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TerraN_EmpirE said:

[video=youtube_share;A7UB2YAtnDY]http://youtu.be/A7UB2YAtnDY[/video]
If Lockheed Martin's Mutt is armed would that make it a attack dog?

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TerraN_EmpirE said:

Wait for it.
[video=youtube_share;4OYY5rthsH4]http://youtu.be/4OYY5rthsH4[/video]


Ladies and Gentlemen, Children Of all Ages! I give you the Multi Role in MV22 osprey firing a 70mm Rocket!

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Scratch said:

Awesome, give it APKWS and a Laser Designator and you'll have a very descent fire support platform, combining ample speed a range with a VTOL capability. Might as well also carry Griffin or ViperStrike some day.

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Bell Boeing V-22 tests forward-fired rockets
By Joe Gould, Staff writer 7:23 p.m. EST December 8, 2014
V-22
(Photo: Ted Carlson / Textron)

WASHINGTON – V-22 Osprey manufacturer Bell Boeing V-22 successfully tested its forward-firing capability last month at the Army Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona, it was announced Monday.

Company officials said the test showed the V-22 can be armed with a variety of forward-facing munitions and can hit targets with a high degree of reliability. That will reduce the Osprey's reliance on forward arming and refueling points, which are sometimes necessary to supply short-range attack rotorcraft in support of V-22 operations.

Vince Tobin, vice president and program manager for the Bell Boeing V-22, said this would allow the V-22 to be launched more frequently and on shorter notice.

The company released a 12-second video which shows a rocket firing with a puff of smoke.

Forward-facing weapons and armor protection are among several quick-turnaround upgrades that U.S. Special Operations Command is pursuing after three Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) Ospreys were shot up over Juba, South Sudan, a year ago, a program official said in May.

The V-22 is a tilt-rotor, multimission transport aircraft capable of moving 24 combat troops, 20,000 pounds of internal cargo or up to 15,000 pounds of external cargo.

Through the end of the third quarter of 2014, Bell Boeing has delivered 242 MV-22 tilt rotors for the Marine Corps and 44 CV-22s for AFSOC. Bell Helicopter began initial design work on forward fire capability in mid-2013.

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The Military Sealift Command (MSC) joint high-speed vessel USNS Choctaw County (JHSV 2) moored for the first time at Naval Weapons Station Cheatham Annex Dec. 1 for a weeklong proof of concept trial. The trial is a collaborative effort between Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group (NAVELSG), Navy Cargo Handling Battalion 1 (NCHB 1) and Navy Expeditionary Medical Support Group (NEMSCOM) in setting up an expeditionary medical unit (EMU) on board.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A spending bill agreed by lawmakers from the U.S. House and Senate provides $554.2 billion in funding for the U.S. military in fiscal 2015, including $1.46 billion for 15 EA-18G electronic attack jets built by Boeing Co.

A summary of the $1.1 trillion "omnibus" bill released late Tuesday said the base appropriation for the Pentagon would be $490.2 billion, with $64 billion in additional war funding. The measure also includes $112 million in emergency funds to respond to the Ebola crisis.

Congressional negotiators reached agreement on the bill after removing controversial financial services provisions. Procedural hurdles in the Senate mean the House of Representatives must still pass a short-term funding extension to avert a U.S. government shutdown at midnight on Thursday.

Boeing lobbied hard for funding to extend its St. Louis production line for EA-18G Growlers, which had been due to end at the end of 2016. The added funding, which was included in both the House and Senate appropriations bills, will keep the line running through 2017, company officials have said.

The measure also includes $224 million for two additional Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jets for the U.S. Air Force and $255 million for two additional F-35s for the U.S. Navy, the summary said. The measure funds a total of 38 F-35 fighters, nine more than in fiscal 2014..............................

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thunderchief said:

Growlers acquired for around $98 million per plane . Too bad they didn't order some Super Hornets also, instead of squandering money on "heat sink"

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For the Navy, the legislation provides a $1 billion funding hike above the request for one San Antonio-class amphibious transport ship. It also would keep the American aircraft carrier fleet at 11

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Aviation Week
Osprey Fires Guided Rockets And Missiles In New Trials

Aviation Week & Space Technology
Tony Osborne
Mon, 2014-12-15 04:05
Bell-Boeing developing forward-firing weapons for V-22
After turning the Lockheed Martin KC-130 Hercules into an armed reconnaissance platform, now the U.S. Marine Corps wants to do the same with its fleet of V-22 Osprey tiltrotors.

With the Corps’ new mantra of putting a sensor and weapon on every one of its aerial platforms in order to achieve digital interoperability, the tiltrotor’s manufacturers, Bell and Boeing, have been carrying out self-funded trials in a bid to add a lethal arrow to the Osprey’s quiver in the form of forward-firing weapons.

