International Aerospace Discussion

srai · Post by **srai** » 20 Jan 2014 04:19

^^^

You should also do one with the Chinese designs since they seem to be influenced heavily from US/Russian designs.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 20 Jan 2014 06:53

Fascinating solution.Should be examined fro use in the Himalayas,lifting v.heavy eqpt. for our infrastructure development.Leasing the blimps/engaging the company could be an option.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-2 ... tain.story

Zeppelins Seen Hauling Caterpillars to Mine Siberia: Commodities
By Firat Kayakiran and Thomas Biesheuvel Nov 27, 2013

Robin Young of Amur Minerals Corp. wants to dig for nickel and copper in Siberia where forbidding winters and poor roads make it tough to haul in equipment. His best option: fly it in with zeppelins.

Otherwise the London-traded explorer would have to spend about $150 million building a 350-kilometer (218-mile) road to truck in heavy construction gear, Chief Executive Officer Young said in an interview. Peter Hambro, executive chairman of gold producer Petropavlovsk Plc, said he invested in a maker of the airships and foresees the mining industry adopting them.

“To build a bridge to take a Toyota Land Cruiser isn’t horrifically expensive,” Hambro said. “To build a bridge that will take a Caterpillar 777 is very, very expensive,” he said, referring to the 87-ton dump truck used in mines.

Zeppelin and blimp manufacturers need mining contracts to creep back to life, 76 years after the Hindenburg burned and crashed in New Jersey, ending most buyer interest for decades. With better designs and a buoyant gas that can’t ignite, makers such as Worldwide Aeros Corp. and Hybrid Air Vehicles of the U.K. say they’re negotiating their first sales to the $960 billion mining industry to complement truck and rail transport.
Source: Hybrid Air Vehicles via Bloomberg

Hybrid Air Vehicles has developed and tested its non-rigid craft capable of performing... Read More

So far, rejections have been plenty. OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel looked at zeppelins to transport equipment to build a mine in Siberia a decade ago and decided instead to use conventional airplanes. It later built a fleet of icebreaker vessels to ship its nickel out through the Yenisei River in Russia’s far north.
Considering Zeppelins

Polyus Gold International Ltd., the largest Russian gold producer, has considered using the zeppelins as an option to deliver heavy equipment to its Natalka project in the country’s far east, spokesman Sergey Lavrinenko said. “It was rejected, though, as at the time we couldn’t find a suitable offer on the market.”

About 10 years ago Hybrid Air of Cranfield, England, built its first blimp, which unlike a zeppelin, doesn’t have an internal frame. It was to be used for advertising and documentary filming. The company sold its second airship, with a 5-ton cargo capacity, to the U.S. Army for surveillance in Afghanistan though the army is returning it in December because of budget constraints.

Petropavlovsk’s Hambro said he would consider ordering one in the future for his business in Russia’s far east. Hybrid Air has developed and tested its non-rigid craft capable of performing in storm winds and conditions typical of Siberia and the Canadian tundra, spokesman Chris Daniels said. Those are the most likely regions where a lighter-than-air vehicle might get used.
Source: Worldwide Aeros Corp. via Bloomberg

Worldwide Aeros is building airships about 500 feet long, with zeppelin-like rigid... Read More
Flight Certification

To be sure, both Hybrid Air and Worldwide Aeros need to pass flight tests to get authority to fly their airships. Hybrid Air is expecting to get its certification within two to three years, Daniels said.

Hybrid Air is in talks with two companies that supply transport services to mining companies in Canada and expects to sign orders in the next couple of months for delivery as early as 2016, Daniels said. The airship will contain a rigid structure underneath the inflated canopy to carry 48 passengers and the cargo, he said.

For investors, the option of an explorer like Amur using an airship rather than raising funds to pay for a road before starting production is attractive, said John Meyer, an analyst at SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP in London.
Better Airships

“Amur’s project has a huge value, but the upfront funding and the fact it’s in Russia means that it’s difficult to finance,” Meyer said. “The ability to use an airship will completely transform the value of the company. They can start producing before spending all that extra money.” Amur, based in the British Virgin Islands, is named after the region of Siberia where it explores for nickel and copper.

There are only about a dozen blimps and zeppelins flying worldwide and most of them are used to float in the air for several days for advertising or carry tourists in Germany, according to Daniels.

