Current Events in the Americas

From Air Force Times Last F-16A retires from service Staff report Posted : Wednesday Jun 20, 2007 16:02:25 EDT The last operational U.S. F-16A Fighting Falcon completed its final mission June 15 when it flew from Tucson Air National Guard Base, Ariz., and touched down at the so-called bone yard — the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. The plane belonged to the 162nd Fighter Wing at Tucson, which has converted to the C and D models. “We constantly transition to newer, more advanced aircraft because that’s what pilots will fly when they graduate from our program,” said wing commander Brig. Gen. Rick Moisio. …

From Marine Corps Times Navy: Super Hornet rep for problems untrue Corps may be responsible for bad rap By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer Posted : Sunday Jun 17, 2007 9:09:10 EDT NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — Inside Naval Air Systems Command headquarters at this southern Maryland base, Navy program officials for the F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter program have heard the stories circulating in the Pentagon. Their aircraft, the stories go, can’t carry certain weapons, can’t fly high enough, can’t go fast enough. Design problems such as wing flutter plague the plane and — perhaps worst of all — parts that will wear out fast enough to severely…

Arizona Daily Star (Tucson) June 12, 2007 Raytheon Tomahawk Might Replace Errant Lockheed Missile By Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg News Raytheon Co.'s Tomahawk cruise missile is being eyed as a possible replacement for a Lockheed Martin Corp. missile program that was given 30 days to demonstrate it has a plan to improve reliability, said Diane Wright, the Pentagon's deputy director for air warfare. The Lockheed missile costs about $649,000 and is launched from planes. The latest Tomahawk, made at Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems, costs $972,000 on average and can be launched only from ships and submarines. Wright said the Pentagon might explore wheth…

From RIA Novosti Venezuela mulls purchase of Russian submarines - source 13:14 | 14/ 06/ 2007 MOSCOW, June 14 (RIA Novosti) - Venezuela is close to striking a deal with Russia on the procurement of several diesel submarines for its Navy, a source in the Russian shipbuilding industry said Thursday. The South American country has been vigorously pursuing modernization of its naval fleet to counter a possible U.S. blockade of its oil fields and prepare for direct military confrontation with Washington. "At present, military experts from Venezuela are conducting active consultations with Russian colleagues on the purchase of a large number of submarines," t…

From Flight International DATE:14/06/07 SOURCE:Flightglobal.com Team of C-27J Spartan wins JCA contest By Craig Hoyle Alenia Aeronautica's C-27J Spartan tactical transport programme received a massive boost yesterday, with the type's selection to meet a combined US Air Force and US Army requirement for a new fleet of Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA). Led by L-3 Integrated Systems and also comprising Alenia North America and Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, the C-27J team was announced as the winner of a deal to supply an initial 78 aircraft worth $2 billion under the JCA programme. The JCA programme currently envisages the production of 70 aircraft for …

From Navy Times Michigan returns to duty Conversion breathes new life into old sub By Melanthia Mitchell - The Associated Press Posted : Wednesday Jun 13, 2007 7:20:26 EDT SEATTLE — The USS Michigan was welcomed back to duty Tuesday during a ceremony at Naval Base Kitsap that celebrated its conversion to a guided-missile submarine. The afternoon fanfare marked the end of a $1 billion, nearly three-year modification process at neighboring Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on the Kitsap Peninsula west of Seattle. The Bangor-based Michigan was transformed from a Trident missile sub, equipped to carry nuclear missiles, to one capable of using conventional Tomahawk …

From Flight Global DATE:12/06/07 SOURCE:Flightglobal.com US Air Force seeks replacement for high-explosive cannon rounds By Stephen Trimble High-explosive incendiary (HEI) rounds fired by most US Air Force fighters may soon be replaced in the inventory by inert 20mm bullets. The General Dynamics PGU-28 A/B 20mm semi-armour piercing HEI round entered service during the last decade with the M61 cannon installed on the Boeing F-15, Lockheed Martin F-16 and Lockheed F-22. As of 2001, the USAF and US Navy had stockpiled 8 million PGU-28 rounds, each of which features a pyrotechnic fuze and a pyrophoric explosive. But the USAF is now seeking a replacement …

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…

From Defense Aerospace First AARGM Developmental Live Firing Successfully Demonstrates Precision Long Range Time Critical Strike Capability (Source: ATK Alliant Techsystems; issued June 7, 2007) MINNEAPOLIS --- Alliant Techsystems, the U.S. Navy team of PMA-242, the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division -- China Lake, and the Italian Air Force recently conducted the first Developmental Test (DT) firing of an Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) from an F/A-18 aircraft on the China Lake test ranges on 25 May 2007. The test firing confirmed the effective integration of AARGM with the F/A-18 aircraft and the continued progress of fielding a long-…

From Flight International EXPORT READY? Once an endangered species, the US Air Force's Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor stealth fighter is soaring on the success of its first operational deployments. A three-year contract for 60 aircraft is about to be signed, and the USAF is gearing up to seek funds to continue buying 20 Raptors a year for the foreseeable future. Now the USA must decide if it is ready to release the Raptor - winner of this year's Collier Trophy - for export. "The F-22 is healthier than at any other time. The plane is performing well and the programme is stable," says US defence analyst Loren Thompson. "There is some disagreement within th…

