April 2009 Archives

Thank you, Northrop Grumman.

Pentagon Channel has released video of Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michèle Flournoy speaking yesterday about the Quadrennial Defense Review at the Military Strategy Forum, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC.

This blog doesn't focus on cyber operations, but this story is fairly provocative. A US Air Force colonel on BBC voices his private belief that the US needs to launch a cyber attack? This doesn't smell right.

 

US 'should go on cyber-offensive'

A US Air Force officer has told the BBC that his country should create an offensive botnet to target any forces that launch a cyber-attack against it.

 

Speaking on Radio 4's The Report, Col Charlie Williamson said the US was currently in "defensive mode" on cyber-warfare and that needed to change.

 

"[Armies] have always had some form of offensive capability. And that's really all I'm calling for," he said

 

Col Williamson stressed he was speaking in a personal capacity.

• Indian web site Indopia reports one pilot died in first-ever Su-30 MKI crash

• Chilean newspaper El Mercurio writes about Santiago's bizarre F-16 "deal" with the Netherlands

• David Fulghum of Aviation Week's Ares blog writes the French Air Force really wants the US to buy tankers already

• UK think tank Chatham House says the Kosovo War set the conditions for Iraq mistakes

• Jen Dimascio of Politico writes that F-22 supporters on Capitol Hill find Gates' analysis lacking

• Christopher Drew of the New York Times writes that Boeing is pushing Congress to add C-17s and F/A-18s in war supplemental spending bill

• First US Air Force F-16 Block 40 passes 7,000-hour milestone

• Neptunus Lex blogger doubts T-38 "shootdown" of F-22

Most people think the US Army wants to design a new rotorcraft that can vertically lift a whopping 30-ton payload, but Bruce Tenney begs to differ.

As associate director for the army's aviation applied technology directorate, Tenney says the 32.5-ton lifting capability commonly ascribed to the AATD's high efficiency tiltrotor (HETR) concept is misleading.

That figure assumes the theoretical HETR is taking off at 4,000ft elevation in 95-degree F temperatures.

If the same aircraft lifted off in cooler weather and at sea level, the maximum payload rises to 42 tons, said Tenney. That means it could conceivably carry all three categories of the army's growing stockpile of mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles. The category 3 Buffalo vehicle has a maximum weight of nearly 40 tons.

So HETR is clearly intended to be an enormous aircraft. But Tenney wishes to put the project's technological ambitions in perspective.

"I know it looks like a techological leap, but it is not when you break it down into its constituent parts," said Tenney. "There's none of it that's just out of the range of where we stand technologically. The power we're putting through the transmissions is not as much as the Mi-26. We're not busting anybody's bubble. It's not something that as a technological investment is a hope and a dream. It's something we truly believe we can accomplish."

• Graham Warwick of Aviation Week & Space Technology writes about the AFRL's ambitious fuze development program for the next generation of dual-role missiles

• Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute pitches business case for split-buy on KC-X

• But George Talbot of the Mobile (Alabama) Press Register says Rep Norm Dicks remains adamantly opposed 

• Former Oz Defence Minister Kim Beazley applauds Gates' proposals for US defense budget

• Peter LaFranchi of Rotorhub writes that more AH-64s may yet be sold to Japan

• The Defense Writers Group releases transcript of breakfast meeting with USAF's 8th Air Force chief

• Boeing consultant Tom Gunn, in the St Louis Post-Dispatch, lobbies for US DOD to trade F-35s and F-22s in for more F-15s and F/A-18s 

• Chile agrees to buy 18 more used F-16s from the Netherlands

• The China Defense Blog ponders Beijing's version of a military stimulus

• Watch Space and Missile Systems Center's Industry Days on YouTube

This was the first time I got scooped by Jagermeister -- or at least by one of the potent German spirit's more public fans.

Boeing didn't tip off reporters about the P-8A first flight event on Saturday morning in Seattle, but they didn't have to. The Tweet above alerted anyone paying attention on Twitter 10 hours before the T-1 test aircraft got airborne. The same Tweet-er also was the first person in any medium to post a picture of the first flight.

That was soon followed by video footage from multiple angles posted on You Tube. The example below is one of the better angles. The moment of lift-off was also well-chronicled with photos on Flickr, such as this one. 

John Hamre is the president and CEO of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. (CSIS) He also is the former deputy secretary of defense for William Cohen.