The trials, which took place at the Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona last month, follow on from work to prove the aircraft’s ability to provide inflight refueling to fighter jets and to act as an electronic-warfare platform and communications node.

It is a long way from the V-22’s initially envisaged role of replacing the Boeing-Vertol CH-46 Sea Knight as a high-speed troop lifter.

Forward weapons capabilities tested by the Marines would give the aircraft a truly offensive capability, supporting troops on the ground and freeing up fighter aircraft—such as the AV-8 Harrier or its replacement, the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II—for other missions.

Bell used its Advanced Tactical Tilt Rotor test aircraft for the trials, allowing the company to make rapid modifications without requiring clearance from Naval Air Systems Command.

During the tests, the Osprey fired 26 2.75-in. unguided rockets over five flights and then two guided rockets in the form of the BAE Systems Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System—already in use with the Marines—and a pair of Raytheon Griffin B lightweight precision guided missiles, with the Osprey firing the weapons in the hover mode and at 110 kt. with the engine nacelles at a 60-deg. angle of attack.

“The firings of the unguided rockets allowed us to check the airframe loads,” explained Vince Tobin, vice president and program director for the V-22 at Bell Helicopter, who added that “firing unguided rockets would be good for keeping bad guys’ heads down; we see the Osprey carrying a range of guided weapons.”

The aircraft was modified with a small pylon arm fitted to the aircraft structure on the front port-side fuselage, underneath the aircraft commander’s cockpit window. Engineers found the structure could easily support a seven-round rocket pod, or weapons of a similar weight. Under the nose, the standard Raytheon AN/AAQ-27A electro-optical (EO) camera was replaced with an L-3 Wescam MX-15 sensor fitted with a laser designator, and switching was installed in the cockpit, allowing the crew to self-designate targets.

To protect the landing gear sponson from debris and heat from the rocket motor, the engineers fitted a protective coating to reduce damage.

“We wanted to test the capabilities quickly,” says Tobin.

“The installation does not impact on the OFP [operational flight programs, part of the Osprey flight control system],” notes Tobin, although engineers linked the EO/infrared camera to the avionics.

Study work on the weapon capability began in February, when engineers started drawing up initial designs, with interest from Air Force Special Operations Command in particular. Bell wanted to have a configuration ready for tests in the fall, after the Advanced Tactical Tilt Rotor had completed a series of hot-and-high engine performance tests in New Mexico.

The idea of arming the Osprey is not new. The aircraft has been equipped with defensive door guns, while BAE Systems developed the Interim Defensive Weapon System that fit a 7.62mm Gatling gun and associated aiming system into the Osprey’s two cargo hook bays. However, the system came with a high weight penalty, particularly for use in Afghanistan; as a result, it was rarely used.

Tobin says a strengthened pylon arm could allow other heavier weapons to be carried, or even a gun pod, although integration of the latter likely would be complicated by the effects of recoil. Ideally, both the Marines and Air Force want a traversable nose-mounted weapon, perhaps connected to a helmet-mounted sight to eliminate pop-up threats at landing zones.

“Forward-firing weapons will have a significant impact; it really demonstrates the versatility of the aircraft,” adds Tobin.

In the Marine Corps 2015 Aviation Plan, a lethality upgrade road map for the Osprey considers not only the introduction of weaponry, but also new targeting pods, video data links, software reprogrammable radios and airborne gateway functionality, allowing the aircraft to act as an airborne communications node.

The Osprey has now been cleared to refuel from the KC-10 Extender, allowing the aircraft to be deployed over long distances. This capability will later be extended to the KC-46 and Omega Air’s Boeing 707. The Marines also want to field the MV-22’s refueling capability, tested in the fall of 2013, in readiness for the F-35B’s first deployment to Japan during the summer of 2017.

A version of this article appears in the December 15/22 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology.

Editor's note: The manufacturer of the CH-46 and the size of the Gatling gun have been corrected above.

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Aviation Week
U.S., Canada, France Help U.K. Search For Submarine Off Scotland

Aviation Week & Space Technology
Tony Osborne
Thu, 2014-12-11 04:00
The U.K. called in assistance in hunting for a foreign submarine off the west coast of Scotland in late November.

French, Canadian and U.S. maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) conducted patrols in conjunction with British surface warships in the search for the submarine in late November and the first week of December, operating out of RAF Lossiemouth in northern Scotland.

The incident began when a periscope was sighted in waters where U.K. and other submarines would normally surface as they head into or out of the Royal Navy’s submarine base at Faslane, home of the U.K.’s ballistic missile submarines.

