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Company releases helicopter-ambulance test flight video
By: ERIK SCHECHTER NEW YORK Source: Flightglobal.com 3 minutes ago
Advanced Tactics, a small aerospace company based in El Segundo, California, has released a video of its first test flight of the Black Knight Transformer, an unmanned vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) vehicle that morphs into an ambulance in order to evacuate wounded troops from an urban battlefield.

The test flight of the boxy, 1,810kg (4,000lb) Black Knight Transformer demonstrator featured in the video was the first in a series that took place in late March on a small, prepared landing zone in the Anza-Borrego Desert, northeast of San Diego, says Rustom “Rusty” Jehangir, chief engineer at Advanced Tactics.

“We did a number of short flights,” Jehangir says. “They were all under 10 feet above ground level.”

Though the VTOL was controlled and stabilized by onboard computer, the test included a backup remote pilot on the ground to correct for any flight errors. “There was also an electrical tether that was attached to a kill switch” which, if pressed, could shut off all of the vehicle’s eight fixed-pitch propeller-driven engines, he adds.

The US Army Telemedicine & Advanced Technologies Research Centre, in Fort Detrick, Maryland, and the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, in Quantico, Virginia have both supported development of the Black Knight Transformer. And Advanced Tactics is set for a follow-on Marine Corps demonstration in September.

But beyond that, Jehangir wants to see the vehicle follow in the path of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which transformed its own flying car program into the Aerial Reconfigurable Embedded System, a modular VTOL carrier frame that can transport cargo or ground vehicles.

“It’s basically a flight system that can be attached to anything. We think that the best future option for our technology is to do something similar,” he says, adding that, unlike a conventional helicopter, the Black Knight Transformer’s engines are all contained within the rotor arms to make reconfiguration easier.

Finally, Advanced Tactics hopes to pair its vehicle with the advanced navigation and sensor package being developed under the Navy’s Autonomous Aerial Cargo/Utility System (AACUS) program. “We think that an ideal fit for our technology would be as a platform for AACUS,” Jehangir says.

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Lockheed pitches F-35 technology for US Army’s future vertical lifter
By: JON HEMMERDINGERNASHVILLE Source: Flightglobal.com 13:56 7 May 2014
Lockheed Martin showcased an F-35 flight simulator at the Army Aviation Association of America’s Mission Solutions Summit this week, in an effort to promote technology that could be integrated into future army aircraft.
Ed Whalen, Lockheed’s rotary wing capture lead, says more than 100 army personnel had flown the simulator since the start of the Summit. The event was held in Nashville, Tennessee from 4-6 May.

“We want to take the most advanced weapons platform in the world and expose army aviators to that system,” Whalen told reporters on 6 May. He notes technology like that in the F-35's helmet could be integrated into the future vertical lift (FVL) programme, which seeks to develop the next-generation of army aircraft.

The F-35 helmet, made by Vision Systems International, has “distributed aperture” technology that uses integrated sensors to give pilots a visual view "through" the aircraft.

The army is expected to take the next step in the FVL programme later this year, when it will name two companies to build technology demonstrators which will inform the final design.

“The army has the chance now to move technology to where it has never been before,” Whalen says.

Lockheed is working on the development of a single “common missions system” that could be integrated into light, medium, heavy and ultra-heavy future vertical lift aircraft. A common system could save the army billions of dollars in procurement and sustainment costs, eliminating the need to train maintenance staff, trainers and personnel in multiple systems, the company says.

“At the end of the day, a common system [is] going to save a lot of money and give you a lot of capability for [your] buck,” says Whalen.

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Lockheed wins VADER contract
By: JON HEMMERDINGERNASHVILLE Source: Flightglobal.com 17:21 7 May 2014
Lockheed Martin has bagged a roughly $25 million contract to integrate a vehicle and dismounted exploitation radar (VADER) system into a Beechcraft King Air 350ER.

The work to integrate VADER – which is expected to be complete by March 2015 – adds to Lockheed’s ongoing surveillance support efforts in Afghanistan. Since 2009, the company has operated and supported a fleet of US Army-owned King Airs equipped with the medium-altitude reconnaissance surveillance system (MARSS).

