In a Defense Department world where multi-​​million-​​dollar con­tracts for air­craft will likely first net you long waits, missed dead­lines and demands for mil­lions more bucks before a plane appears on the hori­zon, the Air Forces lat­est counter-​​intelligence air­craft is an anomaly.

From the time the Air Force con­tracted for its first order of MC-​​12W Libertys until one was fly­ing a mis­sion over Afghanistan was just eight months, says Lionel G. Smith, direc­tor, Strategic Development Special Programs for L3 Communications.

Thats the power of mod­i­fy­ing an exist­ing air­craft, in this case the Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350 long a fav plane of the well-​​to-​​do. Those ordered by the Air Force, how­ever, swap lux­ury accom­mo­da­tions for sophis­ti­cated ISR technology.

It costs about $7 mil­lion [per plane] from Hawker Beechcraft, and about $10 mil­lion in mod­i­fi­ca­tions. From con­tract to com­bat was about eight months, Smith said Sept. 15 at the Air Force Association’s Air & Space Symposium in Maryland. L3s inte­grated sys­tems divi­sion man­ages the modifications.

The plane, with a crew of four pilot, co-​​pilot, sig­nals intel sys­tems oper­a­tor and full-​​system video oper­a­tor flew its first mis­sion from Balad Air Base, Iraq, in June. Of 300 mis­sions flown to date it has a mis­sion capa­ble rate of 98 per­cent, Smith said.

The MC-​​12W is a response to Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ call for increased ISR sup­port for ground com­bat troops, Smith said. The Air Force plans to field a fleet of 38 Libertys, most of them built into the ER, or extended range, ver­sion of the Hawker Beechcraft plane.

– Bryant Jordan

…they can still throw together a great fly-​​by. Combat employ­ment of the same assets? Dubious.

–John Noonan

The F-​​35 am become death, destroyer of com­pe­ti­tion. Hard to sym­pa­thize with Lockheed’s F-​​22 woes when they’ll be own­ing over half of the global fighter mar­ket by 2015:

June 17 (Bloomberg) — Lockheed Martin Corp., the worlds largest defense com­pany, may dou­ble sales of its new F-​​35 fighter jet in a surge of con­tracts that could squeeze com­peti­tors includ­ing Boeing Co. and Saab AB out of the mar­ket.
The U.S. and eight part­ner nations already plan to buy more than 3,000 of the war­planes, and with poten­tial exports to coun­tries includ­ing Israel, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Finland and Spain the total could eas­ily reach 6,000, Brigadier General David Heinz, the top Pentagon offi­cial for the F-​​35, said today.
Boeing and Saab may come to view the Lockheed model as a pro­gram killer, said Douglas Royce, a mar­ket ana­lyst at Forecast International in Newtown, Connecticut. The F-​​35 will con­trol half the $17 bil­lion war­plane mar­ket by 2015, avi­a­tion con­sul­tants Teal Group esti­mate, bring­ing a level of dom­i­nance unmatched even by the com­pa­nys F-​​16 and threat­en­ing to elim­i­nate other pri­mary man­u­fac­tur­ers from the industry. 

Update: Chink in the armor? DoD Buzz reports that a major British think tank is urg­ing the gov­ern­ment to kill the pro­gram.
–John Noonan

…which should make our JSTARs guys happy, though the Sentinel –which is a bat­tle­field tracker like the E-​​8C– is smaller than its American coun­ter­part. These types of birds are of incred­i­ble worth in places like Afghanistan, where a high ceil­ing and effec­tive ground tar­get track­ing capa­bil­i­ties are of extrador­di­nary use to the grunts on the ground. The Sentinel also packs the invalauable Link 16 datalink (redun­dant sound­ing, I know), which will allow it to share real-​​time intel­li­gence and track­ing with every­thing from Norwegian F-​​16s to Spanish frigates (as well as just about every other com­bat air­craft in the US and UK inven­to­ries).
Janes says that No.5 Squadron of the RAF will be deploy­ing to Afghanistan shortly, though I seem to remem­ber read­ing some­thing about Raytheon test­ing the ASTOR with it’s accom­pa­ny­ing ground sta­tions in the­ater a year or so ago. No.5’s Group Captain seemed pretty pleased with the way it was work­ing out, which is great news con­sid­er­ing the MoD has sunk nearly 1 bil­lion pounds into devel­op­ment and acqui­si­tion. Will be eager to see how it per­forms in com­bat.
–John Noonan

Enter the F-​​15SE!

