Sunday, November 07, 2010

"We can't be there yet"...why the MV-22 is a war winner!

This from SLDInfo.com...

SLD: You had an anecdote, which underscores the impact of speed in the battlespace?
Major Lee York: We took some soldiers out to the West of Iraq. The crew chief comes up to us and tells us that the guys won’t get out of the plane.  We’re like, what are you talking about?  They said we’re not there yet. And we said, “What are you talking about?”  He then said, “The last time we did this flight it took an hour and a half.  We’ve only been in the plane for 40 minutes so we can’t be there yet.”
“The last time we did this flight it took an hour and a half.  We’ve only been in the plane for 40 minutes so we can’t be there yet.”
We told him to tell the Marines that “we were cruising at 230 rather than at 120 so we were there. I swear we’re here, you know, we’re not going to send him somewhere where he is not supposed to be.”

So you think high performance UAVs are new???

If you're a UAV fanatic and believe that they'll replace manned aircraft, then look at this and weep softly in the corner...
Under a classified CIA-sponsored project known as Tagboard, Lockheed developed the unmanned D-21 high-speed, high altitude reconnaissance drone. A modified, two-seat A-12 (redesignated M-21 for "mother" and carrying a reverse of the normal -12 designation) aircraft carried the D-21 (D for "daughter") aloft where the drone's ramjet engine would be ignited as it separated from the mothership at high Mach speeds. The first flight of the D-21/M-21 combination took place on 22 December 1964, but the first D-21 release from an M-21 did not occur until 5 March 1966. Two more launches were successful, but on 30 July 1966, a D-21 collided with the M-21 after release, destroying both aircraft and resulting in the death of one of the M-12's crew members. No further piggyback launches were attempted. A new launch system was then developed using a modified B-52H aircraft as the carrier. The D-21 program was cancelled in 1971 and declassifed seveal years later. The nose and tail cones on the D-21 in this image were only used during early flight tests.

F-35C to PaxRiver.

Lockheed Martin test pilot David Nelson is at the controls as the first F-35C  takes off from NAS JRB Fort Worth on its ferry flight to NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, on 6 November 2010.

If this can happen on "new" legacy jets then the F-35 is ahead of the curve...


Via Alert 5 from The Korea Times...

Alleged poor inspections by DAPA inspectors of the F-15K program were also blamed for frequent damage to the F-15K aircraft, the main component of South Korea’s air defenses.

“When one of the engines was damaged by ingesting some foreign object (FOD), DAPA inspectors did not have the experience to thoroughly inspect the engine, so just the visible damage was repaired and the aircraft flew all the way to Korea from St. Louis,” an informed source told The Korea Times.

“When the aircraft arrived, the ROKAF technicians immediately discovered more damage inside the engine — damage that was so severe that it was outside the technical limits for repair and so the engine had to be replaced,” he said.

“The low quality of inspection could have resulted in a lost aircraft. If that had happened over the sea, no one would have found out the truth.”

The source expressed deep concern that one third of the F-15Ks already in Daegu also have broken avionics systems.

These series of problems raise questions about whether DAPA inspectors are properly inspecting the F-15K manufacturing process.
These problems will be resolved but in light of the flak being received by the F-35 by its critics then issues like this must be examined and it should be noted that anything involving the hand of man will not be perfect.

Again!  Real issues with any program should be exposed and solved...but the FALSE accusations being tossed at the F-35 program are beyond annoying...they're becoming criminal.

Your Sunday Matinee...Power Unlimited...

I love these old historical/propaganda/I love America and her military...type movies.  Via Scoop Deck...great find..

8 bladed C-130...

A C-130H3 with eight-bladed NP 2000 propellers taxis during a flight test recently at Edwards AFB, Calif. The NP 2000 props are designed to provide more thrust and perform more efficiently. (Air Force photo/John Perry)

Saturday, November 06, 2010

Loren Thompson gets the truth out about the latest F-35 "slandering"


This from the esteemed Loren Thompson....

Pentagon Factional Disputes Are A Key Driver Of F-35 Cost Increases


When the Pentagon released its latest cost estimates for the tri-service F-35 joint strike fighter program, many outsiders were aghast at the projected price-tag for the planes. Everyone knew it was the defense department's biggest development program, but the per-plane costs were a good deal higher than most people were expecting. Now Tony Capaccio of Bloomberg Business News is reporting that acquisition costs could go even higher due to development delays -- only a few months after policymakers restructured the program, supposedly to put it on a more predictable, executable path. So this program must be really fouled up, right?
Wrong. The same Pentagon report that disclosed the high cost projections also stated that all three variants of the plane were meeting key performance requirements and doing well in tests. It also said no major design or engineering concerns had been identified in any of the variants. That is still the case today. Minor engineering issues arise the same way they would in any other cutting-edge technology project, and software is taking longer than expected to generate and test, just as it seems to in every other new weapons program. But the F-35 program is basically in good shape. So why is there an endless drumbeat of bad news about the program's schedule and cost?
The biggest reason, a reason few outsiders seem to grasp, is bureaucratic politics in the Pentagon. You see, there are these factions that benefit from generating cost estimates, conducting tests and doing other things associated with new weapons programs, and said factions tend to make the usual problems any development program encounters either look worse or actually be worse. Take the cost estimates. Prime contractor Lockheed Martin has recently signed the fourth consecutive production contract with the defense department in which the actual cost of building the F-35 came in well below the cost projected by Pentagon estimators. About 25 percent below, in the latest contract. Yet cost estimators continue to apply pessimistic assumptions to projecting future costs, based on historical data from other, older fighter programs. So they come up with wildly wrong cost estimates that the contractor beats every time. It has to beat them, because nobody is going to buy a single-engine fighter for much more than what the latest F-16 sells for today, so that's how Lockheed needs to price the new plane.
Or take the possible development delays that reporter Capaccio of Bloomberg revealed. Most of those delays, if they occur, won't be caused by internal program problems. They will be caused by the desire of the Pentagon's testing community to conduct a vast array of redundant flight tests -- literally thousands of them. Why? Because that's what testers do. So now there's an internal dispute between the testers and budget planners about just how many tests are really needed, and if the testers prevail the cost of the program could go up by billions of dollars. It's ironic that acquisition functions funded by Congress to enhance program performance have the perverse effect of inflating costs and delaying fielding, but that's why the term "bureaucratic politics" was invented. When you create an office in the government, it's natural tendency is to grow in size and influence (look at EPA). It's up to Congress to decide when these offices cease to add value, but in the meantime let's not blame industry or the military services for all the unpleasant surprises.
Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D.

Funny how those who should know about things like this failed to report them. 

Funny how certain knowledge is always left out of this debate...

Remember the dust up over the F-35's range in comparison to legacy fighters????  Remember what was left out of that discussion by the critics of the F-35???

The fact that the F-35 will outrange the vaunted (and capable) F-22!  One author even went so far as to suggest that the Harrier was superior to the F-35B in range!

All I ask from those that are critics is to be honest.  Spin and sophistry (as one noted critic likes to put it) should not be a part of this discussion.

Loren Thompson has put a knife in the latest dustup....hopefully others will do the same in the future.

Town Hall Meeting by the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

First flight of the X-35 A - B - C!





Friday, November 05, 2010

Another awesome photographer....


If you like Harriers then you must check out PhoenixFlyer2008's Flickr stream....looks like Joe Stremph finally has some worthy competition which is great for us all....