Established by army task force ODIN – an acronym for observe, detect, identify and neutralise – MARSS aircraft include a mix of King Air 200s, 300s and 300ERs, says Lockheed. Those aircraft are currently based at three locations in Afghanistan. They use full-motion video and communications and signals intelligence sensors to monitor insurgents and counter threats posed by improvised explosive devices, Robert Brusco, Lockheed’s technical services business development director, tells Flightglobal.

Brusco says Lockheed, which is currently operating under a $76 million MARSS contract awarded in October 2013, has a group of 65 employees who fly and maintain the aircraft, and provide logistics and supply chain support. The aircraft fly about 12h daily, seven days a week.

Lockheed’s team now has its sights set on the army’s enhanced MARSS – a reconnaissance aircraft project under development (below).

EMARSS, which will be integrated into new King Air 350ERs, will use electro-optical/infrared sensors, a communications intelligence payload and an aerial precision geolocation system.

The army is procuring four EMARSS aircraft in fiscal year 2014 for $84.7 million, and plans to buy 16 in FY2015 for $185 million, according to budget documents.

Brusco says Lockheed will bid on the second round of procurement, and he expects a request for proposals to be released in about a year.

“We are going to leverage our knowledge and familiarity with the current system to compete for the next round of these enhanced sensor aircraft,” he says.

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US Army begins grounding Kiowas, seeks buyers
By: JON HEMMERDINGERNASHVILLE Source: Flightglobal.com 18 hours ago
The US Army has started grounding some of its Bell Helicopter OH-58 Kiowa Warriors and is now seeking buyers for the aircraft, including possible foreign customers.

“We assume that these aircraft would be at a price point [that some countries] can afford,” Maj Gen Lynn Collyar, commanding general of army aviation and missile command, said on 6 May. Some countries “might like a different system or a new aircraft, but do not necessarily have the resources to do that,” he adds.

Collyar, who made his comments during the Army Aviation Association of America’s Mission Solutions Summit in Nashville, Tennessee, did not name potential customers. But he did say that Bell has agreed to support the aircraft should they be sold overseas.

Collyar and other army officials say the ultimate fate of the aircraft remains uncertain.

If the army executes a plan outlined in its 2015 budget proposal, the service will divest its entire fleet of Kiowa Warriors and related TH-67 Creek trainers.


The army tells Flightglobal that 26 OH-58Ds will be placed in "non-flyable storage" in fiscal year 2014. The service has 335 D variants and 182 TH-67s.
In addition to possible foreign sales, the army is looking into whether other US military branches or government agencies might be interested in acquiring the aircraft, says the army's armed scout helicopter project director Col James Kennedy.
The US Navy, which hopes to replace its fleet of Bell TH-57 trainers in the next five to 10 years, says it is too early to comment on whether it might consider purchasing the army's TH-67s, which Bell says are an average of 16 years old.

Kennedy says the army is following a “very deliberate process” to ground the fleet, and notes that the divestiture process for the aircraft may vary based on the type.

Some models, like the OH-58D, are “wartime aircraft,” he says. Others, like the TH-67s, are largely unmodified civilian aircraft.

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HASC OKs $600B in 2015 DoD Spending, nixes A-10 retirement plans
May. 8, 2014 - 12:39PM |

By John T. Bennett
Staff writer Air force times

WASHINGTON — The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) early Thursday unanimously approved a measure that would authorize just over $600 billion in 2015 US defense spending and block plans to retire the A-10 attack plane.

After a marathon markup session, the committee easily approved its version of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act that includes a $495.8 billion base Pentagon budget level and $79.4 billion more for an overseas contingency operations (OCO) budget.

The bill, which also authorizes $17.9 billion in Energy Department defense programs and $7.9 billion in mandatory defense spending, could grow even larger. That’s because the OCO amount is a placeholder; senior lawmakers expect the White House will send over an exact amount for the war in Afghanistan and other needs before the bill hits the House floor, likely this spring.

