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2000-05-26, Jag_22: Canadian Weather No Barrier To Air Combat Exercise by William B. Scott 05/24/00 08:45:02 AM U.S. EDT COLD LAKE, ALBERTA — The annual Maple Flag international air combat exercise is into its second week of large-scale air operations here, unhampered by unusual weather. Hosted by Canada's 4 Wing, the exercise dealt with unexpected challenges from a freak snowstorm on May 17. For the first time, Maple Flag is being conducted under all-weather rules — a consequence of “lessons-learned” during the Kosovo air campaign a year ago — allowing pilots to deal with realistic conditions that complicate bombing missions. Maple Flag is similar to the USAF-hosted Red Flag, but is conducted over wooded terrain dotted with lakes, emulating a European combat zone. Flying in a relatively unrestricted environment, large strike “packages,” made up of 40-50 fighters, battle opposing forces employing airborne and ground-based electronic threats. Approximately 118 aircraft from Canada, Singapore, the Netherlands, the U.S., the U.K.,…

2000-05-26, Jag_22: Joint Strike Fighter Engine Ready To Fly by Jim Mathews 05/25/00 06:59:49 AM U.S. EDT Enginemaker Pratt & Whitney’s JSF119 engine for the Joint Strike Fighter has finished flight clearance testing in time for this summer’s JSF concept demonstrator flight tests, P&W reports this morning. “The engines are no longer concepts, or designs that need to be proven – they are real engines that are ready to be flown. They have done exceedingly well in ground testing that’s required for flight certification,” says P&W JSF119 Program Director Bob Cea. Boeing engine JSF119-614 and Lockheed Martin engine JSF119-611 went through performance testing at all power ranges within their full flight envelopes. Altitude testing at the USAF’s Arnold Engineering and Development Center essentially clearing the conventional takeoff as well as short take-off/vertical landing (STOVL) engines for up-and-away flight. Sea level accelerated mission tests at P&W’s West Palm Beach, Fla., test facilities demonstrated engine…

2000-05-26, Jag_22: Marines OK Return To Flight For Ospreys by Robert Wall 05/25/00 02:01:23 PM U.S. EDT The U.S. Marine Corps has authorized MV-22 Ospreys to resume flight operations, lifting a grounding order that followed the April 8 crash of an Ospreys in which 19 Marines died. Initially, pilots will be re-familiarized with the aircraft, which is normal after an extended interruption of flying operations. Only after completing this phase of the return-to-flight activity will the operational evaluation of the V-22 continue. In a symbolic gesture to demonstrate confidence in the tiltrotor, the Marine Corps’ commandant, Gen. James Jones, and U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. Michael E. Ryan, will be on the first MV-22 to carry passengers. Copyright AviationNow

2000-05-26, Jag_22: Army Postpones Test For Missile-Defense Laser by Robert Wall 05/25/00 02:10:39 PM U.S. EDT Israel will have to wait a little longer for a U.S.-developed laser system to protect it against Katyusha rockets. The U.S. Army postponed its first attempt to shoot down a Katyusha rocket with the Tactical High-Energy Laser (THEL, pictured). A mirror in the laser was damaged during testing at the White Sands Missile Range, N.M. It will take about two weeks to fix the laser, Army officials say. THEL was conceived as a quick development program in 1996 to defend against rockets launched by Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists. But the high-energy laser system’s development has been slowed by technical problems. The Army hopes to be able to resume THEL testing and achieve the first intercept in June. Copyright AviationNow

2000-05-23, Jag_22: Good News for Il-76; Bad News for An-70 By Vovick Karnozov AWN Moscow-based columnist The past week was a good one for the manufacturers of the Ilyushin Il-76 four-jet freighter and frustrating for Antonov and its allies on the An-70 airlifter. While the Il-76TF, a new civilian version of Ilyushin's 30-year-old design, acquired its first customer, the An-70's chances to win the tender for the future European airlifter were further reduced with the announcement of the UK government that Airbus Military Company's A400M is the long-term choice to replace its remaining fleet of the aging C-130 Hercules transports (see related story) . The UK's commitment to the A400M is expected to induce a stronger interest from Germany in the new Airbus design. Together with France, which also favors the A400M, the UK and Germany could together produce a sufficient joint order to make the whole project profitable for Airbus and thus suitable for launch. This leaves the An-70 sales prospects confined to a weak CIS market whose…

