Current Events in the Americas

MSNBC blog Basically, the US hasn't passed its FY 2011 budget yet and has been operating on "continuing resolutions" since 1 October. The current resolution ends on 4 March. This is having a military impact, as the latest issue of AIR International points out; some procurement stuff can't be started.

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]

From Defense Aerospace Government of Canada Awards Tactical Airlift Contract (Source: Public Works and Government Services Canada; issued Jan. 16, 2008) GATINEAU --- The Honourable Michael M Fortier, Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, along with the Honourable Peter Gordon MacKay, Minister of National Defence, today announced that the government has awarded a contract to Lockheed Martin Corporation for the acquisition of the Canadian Forces new tactical lift aircraft. "Canada has long been in dire need of renewed tactical airlift capabilities," said Minister Fortier. "The government is now delivering on commitments it has made to ensur…

From Aviation Week Pentagon Scraps USAF Tanker Competition Sep 10, 2008 By Jefferson Morris The U.S. Department of Defense announced this morning that it is terminating the U.S. Air Force refueling tanker competition, and has notified Congress and the competing industry teams of the move. Halting the current competition can be viewed as a win for Boeing, which complained that the quick pace of the recompete didn't give it enough time to substantively change its proposal. The deferment would allow the company to rebuild its proposal strategy around a larger aircraft like the 777. According to a DOD statement, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in consultatio…

From DefenseNews [excerpt] And so it begins, or continues. Expect more of the same if buy the F-35 and have to struggle to support that single component of the force at the expense of other programs and capabilities.

Analysis: How plans that don’t add up hurt fleet By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday May 27, 2008 11:18:34 EDT When Navy officials tell Congress they have confidence in their shipbuilding cost projections, lawmakers don’t believe them. When flag officers say they’ve got enough money for maintenance, fleet sailors wonder why high-tech warships aren’t combat-ready. When top admirals say they have a new maritime strategy, analysts struggle to match it with the shipbuilding plan. When business strategies override operational needs, officers wonder whether they are war fighters or executives. Navy leaders are suffering from a credib…

Make the Zumwalt a Fighting Command Ship (Proceedings, May 2020) I like this idea.

From Flight International Northrop Grumman outlines B-2 bomber enhancements as USAF reveals plan to also boost strike fleet with new aircraft design By Graham Warwick USAF to also boost strike fleet with new aircraft design High-energy laser weapons are a potential future upgrade for the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit bomber, which is expected to remain in service beyond 2050. Improved passive and active stealth techniques are also expected to be needed beyond 2020 to keep the type viable as a penetrating bomber, the company says. A US Air Force advanced concepts simulation exercise in November evaluated use of a solid-state laser system for positive combat ide…

From Navy Times Big E preps for final combat deployment By Philip Ewing - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Sep 21, 2010 10:56:09 EDT ABOARD THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER ENTERPRISE — Sept. 24 marks 50 years since this ship’s launch and champagne christening ...

Aircraft Procurement Plan, FY 2012-2041 (PDF, 25 pp)

From Code One, Third Quarter 2008 Vikings Ashore The very last at-sea deployment for the S-3 Viking ended on 29 May as crews from Sea Control Squadron 22 (VS-22), known as the Checkmates, returned home to NAS Jacksonville, Florida. VS-22 crews completed more than 300 flight hours during their two-month deployment on board the USS George Washington (CVN-73) as the ship sailed around South America en route to its new home port of Yokosuka, Japan. The VS-22 flyoff as the Washington neared San Diego marked the last planned S-3 catapult shot. The Checkmates and Sea Control Wing Atlantic Fleet are both scheduled to disestablish in January 2009, closing out the Viking's …

