US Air Force - USAF

Rappel du premier message :

l´USAF plane de retirer +300 jets,dont:

-137 F-15
-177 F-16
-9 A-10s

11 ans avant leur date,pour epargner 3,4B$ et accelerer ainsi les F-22/35

mais ca doit dabord passer le congress et le futur president doit signer!

Citation :

US Air Force eyes fighter cuts to boost modernization
Wed Oct 15, 2008 5:51pm EDT



WASHINGTON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force is seeking to retire early more than 300 fighter aircraft next year to save $3.4 billion in the hope of funding advanced Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) fighters and other modernization efforts, a published report said on Wednesday, citing internal Pentagon documents.

The plan would retire 137 F-15 and 177 F-16 fighters plus nine A-10 close air support attack aircraft as much as 11 years before the end of their scheduled useful lives, InsideDefense.com, an online news service, reported.

"Without accelerating these retirements, we are left with a larger, less-capable force unable to penetrate anti-access environments," the Air Force was quoted as telling John Young, the Pentagon's top arms buyer, in defense of a fiscal 2010 spending plan it submitted in August.

"Anti-access" is Pentagon jargon for spots defended by advanced surface-to-air missiles and state-of-the-art fighters such as those used or planned by Russia and China.

A key Air Force concern is what it calls a potential fighter gap until Lockheed's radar-evading F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is produced in large numbers.

An Air Force spokesman said it would be inappropriate to discuss an internal working document that will continue to change until it is incorporated into the next president's fiscal 2010 budget submission.

The document was quoted as saying an Air Force analysis showed a "smaller but modernized fighter force, when coupled with a robust bomber fleet, can effectively bridge the gap until the F-35 can be produced in required numbers (ramping to 110) and the F-22 can be modified to a common configuration."

Air Force officials have said they plan to increase F-35 production over the next five years to address the fighter gap, InsideDefense.com said.

Two F-35s have entered flight test, two are in ground test and 17 are in various stages of assembly, including the first two production-model jets scheduled for delivery to the U.S. Air Force in 2010, Lockheed said last month.

The president of the Air Force Association, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Dunn, said it remained to be seen if Congress would let the Air Force get rid of so many aircraft so early and if Pentagon leaders would grab the savings to fund competing priorities within other armed services.

"There will have to be a lot of dialogue inside the Pentagon between the Air Force and the office of the secretary of defense, probably the secretary himself, before a decision is made," Dunn, a former president of the Pentagon's National Defense University, said in a telephone interview.

Old warplanes typically involve high maintenance costs and may require big outlays for structural upgrades. Still, lawmakers often have blocked Air Force attempts to retire aging warplanes early, partly to preserve jobs -- in their voting districts -- at bases from which they are flown.

In the fiscal 2010 budget request being readied at the Pentagon for the next president, the Defense Department is seeking ways to continue production of Lockheed Martin's F-22, the top U.S. dog fighter, while boosting F-35 output to capture economies of scale quickly, Pentagon officials have said.

The final say on whether to go on building the F-22 is being left to the next president, who is to be elected Nov. 4 and take office Jan. 20 -- only weeks before the administration's budget request normally is sent to Congress.

The proposed early retirements represent accelerations of seven years in the case of the F-15, six years for the F-16 and 11 years for the A-10, according to the document cited by InsideDefense.com.

The savings would fuel a push to modernize the Air Force's bombers, late-date fighters and go toward a new "nuclear-specific" B-52 bomber rotational squadron and Northrop Grumman Corp'a (NOC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial system expansion, the document was quoted as saying. (Reporting by Jim Wolf; editing by Carol Bishopric, Gary Hill)

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1531730620081015?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

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USAF to field F-16s with auto-GCAS in 2014


Lockheed Martin and the US Air Force are working on implementing an automatic ground collision avoidance system (auto-GCAS) for the service's F-16 Fighting Falcon fleet that is set to become operational in 2014.

The system will also include a pilot activated recovery system that would be able to return the jet to straight and level flight at the push of a button, should the operator become disoriented.

"We expect to have the production deliveries out in the field as part of the M6.2+ OFP [Operational Flight Programme] for the USAF," says Bill Hord, a Lockheed F-16 programme director. "It fields in early 2014."

The F-16 auto-GCAS has three main components including advanced data transfer equipment, which houses the necessary algorithms and data, a modification to the digital flight control computer and modified software for the jet's modular mission computer. "Those three components are coming together and we are ready to go," Hord says.

The digital flight control computer passed its airworthiness certification one-and-a-half weeks ago, Hord says. "Those modifications have been reviewed and approved by the air force," he adds.

The operational flight programme for the modular mission computer will still have to be certificated and subsequently, the entire system will have to be flight certificated. The whole system is expected to be certificated before the end of 2013 with installations starting in the second quarter of 2014, Hord says.

Those modifications will be retrofitted to the F-16 fleet as the aircraft undergoes depot maintenance at Hill Air Force Base (AFB), Utah. The USAF currently has the capacity to modify 25 aircraft per month, but hopes to ramp up this rate to 50 per month. If all goes well, the entire active USAF F-16 Block 40/42/50/52 fleet will be retrofitted before the end of 2014.

Older F-16s, which have analogue flight computers, will not receive the retrofit. However, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) does have a technical solution in hand should the USAF's Air National Guard or Reserve choose to add the system to their jets.

The auto-GCAS has been a long-term effort for the USAF. General Dynamics (the original F-16 manufacturer before the division was acquired by Lockheed) and the USAF have been working on auto-GCAS technology since the mid-1980s, starting with Advanced Fighter Technology Integration (AFTI) F-16.

