Wednesday, September 18, 2013
India Conducts a Second Test of Agni V IRBM
Friday, September 13, 2013
DSEI 2013: D-DALUS UAV showcases innovative design features
From Janes:
Austrian company IAT21 Innovative Aeronautics Technologies has showcased an innovative new rotary-winged unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that uses 'cyclogyro' technology to generate lift and thrust at the DSEI defence and security exhibition in London.
Dubbed the D-DALUS, the vehicle is driven by four sets of contra-rotating disks powered by a conventional aero-engine. The disks, which rotate at 2,200 rpm generating 1,000 g at the circumference, are fitted with blades whose angle of attack (AoA) can be altered by offsetting the axis of the rotating disks. As each blade can be given a different AoA, the resulting main thrust can be directed 360° around any axis.
Read more at: http://www.janes.com/article/26858/dsei-2013-d-dalus-uav-showcases-innovative-design-features
Russia unveils plans for new anti-missile system, 5th-generation fighter jet
From defencetalk.com:
Russia is developing a fifth-generation unmanned fighter jet and a completely new missile defense system which can simultaneously engage several supersonic targets in space, it has been revealed at the MAKS-2013 airshow.
Read more: http://www.defencetalk.com/russia-unveils-plans-for-new-anti-missile-system-5th-generation-fighter-jet-49009/#ixzz2ekukBUCr
Up close and personal with Russia’s 5th generation stealth fighter: first close-up pictures of the PAK-FA
From http://theaviationist.com/:
During the recent MAKS airshow, Sukhoi allowed for the first time journalists to have a look at the T-50 (PAK FA – Perspektivny Aviatsionny Kompleks Frontovoy Aviatsii—Future Tactical Air System) from short distance. Marina Lystseva of Lenta.ru was among them and took the images you can find in this post (the rest is here).
The fifth generation fighter plane was inside a hangar at Zhukovsky flight test facility.
Read more at: http://theaviationist.com/2013/09/03/pak-fa-close/#.UjK8HNKnoig
Also, some of the best pictures of the T-50/PAK-FA in fight, here: http://globalmilitaryreview.blogspot.com/2013/08/indo-russian-t-50-pak-fa-5th-generation.html
Czech-Slovak defence accord paves way for MRO work in Slovakia
From Janes: I don't know how many people this affects... but it affects me...
The governments of neighbouring countries the Czech Republic and Slovakia have concluded an agreement that will remove barriers to the repair and maintenance of Czech military aircraft.
Read more at:http://www.janes.com/article/26905/czech-slovak-defence-accord-paves-way-for-mro-work-in-slovakia
LRASM completes successful first flight test
From http://www.defencetalk.com/:
Adversaries’ sophisticated air defense systems can make it difficult for current air- and surface-launched anti-ship missiles to hit their targets at long range. To engage specific enemy warships from beyond the reach of counter-fire systems, warfighters may require launching multiple missiles or employing overhead targeting assets such as radar-equipped planes or Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites-resources that may not always be available.
To help address these challenges, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) are collaborating on the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) program, which successfully launched its first prototype on August 27.
Read more: http://www.defencetalk.com/anti-ship-missile-prototype-conducts-first-solo-test-flight-49044/#ixzz2ekoVHj9I
Monday, January 28, 2013
From Defensenews.com:
BEIJING — China’s new heavy-lift transport aircraft and a successful missile interception test are key steps in expanding the strength and reach of China’s armed forces, analysts and state media said Jan. 28.
The Y-20, China’s biggest home-produced military transport jet to date, took to the skies for its maiden flight Jan. 26 in the northwest of the country, just months after Beijing’s first aircraft carrier entered service. Pictures showed the bulky green plane — an aircraft that will enable China to project military power across vast distances — soaring into a clear blue sky.
The state-run Global Times hailed the flight of the plane, numbered 20001, as a “significant milestone,” saying China needed the aircraft to “enhance its global power projection”.
The Y-20 will allow China’s military to end its dependence on the Russian-made Il-76, a mainstay of humanitarian and disaster relief around the world, the paper quoted a military expert as saying.
