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Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) launched two Raytheon Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) missiles against anti-ship and cruise missile targets during its US Navy (USN) Combat Ship System Qualification Trials. The first missile intercepted an Orbital Sciences GQM-163 Coyote low-altitude, short-range supersonic target, while the second intercepted a Northrop Grumman BQM-74E Chukar medium-range subsonic target that was flying at low altitude. Both missiles were launched under 'engage on remote' scenarios.

The Aegis cruiser initiated the launches as a result of advanced warning and cueing from another Aegis ship operating in the area - the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Sampson (DDG 102).

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Naval Today said:

The future USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26) launched from the Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Shipyard Oct. 30.

The John P. Murtha is the tenth ship of the San Antonio (LPD 17) class which functionally replaces more than 41 ships across four ship classes. The launch marks a major milestone for the ship.

Capt. Darren Plath, LPD 17 class program manager within Program Executive Office, Ships, said:

“It has been two and a half years since the last LPD 17 class ship was launched, and it is evident that HII is continuing to incorporate lessons learned from the earlier LPD 17 class ships.

The LPD 17 Class build plan, which was revised and fully implemented on LPD 25, organizes the individual work packages in the most logical sequence resulting in LPD 26’s successful entry into the water, en route to delivery in May 2016."

These ships are a key element of the Navy’s seabase transformation, enabling the deployment of the combat and support elements of Marine Expeditionary Units and Brigades. The versatile LPD 26 will be equipped with a well deck capable of embarking and debarking landing craft, air cushion, the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), and future means by which Marines are delivered ashore. The ship’s capabilities are further enhanced by its flight deck and hangar which can operate CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters and the Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft (MV-22). The ship encompasses over 23,000 square feet of vehicle storage and is equipped to transport a landing force of up to 800 Marines and their equipment.

LPD 26 honors the life and accomplishment of the late U.S. Representative John Patrick Murtha, who served his country both as a Marine and in the halls of Congress. Murtha served in the Marine Corps for 37 years and saw service in the Korean War and in Vietnam, a tour that earned him the Bronze Star with Valor device, two Purple Hearts and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. Murtha represented Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District from 1974 until his death in 2010.

LPD 26 is scheduled for delivery to the Navy in 2016, joining the first nine ships of the San Antonio class. USS Portland (LPD 27), the final ship of the current San Antonio class had its keel laid in August 2013 and is currently under construction at HII.

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Israel's defence minister is dropping the purchase of US V-22 Osprey aircraft, raising concerns that this could further chill already frosty relations with Washington

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Sikorsky, Bell Tout Flying Characteristics Of JMR Rotorcraft Candidates

Aviation Week & Space Technology
Graham Warwick
Mon, 2014-10-20 04:00
Replacing U.S. Army medium helicopters is about more than speed
Speed comes at a cost and, as Bell and Sikorsky/Boeing design fast rotorcraft demonstrators for the U.S. Army, to justify the price they must prove their designs will do more than cross the battlefield more swiftly than today’s helicopters.

Their competing Joint Multi Role (JMR) demonstrators are set to fly in 2017, but Sikorsky will have an early opportunity to showcase all its rigid coaxial-rotor compound helicopter configuration can do when its 220-kt. S-97 Raider armed scout prototype flies.

The first industry funded S-97 rolled out Oct. 2 and is planned to fly this year. A second will be used for customer demonstrations soon after the first Raider has opened up the flight envelope. Sikorsky is already designing demonstrations with prospective customers, to show the military utility of higher speed, but also the design’s “unique flight characteristics.”

Sikorsky’s X2 configuration comprises contra-rotating rotors with hingeless hubs and stiff blades for hover efficiency and low-speed agility. The rigid rotors are closely spaced, hubs and shaft faired, to minimize drag at high speed. Coaxial rotors eliminate the tailrotor. Instead the engine also drives a pusher propulsor via a clutch so the propeller can be disengaged at low speed to increase safety and reduce noise.

