US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

this one is interesting: "... tests also successfully demonstrated a continuous two-way data link between the in-flight projectiles and the ground station over the Dugway Proving Ground open range ..." etc.
General Atomics Successfully Tests Railgun Hypersonic Projectiles

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General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced in a May 10 release that its hypersonic projectiles with an enhanced Guidance Electronics Unit (GEU) have been successfully tested during multiple firings from the organization’s three megajoule (3 MJ) Blitzer railgun system.

The enhanced GEU containing a new battery configuration and running GA-EMS developed Guidance, Navigation, and Control software, completed testing at launch accelerations over 30,000 gs at the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground in Utah.

“We’re continuing to test at an impressive pace, building on the successes over the past year to advance both our Blitzer railgun systems and hypersonic projectile capabilities,” said Nick Bucci, vice president Missile Defense and Space Systems at GA-EMS. “We are on track to conduct another series of tests using the Blitzer 10 MJ railgun system later this year. With each new firing, we continue maturing the technologies and performing risk reduction toward a multimission railgun weapon system that supports future operation on land and at sea.”

The GEU tests also successfully demonstrated a continuous two-way data link between the in-flight projectiles and the ground station over the Dugway Proving Ground open range. In addition to the GEU, a new lightweight composite sabot was tested, demonstrating successful sabot separation and in bore structural integrity at the high acceleration levels.

GA-EMS has internally funded the Blitzer railgun systems and hypersonic projectile development. Blitzer railguns are test assets that include a launcher, high-density pulsed power, and weapon fire control system. GA-EMS recently announced the development and completion of the High Energy Pulsed Power Container (HEPPC) that provides twice the energy density of existing pulsed power systems. The HEPPC is intended to reduce the footprint for pulsed power required to launch projectiles, offering greater flexibility for future Navy and Army railgun applications.

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Excellent, i add San Diego the 2 more big

Pictures & Video: Overview of US Navy base at Naval Station Norfolk

Video: Future USS Bougainville LHA-8 Design by Huntington Ingalls Industries

During the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space 2017 exposition held last month near Washington D.C., Huntington Ingalls Industries unveiled the design of the future USS Bougainville (LHA-8).
According to HII, USS Bougainville (LHA-8) will be the US Navy's largest Amphibious Expeditionary Warfare ship, serving not only USN and USMC operations, but also joint missions. Bougainville will be the lead ship of the LHA replacement class, which is optimized for surface and aviation operatons. It will extend expeditionary warfare capabilities well into the 21st century. Bougainville combines aviation assault with V-22 and JSF capabilities and surface assault via well deck operations SSC and LCU. Ingalls Shipbuilding has been delivering these large deck combatants to the US Navy for over 30 years.

The future Bougainville will be the third America-class amphibious assault ship. It will share the same hull as LHA-6 but as the first Flight 1 "modification" vessel, LHA-8 will feature a well deck for ship-to-shore connectors. The well deck may receive two LCACs.

New Requirement Impact Summary:
1,000 compartments have been either added, deleted or relocated out of the 2,400 total compartment of the baseline design (America-class LHA-6)
- Addition of a 2x LCAC well deck
- Forward hangar high bay reduce by 28 feet (in length)
- Aviation support spaces relocated (01 level extended into hangar)
- Mezzanine added to 01 level
- Redesigned deck house
- Hospital complex moved forward
- Large sponson added on starboard side for increased flight deck area
- One troop berthing removed

Comparative specifications between LHD-8 | LHA-7 | LHA-8
Length overall (ft) - 844 | 844 | 844
Beam - 106 |106 | 106
Full load displacement - 41,772 | 43,745 | 43,329
Aviation Support (ft²) - 31,559 | 47,284 | 38,049
Cargo fuel, JP-5 (gal) - 585,000 | 1,330,000 | 585,000
Well Deck LCAC Capacity - 3 | 0 | 2
Hangar area (ft²) - 18,745 | 28,142 | 28,142
Vehicle stowage area (ft²) - 28,645 | 18,911 | 16,011

Accomm.: Officer | CPO/SSNCO | Enlisted | Total
Ship and Flag - 102 | 78 |1024 | 1204
Troops - 174 | 64 | 1224 | 1462
Troop surge - 19 | 6 | 125 | 150

Bougainville will be built by Huntington Ingalls Industries at its shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi and is expected to be delivered to the US Navy in 2024.

