Current Events in the Americas

From Air Force Times Service may buy more Raptors By Gayle S. Putrich - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Feb 13, 2007 6:31:11 EST MARIETTA, Ga. — As Lockheed Martin officials handed over the ceremonial keys to the Air Force Pacific Command’s first F-22 Raptor, the service’s No. 2 official said the Air Force is looking at funding plans for buying more than the planned 183 stealth fighters. The 2007 budget contains multi-year funding for the last 60 planned Raptors, including construction funds for 2007 and advance procurement money through 2009. The president’s 2008 budget proposal includes $281.9 million for the F-22 program. Air Force Vice Chief of Staff G…

Here's a link to the newly issued strategic plan for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA): DARPA Strategic Plan 2007

From Defense Aerospace Canada Awards Contract for Strategic Airlift (Source: Government of Canada; issued Feb. 2, 2007) OTTAWA — The Honourable Gordon O'Connor, Minister of National Defence, together with the Honourable Michael M. Fortier, Minister of Public Works, and the Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Industry today announced The Boeing Company has been awarded the contract to supply strategic airlift aircraft to the Canadian Forces. The agreement fulfills a commitment by Canada's New Government to pursue defence procurement initiatives that equip and strengthen our military and provide economic benefits across the country. “Canada's New Gov…

Forces to get rid of navy's supply ships Esquimalt-based vessels unable to refuel at sea for 2 years; Patrol planes also ditched in cost-cutting David Pugliese, CanWest News Service Published: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 Victoria Times The Canadian Forces plans to get rid of its two refuelling and supply ships, one of which is based at CFB Esquimalt, a move that will leave the navy unable to refuel vessels at sea for at least two years until replacements are built. The recommendation is part of a military plan to pare down its ships, surveillance aircraft and helicopters to help pay for new equipment in the future. The cuts include six Aurora maritime patro…

Rising costs sock shipbuilding, as local yard fears layoffs By Steve Liewer UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER SignOnSanDiego.com February 1, 2007 Bedeviled with cost overruns, the Navy's shipbuilding program is in danger of sinking under its own weight. Navy leaders have struggled to upgrade an aging fleet of warships with next-generation aircraft carriers, destroyers, amphibious assault ships and submarines that cost billions more than the vessels they replace. San Diego's General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard may have to lay off workers if the Navy's pace of new projects doesn't quicken. This week, a crane at the shipyard positioned the bow on the supply ship Ric…

From Defence Talk Phoenix Missile Hypersonic Testbed NASA | Jan 30, 2007 Researchers at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, Calif., are investigating the use of surplus demilitarized Navy AIM-54 Phoenix air-launched missiles as possible hypersonic test platforms or testbeds. Hypersonic flight is defined as aerodynamic flight at speeds of Mach 5 or greater, and use of surplus Phoenix missiles is one of the methods being considered to obtain critical flight data in the hypersonic regime. These missions, to be conducted over restricted military test ranges, would i…

From Navy Times Sub skipper fired after collision Attack boat Newport News surfaced beneath Japanese tanker By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Jan 30, 2007 11:35:42 EST The skipper of the attack submarine Newport News was relieved of command Monday in Bahrain following a Jan. 8 collision with a Japanese oil tanker in the chokepoint of the Persian Gulf known as the Strait of Hormuz. Cmdr. Matthew A. Weingart was relieved of command by Rear Adm. Douglas J. McAneny, commander of Combined Task Force 54, “due to lack of confidence in his ability to command,” according to a statement from Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain. Capt. Norman A. …

From Defence Talk Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group to Surge Deploy US Navy | Jan 25, 2007 SAN DIEGO: USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) Carrier Strike Group (CSG), with more than 5,000 sailors, will surge deploy Jan. 27, while USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) undergoes scheduled maintenance in Yokosuka, Japan. The Ronald Reagan CSG is deploying under the Navy's Fleet Response Plan (FRP) and will operate in the western Pacific in support of U.S. commitments in the region. FRP provides the U.S. with the ability to respond to any global commitment with flexible and sustainable forces and the ability to rapidly respond to a range of situations on short notice. The Ronald Rea…

Here's an interesting overview of some of the sonobuoys used by the US Navy. Listening Sticks: US Navy Sonobuoy Contracts Posted 25-Jan-2007 05:04 defenseindustrydaily.com Sonobuoys are used to detect and identify moving underwater objects by either listening for the sounds produced by propellers and machinery (passive detection), or by bouncing a sonar "ping" off the surface of a submarine (active detection). They usually float, or have at least some part of them that does. Specialized sonobuoys can also detect electric fields, magnetic anomalies, and bioluminescence (light emitted by microscopic organisms disturbed by a passing submarine); as well as measuring…

From Defense Aerospace Issue Brief: The Slow Death of American Air Power (Source: The Lexington Institute; issued Jan. 16, 2007) By Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D. Now that America has an Islamo-centric security posture, any danger that doesn't fit within the counter-fundamentalist framework tends to be ignored. That's sort of ironic, since the biggest military threats to democracy in the last century came from atheists. Five years into the "global war on terror," the evidence suggests that Islamic radicals are real good at blowing each other up, but not so good at projecting power abroad. As long as western nations maintain halfway decent domestic security arr…

From DefenseNews Posted 01/11/07 21:45 LCS hits ‘considerable cost overruns’ By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), advertised by the U.S. Navy as a $220 million bargain, is going to come in at considerably more than that, according to a senior Navy official. “It appears that we’re having considerable cost overruns on it,” Delores Etter, the Navy’s top acquisition official, told reporters Jan. 11. “We’ve been doing our cost-performance review on the Lockheed Martin ship,” Etter said, noting that as the first of a class, “you’ve got some surprises you didn’t expect. But we’re trying to understand the exact cost increases and we’re working with …

