Tag: military aviation

Boeing Partners with Aurora to Enhance KC-46A Pegasus’ Defensive Capabilities

Janes reports that The Boeing Company announced at the Paris Air Show on June 20 that it will partner with “Aurora Flight Sciences to enhance the defensive capabilities of its KC-46A Pegasus tanker-transport aircraft.” Boeing said that Aurora Flight Sciences is “leading the research and conceptual design of composite components geared at enhancing operational survivability for aerial refuelling and mobility missions. … This work will also focus on producibility and manufacturing at Aurora’s Columbus, Mississippi, manufacturing facility.” According to Boeing, the KC-46A Pegasus “already features defensive systems and data integration for multimission aerial refuelling support closer to the battlespace than existing tankers.” Boeing said, “With more data for the crew and fleet, including recent Block 1 upgrades to further enhance connectivity, the Pegasus can see and relay threat information to joint force warfighters for greater fleet survivability and mission success.”
Full Story (Janes)

Air Force Global Strike Command’s Innovation Lab Debuts Counter-Small UAS Competition

ExecutiveGov reports that Air Force Global Strike Command’s innovation arm “has launched a new competition to develop technology designed to counter threats posed by small unmanned aerial systems.” STRIKEWERX said it “is seeking submissions from private companies, academia and small businesses for the Mobile C-sUAS Swarm Defeat Challenge, which aims to protect mobile transport systems against drone swarms.” Director of STRIKEWERX Russ Mathers “said the command is encouraging businesses, educators and inventors to bring all ideas to the table to help its government partners ‘learn about the latest and greatest technology available.’”
Full Story (ExecutiveGov)

DOD Resumes Acceptance of F-35s from Lockheed Martin

FlightGlobal reports that on March 14, the F-35 Joint Program Office said that the Defense Department has “resumed acceptance of F-35 aircraft from Lockheed [Martin].” Breaking Defense reports JPO spokesman Russ Goemaere said, “The Defense Contract Management Agency and F-35 Joint Program Office resumed acceptance of F-35 aircraft today from Lockheed Martin and are currently working with the U.S. services, partner nations and foreign military sales customers on the movement of aircraft to their operational units. … Prior to acceptance, the aircraft passed extensive technical and flight worthy checks ensuring their readiness for operational use.” Air Force Lt. Gen Mike Schmidt, the program executive officer for the JPO, said in a statement that the “Government and industry team worked tirelessly on this effort and their work demonstrates true professionalism and a devotion to accomplish complex missions with stringent ingenuity. The safety of our warfighters is always our highest priority.”
Full Story (FlightGlobal) | More Info (Breaking Defense)

Air Force AMC Seeking Plan for Launching 100 UAVs from Single KC-135

Aviation Week reported, “The U.S. Air Force’s Air Mobility Command (AMC) wants a plan within two months to launch 100 UAVs from a single aging KC-135 Stratotanker.” The goal was “one of several efforts outlined by AMC Commander Gen. Mike Minihan in an internal memorandum to commanders that was posted to multiple social media networks and confirmed by Aviation Week on Jan. 27. … The memorandum, the first of eight monthly orders from Minihan to commanders, outlines an aggressive timeline for the Air Force’s mobility fleet to be prepared for a possible conflict with China in 2025.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

Australia to Replace C-130Js with Super Hercules

Aviation International News reports, “Australia has selected the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules for its Project Air 7404 Phase 1 requirement, the country’s Department of Defence announced on November 1.” Government approval will be sought for the purchase in 2023. Australia currently uses 12 C-130Js which began operation in 1999, with the newer Super Hercules being the “only option that meets all of Australia’s capability requirements and assures Defence’s medium air mobility capability without introducing substantial cost, schedule, and capability risk.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)

NASA Tests Mars Crash Landing

CNET News reported that NASA JPL is testing Simplified High Impact Energy Landing Device (SHIELD), which uses a crumple cone to lessen the effect of impact on future Mars landing craft. “JPL shared a video on Thursday showing SHIELD in action during a drop test from a 90-foot-tall (27-meter-tall) tower. The device takes a hard landing at 110 mph (177 kph) into a thick steel plate to mimic the worst conditions it might experience during a Mars arrival.” A SHIELD system could be an improvement on the current parachute and thruster to slow landing designs used in Mars landing craft. “If the lander ends up working under Mars conditions, it could potentially be used for other interesting places in the solar system, including moons.”
Full Story (CNET News)

B-21 Debut Set for December 2

FlightGlobal reported that Northrop Grumman said it would debut its B-21 Raider on December 2. “Northrop won the $21.4 billion engineering and design contract for the new strategic bomber in 2015.” Currently, there are six B-21s in testing and final assembly.
Full Story (Flight Global)

KC-46 Flies First Combat Refueling Sortie

Aviation Week reports that the Boeing KC-46 “has flown its first combat refueling sortie as part of an exercise to employ the tanker downrange before it is officially operational.” A KC-46 deployed to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar “fueled up two Boeing F-15E Strike Eagles” on August 29.
Full Story (Aviation Week)

DOD May Allow F-35 Deliveries to Resume Within Weeks

Aviation Week reported that the “U.S. Defense Department may allow Lockheed Martin F-35 deliveries to resume within weeks, pending the outcome of legal, security and airworthiness reviews launched after the discovery of a Chinese supplier of a metal alloy in one component.” The Hill reported that Under Secretary of Defense for acquisition and sustainment William LaPlante “said an investigation is underway and ‘moving quickly’ to look into how an alloy made in China ended up in magnets in the turbomachine pumps of the Lockheed Martin-produced F-35.” According to The Hill, “both the F-35 Joint Program Office and Lockheed have insisted that the Chinese-sourced alloy was magnetized in the United States and does not give any other country access to sensitive information, adding that there are no safety issues.” LaPlante told reporters, “They’re looking at two things – one, impact on security, if any, and impact on air worthiness or safety, if any. … Right now, so far it doesn’t appear to be either of them.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Full Story (The Hill)