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I thought it was a Chinese with this bad picture

This U.S. Army Manual Has New Official Details About the RQ-170 Sentinel Drone

FORBIN said:

I thought it was a Chinese with this bad picture

This U.S. Army Manual Has New Official Details About the RQ-170 Sentinel Drone

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View attachment 38642 View attachment 38643

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Question: did Iran give PRC engineers access to study its captured RQ-170, and if so, what did it receive in return?

it's ... vexing ICBMs Undergoing First-Ever Round of Depot Maintenance

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The Air Force completed the first programmed depot maintenance of a nuclear launch facility since its activation in the 1960s.

The first launch site belongs to Malmstrom AFB, Mont. The remainder of the sites at Malmstrom, F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., and Minot AFB, N.D., will be completed over the next eight years and will then remain on an eight-year PDM cycle.

Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, commander of Air Force Materiel Command, visited all three ICBM bases last week including a May 10 visit to the Malmstrom site where members of the 583rd Missile Maintenance Squadron, formerly Rivet Mile, were completing their work.

Pawlikowski said the Air Force was applying the best practices on managing weapons systems to ICBMs and is now using the same PDM model as the aircraft community. Because the nuclear launch facility can’t go to the depot, the maintainers have to go to it. Because of that, Pawlikowski said there have been parts that haven’t been touched in 30 to 40 years.

To conduct the maintenance tasks, the missile is pulled from the site so maintainers can replace worn parts, take pieces apart and remove corrosion, replace cables, and other major maintenance.

In the past, “we waited until things started to break,” Pawlikowski said. Now, her command, in conjunction with Air Force Global Strike Command, is planning maintenance around the known life cycle of parts and developing a new supply chain since, in some cases, needed parts are no longer manufactured.

Wing commanders and operations group commanders decide which sites are taken down for PDM at each missile base, Pawlikowski said, to ensure nuclear readiness isn’t impacted.

The first completed launch facility is expected to be turned back over to the 341st Missile Wing by the end of the month.

Pawlikowski said the first site has been challenging, but it’s helping the PDM teams develop lists of what will need to be done at the next sites. She also noted that things will need attention before the eight-year cycle repeats.

Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David Goldfein and AFGSC boss Gen. Robin Rand wrote in May 12 op-ed for Politico that “although the two Air Force legs of the triad have proven remarkably resilient, they are growing old. Our Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles have been around since the 1970s. The infrastructure and support platforms that underpin our ICBMs, such as launch facilities, weapons storage facilities, and security helicopters have been in service for even longer.”

Pawlikowski’s command is also handling the requests for proposals and contracting process of the Huey replacement program for missile bases and the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, which will replace the existing Minuteman III system currently in place.

The second draft RFP is out for the Huey and Pawlikowski said the draft process is allowing the Air Force to make sure the requirements are understood and are something industry can meet within reasonable price points.

The omnibus spending bill included $93 million for the Huey replacement program. Another industry day was held last week, and according to Air Force documents, responses to the draft RFP are due May 19 with a final RFP expected to be released in July, and a contract award projected for next summer.

Pawlikowski said the dialogue with industry has allowed the Air Force to find out more about what’s available and price points that can allow AFGSC to possibly adjust their requirements.

For GBSD, the Air Force is currently in source selection and could award up to two contracts for the technology maturation and risk reduction phases by this fall. Pawlikoski said the process was still on track for that timeline, but if the source selection team determined they need more time, they’ll take it.

In their May op-ed, Goldfein and Rand wrote that investments in the nuclear deterrent represent about five percent of the overall military budget over the next decade.

