US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Aegis ships ramping up US missile defense



By Otto Kreisher
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
September 24, 2006

WASHINGTON – When North Korea launched seven ballistic missiles July 4, the U.S. national missile defense system was on operational alert, even though a long string of test failures made most experts doubt the land-based interceptors could stop a threatening warhead.

But closely watching those North Korean test launches from the Western Pacific were Navy warships that had a nearly perfect record of knocking down test ballistic missiles, including a San Diego-based cruiser that two weeks earlier had successfully intercepted a dummy warhead more than 100 miles in space.

Today, that guided-missile cruiser, the Shiloh, is stationed in Yokosuka, Japan, to provide some protection in case North Korea should fire some of its ballistic missiles at that allied nation.
Until last month, the Navy had only an “emergency” ballistic missile engagement capability with three ships, said Rear. Adm. Alan B. Hicks, director of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense program. But with the recent certification of an improved version of the Aegis missile combat system aboard the Shiloh, the Navy is “fielding an engagement capability” against a range of ballistic missiles, Hicks said.

By the end of this year, the Navy will have six Aegis-equipped ships capable of shooting down ballistic missiles and 12 more that can assist by providing precision tracking of such threats, Hicks said. One of the future shooters and five of the tracking ships are guided-missile destroyers based in San Diego.

The San Diego-based destroyer Decatur will have ballistic-missile intercept capabilities by the end of the year. The Fitzgerald, Milius, Benfold, John Paul Jones and Higgins have detection and tracking capabilities.

By the end of 2008, the Navy will have 18 ships capable of engaging short-to intermediate-range missiles and will be developing the capability to kill the same intercontinental-range missiles that the land-based defense is supposed to stop, the admiral said.

Two independent experts, while acknowledging that the Navy's tests have been much more successful than the national program, questioned how ready for combat the sea-based system actually is.

John Pike, an authority on defense and space technology, said the Aegis ships could “quite possibly” defend Japan if the threat were something like the short-range and relatively crude Scud missiles.

But against a longer-range missile, like North Korea's Rodong, Pike said, “Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't.”

Phillip Coyle, a former chief weapons tester for the Pentagon, said he did not think the Navy system was ready, “not in the sense of being able to do real-world engagements.”

The Navy has been working for more than a decade to develop an anti-missile capability for its highly regarded air-defense system based on the Aegis combat system, the SPY-1 radar and the Standard missile.

Building incrementally, the Navy has developed a ballistic-missile defense system that ran up a record of eight interceptions in nine test shots, including a June 22 test in which the Shiloh detected and tracked a ballistic missile and destroyed its warhead with an interceptor propelled into space by an SM-3 Standard missile, Hicks said.

Shortly after, the Shiloh was moved to Japan, joining two guided-missile destroyers with long-range search-and-track ability against ballistic missiles, to provide an interim missile defense capability.

The Navy's test record contrasts sharply with the much more expensive land-based national defense program, which until a successful interception Sept. 1 had suffered through several years of embarrassing failures.

In 2007, the Navy will split with the Army a $1.9 billion allocation out of the $9.3 billion total requested for the Missile Defense Agency in 2007.

Hicks said the Navy system is able to intercept only short-and medium-range missiles but will soon be able to handle longer-range threats. It will be eight years before it is able to tackle the intercontinental missiles.

Pike, the founder of the GlobalSecurity.org defense Web site and consulting service, said: “I think it is generally recognized that the lower-tier theater missile defense capabilities are the easiest to do. The exo-atmospheric, intercontinental is more difficult.”

But Pike's main concern about the Navy's claim to have an operational missile defense is the small number of interceptors it can deploy against perhaps 200 North Korean missiles.

“Getting the Aegis battle-management system certified to do ballistic missile defense, that's the easy part of it,” Pike said. “The hard part will be to build up a sufficient inventory of interceptors” to be able to fire two at any threatening North Korean missile.

