US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

U.S. Super Duper hypersonic missile had an accident:

U.S. Air Force Investigates Hypersonic Test Mishap

LOS ANGELES and WASHINGTON—A scramjet-powered missile developed under the joint DARPA/U.S. Air Force Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) program was destroyed in a recent test accident, Aerospace DAILY has learned.

The missile is believed to have inadvertently separated from a B-52 carrier aircraft during a captive-carry flight test, according to sources familiar with the evaluation. The cause of the mishap, which is thought to have involved an aircraft from the 419th Flight Test Squadron at Edwards AFB, California, is under investigation.

The mishap adds to the mysteries shrouding the status of the HAWC program, which is already several months behind an original schedule that called for a first flight in 2019. DARPA originally selected Lockheed Martin in 2017 to develop a HAWC demonstrator powered by an Aerojet Rocketdyne scramjet, having rejected an alternative design submitted by Raytheon. However, a redesigned Raytheon missile impressed DARPA, leading to a contract award for a second flight demonstration in March 2019.

As of June 2019, Lockheed and Raytheon executives were optimistic that captive-carry and free-flight tests for both HAWC concepts would occur by the end of 2019, but the end of the year passed with no report of either milestone being passed. It is believed the Lockheed Martin HAWC variant was involved in the recent incident.

A Katyusha rocket has hit the Green Zone in Iraq, landing near the US Embassy:

Rocket hits Baghdad airport in another attack on US forces

A rocket has struck within the grounds of Baghdad International Airport - where US forces are deployed - in yet another attack against American interests in Iraq. Security officials said the rocket caused no casualties or damage.

An Iraqi security official said the rocket struck close to the coalition's headquarters.

Monday's rocket fire was the 29th such attack against American troops or diplomats since October.

Meanwhile, a US military plane crashed into an Iraqi military base north of the capital on Monday without causing fatalities, the US-led coalition said.

The crash of the C130 in Iraq's Camp Taji injured four servicemen and was deemed an accident, spokesman for the US-led coalition Myles Caggins told The Associated Press.

Caggins said the plane overshot the runway and crashed into a wall resulting in damage to the aircraft and a small fire.

Yet another SpaceX launch placing Starlink satellites happened today. The rate is tremendous. Hope Chinese planners are paying attention to this development. It will make land based internet communication secondary for many consumers and also very strong military tool too. Like GPS changed how air force operates, Starlink will have a lasting impact in operations, too. Unbelievable, what SpaceX/Elon has able to do.

foxmulder said:

Yet another SpaceX launch placing Starlink satellites happened today. The rate is tremendous. Hope Chinese planners are paying attention to this development. It will make land based internet communication secondary for many consumers and also very strong military tool too. Like GPS changed how air force operates, Starlink will have a lasting impact in operations, too. Unbelievable, what SpaceX/Elon has able to do.

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I would say the vast majority of land-based internet users will still be using land-based broadband services.

The following are far cheaper and offer more internet bandwidth than starlink
Eg.
Cable fibre optics
Phone line ADSL
4G/5G base stations

And of course, there's nothing to stop you building a communications tower and sticking the equivalent of a Starlink satellite on top.

But for the minority of the population who don't have access to 4G/5G mobile networks or cable/ADSL services, a satellite based internet service like Starlink may be invaluable.

I've previously mentioned that there is no reason why a Chinese entity couldn't replicate such a setup, and we do see some smaller scale Chinese internet satellites being launched.

AndrewS said:

I would say the vast majority of land-based internet users will still be using land-based broadband services.

The following are far cheaper and offer more internet bandwidth than starlink
Eg.
Cable fibre optics
Phone line ADSL
4G/5G base stations

And of course, there's nothing to stop you building a communications tower and sticking the equivalent of a Starlink satellite on top.

But for the minority of the population who don't have access to 4G/5G mobile networks or cable/ADSL services, a satellite based internet service like Starlink may be invaluable.

I've previously mentioned that there is no reason why a Chinese entity couldn't replicate such a setup, and we do see some smaller scale Chinese internet satellites being launched.

Click to expand...

I wasn’t aware Starlink pricing and bandwidth was available already? Starlink is about global coverage, none of which the technology you listed is capable of. It really is remarkable and is going to be a great example of US civil-military fusion.

Andy1974 said:

I wasn’t aware Starlink pricing and bandwidth was available already? Starlink is about global coverage, none of which the technology you listed is capable of. It really is remarkable and is going to be a great example of US civil-military fusion.

