Tag: military aviation

Boeing Expects Grey Wolf Helicopter Deliveries to USAF to Begin This Year

Air Force Times reports that The Boeing Company “expects to start delivering the Air Force’s first field-ready MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters later this year.” In a Friday release, Boeing “said it finished construction on the first low-rate initial production Grey Wolf in late December.” That helicopter “also started its flight testing at Italian aerospace firm Leonardo’s facility in Philadelphia, the company said.” Boeing “said the MH-130 is continuing the Federal Aviation Administration’s certification testing process.” The Air Force “plans to buy up to 80 MH-139s to replace its fleet of 63 UH-1N Huey helicopters.” Security forces airmen “will use them to patrol the service’s nuclear missile fields, and the service also plans to use these helicopters to transport senior military officials.”
Full Story (Air Force Times)

US Aerospace Manufacturers Join USAF’s Autonomous Fighter Effort

FlightGlobal reports that three major US aerospace manufacturers “have confirmed they will participate in a US Air Force (USAF) effort to develop autonomous fighter aircraft.” Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman “have all been selected for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, the companies tell FlightGlobal on 26 January.” The three defense giants “join start-up Anduril, which confirmed its participation in the effort on 25 January.” The CCA program “aims to deliver pilotless jet aircraft that can be produced at a relatively low cost and fielded in large numbers to supplement crewed fighters.” The USAF “plans to team CCAs with a secretive future sixth-generation fighter platform, known as Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD).”
Full Story (FlightGlobal)

All V-22 Ospreys Grounded After Investigation into Crash Finds Possible Materiel Failure

ExecutiveGov reports that the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) “is working with the U.S. Marine Corps to improve the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft’s survivability and establish its assault-support elements in high-threat situations, National Defense Magazine reported Wednesday.” Col. Matthew Kelly, head of the Department of Defense’s joint V-22 program, “noted that his office is also looking into implementing helmet-mounted visualization technologies for the MV-22 variant for missions in degraded environments.” According to Kelly, “the V-22 production line will accommodate additional orders through fiscal 2023. The governments of Indonesia and Israel are also looking to procure V-22s, he added.”
Full Story (ExecutiveGov)

Japanese Authorities Hand Over Pieces of Wreckage from USAF Osprey Crash

The AP reported, “Japanese authorities handed over pieces of the wreckage from an U.S. Air Force Osprey that crashed off southwestern Japan to the U.S. military on Sunday, as the search continued for seven missing servicemembers.” The wreckage “had been collected by a ship from the regional coast guard headquarters and by fishers from the town of Yakushima since the CV-22 aircraft crashed into the water near the town Wednesday during a training mission to Okinawa.”
Full Story (The AP)

Pentagon Set to Move Forward with Replicator Drone Program to Counter China

Bloomberg reports the Pentagon “is likely to decide by mid-December what drones will make up the initial phase of its new Replicator program intended to deploy thousands of pilotless aircraft in 2025 to counter China’s numeric superiority in weapons systems such as ships, according to the Defense Department’s No. 2 official.” Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks “said Tuesday that the choices may not be announced publicly ‘because part of the program’s intent is to create operational dilemmas for China’ as to how best to counter the new capability.”
Full Story (Bloomberg)

USAF Wants Early CCA to Have Range Equal to or Beyond That of Fighter Aircraft

Aviation Week reported that the US Air Force “wants its early Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) to have range equal to or beyond that of fighter aircraft, with potentially aerial refueling capacity in the first increment.” Thomas Lawhead, the acting head of Air Force Futures and Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategy, Integration and Requirements, said on November 15 that the first increment of CCA will have range “relatively the same as the current fighter fleet, potentially a little bit longer.” The USAF is “now working through concepts of employment based on that range, and the uncrewed systems’ ability to provide missions such as electronic warfare, off-board sensing and additional munitions. While future tranches will be aerial refuelable, Lawhead said, there is potential for the first aircraft to have refueling capability ‘depending on the offer.’” The USAF is also “working to keep the costs of CCAs and related mission systems down as much as it can while still meeting operational needs. Kendall has said the cost would be about one-third to one-quarter of an F-35.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

Northrop Grumman Remains on Track to Fly B-21 Raider Before End of 2023

FlightGlobal reports Northrop Grumman said that it “remains on track to fly the secretive B-21 Raider stealth bomber before the end of 2023, with the US Air Force expected to issue the company a low-rate initial production contract for the type shortly after that milestone.” Defense Daily reports that this week, the USAF said in a statement that “the B-21 is conducting ground taxi activities.” The USAF said, “Rigorous testing is a critical step in the B-21 flight test program. … Extensive testing evaluates systems, components, and functionalities. This testing allows us to mitigate risks, optimize design, and enhance operational effectiveness.”
Full Story (FlightGlobal); More Info (Defense Daily)

Only 55% of US F-35s Ready to Fly

FlightGlobal reports that an analysis from auditors at the GAO found only 55% of the US military’s fleet of F-35 fighter jets were able to carry out assigned missions during the period in which the auditors conducted their examination. The report was released by the GAO on Thursday and examined the approximately 450 F-35s operated by the military in March 2023. Auditors “said the 55% readiness rate from that the time is ‘far below programme goals,’ citing an array of maintenance issues with the type.” These maintenance issues “include a lack of spare parts, inadequate maintenance training for military personnel and a heavy reliance on contractors for depot-level maintenance – where the most involved or complex repairs take place.” The report states, “The Department of Defense (DOD) relies heavily on its contractors to lead and manage F-35 sustainment. However, as DOD seeks expanded government control, it has neither determined the desired mix of government and contractor roles, nor identified and obtained the technical data needed to support its desired mix.”
Full Story (FlightGlobal)