15E Strike Eagle. The USAF officially lists the F-35's conventional takeoff and landing variant as a ground-attack fighter complementing the air superiority mission, replacing only the Lockheed F-16 and the A-10. The speculativ…

In service in 7-missile launch pods with AH-1W, UH-1Y, MH-60S. In future service in MH-60R, AH-1Z, both iin 2015, F/A-18C/D in 2017-2018. Possibly in Australia's Tiger attack helicopter from 2015. Qualified for MQ-8B (2x3 pods) and probably MQ-8C (2x7 pods). Employed by Iraq from Bell 407 and Cessna Caravan. More details here: http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/apkws-ii-hellfire-jr-hydra-rockets-enter-sdd-phase-02193/

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 Defense Aerospace Coast Guard to Award of the Contract for Design and Construction of Fast Response Cutter/Sentinel Class Patrol Boat (Source: US Coast Guard; issued Sept. 26, 2008) WASHINGTON --- Coast Guard Commandant, Adm. Thad W. Allen, and other Coast Guard senior leaders will host a [sept. 29] media round table to announce the award of an $88 million contract to Bollinger Shipyards, Inc., for the design and construction of the Fast Response Cutter, Sentinel-Class patrol boat. The 153-foot cutter, which will be capable of speeds of more than 28 knots, will be built at Bollinger's shipyard in Lockport, La. This is a firm, fixed-price contract with an…

From Telegraph [excerpt]

Heat From F-35, MV-22 Continue to Plague Big Deck Amphibs (USNI News)

Find Navy Times article here Navy orders 8 new Virginia-class subs By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Dec 23, 2008 7:03:14 EST As expected, the Navy announced on Monday a $14 billion contract to buy eight new Virginia-class submarines. The fixed-price incentive, multiyear procurement contract was awarded to General Dynamics Electric Boat, lead shipyard for the Virginia-class submarines. Electric Boat’s facilities at Quonset Point, R.I., and Groton, Conn., share equally in building the submarines with Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding’s Newport News shipyard in Virginia. In making the announcement, Rear Adm. William Hilarides, program execut…

Boeing Surveillance Plane Found Not Effective for Mission (Bloomberg)

Subsonic, employed to extend range of one or two guided bomb and ASM/ARM/AAM in each, or simply as extended aircraft pylon if not launched, and to be produced some 500 each month from 2018 (My estimates: speed=516 knots, range=172 nm): http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/news/a28100/darpa-factory-in-a-can-drones/ http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/14161/darpas-flying-missile-rail-seems-to-be-more-about-manufacturing-than-combat

From Ares Blog TSSAM Settled, Is A-12 Next? Posted by Robert Wall at 4/3/2009 7:59 AM CDT The long-running legal saga over the Pentagon’s cancellation of the TSSAM stealthy cruise missile is over. Could it pre-sage a settlement for the A-12? Northrop Grumman has announced the end to two cases between it and the government over the Tri-Service Standoff Attack Missile, which the Pentagon announced Dec. 9, 1994 would be cancelled. Northrop began the development program in1986 under a fixed-price, incentive fee contract. The decision was part of a slew of program adjustments the Clinton Administration made on that day, including restructuring the RAH-66 Coman…

Carrier Cut Could Be Back on Table (DefenseNews)

From Defense Aerospace Textron's Bell Helicopter Granted Approval for Full Rate Production of V-22 Osprey Tiltrotor (Source: Bell Helicopter; issued Sept. 28, 2005) PROVIDENCE, RI & FORT WORTH, TX --- Marking a major milestone in aviation, Textron Inc. today announced that its Bell Helicopter unit has been granted approval by the United States Defense Department for Full Rate Production (FRP) of the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. Current plans include the delivery of 360 aircraft to the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC), 50 for the U.S. Air Force and 48 for the U.S. Navy. The total program is worth in excess of $19 billion to Bell and Textron thr…

From Aviation Week Secret Surveillance Satellites To Launch In June Craig Covault/Aerospace Daily & Defense Report A secret National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) dual-satellite ocean surveillance mission to track potential terrorist movements at sea and monitor Chinese and Iranian ship tactics is being readied for liftoff June 14 from Cape Canaveral on an Atlas V, intelligence sources tell Aviation Week. The National Ocean Surveillance System (NOSS) flight is designated NRO L-30. The importance of NRO's space ocean surveillance role in connection with the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard has been elevated since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The nee…

Robots Clear Waterways of Deadly Mines Associated Press | July 27, 2007 PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. - As it slowly moves in the shallow water along a beach, the robot splashes its fins like a small child playing in the surf. But the prototype device has a serious mission: destroying mines that could kill Marines and Navy SEALs as they come on shore. Such technology is considered the future of underwater bomb detection. "It's a kamikaze vehicle, a suicidal robot," said Mathieu Kemp, a scientist with Durham, N.C.-based Nekton Research, LCC, which created the Transphibian. The 3-foot-long device, which will some day carry 14 pounds of plastic explosives and at…

Unless you've been living under a rock, the never ending saga of fanbois versus hater continues in the world of JSF. Here, Aviation Week's Bill Sweetman takes a crack at tearing (yet) another new one in JSF. A Tale of Two Tales