Current Events in the Americas

Cruiser, amphib test Aegis today in shootdown By Audrey McAvoy - The Associated Press Posted : Thursday Jun 5, 2008 8:01:30 EDT HONOLULU — The U.S. military plans to intercept a ballistic missile in its first sea-based missile defense test since the cruiser Lake Erie shot down an errant satellite in a real-world mission earlier this year. The test, off Kauai, is the latest test of the Aegis ballistic missile defense program. The military will fire a Scud-like missile, which has a range of a few hundred miles, from the decommissioned amphibious assault ship Tripoli. The Lake Erie will fire two interceptor missiles at the target with the intention of shooti…

CF-18 Modernization BG-05.003 - February 18, 2005 A total of 80 CF-18 Hornetaircraft are undergoing a thorough mid-life upgrade to ensure that the Canadian Forces have a modern and interoperable fighter fleet until 2017. Various modernization projects are combined in two distinct phases of the overall aircraft modernization program. Of the 138 CF-18s procured between 1982 and 1988, 121 aircraft remain: 15 were lost to accidents, one aircraft was rendered unflyable as part of testing procedures, and one aircraft (number 901) has been inducted into the Canada Aviation Museum. A total of 92 aircraft will be kept operational until the Phase I modernization of a total…

From Navy Times September 22, 2006 Goodbye to the F-14 By Tom Vanden Brook USA Today VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The Navy today is holstering the F-14 Tomcat, the top gun in its Cold War arsenal and one of the most recognizable warplanes in history. Maintenance costs for the F-14 have soared, and a more versatile, cheaper-to-keep replacement, the F/A-18 Super Hornet, has taken its place. Yet the Super Hornet is unlikely to surpass the F-14’s following. Furiously fast, deafeningly loud and lethal to enemy aircraft, the Tomcat had already attained legendary status by the 1980s. The 1986 film “Top Gun,” in which Tom Cruise portrayed an F-14 pilot in training, ce…

Navy debates STOVL JSF future Marines, U.K. worry about F-35 variant By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer Posted : Monday Apr 30, 2007 10:49:54 EDT Despite public support by Pentagon and Navy leaders for the short-take-off/vertical-landing version of the Joint Strike Fighter, debates about the planned acquisition and operation of the F-35B continue behind the scenes — worrying Marine Corps officials and potential foreign customers who are counting on the versatile aircraft. Navy officials have set no public deadline to settle JSF procurement plans, but a current Navy briefing document provides a rare window on the debate. It argues that the STOVL version s…

BBC News Story That's a Type 45, which is a lot more powerful than the T23 currently there...

From Flight International DATE: 14/07/08 SOURCE: Flight International A giant leap: F-35 readies for production ramp-up By Stephen Trimble Production activity for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is entering the start of an intense phase that will dominate the programme's energies for the next 18 months. Since November 2006, getting the first weight-optimised and short take-off vertical landing prototype aircraft in the air on time was the programme's primary focus, even as the first AA-1 conventional aircraft began flight tests in December 2006. The path to realising the STOVL milestone was obstructed by the discovery earlier this year …

From Defense Industry Daily F-22 Squadron Shot Down by the International Date Line Posted 01-Mar-2007 05:35 Aircraft software can be serious business. DID's F-22A Raptor FOCUS Article mentioned recent flight software problems that delayed the aircraft's first foreign deployment from Hickam AFB in Hawaii to Kadena AFB, Japan. What we didn't mention at the time is how serious the problem was, and how dependent on computers modern aircraft - including military aircraft - have become. What follows are relevant excerpts from a CNN transcript on February 24, 2007 that covered a number of unrelated issues. We've cut that out, and left only the F-22 related section..…

Australian warships in NY to mark alliance at sea THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 5:54 PM EDT, July 19, 2009 Read AP Article here. NEW YORK - The United States and Australia are celebrating a friendship at sea that has lasted more than 100 years. On Sunday, two Australian warships arrived in New York to commemorate the relationship between the two nations -- naval allies in every major conflict since World War I. The HMAS Sydney and HMAS Ballarat docked at Pier 88 on Manhattan's West Side, where encounters of a very personal kind also were celebrated. "We met on a tour of Europe last month, and we hit it off big time!" said American college student Masha …