In those days, there was simply not enough data storage capacity available on board an aircraft to operationally implement a digital terrain elevation data (DTED)-based auto-GCAS system. Advances in computer hardware make the current system feasible.

"The only problem there [with the AFTI F-16] was having sufficient data storage capacity that was rapidly accessible to get the necessary terrain data out of it, and so it wasn't really a good implementation," Hord says. "Now that we have all the bits and pieces together, the technology is ripe. We're going as fast and hard for it as we can."

Development of the current system began in earnest under the AFRL's Fighter Risk Reduction Programme in 2007, Hord says. That risk reduction effort, which included a number of demonstration flights, ran through the middle part of 2010. Having developed the auto-GCAS as a specific functional capability for the purposes of the demonstration, Lockheed was then tasked to develop the production version of the system, Hord says.

Flight testing of the production auto-GCAS system started in the early part of 2011 and is currently ongoing at Edwards AFB, California. "The risk-reduction programme - the auto-GCAS specific programme - never really stopped," Hord says. "It's contributing some of the changes. There's a few additional tweaks to go in."

One such tweak is that while the system is technically capable of recovering the F-16 at 15m (50ft) above ground level, feedback from test pilots suggested the recovery altitude to be set at 152m.

While the F-16 will be the first USAF aircraft to receive an auto-GCAS system that uses DTED maps, a less sophisticated auto-GCAS system is being developed for the Lockheed F-22 Raptor. The F-22 auto-GCAS, which is currently being flight tested at Edwards AFB, requires the pilot to manually set a floor altitude and does not use digital terrain data. In addition to the Raptor, Lockheed's F-35 and the Boeing F/A-18 will also receive DTED-based auto-GCAS systems similar to the F-16's.

However, the Pentagon is not the first to implement such an auto-GCAS system for its tactical fighter fleet; some advanced foreign F-16s already have technically superior systems installed.

http://www.flightglobal.com

Citation :

Boeing Delivers Last C-17 to US Air Force

The Boeing Co. has delivered the final C-17 produced for the U.S. Air Force, more than two decades after the mammoth and versatile transport plane was rolled out as the Cold War wound down.

Military officials took delivery of the C-17 Globemaster III — the 223rd sold to the Air Force — during a ceremony Thursday attended by hundreds of workers at Boeing's Long Beach, Calif., assembly plant.

"It was a long run with the U.S. military, and it was a good run," said engineer Bob Grech, who joined the project 19 years ago.

The massive, four-engine C-17 made its first flight in 1991, and military deliveries began about two years later. The plane is used to airlift tanks, supplies and troops as well as perform medical evacuations. It quickly became a war and disaster workhorse, prized for its ability to operate from basic airstrips and cover intercontinental distances with a full load without refueling.

With a payload of 160,000 pounds, it is designed to airdrop 102 paratroopers and their equipment.

After the ceremony, the Air Force's final C-17 took off, en route to Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. — recreating the same flight the first production model took when it was delivered in July 1993. As the crowd on the ground cheered, the giant aircraft looped around and performed a low flyover before heading into the clouds.

Rachid Ali, a Boeing avionics inspector who has worked with C-17s for a dozen years, recounted the plane's service in Bosnia and Afghanistan. C-17s outfitted as mobile hospitals were regularly used to evacuate wounded military personnel during the Iraq War.

"It's an awesome airplane. Capability, reliability, it's above and beyond," Ali said. "The first 50 are still flying. After 25 years, you can refurbish them and they're as good as new. It's going to be in the air for years to come."

Design work on the plane began at the million-plus square-foot Long Beach facility in 1981, when it was a McDonnell Douglas facility. Boeing merged with McDonnell Douglas in the 1990s. At least 250 have been built, at a cost of about $311 million each when research, development and construction costs are included.

The Long Beach assembly line, which employees nearly 4,000 workers, still has pending orders in the foreign market. Boeing's overseas customers include the United Kingdom, Canada, India, Australia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and NATO.

http://abcnews.go.com

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Speed Agile : un concept futuriste pour le successeur du C-130



Lockheed Martin a récemment publié, sur le site internet de son magazine Code One  une vue d'artiste du Speed Agile.
 
Ce démonstrateur technologique, qui pour le moment fait l'objet d'essais en soufflerie, doit permettre de défricher un concept de futur avion de transport militaire, qui pourrait succéder au C-130 Hercules.
 
Le Speed Agile est le fruit de recherches réunissant Boeing, Lockheed Martin, la NASA et l'US Air Force. Il s'agit d'étudier un futur avion cargo, pouvant évoluer depuis des pistes sommaires, ce qui impose une bonne tenue aux basses vitesse, tout en étant capable de voler en croisière à Mach 0,8.
 
L'accent serait d'ailleurs mis sur l'utilisation de dispositifs hypersustentateurs performants et de conception simple, qui permettraient à l'appareil de décoller et d'atterrir sur une distance de moins de 700 m.
 
Pour le moment, Speed Agile n'est encore qu'un avion de papier. Mais qui sait, il pourrait peut être intéresser un jour les décideurs du Pentagone, soucieux d'offrir au C-130 Hercules une retraite bien méritée.

http://www.air-cosmos.com/defense/speed-agile-un-concept-futuriste-pour-le-successeur-du-c-130.html

Citation :

Raytheon awarded $14 million for HARM Control Section Modification Lot 2 contract


Modification provides improved precision, accuracy

TUCSON, Ariz., Sept. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Air Force awarded Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) a $14 million Lot 2 contract to continue full rate production of High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) Control Section Modification (HCSM) upgrade units.

The modification adds a GPS receiver and an improved inertial measurement unit (IMU) for precision navigation to the existing HARM. HCSM also features a digital flight computer that merges targeting solutions from navigation and seeker systems.