The $495.4 billion — if the final amount authorized and appropriated for the Pentagon — would be cut by around $35 billion because sequestration remains in place. That sequestration cut amount was reduced by $9 billion under December’s bipartisan budget deal.

Even with that pending sequester cut, the HASC measure’s funding level would clear the way for around $565 billion in US military spending for fiscal 2015, with the final OCO level to come.

HASC Ranking Democrat Rep. Adam Smith of Washington criticized the measure for punting tough decisions on weapons programs and other matters to the future.

“As I have outlined vigorously throughout this process, this bill ... neglects to make some of the difficult choices necessary to confront our long-term fiscal challenges,” Smith said in a statement. “I understand none of the choices we are faced with are popular, or what any of us want, but that does not give us an excuse to undermine our military readiness. As we move to the floor and then to conference with the Senate, I encourage my colleagues to look beyond parochial interests and focus on what is good for our country.”

Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., in his own statement called the measure “the gold standard for congressional bipartisanship and transparency.” During the markup, McKeon and other Republicans stressed the need to, as the bill does, protect weapon systems — as well as block proposed cuts to troop levels, in case Congress finds a way to get rid of sequestration and defense spending caps.

Support For the Warthog
The most high-profile amendment passed by the committee came late in the nearly 13-hour session: a bipartisan measure that would, if included in the final bill, block the Air Force’s plan to retire the A-10 fleet to save money.

The amendment was offered by Arizona Democrat Rep. Ron Barber and cosponsored by Reps. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., and Austin Scott, R-Ga. Initially, the amendment failed via voice vote — though it sounded like there were more supporters. The measure later passed 41-20 in a roll-call vote.

The amendment kills a compromise on the A-10 inserted into the bill by McKeon that called for the aircraft to be placed in “type-1000 storage,” meaning they would be wrapped in latex but be able to return to active duty.

Instead, the bipartisan amendment prohibits such a move, or a retirement, until the US comptroller general makes a number of certifications and completes several studies, including a report to evaluate all Air Force platforms that are used for close-air-support (CAS) missions.

The comptroller general also would be required to assess the cost per plane for conducting CAS missions, such as whether other aircraft are able to successfully perform CAS missions, and the capabilities of each plane used in that role.

Late Wednesday evening, the panel approved, via voice vote, another bipartisan amendment. This one, offered by Reps. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., and William Enyart, D-Ill., blocks Army plans to shrink its force and shift Apache helicopters from the Guard to the active force.

Those plans would be blocked unless the US comptroller general signs off on a list of data used by the Army to justify its end-strength shrinkage and Apache transfer proposals.

The intricate measure directs the comptroller general to look at very specific things, such as any “analyses of counter proposals” submitted to Army and Army National Guard leaders — and conducted by the Army or the Pentagon’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation shop — that were used to make any proposals.

It also orders the comptroller general to look at the force-structure model used in the Army’s 2015 budget plan, as well as cost-analysis models used to determine which aviation platforms should reside in the active force and the Guard. Finally, the comptroller general must examine operational-readiness rates for the last five years for the platforms that comprise Army and Guard aviation brigades.

Notably, minutes before the voice vote, McKeon informed his members that the A-10 is no longer performing CAS missions in Afghanistan.

Protecting Programs
The committee measure protects a slew of weapon programs, which was the theme of the session. One such measure includes raiding accounts used for service contracts and other non-weapons accounts.

Those transfers, unveiled Monday as part of McKeon’s legislation, would give the services billions in order to refuel the aircraft carrier George Washington, develop missile defenses with Israel, buy EA-18G aircraft and upgrade Abrams tanks — projects not budgeted in the Obama administration’s 2015 Pentagon spending request.

The bill would shift $796.2 million to refuel the GW and maintain an 11-carrier fleet, $450 million for five EA-18Gs, $348 million for the “Israeli Cooperative Missile Defense” program, $800 million for the Navy’s amphibious ship program and $120 million for the Abrams upgrades.

It also proposes $82 million for 96 Tomahawk missiles, $80 million for body armor and over $240 million for three combat vehicle programs.

