Current Events in the Americas

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 Jane's Weight loss regime beckons for LCS 1 By Casandra Newell 10 February 2009 The US Navy is mulling over the removal of several redundant and non-critical parts from Littoral Combat Ship 1 (LCS 1) USS Freedom in order to decrease the vessel's displacement. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) told Jane's that officials are considering taking out components "that have become unused on the finished ship". The proposed list includes engine removal rails for the twin Rolls-Royce MT-30 gas turbines. Senior crew members assigned to the Lockheed Martin/Marinette Marine-built frigate said in December 2008 that the prototype vessel was three to five tons ov…

Here's the link on Facebook Here's an interesting hand grenade to toss into the room ... What do you think the Patron Saint of the US Navy would REALLY think of these over-priced white elephants? I personally think he would order the design team keel-hauled.

USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) Commissioning Publication (Faircount Media)

From Defense Aerospace Langley Celebrates Raptor's Initial Operational Capability (Source: US Air Force; issued Jan. 13, 2006) LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. --- The 1st Fighter Wing held a ceremony here today to celebrate the F-22A Raptor's initial operational capability. The event comes after the 27th Fighter Squadron was officially declared IOC on Dec. 15 by Gen. Ronald E. Keys, commander of Air Combat Command. The IOC declaration proves the F-22A is mission ready. The base now has 19 Raptors. The 27th FS -- the Air Force's oldest fighter squadron -- is now the first operational unit to fly the service's newest fighter aircraft. "This next…

From Huffington Post [excerpt]

From NOSINT The San Juan Islands are such a lovely place ... great scenery, good food, whale-watching and last but not least - liberals. They don't like the sound the US Navy's jets at neighboring Whidbey Island Naval Air Station makes (want some cheese with that whine?) It's obvious, they don't realize that throaty roar is the sound of freedom. Every day they take for granted the freedoms they enjoy, all because of the distinctive sound of those Prowler and Hornet engines and the men an women who drive those aircraft, along with others like them on the ground and sea, who serve in the other branches of our armed forces.

From ARES JSF Secrets to Stay Secret Posted by David A. Fulghum at 2/10/2009 4:09 PM CST Nobody is going to be allowed to play around with the software that controls the F-35’s electronic warfare package. After a long period of obtuse answers about whether foreign customers would be able to put their own systems in F-35 or customize the software themselves, the issue has been clarified. “No,” says Maj. Gen. Charles Davis, program executive officers of the Joint Strike Fighter program. The super-classified software allows electronic surveillance, detection, identification, self-defense and attack. A software-run techniques generator also will be able to se…

US to demolish obsolete ICBM launch facilities (Jane's)

More Royal Navy frigates for Chile MercoPress The strong international price of copper for the second year running has bolstered Chile’s coffers and a percentage of that additional income is earmarked for military equipment purchases including several Royal Navy frigates, German Leopard tanks and refurbished F-16 fighters. Excess income from copper sales abroad represented last year an additional two billion US dollars for the Chilean government and for the military who are legally entitled to a percentage, almost 700 million US dollars in these last two years, although part of it has already been spent in cancelling debts. President Ricardo Lagos and the comm…

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 Defense Aerospace BAE Systems Delivers First Piece of Production Hardware for U.S. Navy's Advanced Gun System (Source: BAE Systems; issued May 25, 2010) ARLINGTON, Va. --- BAE Systems, along with partner General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, delivered to the U.S. Navy the first automated magazine for the 155-mm Advanced Gun System (AGS) being developed for the DDG 1000 (Zumwalt) Destroyer Program. The magazine is the first major production component to be delivered under the AGS program. It is one of a total of four magazines that will be built under a Navy contract to produce four AGS weapon systems for the Navy’s first two Zumwalt class des…

From Flight Global [excerpt]

Report on USS McCain and USS Fitzgerald collisions (Dept of the Navy, pdf)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,286521,00.html He sure does talk a big game.

3 Programs, 3 Sets of Risks By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS Defense News Each of the U.S. Navy’s new ship designs brings its own set of potential problems: å The Carrier: The CVN 78 Gerald R. Ford design features a number of new elements over the previous Nimitz-class carriers, including a new hull, new reactor plant and redesigned flight deck. A new dual-band radar is being developed — the size of which is key to a much smaller island that enables new flight deck operation patterns — and the EMALS magnetic launch system represents a radical improvement. The Navy first planned to put off installation of the new launch system until later ships in the class, but it decided …

From AOL Defense [excerpt]

Defense Aerospace DD(X) Quarter Scale Model Underwater Explosive Testing Successful (Source: DD(X) National Team; issued Jun 1, 2005) ABERDEEN, Md. --- The DD(X) National Team, led by Northrop Grumman and in partnership with Raytheon, General Dynamics, United Defense and Lockheed Martin, announces the successful completion of Underwater Explosion (UNDEX) testing on the DD(X) Quarter Scale Model. This test provided a critical step in demonstrating that the DD(X) wave piercing tumblehome hull form fully meets the operational requirements set forth by the U.S. Navy. The primary purpose of the testing was to determine the DD(X) hull form's reaction to an …

Briefing slides for E-2D Advanced Hawkeye (PDF)