US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

[navyreco]

U.S. Navy is Still Looking at MBDA's Dual Mode Brimstone for F/A-18E/F AGM Solution

Following our article published last year about U.S. Navy evaluation of MBDA's Dual Mode Brimstone, it was brought to our attention earlier this year that the U.S. Congress did allocate the $10 Million funding for "Brimstone weapon system qualification for the F/A-18 aircraft".

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[TerraN_EmpirE]

As I said before its a great option, and the missile system should be compatible with AH1Z and F35B maybe even expanding into USAF and US Army missions. If the seeker could be integrated with a Longbow like radar system it might even find its way onto FF LCS.

 

[navyreco]

U.S. Navy Coastal Riverine Group 2 Accepts the First Two of Twelve MK VI Patrol Boats

U.S. Navy Coastal Riverine Group 2 has taken ownership of the first two of 12 Mark VI Patrol Boats, in Portsmouth, Sept. 8. The MK VI, an 85-foot combatant craft, will provide a persistent capability to patrol shallow littoral areas for the purpose of force protection of friendly and coalition forces as well as critical infrastructure.

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[aksha]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=404584576405272

 

[Jeff Head]

U.S. Navy Coastal Riverine Group 2 Accepts the First Two of Twelve MK VI Patrol Boats

U.S. Navy Coastal Riverine Group 2 has taken ownership of the first two of 12 Mark VI Patrol Boats, in Portsmouth, Sept. 8. The MK VI, an 85-foot combatant craft, will provide a persistent capability to patrol shallow littoral areas for the purpose of force protection of friendly and coalition forces as well as critical infrastructure.

I know the first of these vessels was delivered to the US Navy in August 2014. This was the initial order of ten, and they were declared operational in the spring of this year. More recently the Navy ordered more. I believe a total of twelve may have already been delivered.

This is the first class of fast, riverine/coastal patrol boats built for the US Navy since the 1980s, and the U.S. Navy plans to purchase up to 48 of these Mark VI patrol boats.

The interior of these vessels/boats is spacious, with berthing for the crew and shock-absorbing seats for other occupants. They are fully networked with a command, control, communication and computing, surveillance and intelligence (C4SI) suite for enhanced situational awareness, survivability, and multi-mission support, which includes flat screen monitors mounted throughout the vessels, including at the stations/seats for the special operations personnel.

Payloads are configurable to fulfill missions ranging from mine hunting to defending against swarming small/fast boat attacks.

Standard armament consists of two remote-controlled Mk 38 Mod 2 25 mm chain guns and six crewed M2 .50 caliber machine guns. But, depending on mission needs, gun mounts can include M240 machine guns, M134 miniguns, and Mk 19 grenade launchers. They are also planning to the BGM-176B Griffin missile I believe.

The main cabin can house Navy SEAL operators or medical personnel and their equipment. The rear deck and stern can launch and recover small boats, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs).

Finally, they can transported and deployed by larger Navy ships such LHDs (Landing Helicopter Docks), LPDs (Landing Platform Docks), and LSDs (Landing Ship Docks) which allows them to be carried and deployed anywhere in the world.

Specifications include:

Displacement: 72 tons
Length: 82 ft.
Beam: 22 ft.
Draft: 4 ft.
Speed: 45 knots
Crew: 10
Embarked forces: 8-10 personnel
Range: 700 nmi at 30 knots
Armament:
- 2 x Mk 38 Mod 2 25mm chain guns
- 1 x BGM-76B Griffin Missile launcher (Optional)
- 6 x .50 cal machine guns
- 2 x 7.62 mm M134 mini-guns/M240 mchine guns
- 2 x 40mm Mk19 grenade launchers (Optional)

A couple of earlier pics as they were being evaluated, tested, and policies worked up:

​

Glad to see them being officially deployed to the Coastal Riverine Groups now.

We have a thread for smaller Naval Patrol Boats like this and I will move our posts...

THERE

 

[Jeff Head]

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​

In a U.S. Navy field test, Northrop Grumman Corporation’s AQS-24B mine hunting system successfully demonstrated the ability to perform synthetic aperture sonar processing at 18 knots in real time.

The AQS-24B was developed at Northrop Grumman’s Undersea Systems campus in Annapolis. The field testing took place at the U.S. Navy Central Command in Bahrain, May 19-28. The AQS-24B finished 12 for 12 in successfully executing missions during the test exercise. During separate Tactics Development trials in Panama City, Florida, the AQS-24B achieved a record long single sortie tow duration of 16.25 hours from a surface ship.

The AQS-24B has significantly improved image resolution, as well as the speed of real-time sonar processing.

