December 2009 Archives

The US Army wants to send an optionally-manned hybrid airship to Afghanistan (see today's news article). The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is experimenting with a lighter-than-air replacement for JSTARS and AWACS (see April blog post), which I know enjoys high level support from the US Air Force. And, not to be outdone, the US Navy foresees a future where entire battalions are shipped in toto by airship (see recent NAVAIR presentation below).

 

Thanks to the English-language Russia Today news service for posting this great video of the Mi-26 sling-loading a battle-damaged AS532 Cougar in Afghanistan. You don't see this every day.

The past decade has not been kind to all-new military helicopter programs. I can only think of one -- the unarmed, civil-certified UH-72 Lakota -- that has turned out okay. But the ARH-70, VH-71 and CSAR programs blew up after barely getting started. The H-1 upgrades program lives on, thanks mostly to the US Marine Corps' tolerance for performance downgrades, cost overruns and schedule delays.

As I reported on Flightglobal.com earlier today, the US Air Force is again trying its luck with buying helicopters. This time it wants to replace its UH-1Ns with an off the shelf helicopter. Some may recall a similar strategy for the CSAR contract, when the USAF tried to replace the HH-60 with any of three off-the-shelf options: Boeing HH-47, Lockheed Martin VH-71 or Sikorsky HH-92. The USAF selected option the first option, which prompted then-Chief of Staff Gen Michael Moseley to publicly critize his own acquisition department. Let's hope the common vertical lift support program is more successful.

Lockheed Martin confirms the BF-1 -- an F-35 flight test aircraft -- yesterday ended a 33-day, post-ferry hiatus, finally logging its first flight from the US Navy test center at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Maryland. The video above shows when the F-35 first arrived at Pax River on 15 November.

The short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (STOVL) variant's pre-Christmas sortie came as slight surprise, as Lockheed passed word only two days ago that BF-1's next flight may not come for another week. It was not immediately clear if yesterday's flight counted towards the roughly 12-sortie-series required to complete the first vertical landing, a long-awaited milestone event for the program.

Lockheed Martin confirms its original flight test aircraft for the F-35, barely three years old, has been officially retired. The AA-1 flight test article, overweight by 5,000lb compared to the current design, is parked at China Lake Naval Air Station following its 91st sortie. It will soon start a second, unfortunately brief career as a live-fire target, allowing the F-35 to complete a few more test points at the expense of AA-1's rightful place as a museum centerpiece.  

Back in 2005 two Flight colleagues -- Brendan Sobie and Andrew Doyle -- broke the story that China's Xian Aircraft Corp was developing a four-jet freighter sized between a C-130 and a C-17.

Well, four years later, the always fantastic China Military Aviation site has posted the first images of the Y-20. Does anything about this model strike you as, you know, familiar? It's perhaps worth noting that a California jury in July convicted Dongfan Chung, a former Boeing employee, of selling secrets about the C-17, among other things, to ... guess who?

According to the Chinese web site, the Y-20 will weigh more than 400,000lb, placing the transport in an interesting gap between the 585,000lb C-17 and the roughly 311,000lb A400M.

I had a scheduled interview with Lt Gen David Deptula this morning, so I asked the US Air Force deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconaissance for his thoughts about Predator-gate (aka, the Wall Street Journal's scoop yesterday that insurgents have hacked Predator video feeds using $26 scanners).

It was quickly very clear that Deptula doesn't think this is a news story, or worthy of a conversation for that matter. Here's a quick soundbite: "We are talking about the interception of signals that are broadcast over the air -- duh."

Northrop Grumman KC-45 partner EADS North America showed new video of the Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) during a press conference last week. They kindly provided me the video. Now we can decide: which potential KC-X bidder has released the better B-roll? (And, of course, should this be factored into the US Air Force's evaluation of the 373 mandatory requirements, or 94 nice-to-haves?)

A330 MRTT



KC-7A7

The US Air Force has quietly posted an online fact sheet for the RQ-170 Sentinel (aka Beast of Kandahar), but it is disappointing: no specifications, few facts and, alas, no picture.

The full text:

RQ-170 SENTINEL

Fact Sheet Tool  Printable Fact Sheet

Mission
The RQ-170 is a low observable unmanned aircraft system (UAS) being developed, tested and fielded by the Air Force. It will provide reconnaissance and surveillance in support of the joint forces commander.

Background
The Air Force's RQ-170 program leverages the Lockheed Martin Advanced Development Programs (ADP) and government efforts to rapidly develop and produce a low observable UAS. The RQ-170 will directly support combatant commander needs for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to locate targets.

