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U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Tests Quickstrike-ER Naval Mine from B-52 Bomber
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"The QS64-ER combines Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) technology and an additional wing kit and battery section with existing mine components. This allows it to be delivered long range and high altitude, which significantly reduces risk to the aircraft."

sounds clever
 
Oct 27, 2018
Yesterday at 9:18 PM
now noticed a long one:
Navy's Next Gen Jammer Is Three Pods, Not One, And Competition For One Of Them Just Heated Up
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...
... related is
USN launches Next-Gen Jammer Low-Band integration on Growler
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The US Navy (USN) has launched an effort to integrate the Next Generation Jammer- Low Band (NGJ-LB) system onto the Boeing EA-18G electronic attack (EA) aircraft, with a request for information (RFI) issued on 30 May.

The RFI released by the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) is for the development, test, and integration of NGJ-LB onto the EA-18G as part of the wider Growler Block 2 upgrade that it formally launched just days previously. The NGJ system will replace the current AN/ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System (TJS) that dates back to the closing stages of the Vietnam War.

With the TJS operating in the 509 MHz- to 18 GHz-waveband, NGJ will be developed as three separate capabilities, which will include LB, Mid-Band (MB), and High-Band (HB). NGJ-LB (also known as Block/Increment 2), NGJ-MB (Block/Increment 1), and NGJ-HB (Block/Increment 3) are directed specifically against the low- (100 MHz to 2 GHz waveband), mid- (2 GHz to 6 GHz), and high-band (6 GHz to 18 GHz) sections of the overall threat spectrum.

Work on NGJ-LB development, test, and integration is expected to run for five years from 2 December. Northrop Grumman is teamed with Harris Corporation and Comtech PST on the NGJ-LB project, while L3 Technologies is also developing a candidate solution.

As noted by Jane's C4ISR & Mission Systems: Air , the NGJ will be a pod-mounted system that incorporates digital, software-based, and active electronically scanned array (AESA) technologies to create an enhanced EA capability that is capable of disrupting and degrading hostile radar and communications emitters, as well as addressing advanced and emerging threats operating within increasingly dense environments. The capability's mission areas are listed as stand-off (supporting deep-strike missions) and stand-in jamming, along with modified (supporting sea warfare; close-air support; irregular warfare - communications and non-conventional weapon targets; and battlefield air interdiction operations) and penetrating escort.

...
... and the rest is behind paywall at Jane's
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for two days I had been trying to ignore "a tarp", but now realized it might me the chain of command issue:
Shanahan ‘Not Planning’ USS McCain Investigation, But Still Reviewing Facts
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Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
At two years before commission, which will occur in late 2020 or early 2021, the John F. Kennedy, the 2nd Ford Class crrier, looks like this:

Ilsand-Landed-03.jpg Ilsand-Landed-04.jpg Ilsand-Landed-02.jpg

I do not believe anyone can show a pic of CV-18 anywhere close to this stage of construction.

JFK was 65% complete structurally two years before launch, and as you see two years before commissioning.

Launch: Late 2019-early 2020
Commission: Late 2020 to early 2021

Anyhow, my expectation from what I have heard (because we have not seen much to date, whereas for CV-16 and CV-17 we saw quite a bit at this stage of construction), is that she is likely 3-4 years away from launch and 4-5 years away fro commission...perhaps longer because they will have to integrate the entire catapult launch at sea into her trials.

Time will tell.
 
Last edited:
Yesterday at 5:07 PM
for two days I had been trying to ignore "a tarp", but now realized it might me the chain of command issue:
Shanahan ‘Not Planning’ USS McCain Investigation, But Still Reviewing Facts
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"well-meaning" huh
White House Won't Fire Staffer Who Asked Navy to Hide USS McCain: Mulvaney
Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said on the Sunday TV talk shows that a junior staffer made the request to the military
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and would not be fired for doing it.

"That's not an unreasonable thing to ask" that the president be spared having to see a warship with late Sen. John McCain's name on it, given the enmity between them, both personally and politically, Mulvaney said on NBC-TV's "Meet The Press" program.

"The president's feelings toward the former senator are well known," he said.

Consequently, it would be "silly" to fire anyone for a well-meaning attempt to avoid the possibility of riling the commander in chief on his visit to Japan last week, Mulvaney added.

On "Meet The Press" and "Fox News Sunday," Mulvaney sought to explain what may have gone through the mind of a junior staffer after spotting the
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guided missile destroyer McCain near the
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, which Trump
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.

"The fact that some 23- or 24-year-old person on the advance team went to that site and said, 'Oh my goodness, there's the John McCain. … 'We all know how the president feels about the former senator. Maybe that's not the best backdrop. Can somebody look into moving it?' That's not an unreasonable thing to ask," Mulvaney said on "Meet The Press."

The
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on Saturday confirmed receiving a request to "minimize visibility" of the McCain during the president's visit. The ship was originally named for the senator's father and grandfather, both admirals. The senator's name was added upon his death last year.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told reporters traveling with him in South Korea on Sunday that he did not expect to ask for an Inspector General's report on the incident, The Associated Press reported. He said he also is considering issuing guidance to the military to avoid similar incidents, according to the AP.

Shanahan said he had spoken to McCain's widow, Cindy, but did not characterize the conversation.

In remarks carried by C-Span, Trump told reporters at the White House last week that whoever asked the military to keep the McCain out of his sight was "well meaning."

"I don't know what happened. I was not involved. … I would not have done it," he said. "Somebody did it because they thought I didn't like him [McCain].

"To me, John McCain -- I was never a fan, but I would never do that," Trump said.

"They were well meaning, I will say," he said of whoever made the request. "I don't know anything about it."
 
here comes
US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
:

HASC Subcommittee Worried About B-1 Readiness
6/3/2019
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Dwindling B-1 availability is raising alarm at the House Armed Services Committee, which is asking the Air Force to report back on several aspects of a readiness recovery plan for the conventionally armed bomber.

“The committee is concerned B-1 readiness does not have the priority and resources to improve B-1 mission-capable rates,” according to the HASC seapower and projection forces subcommittee’s version of the 2020 defense policy bill. “This is evidenced by fully mission-capable aircraft currently in single digits and aircrew being rerouted from flying the B-1 to other aircraft due to lack of B-1 aircraft for training.”

Lawmakers say America may be jeopardizing its ability to perform long-range precision strike because of the aging B-1’s structural problems. The bombers were
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earlier this year because of drogue chute problems in the aircraft’s ejection seats.

Air Force Global Strike Command chief Gen. Timothy Ray told reporters ongoing combat operations are overextending the B-1 fleet, which will work through increased maintenance.

The subcommittee mark, released June 3, tells the Air Force to send lawmakers a plan to boost B-1 readiness by March 1, 2020. It should address aircraft structural issues, lay out a plan to continue structural deficiency data analysis and testing, project how long it may take to repair problems that are found, and come up with strategies to avoid future issues.

The Air Force is also asked to provide a training plan for pilots and maintainers and assess how long it would take the fleet to recover for future deployments.
 
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