This integration of coaxial rotors and pusher propulsor gives the Raider its unique characteristics. The 11,000-lb. helicopter will hover out-of-ground effect at 10,000 ft. on a 95F day, compared with 4,000 ft. for the Army’s 5,500-lb. Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior armed scout. The Raider will cruise at 220 kt. carrying external stores—faster when clean and light—while the OH-58D can be limited to just 90 kt. in hot/high conditions, Sikorsky says.

But the variable-pitch propulsor, active elevons and rudders on the tail, and rotor disks that can tilt together or differentially give the S-97—and therefore also the Sikorsky/Boeing SB-1 Defiant JMR demonstrator—“more control degrees of freedom” than a conventional helicopter, says Andreas Bernhard, Raider chief engineer.

To move into forward flight from the hover, a traditional helicopter tilts its rotor disk down and the fuselage follows, leaving the pilots looking at the ground as it accelerates. Using the pusher propeller, the Raider can lift into a hover and accelerate “in a level attitude to 200 kt. at the end of the runway, giving the pilots complete situational awareness of the environment around them,” Bernhard says.

At low speed, the propulsor’s forward- and reverse-thrust capability “allows us to decouple the aircraft’s attitude from its trajectory, to point it in directions different to where it is flying,” Bernhard says. “We can hang on the prop and drop the nose, or sit on the prop and pull the nose up, which allows us to sweep a cone with the sensors and weapons.”

In level flight, rudders and elevons allow different trim states that enable aircraft attitude to be adjusted to reduce drag or optimize the sensor or weapon field of regard, he says. The Raider will also be able to pull -higher-g maneuvers at higher speeds than conventional helicopters, although Sikorsky is not revealing its maneuverability targets for the aircraft.

But it is not just Sikorsky (and Boeing) that must prove the value of a new configuration. Bell has to show that a high-speed tiltrotor can match a helicopter in hover capability and low-speed agility. The V-22 Osprey has proved a tiltotor is fast, and can decelerate and accelerate quickly to increase survivability into and out of the landing zone. But the V-22 has higher disk loading and lower hover efficiency than a helicopter.

Compared to the V-22, the 280-kt. V-280 Valor JMR demonstrator will be simpler and lighter, with lower disk loading and longer wing for greater hover and cruise efficiency. But Bell does not have a prototype to display before the V-280 flies. So it has teamed with Textron sister company TRU Simulation & Training to build a high-fidelity marketing simulator. “We want to get more pilots in, so they can understand how to fly a tiltrotor, its acceleration and deceleration and low-speed agility,” says Keith Flail, Bell’s Future Vertical Lift program director.

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What's new in your MRE - 2015 and beyond
Nov. 1, 2014 - 10:06AM |


By Kevin Lilley
FILED UNDER
News

What is osmoroni, and do I want it on my pizza?
New MRE menu
About 200 soldiers at Fort Carson, Colorado, chowed down for science in September, participating in Army testing that could yield future Meal, Ready to Eat components like a burrito bowl, a chicken sandwich and what some might consider the Holy Grail of combat-ration cuisine — a slice of pepperoni pizza.

The food delivered to the members of two engineering battalions at Fort Carson — and later to reservists at Fort Devens, Massachusetts — still has testing to undergo and won’t reach troops until 2017 at the earliest. But new items for the 2015 and 2016 MREs have cleared those hurdles and are set for production, bringing good news for vegetarians, hot-sauce junkies ... and fans of applesauce pound cake that can be stored for three years at 80 degrees Fahrenheit before being served.

It’s part of a delicate balance sought by researchers at the Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center in Massachusetts: food that can be stored for years, can fuel soldiers who need energy and nutrients in austere environments, and can include multiple options for diverse palates.

“And, can it taste good?” said Michelle Richardson, a senior food technologist with NSRDEC’s Combat Feeding Directorate, whose work includes the shelf-stable pizza.

Researchers wouldn’t divulge full results of the soldier surveys regarding the pizza, but “the predominant response was very positive” from all testers, including VIPs and civilians, NSRDEC’s Jeremy Whitsitt said.

Most service members won’t have the chance to taste-test the pie, but they’ll get their hands on other new MRE items as early as next year.