At the height of the operation, aircraft involved in the hunt included two U.S. Navy P-3 Orions, one CP-140 Aurora from the Royal Canadian Air Force and a French navy Dassault Atlantique 2. One of the U.K.’s Raytheon Sentinel radar-reconnaissance aircraft was also involved.

The U.K. Defense Ministry and participating air arms have not confirmed they were searching for a submarine. But a U.K. Defense Ministry spokesman told Aviation Week that Britain had “requested assistance from allied forces for basing of maritime patrol aircraft at RAF Lossiemouth for a limited period. The aircraft are conducting Maritime Patrol activity with the Royal Navy; we do not discuss the detail of maritime operations.



A spokesman for the Royal Canadian Air Force said: “Following a request for assistance from the U.K., the Canadian Armed Forces deployed one CP-140 Aurora Aircraft to RAF Lossiemouth for a limited time.”

Maritime patrol aircraft are occasionally deployed to Scotland, mainly for NATO’s Joint Warrior exercise, which are usually announced in advance. The deployment in November was unexpected, however. It appeared to end during the first week of December.

The incident comes more than a month after Swedish authorities halted a search for a foreign submarine operating in its territorial waters in the Stockholm archipelago. While no submarine was found, defense officials said there was no doubt that the country’s waters had been violated by a foreign power.

It is not clear whether the submarine being hunted by the U.K. and other Western nations had entered U.K. territorial waters or if the maritime patrol aircraft successfully located the sub.

The Sentinel may have been using its radar to try to spot periscope-sized objects on the surface and then cue MPAs onto the target.

On Nov. 28, the U.K. reported it was tracking four Russian warships passing through the Strait of Dover and into the English Channel heading out into the Atlantic. The surface ships included a Ropucha-class landing ship and an Udaloy-class destroyer. These were shadowed by HMS Tyne, a Royal Navy offshore patrol vessel.

The U.K. has been limited to the use of ships and helicopters for the anti-submarine mission since the retirement in 2010 of its own fixed-wing maritime patrol capability provided by the Nimrod.

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ARDEC's airburst round to begin evaluation this summer
December 8, 2014

By C. Todd Lopez

ARDEC's airburst round begins evaluation for 'program of record' status in July
The Small Arms Grenade Munition prototype is a 40mm counter-defilade, air-bursting grenade designed for both the M203 and M320 launchers.
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WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Dec. 8, 2014) -- The Small Arms Grenade Munition round -- a 40mm counter-defilade, air-bursting grenade designed for both the M203 and M320 launchers -- will undergo evaluation in July 2015.

The SAGM round has been under development by the Joint Service Small Arms Program at the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, or JSSAP-ARDEC, since January 2012.

If the SAGM round is successful in the demonstration, it will transition to Project Manager-Maneuver Ammunition Systems, or PM-MAS, by the end of fiscal year 2015 for integration into an official Army program of record.

To do that, said SAGM Project Officer Steven Gilbert, "We must demonstrate a certain level of functional reliability over selected target sets."

PM-MAS is evaluating all possible material solutions and critical technologies as they develop the acquisition strategy for the development of a material solution, which will satisfy the Army's requirements. The JSSAP-ARDEC team's concept will be included in this evaluation.

The SAGM allows a Soldier to target an enemy who is protected behind a barrier -- "in defilade" -- and have the munition explode, in the air, above the target.

"The SAGM cartridge, which is compatible with the Army's 40mm grenade launchers, provides the small unit grenadier with a higher probability of achieving a first-shot kill against enemy personnel coupled with the ability to defeat personnel targets in defilade positions at increased ranges with greater accuracy and lethality," Gilbert said.

The weapon is similar to the effects of the XM-25 weapon which is already in development by the Army. But it differs in that the SAGM doesn't require the Soldier to conduct any kind of pre-fire programming sequence. Gilbert said the Soldier aims the weapon and fires, and the round detects where a wall is and then explodes, in the air, after passing the wall.

"It has a sensor that will sense defilade or walls or anything that somebody will be hiding behind," he said. "And basically detects it without the need of a laser range finder. The biggest challenge has been maturing the SAGM sensor's robustness to ensure proper functionality against the plethora of available defilade structures in a battlefield environment."

The system does require some skill on the part of the user, however.

"All the Soldier would need to do is aim the weapon and fire it," Gilbert said. "He'd have to have good aim ... or the round won't detect the wall. You have to have some sort of accuracy."

Right now, Gilbert said, the approximately 10-person engineering team is still integrating the fuze in the SAGM with other technology components so that when the time comes, the system will demonstrate the appropriate level of technology readiness to be accepted by PM-MAS.

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TerraN_EmpirE said:

Thump!

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Related?

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