From Defense Aerospace Submarine Force Announces Operational Stand Down (Source: US Navy; issued Jan. 11, 2007) NORFOLK, Va. --- The U.S. Submarine Force announced Jan. 11, that it will conduct an Operational Stand Down in the wake of recent submarine incidents. In a message to the submarine force, Vice Adm. Chuck Munns, U.S. Submarine Force commander, directed the immediate “stand down” to focus energy and intellect on the basics of submarine operations. Submarines provide continued excellence in the accomplishment of national and theater tasking, but recent problems in routine operations need attention. “It is clear that a common thread through rece…

From Navy Times January 11, 2007 Boone lost rudder at sea By William H. McMichael The rudder fell off a Mayport, Fla.-based frigate while it was on deployment in the western Mediterranean Sea in late November, the Atlantic Fleet Naval Surface Force confirmed Thursday. The Nov. 30 mishap forced the ship to send out a call for help, said Paul Taylor, a SurfLant spokesman. The Canadian destroyer HMCS Iroquois responded, providing divers who inspected the ship’s underside. Within 24 hours, the Boone was being towed to Rota, Spain, for repairs by a German replenishment oiler, FGS Spessart, Taylor said. The ship was not adrift or totally dead in the water beca…

From Jane's Defence Weekly Nagging software problem plagues Super Hornet radar Stephen Trimble JDW Americas Bureau Chief Washington DC The advanced radar developed for the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet has completed a key testing period with a nagging software problem still unresolved but showing improvement, according to the US Navy. The Raytheon APG-79 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar - the first dual-mode sensor in service on a US military fighter - completed its operational test and evaluation phase on 6 December 2006. The APG-79 continues to suffer from software glitches but programme officials believe that projected growth curves will p…

From Aviation Week Raptor Scores in Alaskan Exercise By David A. Fulghum and Michael J. Fabey 01/07/2007 09:51:16 PM As the F-22 begins its operational life, interest has turned to assessing just how well suited the stealthy Raptor is to its role as the premier air-to-air fighter, while taking a peek at some of the surprises for pilots and maintenance crews as they explore what the aircraft can do. As part of the research for this series of articles on the F-22, Michael Fabey flew in the back seat of an F-15D while the Eagle and Raptor pilots demonstrated their aircraft's capabilities in the air-to-air ranges at Tyndall AFB, Fla. (For additional details of the R…

From DefenseNews U.S. Tries Putting Patriots on F-15s By KRIS OSBORN U.S. fighter jets laden with Patriot missiles may one day help shoot down incoming ballistic missiles, Lockheed Martin officials said. Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control is working with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to put Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles under the wing of an F-15 fighter, said Mike Trotsky, the division’s vice president. The firm is working under a contract from 2005 worth roughly $2 million. A new contract, expected to be worth about $3 million, will start work with other fighter planes. “We’re looking at the F-16. F-22, F-35, F-15,” said Trotsky. De…

From DefenseNews Posted 12/21/06 15:10 New Submarine To Be Delivered to U.S. Navy Early By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS General Dynamics Electric Boat is expected to deliver the new submarine Hawaii to the U.S. Navy on Dec. 22, several weeks ahead of schedule. The Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine earlier had been scheduled for a March 31, 2007 delivery, but shipbuilders Electric Boat and Northrop Grumman Newport News worked to speed up delivery in order to hold down construction costs, shipyard officials have said. Capt. Dave Johnson, the Navy’s Virginia-class program manager, confirmed the expected new delivery date. The Hawaii ran a series of builder…

From Aviation Week F-35A Makes First Flight By Ed Phillips/Aviation Week & Space Technology 12/15/2006 05:40:41 PM The first production Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II flew Dec. 15, initiating a six-year, 12,000-hour flight test program involving 15-20 airplanes. Company officials say the 32-min. flight, which originated and terminated at Lockheed Martin facilities at NAS Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, went as planned. "The Lightning II performed beautifully," said Jon Beesley, F-35 chief test pilot. After takeoff Beesley flew the airplane to an altitude of 15,000 ft. and performed a series of maneuvers to check handling qualities and throttle respons…

From Navy Times December 14, 2006 Attack sub Rickover to be inactivated today By William H. McMichael Staff writer Crew members of the Los Angeles-class submarine Hyman G. Rickover prepare to tie up Oct. 11 at Naval Station Norfolk, Va., after the boat’s final deployment. Rickover will be inactivated today. — MCSN Kelvin Edwards / Navy NORFOLK NAVAL STATION, Va. — The 22-year-old attack submarine Hyman G. Rickover will be inactivated Thursday during a ceremony at its home port of Norfolk Naval Station, the Atlantic Fleet Submarine Force announced. The ship’s sponsor and widow of the late Adm. Rickover, retired Cmdr. Eleonore Rickover, will attend the 1 …

From Flight International JSF team rejects dedicated EA-35 By Graham Warwick USMC looks at 'plug-and-play' electronic alternatives The US Marine Corps is looking to raise the electronic attack capability of its Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, but will not build a dedicated "EA-35" jamming version, says deputy commandant for aviation Lt Gen John Castellaw. Just last year, the JSF team was studying an EA-35 variant, but Castellaw now says: "We are moving away from dedicated platforms. We get a designed-in [electronic attack] capability with the AESA [active electronically scanned array radar], and there are other opportunities we will be pursuing."…