2000-05-23, Jag_22: Pentagon Answer To Recruiting Challenge: Yahoo! by Jim Mathews 05/19/00 09:01:07 AM U.S. EDT Facing record recruiting shortages and a youth culture unfamiliar with the military, the Pentagon is joining forces with Yahoo! Careers to stage a fantasy job contest, whose winners will get to spend a week training to be a fighter pilot, jumping out of airplanes or sailing on an aircraft carrier. Top brass have reasoned that with people willing to spend thousands of dollars to pretend they’re everything from baseball stars to race car drivers, why not expose hundreds of thousands of contest hopefuls to some of the adventures the military has to offer – and maybe snag a few of those fantasy contestants who decide to make the dream reality. “This is a way for ordinary people from ‘Main Street USA’ to connect with extraordinary people doing exciting, thrilling and challenging jobs,” says Navy Commander Yvette C. Brown-Wahler, a top recruiting official. “So if you’ve ever dreamed of parachuting with the Army’s Golden…

2000-05-23, Jag_22: JSF Study Team Recommends One Winner, Two Builders by Dave Fulghum 05/19/00 04:11:02 PM U.S. EDT U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen and acquisition chief Jacques Gansler were briefed late this week by the team studying alternative acquisition strategies for the Joint Strike Fighter program, say Pentagon insiders. The team found it’s too hard to split the JSF program before picking a prime contractor and recommended instead that a single winning design be selected, and then both Lockheed Martin (top image) and Boeing (bottom) should be qualified for engineering and manufacturing development, the next phase of the JSF program. Because both prime teams would wind up building airplanes, study group members won’t describe the team whose design is not picked as the losing team — only as the “non-winner.” This non-winner would be qualified through the major subsystems of the winner’s design and each company would put together its own subcontractor team, a plan that would ensure another round of competition prior…

2000-05-22, BACKFIRE: It appears to be that US aircraft development is targeted on unmanned AVs even more then on human piloted aircrafts. It sounds real the 6th generation fighter will be a sort of UCAV.

2000-05-21, Serge Pod: 17 May 2000 Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes told parliament yesterday that agreement was close on the sale of Russian T-90S to the Indian Army. India is to get 124 Russian made T-90S and a license to build 186 in country, at a cost of approximately US$ 700 million. The Defence Minister also commented on other possible arms deals, including the possibility of indigenous production of multi- purpose Su-30 fighters by the end of this year. Ina an agreement signed in 1996 India is to get 40 fighters of this type and, last year, agreed to buy a further ten. Two Indian MiG-21BIS fighters, which have been upgraded in Russia, have been test flown. Six of the 36 sets of upgrade equipment due this year have been delivered. Eventually India will upgrade all 125 of its MiG-21BIS, extending their service life to the end of the decade DSD

2000-05-21, Serge Pod: 19 May 2000 The US Army has awarded Aerojet a three-year, $5 million contract to develop controllable thrust propulsion for Army tactical missiles, primarily Modernized Hellfire and Common Missile but also Compact Kinetic Energy Missile. Beginning this month, Aerojet will produce concept designs then test and build flight hardware by 2003. The goal is to develop motors that will allow Army tactical missiles to fufill multiple missions with one rocket motor. This technology has been described as 'putting a gas pedal' on a missile. "Aerojet has been a leader in controllable thrust propulsion for 40 years, and we are pleased that the Army intends to field this technology,'' said Bob Keenan, Aerojet programme manager for controllable thrust propulsion. Aerojet will carry out the work in Sacramento for the Army Missile Command (AMCOM) at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala. Initial studies are underway with testing expected to begin by next year. Some testing may take place at AMCOM. DSD