From Aviation Week's ARES Blog Shore duty for the SM-3 Posted by Amy Butler at 7/16/2008 8:47 AM CDT The Missile Defense Agency is considering a land-based variant of the Standard Missile-3, says Ed Miyashiro, deputy general manager of Raytheon's Missile Systems sector in Tucson, Ariz. Driving the need is Israel, which wants the ability to engage ballistic missiles in the exoatmosphere farther away from its own territory. Iran fired multiple medium- and long-range ballistic missiles July 9 during a military exercise. The long-range Shahab could reach Israeli territory. SM-3 prime contractor Raytheon is examining a range of options -- including a moveable,…

New analysis of the F-35 JSF from Carlo Kopp and the APA gang ... Assessing JSF Defence Penetration Capabilities

From DefenseNews Posted 04/02/07 10:41 Is New U.S. Destroyer Unstable? Experts Doubt Radical Hull; Navy Says All Is Well By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS As the U.S. Navy is poised to award the first construction contracts on its new multibillion-dollar DDG 1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer, experts in and outside the Navy say the radical new hull design might be unstable. Given just the right conditions, some say, it could even roll over. At least eight current and former officers, naval engineers and architects and naval analysts interviewed for this article expressed concerns about the ship’s stability. One former flag officer, asked about DDG 1000, responded by puttin…

(Source: Ares and BBC) So, attempt number three at this has gone to Boeing...

Showdown Ends in Cancellation U.S. Navy Scraps LCS 3 After Dispute With Lockheed By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS DefenseNews The U.S. Navy’s abrupt decision to cancel construction of a Lockheed Martin Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) leaves many wondering what it means to Lockheed, the LCS program, shipbuilders, service acquisition and the fleet itself. Navy Secretary Donald Winter, who has pledged to use any method at his disposal to hold down shipbuilding costs, has repeatedly urged industry to modernize and find new ways to build ships. But shipbuilders are digging in, tired of the badgering from Navy officials and lawmakers alike. They say too little attention is giv…

From Marine Corps Times Audit: Buying, flying JSF to cost $1 trillion By Richard Lardner - The Associated Press Posted : Wednesday Mar 12, 2008 14:55:31 EDT WASHINGTON — The cost of buying and operating a new fleet of jet fighters for the U.S. military is nearing $1 trillion, according to a congressional audit that found the program dogged by delays, manufacturing inefficiencies and price increases. Released Tuesday, the report from the Government Accountability Office offers a sobering assessment of the ambitious effort to deliver a modern series of aircraft known as the F-35 Lightning II to the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Tasked by Congress to co…

AvWeek gave great coverage of the hearings today in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) on the F-35 JSF program. Some links of interest arising from the hearing: Joint Statement of Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter, USAF acquisition chief David Van Buren and F-35 JPO head Vice Adm David Venlet (PDF) Statement of Pentagon Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) director Christine Fox (PDF) Statement of Pentagon Operational Test & Evaluation (OT&E) director Michael Gilmore (PDF) Statement of Lockheed Martin VP/GM Tom Burbage (PDF) (he apparently did not take any questions) Statement of Michael Sullivan of the GAO …

CV32: Being the good neighbours we are, Canada has dived head first into a commitment to buy 65 F-35A JSF ... first, the "touchy feely" news releases ... From Defense Aerospace Government of Canada Strengthens Sovereignty While Generating Significant Economic Benefits (Source: Canadian Department of National Defence; issued July 16, 2010) (All monetary amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated) OTTAWA --– The Government of Canada today announced it is acquiring the fifth generation Joint Strike Fighter F-35 aircraft to contribute to the modernization of the Canadian Forces, while bringing significant economic benefits and opportunities to re…

here Can someone enlighten me as to why shooting down a ballistic missile in its "final seconds of flight" versus further away is a good thing? I can see as a last defense against missiles which have gotten through the longer range defenses, but any type of "weapons of mass effects - WME" warhead such as chemical or biological agents would still be dispersed over a wide area by the destruction of the missile.

Thousands of problems found on amphib ship InSurv notes 5,564 ‘cards’ aboard San Antonio. Crew contends with ‘incomplete’ ship By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer Posted : Saturday Apr 21, 2007 7:55:28 EDT The amphibious transport dock San Antonio has been at sea more than half of the past year — more than 200 days — performing a long series of trials to certify that the Navy’s newest amphibious ships can perform their missions as designed. Now the Navy is getting down to some details left aside when the “gator” Borei class was delivered from its builder in July 2005 — which involve actually finishing the ship. But it’s a long list of details: 5,564 “…

Argentine navy loses contact with submarine (CNN) TR1700 class ARA San Juan (S-42)

From Armed Forces Journal, April 2011 issue