"HCSM upgrades to the HARM allow the enhanced weapon to precisely engage the target set," said Jack Roosa, HARM program director for Raytheon Missile Systems. "These upgrades negate many counter tactics of sophisticated radar-directed defenses and add a stand-off, high-speed strike capability against time critical targets of known location."

Raytheon began modification of existing HARMs early this year. Delivery of HCSM units is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2013. Raytheon has teamed with Honeywell, Rockwell Collins and others for the HCSM program.

The contract was awarded in Raytheon's second quarter of 2013.

About HARM and HCSM
The AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile is a key battlespace element to suppress or destroy surface-to-air missile radars, early warning radars and radar-directed air defense artillery systems. HARMs have made hostile airspaces worldwide safer for U.S. and allied warfighters. The missile resides in the inventories of eight countries.

More than 4,000 HARMs have been employed in combat.
HCSM adds GPS/IMU navigation accuracy, giving HARM the ability to engage time-critical targets.
HCSM has new features that degrade counter-HARM tactics, while reducing the risk of fratricide or collateral damage.

About Raytheon
Raytheon Company, with 2012 sales of $24 billion and 68,000 employees worldwide, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, security and civil markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 91 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems; as well as a broad range of mission support services. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. For more about Raytheon, visit us at www.raytheon.com and follow us on Twitter @Raytheon.

http://raytheon.mediaroom.com

Citation :

Laser-guided smart bomb crushes small boat

The US Air Force has shown off its considerable military might - by using a 900-kilogram laser-guided smart bomb to blow up a dinghy.




In an exercise described by one commentator as "overkill defined", the tiny metal boat was blown to smithereens in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico earlier this month, with the moment of impact captured on camera.

According to Dyess Air Force Base in Texas, which released the images, a B-1B bomber was sent up on September 4 to test how effective the aircraft was when attacking a mobile sea target.

The aircraft released six bombs as part of the test, including a laser-guided GBU-10 bomb. That bomb, which obliterated the boat, costs nearly US$24,000.

The Aviationist website said the small, unmanned boat was similar to one that might be used by pirates, and that "the term 'using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut' springs to mind".

Originally developed during the Cold War, the GBU-10 bomb was not actually used until 1998, during military operations in Iraq.

The stunt sparked a number of jokes on social media:

www.stuff.co.n

mais quelle prise  c´est du vrai overkill ca  

Waouw c'est impressionant ca..pas besoin de ASM quand ont a ca.

Citation :

Upgrade gives B-52 more teeth

BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. (AFNS) -- The B-52 Stratofortress is set to receive an upgrade that will significantly increase its weapons payload, officials said.

The initial 1760 Internal Weapons Bay Upgrade will allow the B-52 to house up to eight advanced precision-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions in its internal weapons bay, in addition to the 12 it can currently carry on exterior weapons pylons.

"It will increase the B-52's overall carrying capacity by 67 percent," said Alan Williams, the B-52 Deputy Program element monitor at Air Force Global Strike Command.

The 1760 IWBU is based on rewiring the existing B-52 launcher into a Common Rotary Launcher, which carries the munitions and is housed in the B-52's bomb bay. The rewiring allows the B-52 to communicate with the newest weapons in the Air Force's arsenal.

"Military Standard 1760 is the technical name," Williams said. "It determines how the wiring will be laid out and what signals will go through them. It's similar to your home's internet connection; you need a specific type of wiring to access the signal and a software agreement as to what those signals will be. Without that correct type of wiring and the software agreement, your computer can't talk to the internet."

While the B-52 has long been able to carry JDAMs and other cutting-edge weapons from that family, on an exterior pylon under each wing, the interior weapons bay was not equipped to communicate with those types of munitions.

"The system uses a digital interface," Williams said. "Then there's a software piece called a storage management overlay, or SMO. We currently have the SMO that can talk to the weapons on the wing. With the new wiring in place, we're now going to be able to change the software to also allow for communication with those weapons in the bomb bay."

The addition, the wiring in the internal weapons bay also lays the groundwork for future expansion to other advanced weapons.

"By having 1760 in the bay, it allows us to upgrade the aircraft," Williams said. "As new J-Series weapons come onboard, all we have to do is rewrite the software and add those weapons to the aircraft inventory. For instance, increment 1.2 will add the JASSM-Extended Range missile and the MALD-J missile into the complement in the bay," Williams said, adding that these missiles will bring greater mission flexibility to the B-52.

A contract for Engineering and Manufacturing Development has been awarded to Boeing to develop and produce six of these upgrades by April 2016. After those have been installed and tested, a new contract will be awarded for procurement of an additional 38 units.

All 1760 IWBUs should be online by October 2017, Williams said. With them, each B-52 will bring much more firepower to the fight.

"Now instead of three aircraft carrying 36 weapons, we can have two aircraft carrying 40 weapons," Williams said. "That lowers your number of crews for a mission, and lowers your fuel requirement, or it gives you the option to be able to put more weapons on target with the same number of aircraft. It will make us more efficient and more responsive to the warfighter."

http://www.af.mil/News

MAATAWI a écrit:

Citation :

Laser-guided smart bomb crushes small boat

www.stuff.co.n

Un message très clair pour l'Iran et son armée de ses milliers de petits bateaux kamikaze ...
J'aurai jamais cru qu'une GBU-10 ne coutait que 24.000 $  

Citation :

U.S. moves drone fleet from Camp Lemonnier to ease Djibouti’s safety concerns

The U.S. military has been forced to relocate a large fleet of drones from a key counterterrorism base on the Horn of Africa after a string of crashes fanned local fears that the unmanned aircraft were at risk of colliding with passenger planes, according to documents and interviews.
Air Force drones ceased flying this month from Camp Lemonnier, a U.S. installation in Djibouti, after local officials expressed alarm about several drone accidents and mishaps in recent years. The base serves as the combat hub for counterterrorism operations in Yemen and Somalia, playing a critical role in U.S. operations against al-Shabab, the Somali Islamist militia that has asserted responsibility for the Nairobi shopping mall attack, which killed more than 60 people.