Cuisine coming soon
While the Army handles the research, Defense Department officials annually update the militarywide MRE menu through the Joint Services Operational Rations Forum, which decides the new items that will go into production and those that will exist only in service members’ memories, or on storage shelves.

White-meat chicken chunks, a new entree set for production in 2015, might sound dry, but new sauces — buffalo and hot chili lime — are on the way to assist. Troops also will see a new cranberry-grape drink powder, the aforementioned applesauce pound cake, and hash brown potatoes with bacon.

Other new 2015 items might look familiar: peppermint mints, which may replace some other candy items on the way off the menu, and spray-dried coffee — a different preparation method than the freeze-dried packet already included in MREs.

Some new-for-2016 items were part of a push to expand vegetarian offerings — macaroni in tomato sauce and spinach fettuccine, for instance. A chocolate protein drink powder also will be introduced, and crushed red pepper will enter production — ground red pepper has been singled out for removal.

Troop feedback on taste helps shape these decisions, officials said, as does the desire to get the right nutrient mix.

“What we’re doing here is not as simple as replacing a beef with a chicken [dish] or replacing a pasta with a pork entree,” Whitsitt said. “There’s real science behind it.”

That science includes the annual field tests like those at Fort Carson, which this year offered a chicken burrito bowl with rice, pinto beans, corn, green chilies and green bell peppers; a turkey garlic Italian patty; a honey barbecue chicken sandwich; a honey-wheat bagel thin; meat sticks and a lemon poppy seed cake, both fortified with Omega-3s; a nutrient-rich trail mix; and the main attraction.

Prepare. Wait 3 years. Serve.
A long-requested MRE item, pizza that is suitable to eat has required solving several problems, Richardson and other researchers said in an Oct. 24 interview. Chief among them: The crust, sauce, cheese and toppings must maintain proper moisture and acidity levels for years while in storage.

“The sauce has a significant amount of moisture,” Richardson said. “When you put that on the dough, there’s going to be some migration back and forth. The dough is going to get soggy.”

Adding salt or sugar can help sop up the moisture, she said, but that could ruin the taste and skew the nutrition content. Researchers used glycerol, a sugar substitute, to keep the sauce from drying out, and made the dough more acidic so its pH level would better match that of the sauce.

Special packaging helps soak up oxygen to preserve the pizza, and researchers use “accelerated storage” to see how their efforts hold up.

“We store it six months at 100 degrees,” said Jeannette Kennedy, project lead for the directorate’s Fielded Individual Ration Improvement Program. “That will give us a good sense of how the product will perform at three years at 80 degrees” — the requirement for stored MREs.

Once researchers determine they can meet that standard and others, and do so on a large enough scale to produce tens of thousands of meals, the food can take its place on the menu — providing troops will eat it.

That’s where tests like those at Fort Carson come in; researchers give soldiers the grub before a training exercise and then step back.

“We get the best consumer data when they are using this ration, consuming this ration, in a field environment,” said Sam Newland, consumer research team leader at NSRDEC’s Warfighter Directorate. “It’s semi-noninterference. All we’re doing is issuing them the ration.”

Food in the Fort Carson test that passes muster could be part of MRE issue 37, set for production in 2017, Kennedy said.

“But that’s a general scenario — I can’t speak specifically to pizza.”

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Marine veteran out of Mexican jail, now home in Florida
Nov. 1, 2014 - 05:05PM |


By Curt Anderson and Julie Watson
The Associated Press
FILED UNDER
News
US-MEXICO-DETENTION-PROTEST ZOOM
Military veterans chant slogans during a protest on Oct. 25 in front of the White House demanding the release of Marine veteran Andrew Tahmooressi. (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images)
WESTON, FLA. — A retired U.S. Marine who fought in Afghanistan returned home to Florida on Saturday after spending months in a Mexican jail for crossing the border with loaded guns, a case that led U.S. politicians to bring intense pressure on Mexico to release him.

Family spokesman Jon Franks said the private plane carrying Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, his mother and supporters — including former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson — landed at a South Florida airport about 6 a.m.