The RQ-170 is flown by Air Combat Command (ACC), 432nd Wing at Creech Air Force Base, Nev., 30th Reconnaissance Squadron at Tonopah Test Range, Nev.

Point of Contact
Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, Directorate of Public Affairs, 1690 Air Force Pentagon, Washington, D.C. 20030-1690;  703-695-0640.

December 2009

Arnold Engineering Development Center has released a very short video showing a scaled F-35 model inside the 16-foot transonic wind tunnel. It's the first time I've seen any footage of the F-35's wind tunnel tests. This also means that AEDC has recently launched a YouTube channel, which already includes clips of the F119 engine and Ares rocket. More please!

Thanks to Virginian-Pilot producer Brian Clark for an excellent video.

At the Advanced Tactical Leadership Course at Al Dhafra Air Base, six F-22s apparently faced off against F-16 Block 60s and Mirage 2000-9s, presumably both operated by the United Arab Emirates. If the F-22s also sparred with French Air Force Rafales and Royal Air Force Typhoons, which also participated in the exercise, the pilot does not say. But there were reports last month that the F-22's were withdrawn from such sorties at the last minute.

In the judgment of this pilot, the F-22s are also now ready for combat duty. Of course, technically, the F-22 has been operational since late 2005, but let's not be picky.

The timing of the first vertical landing for the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter seems to defy schedules even more than its lift fan defies gravity.

Gen James Conway, commandant of the US Marine Corps and the F-35B's biggest customer, let slip yesterday that the jump-jet's critical first vertical landing event could happen as late as June, which -- depending on which schedule you start with -- is more than a year late.

Conway's possible confession came yesterday during an hour-long question and answer session at the Pentagon. On the video below, Conway makes a comment at the 1:22 mark that seems to contradict Lockheed Martin, whose spokesman told me on Monday that the vertical landing event could occur as soon as January.



"I still fully expect to get an invitation in the spring of next year to go watch the first vertical flight at [Patuxent] River, and if that happens -- again, the contractors and the program manager tell me -- we will be generally on the schedule that they think we need to follow," Conway says.

I asked the Marine Corps press desk to clarify the meaning of the Commandant's statement. The USMC spokesman told me that Conway understands the vertical landing event could occur at any time between now and the end of May.

Conway strongly emphasizes that he accepts Lockheed's word that the F-35B will be ready to enter service on schedule, which means before September 30, 2012.   

F135 engine maker Pratt & Whitney yesterday released video of the first short takeoff and vertical landing test aircraft arriving at Patuxent River naval air base on November 15. The video shows Lockheed Martin test pilot Jon Beesley describing the event as a "quantum step" forward in the flight test program, promising a series of roughly 12 flights leading to a vertical landing would begin "essentially tomorrow".

One month later, BF-1 remains parked on the ground. Meanwhile, a Lockheed spokesman says, the vertical landing event has slipped from December to January. It was previously scheduled for last August, which itself was delayed from the original schedule.

Lockheed says the delay is due to a series of repairs. A fuel valve broke during the ferry flight. Replacing the part required removing the engine. Lockheed is using the opportunity to fix two other broken components -- an inlet rake to measure airspeed and an engine instrumentation module. Even so, Lockheed had said the aircraft would fly last week, but that did not happen. Lockheed now expects BF-1 to fly perhaps later this week.

Regardless of BF-1's flight test progress, the F-35 program will face a different kind of test tomorrow. The Senate Armed Services Committee is holding a hearing on the findings on the F-35 Joint Estimating Team, which reportedly warned the program faces more delays and cost overruns.

It's also almost time to bid farewell to the AA-1 flight test aircraft, the non-weight-optimized design that has recorded 90 test sorties since debuting two years ago. Flight 91, scheduled later this week, will ferry AA-1 from Edwards AFB to China Lake, where it will be destroyed to complete live fire testing.

The US has the AGM-86, Russia has the KH-55 and China now has the CJ-10K.

The Chinese Military Aviation blog (.cn domain) on Saturday posted the above photo of the CJ-10K aloft under the wing of an H-6 bomber. The blog says the missile's range is between 1,500km and 2,500km.

The photo appears after China unveiled the ground-launched CJ-10 land attack cruise missile in the October 1 parade marking the 60th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army Air Force. The weapon is reportedly intended for attacks on a carrier battle group.

Okay, no more MQ-X talk about the RQ-170 Sentinel.