The Pentagon has temporarily moved the unmanned aircraft from the U.S. base in Djibouti’s capital to a makeshift airstrip in a more remote part of the country. U.S. military officials said the disruption has not affected their overall ability to launch drone strikes in the region, but they declined to say whether it has forced them to curtail the frequency of drone missions or hindered their surveillance of al-Shabab camps and fighters.
The Djiboutian government’s growing unease over drone flights casts doubt on its commitment to host the aircraft over the long term. It is unclear whether the temporary drone base can be transformed into a permanent home or whether the U.S. military will have to hunt for another site in the region, according to previously undisclosed correspondence between the Defense Department and Congress.
That uncertainty raises fresh questions about the Pentagon’s plan to invest more than $1 billion to upgrade Camp Lemonnier into a major regional base, supporting operations throughout Africa, as well as in parts of the Arabian Peninsula and Indian Ocean. Those plans include a $228 million compound to house up to 700 personnel from the highly secretive Joint Special Operations Command.
More broadly, however, the concerns about drone safety present a strategic challenge for the Pentagon as it begins to shift more of the robot planes to new frontiers, where they must share congested airspace with commercial aircraft.
A rash of accidents
Unlike in the war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq, where the U.S. military essentially has ruled the skies, the drones in Djibouti and other foreign locations have flown from the same runways and relied on the same air traffic controllers as civilian pilots.
At least five drones based at Camp Lemonnier have crashed since January 2011, Air Force records show, including one that plowed into the ground next to a neighborhood in Djibouti’s capital, which goes by the same name as the country.
Last year, the Pentagon was forced to suspend drone operations in Seychelles, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, after two Reaper drones crashed on the runway at the main international airport, which serves half a million passengers a year.
The overseas accidents could have repercussions in the United States, where the military and the drone industry are pressing the federal government to open up the skies to remote-controlled aircraft.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/drone-safety-concerns-force-us-to-move-large-fleet-from-camp-lemonnier-in-djibouti/2013/09/24/955518c4-213c-11e3-a03d-abbedc3a047c_story.html?hpid=z3

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Des bombardiers contre les essaims iraniens ?

C’est un essai intéressant qui a été mené par un B-1B, le 4 septembre. En l’occurrence, l’appareil a été chargé de cibler puis d’attaquer avec une bombe guidée laser de 907 kg une embarcation rapide commandée à distance. Si la frappes d’objectifs mouvants par des armes guidées laser ne pose guère problème au sol, il n’en va pas de même en mer : si le « point laser » n’accroche pas correctement la cible, l’eau le diffracte complètement, le rendant « illisible » pour l’autodirecteur de l’arme.
Cette particularité avait nécessité de s’y prendre à plusieurs reprises pour toucher les navires libyens, pourtant à quai et sur des eaux calmes, durant l’opération Harmattan. Point de problème cependant pour le B-1B et son pod Sniper : l’arme a touché directement l’embarcation, participant à la validation de l’engagement de bombardiers comme plateformes de lutte contre les essaims de petits bâtiments.

http://www.dsi-presse.com/

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Air Force tanker makes emergency landing with suspected fuel leak

A suspected fuel leak forced an Air Force tanker to make an emergency landing on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca on Monday.

The KC-135 Stratotanker, an aerial refueling aircraft, landed at Sol San Juan airport in Palma De Mallorca, according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Madrid. The plane was undamaged and was to leave the airport after the problem was repaired, the statement said.

No injuries were reported.

The tanker, based at McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas, had taken off from a Spanish air base at Moron, outside of Seville in the country’s south, according to a spokeswoman for U.S. Air Forces in Europe.

With more than 50 years of service as an aerial refueling tanker, the KC-135 fleet has recently shown its age. Stratotankers have made emergency landings this year in Wichita, Wis., Indiana and Tampa Bay, Fla., with press reports citing landing gear and engine malfunctions.

The Air Force plans to replace the Stratotanker with the next generation KC-46 refueling tanker, scheduled to arrive in 2017.

http://www.stripes.com

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Shutdown grounds Air Combat Command jets

Air Combat Command is grounding aircraft that are not immediately training to deploy, officials said Wednesday. The stand down is because of the government shutdown, the command said.

About 75 percent of the command’s civilian employees have been furloughed, and so the 25 percent remaining are focusing on missions that absolutely need to be accomplished, ACC spokesman Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis said.

The aircrews will fly “if you need to prepare to deploy,” Sholtis said. That means crews preparing to deploy between now and mid-January “need to be training at full, combat mission ready levels,” he said.

ACC does not have a set list yet of all the squadrons affected by the stand down. All bases will continue to have one squadron flying, except for Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, which will only see foreign jets flying during the stand down while one of its F-15E squadrons is deployed.

The stand down order comes about three months after ACC lifted the grounding of 17 combat-coded squadrons due to sequestration. That stand down similarly allowed only squadrons about to deploy to keep flying at a full mission capable rate.

ACC has not said if additional squadrons would fly at a reduced rate under the current guidance.

In addition, ACC said that flying training units whose students are needed immediately for “operational taskings” — F-22, MC-12 Liberty and remotely piloted aircraft squadrons — are still flying, Sholtis said.