2000-05-16, Jag_22: NASA Plans to Sail to the Stars On Largest Spacecraft Ever Built The US space agency, NASA, is setting sail for the stars - literally. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is developing space sails technology to power a mission beyond our solar system. "This will be humankind's first planned venture outside our solar system," said Les Johnson, manager of Interstellar Propulsion Research at the Marshall Center. "This is a stretch goal that is among the most audacious things we've ever undertaken." The interstellar probe will travel over 23 trillion miles - 250 astronomical units - beyond the edge of the solar system. The distance from Earth to the Sun, 93 million miles, is one astronomical unit. For perspective, if the distance from Earth to the Sun equaled one foot, Earth would be a mere 6 inches from Mars, 38 feet from Pluto, 250 feet from the boundaries of the solar system, and a colossal 51 miles from the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri. This first step beyond our solar system en route to the stars…

2000-05-16, Jag_22: Andrei Martirosov, general director of TyumenAviatTrans (TAT), reported at a recent press-briefing in Moscow about a substantial increase in orders from both local and domestic customers for services the airline offers. In 1999 TAT signed commercial agreements with Heyns Helicopters of South Africa for the dry lease of eight Mi-8MTV1 helicopters and with Elak KFT of Mozambique for the lease of three Mi-8s. Over the past year TAT has also won UN tenders for helicopter services in Western Sakhara, the Central African Republic, Mozambique, Indonesia (Eastern Timor) and Sierra Lione. A number of contracts were signed for An-24 and Yak-40 airlines on behalf of the UN and various agencies of small countries. In all, foreign activities brought the airline an income of $4 million in 1999. These accounted for merely 4% of the company's income of Rbs 0.93 billion in 1999, but Martirosov says that there is a real chance to increase the share of foreign orders in the near future up to 50%. There is some ground for such…

2000-05-16, Jag_22: Will JSF Be A Split Decision? The US Defense Department is said to be leaning toward dividing up the spoils in the Joint Strike Fighter cook-off currently in progress. Two competitors are fiercely working toward the day when one will be selected as the winning entry. But it may not be winner take all. The downselect a few years ago to finalists Boeing and Lockheed Martin virtually assured McDonnell Douglas that it would have no future in the defense aircraft picture. After previously failing to secure a winning position in the competition for what is now the F-22, McDonnell Douglas had its hopes pinned on the JSF. Northrup Grumman had similarly been ruled out as a prime and started marching toward its destiny as a super sub-contractor. After the fatal JSF ruling, McDonnell Douglas quietly found a place for its people and programs at industry giant Boeing. While the Lockheed/Martin Marietta, Boeing/McDonnell Douglas and other mergers/consolidations in the US defense industry were causing shockwaves around the…

2000-05-16, Jag_22: Norwegian Govt Set to Abandon Plan to Buy 20 Fighter Planes Worth 1.3 Bln EUR AFX News Limited OSLO (AFX) - The government proposed to parliament to abandon its plan to buy 20 new fighter aircraft worth a total of 1.3 bln eur. "After reviewing the goals and the investment plans, the government proposes that the purchase of 20 new fighter planes is not followed through", the government said in connection with its 2000 draft budget. The government proposed instead the updating of Norway's existing F-16 fighters, manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corp. Copyright 2000 AFX News Limited. All Rights Reserved.

2000-05-16, Jag_22: Israel to Sell Additional Jet Fighters to SRI Lanka United Press International TEL AVIV, Israel, May 12 (UPI) — Israel has agreed to sell Sri Lanka additional Kfir jet fighters, a senior defense official confirmed Friday. The source, who insisted on anonymity, said the deal would be a continuation of an earlier sale of five Kfir's to Sri Lanka's air force. The Kfir, which looks like the French Mirage III, had been the mainstay of the Israel Air Force more than a quarter of a century ago. The defense source said the Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) will buy the planes from the air force, upgrade them and charge Sri Lanka for handling. He said he expected five to six aircraft to be supplied in about a year. Earlier, Sri Lanka bought Saar 4.5 missile boats from the Israeli navy and smaller Dabur and Devora patrol boats from the IAI. Two weeks ago, Sri Lanka announced resumption of diplomatic relations with Israel, in another turn of the two countries' on-again-off-again see-saw relationship. The decision…