Technological developments have helped manufacturers to build airships with larger lifting capacity and the ability to land and take off more often, he said. HAV is constructing a 400-foot blimp with a capacity to carry 50-ton cargoes.

HAV tested its 5-ton capacity airship in 70 mile-per-hour winds and most of the company’s potential customers are in Canada, Daniels said in an interview. The fuel costs are about 10 percent of a helicopter’s, he said. All lighter-than-air vehicles built after the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, when the airship’s hydrogen tanks caught fire killing 36 people, use non-flammable helium, he said.
Roadless Terrain

Worldwide Aeros is building airships about 500 feet long, with a zeppelin-like rigid structure designed to carry loads as heavy as 250 tons at speeds of more than 100 miles an hour, according to CEO Igor Pasternak.

The aircraft can ferry mining equipment to roadless terrain because they are light and can take off and land vertically, said Pasternak, who moved his closely held company from his native Ukraine to Los Angeles in 1994. Fuel costs are about a third of a cargo plane, he said.

Worldwide Aeros is planning to build fleets of 24 zeppelins to serve shipping industries, including mining, Pasternak said. The company is negotiating with potential clients and receiving their commitments to use the service, he said.

Worldwide Aeros will operate the airships, which will be available for hire by customers, about a quarter of which are mining companies.
Helium Shortage

“Anything that allows us to move heavy weights over difficult terrain without spending a lot of money on the infrastructure is attractive,” Petropavlovsk’s Hambro said.

Hybrid Air plans to develop its 50-ton capacity blimp with with a price tag of about $30 million to $40 million each and to follow this about two years later with 200-ton capacity airships, Daniels said. Worldwide Aeros, which is testing its 66-ton capacity airship, is seeking to raise about $3 billion to build the 24-strong fleet, with 20 of them having a capacity of 250 tons, CEO Pasternak said.

A shortage of helium has led to rising prices that could pose difficulties for the blimp producers. Helium prices for non-governmental use have increased by as much as 89 percent to $6.13 per cubic meter in the past five years, according to U.S. Geological Survey data.

The U.S., which in the 1920s sought to protect its helium supplies to keep a steady use for military dirigibles, in the 1960s began storing the gas in an underground reservoir in Texas after the blimp business didn’t take off as expected. The U.S. has the world’s largest reserves of helium, followed by Qatar, Algeria and Russia, according to the Geological Survey.
Oil Companies

Aeros’ 66-ton capacity airships would need about 6.7 million cubic feet of helium while the 250-ton ones will use about 14 million cubic feet, according to the company.

HAV’s 50-ton capacity airships will contain about 100,000 cubic meters of helium, the company’s Daniels said. Global consumption of the gas is 180 million cubic meters while total reserves are about 50 billion cubic meters, he said.

Today high-tech companies and manufacturers including General Electric Co., Siemens AG and Intel Corp., are among the main helium consumers. GE uses helium to cool magnets on its magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, machines that provide internal images of the human body while Intel uses it to make computer processors.

The airships have potential for use in remote projects beyond mining, SP Angel’s Meyer said today. “You can imagine oil companies carrying rigs to site in this way, or power companies carrying generators.”

vasu raya · Post by **vasu raya** » 20 Jan 2014 08:36

^^^

Long Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ha1V6wR8_E

The Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) was a hybrid military airship developed by Northrop Grumman and Hybrid Air Vehicles[1] for the United States Army which was to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) support for ground troops.[2][3]

On 14 February 2013, the Army confirmed that it had cancelled the LEMV development effort, citing technical and performance challenges, as well as the limitations imposed by constrained resources.[12]
Hybrid Air Vehicles, the company which developed and helped build the airship, expressed interest in purchasing the airship from the Army before the craft was to be dismantled. Ostensibly, they would use it for cold- weather flights and other testing for the development of their "Airlander 50" 50-ton cargo airship.[13] In September 2013, the Pentagon sold the LEMV airship back to HAV for $301,000, a fraction of the $297 million spent on development. The cameras, sensors, and communications equipment were removed and the helium was drained before the sale. The Army maintains that the project's technical data and computer software could be useful for future projects and that selling it would save money.[14]

It could be used in the Himalayas while the weather is cold like the way the IL-76 was operated, it could use lakes as landing zones, it would reduce the rationale for Chinook's and M777 or even Mi-26