“While not an insignificant bill, history has shown the nation’s outlays supporting our strategic deterrent are well worth the investment, especially when compared to the costs—financial and in lives lost—of world wars that we have not experienced since 1945.”

now I read with a suspicion Four US Army Strykers in Europe get survivability upgrade

A U.S. Army cavalry regiment in Germany is testing a Stryker upgrade that could increase the vehicle’s survivability as the service conducts training exercises in Europe meant to deter Russia.

Soldiers from the Army’s 2nd Cavalry Regiment, stationed in Vilsek, Germany, have installed Saab’s mobile camouflage system, or MCS, on four of its Strykers, said Scott Caldwell, the company’s director of marketing and sales for its Barracuda business unit.

The four Strykers are currently conducting force-on-force training exercises in Hohenfels, Germany, with partner nations and will go through a formal evaluation in June. From there, the Army will decide whether to pursue acquiring the camouflage system through a program of record, he said in a May 11 briefing to reporters at Saab facilities in Karlskoga, Sweden.

Defense News is in Sweden the week of May 8 as part of a Saab media tour and accepted travel and hotel accommodations on behalf of the company.

Caldwell described the mobile camouflage system as a “uniform skin” for vehicles that changes its physical appearance — allowing it to better blend into its environment when viewed by the naked eye — as well as incorporating properties that improve its signature management against long-wave and mid-wave thermal sensors, near-wave and short-wave infrared, and radar.

“There is nothing out there currently — even advanced signature management systems — that can make a tank disappear,” he acknowledged. “We are kind of peeling back the survivability onion. If we are able to keep a system or a vehicle from being identified, seen or targeted, then we’re going to increase the survivability and give that crew a chance to make a decision. Do they engage the enemy? Do they reposition the vehicle? It gives them those crucial minutes and seconds in order to make a decision.”

Whether the Army moves forward with a program of record will depend on whether it can find funding to support buying additional MCSs. Generally speaking, the cost of the MCS capability is less than a quarter of the cost of the vehicle, Caldwell said. Saab gave the first four systems to the service for free.

“We have a target of starting to look at producing systems for the unit hopefully by the fall, early winter this year, if everything works out OK,” he said. That timeline is based on when Saab will have a U.S.-based production line capable of serial manufacturing of the MCS — a requirement for any textile item bought by the U.S. military. The company plans to build the system in Lillington, North Carolina.

“The anticipation of a contract, there has been a lot of interest in that,” he said, but added that it will be dependent on Army budgetary decisions.

Survivability is an immediate concern of the Army’s Stryker program office, with officials worried that Russian vehicles pose too much of a threat. The service has obtained funding for larger 30mm cannons for the 2nd Cavalry Regiment’s Stryker fleet, and it plans to spend $300 million for eight prototypes and upgrades to 83 production vehicles, plus spares.

The U.S. Army has been conducting scientific tests of the MCS for about three years, Caldwell said. The initial system was fielded by the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in spring 2016, and Saab leveraged feedback from the Army to identify signature management and usability improvements.

Four people can install the system on a vehicle in about eight and a half hours, and — after a bit of instruction from Saab — it only took about 24 hours for soldiers from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment to finish integrating it with the four Strykers, he said. The skin can then be taken off if the vehicles are redeployed to another location with a different climate, such as dessert or jungle.

“The ones we chose to cover were the ones the command felt were some of the more vulnerable piece

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source:

Sep 20, 2016

Jura said:

... Exclusive: Air Force Mulls Flight Demo for Possible Light Attack Aircraft Buy

source:

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and A-29 Super Tucano to fly in US Air Force light attack aircraft demo

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The U.S. Air Force has selected Sierra Nevada and Embraer’s A-29 Super Tucano to participate a light attack aircraft demonstration this summer, an event that could lead to a procurement of the plane if the companies can prove a business case, the companies announced May 12.