On 23 April, Hamre introduced a panel of experts to discuss the future of the Lockheed Martin F-22. But he opened his remarks with a fairly passionate defense for lobbying. He acknowledged that his pro-lobbying views could make him a target for critics. Lobbying is never a very popular activity, but has been especially under attack recently.

• Short-timer and chief Pentagon weapons buyer John Young vents to reporters about the US Air Force's UAV spending, DOD's ethics regulations, the US Army's fee structure on Future Combat Systems, and the overall inefficiency of the weapon's buying process
  

• Meanwhile, William Matthews of Defense News writes that Young's successor, Harvard professor Ashton Carter, has been confirmed by the Senate

• And Eric Palmer of Worldwide War Pigs says good riddance 

• Separately, David Pugliese of the Ottawa Citizen's Defense Watch blog writes that Canada's deal for CH-47 Chinooks could be in financial trouble 

• Galrahn at Information Dissemination blog speculates that China may soon start major work on the ex-Varyag aircraft carrier  

• Bradley Perrett of Aviation Week & Space Technology writes about the Chinese Navy's requirement for a super-cruising new fighter

• Wendy Post of the Owego (NY) Times Shamrock writes that the proposed VH-71 and CSAR-X program cancellations have already hit home for Lockheed's Owego-based workforce

• Jonathan Martin of Politico writes that the White House is sorry to New York City for buzzing the Statue of Liberty with a 747 chased by two F-16s

Lockheed Martin will build a demonstrator airship with a massive radar system called the Integrated Sensor is Structure (ISIS) under a $400 million contract awarded today by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

While I write the rest of the news story, please peruse the ISIS program overview that DARPA provided to contractors last month.

Hint: ISIS basically would be a combination E-3 AWACS/E-8C Joint STARS that can remain at 65,000ft for several years. So, not bad technology. If it works.

• Sukhoi test pilot survives, but one of two Su-35 prototypes bursts into flames on takeoff. Two English-language reports are available here and here
  

• Bettina Chavanne of Aerospace Daily says US Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) program is delayed at least two years to conduct analysis of alternatives

• The DEW Line's YouTube channel has full video of Gen Norton Schwartz's speech on Friday about US Air Force's role in irregular warfare. Watch Part 1 and Part 2

•  Strategy Page is not imporessed with US Air Force's new idea to buy AT-6s for counter-insurgency role
  

• Iraqi Air Force celebrates 78th birthday

• Terrence Kelly, et al, of Rand, call for US Marshals Service to form battalion-sized force of peacekeeping super-cops, with the capability to deploy anywhere within 30 days 

• John Tirpak of Air Force magazine's Daily Report reports US Air Force chief admits mea culpa on next-generation bomber snafu

• Lockheed-shareholding Catholic nun warns company to back off weaponizing space
  

US Air Force chief Gen Norton Schwartz appeared this morning at the Brookings Institute to address the USAF's role in irregular warfare.

During the question and answer period, I asked Schwartz if the USAF needs a different aircraft for the irregular warfare mission, and also if he could specifically address the manned turboprop class, such as the Hawker Beechcraft AT-6 Texan II and the Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano, as a candidate.

The video above is his response. Apologies in advance for the low volume.

Read the related news story.

Photo below is the Hawker Beechcraft AT-6 Texan II.

Italian Air Force Tornado nearly scrapes the runway on low, low-pass (hat tip: G2 Solutions)

Richard Aboulafia solves France's A400M crisis and US Air Force's tanker quandary

Michel Merluzeau of G2 Solutions also reveals first P-8A painted in US Navy colors

Loren Thompson of Lexington Institute says USAF generals feel betrayed

 

Joe Sestak is a retired vice admiral and now a Pennsylvania congressman. Saxby Chambliss is a senator from Georgia, where the F-22 is assembled.

They did not actually debate each other at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) this morning. Chambliss spoke first in favor of extending F-22 production, then left for a Senate vote while Sestak argued against it.

It will be several more weeks before the F-22 debate in Congress in earnest. The Department of Defense is not expected to deliver its final budget request until at least mid-May. But the remarks by Sestak and Chambliss provide a worthy preview of the arguments on both sides.

One note about the technology. It was my first time using the Vado flip cam I bought yesterday. Unfortunately, I didn't receive my tripod until tonight. The video is shaky and unfocused in places. Please bear with me this one time.