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today in St. Louis unveiled the F-​​15 Silent Eagle (F-​​15SE), a new F-​​15 con­fig­u­ra­tion designed to meet the future needs of inter­na­tional cus­tomers.
“The F-​​15 Silent Eagle is designed to meet our inter­na­tional cus­tomers’ antic­i­pated need for cost-​​effective stealth tech­nolo­gies, as well as for large and diverse weapons pay­loads,” said Mark Bass, F-​​15 Program vice pres­i­dent for Boeing. “The inno­v­a­tive Silent Eagle is a bal­anced, afford­able approach designed to meet future sur­viv­abil­ity needs.“
Improvements in stealth include coat­ings and treat­ments on the air­craft. With the added advan­tage of redesigned con­for­mal fuel tanks (CFTs) that allow for inter­nal weapons car­riage, the Silent Eagle becomes a very attrac­tive fighter for Boeing’s inter­na­tional cus­tomers.
Depending on the spe­cific mis­sion, the cus­tomer can use the CFTs that are designed for inter­nal car­riage or change back to the tra­di­tional CFTs for opti­mum fuel capac­ity and exter­nal weapons car­riage. The Silent Eagle will be able to inter­nally carry air-​​to-​​air mis­siles such as the AIM-​​9 and AIM-​​120 and air-​​to-​​ground weapons such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) and Small Diameter Bomb (SDB). The stan­dard weapons load used on cur­rent ver­sions of the F-​​15 is avail­able with the tra­di­tional CFTs installed. 

Boeing timed this per­fectly. One month before Secretary Gates puts the kibosh on Lockheed’s F-​​22 pro­gram, Boeing swoops in with a highly ver­sa­tile, 5.5 gen­er­a­tion fighter that’s both deadly and cost effec­tive (the Stealth Eagle was announced in mid-​​March).
Boeing seems to be gear­ing this pro­gram towards over­seas clients, with the USAF look­ing ahead to the inevitable mas­sive JSF pur­chase. Fair enough. But would it hurt to beef up our inven­tory with a cou­ple F-​​15SE squadrons? Halting F-​​22 pro­duc­tion has put an enor­mous gap in the Air Force’s fleet, so the intro­duc­tion of a cheap, flex­i­ble, capa­ble, and stealthy fighter prac­ti­cally has a bow on it. The old USAF, pre-​​decapitation, would sniff at any tech­nol­ogy that’s any­thing less than cut­ting edge and excit­ing. Today’s boys in blue are more open to inno­va­tion.
If noth­ing else, it’s worth a look.
Aside: Each time I read “F-​​15SE” I want to say “F-​​15 Strike Eagle” instead of Stealth Eagle. Annoying.

CNN reports:

Russia expressed inter­est in using Cuban air­fields dur­ing patrol mis­sions of its strate­gic bombers, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported
“There are four or five air­fields in Cuba with 4,000-meter-long run­ways, which absolutely suit us,” Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev told Interfax.
Zhikharev, who is the chief of staff of the Russian Air Force’s long-​​range avi­a­tion, said, “If the two chiefs of state dis­play such a polit­i­cal will, we are ready to fly there.“
Zhikharev also told Interfax that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has offered a mil­i­tary air­field on La Orchila island as a tem­po­rary base for Russian strate­gic bombers.
“If a rel­e­vant polit­i­cal deci­sion is made, this is pos­si­ble,” he said, accord­ing to Interfax. Zhikharev said he vis­ited La Orchila in 2008 and can con­firm that with minor recon­struc­tion, the air­field owned by a local naval base can accept fully-​​loaded Russian strate­gic bombers.

Annoying. We got Ivan’s point vis a vis the Monroe Doctrine after the Cuban Missile Crisis, so what’s the ben­e­fit here? Ivan’s strat bombers, subs, and rocket forces already have the legs to paint the entire US in a lime-​​green radioac­tive glow — so why com­mit your already lim­ited defense resources to an endeavor that will inevitably drive the Pentagon back into the wait­ing arms of Lockheed, Boeing, NG and their gen­er­ous inven­tory of Russian killing weapon sys­tems?
And, just a reminder, the entire Gulf Coast remains a giant kill box, with F/​A-​​18s, F-​​16s, F-​​15s, and F-​​22s based at (deep breath) Tyndall, Eglin, Homestead AFBs, Naval Air Stations Key West and Pensacola, plus the Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, and Texas Air National Guard fighter wings.
If Ivan wants to test our new President, per­haps he should deploy his high-​​value bombers to an AO where they’re some­thing more than pricey tar­get drones.
–John Noonan

And wasn’t the Air Force resis­tant to pur­chas­ing C-​​130Js?