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 23 Jan 2014 22:28

Tu-23M3 with new Kh-32 Missile

http://russianplanes.net/images/to129000/128541.jpg
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/5001/219 ... c352e_orig
http://russianplanes.net/images/to129000/128535.jpg

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 26 Jan 2014 02:54

Incredible flying robot animals in slow motion

Eric Leiderman · Post by **Eric Leiderman** » 26 Jan 2014 07:16

The robotic dragonfly is made on a 3D printer

Mukesh.Kumar · Post by **Mukesh.Kumar** » 27 Jan 2014 19:03

Jade Rover hits speed bump.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 05 Feb 2014 19:34

First Flights of UK-built Taranis Unmanned Aircraft Surpass All Expectations

Neshant · Post by **Neshant** » 10 Feb 2014 12:10

Tear-down of a Inertial Navigation Unit from a Sepecat Jaguar aircraft.

pretty high tech for 1974

and very compact too, I must say.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 10 Feb 2014 15:31

Upgraded A-50U ( video )

http://youtu.be/qjogBCZdwmE

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 12 Feb 2014 23:10

Su-35S handover ceremony ( photo )

http://dementievskiy.livejournal.com/298383.html

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 14 Feb 2014 02:35

Egypt looking for Russian arms including MIG-29s.If the MIG deal comes through,it will be a big boost for the MIG corp,which has seen a turnaround with orders fro naval variants of MIG-29s for India and Russia,plus hints at more MIG-29/35s for Russia in the future.The MIG-29s being upgraded for the IAF are being done at far lower cost than the M-2000s,and in an era of dwindling bank balances,are an ideal cost-effective fighter to acquire to keep numbers happy.

http://www.ironmountaindailynews.com/pa ... 1&nav=5024

Egypt military chief heads to Moscow in rare visit
February 12, 2014
Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's army chief headed to Moscow on Wednesday amid reports of a $2 billion arms deal in the making that would significantly expand Russia's military influence with a key U.S. ally in the Middle East.

The visit by Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is a rare one for the Arab nation's military commander — and his first outside the country since he rose to prominence after the popularly-backed coup that ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last July.

In Moscow, el-Sissi was scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and speak at a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart, Egypt's state news agency MENA reported.

According to the state-owned daily Al-Ahram, the purpose of el-Sissi's visit was to conclude a $2 billion arms deal funded mainly by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Gen. Hossam Sweilam, a retired Egyptian army general who maintains close contact with the military, also said the deal would be finalized in Moscow.

The visit comes nearly three months after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shogiu visited Cairo.

Moscow has been trying to expand its influence in Egypt at a time when Egyptian-U.S. relations soured in the aftermath of Morsi's ouster and the subsequent crackdown on his Islamist supporters that has left hundreds dead and thousands arrested. The United States has been Cairo's chief foreign backer and benefactor since the 1970s.

El-Sissi , who overthrew Morsi after days of mass street protests demanding he step down, is widely expected to announce he will run for president in elections likely due in late April.

The military chief has become hugely popular among a large segment of Egyptians who see him as a savoir of the nation after Morsi's year-long rule during which he faced allegations that he and his Muslim Brotherhood group were abusing power.

Arab Gulf countries have thrown their weight behind the Egyptian military and el-Sissi's potential candidacy in what analysts say is an effort to "compensate" for the gradual withdrawal of U.S. support to its longtime ally.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy who is accompanying el-Sissi in the trip to Moscow, had sought to downplay speculation of a major foreign policy shift during the Russian delegation's visit three months ago.

At the time, Fahmy said the visit was only an "activation" of existing ties and a sign of cooperation between the two countries "in multiple fields."

In November, Russia's Interfax news agency said that Egypt has shown interest in purchasing Russian air defense missile systems and MiG-29 fighter jets, combat helicopters and other weapons.

Mustafa al-Ani, head of the UAE-based think-tank Security and Defense Studies at the Gulf Research Center said the purchase would showcase the Gulf's support for Egypt's post-coup authorities.

"This is a real investment in helping Egypt's democratic experience succeed through assistance, military aid and other means," Alani said.

Egypt has been the second-largest recipient — after Israel — of U.S. bilateral foreign assistance, largely as a way to sustain the 1979 Egypt-Israeli peace treaty. Washington froze a large chunk of about $1.5 billion in annual aid, mostly for the military, in October.

