US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

F-35Bs Flying But A, C Ops On Hold

AWIN First
Amy Butler
Fri, 2014-06-27 16:26
Three U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs have taken off from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, en route to NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, ahead of their planned Atlantic Ocean crossing to the United Kingdom.

Four F-35Bs are expected to be in country by the week of July 7 for flying displays at the Royal International Air Tattoo and Farnborough air show next month.

"The Marine Corps will resume F-35B flight operations today. We are continuing with our plans to deploy to the U.K. next month," said Capt. Rich Ulsh, a Marine Corps spokesman.

This signals at least a partial resumption of flight for the F-35 fleet; 95 F-35s have been down for a "safety pause" after the aft end of an F-35A, AF-27, erupted into fire on the runway at Eglin AFB, Florida, prior to takeoff June 23. The pilot safely egressed, and investigators are trying to find the root cause.

F-35As operated by the Air Force and Cs operated by the Navy have not yet been cleared to fly, according to spokeswomen at the respective services.

Ulsh declined to say whether the resumption of flight operations signaled that the B was exonerated from concerns related to the fire. But the earlier stand down was conducted in the interest of flight safety.

It is unclear whether the flight operations approved for the F-35B are exclusive only to the aircraft transiting to Patuxent River.

The first flight window for the Atlantic crossing is slated to be June 29. However, technically, the F-35Bs do not have to be in the United Kingdom until the week of July 7 when pilots must conduct their verification flights ahead of the show displays.

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F-35 In Fire Was Recent Delivery

AWIN First
Amy Butler
Thu, 2014-06-26 13:42
The F-35A that caught fire June 23 was a recent delivery from low-rate initial production lot 5 of the stealthy fighter.

Ninety-five F-35s have been delivered to date.

All F-35s remain barred from flight operations as investigators continue to explore the cause of the fire in the aft end of an F-35A as it prepared for takeoff at Eglin AFB, Florida.

Some test aircraft were flying as of June 25 at Edwards AFB, California, and NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, says Kyra Hawn, a program spokeswoman. But as of June 26, flights are suspended for safety reasons. Some test assets, however, have been cleared for ground use at the test centers.

The single-engine aircraft are in a "cautionary suspension of flight," Hawn says. Lockheed Martin manufactures the F-35, which costs nearly $100 million apiece.

A determination has not yet been made on the cost of the damage to the aircraft that caught fire, but it is likely to be the first F-35 class A mishap. A class A mishap occurs when an aircraft sustains more than $2 million in damage or results in a fatality; in this case the pilot safely egressed before foam was used to extinguish the fire. But the fire is thought to have badly damaged the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine.

No military airworthiness authority has yet issued a grounding order. Decisions to stand-down flight are being made by local commanders, according to military officials.

"Safety of our personnel, community, and aircraft are our key concern in all flight-test operations. Following the June 23 F-35A incident, some local operators opted to temporarily suspend F-35B and C operations as a precaution," says Lt. Jackie Pau, a Navy spokeswoman. "The [Marine and Navy] airworthiness authorities are awaiting initial assessment results from the investigating authorities to enable decision-making with regards to flight operations of F-35B and C. This initial assessment and subsequent decision by the airworthiness authorities will not compromise the safety/mishap investigation proceedings."

Likewise, the U.S. Air Force has now suspended all F-35A flying operations; wing commanders previously issued the order to halt flights. "The wing commander temporarily suspended flying operations, while Air Education and Training Command initiated a safety investigation. As a precautionary measure, the Air Force has decided to temporarily suspend all F-35A operations until it is determined that flights can resume safely," says Maj. Natasha Waggoner, an Air Force spokeswoman. "This is not an uncommon practice following a mishap. It ensures the safety of our crews and our aircraft so we can determine there is no fleet-wide issue that needs to be addressed."

Hawn says the halt to flight operations is still not expected to impede the Marine Corps’ ability to launch four F-35Bs from Patuxent River in advance of their international debut at the Royal International Air Tattoo outside London the week of July 7. However, officials are keeping an eye on storms predicted in the North Atlantic Ocean this weekend that could delay the launch by 24 hr.

Editor's Note: This article incorrectly stated the Class A mishap damage cost threshold. It was updated in 2009 to be $2 million.