Click to expand...

I was responding to the statement that Starlink will become the primary broadband connection for "many" users.
Global coverage isn't something that the vast majority of civilian customers care about.

Starlink will likely serve the "3 or 4 percent hardest-to-reach customers for telcos" and "people who simply have no connectivity right now, or the connectivity is really bad," Musk said. "So I think it will be actually helpful and take a significant load off the traditional telcos."

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Click to expand...

Starlink pricing isn't available yet, but are you seriously trying to suggest a satellite broadband service is going to be cheaper than the terrestrial equivalent?

I agree that Starlink is a great system for users who don't have good broadband service, like the military.

And we can see a lot of companies are getting into this game.

If you look at other companies Musk was involved with:
1. Although Paypal was first, Alipay is now bigger
2. The Chinese electric carmakers are also much larger than Tesla now
3. The Chinese lithium-ion battery manufacturers are also much larger than what Musk-linked companies consume.
4. So what can we expect to happen with satellite broadband service in the future?

AndrewS said:

I would say the vast majority of land-based internet users will still be using land-based broadband services.

The following are far cheaper and offer more internet bandwidth than starlink
Eg.
Cable fibre optics
Phone line ADSL
4G/5G base stations

And of course, there's nothing to stop you building a communications tower and sticking the equivalent of a Starlink satellite on top.

But for the minority of the population who don't have access to 4G/5G mobile networks or cable/ADSL services, a satellite based internet service like Starlink may be invaluable.

I've previously mentioned that there is no reason why a Chinese entity couldn't replicate such a setup, and we do see some smaller scale Chinese internet satellites being launched.

Click to expand...

Starlink will be faster than 4G, cable and ADSL.

Speed will be comparable to that of fiber and 5G in short distances but will be again faster if the data source is far especially across oceans. This is actually one of the marketing points, targeting stock traders. Starlink claims it will be faster to use their satellites than the current fastest fiber link between London-NYC.

I pretty confident Starlink will be competitive with the price, too. Think about the amount of investment China is spending on 5G to that of SpaceX's Starlink effort. There is an order of magnitude difference may be more 200 billion vs 20 billion??. Obviously small devices like cell phones cannot use Starlink so 5G is supreme for mobile *but* for large enough vehicles (trucks/ships/planes/trains - ignore when they are in tunnels) and homes I think Starlink will be very competitive.

In any case, global coverage at high speed is so significant, it will be a game changer for many cases we cannot even think right now.

I am ready to bet (also hope) we will have similar solutions form other countries. This is a new GPS moment.

AndrewS said:

I was responding to the statement that Starlink will become the primary broadband connection for "many" users.
Global coverage isn't something that the vast majority of civilian customers care about.



Starlink pricing isn't available yet, but are you seriously trying to suggest a satellite broadband service is going to be cheaper than the terrestrial equivalent?

I agree that Starlink is a great system for users who don't have good broadband service, like the military.

And we can see a lot of companies are getting into this game.

If you look at other companies Musk was involved with:
1. Although Paypal was first, Alipay is now bigger
2. The Chinese electric carmakers are also much larger than Tesla now
3. The Chinese lithium-ion battery manufacturers are also much larger than what Musk-linked companies consume.
4. So what can we expect to happen with satellite broadband service in the future?

Click to expand...

Yes! That is the point. And also not a dream. Starlink investment is cheaper when you think laying fiber across the whole country (forget about world). SpaceX is almost paying zero for the launches. They are using "2nd hand" rockets which were already payed by other customers. That is what makes Starlink so damn smart.

Also it is not a pi$$ing contest for everything. Learn what is good, leave what is bad. I think Starlink idea/implementation is very good.

AndrewS said:

I was responding to the statement that Starlink will become the primary broadband connection for "many" users.
Global coverage isn't something that the vast majority of civilian customers care about.



Starlink pricing isn't available yet, but are you seriously trying to suggest a satellite broadband service is going to be cheaper than the terrestrial equivalent?

I agree that Starlink is a great system for users who don't have good broadband service, like the military.

And we can see a lot of companies are getting into this game.

If you look at other companies Musk was involved with:
1. Although Paypal was first, Alipay is now bigger
2. The Chinese electric carmakers are also much larger than Tesla now
3. The Chinese lithium-ion battery manufacturers are also much larger than what Musk-linked companies consume.
4. So what can we expect to happen with satellite broadband service in the future?