Tahmooressi was freed Friday night and reunited with his mother, Jill, and then boarded the flight to Florida in San Diego.

"They're just spending time together, trying to figure out what's next," Franks told reporters at a hotel in this suburb west of Fort Lauderdale. "They need some time to decompress." Neither Tahmooressi nor any family members attended the news conference.

Tahmooressi, 26, has said he took a wrong turn on a California freeway that funneled him into a Tijuana port of entry with no way to turn back, and that he had no intention of illegally bringing guns into Mexico. His detention brought calls for his freedom from U.S. politicians, veterans groups and social media campaigns. A U.S. congressional committee held a hearing on the case.

In Mexico, possession of weapons restricted for use by the Army is a federal crime, and the country has been tightening up its border checks to stop the flow of U.S. weapons that have been used by drug cartels.

In his order Friday, the Mexican judge did not make a determination on the illegal arms charges against Tahmooressi but freed him because of his mental state, according to a statement Saturday from Mexico's embassy in the U.S.

Tahmooressi suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, treatment for which Franks said would be the first order of business now that he is back in the U.S.

"It's set up," Franks said. "I think he's going to bounce back pretty quickly."

One other priority: after 214 days in the Mexican jail, Tahmooressi wants to grab some dinner as soon as possible at famed South Beach seafood eatery Joe's Stone Crab, Franks said.

Richardson, the former Democratic governor who grew up in Mexico and has negotiated on a range of international issues, said he met with Tahmooressi in jail in the border city of Tecate, and he had talked to Mexican officials to urge them to release Tahmooressi on humanitarian grounds.

"I respect Mexico's judicial process, and I am pleased that Andrew was released today and will return home to his family," Richardson said in a statement Friday.

Saturday brought another outpouring of support and commentary from Democratic and Republican political figures alike. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement that the agency was pleased with Tahmooressi's release and grateful for "the excellent cooperation we received from Mexican authorities."

Mexican authorities, however, had made clear that they would not be influenced by politics and that the matter was in the hands of its courts.

The case marks one of the first times Mexico made a ruling on PTSD — though the psychological wound is increasingly used in U.S. courts, especially in arguing for reduced prison sentences.

In his truck when he crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, Tahmooressi was carrying a rifle, shotgun, pistol and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. His attorney, Fernando Benitez, argued that Tahmooressi carries loaded guns with him because his weapons, which were bought legally in the U.S., make him feel safer. He added that the veteran is often distracted, which could have contributed to him becoming lost.

Still, Mexican prosecutors insisted for months that Tahmooressi broke the law. Tahmooressi never admitted wrongdoing, and he still maintains his innocence, his attorney said.

After being jailed in Tijuana, he tried to kill himself by cutting his neck with a shard from a light bulb in his cell because the guards and inmates threatened to rape, torture and kill him, Tahmooressi's mother said.

He was transferred to another prison, where a pastor visited him regularly and the Mexican government says he was under medical observation.

But a psychiatrist hired by Mexican prosecutors to examine the Afghanistan veteran agreed with the defense that he should get PTSD treatment in the United States, noting in a Sept. 30 report that Tahmooressi, who now serves in the Marine reserve, feels like he is constantly in danger.

Tahmooressi left Florida for San Diego in January to get help after dropping out of college, unable to concentrate or sleep, his mother said.

____

Watson reported from San Diego.

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Navy F-35 starts first sea trials with new tailhook
Oct. 31, 2014 - 06:00AM |

By Meghann Myers
Staff writer
FILED UNDER
News
Military Technology
If all goes according to plan, the F-35C Lightning II jet will roar into its first flattop trap Nov. 3 as news cameras roll, an event 17 years in the making.

Two Joint Strike Fighters are set to head out that morning from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, bound for the carrier Nimitz for two weeks of testing off the coast of San Diego, Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, the JSF program manager told reporters in the run-up to the carrier tests.

“And I will tell you, this summer, that was thought of as not even possible, because of the problems with the [tail]hook, the problems we were having with the nose gear, the problems we were having with a whole host of things to get there,” Bogdan said Thursday.

