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    Boeing Wins DARPA Vulture II Program
    Erik
    By Erik,
      Boeing Wins DARPA Vulture II Program   Boeing - by Chris Haddox Boeing Phantom Works   ST. LOUIS, Sept. 16, 2010 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] on Sept. 14 signed an agreement with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop and fly the SolarEagle unmanned aircraft for the Vulture II demonstration program. Under the terms of the $89 million contract, SolarEagle will make its first demonstration flight in 2014.   "SolarEagle is a uniquely configured, large unmanned aircraft designed to eventually remain on station at stratospheric altitudes for at least five years," said Pat O'Neil, Boeing Phantom Works program manager for Vulture II. "That's a daunting task, but Boeing has a highly reliable solar-electric design that will meet the challenge in order to perform persistent communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions from altitudes above 60,000 feet."   Under the Vulture II agreement, Boeing will develop a full-scale flight demonstrator, including maturation of the critical power system and structures technologies. Key suppliers for the program include Versa Power Systems and QinetiQ.   During testing, the SolarEagle demonstrator will remain in the upper atmosphere for 30 days, harvesting solar energy during the day that will be stored in fuel cells and used to provide power through the night. The aircraft will have highly efficient electric motors and propellers and a high-aspect-ratio, 400-foot wing for increased solar power and aerodynamic performance.   SolarEagle is one of Phantom Works' rapid prototyping efforts, which also include Phantom Ray, a fighter-sized, unmanned, advanced technology demonstrator scheduled to make its first flight in early 2011, and the hydrogen-powered Phantom Eye demonstrator, a High Altitude Long Endurance aircraft designed to stay aloft for up to four days, also scheduled to make its first flight in 2011.   A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world's largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world’s largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $34 billion business with 68,000 employees worldwide.         Boeing          

    Four Russian strategic bombers complete patrol in Far East
    Erik
    By Erik,
      Four Russian strategic bombers complete patrol in Far East   RIA Novosti - by Ivan Rudnev -- 18:23 16/09/2010   Four Russian Tu-95MS Bear H strategic bombers have successfully completed an air-patrol mission in Russia's Far East, a Defense Ministry spokesman said on Thursday. The mission, spanning neutral water areas in the Sea of Japan, the Pacific and the Arctic Ocean, lasted around 14 hours, Vladimir Drik said.   He did not specify whether the planes flew in formation or separately.   The mission included midair refueling and flying over featureless terrain where the pilots were completely reliant on the planes' instruments.   MOSCOW, September 16           RIA Novosti

