US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

bd popeye

The Last Jedi
VIP Professional
The USAF is planning to start buying 15-20 new tankers in 2007 according to this plan.

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Pentagon may buy 15-20 aerial tankers a year

By Jim Wolf
REUTERS

1:47 p.m. May 9, 2006

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Defense Department tentatively plans to buy 15 to 20 aerial refueling tankers a year over two decades, possibly from more than one manufacturer, the Pentagon's top acquisition official said Tuesday.
The comments by Kenneth Krieg, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, suggest the likely scope of a high-profile competition expected to pit Boeing Co. against a team made up of Northrop Grumman Corp. and EADS, 80 percent owner of European jetmaker Airbus.

“I think the program concept that's sort of evolving is something around 15 to 20 of them a year,” Krieg said in an interview with Reuters.
Last month, the Pentagon launched the contest with a request for information from companies that want to build the next-generation tanker, which could be derived from the Boeing 767, the Airbus A-330 or another medium to heavy airliner.

Chicago-based Boeing lost a $23.5 billion U.S. Air Force tanker deal in 2004 amid a procurement scandal that sent an ex-Air Force weapons buyer and Boeing's chief financial officer to federal prison for conflict-of-interest law violations.

The abortive deal with Boeing was to have involved the lease then purchase of an initial batch of 100 tankers, which are used to refuel other aircraft in mid-air.

“So, if you're going to replace 400 to 500 (aging U.S. KC-135 tankers), and you're going to do it on the scale of something like 15 to 20 a year, it's going to take 20 years or so to replace them,” Krieg said.

Asked whether he might favor buying from two manufacturers rather than a winner-take-all approach, Krieg said: “It gives you management options when you have a mixed fleet of size.”

“And we saw that corresponding benefit when you looked at it in the AOA,” or the analysis of alternatives carried out to determine the best approach to a full-fledged competition.

The Air Force has said it expects to award a contract in the summer of 2007. Some estimates have put the potential market as high as $100 billion over coming decades.

Krieg said he did not immediately have an estimate of the contact value in mind, nor a date for the first purchases
 

bd popeye

The Last Jedi
VIP Professional
The ex USN CV USS Oriskany(CV-34) will be sunk as reef. This is the second CV the USN has sunk in the last year. On 19 May 2005 the 'super carrier' the 80,000 ton ex-USS America(CV-66) was sunk by live fire in the Atlantic to determine what would it take to sink a CV. The findings of that sinking excersise are classified. The sinking of the Oriskany is a matter of public record. Film will be rolling...

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USS Oriskany towed out; to be sunk for reef
MELISSA NELSON
Associated Press
PENSACOLA - As a fighter pilot leading an attack squadron aboard the USS Oriskany in Vietnam, retired Navy Capt. Robert Rasmussen had one of the most glamorous jobs on the famed aircraft carrier.

On Monday, he stood among former Oriskany boiler operators, electricians and radio men. They watched as their old ship made her final sea voyage, a slow tow 24 miles off the coast of Pensacola where she will be sunk on Wednesday as a massive artificial reef.

"All ships have a soul of sorts, something that makes them very special to the crew that serves aboard. The Oriskany had that in spades. It was home to us. It was really something special," Rasmussen said as he watched the rusted behemoth being pulled away from its port at Pensacola Naval Air Station by six tow boats.

Navy divers will open the ship's flood valves and arm strategically placed explosives at dawn Wednesday, starting what is expected to be a five-hour trip to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. The Korean and Vietnam-era carrier, which stretches nearly three football fields in length, will become the world's largest intentionally created reef.

The ship, the first selected for sinking under a pilot program to reef old warships, is expected to lure sport divers and fisherman from around the world. Navy divers will be the first to explore Oriskany underwater - checking the sink site to ensure it's safe before opening it to recreational divers, Navy officials said Monday.

Despite nearly two years of delays in the Oriskany's sinking because of hurricanes and environmental permitting problems and a $20 million final price tag, Navy leaders speaking at Pensacola Naval Air Station Monday morning said they were pleased with the project.

"Our concern was to do it right. You are going to have a resource here in Pensacola that will allow generations here to fish and dive and learn about the Oriskany," said Don Schregardus, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for installations and the environment.

At a tow speed of just 2 knots, the Oriskany wasn't expected to make it to the sink site until late Monday. On Tuesday, two 6-foot holes will be cut inside the stern and some flooding will begin to prepare for Wednesday sinking, said Glen Clark of the Navy's Inactive Ship Program Office.