• NRC Handelsblad reports that a plan to buy two F-35 test aircraft could fracture the ruling government coalition in the Netherlands (Thanks Peter!)

• Paul Kane of The New York Times op-ed page proposes disbanding the US Air Force

• The Government Accountability Office reveals that cost estimates for the HC-144 maritime patrol aircraft have jumped by about one-third and the original cost estimates to acquire six HC-130Js were set at absurdly low levels

• The Ottawa Citizen's David Pugliese blogs about how the C-27J's new struggles in the US budget could affect a Canadian acquisition program

• Eric Palmer of Worldwide War Pigs blog reports that Denmark's fighter contract is delayed

• Colin Clark of DoDBuzz says US Air Force is theorizing that new arms control policies postponed budget to launch next generation bomber

• Mackenzie Eaglen of the Heritage Foundation lays out an alternative path to reforming defense priorities

• Sven Ortmann of Defence and Freedom blog proposes an infantry application for Spike missile

• F-35 finally arrives at Eglin AFB after one-day delay

My colleague Jon Ostrower, of FlightBlogger, and I are tag-teaming coverage of the Boeing 1Q earnings call at 10:30. Jon will handle the commercial stuff, and I'll talk about the defense side.

More links:

• Boeing webcast link
• Liveblog on FlightBlogger
  

• Roxana Tiron of The Hill newspaper reveals new threat to US Army C-27J program
  

• Sergei Balmasov of Pravda cries foul over China's new two-seat J-11BS fighter

• Strategy Page critiques MV-22's endurance in Iraq

• Bruce Rolfsen of Air Force Times reports morale crisis strikes USAF's CSAR team

• RAND publishes scary analysis about USAF's aging aircraft problem

• Graham Warwick of Ares blog writes about DARPA's latest airborne sensor project

• Air Force magazine's Daily Report says nuclear-tipped cruise missile retirement is pacing item for next-generation bomber

• Jon Grevatt of Jane's writes that India's nascent private defense sector is protected from global economic crisis
  

• Vladimir Anokhin of Pravda says Russia's lack of investment in its defense industrial base could stifle defense export success in Latin America

Lockheed Martin jobs in Marietta, Georgia, could be safe even if the Department of Defense closes the F-22 production line in early 2012.

A strong "uptick" in business for the C-130J and C-5M production lines in Marietta may offset any losses caused by the F-22's loss, says Bruce Tanner, Lockheed's chief financial officer, who briefed market analysts today about the company's first quarter earnings.

C-130J output is expected to double by the end of the year, he says, with further increases expected in the future. Meanwhile, the C-5M production line is also transitioning to full-rate production.

Lockheed and its suppliers have made saving jobs a huge part of its strategy to push for extending F-22 production beyond the program of record of 187 fighters. But Lockheed executives have told market analysts a different story since November. Ralph Heath, chief of the aeronautics division, delivered a similar message to market analysts on 20 November.

• Remember when the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) revealed the F-35 systems were vulnerable to hackers? Well, they were right. The hackers compromised data for the F-35's autonomic logistics system on non-classified networks. Classified data is still safe.

• For the record, London's Telegraph newspaper reports that China denies responsibility for F-35 hacks

• Andrea Shalal-Esa of Reuters reports that lawmakers don't buy Gates' "split buy" math on KC-X
  

• Amy Butler of Aviation Week & Space Technology reveals army helicopter pilot shortage

• Saurabh Joshi of StratPost says India's MOD back-tracks on Dassault Rafale ejection

• Blogger Dave Majumdar explains Sikorsky X2 project

• Bill Sweetman of Ares connects the dots between mystery UCAV in Afghanistan and secretive Desert Prowler aircraft
  

• Molly McMillin of the Wichita Eagle says Kansas is ready to start flying UAVs

• Iran Air Force no-shows national air parade 

• Associated Press says Venezuela has created military unit to operate new Russian surface to air missile systems

[UPDATE: The successful T-38 kill occurred within the last three months at Holloman AFB, NM, says Lt Col Lloyd Addison, chief of the USAF's T-38 sustainment office.

That means the aircraft is from the same black-painted T-38 unit that escorted F-117s before they were retired. Now, the Holloman T-38's provide proficiency training for F-22 pilots, among other tasks. It seems likely that an experienced F-22 pilot was in the cockpit of the T-38.]