    RAF under fire as battle for shrinking defence budget turns vicious
    Erik
    By Erik,
      RAF under fire as battle for shrinking defence budget turns vicious   The Independent -- by Kim Sengupta, Defence Editor -- Tuesday, 14 September 2010   The official start of commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain yesterday was an occasion of poignancy and pride with the Prime Minister meeting the pilots who saved Britain in her darkest hour. But even as the celebrations got under way the RAF faces a struggle for survival in the face of savage military cuts.   As the Strategic Defence and Security Review plans to implement massive economies demanded by the Government, and the fierce competition for dwindling resources heats up, there are calls for the RAF to be disbanded and its role subsumed by the Army and the Navy.   The Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, has said that the RAF will continue as a service and defence analysts point out that Air Force personnel and warplanes are playing a key role in the Afghan conflict.   But there is also a feeling in defence circles that the service should be in the front line when the axe starts to fall, as savings of 20 per cent are demanded from the MoD's £38bn budget over the next four years. The Army and the Navy, while also fighting each other for resources, both say that the UK does not need so many highly expensive fast jets now that Soviet and Warsaw Pact air power is no longer a threat.   Some within the Army and Navy claim that the RAF has been living on past glories for too long. "They have been dining out on the Battle of Britain for 70 years now and it's time to move on," said one officer.   The Army also claims that the counter-insurgency mission being undertaken in Afghanistan, with soldiers fighting lightly armed enemies, represents the shape of wars to come, and that there is no need to spend millions of pounds on state-of-the-art warplanes.   The RAF has already endured the biggest staffing cuts of the three services in recent times, with its forces now standing at 40,000 – less than half the strength at the end of the Cold War. The numbers of its warplanes have also fallen drastically, as its role has changed. (It is, for example, no longer needed to deliver nuclear bombs or expected to take part in air-to-air combat.)   At the same time, the RAF also has new commitments, including the air defence of the UK since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and continuous deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq and before that the Balkans.   But former senior officers from rival services are now insisting that the role the RAF used to play in the past no longer exists, and that there is thus no need to have a separate Air Force. Major General Julian Thompson, who used to lead the Royal Marines, maintained: "There is no reason why the RAF cannot merge with the other two services, with the [Navy's] Fleet Air Arm taking over maritime duties and the Army Air Corps providing other operational roles. The fact is that the only enemy aircraft shot down since the end of the Second World War has been by the Fleet Arm and not the RAF. There will be huge savings in headquarters and you can have three services for the price of two.   "We are not advocating that all RAF personnel should be sacked. There is no reason for example why a senior RAF officer should not one day run the Army or the Navy."   Commodore Steven Jermy, of the Fleet Air Arm, who had also served with the RAF, said: "I would certainly like to see the maritime role being done by the Navy. We know how to fly out of aircraft carriers; the RAF do not. I do not think what is being provided on aircraft carriers now is satisfactory. We must also recognise that the RAF does not deploy abroad on its own unlike the Navy and the Army, so in that sense it is not an independent force."   Other senior defence figures disagreed. General Sir Mike Jackson, the former head of the Army, said: "There are some roles which only the RAF can undertake and the three services operate in very different environments. I have given it some thought and I don't think the case for a merger is made.   "On the other hand, far too much had been spent on fast jets when with the end of the Cold War the focus should have been on things like air surveillance, intelligence and airlift including rotary wings [helicopters]. These things need to be looked at."   Supporters of the RAF say that critics ignore what aircraft can provide by their very presence. According to estimates provided by the US military, the current Nato troop strength in Afghanistan of around 100,000 – of which the UK provides 10,000 – would have had to be raised to 400,000 to attempt to carry out operations without air power.   Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton, the chief of the RAF, has already indicated that he is prepared to reduce to just two types of fast jets coming on stream, the Eurofighter Typhoon and the US F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. According to defence sources the Tornado GR4 may be withdrawn from service by 2020, five years earlier than envisaged and the Harrier GR9 also withdrawn earlier than the planned date of 2018.   Air Chief Marshal Dalton said in a recent speech: "We need to continue to challenge the perception that air power is expensive. In fact it's highly cost effective in relation to some other levers of power... In some circumstances it offers the option to influence behaviours and events without the commitment to major land forces."   Air Marshal Sir John Walker, the former head of Defence Intelligence, said: "The reason the RAF became a separate entity in the first place was because it was found to be strategically necessary to have a separate service. Talk of merger is just an attempt to turn the clock back and it is something which will not work.   "The Canadians tried at one stage to have just one service and then you had situations like an Air Force man who was put on charge of the Atlantic fleet who suffered from chronic sea-sickness. It was an experiment which did not work, and it is a lesson we need to heed. The SDSR should be looking at defence procurement, which is a mess, rather than start experimenting with the RAF."   Remembering 'the few'   Tomorrow, over 1,000 veterans, senior military figures and dignitaries will gather in London to pay tribute to the sacrifice made by RAF pilots defending the skies against a Nazi onslaught during the Battle of Britain. To mark the 70th anniversary of the turning-point in one of the Second World War's decisive battles, a statue will be unveiled in Waterloo Place of Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park, who is widely credited with masterminding the victory, in which 510 RAF pilots died.   The UK's armed forces   Royal Navy   Personnel: 34,230 Reservists: 420 Equipment: 12 Submarines; 2 Aircraft carriers; 6 Destroyers; 17 Frigates; 7 Main amphibious; 23 Patrol; 18 Auxiliary; 13 Sea Harrier and 119 Helicopters   Army   Personnel: 100,290 Reservists: 37,260 Equipment: 386 Main battle tanks; 3,768 Other armoured vehicles; 877 Artillery and 299 Helicopters   Royal Air Force   Personnel: 39,750 Reservists: 140 Equipment: 287 Combat capable aircraft (137 Tornado, 58 Eurofighter, 34 Reconnaissance aircraft); 131 Helicopters (40 Chinooks, 28 Merlin and 34 Puma)         Image Credit: Getty - An engineer looks in the cockpit of a Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 fighter bomber   The Independent      