The Y-20 has a maximum payload of 66 tons, which it can carry as far as 4,400 kilometers (2,700 miles), the China Daily said, and with 55 tons onboard, it could fly from western China to Cairo. It is big enough to hold the heaviest tank used by China’s army, the paper added, quoting a military expert as saying that “the heavy air freighters will ensure that we are able to safeguard our interests overseas.”
“With them, we can transport our people or large equipment to farther destinations,” said Liang Fang, professor of strategy at the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) National Defense University.
The test flight was a “big step” for China’s air force, said Andrei Chang, editor-in-chief of the Canadian-based Kanwa Defense Review, but Chang added that theY-20 was technologically inferior to other military transport planes.
True figures for the Y-20’s maximum load and flying range were likely to be lower than those cited in state media, he added, due to the plane’s reliance on a “very old” Russian-designed engine.
“(The engine’s) oil consumption is very bad; it wastes a lot of fuel,” he said, pointing out that because of noise, some developed countries have banned aircraft using it from landing, threatening its potential appearance at European air shows.
The Y-20 is likely to take at least another five years to enter operational service, he added, and its design appeared to incorporate features from the world’s most advanced military cargo plane, the U.S.-made Boeing C-17 Globemaster.
But Chang said that the C-17 was a “much better plane,” in part because it apparently uses a much higher proportion of lightweight composite materials, which China struggles to produce.
The U.S. Air Force says on its website that it has more than 200 C-17s in its inventory.
Also over the weekend, China announced a successful land-based missile interception test following an earlier one in 2010, the official news agency Xinhua reported.
“The test has reached the preset goal,” it quoted a defense ministry official as saying, without giving detailed information. “The test is defensive in nature and targets no other country.”
In a commentary Jan. 28 on the launch, Xinhua said the test, together with “a string of other military equipment progress,” including the aircraft carrier and the heavy-lift plane, demonstrate China’s “fast-growing ability to defend its own national security and deter any possible threats”.
But it added that the advances were purely defensive, denying any “ill-grounded ‘China threat theory’.”
China more than doubled its publicly declared military spending from 2006 to 2012, roughly in line with economic growth but rattling its neighbors inAsia. It insists its army expenditure is not aimed at any other country.
China is currently locked in a bitter dispute over the sovereignty of the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku islands, which Beijing calls the Diaoyus, in the East China Sea.
Read it at: http://www.defensenews.com/article/20130128/DEFREG03/301280004/China-Unveils-Military-Plane-Boosts-Global-Reach?odyssey=mod_sectionstories
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
X-47 B in Testing
Defensetech.org has some awesome pictures of the Northrop Grumman X-37B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstartor (UCAS-D). You can see them here: http://defensetech.org/2012/01/25/pics-of-the-day-x-47b-from-above/
In the meantime, defensetalk.com reports that the UCAS is at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, gearing up for a full summer schedule of testing. The X-47 B is the first unmanned vehicle that has been designed to take off and land from an aircraft carrier. It is also the first that can take off and carry out its own mission without the aid of a remote pilot (it kinda even looks like the UCAV-EDI from the movie "Stealth" - sorry, no Jessica Biel included).
From: defencetalk.com
Russia to get First T-50 Fighters in 2013
The Russian Airforce will receive the first batch of prototypes of its fifth-generation T-50 fighter for performance testing in 2013, Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin said on Thursday.
The T-50, developed under the PAK FA program (Future Aviation System for Tactical Air Force) at the Sukhoi experimental design bureau, is Russia's first new major warplane designed since the fall of the Soviet Union.
"The work on the fifth-generation fighter is going according to schedule," Zelin, a former Air Force commander, told a news conference in Voronezh (central Russia). "The third prototype has joined the testing program and the fourth is being built."
The T-50 made its maiden flight in January 2010 and three prototypes have since been undergoing flight tests.
Zelin said earlier that the number of T-50 aircraft involved in testing would be increased to 14 by 2015.
The fighter was first shown to the public in August 2011, in Zhukovsky near Moscow, at the MAKS-2011 air show.
Read more at http://www.defencetalk.com/russian-airforce-to-get-first-t-50-fighters-in-2013-42648/#ixzz1vfm5zZuY
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Indian AF Chief Visits Dassault
NEW DELHI — Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne, head of the Indian Air Force, is visiting France, where he is getting a close look at the Rafale, India’s choice for its Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA).