“They're not going to do that anytime soon,” he said

Army extends some troops Iraq tour by one month

If you read the whole article you will realize that. But if you just look at the headlines and read just enough you won't know that. Personally I think the US Army is making big mistakes by extending anyones tour in Iraq or any combat zone.

The USMC tour in Iraq is only 7 months. Go figure. Of course their mission is smaller. USN tour is 6 months unless accompaning another service.. I don't know about the USAF.

U.S. Army extends Iraq duty for 4,000

When I served in the USN I made 7 deployments . Two of which were extended tours because of various situations in the world.

By ROBERT BURNS
AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Army is stretched so thin by the war in Iraq that it is again extending the combat tours of thousands of soldiers beyond the promised 12 months - the second such move since August.

Soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division had been expecting to return to their home base in Germany in early January. Instead, they will stay in Iraq at least until late February, several officials said Monday. The soldiers are operating in western Anbar province, one of the most violent and dangerous parts of Iraq.

"The Army is coming to the end of its rope in Iraq," said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, a private research group. "It simply does not have enough active-duty military personnel to sustain the current level of effort." mod comment...just an alarmist ringing a bell

Of the 142,000 U.S. troops now in Iraq, nearly 120,000 are Army soldiers.

The tour extension affects between 3,500 and 4,000 soldiers in the brigade, officials said. They spoke only on condition of anonymity because the Pentagon had yet to make an announcement.

Asked about the matter at a news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld declined to confirm the extension but said that "from time to time there may be" units required to stay in Iraq longer than scheduled. He alluded to a pending announcement.

Last month, the Army's 172nd Stryker Brigade was ordered to extend its tour in Iraq by up to four months. Some members of that unit had already returned to the brigade's home base in Alaska when the decision was announced. About 300 soldier had to go back to Iraq, drawing public complaints from some families.

Rumsfeld also appeared to hint at other adjustments to the troop rotation plan.

"We're also bringing some other units in earlier, which is another way of dealing with that issue" of how to keep a sufficient number of troops in Iraq with a limited number of combat brigades available, Rumsfeld said.

The extension reflects a dilemma for Army leaders: either keep one group of soldiers in Iraq longer than promised, or replace them with another group that has not yet had its minimum 12 months at home between combat tours. Either choice risks upsetting some soldiers and their families. And the fact that the choice cannot be avoided is a sign that troop rotations in Iraq are squeezing the Army from several directions.

Some members of Congress are expressing concern that the military is over-stretched by the war. On Monday, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said the situation in Iraq is "disintegrating" into a civil war. "My instinct is once the (November) election is over there will be a lot more hard thinking about what to do about Iraq and a lot more candid observations about it."

The pinch is evident also in closed-door deliberations between the Army and administration officials over the size of the service's budget for 2008. The Army chief of staff, Gen. Peter Schoomaker, took the highly unusual step in August of delaying submission of the Army's budget plan, arguing that the service requires either a much bigger budget than the administration has proposed or relief from some of its worldwide commitments.

The Los Angeles Times reported in its Monday editions that Schoomaker is seeking $138.8 billion for 2008, or nearly $25 billion more than the limit originally set by Rumsfeld. The Army's budget this year is $98 billion.

The 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division is being extended in Iraq because the unit that is scheduled to replace them - the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, from Fort Stewart, Ga. - needs more time to prepare. If it had deployed as originally scheduled, it would not have had the minimum 12 months at home between combat tours.

The 3rd Infantry has already served two tours in Iraq, including the initial invasion of the country in March 2003.

Last week, the top American commander in the region said the U.S. military is likely to maintain and may even increase its force of more than 140,000 troops in Iraq through next spring. Gen. John Abizaid, head of U.S. Central Command, said he would consider adding troops or extending the Iraq deployments of other units if needed.

Until sectarian violence spiked early this year, Bush administration officials had voiced hopes that this election year would see significant U.S. troop reductions in what has become an increasingly unpopular war.