The A-29 is considered by many to be the frontrunner for any potential program of record, as it is the only light air support aircraft in the world with a USAF military type certificate and has been purchased by the United States for the Afghan air force.

The U.S. Air Force has selected Sierra Nevada and Embraer’s A-29 Super Tucano to participate a light attack aircraft demonstration this summer, an event that could lead to a procurement of the plane if the companies can prove a business case, the companies announced May 12.

The A-29 is considered by many to be the frontrunner for any potential program of record, as it is the only light air support aircraft in the world with a USAF military type certificate and has been purchased by the United States for the Afghan air force.

“SNC is proud to participate in the USAF's effort to enhance warfighter support and bring greater value and affordability to the American taxpayer,” said Taco Gilbert, senior vice president for SNC´s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance business area. “Partnering with Embraer, we’re proud to present the U.S.-made, combat-proven A-29 as part of this experiment.”

No program of record for light attack aircraft exists just yet, although the proposed procurement has been referred to as OA-X by officials. Top Air Force brass, including Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein, are interested in purchasing several hundred inexpensive, nondevelopmental combat planes to conduct routine, low-end missions in the Middle East, but companies must first prove that their aircraft can meet the Air Force’s needs at the right price.

The first light aircraft experiment is set to kick off this July at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, but it would likely be followed by other assessments — including possibly one in the Central Command area of responsibility, Goldfein has said.

The A-29 was originally designed by Brazilian firm Embraer for close air support and counterinsurgency missions in hot climates like that of the Middle East. For competitions involving the U.S. military, Sierra Nevada acts as the A-29’s prime contractor, and the aircraft would be produced at Embraer’s production line in Jacksonville, Florida.

“The A-29 is uniquely suited for training and seasoning fighter pilots,” said Jackson Schneider, president and CEO of Embraer Defense & Security. “This means more highly-trained pilots more quickly and less expensively, while allowing other platforms to do the work they do best.”

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Four US Army Strykers in Europe get survivability upgrade
A U.S. Army cavalry regiment in Germany is testing a Stryker upgrade that could increase the vehicle’s survivability as the service conducts training exercises in Europe meant to deter Russia.

Soldiers from the Army’s 2nd Cavalry Regiment, stationed in Vilsek, Germany, have installed Saab’s mobile camouflage system, or MCS, on four of its Strykers, said Scott Caldwell, the company’s director of marketing and sales for its Barracuda business unit.

The four Strykers are currently conducting force-on-force training exercises in Hohenfels, Germany, with partner nations and will go through a formal evaluation in June. From there, the Army will decide whether to pursue acquiring the camouflage system through a program of record, he said in a May 11 briefing to reporters at Saab facilities in Karlskoga, Sweden.

Defense News is in Sweden the week of May 8 as part of a Saab media tour and accepted travel and hotel accommodations on behalf of the company.

Caldwell described the mobile camouflage system as a “uniform skin” for vehicles that changes its physical appearance — allowing it to better blend into its environment when viewed by the naked eye — as well as incorporating properties that improve its signature management against long-wave and mid-wave thermal sensors, near-wave and short-wave infrared, and radar.

“There is nothing out there currently — even advanced signature management systems — that can make a tank disappear,” he acknowledged. “We are kind of peeling back the survivability onion. If we are able to keep a system or a vehicle from being identified, seen or targeted, then we’re going to increase the survivability and give that crew a chance to make a decision. Do they engage the enemy? Do they reposition the vehicle? It gives them those crucial minutes and seconds in order to make a decision.”

Whether the Army moves forward with a program of record will depend on whether it can find funding to support buying additional MCSs. Generally speaking, the cost of the MCS capability is less than a quarter of the cost of the vehicle, Caldwell said. Saab gave the first four systems to the service for free.

“We have a target of starting to look at producing systems for the unit hopefully by the fall, early winter this year, if everything works out OK,” he said. That timeline is based on when Saab will have a U.S.-based production line capable of serial manufacturing of the MCS — a requirement for any textile item bought by the U.S. military. The company plans to build the system in Lillington, North Carolina.