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Image from aviationintel.com |
“At St. Dizier, he would be visiting the Rafale squadron to get a first-hand impression of the MMRCA selected by the IAF, and also to see Rafale’s production facilities at Mérignac, besides overseeing the progress of the various projects being carried forward as joint ventures between the two countries,” the Indian Defence Ministry said in a news release.
The official release refers to the Rafale as the “MMRCA selected by the IAF,” but a senior Defence Ministry official here noted that Rafale is only the short-listed aircraft for the MMRCA program, and that negotiations are still underway with French company Dassault, which builds the Rafale.
The Indian Defence Ministry short listed Rafale over the Eurofighter Typhoon earlier this year, but the contract has yet to be signed. Under the deal, the Air Force will buy 126 fighter aircraft at a cost of more than $11 billion.
Browne is also having a first-hand look at the upgrade of India’s Mirage 2000H fighter aircraft, being undertaken by French company Thales under a $2.2 deal signed last year.
“He would also be interacting with the IAF’s Project Management Team members for the Mirage 2000 Upgrade Project,” according to the ministry’s release. “The visit is significant, as it is the first high-level official visit from India to France after the new [Paris] government has taken office.”
www.defensenews.com
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
From Wired.com's Danger Room:
China Flies New Stealth Fighter as Problems Plague U.S. Jets
The second copy of China’s stealth fighter prototype has just flown at a research facility
in the city of Chengdu. The first flight of the J-20 Mighty Dragon with
the nose number 2002 doubles Beijing’s stealth test fleet at a time
when America’s latest jet fighters are hobbled by cost overruns, labor
disputes and lethal design flaws. But it’s far from certain how much,
and how fast, the new Chinese jet will alter the military balance.
The challenges for American stealth developers are clear. It has come
to light that Lockheed’s F-22 Raptor — the first of the current
generation of stealth fighters — is steadily poisoning its pilots owing to a faulty oxygen system. Meanwhile, the F-35 has been delayed by several years
and the overall cost to design and build thousands of the new jets has
risen by hundreds of billions of dollars. To make matters worse, workers at Lockheed’s F-35 factory have gone on strike, with no end in sight.
At first glance, China appears to be making huge progress where the
U.S. falters. The twin-engine Mighty Dragon 2002, painted black like its
predecessor, made its first appearance in April in photos snapped by Chinese bloggers (who may or may not be on Beijing’s payroll).
The second J-20 spent a month or so performing ground tests before
launching on its inaugural test sortie sometime in the past few days. If the initial flight of the first Mighty Dragon
(nose number 2001) in December 2010 is any indication, 2002′s debut
mission amounted to little more than a lap around the Chengdu airfield
to test the aircraft’s basic functions and show off for the
aforementioned bloggers.
With two airframes to work with, the Chengdu engineers can now double
the roughly five-flights-a-month development program apparently aimed
at producing a front-line stealth warplane. Before the first Mighty
Dragon ever flew, General He Weirong of the Chinese People’s Liberation
Army Air Force said the J-20 would enter service between 2017 and 2019.
Then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates countered, saying it would
be 2020 or later before China possessed a combat-ready stealth fighter.
It’s unclear who’s right — or even what definition of front-line service
either man was using.
From American Forces Press Service, DOD:
Photo from Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance; http://missiledefense.wordpress.com
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
STUTTGART, Germany, May 15, 2012 – The United States will announce at next week’s NATO summit in Chicago that the new missile defense system in Europe has reached interim operational capability, the alliance’s supreme allied commander for Europe said.
“We will announce the interim operational capability of that system, which will begin to protect our European partners from the threat of ballistic missiles,” Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis said during an interview with the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service. Stavridis also commands U.S. European Command.
That system -- the first phase of the European Phased Adaptive Approach Missile Defense System that President Barack Obama proposed in 2009 -- will integrate with the NATO command-and-control system to begin standing up the NATO missile defense system, he said.
The first phase, now completed, relies on existing missile defense systems to address short- and medium-range ballistic missile threats. Upcoming phases will introduce increasingly capable interceptors and missile defense command-and-control system upgrades.
Phase 1 consists of Aegis ships with ballistic missile defense capabilities and a command-and-control system in Ramstein, Germany.