Vice president of Undersea Systems business unit, Northrop Grumman, Alan Lytle said:

The AQS-24B represents a significant advancement of the U.S. Navy’s mine hunting capability, on both the MH-53E helicopters as well as the Mine Hunting Unmanned Surface Vessels (MHUs).

The U.S. Navy can detect, classify and localize modern-day mine threats through the AQS-24B’s enhanced mine hunting sonar.

The test shown was performed aboard an Independence Class Littoral Combat Ship.

 

[Jura The idiot]

... it might even find its way onto FF LCS.

TE I found this:

but that's probably not what you meant ... or is it?

 

[Jura The idiot]

video from the inside of
After Pitching U-2 Successor, Lockheed Touts U-2

Weeks after unveiling a design for a successor to the Cold War-era

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, Lockheed Martin Corp. is touting the benefits of the U.S. Air Force’s existing fleet of Dragon Ladies.

In recent weeks, the defense contracting giant

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of having the Air Force hold a competition to develop as many as two dozen replacement aircraft. Lockheed is now calling its design the TR-X (for “tactical reconnaissance”) instead of the previous acronyms UQ-2 or RQ-X.

On Monday, it released a video praising the the aging airframe as “superior in design,” “indispensable” and “an outlier” for its ability to stay relevant six decades after it was built.

The segment, whose release coincided with the start of the Air and Space Conference sponsored by the Air Force Association, references upgrades to the aircraft, including a cockpit that’s 30 percent larger than the original, modern sensors and communications hardware, a new engine in the form of the General Electric F118, weather-penetrating sensors and new avionics with multi-function display.

Why the seemingly two-pronged approach? To be sure, Lockheed still wants to generate buzz within the Air Force to build a next-generation intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platform. But it also wants to box out Northrop Grumman Corp., maker of the RQ-4 Global Hawk drone, now slated to replace the U-2 when it retires in 2019.

In briefing materials distributed at the conference, Lockheed officials said the U-2 fleet has almost “80 percent” of life remaining on its airframe — meaning it could fly until around 2045 — and that the Dragon Lady reflects the “benchmark” in high-altitude ISR. But they also said recent demonstrations involving open mission systems have identified several areas of emerging needs in the mission set.

They include developing secure communication links between the U-2 and fourth– and fifth-generation fighters such as an F-18 and an F-22, a ground control stations and a ground vehicle.

“The design has got to sell itself,” Scott Winstead, Lockheed’s strategic business manager for the U-2, said afterward, referring to whether the company would pursue the project as an unsolicited proposal. “We’re designing to what we see are gaps, working with the Air Force to identify those gaps based off of our road maps, and then we refine that.”

He added, “So an unsolicited proposal could go out if we started seeing interest and it started to resonate.”

The Air Force plans to retire its fleet of more than 30 U-2s to save an estimated $2 billion over a decade. In its place, it plans to fly the

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drone made by Northrop Grumman Corp., of which there are about 20 in the Air Force inventory.

source:

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[Jeff Head]

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​

Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division launched the U.S. Coast Guard’s newest National Security Cutter, Munro (WMSL 755), on Saturday.

Munro is the company’s sixth NSC and is expected to deliver by the end of next year.

Derek Murphy, Ingalls’ NSC program manager, said:

"NSC 6 is the most complete ship at launch, and we accomplished this a week earlier than scheduled."

Munro was translated via Ingalls’ rail car system to the floating dry dock one week prior to launch. The dock was moved away from the pier and then flooded to float the ship. With the assistance of tugs, Munro came off the dock Saturday morning.

Ingalls has delivered the first five NSCs and has three more under construction, including Munro. The seventh ship, Kimball (WMSL 756), is scheduled for delivery in 2018. The eighth NSC, Midgett, will start fabrication in November.

Munro is named to honor Signalman First Class Douglas A. Munro, the Coast Guard’s sole recipient of the Medal of Honor. He was mortally wounded on Sept. 27, 1942, while evacuating a detachment of Marines on Guadalcanal.

Legend-class NSCs are the flagships of the Coast Guard’s cutter fleet. Designed to replace the 378‐foot Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters that entered service in the 1960s, they are 418 feet long with a 54-foot beam and displace 4,500 tons with a full load. They have a top speed of 28 knots, a range of 12,000 miles, an endurance of 60 days and a crew of 110.

Video:

 

[Jeff Head]

Very much worth watching. I do not particularly like Jimmy Kimmel or a lot of his innuendo...but I have to say, this was a stand up thing he did. And, the details of the story, tat you may not have heard before, are simply amazing. As I say, this is worth watching.