I interviewed USAF Col Eric Mathewson this morning after he spoke on a panel for an Army unmanned aircraft system (UAS) conference. Mathewson is the USAF's director of the UAS task force. His job is to bet the ball rolling on the MQ-X program, which could start replacing Predators and Reapers in a few years with a more automated and flexible platform.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) has unveiled a stealthy jet-powered UAS called Avenger in anticipation of an MQ-X requirement. The RQ-170 also is a stealthy jet-powered UAV. So it seems fair to ask Mathewson if MQ-X is really necessary if the RQ-170 can do the job.

Surprisingly, Mathewson answered my question very clearly. Although he couldn't speak about the RQ-170's abilities, the aircraft is "different" than what the USAF desires for a next-generation platform. "MQ-X is completely separate from RQ-170," he said. For one thing, the USAF isn't sure how much stealth it needs for MQ-X.

The USAF isn't even sure yet if MQ-X should be powered by a jet or a turboprop, he said. That detail will be decided in the year-long analysis of alternatives that is set to begin soon. Mathewson openly entertained the idea of developing an aircraft that could swap out jet and turboprop engines.

But ... is that even possible? I asked.
 
"I don't know. I'm not engineer. You ask me, and I say we can do anything. But you have to push the envelope," Mathewson said.

Back on the RQ-170, something about the revelation of a secretly-developed aircraft turns adults into school kids, yours truly included. "Isn't it cool?" Mathewson asked.

I agreed. But I noted it would be even cooler if the USAF would release a clear photo of the Sentinel. All we have in the public domain are grainy shots taken from a distance, like a tabloid shot of a celebrity on holiday with their children.

"Have you asked public affairs?" he suggested.

Yes.

"What did they say?"

No.

Alas, Mathewson either couldn't help, or wasn't inclined. On a hunch, I sent an email to the USAF press desk, re-submitting my request for a publishable photo of the Sentinel.

More disappointment.

"At this time the AF is not releasing any photography of the RQ-170," came the quick reply by email.

Oh, well. Maybe next week.

Meanwhile, check out Secret Defense blog's latest post (Google translated version). The author asks whether Lockheed's designers may have been by the Horton Ho229. It seems highly implausible to me, but worth a read.

When General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) unveiled the Avenger last spring, it seemed the entrepreneurial outfit that has made a fortune selling Predators and Reapers to the US Air Force had once again beaten the competition to a lucrative new market: stealthy, jet-powered, tactical-level unmanned aircraft systems.

Well, now we know the US Air Force already has one of those. The Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel not only exists, it appears to be operational in Afghanistan.

My colleague John Croft attended the roll-out of GA-ASI's Guardian maritime patrol UAV on Monday in Palmdale, California. John's cross-country trip was rewarded by a few minutes of rare face time with GA-ASI CEO Tom Cassidy, a man not known for his embrace of the fourth estate. John gingerly broached the subject of the RQ-170.

John: What do you think about the RQ-170 and how do you think that will affect competition for the MQ-X contract? 

Tom: (Silence)

John: ?

Tom: (More silence)

John: So ... what's going on with the Avenger these days?

Tom (paraphrased): The first Avenger is flying, but the second Avenger should be flying in the spring. Nothing else is as capable as the Avenger. "We're hoping the Air Force will embrace it."
 
(Emphasis added.)

This story is why blogs were invented.

A Dutch farmer last year received a claim for 3,500 Euros ($5,175) from the Ministry of Defense.

Why, you may ask?

Because the noise from an F-16 so confused the farmer's cockatoo that the Malaysian member of the parrot family ate its own egg, the Telegraaf newspaper reports today. Apparently, 3,500 Euros is retail these days for a new-born cockatoo.

No word yet on the F-35's potential impact on cockatoo reproduction.

As reported first on Ares and later here, the US Air Force has confirmed the existence of a stealthy unmanned aircraft system called the RQ-170.

Below is the full text of the statement emailed to journalists on Friday evening.

The United States Air Force is developing a stealthy unmanned aircraft system (UAS) to provide reconnaissance and surveillance support to forward deployed Combat Forces.  The RQ-170 Sentinel, a low observable UAS, was built by Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs (ADP).  The fielding of the RQ-170 aligns with Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates' request for increased intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) support to the Combatant Commanders and AF Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz's vision for an increased USAF reliance on unmanned aircraft.  The RQ-170 is flown by Air Combat command (ACC), 432d Wing at Creech AFB, NV, 30th Reconnaissance Squadron at Tonopah Test Range, NV.

Take a good look at the first sentence. Note the use of the term "is developing". Given the ample photograph evidence of the presumed RQ-170 accumulated to date, one might assume the term "has developed" would be more appropriate. It suggests, of course, the aircraft remains in its developmental stage. Both the RQ-4 Global Hawk and RQ-1 Predator were deployed before they were fully developed, so that's not a huge surprise.