2000-05-13, Jag_22: Mil user conference "A broad programme of upgrades of the Mil helicopter family is planned over the next five years by the manufacturer. In connection with this, Mil's First Deputy General Designer, Alexei Samusenko, recently announced that the firm plans a major conference this spring for current users of Mil helicopters. Along with the firm's own upgrade projects, the conference will address a modernization programme of helicopters developed jointly with Mil's Moscow Helicopter Plant, the Ministry of Economics, Rosaviakosmos and the other manufacturing plants associated with Mil's designs. The latter programme is based on financial support from the State budget, covering a period of five years, with the likelihood of one tranche of support being granted per year. Around 30,000 Mil helicopters of all types have been built, of which 11,000 are Mi-8/17s currently available on the export market for US$4-4.5m." Copyright AFM

2000-05-13, Jag_22: New Mi-28 announced Mil Mi-28N "The executive Director of the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, Vitaly Shcherbin, announced recently that final assembly of a new variant of the Mi-28 has just been completed at the factory. Known as the Mi-28D, the new variant has been optimized for daylight operations, h~nce the new suffix (D for Dnevnoy/day). Shcherbin has stated that the Mi28D is equipped with an identical equipment fit to that of the night-capable Mi-28N (Nochnoy/night), but that it does not have the mast-mounted radar, or TV integrated with the sighting system. Although not stated, it seems likely that the Mi-28D is intended for the export market and for countries which do not require sophisticated night attack capability." Copyright AFM

2000-05-13, Jag_22: MiG 1.44 still important MiG 1.44 MFI "In contrast to Sukhoi's more downbeat approach, the General Designer of RSK-MiG, (Rossijskaya Samolyotostroitelnaya Korporatsiya - MiG/Russian Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation-MiG), Nikolai Nikitin, asserts that the recently-flown 1.44 technology demonstrator will play a major part in defining Russia's fifth-generation fighter in the coming months. RSK-MiG's senior management considers that it would be extremely shortsighted and entirely wrong not to exploit fully the multitude of technical innovations and improvements integrated into the design of the 1.44. Nikitin further states that RSK-MiG "has a particularly clear idea of what a Russian fifth -generation fighter should be" and that data accumulated from the 1.44 test programme should form a solid foundation for RSK-MiG's submission for such an aircraft. He also emphasizes that the 1.44 incorporates a whole range of technological solutions not previously used in military aircraft construction and design. "Should…

2000-05-13, Jag_22: The Chinese Embassy Bombing "In the early hours of May 7, 1999, a USAF B-2 Spirit bomber, escorted by EA-6B defence suppression aircraft and F-15C fighters, dropped three GPS-guided Joint Defence Air Munition (JDAM) bombs on the Chinese Embassy in the Novi Beograd district of Belgrade, capital of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The action came under the auspices of the NATO campaign to prevent the genocidal policies of the Serbian Government. The US has always maintained that the bombing was an unfortunate mistake. However, though the dust has settled and the victims have long since been buried, the controversy continues unabated. Whilst the true story behind the strike is classified, and will remain so for the foreseeable future, some elements of the case are beyond doubt. However, new facts about the bombing cast increasing doubt on the US position. Flagrant disregard If the bombing was in fact deliberate, the strike showed flagrant disregard for the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The…

2000-05-13, Jag_22: Air Force Vision: Integrated Air, Space Capabilities by Michael C. Gabriele 05/11/00 06:04:59 PM U.S. EDT The differences between tactical and strategic intelligence will continue to blur as the U.S. Air Force deepens integration of air and space capabilities, the service’s 21 st century mission blueprint states. Redefining the “aerospace continuum” to include the control of space would provide the Air Force with centralized control and decentralized execution on a global basis. The leading edge of this tactical/strategic convergence was demonstrated in the recent air campaign in Serbia, states the report, “The Aerospace Force: Defending America in the 21st century.” (defending my ass! These Bastards only bombing helpless nations!) “Growing threats such as cruise missiles, theater ballistic missiles and hostile space assets, as well as our own growing dependence on commercial space services, present new challenges to joint operations,” the report says. The report calls for a “seamless” mix of air and space…