The Army has a stated goal of giving active-duty soldiers two years at home between overseas combat tours. However, the Army is unable to achieve that "dwell time," as it's called, because it does not have enough brigades to meet the demands of simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would not be a problem now if the situation in Iraq had improved enough to allow the Army to reduce its presence as originally planned.

Army Secretary Francis Harvey told The Associated Press last week that the amount of time between deployments has shrunk this year from to 14 months from 18 months. In the case of the 3rd Infantry, it appears at least one brigade will get only about 12 months.

some news on sikorsky

92 SUPERHAWK Advantages Including Superior Readiness for Multiple Air Force
Missions



STRATFORD, Conn., Sept. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sikorsky Aircraft has
presented its final proposal to the U.S. Air Force for the service's Combat
Search and Rescue (CSAR-X) mission requirements. The proposal highlights the
advanced technologies available with the Sikorsky HH-92 SUPERHAWK(TM)
helicopter that meet the pressing U.S. Air Force requirement to replace the
Sikorsky HH-60G rescue helicopters currently in service. Sikorsky Aircraft,
based in Stratford, Conn., is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp.
(NYSE: UTX).

(Photo:

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The Air Force plans to acquire up to 141 aircraft in connection with the
CSAR-X competition. The Air Force has an additional requirement for up to 71
aircraft for the service's follow-on Common Vertical Lift Support Platform
(CVLSP) requirement to provide missile site security, VIP transport, and cargo
and troop transport.

"The Air Force faces growing operational commitments with tighter budgets
and manpower constraints," said Maj. Gen. (ret.) Mike Farage, Sikorsky's Air
Force Government Business Manager. "Our HH-92 aircraft is right-sized for all
missions -- one common cockpit with four cabin configurations to meet the
combat search and rescue, missile site security, VIP transport, and cargo and
troop transport missions. Our fleet experience shows it can sustain high
operational tempos with far less maintenance than alternative aircraft."

The HH-92 helicopter is a military variant of the Sikorsky S-92(TM)
helicopter that has sustained operational readiness rates of 97 percent in
harsh environments that are 20 to 30 percent higher than military norms. Since
entering service in 2004, S-92 helicopters have flown thousands of high-tempo,
offshore oil operations, averaging just 2.5 maintenance man-hours per flight
hour, about one-quarter of the figure of other medium and heavy lift
helicopters in service today.

In less than two years of intense commercial service, 38 S-92 helicopters
have logged more than 26,000 flight hours with some aircraft flying up to 160
<MENU> to return to headlines. 00 n Govt T N I


Sikorsky Aircraft Submits Final CSAR-X Proposal; Highlights HH- Page 3/5
hours per month and more than 1,400 hours per year.

The S-92 helicopter was designed to reduce routine maintenance activities
by 80 percent and operating costs by 40 percent when compared to
past-generation helicopters. "The Air Force has to maximize the availability
and affordability of every combat asset and the HH-92 aircraft is built around
systems that largely look after themselves," said Farage.

The agile HH-92 demonstrator aircraft features include quick-change
interiors for diverse missions. It also proved to Air Force evaluators that
the HH-92 can be prepared for deployment aboard Air Force jet transports in
minutes rather than hours as required by other helicopters. "It is the only
CSAR-X alternative that enables the Air Force to prepare to deploy two
helicopters on a C-17 or three on a C-5 within the two- to three-hour window
of time required by the Air Force's request for proposal. That's an important
consideration when you have to build combat power in-theater quickly," Farage
said

The HH-92 helicopter builds upon the S-92 helicopter, which is the only
helicopter in its size class certified to the latest international standards
for flaw tolerance, crashworthiness, and bird strike, lightning, and turbine
burst protection.

The multi-mission MH-92 or CH-148 Cyclone is under development for the
Canadian Forces' Maritime Helicopter Program. The S-92 aircraft has already
been chosen to fly the coast guard search-and-rescue mission for the United
Kingdom. The governments of Qatar, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and the Republic of
Korea have also selected the aircraft for VIP transport.


Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., based in Stratford, Conn., is a world leader in
helicopter design, manufacturing and service. United Technologies Corp., of
Hartford, Conn., provides a broad range of high-technology products and
support services to the aerospace and building systems industries.

Click to expand...

USN/USCG team snagging drug smugglers



Navy helicopters help catch speedy drug smuggling boats

Joint patrols target 'go-fast' vessels
By Otto Kreisher
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
September 22, 2006

WASHINGTON – Navy helicopter crews are helping the Coast Guard halt smugglers who bring in drugs aboard “go-fast” boats.

Two San Diego-based SH-60 Seahawk crews are operating off the California-Mexico coast to counter a shift of drug smuggling to the Pacific. Two other crews started flying the more aggressive counterdrug missions in the Atlantic-Caribbean area in April.

The missions are a significant expansion of the counternarcotic support that Navy helicopters have provided for years.
To comply with laws barring the military from performing law enforcement duties, the Navy copters carry a Coast Guard gunner to fire warning and disabling shots to stop the drug runners' high-speed powerboats.

The new Navy support for the Coast Guard anti-drug efforts is viewed enthusiastically by both services.

“The best way to counter the drug runners once the narcotics get out on the water is to increase your operational capabilities on the water,” said Lt. Cmdr. Rick Hamblet, acting operations officer for the Coast Guard's Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron, or HITRON, in Jacksonville, Fla. “That's the sole purpose for expanding the use of force to the U.S. Navy. It puts more resources in the theater.”

Navy spokesman Lt. Trey Brown agreed, predicting that “more illegal contraband will be seized before it reaches the shores of the United States and our partner nations in the region. And the traffickers will be prosecuted.

“The ability to disable suspect go-fast vessels will further reduce the viability of transporting drugs in this way,” he said.

The HITRON operations started as an experiment in 1998, when the Coast Guard found its ships were stopping less than 10 percent of the drugs heading toward the United States by sea because they often could not catch the go-fasts – sleek powerboats capable of speeds twice as fast as the service's cutters.

In response, Coast Guard crews developed and tested tactics to use armed helicopters flying from cutters at sea to intercept suspected drug-running boats. If orders to stop were ignored, the door gunner would fire warning shots with a light machine gun and, if necessary, disable the craft's outboard engines with a precision-fired .50-caliber rifle. The stopped boat would be boarded by a Coast Guard team from the cutter.

During the test, the armed copters stopped five go-fasts, seizing 2,640 pounds of cocaine and 7,000 pounds of marijuana while arresting 17 smugglers. Based on those results, the test unit was expanded and designated HITRON Jacksonville. As of late July, HITRON crews had stopped 104 go-fasts, arrested 376 suspected smugglers and seized more than 173 tons of drugs that had a street value of $8.6 billion.

Now, with the HITRON crews being used increasingly for maritime homeland security missions, the Navy is sharing the armed interdiction duties, which are an extension of missions they have been performing for years, said Cmdr. Larry McGuire, readiness officer for Helicopter Anti-Submarine Light squadrons at Commander Naval Air Forces Pacific headquarters on North Island Naval Air Station.

In the past, Navy helicopters could find the drug-running boats, but because of the law enforcement restrictions, McGuire said, “we could not do anything except detect and monitor. We couldn't fire a weapon of any kind.”

That changed when the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2004 authorized Coast Guard gunners to fly in Navy helicopters and use weapons to stop the go-fasts.

With that authority, HITRON personnel trained the first Navy Seahawk crews, working with pilots from Naval Air Station Mayport, Fla. The Coast Guard-trained pilots then became instructors for other Navy crews at Atlantic and Pacific training units.

Two Navy crews from Mayport deployed April 23 aboard the guided missile frigate John L. Hall, flying with Coast Guard enlisted personnel and officers as gunners and observer-controllers to conduct counterdrugs operations in the Caribbean and Western Atlantic.

But since the start of the HITRON operations, Coast Guard data indicate a rapid shift in the go-fast operations from the Atlantic-Caribbean sector to the Eastern Pacific.