A series of setbacks pushed the carrier landing milestone back nearly a year, before more issues edged it further out in 2014. The tailhook redesign will allow the Navy to finally carrier test the F-35, an aircraft that would bring stealth fighters to carrier air wings, along with greater costs. The naval aviation brass are taking a wait-and-see approach to F-35C development, one influential aviation expert said.

The most recent problem to sideline the JSF was a June engine fire in the Air Force’s F-35A variant that unofficially grounded the airframe for weeks; the Navy jet has the same engine.

A fire investigation found that a fan blade rubbed the engine so hard that it heated to about 1,900 degrees, causing cracks that sent pieces of the engine flying through the fuel tank, where they caught on fire, Bogdan said.

There are two temporary fixes in progress now, he said, and a permanent solution is coming next year. All of the options involve creating trenches in the engine where the rotor blades dig in, reducing the friction, but not so deep that airflow backs up in the engine.

Engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney will pick up the tab to create trenches in already fielded aircraft, Bogdan said.

“I feel pretty good about this now,” he said. “Four months ago I would have told you ... there was risk.”

The carrier test comes after the redesign of the F-35C’s tailhook, the bar that catches one of the three tensioned wires on the flight deck to stop the jet safely.

Lockheed Martin had some issues designing a working tailhook that blended into the aircraft’s stealthy body, in contrast to hooks on legacy airframes, which are mounted on the outside of the skin. The first iteration wasn’t catching in 2013 tests.

Pilots successfully tested the redesigned tailhook in testing earlier this year at Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst, New Jersey, setting up for the sea trials.

Now, Bogdan said, he’s confident the aircraft has been put through its paces. He recalled watching tests at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, in which pilots forced the jets to land on their nose gear or on either wheel, to simulate the uneven angles created by a pitching and rolling ship.

Richard Aboulafia, vice president for analysis at the Teal Group, shared Bogdan’s optimism in an Oct. 28 phone interview with Navy Times.

“All of this has been modeled before,” he said. “It’s unlikely that there are going to be any showstoppers, technically.”

The outlook
The U.S. Navy is by far the F-35’s least enthusiastic customer in the world, Aboulafia said, with allies like the United Kingdom and Israel showing more interest.

The Navy ordered two F-35Cs for 2015, which would bring the grand total to 28 in the first seven years of production, according to inventories cited in the most recent Congressional Research Service Report on the JSF program.

By contrast, the Marine Corps requested six F-35Bs and the Air Force requested 26 F-35As, bringing their totals to 66 and 130, respectively.

The Navy’s low buy-in is a sign of indifference about a new, stealthier strike plane, Aboulafia said.

“There are some officers in the Navy who would like to see stealth brought to carriers, but quite a few who wouldn’t, who would rather stick with something they know, at a price they know, with two engines that they know and perhaps, shift all funding to the sixth generation [F/A-18],” he said.

However, he said, it’s not as simple as striking out on their own with more Super Hornets.

“On the other hand, of course, [the Office of the Secretary of Defense] has long tried to insist on them staying in just for the sake of program economics,” Aboulafia said. “In other words, there’s a certain damage to the program if they defect.”

However, there’s a chance that the Navy will downsize its order again, Aboulafia said. Budget constraints and congressional advocacy have led to constant negotiating of order numbers and pricing.

As recently as Oct. 27, the Pentagon finalized a deal for 43 more planes to go into production in 2016, with four slated for the Navy. That very slow procurement schedule is on purpose, Aboulafia said.

Coincidentally, the F-35C is landing on Nimitz 35 years and five days after the F/A-18A made its first carrier landing, aboard the carrier America in 1979, according to Naval Air Forces.

The Navy still has a soft spot for the F/A-18 Hornet, Aboulafia said, and he envisions a blended strike fighter fleet, with a sixth-generation F/A-18 and a few F-35s to round it out.

“There’s a couple of aspects of Navy aviation that are fairly unique,” he said. “One is that they would still like their own plane. The other is, if you don’t have enough aircraft, you run the risk of losing a carrier, which is unthinkable.”