ACC has 7,500 civilians furloughed, with the remaining 2,500 exempt.

“There continues to be a high demand for combat airpower during the shutdown, and unfortunately we have fewer people supporting only moderately reduced operations,” Sholtis said in an e-mail. “Should the current shutdown persist, we may need to bring additional personnel back to work in order to continue to support operational requirements.”

The grounding was first reported by Foreign Policy.

http://www.militarytimes.com

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Springfield Guard unit in need of more drone pilots



About 40 pilots fly the MQ-1 Predator on armed recon missions abroad from inside a building at the Springfield Air National Guard Base, but the local Air Guard wing has openings for 10 more.
The Air Force as a whole has embraced unmanned aerial technology so rapidly that it can’t find and train those pilots fast enough, according to a recent think tank report.
The report authored last month for the Brookings Institution by Air Force Col. Brad Hoagland suggests that “an aggressive enterprise-wide recruiting strategy and strategic communication plan is needed” for the Air Force to find the 350 new drone pilots it’ll need by 2017 to carry out projected plans.
But for an Air National Guard unit like Springfield’s 178th Fighter Wing — which historically has drawn its personnel from the local area — recruiting potential pilots has taken on new challenges during a war in which the warfighter doesn’t necessarily have to leave home.
Pilots who always made appearances at the Dayton Air Show to meet and greet potential recruits when the wing flew manned fighter jets now can’t reveal themselves in public.
The wing’s four full-time recruiters have never actually seen where the Predators are controlled from, due to the mission’s sensitivity, and aren’t likely to anytime soon unless they have the right clearance.
Crews based locally began flying the Predator last year, and play an active role in the War on Terror without ever leaving Clark County.
“It’s still too new,” said Col. Bryan Davis, commander of the wing’s 178th Reconnaissance Group and the only Predator pilot locally who can be identified.
The wing has six pilot recruits working their way through the two-year training process — tapped either from its enlisted ranks or off the street — but the need remains.
“It’s an open advertisement for people to come in and be selected,” Davis said.
The jet fighters that roared over Clark County for 55 years sold themselves, according to Col. Gregory Schnulo, commander of the 178th Fighter Wing.
“We exist because of the local population,” Schnulo said.
But never before has the 178th — the lone RPA unit in the Ohio Air National Guard — had to keep so quiet about its mission.
“You’re our best vehicle right now,” Schnulo confessed during an interview with the Springfield News-Sun, which has reported extensively on the wing’s transition from jets to drones.
Pilots of all kinds are in short supply, Davis said, whether the aircraft is manned or not, but the Brookings report argues that if the Air Force wants to up the number of daily combat air patrols as planned by remotely piloted aircraft, or RPA, like the Predator, things need to change.
The Air Force currently operates 61 combat air patrols daily with drones, primarily in places such as Afghanistan, Yemen and North Africa, where they watch over friendly ground forces and keep tabs on suspected militants with their sensors and cameras.
If need be, the Predator’s two Hellfire missiles can come into play.
The MQ-9 Reaper, an even more lethal RPA, carries more than double the number of Hellfires, in addition to so-called smart bombs.
In all, RPA carry out more than 500 strikes annually, according to the report — a 96 percent increase since 2009.
The Pentagon wants to up the number of combat air patrols by RPA to 65 daily by mid-2014, which might not sound dramatic, but each patrol already requires eight aircrews.
Because each RPA stays aloft for 24 hours, crews rotate in to take control. Pilots in Springfield, who saw their F-16s depart in 2010 as part of a base realignment process, often link up to a Predator already in flight.
By 2017, the Air Force wants 10 crews to operate each patrol, according to the report, which would require 1,650 pilots. Currently, the Air Force has about 1,300 RPA pilots.
Consider that the Department of Defense only had about 50 RPA operators in the late 1990s.
“There was more need than the active duty could provide. That’s how the Guard got into this,” Schnulo said.
Problems outlined in the Brookings report as barriers to producing more RPA pilots — high washout rates and a brutal workload, in particular, that leaves officers little time for professional development requirements needed for promotion in rank — don’t exist in the Guard, according to Schnulo and Davis.
Active-duty RPA crews had been working six-day weeks, with one day off, but have gone to six days on, two days off, Davis said.
In a sense — and as anyone with military service can attest — they own their people.
As civilian employees, airmen in the Guard typically only work four 10-hour days.
“There’s nothing keeping a pilot working for me,” Davis said.
“Once you get past the original commitment,” Schnulo added, “you’re serving at your pleasure. We have to make sure the quality of life is such that they want to stay.”
For that reason, the 178th has routinely attracted former active-duty pilots, and older pilots in particular.
“We’re recruiting every day,” said Davis, a former F-16 pilot. “I’m always recruiting.”
Tapping an already experienced pilot or navigator saves both time and money, he said.
To date, all 40 pilots in the 178th transferred to RPA from other types of manned aircraft, Davis said, but the unit is expected to welcome its first organic Predator pilot in the spring, when he completes training.
He’ll be the first Predator pilot locally whose flight experience is limited to RPA.
The Air Force, according to the report, should target tech-savvy Millennials in recruiting efforts, emphasizing the coming commercialization of unmanned aircraft systems.
At the same time, the report warned, the Air Force “will probably” face a retention issue once commercial UAS are cleared to fly within the next couple of years by the Federal Aviation Administration, similar to how the airline industry historically poached pilots.
Davis said his pilots and sensor operators have already fielded offers to come work in the civilian drone market, which is predicted to be an $82.1 billion industry by 2025.
Further putting pressure on local Air Guard commanders to create a good work environment, the Miami Valley has emerged as Ohio’s hub of UAS development.
“Everything we do,” Schnulo said, “is in demand in this area.”

http://www.suasnews.com/2013/09/25339/springfield-guard-unit-in-need-of-more-drone-pilots/

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Rolls-Royce décroche deux contrats auprès de l'armée américaine  

Par Julien Bonnet -  Publié le 07 octobre 2013    

  Le motoriste britannique Rolls-Royce a remporté deux contrats de maintenance de moteurs T56 auprès de l'armée américaine pour un montant pouvant aller jusqu'à 496 millions de dollars (360 millions d'euros).