The facts are a bit sketchy here. This clip was posted to YouTube on 18 April by an anonymous user named "d43e49". The video identifies the attacking aircraft as a T-38, but it's not confirmed by anything shown within the clip. At the 35-sec mark, the F-22's shape is clearly visible as it emerges above the target sight after the kill.

As far as I know, this is the first video clip of a simulated F-22 shootdown to reach the public domain. That is newsworthy by itself. Let's also be very clear: a single simulated kill without context says nothing meaningful about the F-22's dogfighting or aerial prowess. Even an EA-18G can apparently get lucky once.

If a T-38 was really involved, then congratulations to the pilot. Your are either absurdly lucky or insanely skilled.

• While Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports disagreements with Lockheed Martin are holding up F-35 purchase, the Jerusalem Post says the Israeli Air Force is reviewing specifications for the F-15 Silent Eagle
  
• Indian aerospace blogger Saurabh Joshi confirms and dissects reports of the Dassault Rafale's ejection from the Indian multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA) bidding 
• John Tirpak and Michael Sirak at AFA Daily Report reveal that the US Air Force hasn't given up on Next Generation Bomber funding or the combat search and rescue mission
• Graham Warwick at Aviation Week says Embraer picked right moment to launch KC-390
  
• Strategy Page breaks down the JF-17, and the China Defense Blog reports where it will be based
  
• Bruce Rolfsen at Air Force Times writes about new plans to replace T-38Cs
• Marcus Weisgerber at Inside the Air Force (subcription only) says new study shows retiring C-5s and buying more C-17s won't save money
  

Not since Maverick personally massacred the Libyan Air Force while massaging his inner demons has a fictional air combat duel been so one-sided. Thanks to my colleague Flightblogger for sending me this video.

Fast forward to the 4-minute mark.

The clever animators at Sukhoi Industries show how three SU-30s can take on B-52s, E-3Cs and -- strangely enough -- Eurofighter Typhoons. (Apparently, NATO's A-team of B-2s and F-22s were busy somewhere else. Probably bombing China.) Unlike Top Gun, the animation displays the real tactics behind modern air to air combat, where a combination of radar, datalinks, jammers and beyond visual range missiles are as important as dogfighting skills. 

• John Tirpak of Air Force Magazine writes that the USAF military requirement remains 243 F-22s
• On Ares blog, Robert Wall of AW&ST ponders what's wrong with Dassault's Rafale after yet another export rejection
  
• Antonie Boessenkill of Defense News, in Rio de Janeiro, describes Denel's technology transfer work with the A-Darter missile
• Jon Grevatt of Jane's breaks down China's $60 billion modernization bill 
• Flight's Siva Govindasamy reveals Taiwan's plans to expedite UH-60 purchase
• Eric Palmer blogs at Worldwide War Pigs that the F-35 may not be so common after all 
• DODBuzz.com wins Webbie
• Danger Room's Noah Shachtman explains why the Google model and the Army model don't mesh
• Examiner blogger Dave Majumder goes behind the scenes at Combat Archer
  

A Class A safety mishap is defined as any aircraft incident causing death, disabling injury or more than $1 million in damage. Get ready for a lot of Class As.

Examiner.com's military and civil aircraft blogger Dave Majumdar reports today that an F-22 bumped into a Canadian CF-18 on the runway at Tyndall AFB last week. According to the official description, the collision was the runway equivalent of a low-speed fender-bender. But the repair will cost taxpayers slighly more than $1 million. Like a rapidly growing number of military aircraft with nine-digit price tags, F-22s won't be cheap to fix.

The most important thing about Skunk Works' latest X-plane -- the Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA) -- is its raw material. The fact that ACCA is a cargo aircraft is secondary. The modified Fairchild Dornier 328Jet is really a flying laboratory for a new type of out-of-autoclave composite material, which is specifically called MTM45-1. 

Unlike other composites resins, MTM45-1 is not cured in an autoclave. Such hulking, nitrogen-fueled chambers roast and pressurize lesser composite resins into material with the strength of hardened steel. MTM45-1, by contrast, can be cured at temperatures around 150-degrees F.

But there is an important catch. Even the strongest of today's out-of-autoclave composites  remain too weak to pass a key modern standard for aircraft certification called compression after impact strength. New out-of-autoclave resins that match the compression properties of autoclave-cured composites are still at least a decade away.