Egypt was Moscow's closest Arab ally for two decades starting in the 1950s, when the Soviet Union supported the late nationalist leader Gamal Abdel-Nasser's ambitious drive to modernize the Arab nation and create a well-armed military at the height of the Cold War and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 14 Feb 2014 04:07

I was wondering why Putin endorsed him for Egypt's President.

Paul · Post by **Paul** » 17 Feb 2014 00:01

http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.asp ... 30.xml&p=3

F-35 weapons testing is also moving forward: The three weapons required for the U.S. Marine Corps initial operational capability (IOC) decision have been dropped. They are the 500-lb. laser-guided bomb, 1,000-lb. Joint Direct Attack Munition and the AIM-120. F-35 program officials will continue to expand weapons testing, including guided test flights and more stressing conditions. They are hoping to wrap up testing for this trio of weapons in March 2015, to meet a possible IOC declaration in the summer of 2015.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 18 Feb 2014 17:56

Broadband Stealth May Drive Taranis Design

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 22 Feb 2014 11:29

USAF Defends Need for New Long-Range Bomber

Lt. Gen. Burton Field, deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and requirements, called “great support” from Pentagon and congressional leadership.

“Bombers can send messages. They can influence or initiate action, and they are credible because of what they have done in the past,” Field said, specifically citing events last year when a B-2 bomber flew near North Korea and a B-52 was flown through China’s new air defense zone. “Bombers can send messages fast, and they send messages with credibility. ”

Just how those messages would be sent is still unclear. Information on the bomber remains sparse, although Field offered some general hints.

The new platform will be fielded in the mid-2020s, with penetrating capability in mind. The service will procure between 80 and 100 of the bombers, which will mostly be made with existing technologies. Those platforms will also have both stand-off and direct-attack munitions and room for a “significant” payload.

Field clarified after the panel that the 80- to 100 range is more about uncertainty over the price — the service wants to keep the cost for the program under $550 million per plane — rather than a figure representing the minimum number of bombers needed to mitigate risk (Note: An earlier version of this story did not specify that the $550 million price tag was per plane).

Asked whether there would be a ramp in funding in the FY 2015 budget, Field replied: “No, I don’t think so.”

He also indicated that the bomber would be manned in early production, but the service will look at whether to add unmanned capabilities down the road.

While the new bomber will be based on existing technology, both Field and his co-panelist, analyst Rebecca Grant, talked about the need for the platform to move technologies forward.

“It will be through this bomber program that we have our best chance right now of bringing in the exotic new technologies of the future into new development,” Grant said, citing developments such as directed energy weaponry, hypersonics and alternative fuels as options that could be looked at.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 22 Feb 2014 15:54

South Korean KM-SAM

http://pds18.egloos.com/pds/201010/23/2 ... 52f56e.jpg

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 23 Feb 2014 23:16

US troops carried 'backpack nukes' for 25 years

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 24 Feb 2014 05:01

An interesting display of Russian air defence systems by a former expert at London's RUSI in Nov '13.Good slide display of the entire range of sensors and weaponry used by Russia.Some excellent concepts where mobile AAD systems carry both LR and SR SAMs.

http://www.slideshare.net/RUSIEVENTS/ig ... -air-power

wilson_th · Post by **wilson_th** » 24 Feb 2014 18:27

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/02 ... i-numbers/

Good Bye 'Warthog' ...flying Tank.

Under Mr. Hagel’s proposals, the entire fleet of Air Force A-10 attack aircraft would be eliminated. The aircraft was designed to destroy Soviet tanks in case of an invasion of Western Europe

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 25 Feb 2014 13:27

Pentagon seeks to ground U-2s, A-10s and Kiowa Warriors, delay F-35C procurement

The US government will delay procurement of Lockheed Martin F-35Cs by two years and ground its aging fleets of Fairchild Republic A-10s, Lockheed U-2s and Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warriors under the US Department of Defense’ fiscal year 2015 budget proposal.

The changes, which must be approved by the US Congress, were announced by US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel during a 24 February press conference.

The drawdowns and delays, a response to US budget cuts, are part of a broad plan outlined by the Pentagon today to shrink the size of the US military.

Hagel says the U-2’s high-altitude reconnaissance role will be fulfilled by Northrop Grumman’s RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned air vehicles, and USAF officials have said the A-10’s close-air support role can be assumed by USAF F-35As and other aircraft.