It’s a mutually reinforcing situation, he said: You need enough aircraft to fill your flight decks, and you need enough flight decks to justify the number of planes you’re buying.

A theoretical F/A-18G wouldn’t be in the works until the 2030 time frame, he added, so logically, the Navy will have to fill in any F/A-18 E and F Super Hornet gaps with the JSF.

“All you can do is wait until the price comes down and the kinks are worked out with the F-35,” he said.

The F-35C carrier tests are scheduled to run through Nov. 17, according to Naval Air Forces.

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DoD to monitor troops exposed to Iraqi chemical weapons
Oct. 31, 2014 - 04:39PM |

By Patricia Kime
Staff writer
FILED UNDER
News
The Defense Department will provide medical assessments and health surveillance for troops and veterans exposed to chemical agents during the 2003-2011 Iraq War who may not have received proper treatment, senior officials said.

In response to a New York Times investigation published Oct. 14 that included interviews with service members exposed to nerve agents and mustard gas during the war, defense officials said they are reviewing how units handled exposure cases and are tracking down those who may have been injured by discarded or cached Iraqi chemical munitions.

“We want to ensure they received appropriate medical care and, if needed, continued treatment, as well as determine whether appropriate standards and regulations were applied in determining awards such as the Purple Heart,” Army Secretary John McHugh said in a written statement Thursday.

The New York Times report found at least 17 service members who suffered chemical weapons exposures, many of whom said they were instructed not to disclose their exposure. Because of the secrecy, the injured troops did not receive adequate treatment immediately following the exposure nor were they monitored over time, according to the report.

Several also did not receive Purple Heart awards for their injuries and records of wounds were expunged from some medical files.

The investigation also noted that the exposures were kept from the public and Congress. A full list of events or exposures has never been disclosed.

A senior defense health official said Thursday that efforts are underway to identify affected active-duty personnel and the Pentagon is working with the Veterans Affairs Department to find those who are no longer serving.

Officials also are reviewing Post-Deployment Health Assessments to find individuals already known to have been exposed and to possibly identify new cases, the official said.

“I expect we’ll find more [affected troops] just given the numbers. Those weapons were there,” the official said.

Rear Adm. John Kirby, a spokesman for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, said Hagel is committed to ensuring that the injured troops get the necessary treatment and support.

Hagel understands the importance of preserving operational security but “recognizes the value in making available as much information as possible to veterans preparing — or continuing to file — VA claims” for exposures, Kirby said.

Hagel “has been a staunch advocate of this approach to openness with veterans throughout his public life,” Kirby said, adding that Hagel intends to discuss this issue with VA Secretary Bob McDonald “in the very near future.”

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Air Force crew prepares to test next-generation tanker
Nov. 1, 2014 - 01:20PM |


By Brian Everstine
Staff writer
FILED UNDER
News
Military Technology
SEATTLE — For the group of airmen selected to test the Air Force’s next generation tanker, the assignment is bigger than once in a career.

With the KC-46A Pegasus expected to rival the lifespan of its predecessor, the almost 60-year-old KC-135, it is once in a generation.

“When they have no hair left and they’re sitting there talking to their grandchildren, they will say ‘Hey grandpa, what did you do when you were in the Air Force?’ ” said Lt. Col. James Quashnock, commander of the 418th Flight Test Squadron Detachment 1, stationed at Boeing Field in Seattle. “Every single guy here will answer, ‘I was the first to work on the KC-46.’ ”

The 418th Flight Test Squadron Detachment 1 includes 27 airmen and civilians, working in a nondescript office right off the flight line at Boeing Field, about 6 miles south of downtown Seattle. The group, about half military and half civilian, are tasked with overseeing the test and development of the next generation tanker and ensuring that it is safe to fly, along with creating the procedures that will govern the future flight of the Pegasus.

“This 46 will be around here for decades, and decades, and decades,” Quashnock said. “Our great grandchildren will probably be able to fly this aircraft. It’s going be an Air Force legacy for a long time.”

