Current Events in the Americas

From Air Force Times [The beginning of the end for the "Wobbly Goblin" ... ] October 25, 2006 F-117 pilot school closes Staff report The F-117 Nighthawk pilot school has closed its canopy. The last class of F-117 pilots graduated from the school on Oct. 13, according to 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M. The closure of the formal training unit was the latest sign that the F-117 is being phased out at Holloman and will eventually be replaced by the F-22A Raptor. The school was overseen by the 7th Fighter Squadron, which will be deactivated in December. Once the 7th closes, a sister unit, the 8th Fighter Squadron, will handle many of remain…

From Navy Times October 04, 2006 Carrier George H.W. Bush to be christened Saturday By William H. McMichael Staff writer NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — President George W. Bush will deliver the principal address at the christening of the aircraft carrier bearing the name of his father, President George H.W. Bush, during a Saturday ceremony at the Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard. The former president, his wife Barbara and their daughter, Doro Bush Koch, will attend the event. Koch, who serves as the ship’s sponsor, will perform the time-honored tradition of breaking a bottle of wine across the bow to formally christen the ship. George H.W. Bush, the nation’s…

From Defense Aerospace [excerpt]

by Staff Sgt. Matthew Bates, Air Force News Agency Source: Air Force Link - Air Force armada all about the ammo

US Army Weapon Systems Handbook 2011 (PDF): download here

From DefenseNews [excerpt] Link to the document Naval Aviation Vision, January 2012 (PDF) Update to the Carrier air wings thread in the FAQ subforum includes details of the future USN air wings and USMC aviation combat elements.

From Defense Aerospace Setting the Record Straight on F-35 (Source: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company; issued September 19, 2008) FORT WORTH, Texas --- U.S. Air Force analyses show the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is at least 400 percent more effective in air-to-air combat capability than the best fighters currently available in the international market. The Air Force's standard air-to-air engagement analysis model, also used by allied air forces to assess air-combat performance, pitted the 5th generation F-35 against all advanced 4th generation fighters in a variety of simulated scenarios. The results were clear: the F-35 outperformed the most highly …

From Offiziere [excerpt] The 'before' and 'after' pics:

Navy shows little interest in armed drones By Sebastian Abbot - The Associated Press Posted : Tuesday Jun 3, 2008 6:01:44 EDT ABOARD THE USS HARRY S. TRUMAN — The Navy lags well behind the Air Force in the development of armed drones — the unmanned aircraft now used increasingly in Iraq and Afghanistan — insisting that its “Top Gun” fighter pilots are still smarter, better and more flexible in combat. But the contrasting visions for the next generation of America’s air arsenal point to wider debates within the military about the pace of incorporating remote-control technology into future battle strategies. It also touches on differences in military cultur…

From Flight Global DATE: 19/05/10 SOURCE: Flight International Boeing B-52 set to receive major radar upgrade By Stephen Trimble The US Air Force is moving forward with a major new upgrade for the half-century-old Boeing B-52H fleet, focused on replacing the bomber's radar, which is roughly 30 years old. The Northrop Grumman APQ-166 strategic radar is nearing the end of its useful life and will be replaced on 76 B-52Hs, the USAF says in a request for information issued to industry. The new system will perform all of the mission functions now performed by the APQ-166 mechanically scanned array, but provide "new and enhanced capabilities", the air force sa…

A South American Arms Race? Friday, Dec. 21, 2007 By ANDREW DOWNIE/SAO PAULO Time First it was Venezuela, spending $4 billion on Russian fighter planes, Kalashnikovs and perhaps even submarines. Then it was Brazil, in August announcing a 53% increase in its military budget for 2008, the biggest such increase in more than a decade. The competition is still in the early stages but when two of Latin America's nouveau riche oil powers start splashing out on weapons, alarm bells ring over an arms race. Related Articles Indeed, Chavez's spending spree has given Brazil's long-dormant arms industry a bit of a political kick-start. Says Brazilian Senator Jose Sarney, a …