Hagel also says he approved a plan to transfer the National Guard’s Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopters to the army in exchange for the army’s Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks.

The Pentagon intends to slow F-35 Joint Strike Fighter procurement overall by 24 aircraft through fiscal year 2019, Hagel says.

Otherwise, however, the Joint Strike Fighter programme would remain largely unscathed under the Pentagon’s plan.

Hagel says the changes will “allow the military to protect our country” but create “increased levels of risk” in the near term.

“The military will continue to experience gaps in training and maintenance, putting stress on the force and [affecting] our ability [to ensure] global readiness.”

Specific details are expected to be released on 4 March when President Obama releases his budget proposal.

The budget must then be approved by the US Congress, which often is hesitant to approve aircraft retirements.

wilson_th · Post by **wilson_th** » 25 Feb 2014 14:15

Good read on adv. of A10 for CAS

http://defenseissues.wordpress.com/2013 ... -replaced/

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Feb 2014 14:52

they should instead rationalize the number of F-16 and F-15s down , but that hits a lot of holy cows stretching back to costly ER smart weapons producers. what the A-10 in a colonial war env can cheaply do with ancient mavericks, hellfires and its plain old gun, the teens will do from 40,000ft using state of art 10X costly pricing model.

a bunch of them would have been devastating in the libya war if released and supported.

Sid · Post by **Sid** » 25 Feb 2014 15:26

So they think that F-35 can take the role of A-10 in CAS? It does not have the firepower which A-10 has, A-10 is a mini bomber!!

Also it will be 10 times costly to operate then an A-10 because F-35 needs costly beauty cream for its skin.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Feb 2014 18:19

A10 has 8 underwing weapon stations and 2 under fuselage each capable of a fairly decent weapon
http://www.armchairgeneral.com/wordpres ... r-bear.jpg

it could probably carry triple pack of brimstone's on some of these pylons.

all in all, a ugly and formidable CAS bird if just facing manpad threats.

quite vulnerable against SA-15 Tor / VLMICA / Akash type MRSAMs though..but then khan baba never goes to CAS mode against adversaries of that nature.

Brando · Post by **Brando** » 25 Feb 2014 21:13

^^ You forget Desert Storm where the IRAQI's had a formidable SAM network. And if you think the A-10 is a target, you can only imagine a C130 gunship raining hell from 500 ft off the deck.

The only send in the CAS aircraft once they've finished blasting all the SAMs to smithereens and they've dominated the airspace. Of course the A-10 itself has quite a few countermeasures including ECCM, so it go still operate against any "surprises". Plus the A-10 pilots go through a significant ground combat course - much more than the average USAF pilot, so they can safely traverse and join up with any ground elements without too much trouble if they have to eject in a worst case scenario.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Feb 2014 21:17

I guess we should consider ourself lucky it was never exported. the pakis would be happy to get 100 under GOAT pradhan mantri scheme though, first to blast their biraders and then to blast us. imagine if a lone A10 attacks a unprotected batallion position...it could chew up the whole place in 5 mins and decamp.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 26 Feb 2014 05:30

Sperry, etc back on stage. A good debate:

How the A-10 Warthog became ‘the most survivable plane ever built’

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 26 Feb 2014 08:22

Interesting.

UAE Islamic affairs authority warns Muslims against a mission to Mars

wilson_th · Post by **wilson_th** » 26 Feb 2014 10:11

^^^
Hope the retired ones are not for sale

Gun's Picture

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GAU-8 ... Type_1.jpg

Paul · Post by **Paul** » 26 Feb 2014 10:16

^^^^American Discovery channel reports speak even more highly of the SU 25, according to the program SU 25 has MIG 21 engines. After it drops it paylooad it can high tail out of the conflict zone at Mach 1 speed. No other CAS can do that.

Incidentally, I visited the March air museaum in Riverside CA last year. The guide there pointed to this plane
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YA-9 and said that the Soviets stole the blueprints for this competitor for the A 10 and called it as the SU 25.

ArmenT · Post by **ArmenT** » 26 Feb 2014 12:58

wilson_th wrote:http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/02 ... i-numbers/

Good Bye 'Warthog' ...flying Tank.