2000-05-13, Jag_22: Spacewalking Cosmonauts Preening Mir by Norval G. Kennedy 05/12/00 09:36:10 AM U.S. EDT Two Russian cosmonauts will be outside their Mir space station until about noon Eastern Time today on the first-ever commercial spacewalk. Sergei Zalyotin and Alexander Kalery opened the Kvant-2 module’s hatch at about 6:44 Eastern primarily for a walkaround to check overall condition of the spacecraft and to disassemble science equipment. They were set to spend about 5 1/2 hrs. inspecting a Kvant solar panel, retrieving a sample of an experimental film solar array and testing equipment that will apply a sealant to the station’s external shell. Zalyotin and Alexander have been on Mir since April 6 on a long-duration mission for leaseholder MirCorp based in the Netherlands. MirCorp wants to use the 14-year-old station for commercial purposes. Copyright AviationNow

2000-05-13, Jag_22: House Lawmakers Cut Joint Strike Fighter Budget by Robert Wall 05/12/00 10:16:52 AM U.S. EDT The U.S. military’s Joint Strike Fighter development program was dealt another blow Thursday when House defense appropriators decided to cut the Pentagon’s budget request by $150 million to $706 million. It comes only a day after Senate defense authorizers reduced the program’s budget by $170 million. Both committees said they took the money because they believe next year’s contract award to JSF competitors Boeing and Lockheed Martin will be delayed. The Senate also had some concerns about the technical maturity of the program. However, more congressional budget deliberations will take place in the coming weeks, and Pentagon and industry officials believe the money may be restored. Another major decision by House appropriators concerned the F-22. The subcommittee, which last year wanted to take all production money out of the program, this year decided to fully fund the U.S. Air Force’s budget request for the stealth…

2000-05-13, Jag_22: Russian Firefighting Aircraft Could Go To Los Alamos 05/12/00 10:27:12 AM U.S. EDT MOSCOW (AP) — Two giant Il-76 jets capable of dumping 44 tons of water are standing by to help fight the fire in Los Alamos in the United States if needed, Russian officials said Friday. The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations said it had received an official request from the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency for the planes, but was awaiting confirmation before ordering the long flight to the United States. The planes were “ready to take off at any minute,” said ministry official Alexander Zalyotov. The four-engine Il-76MDP can water-bomb an area 500 meters by 100 meters (500 yards by 100 yards) or drop 40 fully-equipped firefighters by parachute, according to Jane's All The World's Aircraft . A forest fire on Thursday swept into Los Alamos, site of the famed nuclear-weapons lab, and 18,000 residents have been evacuated. Copyright AviationNow

2000-05-13, Jag_22: Testing Ways To Fight The Next War by Jim Mathews 05/12/00 11:36:10 AM U.S. EDT U.S. Joint Forces Command planners in Norfolk, Va., this summer will begin experimenting with their first “integrating concept” under the Joint Vision 2010 blueprint for future warfighting – Rapid Decisive Operations, an attempt to tailor large-scale U.S. forces to smaller scale operations. Planners will try to figure out how “in a matter of days instead of months, [to] project sufficient military capability across global distances and incapacitate a capable regional power,” explains Dave Ozolek, a senior engineer adviser for the JFCOM’s Joint Experimentation Directorate. The idea is to move away from traditional tactics aimed at exhausting an enemy – waiting for attrition to weaken a foe’s forces, for example – toward pinpoint attacks on elements that give an enemy his coherence. The studies this summer will compare three Rapid Decisive Operations alternatives with the performance of today’s forces in the same scenario.…

2000-05-13, Jag_22: Next-Generation Military GPS To Stay Loud and Clear by Mal Gormley 05/12/00 04:07:41 PM U.S. EDT The MITRE Corporation says a new technique under development will enable military users of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to continue receiving accurate navigation signals in the face of an adversary’s jamming. Called M Code, the new signal will be broadcast at a much higher gain, or volume, than is currently utilized by GPS transmitters. MITRE consulting engineer John Betz, who heads up the new signal development effort, says M Code will use the same 1575 MHz frequency assigned to current GPS signals. Betz spoke recently with AviationNow in an exclusive interview. Betz says that despite the increased signal gain, the M Code signals will not interfere with civilian GPS users, as some GPS developers have worried. The code would benefit civilian users by discouraging adversaries from transmitting spurious GPS signals in an effort to reduce military GPS accuracy. The military is still studying whether or not to…