To counter that, HITRON crews deployed to San Diego when intelligence indicated increased go-fast activity.

Rep. Bob Filner of San Diego, the top Democrat on the House Transportation Committee's Coast Guard panel, argued repeatedly for a full-time assignment of HITRON crews to San Diego, which the Coast Guard said it could not afford.

But now, the Navy is filling that requirement, with two crews from North Island-based HSL-43 deployed on the frigate Thach for counterdrug duties off the West Coast, said Cmdr. Andrew Miles, commander of Helicopter Maritime Strike Weapons School Pacific, which trained them. The mission is different from the HSL crews' normal missions protecting Navy ships, Miles said.

“It's a very dynamic flight environment, at pretty low altitudes, chasing a go-fast vessel that's maneuvering,” he said.

But everyone is enthusiastic about it, Miles said. “It gives us an added capability to actually stop these guys; it's fun training as well,” he said.

“It's all enjoyable and useful flying,” said Lt. Cmdr. Shane Ahalt, who completed the training in late July in preparation for leading an HSL-45 detachment deploying on the San Diego-based frigate Rodney Davis in the fall.

The lower-flying missions are part of a different regimen from what crews are used to, Ahalt said.

“The new capabilities are extremely helpful, and it will be very apparent in a short time how effective it is,” he said.

“I think we're all pretty excited about it,” said Lt. Sharon Hacker, who will deploy with Ahalt. “It's much more effective than just letting the go-fast get away.”

Record US defense bill goes to the US Senate

The record defense bill of $533 billion is expected to be easily passed by the Republican dominated US Senate and signed by Pres. Bush.

The bill includes a 2.2% pay raise for all forces. The retirement of the USS John F Kennedy(CV-67). $2.9 Billion USD for the purchhase of 20 more F-22A Raptors And $739 million for the R & D and pre-construction cost of CVN-78.

Defense spending bill includes more pay, more ships

The bill permits construction of seven new ships, including an attack sub to be built in part at Northrop Grumman Newport News. FILE PHOTO

By DALE EISMAN, The Virginian-Pilot
© September 30, 2006

WASHINGTON - Congress moved toward approval late Friday of a record $533 billion defense spending program for 2007, including a 2.2 percent pay raise for most service members and $70 billion to offset the spiraling cost of the war in Iraq.

While the House passed the measure in the evening, Senate action was expected later Friday or early Saturday.

Approval was all but assured after a conference committee resolved differences between House and Senate versions of the legislation.

The full 2007 Department of Defense Appropriations Act:
From the Library of Congress
- As a PDF file

- The bill also can be viewed as a Web page and in a printer-friendly format by searching for its bill number, HR 5631, at


The bill adds 30,000 soldiers and 5,000 Marines to the active-duty force while trimming 12,000 sailors from the Navy - a cut requested by the service as part of an ongoing drive to reduce personnel costs.

It permits construction of seven new ships, including an attack submarine to be built in part at the Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard, and sets aside $739 million toward a new-design aircraft carrier to be built in Newport News beginning in 2008.

While pushing ahead with the new carrier, the Navy also won approval for plans to reduce the aircraft carrier fleet to 11, retiring the Florida-based carrier John F. Kennedy.

The Kennedy's departure could have long-term implications for Hampton Roads, as Florida lawmakers want a Norfolk-based carrier shifted to the Navy's base in Mayport, Fla., to replace the Kennedy.

Five carriers currently are based in Norfolk, but one, the George Washington, already is slated for transfer to a base in Japan in 2008.

Losing a carrier would drain 3,000 jobs and $225 million per year from the Hampton Roads economy, according to preliminary estimates by the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.

The defense spending bill requires the service to offer the Kennedy to the NATO alliance or the Department of Homeland Security and to maintain the 38-year-old carrier so that it could be reactivated during a national emergency.

Congress voted last year to retain the Kennedy, over the objections of Navy leaders who say that changes in the way the service deploys and maintains other carriers permit it to trim the carrier force without reducing its overall strength.