Under Mr. Hagel’s proposals, the entire fleet of Air Force A-10 attack aircraft would be eliminated. The aircraft was designed to destroy Soviet tanks in case of an invasion of Western Europe

Actually, the A-10 was scheduled to be decommissioned some time in the early 90s, with a close air support version of the F-16 (the A-16) planned to be used as a replacement. In fact, the planning started sometime in the 1980s and the USAF even had F-16 prototypes ready to go by 1990. However, Desert Storm happened and this gave a new lease of life to the A-10 aircraft, as the F16s that were modified to replace the A-10 didn't perform as well.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 26 Feb 2014 13:35

During Desert Storm, their 24 F-16A/B aircraft were equipped to carry the General Electric GPU-5/A Pave Claw pod on the centerline station. The pod houses a 30mm GAU-13/A four-barrel derivative of the seven-barrel GAU-8/A cannon used by the A-10A, and 353 rounds of ammunition. The aircraft received the new designation F/A-16, and were the only F-16s ever to be equipped with this weapon, intended for use against a variety of battlefield targets, including armor.

If the tests were successful, there were plans for a fleet of F/A-16C's with the same armament. To demonstrate the concept, the AF installed Pave Penny avionics, 30mm gun pods and European One paint jobs on 7 F-16C's (#83128, -129, -130, -131, -132, -144, -2??). F-16B no. 2 (#75752) was given similar treatment except for a Falcon Eye system. These aircraft flew from Nellis with the 'WA' tailcode.

The F-16s from the 174th were deployed to the Persian Gulf during Desert Storm, but the project proved to be a miserable failure. Precision aiming was impossible for several reasons:

The pylon mount isn't as steady as the A-10's rigid mounting;
The F-16 flies much faster than an A-10, giving the pilots too little time approaching the target;
Firing the gun shook the aircraft harshly and made it impossible to control;
Essential CCIP (continuously computed impact point) software was unavailable.
Pilots ended up using the gun as an area effect weapon, spraying multiple targets with ammunition, producing an effect rather like a cluster bomb. It took only a couple of days of this before they gave up, unbolted the gun pods, and went back to dropping real cluster bombs - which did the job more effectively.
The F/A-16C plan was quietly forgotten. The USAF still has plans to replace the A-10 with F-16s, but they no longer involve 30mm gun pods (or, apparently, a designation with an "A" in it).

==============
here is a pic of the pave claw pod ... http://weaponsystems.net/image.php?&siz ... pu5_v1.jpg

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 26 Feb 2014 14:51

Actually, the A-10 was scheduled to be decommissioned some time in the early 90s, with a close air support version of the F-16 (the A-16) planned to be used as a replacement. In fact, the planning started sometime in the 1980s and the USAF even had F-16 prototypes ready to go by 1990. However, Desert Storm happened and this gave a new lease of life to the A-10 aircraft, as the F16s that were modified to replace the A-10 didn't perform as well.

Interesting you mention that. IIRC, the designer of both the F-16 and the A-10 was this guy Sperry - who now is speaking against stealth air crafts, etc.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 26 Feb 2014 20:44

Lockheed Secretly Demonstrates New Stealthy Fighter Comms

Lockheed Martin has demonstrated a secretly developed capability to fix one of the shortfalls of its stealthy F-22 and F-35 fighters: their inability to link to one another, or to legacy fighters, for air campaigns.

The company recently showcased a new datalink capability for the fighters through Project Missouri, a proprietary program. During the demonstration, Lockheed validated the use of a Link 16 transmit capability from the twin-engine F-22 Raptor as well as showcased a waveform developed by L-3 Communications and optimized for low-probability-of-intercept/low-probability-of-detection transmissions (LPI/LPD), says Ron Bessire, vice president of technology and innovation at the company’s Skunk Works.

The demonstration required 8 hr. of flight time and took place Dec. 17 and 19, Bessire tells Aviation Week. The trials required the use of an Air Force Raptor as well as the F-35 Cooperative Avionics Testbed (CATbird), a 737-based flying laboratory that is used to test F-35 software standing in as a Joint Strike Fighter surrogate. The F-22 was able to transmit to a Link 16 terminal on the ground.

The F-22 was designed to communicate only with other Raptors in an effort to reduce emissions from the aircraft to maintain signal stealth in the event of a peer-to-peer engagement. However, because of a dramatic cutback in the number of Raptors purchased — 187 operational — the aircraft must now communicate with F-35s expected to enter service next year as well as legacy “fourth-generation” fighters such as the F-15, F-16 and F-18 families.