Fly when ready
The detachment serves as the lead developmental test organization for the Air Force on the new tanker. The team is made up of pilots and boom operators from the Air Force, along with mostly civilian engineers who work with Boeing to make sure testing is accurate, and that it is being done safely, Quashnock said.

For now, that means mostly simulation testing, with the aircraft’s real equipment set up to computers to work on how the systems will operate. The first aircraft in the developmental lot, a modified Boeing 767-2C, has not finished production. That aircraft will be flown and maintained by Boeing and certified by the Federal Aviation Administration. Once that is done, it will receive the boom and other military-specific equipment, and that’s when the detachment’s pilots and test boom operators will step in.

“We want to make sure they are doing the right tests and doing it safely, to collect the data that the program office needs to then approve the full purchase of the aircraft,” he said.

The first contract includes four test aircraft. These will be put through the paces mostly at Boeing Field, along with other tests at Edwards Air Force Base, California; Eglin Air Force Base, Florida; and Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. The initial 767 variant is expected to fly in the next month or two, with the modified variant to fly several months later.

Boeing and the program office work the schedule, Quashnock said, and the airmen on-site are concerned with actually flying the aircraft when it is ready.

“We fly when the aircraft is ready, not necessarily on the schedule,” he said. “Boeing is focused on the schedule. We’re here to provide the support when the aircraft is ready.”

The detachment’s pilots come from the service’s other tankers — the KC-135 and KC-10, along with those who have flown the C-17, C-40 and B-2. All have graduated test pilot school.

“What that wide mix of aircraft does is allows us to bring in a breadth of experience across all those different types of aircraft,” Quashnock said. “Because all aircraft are built a little bit different. ... Having that broad spectrum allows eyes that have different backgrounds to look at something and go, ‘That looks like something I know about,’ or ‘That’s something I have seen before. Let’s talk about it and make it better.’ “

Air Force Materiel Command hand-selected every member of the team, including the “best boom operators in the Air Force,” he said. The operators come from a mix of KC-10 and KC-135 backgrounds, and have all done test work at Edwards. Their experience will be needed to lay the groundwork for how new operators will work on the jet.

“We want to look through every situation and every scenario, and account for what this 18-year-old boom operator straight into the Air Force is going to encounter and what is he going to do,” said Chief Master Sgt. Ernest Burns, superintendent of the detachment. “Because there is a tremendous amount of responsibility that a boom operator has. To connect two airplanes going 400 miles per hour is not an easy chore.”

The KC-46 is the No. 1 acquisition program in the service — the Joint Strike Fighter is the No. 1 Defense Department-wide — meaning it is the top priority for people, and the program’s funding is protected.

“When that happens, you kind of get the ability to do certain things like by name request the right people you need into your program,” Quashnock said.

The biggest change will come for the boom operators. In the KC-135 and the KC-10, operators looked out through a window at the rear of the aircraft to connect with the jets receiving fuel. In the KC-46, the operators will sit near the front of the jet and use 3-D cameras to operate the boom.

“This is completely new,” Burns said. “We’re doing this through [the remote visual system] and we’re up front. We are running through every scenario to think of what a brand-new, 18-year-old boom operator could encounter.

That’s why developmental testing is so important. ... We don’t want to leave anything uncovered. We don’t want to let any operational guy learn something for the first time.”

The Air Force is using lessons learned from the Japanese and Italian tankers, along with the KDC-10 used by the Netherlands. Test boom operators are using a simulator system before the actual KC-46 can begin flying to determine test protocols.

“It’s a huge test. A huge leap and there are a lot of things we’re going to figure out as we go,” he said. “However ... we’re going to be able to do things much safer. Especially at night.”

No owner's manual
The KC-46, while based on Boeing’s 767, is pure tanker. Italy’s and Japan’s version of the 767 tanker is mostly a freighter-built 767 ripped apart and rebuilt for refueling, Quashnock said. The KC-46 is all new, meaning most of it is unproven and unflown. That will be the job of the detachment.