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US Navy funds additional X-47B development
By: BETH STEVENSONLONDON Source: Flightglobal.com 13:24 27 Jun 2014
Northrop Grumman has received an additional $63 million from the US Navy to carry out “post-demonstration” development of its X-47B carrier-based unmanned air vehicle.

Announced on 26 June, the contract – dubbed Phase II – will see continued development of the test vehicle created under the navy’s unmanned combat air system – demonstration (UCAS-D) programme. The newly-contracted work is expected to continue until March 2015.

“These activities include continued X-47B aircraft systems, testbed and flight test support at both shore-based locations and associated carrier detachments,” the navy says.

asset image

Northrop Grumman

“Fiscal [year] 2013 and 2014 research, development, test and evaluation [navy] funds in the amount of $45,877,152 will be obligated at time of award, of which $42,551,064 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year,” it continues.

The UCAS-D development began in 2007 under a $635 million programme, and was completed in 2013 after it achieved a number of targets – including the UAV performing an arrested carrier landing on the USS George HW Bush in July that year. Air-to-air refuelling was also demonstrated at the end of 2013.

Night-time operations have been stated as one area of development for the navy, and the first night flight of the system was conducted in April 2014 at NAS Patuxent River in Maryland, under separate funding.

Although UCAS-D is solely a development effort, the technology proven during the programme will be packaged into government-furnished information and offered to each bidder for the navy’s unmanned carrier-launched airborne surveillance and strike (UCLASS) programme.

Four bidders responded to a draft request for proposals for UCLASS released in April this year, and a full RFP is expected towards the end of 2014.

The bidders for the UCLASS programme are Boeing, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman – all of which were awarded preliminary design review contracts in August 2013. The system is expected to be operational – to some degree – by 2020.

The navy’s FY2015 budget proposal includes $403 million for UCLASS funding. The service projects spending $2.67 billion on the programme through to FY2019.

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'Rogue drone' report blames range, glitch for November crash
Jun. 28, 2014 - 10:54AM |
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The cruiser Chancellorsville was struck by a BQM-74E drone similar to the one pictured at right during a November at-sea exercise. The impact caused about $30 million in damages.
The cruiser Chancellorsville was struck by a BQM-74E drone similar to the one pictured at right during a November at-sea exercise. The impact caused about $30 million in damages. (Navy photos)

By David Larter
Staff writer
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Malfunctioning drone hits Navy ship while training
A new report faults a control glitch and the drone’s operators for an unusual November mishap where the telemetry target crashed into the cruiser Chancellorsville during at-sea testing, sidelining the ship for months and causing millions in damages.

The controlling system’s two consoles were in conflict with each other during the southern California exercise, which caused the targeting system to lose control of the BQM-74E drone, according to the Navy investigation, and the fail-safe was not pulled in time.

But the range operators at Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division Point Mugu, California, are also to blame, according to the report, which was released June 26. The investigation found that the operators at the range failed to alert the ship to the “rogue drone” flying 500 mph until after it struck the ship’s port side, puncturing into computer central — the space directly below the combat information center, which was crowded for the exercise.

The range called out “rogue drone” 17 seconds after the drone slammed into the cruiser, a jarring impact that injured two sailors and caused an estimated $30 million in damages.

Drone operations at Point Mugu were suspended after the incident, and the Pacific Fleet bosses recommend in the March 28 report that the range stay closed until new safety procedures were adopted. The range opened in early May and has conducted about 15 flights since resuming operations.

But the investigation also exposed a rift between Adm. Harry Harris, the naval flight officer who heads PACFLT, and Vice Adm. Tom Copeman, the surface Navy’s top officer, over whether the Chancellorsville and its then-commanding officer did enough to defend the ship.

Capt. William Hesser, who was in command of Chancellorsville at the time of the Class A mishap, should have done more to protect the ship and “failed to use the full range of tools available to him to protect the ship,” Harris wrote in his final letter closing the report.

Harris rested his case upon the finding that the ship’s close-in weapons system, a rapid-fire gun designed as a last resort, issued a “recommend fire” warning but that nobody acted on it, in part because they were in a training scenario. Additionally, the ship’s automatic self-defense doctrines were dialed back without the CO’s notice and failed to identify the drone as a threat.

“It was his duty to fully understand and execute the fundamental principle of protecting the ship,” Harris wrote. “He failed to do so.”