To protect those programs, others took hits. That list includes the Pentagon’s Joint IED Defeat Organization ($49.5 million), Littoral Combat Ship program ($350 million), Energy Department uranium enrichment fund ($100 million).

Notably, $817.5 million from accounts used to pay for service contracts would be tapped.

Speaking Tuesday at the Heritage Foundation, McKeon acknowledged he had to “nickle and dime some programs” to protect others. But, he warned, lawmakers will not be able to do so next year. In short, there just won’t be enough programs able to be raided for such transfers, McKeon said.

Amendment-palooza
The committee also passed a long list of amendments and several en bloc amendment packages.

Included in one was an amendment offered by Rep. Hartzler that “encourages” the Navy to use advanced procurement dollars to build at least two Boeing Super Hornets per month.

Hartzler’s amendment does not require the Navy to do anything. Rather, it “encourages the chief of naval operations to utilize the advanced procurement funds for F/A-18E/F aircraft in [fiscal 2014] ($75 million) to extend the production line to a minimum production rate of two aircraft per month” in order to complement Boeing-made E/A-18G Growler electronic aircraft production plans.

Republicans and Democrats sparred over an amendment that would increase funding for efforts to dismantle some of America’s nuclear arms. The amendment, offered by Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., was later killed by HASC Republicans.

For LCS, Choppy Waters
The panel approved an amendment to offered by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., that would block all funding for LCS mission modules until senior Pentagon and Navy officials deliver some assurances to lawmakers.

One would be to provide the Navy secretary’s plan for the program’s Milestone B costs, schedule and performance “for each increment.”

Another would be a certification by the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation (OT&E) “with respect to the total number for each module type that is required to perform all necessary operational testing.”

The OT&E office has in the past been critical of the LCS program. In its latest report, released in January, the office found “performance, reliability, and operator training deficiencies,” and other alleged problems with the mission packages. ■

Email: [email protected].

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Lawmakers move to block Navy plan to restrict tobacco sales
May. 7, 2014 - 06:00AM |


By Leo Shane III
Staff writer

Exclusive interview: SECNAV on sea pay, tobacco use, gender equity and more
Navy move to ban tobacco sales would include Marine Corps
Navy mulls banning tobacco sales on all bases, ships
House lawmakers moved Wednesday to protect tobacco sales on military bases and ships, prohibiting Navy plans to drop the problematic products in the name of force health.

As part of its annual defense authorization bill mark up on Wednesday, the House Armed Services Committee added language forbidding defense officials from enacting “any new policy that would limit, restrict, or ban the sale of any legal consumer product category” on military installations.

Amendment sponsor Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said the measure was in direct response to reports that the Navy is working to eliminate tobacco sales at exchanges and on ships. Commissaries on Navy bases currently do not sell tobacco products.

The move would be the most dramatic so far among military officials trying to keep servicemembers from picking up or continuing the habit. In 2012, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus labeled tobacco as “the most avoidable public health hazard in the Navy and Marine Corps.”

The push had been a priority for Mabus, who said it would promote health — and ultimately readiness.

“We demand that sailors and Marines be incredibly fit, and we know that tobacco hurts that fitness,” Mabus said in a March 27 interview with Navy Times. “We know that the cost for health care far exceeds any profit that we could possibly make selling that. We know that it brings bad health-care results and fitness results.”

But Hunter and members of the House panel argued that the anti-smoking efforts amount to unneeded hand-holding of troops who are responsible adults and can make their own life choices.

“Just because you joined the service doesn’t mean you can’t live comfortably,” said Hunter, a Marine Corps veteran. “If your goal is to make the military healthy, let’s outlaw war. That’s as unhealthy as you can get.”

The measure passed by a 53-9 vote, with a handful of Democrats objecting to restrictions on military leaders’ efforts to promote force health and safety. The measure would cover any product legal nationwide as of Jan. 1, including alcohol and sugary drinks, although no effort has been made of late to limit sales of those products.

It would not cover marijuana, which is legal for sale in several states but not on federal installations.

The Senate would have to adopt the House’s regulation ban before it could become law. Leaders from the Senate Armed Services Committee are expected to offer their draft of the annual authorization bill later this month.

