US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Yesterday at 8:14 AM
I now read, watched S-97 Raider Soars in New Flight Testing Video
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related:
Defiant delayed: Joint multi-role demonstrator won’t fly in 2017
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The Army has been planning for two vertical lift aircraft to begin flight demonstrations in the fall of 2017 critical to the process of informing and shaping the design of a Future Vertical Lift helicopter fleet expected to come online in the 2030s.

But one of the demonstrators – the Sikorsky-Boeing-made SB-1 Defiant coaxial helicopter – is now slated to start flying some time in the first half of 2018, behind the original schedule.

Bell Helicopter has been very vocal about its own demonstrator – the V-280 Valor tiltrotor – and recently said the aircraft is roughly 95 percent complete. The company said it will be ready to fly on schedule in the fall of 2017, but also believes the Army, given the technology on display now, could start building a new aircraft by 2020.

While Defiant may start its flight test phase later, the Boeing and Sikorsky team believes it’s following “a very disciplined approach,” according to Pat Donnelly, Defiant program manager at Boeing.

The delay seems to be a relatively new development. In December, the Boeing-Sikorsky team told Defense News in an interview that it was anticipating flying on time.

“Honestly, there’s nothing significant that happened that caused a delay,” Donnelly told reporters during an April 18 teleconference. “There were no problems that we’ve encountered; it’s just a process as we’ve been following it. Things aren’t happening as quickly as we would like, but again there has been no negative elements going on, we are marching down the path, as we said.”

Donnelly added the Army and Marine Corps “fully understand where we are and fully support” the process “because, again, it is the belief that when we do fly we will have validated all of our components and, as such, we will be entering a much more risk-reduced flight test program.”

When pressed further on what was slowing the process, Donnelly said the focus of the team in developing Defiant has been on work in its systems integration lab and propulsion system test bed. He said the third leg of the development work is flying the aircraft. The process requires coordination across the three legs, as hardware is refined, for instance.

The team thinks it is possible to make up for lost time as it begins to fly the aircraft due to its thorough risk reduction process now, but Donnelly added, “we do recognize that our flight test program has probably a year duration. Certainly as we start to fly the aircraft, while we still have to expand an envelope and still have to prove all of the flight characteristics of this vehicle, we will be doing it with more confidence I think than we would be if we didn’t do all of this risk reduction beforehand.”

The Boeing-Sikorsky team also said the delay in flight schedule should not have a negative impact on the Army launching its FVL program within its planned timeline. The program is expected to become a full-fledged program-of-record in 2019.

Meanwhile, the Lockheed Martin-owned Sikorsky has made progress in its S-97 Raider helicopter program, which uses the same X2 coaxial technology as Defiant but on a smaller scale. Raider is a scaled-up version of its X2 demonstrator that broke unofficial helicopter cruise speed records in 2010.

The aircraft flew in March this year in a series of tests and
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Tuesday of it in action. The Army considered Raider as an option when it was looking to procure an armed reconnaissance helicopter around 2012, but ultimately it opted not to procure a new helicopter for the mission.

Sikorksy has moved at lightning speed with Raider’s development. At the time the service was mulling a new armed scout, Raider was an aircraft just on paper.

The service originally intended to include the attack mission in its first variant of FVL that it calls “Capability Set 3,” but the Army is taking a step back to debate what it truly needs in an attack helicopter and where it fits in the family of future rotorcraft. The analysis of alternatives the service has begun for its first variant of FVL does not include examining the attack mission.

The Army will likely follow the development of capability set 3 with capability set 1 development – which is expected to address light attack – due to a current gap in the service’s light attack and reconnaissance helicopter fleet with the retirement of the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter.

In scaling up in size, moving from the X2 to Raider to Defiant, Sikorsky is increasing the weight of the platform from 6,000 lbs to 11,000 lbs to 30,000 lbs, Donnelly said.

When asked what the challenges might be in scaling the aircraft up in size and weight, Donnelly said, while loads on the rotor system increase with size, the task “doesn’t appear to be a challenge at this time.”

Dan Spoor, Sikorsky vice president told reporters in the small teleconference that using a currently fielded engine – the T-55 – puts some limitation on the aircraft and a future engine that would come along with FVL would match up well with what the team has designed and would bring it to its full potential.
 

