US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

A) Avoiding clashes by creating a new treaties or changing the terms of the old one to coincide with both sides security needs,

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TerraN_EmpirE said:

The problem is You cannot change the details of a treaty from one side. A treaty is an agreement of mutual trust and agreement by two parties, It's a contract.
when ever in the past one side has "Altered the Agreement" It' never works well for the one who has the alterations made on them.
The Us simply saying we are changing the agreement unilaterally would place US allies in a position to no longer trust the US to live up to it's treaty obligations, which would place pressure on them to change the security dynamics on their own.
IE If I can't trust the Us to protect me under it's nuclear umbrella then I need my own.
You may not view China as a threat to it's neighbors but it's neighbors may not share that view and all evidence indicates that position.
This creates a position where in other nations then domino to place more into their own defence which in turn pushes China to place more in it's own. which returns the emphasis to the individual nations to push for more unilateral actions. tensions continue to rise and desperation and frustration leads to grand brinksmanship.

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Air Force maglev sled breaks record at 633 mph
Published April 21, 2016

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(U.S. Air Force)

In the New Mexico desert last month, a rocket-powered magnetically-levitated sled broke a world record after it blasted down a track at 633 miles per hour, faster than the cruising speed of a 747.

The test occurred at Holloman Air Force Base on a special 2100-foot track on March 4. Air Force video shows the one-ton vehicle rocketing down the track, a fiery, dusty plume behind it.

“We have a magnetically-levitated sled, where we use a very cold liquid helium to essentially levitate the sled via superconducting magnetics,” Lt. Col. Shawn Morgenstern, the commander of the 846th Test Squadron, said in the video.


“The test today was significantly faster than any test that we’ve previously done,” Morgenstern added.

The Air Force said that the sled accelerated at a rate of 928 feet per second. Before this test, the sled had reached 513 mph.

Magnetic levitation systems allow for vehicles to travel in a very low-friction environment, permitting incredibly fast speeds— last year, a Japanese maglev train traveled at 374 mph. And Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, has proposed a system called the Hyperloop that would use a related technology to move people or cargo at breathtaking speeds.

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Mini version of DARPA X-Plane completes test flight

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By Don Reisinger

Published April 19, 2016

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(Aurora)

DARPA last month

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Aurora Flight Sciences a contract to work on an experimental plane that will essentially function as a helicopter and fighter jet in one. Now, Aurora has successfully tested a mini version of its so-called "LightningStrike" X-Plane.

The sub-scale model weighs in at 325 pounds, or 20 percent of the full-scale

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that Aurora will build over the next two years. It's made of a combination carbon fiber and 3D-printed

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plastics to keep it as lightweight as possible.

The unmanned aircraft take-off, hover, and landing took place at a US military facility, and was controlled by Aurora personnel who were in a nearby ground control station.

"This first flight is an important, initial confirmation that both the flight controls and aerodynamic design are aligning with our design predictions," Aurora CTO Tom Clancy said in a

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.

DARPA hopes the technology will be a useful companion for cargo runs. If the final drone gets in the air and works as prescribed, it would be capable of carrying several thousand pounds of cargo and whip around at speeds of nearly 500 miles per hour. It could be used for humanitarian missions, as well as to drop cargo in dangerous war zones, all without risking the life of a pilot.

"This is an extremely novel approach," DARPA program manager Ashish Bagai said last month. "It will be very challenging to demonstrate, but it has the potential to move the technology needle the farthest and provide some of the greatest spin-off opportunities for other vertical flight and aviation products."

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The first Flight III Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyer will be built at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, according to a Sunday statement from the Navy to USNI News.

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, the Navy issued a pre-solicitation notice on FedBizOpps stating the service intended to issue a Request for Proposal to Bath Iron Works for a Burke DDG “and associated supplies and services which are anticipated to be delivered in the Flight III configuration,” read the notice.

The ship will feature the first operational installation of the Raytheon AN/SPY-6 Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) – an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar that promises to be 30 times more powerful than the AN/SPY-1 air search radar on the current Flight IIA Burkes.

The first Flight III will be the third DDG funded in 2016 following $1 billion Congress set aside for the third hull in last year’s defense bill. The service had intended to build two destroyers in 2016 but the additional funds Congress included prompted the Navy to ask for an additional $433 million in its Fiscal Year 2017 unfunded requirements list to complete the third 2016 hull.

“We’re budgeted for two Flight IIAs plus one Flight III mod. We awarded two Flight IIAs and we still have the balance of funding for the Flight III mod. And now we’re waiting to get this additional FY 16 ship in hand in a timely manner to award the ECP for this [third] ship,” Sean Stackley, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition told USNI News following an April 7 hearing before the Senate armed services seapower committee.
“If we can’t get this ship in a timely manner then we’ll have to modify one of the two that are already under contract.”