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AIN Online said:

Sikorsky Aircraft rolled out the CH-53K, the U.S. Marine Corps’ future heavy lift helicopter, on May 5 at the company’s West Palm Beach, Fla. facility. According to Sikorsky, the mostly composite helicopter—dubbed the “King Stallion”—will fly by year-end, with operational service expected in 2019.

“The rollout of the CH-53K helicopter introduces a new era in Marine Corps aviation,” said Sikorsky president Mick Maurer. “The clean-sheet CH-53K will effectively triple the external load carrying capacity of the CH-53E aircraft—to more than 27,000 pounds over a mission radius of 110 nautical miles. With its 88,000-pound maximum gross weight, powerful new engines, lightweight composite structure, new rotor blades and fly-by-wire flight controls, the CH-53K will have the means to move troops and equipment from ship to shore, and to higher altitude terrain, more quickly and effectively than ever before.”

Three 7,500-shp GE Aviation T408 engines power the helicopter, offering 57-percent more horsepower and 20-percent lower specific fuel consumption over the CH-53E’s GE T64 turboshaft. To convert the extra engine power into torque and shaft horsepower within a similarly sized main gearbox, Sikorsky developed a new transmission system.

That power is then transferred to the largest and most technologically advanced main rotor blade that Sikorsky has ever produced. Measuring 35 feet in span length and almost three feet in chord width, the all-composite blade has 12 percent more surface area than the CH-53E blade.

Thanks to an airframe built from strong, lightweight composite materials, the CH-53K retains the same external footprint as its predecessor—a required specification for the helicopter to fit on existing U.S. Navy ship elevators—but has a cabin that is 13 inches wider. In the flight deck, a Rockwell Collins digital glass cockpit governs a fly-by-wire flight control system developed by Sikorsky, UTC Aerospace Systems, Eaton and BAE.

According to Sikorsky, the CH-53K is one of the first all-digitally designed helicopters. This approach enabled the company to assemble the aircraft inside a 3-D virtual reality lab at its Stratford, Conn. headquarters before any metal was cut. “Our ‘build before you build’ approach allowed our engineers to work ‘inside’ the helicopter,” said Maurer, “to verify assembly designs and correct issues long before discovery and expensive rework on the assembly line.”

Last month, Sikorsky began powered ground tests of the CH-53K aircraft systems, such as rotors, drive, electrical, hydraulic, avionics and flight controls. Its ground test vehicle 1 (GTV1) will log some 250 hours of powered ground tests before the CH-53K’s first flight later this year, which will kick off a three-year flight test program. GTV1, which is bolted to the ground at a remote testing area within Sikorsky’s West Palm Beach facility, will log a total of 900 hours of tests by the end of 2016, after which the airframe will be shipped to China Lake for live weapons testing.

Currently, the USMC has nine CH-53Ks under contract: four engineering development model flight vehicles, GTV1, a static article, a fatigue article and two recently added system demonstration test articles. The USMC intends to order at least 200 CH-53Ks and set up eight operational squadrons and one training squadron.

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asif iqbal said:

I think the sequestration cuts are going to start and effect the capability of the USAF

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By Erik SlavinStars and Stripes
Published: May 9, 2014

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — A USS Blue Ridge-embarked helicopter photographed two Chinese navy ships May 5 near the site of a heavily contested shoal that has sparked a months-long standoff between China and the Philippines in 2012.The Navys photo release of two Chinese Navy ships near Scarborough Shoal sparked some online news outlets to label the encounter a confrontation, which 7th Fleet officials disputed Friday.

USS Blue Ridge, the Japan based 7th Fleets flagship, transited without incident near the two ships, Navy officials said.All parties acted professionally, said 7th Fleet spokesman Cmdr. William Marks, who is embarked aboard Blue Ridge.There wasn’t any communication [with the Chinese] due to both Blue Ridge and its helicopter being a safe distance away, Marks said. Hull numbers in the Navy photos indicate the Chinese ships were the destroyer Lanzhou and the frigate Hengshui. The visit near Scarborough was not a freedom of navigation operation, Marks said in response to a Stars and Stripes question.

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