“You want to look at, where could this plane go and what can it do?” he said. “What failure modes are out there that anybody else who could climb in this aircraft are going to go see and go find.”

Test pilots and boom operators will have to fly through hundreds of scenarios that operational fliers could run into and develop the checklists and procedures to work through it. The jet is new, and there isn’t a manual yet, Burns said.

“It’s not a freighter that’s converted,” Burns said. “From the initial spar, it is built as a tanker. Obviously, there are engineering obstacles to figure out as part of the development. Boeing’s mantra is ‘zero cuts.’ They do not have to cut or modify anything.”

Boeing has done a lot of work on its 767s, with Japan and Italy doing additional work on their tankers, but the Air Force has a “more robust process” to work through.

“That’s what a robust test program does, that’s why we have to do it first before we pass it off to the Air Force,” Quashnock said. “At some point, somebody has to be first.”

Taking the 'hero'
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh announced in February that the service had given the KC-46 its official name: the Pegasus. It’s a name with plenty of history in the Air Force, Quashnock said.

The name and Pegasus imagery can be found on dozens of squadron patches throughout the service over the years. The original Greek mythology is a fit for the aircraft, he said.

“The Pegasus is what took the hero to go kill the demon,” he said. “Without the Pegasus, the hero would not have been able to succeed. That’s almost exactly what the KC-46 is. Without tanker gas, the JSF is not going to get anywhere, the F-22 is not going to do anything.

We can’t go anywhere in the world without the tanker.”

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October 30, 2014 7:00 pm JST
Japan frets over coming absence of US aircraft carriers

TETSURO KOSAKA, Nikkei senior staff writer

TOKYO -- Security policymakers in Japan and the U.S. are privately voicing concern about the absence of U.S. aircraft carriers from East Asian waters for four months next year.

Budget restrictions in the U.S. and turmoil in the Middle East is putting pressure on the fleet's capability and will mean not a single aircraft carrier is deployed in East Asia.

Japanese and U.S. officials fear having no U.S. carriers in the region could provide China and North Korea with an opportunity to take military action.

The USS George Washington, the only U.S. aircraft carrier with an overseas homeport, is to leave its base in Japan for refueling and extensive maintenance. Until the USS Ronald Reagan arrives at the Japanese port of Yokosuka to replace the ship, there will be no American carrier in East Asia for about four months, according to U.S. and Japanese officials.

The U.S. Navy has not disclosed details about the replacement, but it is expected sometime between spring and autumn next year.

Pressure on U.S. fleet

A typical aircraft carrier can accommodate more than 50 fighter jets and about 15 helicopters. Carriers can quickly arrive at a trouble spot and provide air combat power. They are, essentially, mobile air bases that can be used to secure air supremacy.

The U.S. Navy routinely deploys carriers to regions such as East Asia and the Persian Gulf to put pressure on countries such as China, North Korea and Iran.

China is building a fleet of aircraft carriers to enhance its naval air defense capability in South China Sea.

The U.S. has 10 carriers in service. However, its military campaign against the Islamic State launched in August is putting additional strains on its fleet. The U.S. used to deploy two carriers to the Middle East, but reduced the number to one in around 2013 due to fiscal restraints. Some policymakers within the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, want a return to the two-carrier operation as the battle against Islamic State fighters continues.

Could Japan build its own fleet?

The four-month absence could prompt Japan to start developing its own fleet of aircraft carriers.

Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force already has two helicopter carriers, Hyuga and Ise. The larger Izumo is due to be finished soon.

If fighting broke out between Japan and China in the waters around the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, Air Self-Defense Force fighters would have to be deployed from bases in Okinawa or Kyushu. Flights from these bases would use a large amount of fuel. A Japanese fleet of carriers could get fighters to the islands, known as Diaoyu in Chinese.

From the end of World War II through the Cold War, U.S. policy was to keep Japan dependent on its military power. But the fiscal squeeze and frequent conflicts around the world has led to a shift in policy. Washington is now asking its allies to be able to deal with situations close to them.

Australia is building a fleet of carriers as it seeks to bolster its defense capabilities.

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