Yet after the service announced that repairs needed to keep the ship in service would cost about $1 billion, the Kennedy's fate was sealed.

Of particular interest to Hampton Roads, the bill also:

Allows the Navy to fully retire the battleship Wisconsin and turn it over to Virginia and Norfolk authorities for use as a floating museum. The deck of the World War II-era dreadnought, moored alongside Nauticus in downtown Norfolk, has been open to public tours for several years.

A Navy spokesman, who spoke on background, said the legislation allows some portions of the interior to be opened as well. Under pressure from Marine veterans, who argue that battleships are unmatched in providing firepower to cover an amphibious landing, Congress ordered that the Wisconsin be preserved in a way that would allow it to be reactivated if needed.


At least temporarily rolls back Navy and Air Force regulations that some evangelical chaplains complain could restrict their right to pray as their faith dictates. The chaplains want to be able to offer sectarian prayers at public events, including ship christenings or change of command ceremonies. Military leaders say prayer at such events should be ecumenical.

Chaplains know they represent everybody and deserve to be trusted to offer prayers without a commanding officer's involvement, said Rep.

J. Randy Forbes, R-4th District, founder of the Congressional Prayer Caucus.

"Chaplains not only have tremendous wisdom in those situations, but they have exemplified that for a long period of time," he added.

The prayer issue is expected to be the subject of congressional hearings next year.

Sets a 36 percent limit on the interest rates that can be charged on "payday loans" taken out by many young service members and their families. Lenders now commonly charge 500 percent or more for such loans, which quickly leave many borrowers buried in debt.

Provides $2.9 billion for the purchase of 20 more F-22A Raptor fighter-bombers for the Air Force. The radar-evading Raptors are gradually replacing F-15

Eagles at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton. At more than $130 million each, they are the most expensive fighter aircraft ever.

The defense bill, passed annually to set guidelines for spending on thousands of military programs, typically tracks spending requests by the services and the president.

Lawmakers, however, broke sharply with the administration and uniformed leaders this year to block plans to double or triple health insurance premiums for more than 1 million retired troops and their families.

The administration sought the increases, as well as higher charges for prescription drugs; the two proposals sparked an intense and ultimately successful lobbying campaign by military service organizations

With regards to the recruitment issue popeye and zergling were talking about, I would just like to say that I know a guy who is going to go to West Point and another who is probably going to go to the Air Force academy, and they are definately some of the smartest and best qualified members of the class of 2007. So the officer corps should stay high-quality.

Finn McCool said:

With regards to the recruitment issue popeye and zergling were talking about, I would just like to say that I know a guy who is going to go to West Point and another who is probably going to go to the Air Force academy, and they are definately some of the smartest and best qualified members of the class of 2007. So the officer corps should stay high-quality.

Click to expand...

I have no doubts that the members of the Navy and Air Force are just as highly qualified as they used to be... as far as I know it's the Army and Marines that are feeling the most strain of battle; and due to basic structure design require the highest amount of boots on the ground.

USAF debuts new smaller GBU in Iraq Nice pics at the link.



SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- The Guided Bomb Unit-39/B small diameter bomb was flown into combat for the first time Oct. 5 by members of the 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron.

The unit, deployed to the Southwest Asia area of operations, launched a two-ship formation of F-15E Strike Eagles at 1:30 a.m. EST carrying the new air-to-ground bomb on a mission to provide close-air support for ground troops operating in Iraq.

"Today, we added an extraordinary capability to our warfighter's arsenal," said Lt. Gen. Gary L. North, the Combined Forces Air Component commander. "The GBU-39/B (small diameter bomb) provides the Air Force with the ability to reduce collateral damage, while providing joint terminal attack controllers another option to prosecute targets. It is a significant milestone for our coalition forces fighting the global war on terror.

"This new air-to-ground munition gives our warfighters the explosive power of a conventional bomb without the fragmentation and blast area of other weapons in our inventory," he said.