Looks like quality control problems are not limited to the PRC. See also. RedNova Problems on New Ship a Bad Sign, Analyst Warns Jul. 14--WASHINGTON -- The "poor construction and craftsmanship" Navy inspectors say they found last month aboard a new amphibious ship could be an ominous sign for the service and the U.S. shipbuilding industry as they embark on a host of other ship programs, a veteran naval analyst warned Wednesday. Scott C. Truver, a vice president of Anteon Corp., an information technology company based in Fairfax, said a newly disclosed Navy report on the San Antonio, a $1.2 billion helicopter and troop carrier scheduled to join the fleet this fall…

From Flight International DATE: 11/12/07 SOURCE: Flightglobal.com Production of first Boeing P-8A begins at Spirit By Graham Warwick Spirit AeroSystems has begun production of the fuselage for the first Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime-patrol aircraft, a derivative of the Next Generation 737 under development to replace the US Navy’s Lockheed P-3 Orion. Loading of the assembly jig began at Spirit’s Wichita, Kansas plant on 11 December, and the first fuselage is scheduled to be dispatched by rail car 100 days later to Boeing’s 737 final-assembly line in Renton, Washington on 19 March 2008. The first P-8 is one of five – three flight-test aircraft and two…

From Navy Times Navy: Forrestal to be scrapped or sunk By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer Posted : Friday Jun 26, 2009 12:08:05 EDT The famous aircraft carrier Forrestal will be cut up for scrap or sunk as an artificial reef, the Navy has determined. “Right now, the two disposal options being considered are partial dismantling and recycling or full dismantling and recycling,” said Katie Roberts, a spokeswoman at Naval Sea System Command. A partial dismantling would result in the hulk of the ship sunk as an artificial reef, as the carrier Oriskany was in 2006. Forrestal, named for former Navy Secretary James Forrestal, was the site of a horrific fire Jul…

From Aviation Week USN Hornet Shortfall Poised To Triple Mar 18, 2008 By David A. Fulghum The U.S. Navy's most recent estimate of a 69 F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet shortage is getting ready to leap by about 300 percent. "The 69 minimum assumes that the Joint Strike Fighter F-35C is operational in 2015 as currently planned, that they buy them at 50 per year and that the [older] F/A-18A -Ds are going to last 10,000 hrs," says a senior aerospace industry official with insight into the program. "All those are very optimistic assumptions, and the Navy's characterization of the shortage [as 69 aircraft] is the most optimistic [extrapolation of that] scenario." …

From Navy Times Next-gen carrier launch system could be shelved By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer Posted : Monday Apr 6, 2009 15:46:34 EDT A decision point is looming for the Navy’s biggest shipbuilding project: whether to launch carrier aircraft using cutting-edge — but untried, over-budget and behind-schedule — electromagnetic technology, or return to heavy, bulky, maintenance-intensive steam catapult systems that offer proven reliability. Acting Navy Secretary B.J. Penn and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead are to be briefed in mid-April by service officials on the status of the electromagnetic aircraft launch system, which is to be instal…

From DefenseNews [excerpt]

From DefenseNews Posted 09/04/07 21:22 Nuclear Warheads Mistakenly Flown on B-52 By MICHAEL HOFFMAN A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber mistakenly loaded with five nuclear warheads flew from Minot Air Force Base, N.D, to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Aug. 30, resulting in an Air Force-wide investigation, according to three officers who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the incident. The B-52 was loaded with Advanced Cruise Missiles, part of a Defense Department effort to decommission 400 of the ACMs. But the nuclear warheads should have been removed at Minot before being transported to Barksdale, the officers said. The missiles…

From Aviation Week Global Opposition Movement Challenges JSF Mar 4, 2009 By Bill Sweetman The first major military aircraft project of the Internet-era, the Joint Strike Fighter, faces a new opposition: a global, networked movement comprising independent and think-tank analysts, retired air force leaders and industry professionals and politicians concerned with the JSF’s financial and operational risks. All of them have immediate access to worldwide news, official reports and program briefings to an extent that was inconceivable when the F-22 was at the same stage of development a decade ago. There are a few main themes that run through many JSF critiques—so…