Current Events in the Americas

From Defense Talk Stennis First with New ESSM US Navy | Oct 10, 2008 USS JOHN C. STENNIS, At Sea: USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) claimed the first successful hit and kill with the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) during a Combat System Ship's Qualification Trials (CSSQT) off the coast of Southern California Oct. 7. Stennis' Tactical Action Officer Ens. Clay Cunningham said, "This is the first successful ESSM kill from an aircraft carrier." Combat systems department launched the new missiles, the RIM-162 D-1, during a live-fire exercise by engaging drones inbound to Stennis. "The evaluation team from Port Hueneme [California] said Stennis' combat syste…

From Navy Times Stennis group returning from deployment By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Aug 21, 2007 18:09:34 EDT SAN DIEGO — More than 5,500 sailors and Marines are heading home after a nearly eight-month deployment to the Persian Gulf. The aircraft carrier John C. Stennis and several ships of its strike group are scheduled to arrive in San Diego on Monday, Aug. 27, where the massive flattop will unload part of its carrier air wing, Navy officials said Tuesday. The Stennis, a Bremerton, Wash.-based carrier, spent most of the spring and summer operating in the Gulf region, supporting combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and maritime …

From AOL Defense [excerpt]

Sub Snoops for the Future DefenseTech This month’s issue of the Navy League’s Seapower Magazine has a special report on an autonomous web of underwater robots that the Navy hopes will be operational by 2015. The Office of Naval Research-led project will imbue “underwater vehicles with the ability to sense and independently adapt to everything from ocean currents to hostile enemy subs.” ONR chief Rear Admiral William Landay said, “If we can sense that, get the vehicles to understand that, get the vehicles to adapt to that, then they are in the position where they really are starting to dominate the battlespace.” This net has been labeled “PLUSNet” and, the art…

From Aviation Week Boeing Reveals Sub-Tracking ScanEagle Study Jun 9, 2008 Guy Norris/Aerospace Daily & Defense Report SEATTLE – Boeing, Insitu and the U.S. Navy are studying a variant of the ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that could be air-dropped from a P-8A or other aircraft to detect and stealthily track submarines over many hours. The magnetometer-equipped UAV, dubbed “MagEagle Compressed,” would “go out and find a submarine and follow it for 24 hours,” says John Hearing, senior manager for Boeing Tactical Unmanned Systems. The initiative is a direct outgrowth of ScanEagle Compressed Carriage (SECC), a project aimed at developing a version …

Subs: Cold War tool or future need? By Shir Haberman shaberman@seacoastonline.com PORTSMOUTH - One of the primary justifications for placing Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on the base closure list this year is the reduction in the number of submarines the Navy expects to use in the future. "In the past, we had 100 attack submarines. Now, it’s in the 50s, and in the future there will be 41," Adm. Vern Clark, chief of Naval operations, told the Base Realignment and Closure Commission earlier this month as one of the reasons for recommending the closure of the local shipyard. "In order to have a Navy of the future, we need to redirect our resources in order to ru…

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…

With interesting comparative graphics of ASM ranges: http://breakingdefense.com/2017/07/navy-warships-get-new-heavy-missile-2500-lb-lrasm/?_ga=2.104116160.1362042610.1501179798-486591487.1497889324&utm_content=buffera0230&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Successful Test of an AIM-9X Missile by a Raytheon-Led Team Demonstrates Potential for Low Cost Solution in Littoral Joint Battlespace Monday February 6, 10:10 am ET Yahoo TEWKSBURY, Mass., Feb. 6, 2006 /PRNewswire/ -- A Raytheon-led team successfully launched an AIM-9X from a stationary, vertical platform last November. The missile successfully locked on after launch and hit its target in a test of its potential launch from a submarine. The test was conducted for the Naval Sea Systems Command at the U.S. Army's McGregor Test Range in New Mexico Nov. 19, 2005. A successful test firing matures the technology that will provide the Navy with a new capability when …

U.S. At Risk From Boats Packed with Explosives: Admiral By CAROLINE DREES and EDGAR ANG, REUTERS Find it here. The United States must close security gaps that could let small boats packed with explosives slip into ports and stage attacks like the one that killed 17 personnel on the U.S. warship Cole in Yemen, the new Coast Guard chief said on May 31. Adm. Thad Allen, who took over as commandant of the Coast Guard last week, said officials had to do more to help thwart such stealthy strikes, which could cause massive damage to ports, oil facilities, ports, cruise ships or tankers. "Our own threat analysis and vulnerability analysis tell us there is a …