Cracks Prompt AF-​​wide C-​​130 Inspection

Air Force offi­cials issued an imme­di­ate inspec­tion notice Thursday to C-​​130 units world­wide after Robins Air Force Base, Ga., tech­ni­cians found upper wing joint nut cracks in an air­craft under­go­ing sched­uled depot maintenance.

The direc­tive, known in the Air Force as a “time com­pli­ance tech­ni­cal order,” requires inspec­tion and replace­ment of any cracked nuts before the next flight, said Roger Drinnon, a spokesman for Air Mobility Command. The com­mand, head­quar­tered at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., is the prin­ci­pal oper­a­tor of the C-​​130 for the Air Force.

I seem to remem­ber the Georgia del­e­ga­tion forc­ing C-​​130Js down the Air Force’s throat a cou­ple years back while the ser­vice wanted to con­cen­trate its pro­cure­ment money on F-​​22s and C-​​17s. Maybe it was a sneaky ploy to “save” money in its bud­get know­ing full well law­mak­ers would put the money in any­way, but it sure seemed to rein­force the notion that the Air Force is prej­u­diced against low-​​tech/​high yield solu­tions like the Hercules and the Warthog (Fighting Falcon too?)…

As any­one who’s flown in the zone knows, the C-​​130 is by far the bad­dest assed plane out there. I can’t tell you how many high moun­tain passes I’ve buzzed and god­for­saken gravel pit run­ways in the mid­dle of nowhere I’ve taken off from in one of those beasts and never, ever, once felt ner­vous about the plane’s dura­bil­ity and safety.

What a great air­craft and I hope the Air Force rec­og­nizes the impor­tance of the fleet and fixes the ones it’s got and buys more.

– Christian

This arti­cle first appeared in AviationWeek​.com.

The U.S. Marine Corps’ AH-​​1Z and UH-​​1Y have run afoul of the Nunn-​​McCurdy law again.

Military sources tell Aviation Week that for the past cou­ple of days, pro­gram man­ager Col. Harry Hewson has begun the noti­fi­ca­tion process by brief­ing con­gres­sional staffers on the cost over­runs.

Unlike in 2002, how­ever, this Nunn-​​McCurdy breach appar­ently has lit­tle to do with pro­gram issues, sources say. The orig­i­nal require­ment for 100 UH-​​1Ys has grown to 123 and the request for 180 AH-​​1Zs has risen to 226 as part of the Marine Corps growth plan, which will see 27,000 new Marines enrolled in the end.

More heli­copters cost more money, the sources note, sur­pass­ing what was pre­vi­ously in the bud­get for the Cobra and Huey upgrades. “It’s not mis­man­age­ment of funds and it’s not require­ments creep,” a defense offi­cial said. “It’s a paper­work drill.”

Read the rest of this story, pon­der Afghanistan’s turn­around, see the Raptors’ return and take a look at another JSF snafu from our friends at Aviation Week, exclu­sively on Military​.com.

– Christian

From a BAE release:

BAE Systems is devel­op­ing acoustic hos­tile fire indi­ca­tor tech­nol­ogy to pro­tect low-​​flying mil­i­tary heli­copters from small-​​arms fire. 

Most air­craft have missile-​​warning and coun­ter­mea­sures sys­tems but are vul­ner­a­ble to small arms-​​fire, which has been dif­fi­cult to detect. Crews often dont know they are being fired on until its too late. Combining acoustic data, noise reduc­tion, and loca­tion algo­rithms with infor­ma­tion from exist­ing sen­sors, BAE Systems is devel­op­ing a solu­tion that will give heli­copter crews mul­ti­ple indi­ca­tions of hos­tile fire. 

In live-​​fire tests at a pri­vate range in the United States, an HFI sys­tem mea­sured acoustic data and accu­rately detected threats (see video). Further test­ing on mil­i­tary air­craft, using addi­tional sens­ing tech­nolo­gies and tech­niques, will make the sys­tem more robust and improve its detec­tion capabilities. 

Officials told me the sys­tem is a “blended solu­tion” that com­bines exist­ing defen­sive sys­tems — which I assume include mis­sile and radar warn­ing defenses — with a noise sen­sor that’s been pro­grammed to can­cel out wind and rotor noise and direc­tion find­ing soft­ware to point out the shot’s location. 

[Here’s a bet­ter video of a test shoot where you can see the heli­copter jink­ing to avoid the fire.]

I know this is pos­si­ble because I went to a demo day a cou­ple years ago on sniper detec­tion sys­tems for ground vehi­cles. There are lots of dif­fer­ent kinds that deliver lots of dif­fer­ent infor­ma­tion, but the sys­tems work well and are robust.

(more…)