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US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
- Thread starter tphuang
- Start date
Future USS Ralph Johnson Successfully Completes Builder’s Trials
The future USS Ralph Johnson (DDG 114) successfully completed builder’s trials on July 20 after spending four days underway in the Gulf of Mexico, Naval Sea Systems Command said in a July 21 release.
Builder’s trials consist of a series of in-port and at-sea demonstrations that allow the shipbuilder, Huntington Ingalls Industries, and the Navy to assess the ship’s systems and its readiness for delivery. While underway, DDG 114 successfully demonstrated full power runs, self-defense detect-to-engage exercises, steering checks, boat handling, and anchoring.
“We’re extremely proud that this is the second ship we’ve taken to sea from Huntington Ingalls since the program’s restart, and in both instances, builder’s trials performance has been very successful,” said Capt. Casey Moton, DDG 51 class program manager, Program Executive Office (PEO) Ships. “With a rigorous trial behind us, we’re a step closer to delivering another tremendous capability to the fleet.”
The DDG 51-class ships currently being constructed are Aegis Baseline 9 Integrated Air and Missile Defense destroyers with increased computing power and radar upgrades that improve detection and reaction capabilities against modern air warfare and ballistic missile defense threats. The Aegis Combat System will enable DDG 114 to link radars with other ships and aircraft to provide a composite picture of the battle space. When operational, DDG 114 and her sister ships will serve as integral players in global maritime security.
Ralph Johnson will return to sea to conduct acceptance trials with the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey. During acceptance trials, all systems and gears will be inspected and evaluated to ensure quality and operational readiness prior to the Navy accepting delivery.
Huntington Ingalls currently is in production on future destroyers Paul Ignatius (DDG 117), Delbert D. Black (DDG 119), Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121) and Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123), and under contract for one additional ship awarded as part of the five-ship multiyear procurement for fiscal years 2013-2017. Ralph Johnson is the 30th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer constructed by HII.
Jura The idiot
General
Jun 22, 2017
Sailor error led to failed US Navy ballistic missile intercept test
now the story is
Sailor error led to failed US Navy ballistic missile intercept test
now I read it again, coughing repeatedlyA U.S. Missile Defense Agency review of a failed ballistic missile intercept test showed that a mistaken input into the combat system by a sailor on the destroyer John Paul Jones caused the missile to self-destruct before reaching the target.
A tactical datalink controller, in charge of maintaining encrypted data exchanges between ships and aircraft, accidentally identified the incoming ballistic missile target as a friendly in the system, causing the SM-3 missile to self-destruct in flight, according to a source familiar with the test.
The head of MDA did not comment on the sailor error, but said in a statement that the ongoing review confirmed it wasn’t an issue with the SM-3 Block IIA missile or the Navy’s Aegis combat system.
“Though the review is still in process, the SM-3 IIA interceptor and Aegis Combat System have been eliminated as the potential root cause,” of the failure, said Air Force Lt. Gen. Sam Greaves, the director of MDA.
“We are conducting an extensive review as part of our standard engineering and test processes, and it would be inappropriate to comment further until we complete the investigation.”
The test marked the fourth flight test of the SM-3 Block IIA and the second time it was launched from a ship. The missile successfully intercepted a ballistic missile target in a February test launch. The missile is being developed by Raytheon and is a joint project between the U.S. and Japan, designed to counter rising missile threats from North Korea and others.
The revelation that human error likely caused the failed test on June 22 is a relief to the military and contractors racing to advance BMD technology as the threat from ballistic missiles is on the rise.
The silver lining is that there appears to be that there are no issues with the interceptor, said Thomas Karako, a missile defense expert with the Center for Security and International Studies.
“As unfortunate as this might be, it’s a good thing that this wasn’t a technology issue or some deeper failure that needs to be investigated at great length and time,” Karako said. “There is no reason to believe the basic capability that has already been demonstrated has any new problems.”
John Paul Jones is the Navy’s missile defense ship; it replaced the cruiser Lake Erie in 2014. Lake Erie was the test ship since 2000 and is currently on deployment in the Asia-Pacific region.
Jura The idiot
General
well Mattis Blasts Pentagon for Complacency and WastefulnessHow can old Woodland Battle Dress Uniforms cost that much?
The Spin on this is thick as a milkshake.
- Although Spec4ce Afghan Forest is labeled as a forest pattern it's actually intended more for night operations.
- the major driver of the choice is actually in the story. The US Government owned patterns are well known and have the downside of being widely copied mentioned in the report are 3 color desert,Woodland, 6 color desert ( chocolate chip cookie), ERDL,Urban Track, ERDL, Night Grid, Snow BDU, 3 color Snow, 3 color Urban,and Desert Brush. All have copies around the world this creates a problem as the Taliban love to infiltrate and only need a good knockoff to get close and They Suck. The Army Trailed all those patterns after the ACU was proven not to work and they went with a commercial product, Multicam from a Commercial vendor Crye Precision.
- Father more The US and other partner nations wanted to identify Afghan forces at a glance So a pattern not in use by any partner nations of the Taliban was chosen. Traditional M81 woodland has been used and is used by both sides. and Multicam is almost NATO standard these days.