FORBIN

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
U.S. Can Bring to Bear Significant Tactical Airpower in Event of Korean Hostilities

The increased tension in northwest Asia associated with recent North Korean threats and U.S. counter moves is drawing attention to the U.S. forces stationed in the region and which ones might be brought to bear in event of a conflict. Most of the U.S. combat air power in Asia is within easy reach of the Korean peninsula.

The carrier USS Carl Vinson and its strike group have been moved to the region, with Carrier Air Wing (CVW) Two embarked, according to press reports. The air wing includes four squadrons of F/A-18/E/F strike fighters — usually equipped with a total of 44 aircraft — and a squadron of five EA-18G electronic attack aircraft, plus squadrons of E-2C radar warning aircraft and MH-60R and MH-60S helicopters.

CVW-5, similarly equipped, which embarks onboard USS Ronald Reagan, is ashore in two bases in Japan while the carrier is in maintenance availability, according to a source who declined to be named. CVW-5’s strike fighter squadrons all are equipped with Super Hornets, and its E-2 squadron is equipped with the new D model. Presumably, CVW-5’s aircraft could stage combat missions from shore bases in the area.

Independently deployed to Naval Air Facility Misawa, Japan, is an expeditionary electronic attack squadron with five EA-18Gs.

Marine Aircraft Group 11 at Marine Corps Iwakuni, Japan, is equipped with the Marine Corps’ first operational squadron of F-35B strike fighters, with 10 on strength. Also on strength are two F/A-18 Hornet fighter- attack squadrons, one with F/A-18Cs and one with F/A-18Ds. At Kadena Air Base in Okinawa is a detachment of AV-8Bs that deploy on the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard.

Pacific Air Forces has four fighter wings in the region: one with F-15Cs in Kadena, Japan; two with F-16Cs in South Korea — one of which also has some A-10s assigned — and one with electronic attack F-16Cs at Misawa. A wing of f-22s is available in Alaska, plus a Hawaii Air National Guard F-22A unit in Hawaii.

The Air Force also rotates detachments of B-52 bombers to Guam. KC-135 tankers and E-3 radar warning aircraft also are deployed to Kadena.

The U.S. Navy also has considerable strike power available in the form of Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles on cruisers and destroyers in the carrier strike groups (one cruiser and two destroyers) or as part of the surface force based in Japan, including two cruisers and eight destroyers. Possibly deployed in the region is an Ohio-class guided-missile submarine, armed with Tomahawks.

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bd popeye

The Last Jedi
VIP Professional

Tis' true.. I think..

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The deployment of Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group has been extended by a month so the CSG can conduct presence operations off the coast of Korea, the commander of the strike group said late Tuesday in a message to his crew.

“Our deployment has been extended 30 days to provide a persistent presence in the waters off the Korean Peninsula,” wrote Rear Adm. Jim Kilby on the wall of the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) Facebook page.

“Our mission is to reassure allies and our partners of our steadfast commitment to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. We will continue to be the centerpiece of visible maritime deterrence, providing our national command authority with flexible deterrent options, all domain access, and a visible forward presence.”

A defense official told USNI News on Tuesday the strike group could be off of Korea by sometime next week.

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Kilby’s notice on the extension late Tuesday.
 
Tis' true.. I think..

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does anyone still follow
Aircraft Carriers III
?
Yesterday at 7:49 AM
Yesterday at 8:08 AM

now USNI News
Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group Deployment Extended for Korea Presence Operations
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NavyTimes article mentioned in it is

As Korea tensions deepen, Carl Vinson Strike Group deployment extended
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and the Facebook announcement mentioned there is
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or you've had enough after
'Powerful' USS Carl Vinson steams toward North Korea Published April 14, 2017
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and the carrier on the Equator at that time? :)
 
now I read Long-Range Discrimination Radar passes preliminary design review
The Long-Range Discrimination Radar that will be operational in Alaska in 2020 has passed the preliminary design review phase, hitting a major milestone for the program in less than 18 months from the contract award in October 2015, Lockheed Martin announced Thursday.

