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Bernard said:

USG Shows Off its Optionally-Manned Proteus Mini-Submarine
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on April 15, 2015

The battery-powered Proteus can carry six combat swimmers 350 to 700 nautical miles, depending on the type of battery used, according to USG officials.

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Eielson AFB retains aggressor mission
By Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs, / Published April 14, 2015

An F-16 Fighting Falcon takes off Oct. 15, 2014, at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, during Red Flag-Alaska 15-1. Air Force officials announced April 14, 2015, that Eielson AFB will retain the 18th Aggressor Squadron and its assigned 18 F-16 aggressor aircraft. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Peter Reft)

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WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Air Force officials announced April 14 that Eielson Air Force Base will retain the 18th Aggressor Squadron and its assigned 18 F-16 Fighting Falcon aggressor aircraft.

The aggressors are currently based at Eielson AFB, Alaska, which the Air Force announced last year is the preferred alternative for 48 F-35A Lightning II aircraft.

“Once the (Air Force) made the decision to bed down the F-35 at Eielson, we had to re-assess the viability of retaining the aggressor mission at the same location. Keeping them at Eielson proved to be the most operationally sound option, as well as the most cost effective,” said Mark A. Pohlmeier, the acting deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations. “Maintaining the 18th AGRS at Eielson makes sense because the proximity of Eielson AFB to JPARC (Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex) is optimum to support both Red Flag–Alaska and Distant Frontier exercises.”

Pohlmeier went on to explain that moving the 18th AGRS to another location would actually cost more money over the long term.

“Even if the Air Force moved the 18th AGRS to another location the adversary air requirement in the region remains, which would require the Air Force to send units to Alaska on temporary duty to support the requirement,” Pohlmeier said. “The annual recurring cost for temporary duty support would exceed the one-time $123.1 million military construction cost (which would be required if the F-35s are based at Eielson AFB) in just three years.

The Air Force has already begun the Environmental Impact Analysis Process to evaluate the impact of basing the F-35s at Eielson AFB while retaining the F-16 aggressor aircraft.

The 18th AGRS stood up August 24, 2007. The 18th AGRS prepares Combat Air Force, joint and allied aircrews to meet the demanding requirements of air-to-air combat through challenging, realistic threat replication, training, test support, academics and feedback.

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strehl said:

X47B first autonomous refuelling. I haven't seen a description on how it finds the drogue. There doesn't appear to be an optical sensor.

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The operational use of the carrier-based joint strike fighter could mark the beginning of the end of the Navy's manned bombing sorties, if the Navy secretary gets his way.

The F-35C "should be, and almost certainly will be, the last manned strike fighter aircraft the Department of the Navy will ever buy or fly," Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in a speech Wednesday at the annual Sea-Air-Space Exposition outside Washington, D.C. Fighter jocks would still be needed for dogfighting, but Mabus envisions a future when strike missions will be fulfilled by unmanned aircraft.

Mabus announced the creation of the N99 Navy staff office for unmanned weapons systems and a new position for deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for unmanned systems.

"Unmanned systems, particularly autonomous ones, have to be the new normal in ever-increasing areas," he said.

The announcement came the same day as a milestone test for the Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration program, the first of three aerial refueling tests that mark the program's concluding step.

Following the tests, the two UCAS jets will be sent to an aviation museum or to the aircraft boneyard in Arizona, Capt. Beau Duarte, Carrier Unmanned Aviation program manager, said Tuesday at the exposition.

"The UCAS-D program was born with the primary role of, 'Okay, let's show ourselves that we can successfully take off and land from the ship, integrate operations around and on the carrier, and work in the pattern [with manned jets],' " Duarte said.

Now that those tests are complete, it's time to retire the program, he added.

Some in Congress, including Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have called on the Navy to continue testing the aircraft, which have only used about 15 percent of their airframe hours.

That wouldn't be wise, Duarte said, because UCAS is a precursor to the eventual Unmanned Carrier Launched Aerial Surveillance and Strike program, but physically has little in common with it.

"From a Navy perspective, this is the last year of funding," Duarte said. "UCAS, it's a demonstrator, so it's a different architecture, different landing system, from what UCLASS will have."

UCLASS, which Duarte's office envisions as a key part of the carrier air wing of the future, will be able to provide airborne surveillance and strike, though fighter-to-fighter engagements will still be carried out by manned jets.

That is still a few years off, though, Duarte said. A strategic portfolio of review, for UCLASS's proposed requirements, is under review at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, he said.

He expects to release an initial request for proposals in early 2016, with a contract award in early 2017, he added.

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Jura said:

hey AFB you need to know the following
SECNAV: F-35C should be Navy's last manned strike jet

source:

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Jeff Head said:

The Secretary of the Navy is a political appointed position and IMHO is out to lunch on this..

I bet you that the FA-XX is manned.

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For example, he said, “as good as it is, and as much as we need it and look forward to having it in the fleet for many years, the

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should be, and almost certainly will be, the

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the Department of the Navy will ever buy or fly.”

(This is a widely held sentiment, and it’s important the Navy Secretary shares it, but readers should remember that the decision on

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, manned or not, will be made long after Mabus has left office.)

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