Coast Guard to decommission troubled 123s By Patricia Kime - Staff Writer Posted : Wednesday Apr 18, 2007 7:33:57 EDT The Coast Guard will decommission eight recently built patrol boats because the ships suffer from hull deformations and other problems that would be cost-prohibitive to fix, officials said Tuesday. The decision to scrap the ships — eight 123-foot Island Class patrol boats that were refurbished between 2003 and 2005 — is the final nail in the coffin for the long-beleaguered program. The vessels were never fully operational and their troubles became central in a debate over the Coast Guard’s handling of its Deepwater modernization program. C…

Defence Minister Kicks Off Phase II of CF-18 Upgrades NR-05.016 - February 18, 2005 OTTAWA — The second phase of the CF-18 Modernization Project kicked off today during a ceremony that saw the Boeing Company sign a contract with the Department of National Defence for $117 million. Defence Minister Bill Graham and Lieutenant-General Ken Pennie, Chief of the Air Staff, attended the ceremony held by Boeing in Mirabel, Québec. “The CF-18 is Canada’s primary aircraft for maintaining air defence and air superiority,” said Minister Graham. “The $2.1-billion CF-18 modernization program will ensure that the CF-18s continue to provide security to Canadians and defend …

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…

Randomly happened upon this when looking through the Navy Laser Testing blog post. http://www.dote.osd.mil/pub/reports/FY2008...vy/2008arci.pdf Is that not a frank and earnest evaluation or what! Insufficient testing before sending submarines to sea. How does it feel when you are tailing an Akula II and the sonar computers crash? Even more telling may be some of the conclusions reached about the program not improving performance even beyond the goals established in 1998.

From DefenseNews Boeing Pitches 777 Tanker; Labels New USAF Bid 7A7 By karen walker Published: 15 Jun 2009 19:05 PARIS - Boeing is preparing to offer either the 777 or the 767 airframes when it rebids the U.S. tanker contest, the company said June 15. Speaking at the Paris Air Show, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) president and CEO Jim Albaugh said he expected to see a request for proposals (RFP) this summer for the new U.S. Air Force tanker competition. "I expect it will not have nearly as many requirements as the last one," he said. Boeing lost out on the last hotly competed tanker contest to a joint bid by Northrop Grumman and EADS that wa…

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 Defense Aerospace Pentagon Contract Announcement (Source; US Department of Defense; issued Jan. 30, 2008) McDonnell Douglas Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $73,707,908 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N00019-08-C-0021) for the system development and demonstration of the Harpoon Block III Missile Program. Work will be performed in St. Charles, Mo. (92.12 percent); Lititz, Penn. (1.93 percent); Cedar Rapids, Iowa (.84 percent); Chatsworth, Calif. (.76 percent); Galena, Kan. (.49 percent); Lowell, Mass. (.42 percent); and various locations across the United States (3.44 percent), and work is expected…

New amphib to be named America By Philip Ewing - Staff writer Posted : Monday Jun 30, 2008 11:57:54 EDT Navy Secretary Donald Winter announced Friday that the new amphibious assault ship known as LHA 6 would be named America, granting the wish of veterans of the aircraft carrier America, who have lobbied for another ship to take the name after theirs was sunk as a target in 2005. Winter made the announcement in Jacksonville, Fla., at a reunion of the America Carrier Veterans Association. The new America is planned as a 45,000-ton, gas-turbine big-deck gator that has been dubbed “a Marine Corps aircraft carrier.” It has an axial flight deck like a Wasp-cla…

From Time V-22 Osprey: A Flying Shame Wednesday, Sep. 26, 2007 By MARK THOMPSON It's hard to imagine an American weapons program so fraught with problems that Dick Cheney would try repeatedly to cancel it — hard, that is, until you get to know the Osprey. As Defense Secretary under George H.W. Bush, Cheney tried four times to kill the Marine Corps's ungainly tilt-rotor aircraft. Four times he failed. Cheney found the arguments for the combat troop carrier unpersuasive and its problems irredeemable. "Given the risk we face from a military standpoint, given the areas where we think the priorities ought to be, the V‑22 is not at the top of the list," he told a Sena…