- There are other patterns in use by the Afghan national forces. The Afghan Police adopted a Desert pattern called Spec4ce Afghan Sierra from the same maker and other Afghan units like the Afghan partner units use Ghostex Kilo-1 again same maker.
- "Dr. Timothy O’Neill, creator of the camouflage pattern which served as the basis for the Army Combat Uniform" The Army combat uniform pattern was not trialed in the field before issue either and that pattern failed miserably. but I don't blame Dr. O'Neill, In fact his work is heavily referenced by the Maker of the Afghan national army uniforms, Hyperstealth.
- Additionally not mentioned is that the US spent millions to trail patterns to replace the ACU and none of that data is mentioned in the article. Or that those trials results have never officially been released or implemented instead the US Army adopted a unlicenced variant of Multicam. although no Trials were done by the US or Afghanistan the maker Hyperstealth actually tests their patterns with photo simulations extensively and makes a major effort to back there work with science.
- Finally The uniform was always going to cost more. The US made DOD supplied uniforms had to be Berry compliant meaning US textiles as opposed to Cheaper fabrics, like the Chinese made sets now being used by the Iraqis. A full set of US issue uniform will easily be twice the price of a Imported one due to the needs of material and manufacture set forth by the Berry amendment.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis scolded the Pentagon bureaucracy for "cavalier" use of taxpayer dollars, citing an episode of wasteful spending on private-label uniforms for the Afghan military that has caught the attention of Congress.
In a memo obtained Monday by The Associated Press, Mattis pointed to a June report by the U.S. special inspector general for Afghanistan that said the Pentagon had spent as much as $28 million more than necessary over 10 years on uniforms for Afghan soldiers with a camouflage "forest" pattern that may be inappropriate for the largely desert battlefield.
The Afghan uniform episode is to be a focus of a House Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday. Mattis said it is emblematic of an attitude in the Pentagon that allows poor spending decisions to be excused, overlooked or minimized.
In his July 21 memo to three of the Pentagon's most senior officials overseeing resources for the war in Afghanistan, Mattis said the wasteful spending on uniforms is an example of "cavalier or casually acquiescent decisions" that undermine the mission in Afghanistan and undercut public trust.
"In my view, the key finding of the ... report is not just that it exposes waste, or that it captures how funds are diverted away from other mission priorities, but rather that it serves as an example of a complacent mode of thinking," Mattis wrote.
"I expect all (Defense Department) organizations to use this error as a catalyst to bring to light wasteful practices -- and take aggressive steps to end waste in our department," he added.
Very good !
START Data Shows US Implementation, Questions About Bomber Force
The Minuteman III ICBM force is listed with 405 deployed missiles, a reduction of 8 since September 2016. Since this count was reported, the Air Force the last 5 ICBMs from their silos, leaving 400 deployed ICBMs, the goal identified in the .
Nine of the 14 SSBNs appear to have been converted to 20 missile launchers, a reduction of 4 missile launchers
The reduction of nuclear bombers appears to be complete. The Air Force has not yet declared so in public, but the data shows the number of deployed and non-deployed nuclear bombers are down to 66 – the same number required by the .
Jura The idiot
General
Sunday at 7:26 AM
it's actually quite interesting, first a C-17 drops the target missile, which then goes ballistic; a THAAD is launched (shown in slow motion after 01:30) off Alaska, hits:
now I watched the vid from that previous test:so far so good
Coast Guard: Missile Test Could Be Held Next Weekend
now they need to hit though
Jura The idiot
General
Jul 15, 2017
Turkey's Erdogan says signatures signed on Russian defense system
July 25, 2017 / 11:50 AM / 5 hours ago
and I repeat what I said Wednesday at 8:19 AM in another thread:this is interesting:
Yesterday at 2:44 PM
but:
Q: Can I ask you about Turkey? They announced yesterday that they're going to buy four Russian S-400s, advanced anti-air. Does that put any tension in the U.S. military to Turkish military relationship? That they're a NATO ally buying a very advanced Russian hardware?
SEC. MATTIS: The problem is, how do you interoperate in the NATO system with Russians? They'll never interoperate. They're built -- you don't just layer on interoperability at the end. So, we'll have to see, does it go through? Do they actually employ it, do they employ it only in one area? All that kind of stuff. But I -- you know, we'll have to take a look at it. Obviously, it's not going to be interoperable with NATO systems.
Q: Does the U.S. approve of them buying Russian...
(CROSSTALK)
SEC. MATTIS: This is a sovereign decision, so.
Media Availability With Secretary Mattis in the Pentagon
(I noticed this linked at gazeta.ru: )
I mean, Turkey with both F-35 and Triumph, seriously?
since I noticed... LOL I wonder how a Military operating both F-35s and Triumphs would fit into the world of various Analysts
I'd be at a total loss
oops now I imagined an exercise which would pitch these weapons against each other
Turkey's Erdogan says signatures signed on Russian defense system
July 25, 2017 / 11:50 AM / 5 hours ago
Turkey has made progress in plans to procure an S-400 missile defense system from Russia and signatures have been signed, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.
