US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
Alright! We are now getting a few pics of what types of testing they are doing. They are doing approaches to the carrier from F/A-18s, they are standing watches, doing security, they are doing boat handling. Landing helos on deck, doing maneuvering and standing watch/station on the bridge.

This is just for starters...but pretty neat to see. Here's another ten photos of her out to sea:

CVN-78-Trials-016.jpg CVN-78-Trials-017.jpg CVN-78-Trials-018.jpg
CVN-78-Trials-020.jpg
CVN-78-Trials-019.jpg
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
13,000 th! and to be honest the F-15 doesn't have a fatal flaw?? that's overstating the issue entirely, so for my benefit and other who might?? (but probably aren't), would you post your source in order that we might formulate our own assessment?

I am and have been aware of the Missouri National Guard lad who tore one in half, and indeed there was a serious manufacturing defect in that particular aircraft.
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Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
I think you misunderstood my point.. I'm saying still stick to high low just not all high.
I have nothing against F35 but I do have a problem with JUST having F35s at the expense of other makes which can be made in higher quantities.

Same with USN as well. We have a lot of Burkes and that is awesome however Burkes are getting to be ridiculously expensive as well and so are the LCSs. Perry class was great and we were able to built them in much higher quantity due to much lower cost.

At the end of the day $$$ counts and it doesn't make sense to rob peter to pay paul. The only other solution is to increase defense spending as per percentage of total GDP but that's an entirely different topic altogether.

Well the F-35 is still the low of the Hi-Lo mix, its just been "re-mastered" to also perform at the HI end of the spectrum due to the cancellation of F-22 production at 187 aircraft, now 184 due to attrition. The Navy needs to buy the F-35 Charlie in significant number to man the Ford and her high tech sisters. In the long run the F-35 Charlie is not that much more expensive than the Super Hornet to purchase or operate once the production numbers come up and the cost drops to the 100 million or so a copy that is projected.

We are as close to a Top end conflict, possibly closer than we have been in the last 30 years, to not prepare is to invite further aggressive action on the part of Russia, possibly even China, throw North Korea into the mix, shake well with South Korea or Japan and you have a volatile mixture??

US weakness and lack of resolve and clarity under the Obama regime (yes they did use the US intelligence agencies as partisan hacks to undermine the Republican opposition), has left a power vacuum that others rush to fill, upsetting the balance of power and encouraging the Russians to support and use an evil dictator, who has been gasing his own people during the past 8 years?? Seems the Obama team saw their own political opposition as a more urgent threat than those who are daily working to increase the number of ICBMs pointed in our direction.....

So no the F-15C is still are very vital and viable platform, but it will require a very expensive SLEP as will the A-10, and while there was at least one inflight break-up of an F-15, that was traced back to the upper longerons being fabricated improperly, a serious manufacturing defect apparently on the St. Louis assembly line..

of all the F-15s inspected at the time 9 did have upper longeron cracks, and 40% did have at least one longeron out of blueprint specs
 
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TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Army tanks in Europe ditch the desert camo for woodland green
By:
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April 11, 2017 (Photo Credit: Christoph Koppers/Army)
Now that the 4th Infantry Division's 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team has settled into its rotation in eastern Europe, it's time to blend into the surroundings.

Soldiers are working to paint all 400 of their M1A2 Abrams tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and M109A6 Paladin artillery vehicles, which are still sporting tan from their time in the Global War on Terror, a shade of woodland green to match their new terrain, according to information released Monday by the Army.

"A lot of the reasons why they weren't done before was because of our high operational tempo leading up to our deployment to Europe," said Capt. James England, commander of B Company, 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment. "We basically had intense training event to intense training event, which led to little room for opportunities."

The brigade got word of its upcoming Europe deployment, the first in a planned series of back-to-back armor brigade rotations to Europe, a year ago, brigade commander Col. Christopher Norrie told Army Times in March.

To prepare for their January arrival, the unit spent much of the year training at home, followed by almost two months at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, according to the Army.

Once they arrived, they had to spread thousands of soldiers and thousands of pieces of equipment from a German port into several locations in eastern Europe, where they got current on their training and maintenance, then spread out to an area that ranges from Estonia to Bulgaria.

Early April, according to the Army, was the first time the soldiers had a moment to stop and consider the paint.

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Soldiers from B Company, 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, mix green paint on April 4, 2017, prior to applying it to the company's M1A2 Abrams tanks at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany.
Photo Credit: Chaplain (Capt.) Malcolm Rios/Army

"We've always camouflaged the tanks," said England. "We use our camouflage nets, and that does a pretty good job concealing the tanks. We've always done things to mitigate the tan color on the tanks. Now it just goes a step further with the paint on the tanks."

The process takes three days, the Army said, including power washing, 12 hours to dry, 12 hours to paint a tank, and another 12 hours to dry.

The brigade is scheduled to remain in Europe until September, at which point they'll bring their equipment home and strip the green.

"The paint is a temporary paint," England said. "Once we go back home, we can pressure wash it off."
guess i owe Forbin an Apology. it was however covered in a SAAB Barracuda wrap.
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TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Initial speed requirements pushed UH-1Y out of Huey competition

  • 06 APRIL, 2017
  • SOURCE: FLIGHTGLOBAL.COM
  • BY: LEIGH GIANGRECO
  • WASHINGTON DC


Stringent speed requirements originally set out by the US Air Force for its UH-1N Huey replacement would have pushed Bell Helicopter’s UH-1Y Venom out of the competition.

In February, the service announced it would delay the release of its final request for proposal to recapitalise its Huey fleet, after contractors told the service their off-the-shelf solutions would not meet all of the proposed requirements.

The competition has piqued the interest of at least four contenders including Sikorsky with its UH-60M Black Hawk, Airbus Helicopters offering the UH-72A Lakota, Leonardo Helicopters pitching the AgustaWestland AW139 and Bell proposing its UH-1Y.

The USAF is discussing the requirements with industry and plans to release a second RFP this month, with the final requirements scheduled to be unveiled this summer, the service says.

For Bell, the air force’s specific requirements for speed, endurance and payload affected its bid, Scott Clifton, director of global military business development at the aiframer, tells FlightGlobal. The UH-1Y fell short of the air force’s proposed speed requirement by 3-7kt (5.5-13km/h), Clifton says.

Bell would have needed to modify the helicopter to meet those speed requirements, which would have delayed the timeline to field the aircraft. The GE Aviation T700-401C powers the UH-1Y today, but the Venom could reach higher speeds by upgrading to the -701D engine found in the Black Hawk and Boeing AH-64E Apache.

“When [USAF] said ‘it needs to go this fast,’ the speed was slightly different,” Clifton says. “So we had put in slightly upgraded engines and we wouldn’t be able to meet that at the time of proposals.”

The air force is also seeking a helicopter that can meet very hot, high altitude conditions for a three-hour mission, Clifton says. Much of the Huey’s mission guarding the air force’s Minuteman III missile silos is conducted in the USA’s far north, including two bases in North Dakota and Montana.

The remainder of the Huey’s tasks are focused on transporting political leaders out of Washington DC in the event of a nuclear attack, although it ferries VIPs during peacetime. The service’s concern about high and hot conditions centres on its third silo base at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming, Clifton says.

“They focused on worse case scenario and that was a summertime, hot day out of F.E. Warren,” he says. “Which is understandable, you can’t [only] plan to fly things out of Washington DC in the spring when it’s cool.”

Based on the air force’s requirements today, Bell would also modify the UH-1Y’s cabin to reach the new Huey’s payload and troop capacity needs. The payload and engine modifications would only mean a minor delay for Bell’s delivery, Clifton says.
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