But that's all right with the ACCA program. The aircraft is, after all, an X-plane, or experimental aircraft. It should be a decade ahead of its time.

For more about ACCA, I am writing a full-length feature with the details about the program and related technologies. It will be published in Flight International's special preview issue for the Paris Air Show.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates delivered a speech defending his budget recommendations this morning at the Air University at Maxwell AFB. It was the same event where Gates nearly a year ago launched his slash-and-burn campaign against entrenched USAF attitudes, saying that negotiating budgetary priorities with service leaders was like "pulling teeth".

The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye may have been victimized in last year's budget process. Whether the program was really in trouble was, at best, ambiguous. But Congress slashed the program's budget by one-third anyway for both Fiscal 2009 and 2010. Those seemingly arbitrary cuts not only halted the program's momentum, but also delayed the in-service date by at least a year and dramatically raised unit costs per aircraft. 

That context helps explain a bizarre earmark request that appeared last week. Most earmarks seek to add something to the budget. But Corrine Brown, a Jacksonville, Florida-based congresswoman, submitted a request to support whatever amount is proposed by the president's budget. The E-2D is made near Jacksonville. Brown's message is clear: This time, don't raid the E-2D budget to pay someone else's bill.

The Boeing P-8A, a maritime patrol aircraft, has been offered so far to Australia, Canada and India, with the latter being the most interested to date.

Boeing also has previously described the global market for the heavily modified 737-800 as primarily the countries currently operating the Lockheed P-3C, which the P-8A replaces. But the market appears to be a bit broader than even that.

A new job ad posted on Boeing's web site last month seeks a VP for business development in Riyadh. The duties cover supporting a range of weapon systems Boeing has already sold to the Kingdom, including the F-15, AH-64 and military versions of the 707; plus others Boeing has already announced plans to market to the Saudis, including the C-17; and, finally, the undisclosed-until-now need for a P-8 sales rep in Riyadh.

Hawker Beechcraft delivered the first brand new MC-12W Liberty aircraft to the US Air Force last week. The aircraft has been transferred to L-3 Communications facility in Waco, Texas, for further modifications. The USAF is buying a fleet of up to 37 MC-12W manned tuboprops. At the urging of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, USAF leaders last May launched the effort -- codenamed Project Liberty -- to relieve a heavily-tasked force of manned and unmanned airborne assets used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Michael Donley, Secretary of the Air Force, and Gen Norton Schwartz, chief of staff, have finally explained how the US Air Force advised Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to halt production of the F-22 after 189 aircraft (minus three losses).

The duo published an op-ed today in The Washington Post. Here are the two most relevant paragraphs.

Based on different warfighting assumptions, the Air Force previously drew a different conclusion: that 381 aircraft would be required for a low-risk force of F-22s. We revisited this conclusion after arriving in office last summer and concluded that 243 aircraft would be a moderate-risk force. Since then, additional factors have arisen.

First, based on warfighting experience over the past several years and judgments about future threats, the Defense Department is revisiting the scenarios on which the Air Force based its assessment. Second, purchasing an additional 60 aircraft to get to a total number of 243 would create an unfunded $13 billion bill just as defense budgets are becoming more constrained.

Reading this explanation raises as many questions as it answers. The USAF apparently isn't revisiting its assessment; the DOD is. So that means the USAF still thinks its assessment remains valid, right? If the USAF has not already re-assessed the basis for a moderate-risk force of 243 aircraft, how can its leadership advise Gates to shut down F-22 production?

Russia's answer to the Lockheed Martin F-22 -- the Sukhoi T-50 prototype -- isn't expected to fly for several months. Conceived under the optimistically-named Promising Aircraft System for Tactical Aviation, or PAK-FA, program, the T-50 will reportedly pack F-22-like stealth, speed and advanced avionics into a similarly F-22-like large airframe.

PAK-FA was understood to be Russia's answer to both the F-22 and the F-35, but that exclusive status may be about to change.

Alexey Federov, the head of the United Aircraft Corporation, which is sort of like Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman combined, has recently disclosed interest in building a "lightweight" fifth-generation fighter after completing the PAK-FA.

Consider this interview with the Russian-language newspaper Vedomosti, dated 26 March: 

Q: Do we not put our position in the market in jeopardy by the end of the next decade if we have no basic fighter? The Chinese have made their own with our help.