    Lockheed in $424 Million F-35 Pentagon Contract
    Fates
    By Fates,
      WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp is getting a $424 million U.S. contract modification for advance purchases tied to the next batch of F-35 fighter jets, the Pentagon said on Thursday, even as a much bigger deal for the aircraft themselves remains under negotiation.   The radar-evading warplane is the U.S. military's biggest acquisition program, projected to cost up to $382 billion for 2,457 aircraft through 2036.   The add-on combines purchases for the U.S. Navy ($62 million; 15 percent), U.S. Air Force ($135.7 million; 31 percent), U.S. Marine Corps ($194.5 million; 46 percent), and international partners ($32.2 million; 8 percent), the Pentagon's daily contract digest said.   http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=11658393

    U.S. Air Force to Work on First New Bomber Since B-2
    Fates
    By Fates,
      Sept. 14 -- The U.S. Air Force expects to start working on a new bomber in the next budget, the first such warplane since Northrop Grumman Corp.’s B-2 Spirit was developed almost three decades ago.   “It’s my conviction that the nation benefits from a long- range strike capability,” General Norton Schwartz, chief of staff for the Air Force, said today at the annual Air & Space Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.   The service plans to keep using its B-2, B-1 and B-52 bombers while working on a “new platform,” Schwartz said. The program could initially produce a “modest” aircraft that eventually would incorporate more-advanced capabilities, Schwartz said.   Adding a new bomber would sharpen the competition for Pentagon dollars as Defense Secretary Robert Gates moves to slow a “gusher” of spending since 2001, capping annual growth at the inflation rate. The bat-wing-shaped B-2, which went into development in 1981, costs about $1.2 billion each.   Such expenses have helped spur upgrades to current models decades after they began flying. Boeing Co.’s first B-52 entered service in 1954, and the B-1, developed by a company now owned by Boeing, became operational in the mid-1980s.   http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-09-14/u-s-air-force-to-work-on-first-new-bomber-since-b-2.html http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4776771&c=AME&s=AIR

    EADS North America KC-45 demonstrates critical Air Force aerial refueling requirement
    Fates
    By Fates,
      Arlington, Virginia, September 14, 2010 – EADS North America announced today that the company has demonstrated, in flight, that its offering in the KC-X tanker competition fully satisfies the U.S. Air Force requirement for high fuel offload rate via the refueling boom system – the only tanker in the competition to do so.   “Our tanker has proven that it can refuel other aircraft at a rate of 1,200 gallons per minute, which is a critical requirement the Air Force has set forth for its tanker,” said EADS North America Chairman Ralph D. Crosby, Jr., during a meeting with reporters at the annual Air Force Association conference outside Washington, D.C.   “We aren’t just making claims about what the KC-45 can do, we are demonstrating it in the air every day,” Crosby said. “And 48,000 Americans are ready to start building the KC-45 here in the U.S.”   EADS North America will build and modify the KC-45, along with A330 commercial freighters, at a new aerospace center of excellence in Mobile, Alabama, with a supplier team of more than 200 American companies.   The fuel-flow milestone was demonstrated in a recent refueling operation between two Airbus Military A330 Multi Role Tanker Transports, the aircraft that is the basis of the U.S. Air Force KC-45 configuration. The A330 MRTTs were completing certification flights for the Royal Australian Air Force, which will accept delivery of its first two MRTTs – under the designation KC-30A – in the fall of 2010. The A330 MRTT is in production for four U.S. allies, and has completed almost 800 flight hours and more than 1,300 refueling contacts with the same advanced refueling boom and hose-and-drogue systems on the KC-45.   “The KC-45 we are offering the Air Force is the same tanker that we have flying and refueling today, with 95% common systems, including the refueling systems we are offering the Air Force,” Crosby said.   http://blog.seattlepi.com/aerospace/archives/221316.asp http://www.kc45now.com/news-press-releases/14-09-2010.asp

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