Le premier contrat, d'un montant de 406 millions de dollars et d'une durée de six ans, a été attribué au groupe Rolls-Royce par l'agence de logistique du Pentagone. Il porte sur la fourniture de pièces détachées et la maintenance de milliers de moteurs T56 équipant des avions C-130, P-3 et C-2 en service au sein de l'armée de l'air, de la Marine, des garde-côtes et de la police aux frontières.

Dans le cadre d'un deuxième contrat signé avec la Marine américaine et d'un montant pouvant aller jusqu'à 90 millions de dollars, Rolls-Royce prendra en charge la réparation des moteurs T56 équipant les avions de surveillance aérienne E-2 Hawkeye.

"Ces contrats démontrent la poursuite de notre succès dans le soutien à nos clients et aux milliers de moteurs Rolls-Royce T56 équipant leurs appareils", a déclaré Paul Craig, président de la division Services à la Défense du groupe, cité dans un communiqué.  

http://www.usinenouvelle.com/article/rolls-royce-decroche-deux-contrats-aupres-de-l-armee-americaine.N206891  

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New Air Force Planes Go Directly to ‘Boneyard’

New cargo planes on order for the U.S. Air Force are being delivered straight into storage in the Arizona desert because the military has no use for them, a Dayton Daily News investigation found. A dozen nearly new C-27J Spartans have already been taken out of the US Air National Guard service and shipped to the so-called ‘boneyard’ at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson. Five more are expected to be built by April 2014, all of which are headed to the boneyard unless another use for them is found.

The Air Force has spent $567 million on 21 C-27J aircraft since 2007, according to purchasing officials at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Sixteen had been delivered by the end of September. The Air Force almost had to buy more of the planes against its will, the newspaper found. A solicitation issued from Wright-Patterson in May sought vendors to build more C-27Js, citing Congressional language requiring the military to spend money budgeted for the planes, despite Pentagon protests.

http://defense-update.com

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Innovation advances F-22 as strategic force in Pacific

10/9/2013 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- The newest strategy in fighter employment will enable combat-ready F-22's to rapidly refuel, rearm, and redeploy. The new concept was demonstrated here during joint exercises in August.

The usual method of deploying fighters is structured around large footprint packages to a select few operating bases. The new rapid response force concept was developed by Lt. Col. Kevin Sutterfield, a reserve F-22 pilot assigned to the 477th Fighter Group.

"This concept emphasizes the fundamental tenants of airpower: speed, flexibility, and surprise by pairing smaller formations of fighters and airlift that can move quickly together and operate from unexpected locations," said Sutterfield.

After penning a white paper that circulated through the Pentagon and combatant command staffs, Sutterfield partnered with active duty and reserve experts around the combat Air Force to further flush out the details.

"Pilots from the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron, the USAF Weapons School, and the CSAF's Strategic Studies Group played important roles in making this a reality," he said. "We determined we needed to find a way to quickly generate and move small cells of 5th generation jets ... keep them moving, refueling, and rearming for a 72-hour cycle".

To test these theories, experienced pilots and maintainers from the 3rd Wing and 477th FG developed exercises in 2009, 2010, and 2012.

The events enabled line pilots and maintainers to develop innovative tactics and practice under realistic combat stresses. In one example, F-22's from JBER executed a practice strike on targets in the Atlantic Ocean by flying very nearly over the North Pole. It demonstrated the strategic location of Alaska and the ability for airpower to hold targets at risk from great distances.

"This concept decreases the logistical burden of deploying a fighter squadron and aircraft maintenance unit and instead uses a flexible combination of four F-22s, one C-17, a tailored maintenance package and trained personnel to quickly project airpower anywhere on the globe," said Lt. Col. Robert Davis, former JBER 525th Fighter Squadron commander and current Air War College student, who played an integral role in making this concept a reality for the F-22s.

After several successful exercises the concept is now an operational reality.

"The concept of this rapid fighter response and its successful demonstration are the result of the synergies available when the active and reserve components work together in leveraging their corresponding strengths," said Col. Tyler Otten, 477th FG commander. "Lt. Col. Sutterfield's experience, longevity as a Reservist and innovative thought were the genesis of this idea that we were able to execute as reserve and active mission partners. This is the total force in action."

Although it was the concept of one pilot, the entire Total Force Enterprise at JBER from the maintainers, weapons loaders, fuels specialists, loadmasters of the active duty and Reserve pilots can be credited with successful demonstration of this concept.

"This rapid response force is a direct result of Airmen empowered to innovate," said Col. David Nahom, 3rd Wing commander. "There is no greater site to watch the professionalism, pride, and teamwork of our young operators and maintainers who collaborated to prove their pioneering capability."

http://www.afrc.af.mil

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USAF activates new F-22 squadron at Tyndall AFB

The US Air Force is activating the 95th Fighter Squadron at Tyndall AFB, Florida, on 11 October, kicking off a process that will eventually see 24 additional F-22 Raptors being assigned to the base.

