US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Franklin said:

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Equation said:

I hope they found those 3 missing US Marines.

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Three of 26 US Marines on board a Bell Boeing MV-22 are still missing after the tiltrotor crashed off the east coast of Australia on 5 August, the III Marine Expeditionary Forces says in a news release.

The MV-22 assigned to VMM-265 squadron aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard “entered the water” during routine operations.

A search and rescue effort is continuing to find the missing three Marines.

The squadron is based at MCAS Futenma in Okinawa, but is embarked on the amphibious carrier as part of a joint exercise with Australian defence forces.

The potentially fatal mishap adds to a difficult year in Marine Corps aviation.

Through 4 August, the Marines’ manned aircraft fleet has logged a Class A mishap rate of 4.14 per 100,000 flight hours, according to data posted online by the Navy Safety Center.

Marine aircraft compiled a Class A mishap rate of 3.94 in fiscal 2016.

The mishaps this year include the loss of a KC-130T tanker, which killed all 16 aboard after departing controlled flight at cruise altitude over Mississippi and crashing in a field.

The accident could mark the first fatal MV-22 crash since May 2015, when two crew members died after the tiltrotor’s engine ingested too much dust and lost thrust in a hover over Bellows Field, Hawaii.

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The US president's next helicopter, the Sikorsky VH-92A, flew for the first time on 28 July in Stratford, Connecticut, Lockheed Martin announces in a 3 August news release.

The presidential transport variant of the S-92 took off from Sikorsky headquarters in Stratford, Connecticut. In two sorties, the aircraft completed checked off several test points, including hover control, low-speed forward flight, and a pass over the airfield.

The flight with Sikorsky’s first engineering manufacturing and development aircraft marks the start of a 250h flight test programme at Lockheed’s facilities in Owego, New York, Lockheed says.

“Having independently tested the aircraft’s components and subsystems, we are now moving forward to begin full aircraft system qualification via the flight test programme,” says Spencer Elani,Sikorsky's VH-92A programme director.

The EMD-2 aircraft will complete additional testing over the course of the 12-month flight test programme, according to Sikorsky.

The first flight comes three years after the US Navy awarded Sikorsky a $1.24 billion contract to produce two test aircraft and four production aircraft, with options remaining for 17 aircraft that will be finalised in fiscal year 2019.

The programme is on schedule and should receive approval for production in 2019. The Marines Corps, which operates the HMX-1 presidential aircraft squadron, accelerated the schedule by removing some exquisite capabilities, such as the ability to dump fuel from aircraft.

The VH-92A will replace an aging fleet of Sikorsky VH-3 helicopters based on the Vietnam-era S-61 helicopter.

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Jura said:

"... removing some exquisite capabilities, such as the ability to dump fuel from aircraft ..."
why would a Marine One be dumping fuel, perhaps before a crash??
anyway Next Marine One helicopter achieves first flight

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The Air Force is in the final stages of buying two mothballed 747-8i aircraft in storage in the Mojave desert to serve as the basis for the new Air Force One aircraft, the service confirmed Tuesday. A USAF spokeswoman said the Air Force is in final negotiations and expects “to award a contract soon,” but could offer no details. However, USAF and industry sources said a contract bluetop announcement could come as early as this week.

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, the two aircraft were originally ordered by the now-defunct Russian airline Transaero. When it went bankrupt in 2015, Russia’s Aeroflot airline bought up most of Transaero’s assets, but declined to follow through on the 747-8i order. After the jets were built, Boeing flew them to the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville. The facility is a boneyard that stores both decommissioned aircraft as well as those built but awaiting delivery, and some that are owned by leasing companies.

The “book value” on a 747-8i is about $380 million, and industry sources told Air Force Magazine the Air Force would be getting a “deal” on the aircraft, which, though they have been in storage, are not technically “used” since they were never operated in airline service. The jets are painted white and have never had any airline livery painted on them, nor have they ever been in the custody of Transaero or Aeroflot. The two jets do have passengers seats installed, which would have to be removed for Air Force One remodeling.

Boeing’s original plan called for 747-8s to be built fresh for the Presidential Aircraft Replacement program, and neither the Air Force nor Boeing could immediately say whether buying already-built aircraft could or would accelerate the PAR program.

A Boeing spokeswoman said the deal “is focused on providing a great value for the Air Force and the best price for the taxpayer.” Though she could not comment on the pacing of the project, a reprogramming request from the Air Force in July suggested that it could take delivery of the jets in December of this year. The program is expected to cost over $3 billion through 2022.

Defense One reported that Transaero ordered four 747-8is, but Boeing built only two of the aircraft. FlightGlobal reported that the four-jet deal was worth $1.5 billion.

The Air Force’s purchase seems to lock down the Air Force One fleet at two airplanes. The original PAR concept called for having three; one to fly the President, one fly-along spare, and one available for depot maintenance or as a second spare. The existing Air Force Ones are 747-200s that date back to the 1980s.

The PAR program merely starts with the aircraft. The bulk of the cost of the program will come in hardening the aircraft to survive electromagnetic pulse, in the extensive communications equipment needed to keep the President connected to the armed forces and other branches of government, in uprated engines, and in defensive equipment needed to help the jet evade missiles. The interior of the aircraft, which are somewhat larger than the two existing jets and feature an extended dorsal “hump,” will be fitted out with staterooms for the President and his family, an elaborate galley, work areas for White House staff, and seating for Secret Service, journalists, and other travelers.

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The US Navy is planning to develop a new supersonic aerial target to replace its dwindling inventory of AQM-37s, the latest supersonic target effort following the service’s cancellation of the Multi-Stage Supersonic Target (MSST) GQM-173.

The new target would be capable of high altitude cruise trajectories, as well as tactical ballistic and lofted missile profiles, according to a 1 August acquisition notice released by Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). The target would not only replace the AQM-37, but could also be considered for future supersonic target capabilities, according to NAVAIR.

After experiencing challenges with development of Alliant Techsystems’ MSST, the US Navy canceled the programme in September 2015. The MSST, which would have replicated multi-stage supersonic anti-ship cruise missile threats by transitioning from subsonic cruise to a supersonic terminal phase, reached first flight in 2011 and first launch in June 2012.

But the supersonic target described in the latest sources sought does not replace the MSST GQM-173, Capt Tom Cecil, aerial targets and decoy programme manager at NAVAIR, tells FlightGlobal.

“As the current inventory of AQM-37 targets is consumed, the Navy is interested in exploring available replacement options for a generic supersonic target,” he says. “Although the MSST programme was canceled, the Navy has still been exploring the impact of key portions of the MSST threat behavior on our combat systems using the Advanced Electronic Threat Generator (AETG) being developed for Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR).”

While MSST was designed to emulate the Russian Novator 3M54 Klub, a surface skimming missile that climbs to almost hypersonic speeds before zig-zagging to its target, the navy’s recent missile effort is not intended to simulate a specific threat. Instead, the target would emulate a wide variety of anti-ship cruise missile threats, the navy says.

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Equation said:

That's funny, it sounds like trade protectionism to me while using the "cyber vulnerability" excuse. In the mean time the Pentagon sure don't mind using China made communication satellite to monitor northern Africa.(

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TerraN_EmpirE said:

Besides there feilding was always meant to be an interim until a proper Military model was phased in.

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Equation said:

When will that be? Even the US made RQ-170 was a far more sophisticated drones and yet it got hacked by the Iranians. Bottom line is that pretty much any drones can get hacked until China's researched on quantum communication can be implemented into military and civilian use.

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FORBIN said:

C-17
View attachment 41130

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