That judgment overruled the surface boss’s conclusions. Copeman argued the ship needed the range to call out “rogue drone” to alert the CIC watchstanders that the drone was out of control and a possible threat — not part of the training.

Copeman said that the range was so tightly controlled that the “rogue drone” call was necessary before Hesser could have made a decision to shoot down the drone.

“The CO of the [Chancellorsville] was placed in a position where he was not armed with the information he needed regarding the [targeting system] and the range limitations to terminate the drone,” Copeman said in his letter. “Without the range calling ‘rogue drone,’ he did not have sufficient battle space or time to take the proper steps to defend the ship.”

Copeman and 3rd Fleet boss Vice. Adm. Kenneth Floyd, a fighter pilot, both recommended that no punitive action be taken against Hesser, and Harris agreed. However, Harris directed administrative action be taken against the former CO.

Harris also ordered administrative actions against the on-watch tactical action officer, the anti-air warfare coordinator — who heard the CIWS operator call out the “recommend fire” but didn’t act — and the ship’s combat systems coordinator, all of whose names and ranks are redacted from the 53-page report.

Floyd directed that the ship’s CIC watchstanders all have their qualifications reviewed. He also directed that the lessons-learned from the Chancellorsville incident be integrated in schoolhouse training.

A close call
The drone strike decimated the ship’s computer central, which had a sailor and five contractors in the space at the time of the incident, according to the investigation.

The incident was the most serious involving a targeting drone since a target drone struck the frigate Antrim in 1983, killing a civilian.

The Chancellorsville strike punched through the cruiser’s port break and through the bulkhead into the space which had recently been outfitted with new equipment to support the fleet’s latest ballistic-missile defense system upgrade.

A former Chancellorsville sailor who spoke to Navy Times in December said that had the drone struck seven feet higher, it could have killed or wounded dozens of sailors in the CIC.

Harris, in the report, commended the crew for its bravery and damage control efforts in the investigation.

“The actions of the first responders, in particular, were instrumental in quickly limiting the spread of damage and likely saved lives,” Harris wrote.

One sailor, identified as Fire Controlman 2nd Class David Gentry by his hometown newspaper, the Fredericksburg (Virginia) Free Lance-Star — was burned in the incident but returned to the space to fight the fire.

An email to his mother from Hesser after the incident said that Gentry had “performed heroically.”

“He is an absolutely stellar sailor and an even more impressive person,” Hesser said, according to the paper.

The investigation showed that Hesser and the combat systems officer participated in the damage control efforts, arriving first to the port break where the drone entered the ship and putting CO2 on the fire there.

The drone struck the ship at 1:14 p.m. The ship set general quarters 10 minutes later and by 1:30, all fires were out. Hesser then ordered a muster of the ship’s crew and made sure all personnel were safe.

Lt. Rick Chernitzer, a spokesman for Naval Surface Forces Pacific, said the ship has completed all major repairs by late June.

Chernitzer said the administrative actions dictated by Harris have been carried out, but declined to specify which Chancellorsville watchstanders were disciplined or how, citing privacy regulations.

Point Mugu spokesman Shane Montgomery said the range had also carried out its administrative actions but also declined to comment on specifics.

Operations at the range and upgrades to the system are in place and the range is gradually increasing the complexity of the training exercises as it builds confidence in the system, Montgomery said.■

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U.S. seeks resumption of cyber talks with China
Jun. 27, 2014 - 09:02AM |
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The United States will urge China to resume discussions on cybersecurity that were suspended abruptly after the U.S. charged five Chinese military officers with hacking into U.S. companies to steal trade secrets, a U.S. official said Thursday.
The United States will urge China to resume discussions on cybersecurity that were suspended abruptly after the U.S. charged five Chinese military officers with hacking into U.S. companies to steal trade secrets, a U.S. official said Thursday. (Charles Dharapak / AP)

By Matthew Pennington
The Associated Press
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U.S. to charge Chinese military officials in cyber-espionage case
WASHINGTON — The United States next month will urge China to resume discussions on cyber security that were abruptly suspended after the Americans charged five Chinese military officers with hacking into U.S. companies to steal trade secrets, officials said.

Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel told The Associated Press on Thursday that the U.S. would push for a resumption of the cyber working group when Cabinet-level officials of both sides meet at the annual U.S.-China Security and Economic Dialogue in Beijing in the second week of July.