The LRDR is a Gallium Nitride (GaN)-based, solid-state Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar. Lockheed’s other GaN projects include the Air Force’s Space Fence to be built in Kwajalein Atoll and new long-range radar it expects to bring to market as well as offer to the US Army’s potential Integrated Air-and-Missile Defense system radar in competition planned for this year.

The very large and powerful radar will support the ballistic missile defense system, primarily for the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System set up to defend the homeland against missile threats from North Korea and Iran. It will be networked to the company’s Command, Control Battle Management and Communication (C2BMC) system.

The Missile Defense Agency awarded the $784 million contract in under two years to Lockheed after an intense competition. Lockheed beat out Raytheon and Northrop Grumman.

The LRDR will be positioned in Clear, Alaska. GMD interceptors are buried in the ground at both Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

Passing the preliminary design review means Lockheed demonstrated a Technology Readiness Level of 6, which means it’s no longer developmental, and a Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) of 6, “putting the team on a path to achieve TRL 7 later this year” that would allow the program to transition to the manufacturing phase, according to a company statement.

Lockheed used a “scaled” LRDR system to demonstrate technology in an environment relevant to its real mission, the statement noted.

The company also has a new Solid State Radar Integration site, that is self-funded, to test technology readiness and offer risk reduction as the radar continues down the development path. Future solid state radar systems will be tested there as well.

“The Solid State Radar Integration Site will be used to mature, integrate and test the LRDR design and building blocks before we deliver the radar to Alaska. Using this test site will result in significant cost savings and less risk overall,” Chandra Marshall, Lockheed’s LRDR program director, said in the statement.

LRDR construction in Alaska is scheduled to begin in 2019 and Lockheed will begin integrating the radar into the ballistic missile defense system by the end of the year.
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TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Textron offers Scorpion and AT-6 for OA-X effort

  • 20 APRIL, 2017
  • SOURCE: FLIGHTGLOBAL.COM
  • BY: DOMINIC PERRY
  • LONDON


Textron Aviation is promoting both the Scorpion jet and Beechcraft AT-6 turboprop to the US Air Force for its OA-X light attack demonstration effort.

Speaking on a first quarter earnings call on 19 April, Scott Donnelly, chief executive of parent company Textron, confirmed that it had responded to the service with both models.

"We think both aircraft, whilst they’re different aircraft in terms of the performance envelope, can both fit within the realm of what kinds of capabilities the air force is looking to see demonstrated," he says.

Donnelly anticipates a decision from the service in May on whether one or both aircraft will be invited to participate in a flight-test phase, due to take place in August or September this year at Holloman AFB in New Mexico.

The USAF has no programme of record for a light-attack type, but is keen to see if the capabilities offered could provide a more cost-effective solution against certain targets than expensive fourth- or fifth-generation fighters.

Donnelly says a second production-conforming Scorpion got airborne "earlier this week", adding to an example that first flew in December 2016.

getasset.aspx


Textron AirLand

With a third flight-test vehicle currently in final assembly, Donnelly says the expanded fleet could allow it to devote two aircraft to the OA-X campaign and a third to the certification effort.

He says there is already "a fair bit of work" being carried out to prepare the Scorpion's mission systems for OA-X "which is very specific to what we know the air force is going to want to see demonstrated".

The aircraft need to be ready before August, he adds, "because the program will require flight training for some of the air force pilots".

In addition, conversations are continuing with potential export customers, with a series of demonstration flights now being scheduled for "one of the more important" prospects, says Donnelly.

"As you can imagine, the foreign customers are also very interested in this US Air Force programme because they like to see what the US Air Force is doing," he says.

Developed by the Textron AirLand joint venture, the Scorpion is intended as a low-cost ground attack or surveillance platform.

Powered by twin Honeywell TFE731 engines, it has already conducted a number of tests, including a series of weapons firings in October 2016.
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Aug 10, 2016
Jun 30, 2016
Saturday at 10:26 AM

... let's face it:
Navy report: Failure at every level for US ships captured by Iran

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EDIT
Navy Releases Results of Riverine Command Boat, Farsi Island Investigation
Story Number: NNS160630-08 Release Date: 6/30/2016 12:02:00 PM
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(inside it there's a link to the document etc.)