"Steps have been taken and signatures signed with Russia concerning the S-400s. God willing we will see the S-400s in our country," Erdogan told lawmakers from his ruling AK Party at a party meeting in parliament.
NATO member Turkey said in April it had reached a "final stage" in talks to procure the air missile defense system. Turkey will not be able to integrate the Russian S-400 into the NATO system.
Jura The idiot
General
Nov 25, 2016
US Navy tests amphibious concept at Talisman Saber exercise
23 hours ago
related:"The assembly will be built on the composite warfare concept the Navy uses with its CSG." I'm ... puzzled PACFLT’s Swift: Amphib USS Wasp Will Deploy With Surface Action Group in 2017
source:
US Navy tests amphibious concept at Talisman Saber exercise
23 hours ago
The U.S. Navy has put its up-gunned expeditionary strike group concept into practice within a realistic war-fighting scenario, with allied surface combatants joining an amphibious ready group, or ARG, and its embarked Marines for a major exercise off the coast of Australia.
The Bonhomme Richard ARG was joined by a surface action group, or SAG, made up of the U.S. destroyer Sterett and four Australian frigates at Exercise Talisman Saber 2017, which saw American and Australian forces carry out two major amphibious landings at Australia’s Shoalwater Bay Training Area.
According to Royal Australian Navy Capt. Guy Holthouse, sea combat commander for the Talisman Saber 2017 Combined Amphibious Force, the up-gunned ESG was pitted against a very active and capable adversary that presented a mix of surface, air and subsurface threats using real submarines, aircraft and ships throughout the exercise, which added training value to both U.S. and Australian forces.
Rear Adm. Marc Dalton, commander of the U.S. Navy’s Amphibious Force 7th Fleet, added that Talisman Saber was used “to work on concept development (of the up-gunned ESG), especially for the cruiser/destroyer/frigate integration into the force as we build towards adding the F-35B.”
Dalton noted that the amphibious assault ship Wasp, which will replace the Bonhomme Richard as the Navy’s forward-deployed big-deck amphibious ship in Japan this fall, will start deploying the F-35B at sea in the region in early 2018 and will represent “the first opportunity to operate with the complete package of the up-gunned ESG.”
In addition, a Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk anti-submarine helicopter from the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan was also embarked onboard the Bonhomme Richard for a short duration during the exercise, which Amphibious Force 7th Fleet said was for “practicing the up-gunned ESG concept in providing surface/subsurface defense of the ESG.”
Dalton told Defense News that embarking the MH-60R onboard the Bonhomme Richard is one of several options being evaluated to “dynamically reconfigure the capabilities” of the amphibious forces, which he described as being very flexible; “what we’re looking for is what the right situation would be to when we want to bring that capability onto the amphibious ships and what the trade-offs are.”
The up-gunned ESG concept was first mooted by U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Scott Swift in April last year. He noted that the basic premise of the up-gunned ESG had been tried before in the 1990s without much success, but still believes that enhanced ship and aircraft sophistication, improvements in command, control and communications capabilities, and new air platforms like the MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor and F-35Bs which brought improved performance and sensor capabilities into the mix.
What was left unsaid was that this development of an up-gunned ESG is also acknowledgement that future amphibious operations are unlikely to be uncontested, and in the event of conflict with a relatively advanced adversary or even peer competitors like China or Russia, the ESGs will need to be protected and even possess the capability to mount limited offensive operations.
This is particularly true in the complex littoral environment and islands of the Indo-Asia-Pacific region, which have seen the proliferation of advanced anti-shipping missiles in the hands of many of the region’s states in recent years.
Jeff Head, bd popeye
Wow !
Wow !
U.S. warship crew found likely at fault in June collision: official
The crew of the USS Fitzgerald was likely at fault in the warship's collision with a Philippine cargo ship in June and had not been paying attention to their surroundings, according to initial findings in an investigation, a U.S. defense official told Reuters on Friday.
Multiple U.S. and Japanese investigations are under way into how the USS Fitzgerald, a guided missile destroyer, and the much larger ACX Crystal container ship collided in clear weather south of Tokyo Bay in the early hours of June 17.
The collision tore a gash below the Fitzgerald's waterline, killing seven sailors in what was the greatest loss of life on a U.S. Navy vessel since the USS Cole was bombed in Yemen's Aden harbor in 2000.
"There was not a lot that went right leading up to the crash. There were a string of errors, but they did a lot after the collision to save lives and the ship," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The official said that in addition to crew members not paying attention to their surroundings, they did not take action until it was too late.
While the investigation is not complete, the official said crew members had given statements and radar data had been gathered, and it was unlikely the findings would change.
A U.S. Navy spokeswoman said the investigation was in the early stages and it was premature to speculate on the causes.
The incident has spurred a number of investigations, including those by the U.S. Navy and a probe by the United States Coast Guard on behalf of the National Transportation Safety Board. The Japan Transport Safety Board and the Philippines government are conducting separate investigations.
Last month Reuters reported that an account of the incident by the Philippine cargo ship's captain said that the U.S. warship had failed to respond to warning signals or take evasive action before the collision.
The ACX Crystal had been chartered by Japan's Nippon Yusen KK.