After the indictments against the five officers were unsealed in May, Beijing pulled the plug on the group that had been set up a year ago in what Washington viewed as a diplomatic coup after President Barack Obama and China’s President Xi Jinping held a summit in California, aiming to set relations between the two global powers on a positive track.

Those ties have come under growing strain, also because of China’s assertive actions in the disputed South and East China Seas. Russel, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, reiterated those concerns Thursday, saying the U.S. views it as essential that China shows greater restraint and uses diplomacy to manage its differences on territorial issues.

Asian nations, particularly treaty allies like Japan and the Philippines, look to the U.S. to counter China’s increasingly muscular actions, but some in the region have voiced doubts about whether the second-term Obama administration can follow through on its commitment to focus on the Asia-Pacific, because of its preoccupation with the chaos in the Middle East.

Russel said Asia remains a strategic U.S. priority — even as Washington mulls some form of military action to combat the rapid advances of Islamic militants in Iraq who now straddle the border with Syria.

“The fact that events conspired to demand high-level U.S. attention in the Middle East or elsewhere is simply a fact of life. It’s always been thus. The strategic imperative, though, that’s made the Asia-Pacific region a priority for us in security, economic and political terms is unaffected by the short-term demands of crises here and there,” Russel said in an interview.

“I have no trouble in enlisting Secretary (of State John) Kerry’s efforts on our agenda in the region,” Russel added, “and that applies to the president and vice-president as well.”

Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will lead the U.S. delegation at the talks in Beijing, which are an annual fixture and viewed as important in forging a more cooperative relationship with Beijing, notwithstanding the frictions between them and China’s growing challenge to America’s post-World War II military predominance in the Asia-Pacific.

The two sides will discuss issues including turmoil in the Middle East, North Korea’s nuclear program, cooperation on climate change, and the U.S. will raise human rights. They’ll also address a slew of economic and trade issues, including progress on a bilateral investment treaty that China agreed to negotiate in earnest at last year’s talks.

While the cyber working group remains on hold, Russel said the U.S. side will raise concerns over cyber-enabled theft of U.S. corporate data and intellectual property that the U.S. contends is shared with Chinese state-owned enterprises for commercial gain.

“That’s an economic problem as well as a bilateral problem and that kind of behavior risks undermining the support for the U.S.-China relationship among the U.S. and international business community. That’s a problem and it’s a problem we believe the Chinese must and can address,” Russel said.

Although the revelations from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden on U.S. surveillance tactics have embarrassed Washington — leaving it open to accusations of hypocrisy when it accuses others of cyber espionage — the Obama administration has taken an increasingly trenchant stance on intrusions from China.

The indictment accused the Chinese officers of targeting U.S. makers of nuclear and solar technology, stealing confidential business information, sensitive trade secrets and internal communications for competitive advantage. But after the indictments were unsealed, the five men were not placed on an international list of wanted criminals. There is no evidence that China would even entertain a formal request by the U.S. to extradite the five officers. It has rejected the charges and demanded they be withdrawn.

Russel said U.S. will talk to the Chinese in Beijing about the prospect of resuming the cyber group, calling its work “useful and important” — although little of substance reportedly came from its limited deliberations since it first met in July 2013, just before last year’s Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

“We are ready,” Russel said, but wouldn’t speculate on whether the Chinese were.

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Equation said:

Say that Harrier was launched without a catapult or a ski ramp with loaded tanks and such.

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The cruiser Chancellorsville was struck by a BQM-74E drone similar to the one pictured at right during a November at-sea exercise. The impact caused about $30 million in damages.

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Jura said:

On LRASM:

Posted on InsideDefense.com: June 27, 2014

The Government Accountability Office has denied a protest by Raytheon and Kongsberg that was aimed at forcing the government to compete a follow-on development contract for the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency proposed awarding a sole-source deal to Lockheed Martin.

GAO denied the protest on June 23, according to the agency's legal docket, clearing the way for work to continue on the high-priority system. An explanation for why the appeal was rejected is scheduled to be published next week, according to Eric Ransom, the GAO attorney assigned to the bid protest.

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SouthernSky said:

Given the stand off range of the AGM-158A/B they can be carried under wing anyway. Stealth becomes a little less important when you're potentially hundreds of kilometers away.

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