USS Monterey, followed shortly by USS The Sullivans, last year became the first ships to rotate to the Mediterranean Sea in support of the initiative. Stavridis told Congress in March he considers these ships “the backbone of missile defense” with the added benefit of being able to support anti-submarine, anti-air and anti-surface operations.
Also as part of Phase 1, Turkey agreed to host a land-based early warning radar system in Kurecik, in the southeastern Malatya province. That, in turn, will be combined with the NATO command-and-control system, Stavridis said.
“Those three elements come together to provide us with an initial capability to provide some level of defense of Europe against a threat emanating from the Middle East,” Navy Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, Eucom’s deputy director for plans, policy and strategy, told American Forces Press Service. “That was our most significant ballistic missile defense achievement in 2011.”
Meanwhile, “we are working hard on the Phase 2, 3 and 4 elements” of the plan, Stavridis told the Senate and House armed services committees in March. That includes negotiating agreements with partner countries, particularly Romania and Poland, regarding stationing of the Aegis ballistic missile defense system that will extend the missile shield during Phase 2 of the plan.
Montgomery also reported progress toward developing an AEGIS Ashore land-based interceptor system in Deveselu, Romania, to be completed by 2015. This is a critical element of the Phase 2 rollout, which Romania agreed late last year to host.
Meanwhile, Eucom is working closely with the Polish defense ministry to implement the U.S.-Poland ballistic missile defense agreement in support of important Phase 3 capabilities, Stavridis reported.
“We’ll upgrade the missiles at that point, and we’ll upgrade the command-and-control” with more and increasingly sophisticated overhead sensors, he told Congress. “And then the next step will be 2018, when we’ll add another set of ground interceptors in Poland.”
The final phase of the plan, slated for completion by 2020, will deploy more advanced interceptors designed to counter not only medium and intermediate range missiles, but also potential future intercontinental ballistic missile threats to the United States from the Middle East.
“It is a progression,” Stavridis said of the system. “It is adaptive to the threat, in that we can plug in at any step along the way to continue to improve it, to pace the threat that we see.”
In announcing the missile defense plan three years ago, Obama promised “stronger, smarter and swifter defenses of American forces and America’s allies.”
“It is more comprehensive than the previous program,” he said of the plan. “It deploys capabilities that are proven and cost effective. And it sustains and builds upon our commitment to protect the U.S. homeland against long-range ballistic missile threats, and it ensures and enhances the protection of all our NATO allies.”
NATO endorsed the concept at its November 2010 summit in Lisbon, Portugal, agreeing to expand its missile defense command, control and communications capabilities to protect Europe and encouraging allies to follow the U.S. lead in making voluntary national contributions to the effort.
Based on agreements at the Lisbon summit, Eucom fielded workstations throughout its headquarters and service component headquarters that use a NATO-compatible network able to support the NATO ballistic missile defense mission, officials explained.
The command plans to tie U.S. ships to that network, a step toward increasingly integrated theater sensors, shooters and platforms.
In addition, the Air Force is establishing a joint, combined European Integrated Air and Missile Defense Center in Eisiedlerhof, Germany. Its mission, Stavridis told Congress, will be to educate, develop and refine U.S., partner and allied missile defense capabilities and expertise.
With growing support within NATO to support the mission, Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy and France are exploring ways to complement it, Stavridis told Congress. He noted that the Dutch are buying ships capable of plugging into the ballistic missile defense architecture, and that all NATO nations now contribute command and control capabilities.
Getting additional commitments for the system is expected to be an agenda topic at next week’s NATO summit. Stavridis told Congress in March he’ll continue to press the Europeans to shoulder a growing role in missile defense.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is expected to join in that effort, with the goal of making the system as comprehensive as possible.
“Step by step, NATO’s territorial missile defense is becoming a reality,” he reported in October just before a NATO defense ministers conference in Brussels.
Progress Continues Toward NATO Missile Defense System
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
STUTTGART, Germany, May 15, 2012 – The United States will announce at next week’s NATO summit in Chicago that the new missile defense system in Europe has reached interim operational capability, the alliance’s supreme allied commander for Europe said.
“We will announce the interim operational capability of that system, which will begin to protect our European partners from the threat of ballistic missiles,” Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis said during an interview with the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service. Stavridis also commands U.S. European Command.