Graet pic of the ex-USS Oriskany being towed to sea. The teak wood planks that once covered it's flight deck have been removed. The Oriskany was decomissioned on 30 September 1976
060515-N-7992K-014.jpg
 

bd popeye

The Last Jedi
VIP Professional
Explosive charges signal the death of a American CV..USS Oriskany..
060517-N-7992K-001.jpg


After explosives were set the Oriskany listed to starboard for a while before it slipped into the Gulf Of Mexico..
060517-N-7992K-009.jpg
 

IDonT

Senior Member
VIP Professional
A sight rarely seen since World War II

A sinking US carrier


060517-N-7992K-001.jpg


060517-N-7992K-017.jpg


060517-N-7992K-019.jpg


060517-N-7992K-020.jpg


Gulf of Mexico (May 17, 2006) - The ex-Oriskany, a decommissioned aircraft carrier, was sunk 24 miles off the coast of Pensacola, Fla., on May 17 to form an artificial reef. The 888-foot ship took about 37 minutes to sink below the surface. After 25 years of service to the Navy in operations in Korea, Vietnam and the Mediterranean, ex-Oriskany will now benefit marine life, sport fishing and recreation diving off the coast of the Florida panhandle. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Jeffrey P. Kraus
 

SteelBird

Colonel
Re: A sight rarely seen since World War II

Wait... I seem seeing these somewhere before posted by BD Popeye... just a little bit differences your images are larger and take me a hell of time to download.
 

bd popeye

The Last Jedi
VIP Professional
Re: A sight rarely seen since World War II

Steelbird, Yes I posted some pics in the US military news thread about the sinking of the Oriskany. I'm going to merge these threads.

Try refreshing your page. I believe javascript has been enabled.

IDonT, in a previous post in this thread I mentioned that the USN sunk the USS America CV-66 on the 19th of May 2005. that sinking was classified because the USN was studing ways to better protect CV's from attack. Still to this day only one pic has been released of that sinking. And all it shows is the swirl on the surface of the water as the America sank somewhere in the Atlantic.

CV66_after_plunge.jpg
 

MrClean

New Member
I am sure you all know about the Joint-Attack series of guided ordnance that is in the U.S. arsenal, these consisting of JDAM and JSOW etc. One of the more recent additions to the arsenal, and a personal favorite, is the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile--Extended Range, a new longer range version. And it's definately a baaad mamma-jamma. It is stealthy, and it's a missile that the pilot can release 500 nautical miles out. And not only that, but after it flies 500 natical miles, a free flight that would take a little over an hour, it can come right through your bedroom window and explode right in the center of the room with the equivalent explosion of something like a 2,000 pound bomb. Talk about a wake up call...


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D

Deleted member 675

Guest
US agrees UK tech transfer for JSF!

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Bush, Blair resolve dispute over Joint Strike Fighter

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States and Britain announced agreement to end a long-running row over technology that had threatened plans to cooperate in developing a new Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. A statement by President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair on the final day of their two-day summit appeared to put to rest a dispute over codes used to access US avionics systems aboard the F-35 fighters.

Britain, angered by US reluctance to share the codes, had been preparing to pull out of the project and the planned purchase of 150 aircraft at 104 million dollars apiece. Bush and Blair said they agreed that Britain "will have the ability to successfully operate, upgrade, employ, and maintain the Joint Strike Fighter such that the UK retains operational sovereignty over the aircraft."

US officials said the move would allow the British to make their own adaptations to the JSF without having to call in US technicians. "Both governments agree to protect sensitive technologies found within the Joint Strike Fighter program," Bush and Blair wrote. "Together, we are working out the details, while remaining committed to these principles."

At last! Great news for the UK and the CVF project! :nana:
 

Siddharth

New Member
Re: US agrees UK tech transfer for JSF!

FuManChu said:
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Bush, Blair resolve dispute over Joint Strike Fighter



At last! Great news for the UK and the CVF project! :nana:

that will leave other partners in cold.

with no or low stealth version being offered to other countries how well it will fair against Ac in market. i mean without stealth it wont be a true 5 Gen AC.

then whats the use of spending 100 Million $ on a plane thats similer to rafael and typhoon without stealth.
 
D

Deleted member 675

Guest
Re: US agrees UK tech transfer for JSF!

Siddharth said:
that will leave other partners in cold.

Britain isn't other partners, so I couldn't really care less what happens to them.

But what do you mean "no stealth" being offered to other countries? This is about allowing the UK to upgrade the plane without having to get the US to do it/give permission. "Stealth" doesn't come into it.
 
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