The new bomb, the first of its kind in the Air Force inventory, gives aircrews the ability to destroy targets that would normally be "passed over" due to the proximity of friendly troops, civilians, structures or personal property. As the smallest guided bomb in the Air Force, munitions crews are able to load more of the 250-pound bombs onto an aircraft, compared to larger, heavier guided weapons.

"Obviously, because of its size, our aircraft are able to carry more individual weapons into battle, benefiting the Soldiers on the ground with more opportunities to defend their positions, while precisely destroying targets that would threaten American, coalition and Iraqi lives," General North said.

"The SDB is uniquely qualified for urban targets that call for precision accuracy and reduced collateral damage and in close-air-support missions that our aircrews find themselves in during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom," General North said. "We now have the ability to put ordnance in places where collateral damage might be a concern."

The F-15E Strike Eagle squadron, and its corresponding aircraft maintenance unit, from Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, is the first unit deployed in the war on terrorism with the capability to employ the SDB. For some of these Airmen, Operation Iraqi Freedom marks the first time they will drop live bombs on enemy targets.

Aircrews began training on the academics of the bomb and in simulators in May, said Capt. Matt Hund, 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron chief of weapons and tactics.

The SDB is an all-weather Global Positioning System-guided munition capable of standoff ranges in excess of 40 miles. Aircrews have the ability to hit single or multiple targets on one bombing pass by programming GPS coordinates into the bomb.

"We can drop our entire payload of small diameter bombs at one time and each weapon will independently track to its own target," Captain Hund said. "Or, we drop one small diameter bomb at a time, depending on what the forces on the ground need and the type of target we're going to destroy."

Additionally, the pilot or weapons system officer can reprogram the SDB with different fuses for different targets while the aircraft is en route to its target. The bomb, once dropped, rolls and its 5-foot diamond-back wings pop out as it glides to its target.

To ensure all goes well with the first SDB deployment, members of the Air Armament Center's 681st Armament Systems Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., are on hand to provide expert advice as the bomb and aircraft are integrated for combat operations. Capt. Jim Parslow, the SDB Systems Flight commander, oversaw the loading of the small bomb as weapons loaders secured the weapons to the aircraft for their first combat sortie.

"We brought a small cadre of specialists to the desert at the request of the flying unit to make sure there's a seamless transition from test activities -- the operational developmental test activities -- to combat operations," Captain Parslow said.

Capt. Meghan Stanley, one of the 494th EFS aircrew members, looks forward to seeing how months of training will pay off.

"Being that it is the Air Force's newest weapon, I'm proud to be a part of the team that is the first to bring it down range," said the weapons system officer.

The small diameter bomb was developed and tested at several locations around the United States including, Eglin AFB; Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio; Nellis AFB, Nev.; and the White Sands Missile Range, N.M.

USAF says F-22 Raptor is Combat ready!
I must be losing it! Two USAF articles in a row!

F-22 Raptor ready for its combat role

by Louis A. Arana-Barradas
Air Force Print News

10/3/2006 - SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) -- While the 27th Fighter Squadron is still figuring out the processes needed to deploy its F-22 Raptors to war, it is ready to go now.

Squadron director of operations Lt. Col. Kevin Fesler said the Langley Air Force Base, Va., unit is still normalizing its operations. But he said if the call comes, the unit would deploy.

"We train every day as if the phone is going to ring and we're going to be told to go and meet our wartime commitment," the colonel said. "So we could go right now."

Colonel Fesler, once an F-15E Strike Eagle pilot, has 300 flying hours in the Raptor. His job is to make sure his pilots are ready to go to war. Each day the unit trains with the stealth fighter, the aircrews and maintainers get better at their tasks, he said. They learn new lessons about the F-22. And that helps drive the Airmen to standardize operations.

"We want to put more pressure on ourselves because being the first operational squadron in the F-22 comes with a responsibility. And that responsibility is to flesh out the process and to figure out where we want this airplane to go," the colonel from Bloomfield, Ill., said.