“The squadron is being reactivated tomorrow,” says Col Max Marosko, commander of the 325th Operations Group. “The jets won’t start showing up until January.”

Once the first jets arrive in January, more will start arriving in phases through April 2014.The squadron will eventually have 24 aircraft, which includes 21 primary jets and three backup aircraft.

The Raptors were previously based at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, with the 7th Fighter Squadron, but are being shifted as part of an overall USAF effort to consolidate its F-22s at six bases. Combined with the 31 Raptors already assigned to the 325th Fighter Wing, Tyndall AFB will host a total of 55 F-22s. “It’s the largest concentration in the air force,” Marosko says.

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US Air Force

The 95th Fighter Squadron will not be immediately mission ready when its jets arrive. It will have to slowly ramp up its operations to get back up to speed. Marosko says he expects the unit to be mission ready by the “summer”.

Unlike the wing’s 43rd Fighter Squadron, which is the F-22 formal training unit, the 95th Fighter Squadron will be a frontline combat unit. While it is somewhat unusual for an operational unit to be based alongside a training unit, it is not unprecedented, Marosko says. The USAF’s fleet of Boeing F-15E Strike Eagles has a similar setup.

In addition to the Raptors, the 325th Fighter Wing will also receive 10 additional Northrop T-38s by the end of the third quarter, bringing the total number of Talon jet trainers at the base up to 20. The small twin-engined jets are used as adversary aircraft for the Raptors. However, using the T-38 for aggressor training has some limitations since the Talon does not have radar or the ability to carry captive air training missiles. But “it helps free up Raptor lines for training,” Marosko says.

http://www.flightglobal.com

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Un général des forces stratégiques américaines démis de ses fonctions
13 octobre 2013 – 11:13

Voilà encore une nouvelle affaire concernant les forces stratégiques américaines qui fait désordre. Un peu plus d’une semaine après la suspension du vice-amiral Tim Giardina, alors commandant en second de l’US Strategic Command, pour avoir utilisé de faux jetons dans un casino de l’Iowa, c’est au tour du général Michael Carey, le chef de la 20th Air Force et de la Task Force 214, chargée de kla mise en oeuvre des missiles nucléaires intercontinentaux Minuteman III, de subir une sanction analogue.

“Le général Michael Carey a été destitué en raison de la perte de confiance dans son leadership et son jugement”, a expliqué un porte-parole de l’US Air Force, le 11 octobre. “Cette décision fait suite au lancement d’une enquête de l’inspection générale de l’armée de l’air, lancée il y a plusieurs mois après des informations sur sa conduite inappropriée”, a-t-il ajouté.

Aucune précision n’a été donnée au sujet des faits qui sont reprochés au commandant de la 20th Air Force. L’on sait seulement qu’ils ne sont pas de nature sexuelle ou criminelle et qu’ils se sont produits lors d’un déplacement professionnel du général Carey. Une source a toutefois confié à l’AFP que l’officier aurait un peu trop forcé sur la bouteille…

La 20th Air Force “continue à exécuter sa mission de dissuasion nucléaire 24 heures sur 24 de manière efficace et sûre”, a assuré l’US Air Force, qui a indiqué que la sanction prise à l’égard du général Carey ne relève pas d’une faute de commandement.

Les forces stratégiques américaines ont souvent été la cible de critiques au cours de ces dernières années. Faut dire qu’elles l’avaient cherché, avec le chargement de missiles nucléaires à bord d’un bombardier B-52 devant survoler le territoire américain en 2007, l’envoi par erreur de composants d’engins balistiques à Taïwan ou encore, plus récemment, les résultats à des évaluations jugées insuffisants de 17 officiers de l’US Air Force chargés de mettre en oeuvre les Minuteman III à cause de leur “attitude”.


www.opex360.fr

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US; Counter TBM base being built in Saipan Island
Saturday, 05 October 2013 07:16
The island of Saipan — an unincorporated territory of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean — will be reconstructed as a military base to prepare for a potential missile attack by the People's Liberation Army over the Second Island Chain.


The Second Island Chain is a series of island groups stretching from northern Japan to the Bonin and Marianas islands. It is the second defense line of the United States to prevent the expansion of China's maritime power in the Eastern Pacific after the First Island Chain, which extends from Alaska to the Philippines, Guam is currently the most important US military base in the Western Pacific with the Apra Harbor and Andersen Air Force Base.
If a conflict were occur, China would likely attack the naval base at Guam with its newly developed DF-21D anti-shipping missiles.

http://dmilt.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8113:us-counter-tbm-base-being-built-in-saipan-island&catid=3:asia&Itemid=56

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 par Frédéric Lert

Clap de fin pour les C-27J « Spartan » de l’USAF

16 octobre 2013

 Fin de service pour un avion qui n’aura finalement pas prouvé son utilité. Paradoxe : Alenia doit encore livrer cinq C-27J à l’US Air Force.

L’US Air Force est maintenant autorisée à se séparer de ses C-27J, retirés du service actif depuis plusieurs mois déjà pour faire des économies. Seize appareils volèrent un temps sous les couleurs de l’Air National Guard, qui ne fit jamais mystère de son ennui : elle préférait utiliser les C-130J, plus gros et plus puissants et, disait-elle, finalement plus économiques à l’emploi. Cinq autres avions achetés par les Américains sont toujours en cours de fabrication en Italie dans l’usine d’Alenia.

Le plus étonnant dans cette affaire est que ces cinq avions, dont la fabrication est trop avancée, seront terminés, livrés et sans doute directement placés en stockage à Davis Monthan, sous le soleil exactement, sans passer par la case utilisation opérationnelle. « Un stockage de type 1000, permettant de garder les avions en état de vol » précise l’US Air Force. A l’inverse, un stockage de type « 2000 » aurait été synonyme de cannibalisation.