EDIT AGAIN
Nine face discipline for errors that led to U.S. sailors' Iranian arrest
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the most recent:
Leader of U.S. Sailors Captured by Iran Faces Punishment

source:
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now the USNI News is
Officer Punished for 2016 Farsi Island Incident Allowed to Stay in Navy
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The officer in charge of 10 U.S. Navy sailors captured by Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf last year will be allowed to stay in the service, his attorney said.

On Tuesday, a three-sailor board of inquiry voted to let Lt. David Nartker stay in the Navy after he received a punitive letter of reprimand for his role in the capture of himself and nine other riverine sailors by members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN), after two boats he commanded drifted into Iranian waters during a transit in the Persian Gulf.

The board of inquiry proceeding — held at Imperial Beach, Calif. from April 17 to 18 — follow a September ruling that placed a letter of reprimand in Nartker’s file for violating Article 92 – failure to obey an order or regulation — of the Uniform Code Military Justice. The BOI to see if Nartker would remain in the service was triggered after the letter of reprimand was issued.

“I believe, in the end, the system worked,” Phillip Lowry, Nartker’s defense attorney, told USNI News on Thursday.
“Once this got outside of the realm of the Pentagon and got to the levels of peers being able to review his conduct – O6s and O5s that were in the trenches with him as an officer – I knew that they would make the right call.”

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first reported the story on Wednesday.

“Boards of Inquiry (BOI) are administrative hearings held for officers who have failed to maintain the required standards of professional proficiency or personal conduct,” read a statement from Navy Expeditionary Combat Command spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr.Jen Cragg provided to USNI News.
“Lt. Nartker’s involvement in the January 2016 riverine boat incident warranted the convening of this board. The board determined that Lt. Nartker should be retained in the Navy. That decision is final.”

The Jan. 12, 2016, incident leveled intense scrutiny on the Navy’s deployed riverine community and resulted in a months-long investigation that concluded failures up and down the chain of command led to Nartker’s capture by the IRGCN.

Nartker said he was trying to prevent an international incident when he and his sailors were captured.

“We might have all been dead at that point in time. I didn’t want to start a war with Iran either. That was also on my mind. I didn’t want to start a war that would get people killed. My thought at the end of the day was that no one had to die for a misunderstanding,” Nartker told investigators
“I made the gamble that they were not going to kill us. I made the gamble that they’re not going to Tehran and parade us around like prisoners of war — because they want this nuke deal to go through. … What’s the commander’s intent here, the highest commander’s intent? The Commander-in-Chief would not want me to start a war over a mistake, over a misunderstanding.”

While the BOI recommended he be allowed to stay in the service, Nartker’s career in the Navy will likely be curtailed, Rob “Butch” Bracknell, a former Marine and military lawyer, told USNI News on Thursday.

“He will never get promoted again. This was all about when he left the Navy, and with what characterization of service on his discharge,” he said.
“He has no career going forward. He will finish his obligated service, fail selection to O4 a couple times, and leave with a nice payout of separation pay to help fund his attendance at business school.”

The following is the complete statement from NECC provided to USNI News.

— A Board of Inquiry took place for Lt. David Nartker at Coastal Riverine Group 1 headquarters in Imperial Beach, California April 17-18. Boards of Inquiry (BOI) are administrative hearings held for officers who
have failed to maintain the required standards of professional proficiency or personal conduct. The boards are held to determine if the Navy will retain the officer for continued service. Lt. Nartker’s involvement in the January 2016 riverine boat incident warranted the convening of this board. The board determined that Lt. Nartker should be retained in the Navy. That decision is final.

— Commander, Navy Personnel Command, directed Navy Region Southwest to convene the BOI to determine if Lt. David Nartker should be retained
for continued naval service.

— A board composed of at least three, senior commissioned officers receives evidence and gives the officer a fair and impartial hearing so that the officer may argue as to why he or she should be retained in the Navy. In this instance, the board determined the officer should be retained in the Navy and the case against the officer is closed.
 

FORBIN

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
They do as Brat ;) washing etc... for her house as want the " honey badger " haha Smiley amis.PNG
I know all ... :)

F/A-18 Decontamination & F-35B Ordnance Hot Load Training At MCAS Iwakuni, Japan

 
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