Click to expand...

Point 1) past performance doesn’t nessisarily equal future outcomes.
Point 2even then this is a number of straw men arguments.
Your examples were targeted to Chinese centric models.
In the case of PayPal they didn’t launch in China till what 2019 when it bought up Gopay. Alipay by then had an established lock in a large population density.
In the US And most of the wold Tesla is classed as a luxury car. It’s depended on government subsidies and cap and trade for profit. The same holds true globally. Until model 3 most Tesla aren’t in the price point for regular buyers nor really popular class. Even then it depends on subsidies and clever use of cap and trade to make a price. By contrast many Chinese EV are classed as Taxis Or are buses that Operate a drives as commercial vehicles operating in a different market and driving production at higher rates. You again also have the Chinese market where imports have a higher price point than on the global one. Even an entry level car because it’s an import has a premium price in China well most indigenous models are cheaper.
Next Musk targets his batteries for his production. Vertical integration. If you can only get his battery in his product and he doesn’t sell For other products that’s going to keep him smaller.


Finally. In the case here the questions that should be asked IMHO regarding your projection are.

[*]Could Jack Ma or some Private Chinese oligarch afford to launch a competitive global constellation in China? Let’s consider a hypothetical “AliLink”.
Space X has undercut the launch market by reusable launchers first stages now they are even reusing fairings. Without that it’s far more expensive to launch such constellations.
Government can afford to launch disposable rockets sure but but has little interest in doing so for commercial interests alone. Defense and exploration are in the budgets, private sector isn’t.
It’s far to expensive subsidize hundreds of launches for a single maker. Look at One Web bankruptcy.
The ability of Space X to one stop shop and basically rent a rocket, pad and build your payload is a true game changer. Starlink targets sale and use of its Starlink to a number of commercial and government enterprises. In essence this would change the situation from today where we deploy custom one off satellites in high orbits dependent on orbits and government launches to off the shelf ready to go communications networks. Cheaper than the current systems. Part of the aim is mass of production and ability to supply as demanded.
Yes perhaps Jack Ma could do some “AliLink“ down the line but he would need a launcher, costumers, satellites and ground stations. Where does he get it?
LM8 is still Vapor wear but also government owned. That might not be a problem for inside the PRC If he was subsidized for the program but global positioning? Who builds the satellites? The Chinese Space agency?If the user is Chinese only no issue, outside of that? Hauwei? Alibaba? Speaking of which.

[*]If a Chinese “AliLink“ did exist What about the Great Firewall?
Land line and 5G have to run though the server farms in country. Starlink would only have to do so partially If you get linked up to “AliLink” are you on the Chinese Internet or the Open global net? Are Google, YouTube and the Chinese banned firms available? That might be a decision that affects the international marketing of the system.
In the PRC that might fly.
you aren’t in China linchpining your Beyond next generation communication system to “AliLink” might Cause issues. Not because of the issues just of security but compatibility. The Great firewall locks out a number of APPs and locks out access to some networks. Which leads to.

[*] Who would be the clients for “AliLink“?
The PLA? Chinese government? Chinese state owned? Okay. Chinese firms? Okay. Rural China? Ready made potential assuming that they have the money to buy in or own a device at all. This isn’t as simple as owning a phone this requires a ground station box about the size of a pizza box. But you notice it? If that is your costumer base isn’t this more or less just another High Speed infrastructures program? Not “AliLink” but Sinolink? Yes perhaps a larger user base but are they costumers who choose it or is it rather a captive audience government program?
If Starlink fails Musk takes the fall it’s OneWeb again. If he succeeds he does so with the US gov not as the central component but just another happy costumer.

U.S. Air Force F-15C fighter jet crashes into sea off U.K. coast

A U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagle fighter jet crashed into the North Sea off the coast of England on Monday, the Air Forces' 48th Fighter Wing confirmed.

The jet, deployed from Royal Air Force Base Lakenheath in eastern England, northeast of London, crashed at about 4:40 a.m. Eastern.

"At the time of the accident, the aircraft was on a routine training mission with one pilot on board," the 48th Fighter Wing , adding that the cause of the crash and the status of the pilot remained unclear.


Yet another U.S. accident after the crashed F-35 in Florida (20th May), F-35 landing-gear accident in Utah (8th June), F-22 crash in Florida (15th May) and C-130 crash in Iraq (8th June) recently, and now F-15C crashes into the Sea (15th June). All within the past 4-5 weeks.