Quoi qu’il en soit c’est une fin (provisoire) amère de l’aventure nord américaine pour cet avion, descendant du Fiat G222, dont la vente à plus de deux cents exemplaires au Pentagone fut un temps évoquée. Pour répondre aux besoins conjugués de l’Air Force, de l’US Army et des forces spéciales, l’italien Alenia associé à l’américain L-3 communications avait même évoqué l’installation d’une chaîne d’assemblage sur le sol américain. Oui mais voilà : le Pentagone ne veut plus s’encombrer aujourd’hui d’avions trop spécialisés.

L’US Forest Service et les US Coast Guards, qui ont un droit de préemption sur les appareils déclassés de l’Air Force, pourraient toutefois récupérer à terme une partie de cette flotte. Le C-27J, futur bombardier d’eau ?

 http://www.aerobuzz.fr/spip.php?article4338  

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Publiée le 16 oct. 2013

Lockheed Martin' Sniper pod is the most widely deployed targeting system for fixed-wing aircraft in use by the U.S. Air Force, and is the targeting system of choice for 16 international air forces. With a possible US Navy requirement in the near future for next-generation target pods, Lockheed Martin feels it has the right system to answer current and future needs.

 

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US Air Force Issues RFI for Common UAS Sense-and-Avoid System



US Air Force unmanned aircraft system (UAS) experts are looking for defence contractors able to design an airborne sense-and-avoid system that could be installed on a wide variety of UAS to enable unmanned aircraft to operate safely alongside commercial aircraft in civil airspace.Air Force officials have issued a request for information for the Common-Airborne Sense and Avoid (C-ABSAA) programme, which seeks companies able to integrate Air Force-developed UAS sense-and-avoid technology into a system applicable to many kinds of UAS.
Sponsoring the industry survey are officials of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance & Special Operations Forces (ISR & SOF) Directorate (AFLCMC/WI) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Officials want responses from industry by 25 Oct. 2013.
The goal of the C-ABSAA programme is to enable the Air Force to get blanket FAA approval to operate UAS in unrestricted U.S. airspace by satisfying the FAA’s see-and-avoid requirement. The survey is for information only and will not result in a contract.
The C-ABSAA System must account for cooperative and non-cooperative aircraft in all classes of airspace, including the terminal area. The system also must develop display technology that will accommodate a wide variety of ground stations.

http://www.uasvision.com/2013/10/14/us-air-force-issues-rfi-for-common-uas-sense-and-avoid-system/

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Air Force, Marines Clearing APKWS Guided Rockets for F-16, A-10 and AV-8B



The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the success of recent tests conducted with a fixed wing variant of the Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System (APKWS) laser-guided rocket. The tests were performed by the Direct & Time Sensitive Strike Weapons Program Office (PMA-242), demonstrating robust design of the and the completion of the Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) with the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps. The conclusion of the JCTD is the next step toward evaluating the addition the Fixed Wing variant to the current APKWS Program of Record.
“The variety of tests helped us evaluate weapons systems build up, loading and delivery, and later, illustrate that the weapon would perform, as designed, to hit stationary and moving targets,” Bill Hammersley, the JCTD technical manager, said. “The success of these tests means that an aircraft pilot will be able to carry seven guided rockets in one launcher that weigh less than a single 500 lb. bomb, allowing for more shots in a single sortie,” added Hammersley.

“Fixed wing APKWS uses a different guidance control system to compensate for the higher altitude and longer range employments of the weapon,” Cmdr. Alex Dutko, Airborne Rockets /Pyrotechnics deputy program manager for PMA-242 explained. “The deployment mechanism had to be redesigned in order to overcome the higher aerodynamic forces of the fixed wing environment.” Guidance section tests not only demonstrated design robustness but also helped reduce risk in subsequent live-fire tests, Dutko continued. Rocket testing included ground launches and two different aerial launches, performance and MUA shots. Flight launches were tested from the A-10 Thunderbolt II, AV-8B Harrier II, and F-16 Fighting Falcon.
“These latest test results underscore the power and versatility of the APKWS technology and provide further proof that the system can be launched off of any platform capable of shooting an unguided 2.75-inch rocket,” said David Harrold, director of precision guidance solutions at BAE Systems. “Since its introduction on Marine Corps helicopters in combat operations, the APKWS rocket has proven its ability to defeat a broad range of targets. This test is an important step in bringing that same capability to fixed-wing aviators.”

During the tests held since the spring of 2013 at the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, APKWS rockets were fired from various aircraft at different altitudes. In April BAE reported that an Air Force A-10 Warthog launched the rockets at altitudes of approximately 10,000 and 15,000 feet, at airspeeds up to 348 knots. During this test the first controlled test-vehicle shot performed a series of pre-planned maneuvers to collect in-flight data. The second shot, into a 70-knot headwind, hit the target board well within the required 2 meters of the laser spot. The shot was laser-designated from the ground with a special operations forces marker.
To date, the APKWS rocket has been qualified on the AH-1W and UH-1Y helicopters, demonstrated on the Bell 407GT, and has been flown off the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, the Beechcraft AT-6B, AV-8B and A-10. It is expected to be similarly qualified for use on several other rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft including the AH-64D/E Apache, the armed MH-60R/S, AH-6, AV-8B, F-16, and F/A-18. BAE Systems is the prime contractor for the APKWS rocket, the only U.S. program of record delivering precision guidance for 2.75-inch rockets.

http://defense-update.com/20131015_air-force-marines-clearing-apkws-guided-rockets-for-f-16-a-10-and-av-8b.html