From Navy Times Navy awards Northrop $2.4B contract for LHA 6s The Associated Press Posted : Saturday Jun 2, 2007 16:07:28 EDT PASCAGOULA, Miss. — The U.S. Navy has awarded a $2.4 billion contract to Northrop Grumman Ship Systems to design and build the first replacement amphibious assault ship. The work will be done at Northrop’s shipyards in Pascagoula and New Orleans. The contract, announced Friday, will fund construction of the first, next-generation “bid-deck” amphibious ship, dubbed LHA 6. The Navy said Northrop is expected to deliver the ship by 2012. The ship will have such enhanced capabilities as an enlarged hangar deck, expanded mainte…

Corps looks to add armor to AAVs By Kris Osborn - Staff writer Posted : Wednesday May 23, 2007 6:18:23 EDT The Marine Corps is considering adding armor upgrades across the entire fleet of Assault Amphibious Vehicles, service officials said Tuesday. Plans for greater armor protection and survivability on the AAV are being evaluated, in part, due to delays with the Corps’ next-generation Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. “We have been putting together possible upgrade packets,†said Brian Prosser, Program Manager, Assault Amphibious Vehicle Systems, Marine Corps Systems Command. Now in its system development and demonstration phase, the EFV fielding date w…

Just like the Air Force, the Army and the CIA, the Navy soon could be deploying its own armed drones. To that end, the Navy will request funds in fiscal year 2010 to begin outfitting its new surveillance drone with kinetic weapons. The drone, which is scheduled to enter service next year, is the vertical-takeoff and landing tactical unmanned air vehicle, or VTUAV, which is also known as Fire Scout. The aircraft is a modified Schweizer 333 helicopter that the Navy wants to fly off the decks of its littoral combat ships. During the next several months, the Naval Air Systems Command will be examining various weapons that are considered viable candidates for t…

Army resumes recon helo effort; House says no By Kris Osborn - Staff writer Posted : Monday May 21, 2007 20:53:29 EDT The Army has resumed spending money on the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH-70A) program, led by prime contractor Bell Helicopter Textron. In March, Army officials temporarily halted funding for the program due to cost escalation and production concerns. On May 18, Army acquisitions undersecretary Claude Bolton and a Systems Acquisition Review Council reviewed the effort and lifted the funding ban. “The Army will continue with Bell Helicopter/Textron Inc. as the prime contractor for the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter,” according to a …

From Air Force Times Subsonic bomber wanted by 2018 By Gayle S. Putrich - Staff writer Posted : Monday May 21, 2007 6:50:45 EDT The Air Force may trade building a faster bomber in favor of building a bomber faster — even if it means lowering technological expectations for now. Expectations seem to have been dialed down from a supersonic, super-stealthy long-range bomber to a manned, subsonic aircraft with a range of 2,500 nautical miles. Sources say the service plans to buy only about 100 of the stop-gap planes while exploring other options for future bombers. As recently as last year, the Air Force planned a new bomber program between 2025 and 2037. But…

Four JASSM Test Failures Cast Doubt On Program's Future The U.S. Air Force's Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) proved ineffective during four recent flight tests, which were conducted as the Pentagon weighs whether to terminate the new stealthy cruise missile program due to cost increases. During the tests, which took place Apr. 30 - May 1, three of the cruise missiles impacted "well outside the target area," at distances greater than 100-200 feet, according to a preliminary Air Force report on the mishaps. These missiles failed to cause damage to the intended targets. Developers attribute the misses to a GPS "dropout problem" that affected the missile…

From DefenseNews Posted 05/15/07 17:37 U.S. Army General Picked to be ‘War Czar’ By WILLIAM H. MCMICHAEL An active-duty three-star Army general will become coordinator of the war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Bush said Tuesday. Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute, the director of operations for the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, will be “the full-time manager for the implementation and execution of our strategies for Iraq and Afghanistan,” Bush said in a statement released by the White House. As such, Lute will serve as a direct link between commanders in the field, ambassadors Ryan Crocker and William Wood and National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, and wil…

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…

Only one scenario for the PlayersDB currently exists for the high Arctic, "The True North Strong and Free". Looks like here's an opportunity to explore the area, again. Ottawa to proceed with plan to acquire six Arctic patrol ships Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press Published: Sunday, May 13, 2007 Victoria Times Colonist OTTAWA -- A key federal cabinet committee has given the go-ahead for a plan to construct six corvette-sized Arctic patrol vessels, The Canadian Press has learned. The cabinet priorities and planning committee approved the program to build the 100-metre-long, 6,000-tonne warships within the last 10 days, according to defence and politica…

From Flight International DATE:11/05/07 SOURCE:Flight International Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter recovers from in-flight power failure By Craig Hoyle Lockheed Martin has launched a planned software modification to its lone F-35 test asset, after suffering an unexpected power failure during the aircraft’s 19th and most recent test flight on 3 May. “We had some very unusual electrical transient through the airplane,” says Joint Strike Fighter programme executive officer US Air Force Brig Gen Charles Davis. “All the electrics dropped offline and came back after a few milliseconds.” Lockheed confirms: “The test pilot observed a partial fai…