This so-called fourth-to-fifth capability was highlighted as a need last week by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh at the annual Air Force Association Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., but a firm requirement and funding are lacking. Describing the technology as “nothing cosmic,” Welsh said such a link would extend the range and improve the effectiveness of each platform; ultimately what is needed is handoff of weapons-quality data, meaning data from one aircraft can be used by another to accurately fire a weapon.

“We demonstrated the data was being transmitted at a high rate, [enough] to support rapid update of the air tracks to whomever was on Link 16,” Bessire says.

Should such a capability be fielded, the F-22 could be used to enhance the effectiveness of F-15s and F-16s in an air battle though most of the older fighters lack the use of an active, electronically scanned array radar. The F-22’s Northrop Grumman radar is able to detect airborne threats at ranges far exceeding those of radars on the older fighters.

Bessire said the “LPI/LPD waveform still needs some additional maturation,” but he declined to discuss whether it is in use in another platform. Such a waveform would be useful for the B-2, new unmanned aircraft such as the Northrop Grumman RQ-180 and any system hoping to reduce radio frequency emissions to conduct stealthy operations. Equipment and the optics for the waveform are at a technology readiness level of 9, he said, indicating more work needs to be done before it can be proven in a relevant environment and garner full programmatic status at the Pentagon. The F-22 is, however, able to use its existing apertures to operate the waveform, he said.

Installation of a so-called “open system architecture” (OSA) rack and the radio took place within a year of starting the effort to add Link 16 to the Raptor, Bessire said. The OSA racks can also can enable other operations, such as distributed electronic attack, though this was not demonstrated. “What we learned out of this demonstration is that there is tremendous power in the Air Force open mission architecture standard,” Bessire says. The equipment was installed in the F-22’s avionics bay.

Through Project Missouri, Lockheed is trying to package a capability similar to that offered by the Northrop Grumman Joint Strike Fighter Enterprise Terminal (JETpack) Joint Capability Technology Demonstration within a stealthy aircraft. JETpack was a podded solution; incorporating it on the stealthy F-22 and F-35 would compromise their low radar cross section.

Lockheed is briefing the results of the demonstration to Air Force leadership and is hoping to see an official requirement for such a capability. Suppliers, such as L-3, shared in the cost of the demonstration. But the team is hoping for a sign from the Air Force to continue work. If funding weren’t an issue, the Link 16 system could be fielded by the end of this year, Bessire says. “One of the goals of the demonstration was to create a reusable design whether that was software or hardware,” he says.

Company officials are eager to get Air Force reaction. The program was dubbed “Project Missouri” as a response to a demand from Air Combat Command chief Gen. Michael Hostage. He told the company to “show me” it was possible when Lockheed briefed plans for the demonstration to him before it took place. This, Bessire notes, is the motto of Missouri, the “show-me” state.

Paul · Post by **Paul** » 27 Feb 2014 14:15

Spice Glide Bomb

We procured 250 of these beauties per news reports.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 27 Feb 2014 17:09

Paul wrote:Spice Glide Bomb

We procured 250 of these beauties per news reports.

This video has simulation between 2:00 to 2:20 minutes of MIG-29K doing a maritime strike with a Spice 250. I hope the Israeli and American weapons like CBU 105 are capable of being used fleet wide and not just on Jaguars and M-2000. especially I hope they get intergrated with Tejas.

Damn if only we had a desi equivalent of CBU 105 which can be mass produced.

srai · Post by **srai** » 27 Feb 2014 21:47

Aditya_V wrote:
Paul wrote:Spice Glide Bomb

We procured 250 of these beauties per news reports.
This video has simulation between 2:00 to 2:20 minutes of MIG-29K doing a maritime strike with a Spice 250. I hope the Israeli and American weapons like CBU 105 are capable of being used fleet wide and not just on Jaguars and M-2000. especially I hope they get intergrated with Tejas.

Damn if only we had a desi equivalent of CBU 105 which can be mass produced.

I doubt the IAF purchase is for SPICE-250. Since the IAF prefers 1,000lb PGM, it is more likely the SPICE-1000 variant.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spice_(guidance_kit)

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 27 Feb 2014 22:24

Defense Stocks Rise On News Of Military Cuts

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 27 Feb 2014 22:28

Poland about to buy fifth generation fighter jets. Which ones is still unclear.

Get that AMCA ready on the pronto. I am sure there is a great market out there.