The statement also leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Why was a stealthy UAS developed and apparently deployed to Afghanistan in secret? What advantage does a steathy UAS provide in a war against an insurgent force lacking a radar-based air defense system? For that matter, can we be absolutely certain that the RQ-170 is the same as the UAV that has appeared in at least three online photos?

Update 8:17: USAF Fact Sheet says the 30th RS was re-activated on September 1, 2005.

Update 8:11pm: The USAF identifies the RQ-170 belonging to the 30th Reconnaissance Squadron. I have found an Associated Press story, dated March 22, 2006, that says the 30th squadron was established in August 2005. It's not clear how long it has operated the RQ-170, but it raises the possibility the fleet is more than 4 years old.


Aviation Week's David Fulghum and Defense Technology International's Bill Sweetman report today that the mystery UAV spotted in Kandahar is the RQ-170 Sentinel, an unmanned air vehicle manufactured by the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. It apparently was part of the ISR Surge initiated by the US Air Force in mid-2008. I'm not sure how that tracks with reports of the aircraft's presence in Kandahar in 2007. They write:

"The fielding of the RQ-170 aligns with Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates' request for increased intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) support to the Combatant Commanders and Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz's vision for an increased USAF reliance on unmanned aircraft," according to the statement.

The RQ-170 is flown by the 30th Reconnaissance Squadron at Tonopah Test Range, Nev. - home of the F-117 stealth fighter when the program's existence was secret - and falls under Air Combat Command's 432d Wing at Creech Air Force Base, Nev. At Kandahar, the Sentinel was seen operating out of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems' hangar.

R. Jeffery Jeffrey Smith's sources might have been correct. The F-22 that crashed on March 25 could have been practicing an air-to-ground mission, as Smith reported. My blog on August 1 scolding Smith for a seemingly obvious factual error might itself be wrong.

Of course, it wasn't public knowledge until yesterday that Raytheon has converted the AIM-9X into an air-to-ground weapon. So it seems I've uncovered my own error (darn it!).

When the accident investigation report noted the F-22 crashed during a side weapons bay test, it seemed to contradict Smith's report. He called it a ground attack test. The only weapon that fits inside the F-22 side weapons bay is, of course, the AIM-9X.

We now know that the AIM-9X can also be an air-to-ground weapon.

I asked Raytheon earlier this week if the fatal F-22 flight test last March involved the AIM-9X Block 2, which introduces the lock-on-after launch and air-to-surface capabilities. The company said they cannot make any comment about the nature of the F-22 flight test on that day.

If Smith's article was indeed correct, it raises some interesting possibilities for the F-22 as an air-to-ground fighter. I can't imagine that the USAF would employ the F-22's immense firepower to stop a speed boat. But an F-22 firing an air-to-ground version of the AIM-9X presents other possibilities. One of the F-22's core missions is to detect and destroy surface-to-air missile systems. Might the new AIM-9X be useful against such targets, especially against mobile missile launchers?

Perhaps yes, perhaps no.

But it's no longer possible to rule out Smith's sources, who told him the F-22 was conducting an air-to-ground weapons test on that day.

So mea culpa, Jeffrey. I owe you a free beer.

For fighter jocks, it continues to be a long way down to air-to-ground.

Raytheon's AIM-9X Sidewinder, the ultimate in high-tech dogfighting weapons, has been adapted to strike moving targets on the ground or water.

The US Air Force wants the air-to-surface AIM-9X to give the Boeing F-15C a weapon for anything besides a strictly air-to-air mission.

Read Flight's exclusive coverage here.

The Aussies know how to start an air show. Above is YouTube footage of a Royal Australian Air Force F-111 Aardvark kicking off the LIMA 2009 with a fuel dump and a fly-by.

Siva Govindasamy, Flight's Singapore bureau chief, attended the maritime and air show in Langkawi this week, and has filed several hot stories.

News:

• Russia may offer Su-30MKM for Malaysian fighter tender
• Blade, cockpit upgrade may stretch life of Malaysian S-61 Nuri fleet
• Malaysia eyes airborne early warning fleet
• Malaysia's air force revives competition for maritime patrol aircraft

YouTube Video:

• LIMA 2009: Malaysian MiG-29N & Sukhoi Su-30MKM
• LIMA 2009: Singapore F-16 & AH-64
• LIMA 2009: Malaysian PC-7 Mk II
• LIMA 2009: USAF B-52 low-level fly-past

Foreign Policy journal's blog, The Cable, reported earlier this hour about a PR fiasco last month involving POTUS, the F-22 and the backdrop for the TV cameras in an Elmendorf AFB hangar.