“The anticipation of a contract, there has been a lot of interest in that,” he said, but added that it will be dependent on Army budgetary decisions.

Survivability is an immediate concern of the Army’s Stryker program office, with officials worried that Russian vehicles pose too much of a threat. The service has obtained funding for larger 30mm cannons for the 2nd Cavalry Regiment’s Stryker fleet, and it plans to spend $300 million for eight prototypes and upgrades to 83 production vehicles, plus spares.

The U.S. Army has been conducting scientific tests of the MCS for about three years, Caldwell said. The initial system was fielded by the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in spring 2016, and Saab leveraged feedback from the Army to identify signature management and usability improvements.

Four people can install the system on a vehicle in about eight and a half hours, and — after a bit of instruction from Saab — it only took about 24 hours for soldiers from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment to finish integrating it with the four Strykers, he said. The skin can then be taken off if the vehicles are redeployed to another location with a different climate, such as dessert or jungle.

“The ones we chose to cover were the ones the command felt were some of the more vulnerable piece

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Okay Jura lets look at what we are dealing with Because I think I know what you are weary of.
yup these are 2 of them so what are we looking at? The Barracuda system is a system of IR mesh like a Camouflage uniform worn over a vehicle.
The Abrams has also been wearing it lately
Now what does it do?
well first it means there is no longer a need to repaint Armored vehicles. you can paint them in a Desert or Olive Drab then wrap them for the environment in their own personal snuggy.
second it's actually more effective camouflage than paint. The fabric produces less visible paint effects like scrapes and scratches is more forgiving of wind and rain and because of the way it is made allows for a more natural effect on the whole.
finally are it's IR and limited radar effects
first in the hot hot day of the Desert the fabric keeps the sun from turning a vehicle into a 30 ton solar oven, this means that at night those wearing IR goggles don't see a brilliantly hot armored hull radiating heat like a hot plate. this also means that the tank or vehicle crew inside are not fighting to keep from roasting alive by cranking the AC burning more fuel via the main engine or APU and generating even more heat. in cooler conditions the same it keeps the hull from blooming as hotter than the surroundings by radiant heating and insulates the crew better.
The system also produces a more cluttered and less metallic signature on some wavelengths of Radar making it look more like a bush and less a tank
Now is this a survivability upgrade? Yes. Stealth is a Part of the Survival of a vehicle in combat. If the enemy can't see you they can't shoot you. Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan were Asymmetric however the US and NATO are now seeing that the conflicts are going more Hybrid to conventional in the Future. Especially in operations that might entail combat against nations with third generation Armor with IR sensors..
SAAB Barracuda offers a setup that works better than Matte paint against the Mk1 Eyeball and a number of Vision Augmentation systems. and as you can see is available in Woodland, Desert and as you can see on the Leopards below Snow to.
That is the Trifecta of environments. It's modular and can be adapted for Tanks, IFVs, APCs, Utility vehicles like HMMWV, JLTV, FMTV, SPH, even utility all terrain vehicles and unmanned ground vehicles as well as Amphibious vehicles.
Variations of the technology can are even being used by some infantry for tents, Ghillie suits, ponchos and individual uniforms. US SOCOM Forces are rumored to have used individual uniforms of this material in operations around the world.

This all said I do think calling it a "Survivability upgrade" on it's own is a bit of a over statement. Camouflage upgrade absolutely but Without upgrades to the actual protective package like an APS It's only really wrapping the vehicle in a high tech camouflage net.

TerraN_EmpirE said:

Okay Jura lets look at what we are dealing with Because I think I know what you are weary of. ...

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LOL TE addressed what I posted Today at 5:09 PM, well as I've repeatedly stated I'm not good in Fighting Vehicles, anyway one of my 'suspicions' would be if that wrap was good for anything at all (and TE explained this part to me), the other is I've heard Russians, in short, have bigger guns so a Stryker would be D. O. A. anyway ... feel free to debunk this part