A: I fully agree that Russia needs a light fighter - both for the world market, and for its own air force. But due to limited resources, we first decided to concentrate on the heavy fifth-generation fighter. Incidentally, the Americans went the same way, first with the F-22. This question requires a detailed discussion with the military. I hope that we come to create the fifth-generation lightweight fighter.

Translation by Google, with editing.

Darren Lake, of Shephard's Unmanned Vehicles magazine, reported yesterday that he has obtained a photo showing a mysterious new aircraft operating in Afghanistan. The UV staff published an artist's drawing of the photo (above).

Mystery UAV operating in Afghanistan

By Darren Lake

...

Amongst the distinctive features of the type is the 'fat' wing chord, and a large central fuselage fairing. The aircraft engine nozzle is the same half moon shape as the Lockheed P175 Pole Cat, but the wing is not cranked on its trailing edge like the Pole Cat is.

The fuselage fairing could support a large squared off intake, but is more likely to house a large satellite communications and sensor mix. Two large blisters either side of the central fairing are likely to the intakes for a single turbofan engine.

...

The large doors inboard of the main landing gear may be bomb bay doors, indicating a strike capability for the type.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates: Bring back the C-17!

FlightGlobal.com visitors are speaking, and, so far, they want strategic airlifters to survive more than they want tactical fighters, presidential helicopters, combat search and rescue helicopters and the "chrome plated flying laser turd", as Jon Stewart put it. (Sorry, TSAT. It's looking bad.) 

To cast your ballot, visit the FlightGlobal.com home page. The poll is on top of the right column. Voting stops on 16 April.

As the maker of the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper, Thomas Cassidy wants to make it clear that General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc's (GA-ASI) production system isn't broken. "We have never have had a production problem," says Cassidy, president of GA-ASI. "We sometimes have a problem delivering the airplanes." But those delivery issues are caused by bottlenecks at the US Air Force's flight test ranges rather than in GA-ASI's factory, he says.

It's a sensitive issue for Cassidy. GA-ASI's manufacturing capacity has been questioned repeatedly during the past year. When I noted that even Michael Wynne -- the ousted Secretary of the Air Force -- criticized GA-ASI's production system in a USA Today article, Cassidy quickly fired back a sharp retort.

Memo to Wyatt Cenac: The F-22 does not "hover in place".

Let's think about this. Since Monday, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has called for checking F-22 production, trimming F/A-18E/F orders, retiring hundreds of F-15s and F-16s, and -- egads! -- equating fighters with the likes of unmanned Predators and Reapers.

Gates wants to fundamentally change the preeminence of the tactical fighter community on the Pentagon priority list, which has somehow managed to sustain five active production lines throughout most of the last decade in the USA alone.

Some are no doubt applauding Gates' proposals as a long-overdue course correction. Others will think it is a risky -- and perhaps unprecedented -- gamble with the nation's future security. Of course, many in Congress will view the debate purely as a jobs issue.

Here's our magazine's news feature for next week about Gates' proposals for tacair. We wanted to be careful to avoid hyperbole, but at the same time not ignore a potentially historic call for the structural reform of the world's largest tactical fighter fleet.

• USA proposes structural change for tactical air fleet

What is it about defense contractors and weird promotional videos anyway? Here's Northrop Grumman Technical Services' latest promo, which the company uploaded on YouTube last week. Who are these guys, indeed.

At the end of my interview yesterday with Thomas Cassidy, president of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI), I asked about what was happening with the Predator C, the jet-powered and reportedly stealthy successor to the Predator/Reaper family.

"It flew last weekend," he said.

GA-ASI has been internally developing the Predator C since 2005, keeping its performance, design and progress a mostly well-kept secret. It was supposed to fly for the first time last fall, but technical issues and US FAA-imposed certification reviews kept it grounded until early April.

The US Air Force is looking for a next-generation unmanned aerial system to replace the MQ-1 Predator, but the timing is uncertain. The USAF has withdrawn a request for information issued to industry last year, and there's been no word about its future.

Of course, Cassidy's GA-ASI has never let delays in the acquisition process stop him before. It appears the Predator C is moving forward with or without the USAF. Consider this press release issued last week by Brian Bilbray, a California congressman. He has requested to earmark $26 million for Predator C in the next appropriations bill.