The Air Force wants the Raptor to go to war. In a speech to U.S. Military Academy cadets in mid September, Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne said the ground war days are over. Tomorrow's military -- which will be even more interdependent -- will go to war with better weapons. Those include the better awareness, detection and instant communications needed to deliver concentrated and precision strikes.

"Most importantly, spherical situation awareness delivers to the net the tools of precision fire, including fires measured to avoid innocent casualties, and to get instant feedback to all that are on the command net," Secretary Wynne said. "The kill cycle can thus be cut to minutes and possibly seconds, from the detect to the assessment."

Colonel Fesler said the F-22 is perfect for the kind of warfare that requires spherical situation awareness. One of the assets the Raptor brings to any mission is that it complements other missions.

"It adds, to use a big word, a synergistic effect to the entire battlespace," said the colonel, who has 3,200 flying hours -- 850 in combat. "The onboard capabilities of the F-22 and the (situational awareness) that you have inside the airplane adds to the other missions."

That means the Raptor can help with air-to-air, offensive counter air or defensive counter air or air-to-ground strikes -- and any other kind of air mission. Ultimately, that will make the warfighting process more survivable for everyone involved, the colonel said.

"And the synergistic effects of the battlespace situational awareness that the Raptor has, and the way we impart that to everyone in that battlespace -- it's just going to make a more lethal force," he said. "We want to get in and get out, and we want everyone to survive."

The Raptor is lethal enough on its own. It has a combination of stealth, supercruise, maneuverability and integrated avionics. The jet also has a combination of state-of-the-art sensors that give it a first-strike capability. And its cockpit design improves the pilot's situational awareness.

Adding these capacities -- the jet's eyes and ears and other capabilities -- will make a strike package of aircraft that includes the F-22 more effective. On just about every mission he has flown in the stealth jet, the Raptor has complimented the mission, the colonel said.

"It is truly a joint force multiplier," Colonel Fesler said.

good news on the JSF front, F-135 is ready, not sure about F-136

Pratt & Whitney F135 Program Reaches 6,000 SDD Test Hours, Remains on Track to
Support Lightening II's First Flight

EAST HARTFORD, Conn., Oct. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pratt & Whitney's
F135 engine program has achieved more than 6,000 hours of System Development
and Demonstration (SDD) ground testing and is on schedule to support the first
flight of the F-35 Lightening II this fall. The 6,000 SDD hours are in
addition to the more than 3,600 hours accumulated during the concept
demonstration phase of the F-35 program, reflecting the F135's maturity and
reliability. Pratt & Whitney is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX)
company.
Most recently, the F-35 completed its first series of F135 engine runs
culminating in a full after-burner test with 40,000 pounds of thrust. The
F135 engine is on schedule to begin taxi testing this fall.
"The F135 engine is performing extremely well. As we move closer to first
flight the engine continues to exceed our expectations," said Bill Gostic,
vice president of F135 Engine Programs for Pratt & Whitney. "The F135 program
is on track to support the F-35's first flight later this year."
The technologically advanced F135 engine is an evolution of the highly
successful F119 engine for the F-22 Raptor. Together, the F135 and F119 will
have logged approximately one million flight hours before the F-35's
introduction into operational service in 2012.
The F135 propulsion system team consists of Pratt & Whitney, the prime
contractor with responsibility for the main engine and system
integration; Rolls-Royce, providing lift components for the STOVL F-35B
variant; and Hamilton Sundstrand, provider of the F135's control system,
external accessories and gearbox.
In addition to the F135 engine for the F-35 Lightening II and the F119 for
the F-22 Raptor, Pratt & Whitney military engine models include the F117 for
the C-17 Globemaster III; F100 for F-15 and F-16 fighters; J52 for the EA-6B
Prowler; TF33 powering AWACS, Joint STARS, B-52, d KC-135 aircraft; TF30 for
the F-111; PT6 for T-6A and UH-1N aircraft; and JT15 for the T-1A trainer and
Pegasus UCAV.
Pratt & Whitney is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service
of aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines.
United Technologies provides high-technology products and services to the
aerospace and building industries.

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