Prior to the pre-solicitation, both

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. The configuration will be built by both shipbuilders.

In addition to the SPY-6, the changes to the design will increase the power available on the ship by three Rolls Royce 3-megawatt generators on the Flight IIA ships with Rolls Royce’s 4-megawatt generator in the same footprint on the ship.

The electrical grid on the ship will also be upgraded from the 450-volt configuration to a 4,160-volt grid which will lead to additional design changes.

Bath getting the extra Fiscal Year 2016 ship was part of a so-called “swap agreement” between HII and Bath, the Navy said.

“The Navy intends to award the third FY16 DDG 51 ship to Bath Iron Works. This corresponds to the December 2015 long lead time material contract award for LPD 28 to Huntington Ingalls and would be in addition to the currently contracted multiyear ships, subject to congressional authorization and appropriation,” read the Navy statement.

In a Saturday statement Maine Senators Angus King and Susan Collins said, “there is no workforce in the world better positioned to build the first of the Navy’s upgraded destroyers, which will help ensure that the strength of our Navy’s capabilities remain unrivaled.”

The following is the complete Sunday Navy statement on the Flight III program.

In support of the Navy’s plans to introduce Flight III capability in 2016, the Navy issued a pre-solicitation notice for a third DDG 51 ship in FY16, which the Navy intends to deliver in the Flight III configuration. Congress has appropriated approximately $1B towards this additional ship and provided incremental funding authority, thus allowing the Navy to start the process to award the third FY16 ship in advance of receipt of the balance of funds required ($433M identified in the Unfunded Priorities List).

As previously stated, consistent with the “swap agreement,” the Navy intends to award the third FY16 DDG 51 ship to Bath Iron Works. This corresponds to the December 2015 long lead time material contract award for LPD 28 to Huntington Ingalls and would be in addition to the currently contracted multiyear ships, subject to congressional authorization and appropriation.

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Equation said:

It is NOT up to the world to satisfy any threat feelings US Asian allies have coming from China's and whatever so called evidence is just rhetoric overestimating the threat. I'm sorry but the few US allies in Asia needs to get over their insecurities and quit expecting the US to come and save their elite rulers status quo butts at any cost. The idea to think that if the US is not present than there would be a domino effect of arms race going on all over Asia is also false. Many of US Asian allies just simply can't afford to keep up with China or even want to. That's why they ratchet up the rhetoric to make it sound as if the threat is dire and that China must be contain at all cost, to get Americans involved so that they don't have to spend their own money to do it.

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Pentagon Still Unsure If It Needs More Growlers; Boeing Says Production Restart Would Be Possible

The Navy may know within the next year if it has enough Boeing EA-18G Growlers to meet not only its own airborne electronic attack needs but also to cover all joint operational needs, the Navy’s director of air warfare (OPNAV N98) told lawmakers last week – though by then there may be a cost increase associated with restarting Growler production.

The Navy bought seven Growlers this fiscal year – not because its five-year budget plans called for more planes, but because Congress helped secure the funding to keep the common Growler and F/A-18E-F Super Hornet production line running until further domestic and international sales could be shored up. Now, though, the Navy has no additional plans to buy more Growlers, and there is no serious international interest in the program, Dan Gillian, Boeing F/A-18 and EA-18G programs vice president, told USNI News in an April 21 interview. The airframe production will continue, as Super Hornet demand remains, but the additional work to outfit the planes for sophisticated electronic attack missions will cease.

Gillian said most of the components of the Growler kit are common with other programs in the Navy, and the main component – the Next Generation Jammer – is under production with Northrop Grumman as the Navy replaces the Vietnam-era AN/ALQ-99 tactical jamming system.
So if the Pentagon ultimately decides it needs more Growlers, “there will of course be production break costs, some things associated with that. We view it as something that is possible, but certainly a little bit of a costly way to acquire Growler kit,” Gillian said, adding that Boeing does believe there is additional need for more Growlers and is in talks with Northrop Grumman about how to proceed once the companies complete the last seven-plane order.

Director of Air Warfare Rear Adm. Mike Manazir said at an April 20 Senate Armed Services seapower subcommittee hearing that the Navy cannot yet make a determination about future Growler needs because the Pentagon as a whole has not decided on its airborne electronic attack needs. The Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Staff have two studies going on currently, one on the total number of Growlers needed for joint operations and the other on various ways to conduct airborne electronic attack – through the Next Generation Jammer or otherwise. Manazir told the senators that once those studies wrap up, within the next year, the Navy would have enough information to decide if it needs to buy more planes.

The Navy has bought 160 Growlers, and “we feel that sources the Navy requirement for airborne electronic attack. When the Marine Corps retires its EA-6B in 2019, the Growler will be the only [Defense Department] airborne electronic attack platform that will be flying. We are still conducting the study that determines whether the number of Growlers is sufficient to cover all the missions across the joint force. “

Manazir praised the Growler and the Next Generation Jammer in particular, calling it a much-needed replacement for a 40-year-old podded system that struggles to keep up with today’s advanced threats.