Speculations in Mer et Marine about if the Super Etendard, after his retirement in late 2016, could be transferred to Argentine (I doubt it very much, because budgetary and political questions): http://www.meretmarine.com/fr/content/une-seconde-vie-en-argentine-pour-les-sem-de-laeronautique-navale

From Aviation Week Support For More F-22 Soars in Congress Jan 20, 2009 By Amy Butler Even before President-elect Barack Obama to takes office Jan. 20, U.S. lawmakers are making a push in letters addressed to him to secure the future of the stealthy F-22 production line in Marietta, Ga. Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Patty Murray (D-WA) sent a letter to Obama Jan. 16 requesting funding for production for the twin-engine fighter. Citing a flyaway cost reduction of 35 percent, the senators also say the end of the fighter’s production could further drain the U.S. economy in the midst of a recession. A decision is needed by early March to avoid gaps in the pro…

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 Tanker contract to be awarded in December By Donna Borak - The Associated Press Posted : Monday Aug 20, 2007 6:56:27 EDT WASHINGTON — The Air Force will award a much-anticipated multibillion-dollar tanker refueling contract at the end of the year, extending talks with bidders beyond the October deadline Wall Street anticipated. Either Boeing Co. or Northrop Grumman Corp. will emerge as the winner of the $40 billion Air Force deal to replace 179 aerial refueling tankers. One industry analyst said the extension of talks signals extra caution by the service because of a controversy that engulfed the tanker program several years ago. The…

From Aviation Week Tanker Teams Start Posturing for USAF Competition Jun 19, 2009 Amy Butler/Paris Both teams vying for a massive U.S. Air Force contract to build refueling tankers appear to be taking on a more collegial tenor as they await release of the Pentagon's requirements next month, but this newfound spirit could be the calm before the storm in a third attempt for the service to select a new design. Boeing and Northrop Grumman/EADS North America engaged in a volley of assaults about their designs during the past two years, and last year Boeing was on the offensive against the U.S. Air Force customer after it selected the Airbus A330-tanker based desi…

From Marine Corps Times Tarawa to decommission Thursday By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Dec 2, 2008 16:37:20 EST SAN DIEGO — After 32 years, Tarawa is going to bid farewell to its sailors. Navy officials on Thursday will retire the amphibious assault ship, which in June returned to its pier at San Diego Naval Base after wrapping up its final operational deployment to the Persian Gulf and Northern Arabian Sea. One of Tarawa’s former skippers, Rear Adm. Garry Hall, will speak during the formal decommissioning ceremony that afternoon. Hall commanded the ship during a 2000 deployment that included assisting with efforts to recover victims o…

Team Tests Pod at 'Litening' Speed Find It Here (Source: US Air Force; issued April 18, 2006) EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --- Three Air Force units have started accelerated testing of a Litening-AT targeting pod. The 416th Flight Test Squadron here is working with the 85th Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and the 422nd OTES at Nellis AFB, Nev., to update the existing Litening pod with several new capabilities for warfighters, including a video downlink transmitter currently used in the Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. "The transmitter, called the ROVER Module, was pulled out of the Predator and allows …

Team the P-8 and Sea Hunter for ASW (Proceedings, September 2018)

From DefenseNews Technology Problems Persist for USN Destroyer: Report By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS Technological development for the U.S. Navy’s advanced DD(X) destroyer is still lagging despite progress in a number of areas, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report issued June 14. The report, sent to Senate and House of Representatives Armed Services Committee leaders, highlighted problems with the 10 critical engineering areas being developed for the 14,000-ton destroyer. Packed with new technologies, the DD(X) is intended by the Navy to support forces ashore and dominate coastal regions, and is planned to replace Arleigh Burke-class destroye…

THAAD, Aegis cooperate in anti-missile test By Kris Osborn - Staff writer Posted : Wednesday Aug 13, 2008 7:26:27 EDT Traveling thousands of meters per second, a 20-foot Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor missile destroyed an advanced, separating warhead dummy target just beneath the 60-mile envelope of the Earth’s atmosphere off the cost of Hawaii during a June test at the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai. The test intercept marked the first time the THAAD and Aegis radar systems worked together in a tactical scenario against a separating warhead, Missile Defense Agency officials said. “A separating warhead is not like a Scud wh…