When President Obama spoke to troops at Alaska's Elmendorf Air Force Base last month, the unit there parked a shiny new F-22 fighter plane in the hanger. But according to multiple sources, White House aides demanded the plane be changed to an older F-15 fighter because they didn't want Obama speaking in front of the F-22, a controversial program he fought hard to end.

"White House aides actually made them remove the F-22-said they would not allow POTUS to be pictured with the F-22 in any way, shape, or form," one source close to the unit relayed.

Stephen Lee, a public affairs officer at Elmendorf, confirmed to The Cable that the F-22 was parked in the hanger and then was replaced by an F-15 at the White House's behest.

The airmen there took offense to the Obama aides' demand, sources told The Cable, seeing it as a slight to the folks who are operating the F-22 proudly every day. They also expressed bewilderment that the White House staff would even care so much as to make an issue out of the fact that the F-22 was placed in the hanger with the president.

READ MORE

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, questions Secretary of Defense Robert Gates about the KC-X competition. Sessions represents Mobile, Alabama, the site of Northrop Grumman's proposed final assembly center for the KC-45 tanker. Northrop has threatened to withdraw from the competition unless Gates' staff makes several key changes to the request for proposals (RFP).

Northrop Grumman CFO Jim Palmer desperately tried to avoid making news on the KC-X program while appearing this morning in New York at the Credit Suisse First Boston 2009 Aerospace & Defense Conference. Palmer mostly succeeded.

Asked to explain the strategy behind CEO Wes Bush's letter yesterday to the Pentagon, Palmer parried.

"I think first of all we don't intend to negotiate here in public ... We did issue a letter to DOD yesterday that outlined our concerns. They are well aware of those issues. I don't want to comment too much more than what has already been in the press. We will have to wait until the final RFP to make a final decision. Based on where we are today, if there are not any changes it is our conclusion that we can not compete for this program."

But Palmer's Wall Street audience didn't so easily let him off the hook. Northrop's letter took issue with the DOD's plan to make KC-X a firm fixed price contract. So, Palmer's questioner asked, could KC-X be DOD's attempt to adopt a new paradigm for acquisition policy, and could Northrop's rejection be construed as an industry-wide rejection of that policy? Palmer:

"I think you have to ask that question to someone else. I don't know. I can't speak for anyone else. I can only speak for Northrop Grumman."

Still undaunted, a third tanker interlocutor asked how the US Air Force could write requirements that don't favor either one or the other competitor, since both bidders are stuck with offering only existing platforms? Palmer seemed to want to dodge the question initially, but concluded by conceding the point.

"I don't know. In a way, unlike any other development program, where you essentially are desinging from scratch, here we have a program that is based on an existing platform, so to some extent those existing platforms have an impact or govern what you can do with those platforms. So, to a certain extent, yes, it is governed by what you can do with those platforms."

 

Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush today warned that the company will withdraw from the KC-X competition if the Pentagon refuses to make certain changes to the request for proposal.

The letter is posted below and clearly contradicts a story by StreetInsider.com stating that Northrop has already dropped out of the competition.

More on this later ...

[UPDATED: Read Flight's full story.]

German media group Focus reports that Airbus may cancel the A400M after PriceWaterhouseCoopers warned the turboprop-powered airlifter could suffer an $8 billion cost overrun. EADS has brushed off the unsourced report as "speculation". Meanwhile, aerospace journalists are descending upon Seville, Spain, this evening in advance of a pre-first flight press conference scheduled for tomorrow. Flightglobal's defence editor, Craig Hoyle, will be in the crowd. Stay tuned ...

Kandahar's Loch Ness monster has been spotted again. This time an actual photo of the beast was published by French journalist Jean-Dominique Merchet, who writes for the Liberation newspaper, on his Secret Defense blog. We last saw the mystery Kandahar aircraft in a drawing by Shephard's Unmanned Vehicles and a very grainy photo published by Air & Cosmos.

The new photo offers a slightly better view of the nose. Is that a canopy screen above the nose? I wondered in May if this might actually be a manned aircraft, even if it was first sighted on UV.com. If there is a cockpit, where is the air intake for the engine? The half-moon exhaust pipe strikingly resembles the P175 Polecat, a Skunk Works product.

Regardless of how it is piloted, the Kandahar aircraft's existence raises several existential questions: What does it do? Why do you need a stealthy-looking aircraft to spy on Al Qaeda and the Taliban? What's all the secrecy about? While I'm asking, can somebody please get a head-on picture?

[UPDATE: Bill Sweetman, of Ares blog infamy, believes the aircraft is the Skunk Works' Desert Prowler, which would make it a UAV.]