“The reason we are purchasing the Next Generation Jammer, which its first increment will reach initial operational capability around 2021, is that the threat is getting more and more advanced, and that threat is in the electromagnetic spectrum,” he said.

“The next war is going to be fought in the electromagnetic spectrum. The ability to use [radio frequency] energy by us to assure our systems and to deny the use of enemy systems is going to be the predominant measure by which we will succeed. The Next Generation Jammer podded system is designed to go after those advanced threats, and it is designed to continually track and outmatch the threat as we go forward.”

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Jura said:

presumably good news:
Bath Iron Works Will Build First Flight III Arleigh Burke DDG

source:

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FORBIN said:

Jura don't have posted it, ...

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Pentagon Still Unsure If It Needs More Growlers; Boeing Says Production Restart Would Be Possible
...

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Jura said:

but
Pentagon Still Unsure If It Needs More Growlers; Boeing Says Production Restart Would Be Possible

source:

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Air Force Brat said:

Actually Gentlemen, China is pushing the "brinksmanship", betting that the US won't be able to match their "coin", or will lack the desire. The smaller nations bordering China are fearful of Chinese expansion and have no desire to be overwhelmed by the incoming "tide".

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Sikorsky achieves HH-60W CRH helicopter preliminary design review

Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company, yesterday announced the successful execution of the Combat Rescue Helicopter Program (CRH) Air Vehicle Preliminary Design Review (PDR). This important review signals that the CRH program is proceeding with detailed design activities for the HH-60W Air Vehicle and Logistics system. In addition, the team will continue toward the CRH Training Systems Preliminary Design Review in August, three months ahead of schedule.

Sikorsky and the United States Air Force (USAF) hosted a five-day meeting in April to gather stakeholders and key collaborators from government and industry for an in-depth review that demonstrated that the overall design meets the systems requirements setting the stage for the next phase of the program. Review participants included members of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, both the USAF acquisition team and representatives of the USAF operational combat rescue community, as well as the Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin industry team and several other key suppliers.

"The successful Air Vehicle PDR confirms the program is on the right track and marks a significant step for the CRH program," said Tim Healy, Sikorsky, CRH Program Director. "Sikorsky and the USAF are well aligned in this collaboration effort and this successful PDR moves us closer to bringing this vital aircraft to the warfighter. Specifically, I am very proud of our team. They are not only operating to an accelerated schedule, but the preliminary design that we have achieved here has well prepared us for detailed aircraft design and subsequent production. Our Training team is also executing extremely well and will be conducting the PDR for the Training System three months earlier than originally scheduled. This will further reduce our risk to achieving the USAF accelerated schedule for CRH and delivering this critical capability to the AF rescue crews faster. We are keenly aware that they are in combat every day, and that every day we can accelerate getting the HH-60W into their hands reduces the risks that they face on our nation's behalf."

The U.S. Air Force awarded Sikorsky the Combat Rescue Helicopter contract in June 2014.

The $1.2 billion Engineering Manufacturing & Development (EMD) contract includes development and integration of the next generation combat rescue helicopter and mission systems, including delivery of four HH-60W helicopters, as well as six aircrew and maintenance training systems. The training suite includes devices that span full motion simulators and discrete aircraft systems used for training, such as hoist and landing gear.

The USAF Program of Record calls for 112 helicopters to replace the Air Force's rapidly aging HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters, which perform critical combat search and rescue and personnel recovery operations for all U.S. military services.

The HH-60W is an advanced variant of the UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter design and features increased internal fuel capability, allowing for greater range, and an increase in cabin space. The CRH aircraft will feature GE T700-701D engines, composite wide-cord main rotor blades and fatigue and corrosion-resistant machined aero-structures to sustain maneuverability at high density altitudes. The design includes an advanced Tactical Mission Kit integrating multiple sensors, data links, defensive systems, and other sources of intelligence information for use by combat rescue aircrews.

In 2015, the CRH program conducted the Training System Requirements Review (SRR) and System Functional Review (SFR) as well as the Air Vehicle SFR and SRR.

J. David Schairbaum, USAF, System Program Manager, CRH, said, "Achieving the Air Vehicle PDR milestone is pivotal for our program. Successful execution of the CRH program is essential to meet the continued demanding personnel recovery mission in today's challenging operational environment. We are working closely with Sikorsky to assure this newly designed aircraft is delivered to the warfighter on schedule and within cost."

Lockheed Martin will outfit the aircraft with its mission planning system, defensive systems, data links, mission computers, adverse weather sensors and system integration of all CRH-unique subsystems.

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