That system -- the first phase of the European Phased Adaptive Approach Missile Defense System that President Barack Obama proposed in 2009 -- will integrate with the NATO command-and-control system to begin standing up the NATO missile defense system, he said.
The first phase, now completed, relies on existing missile defense systems to address short- and medium-range ballistic missile threats. Upcoming phases will introduce increasingly capable interceptors and missile defense command-and-control system upgrades.
Phase 1 consists of Aegis ships with ballistic missile defense capabilities and a command-and-control system in Ramstein, Germany.
USS Monterey, followed shortly by USS The Sullivans, last year became the first ships to rotate to the Mediterranean Sea in support of the initiative. Stavridis told Congress in March he considers these ships “the backbone of missile defense” with the added benefit of being able to support anti-submarine, anti-air and anti-surface operations.
Also as part of Phase 1, Turkey agreed to host a land-based early warning radar system in Kurecik, in the southeastern Malatya province. That, in turn, will be combined with the NATO command-and-control system, Stavridis said.
“Those three elements come together to provide us with an initial capability to provide some level of defense of Europe against a threat emanating from the Middle East,” Navy Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, Eucom’s deputy director for plans, policy and strategy, told American Forces Press Service. “That was our most significant ballistic missile defense achievement in 2011.”
Meanwhile, “we are working hard on the Phase 2, 3 and 4 elements” of the plan, Stavridis told the Senate and House armed services committees in March. That includes negotiating agreements with partner countries, particularly Romania and Poland, regarding stationing of the Aegis ballistic missile defense system that will extend the missile shield during Phase 2 of the plan.
Montgomery also reported progress toward developing an AEGIS Ashore land-based interceptor system in Deveselu, Romania, to be completed by 2015. This is a critical element of the Phase 2 rollout, which Romania agreed late last year to host.
Meanwhile, Eucom is working closely with the Polish defense ministry to implement the U.S.-Poland ballistic missile defense agreement in support of important Phase 3 capabilities, Stavridis reported.
“We’ll upgrade the missiles at that point, and we’ll upgrade the command-and-control” with more and increasingly sophisticated overhead sensors, he told Congress. “And then the next step will be 2018, when we’ll add another set of ground interceptors in Poland.”
The final phase of the plan, slated for completion by 2020, will deploy more advanced interceptors designed to counter not only medium and intermediate range missiles, but also potential future intercontinental ballistic missile threats to the United States from the Middle East.
“It is a progression,” Stavridis said of the system. “It is adaptive to the threat, in that we can plug in at any step along the way to continue to improve it, to pace the threat that we see.”
In announcing the missile defense plan three years ago, Obama promised “stronger, smarter and swifter defenses of American forces and America’s allies.”
“It is more comprehensive than the previous program,” he said of the plan. “It deploys capabilities that are proven and cost effective. And it sustains and builds upon our commitment to protect the U.S. homeland against long-range ballistic missile threats, and it ensures and enhances the protection of all our NATO allies.”
NATO endorsed the concept at its November 2010 summit in Lisbon, Portugal, agreeing to expand its missile defense command, control and communications capabilities to protect Europe and encouraging allies to follow the U.S. lead in making voluntary national contributions to the effort.
Based on agreements at the Lisbon summit, Eucom fielded workstations throughout its headquarters and service component headquarters that use a NATO-compatible network able to support the NATO ballistic missile defense mission, officials explained.
The command plans to tie U.S. ships to that network, a step toward increasingly integrated theater sensors, shooters and platforms.
In addition, the Air Force is establishing a joint, combined European Integrated Air and Missile Defense Center in Eisiedlerhof, Germany. Its mission, Stavridis told Congress, will be to educate, develop and refine U.S., partner and allied missile defense capabilities and expertise.
With growing support within NATO to support the mission, Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy and France are exploring ways to complement it, Stavridis told Congress. He noted that the Dutch are buying ships capable of plugging into the ballistic missile defense architecture, and that all NATO nations now contribute command and control capabilities.
Getting additional commitments for the system is expected to be an agenda topic at next week’s NATO summit. Stavridis told Congress in March he’ll continue to press the Europeans to shoulder a growing role in missile defense.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is expected to join in that effort, with the goal of making the system as comprehensive as possible.
“Step by step, NATO’s territorial missile defense is becoming a reality,” he reported in October just before a NATO defense ministers conference in Brussels.
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