The Pentagon announced 31 F/A-18s were inserted in the FY10 budget, but this disguised major changes in the procurement profile for both F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers.

The FY10 proposal includes eight F/A-18Es, one F/A-18F and 22 EA-18Gs, for a total of 31.

That compares to the USN's baseline plan to buy a total of 22 F/A-18E/Fs and 20 EA-18Gs.

It's not immediately clear how that impacts the USN's multi-year procurement deal with Boeing. It was my impression that the MYP deal includes penalties if purchases in any one year fall below a certain minimum, which I thought was 42. Checking on this ...

UPDATE w/ NAVAIR comments: "Specific F/A-18 procurement quantities by aircraft variant cannot be addressed until the FY 2010 budget is submitted to the Congress later this Spring and becomes part of the public record. The program of record remains 506 aircraft, and we are on track to reach that goal by 2012. We continue to review a range of options to mitigate the strike fighter gap including extending the service life of legacy F/A-18 Hornets, reviewing F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets procurement quantities and accelerating the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.  That said, no decision has been made, and again, we cannot discuss the mix of aircraft procurements until the President's budget is delivered to Congress." 

The Pentagon has released the entire video of the press conference yesterday with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. You can also read the full transcript.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates dropped a few bombshells yesterday, but none bigger than in this exchange with Bloomberg reporter Tony Capaccio:

GATES: The military advice that I got was that there is no military requirement for numbers of F-22s beyond the 187. 

 

Capaccio: What about the Air Force advice? They've been badgering you with all sorts of analysis that they need 60 more.

 

GATES: That was their advice as well.

 

Capaccio: Excuse me. It was their advice as well that --

 

GATES: Yes.

 

Capaccio: -- that you didn't need more than 187?

 

GATES: Yes.

 

Capaccio: Really? Okay.

I have a follow-up question. Mr. Gates, are you sure that advice came from the US Air Force, or perhaps some other country's air force? 

Let's face it, the USAF hasn't exactly been bashful over the past two decades about its budget-lust for F-22s. I've asked the USAF press desk for a comment about Gates' statement, but they're referring all questions on this issue back to the Office of Secretary of Defense.

But the current leadership of the air force is hand-picked by Gates, and their public statements about the F-22 do not seem to contradict the boss's statement yesterday. In July, Chief of Staff Gen Norton Schwartz testified in a Congressional hearing that the USAF needed more F-22s than 183, but less than its then-standing requirement for 381.

Gates is recommending buying a total of 187 F-22s (although presumably minus one because of the crash last month). Technically, 187 (or 186) is more than 183, so Schwartz may have actually advised Gates to halt production at 187 without contradicting his previous statement.

But does anyone really believe that?

Being ignored is not so bad sometimes. The US Marine Corps probably won't complain about being mostly left out of Fiscal 2010 budget roll-out today.

True, the USMC lost the VH-71 presidential helicopter. But other services lost the weapon systems most vital to their identity. The US Army lost every ground vehicle in Future Combat Systems program. The US Navy lost the DDG-1000. The US Air Force lost the F-22, the C-17, Transformational Satellite Communications and the combat search and rescue helicopter (ouch).

The US DOD today released new B-roll of Lockheed Martin F-22s in flight.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has recommended halting F-22 production at 186 aircraft, re-starting KC-X competition this summer, canceling CSAR-X, accelerating F-35 and scrapping TSAT, among other notable budget decisions. Get ready for a very interesting summer in Washington DC.

Read Gates' full statement here.

Please tune in at 1:30 today as Secretary of Defense Bob Gates unveils the 2010 DOD Budget.

Northrop Grumman rolled out the Orange County Chopper-designed motorcycle variant of the B-2 in January, but is rolling it out again for TV next week.

(No word on whether the stealth bike -- lamely named the "Spirit of Innovation" -- is invisible on speed radar.)

The making of the bike will be aired on the season premier of Orange County Choppers on April 9. The bike will also appear at air shows, industry events and military bases throughout the year.

The DEW Line is celebrating a record-breaking March for traffic, breaking the 100,000 page load barrier for the first time, according to StatCounter.com. My thanks first to all of my readers and also to some generous links from Wired's Danger Room, Popular Mechanics, the New York Times blog, Aviation Week's Ares and Gizmodo.

Strangely, I was technically on vacation for the first half of the month. Maybe I should take more time off.