August 2010 Archives

Lockheed Martin has not given up on hybrid airships despite losing a half-billion dollar order two months ago.

The surprisingly detailed marketing video above appeared on Lockheed's YouTube channel last week for the first time.

After the Northrop Grumman/Hybrid Air Vehicles team captured the $517 million contract from the US Army to build the long-endurance, multi-intelligence vehicle (LEMV), I wondered if Lockheed's Skunk Works division would remain in the competition.

Bob Ruszkowski, a system engineer for Skunk Works, assured me last week during an interview at AUVSI that Lockheed remains in the airship market.

TDL: Can you address what happens to P791 and that program now after LEMV contract award. Is there sill a future for the program and the technology?

Ruszkowski: Absolutely. We are exploring opportunities for hybrid airships beyond LEMV. The P791 demonstration aircraft that we flew back in I think it was 2006 still exists. It's still in our hangar. It's available to use again for other demonstrations. And we learned quite a bit from it, and like I said we're exploring other opportunities for hybrid airships. 

Northrop Grumman surprised me at AUVSI last week by revealing that its new hybrid airship -- the long-endurance multi-intelligence vehicle (LEMV) -- is designed to provide the same airlift performance as the Lockheed Martin C-130E Hercules. [Read full story.]

It figures.

There's no shortage of interest in achieving what Lockheed designer Willis Hawkins clearly got so right nearly 60 years ago with the basic Hercules design. The size of the C-130 cargo box has remained static through five evolutions of fighter jet technology, although its propulsion, payload weight and avionics capability has greatly expanded since the early 1950s.

For our special report on military airlift in this week's magazine, I focused on EADS North America's plans to break open the US tactical airlift market with the Airbus A400M. I also wrote about how the C-5M Galaxy is opening eyes in the strategic airlift sector. Meanwhile, my colleague Craig Hoyle breaks down the UK's airlift conundrum.

CONTENTS

• RAF faces tough choices over future air transport fleet
• A400M poised for US market spotlight
• USAF invests in C-5 upgrade

 

I've seen many flight demonstrations before, but never one inside my office. A crew from Aurora Flight Sciences' research and technology laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, yesterday flew the backpack-able Skate UAV inside Flightglobal's newsroom inside the Denver Convention Center. I wasn't in the office at the time, but my co-workers enjoyed the show.

The briefing slide on Thursday morning showed an image of a relay race, with the trailing runner who wore an "Air Force" jersey passing a yellow baton to a "Navy" teammate. It appeared during a press conference on the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance program. Capt Bob Dishman's idea was to illustrate the evolution of the air force Global Hawk into a Navy platform, but at this show it was the perfect symbol of a larger trend.

The baton is now passed to the US Navy to drive the next wave of major advances in military UAV technology. As the US Air Force and US Army seek to consolidate and improve on a fleet acquired almost ad hoc over the last decade, a robust UAV industry packing the halls of the Denver Convention Center now look to the Navy.

The most ambitious requirements for new UAVs come from the maritime service. In the last four months, the Navy has released two requirements seeking UAV technology that currently does not exist. One is a carrier-based UAV that can survive in contested airspace (UCLASS). The second is a ship-based vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that can remain airborne for as long as three days (PSBUAS).

Further coverage on Flightglobal.com:

• US Navy moves to forefront of military UAV future
• Northrop Grumman discloses new details on Fire-X, MUVR
• US Navy wants UCLASS sooner than 2018
• Skunk Works lifts curtain on two new UAV programmes

Photo of Sea Avenger courtesy of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc

Boeing/Insitu confirms the Integrator won the small tactical unmanned aircraft system (STUAS)/Tier II contract three weeks ago despite crashing during a key flight demonstration in front of US Navy and Marine Corps evaluators.
In the competitive demonstrations last year, the first of two Integrator vehicles crashed on takeoff from the system's catapult launcher in front of US Navy and Marine Corps observers, says Bill Clark, Insitu vice president of emerging programmes.
An investigation revealed the air data system became disconnected from the flight control computer on takeoff, Clark says.
Insitu then launched the second Integrator vehicle, which completed the required flight demonstration without incident, he adds.
Clark also strongly believes that a lack of flight testing prior to the demonstration increased the risk of a crash heading into the event staged at Yuma, Arizona.
In the weeks before the demonstration, Insitu had to divert its focus from flight tests to completing a transition to a software programme for Integrator that was certified to the CMMI Level 3 standard, he says.
"We did not have enough hours in our system," he says.
The navy decided to award the contract to Boeing/Insity despite the mishap during the demonstration phase.
This was despite the navy's goal to make technical risk the key factor in the evaluation, followed by past experience of the bidders and cost.
At least two of the other three competitors perhaps fared no better.
At the AUVSI convention last year, an AAI/Aerosonde executive said that he understood that his team's vehicle - the Aerosonde Mk 4.7 - was the only aircraft that did not experience a mishap during the flight demonstrations.The two other bidders for STUAS/Tier II were the Raytheon/Swift Engineering KillerBee-4 and UAS Dynamics Storm.

The US Air Force sacrificed one of its beloved Lockheed Martin F-16s on 19 August to test the flight termination system for the unmanned version of the aircraft that is being developed by Boeing to serve as an aerial target drone. The QF-16 will convert scores of retired F-16A/Bs into targets for live missile tests.

Photo courtesy of US Air Force/Samuel King Jr.

A strategy unveiled by the US Navy three months ago toinstall a stealthy unmanned aircraft system (UAS) aboard aircraft carriers by 2018 may seem ambitious, but the service's top officer wants the capability to arrive even faster.

Lockheed Martin's advanced development programs division -- aka Skunk Works -- has chosen AUVSI to lift the curtain on two previously internal concepts for new unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The multi-purpose long-endurance (MPLE=pronounced "maple") was identified on this blog on Monday, but only by acronym. The artist's concept of the twin-boomed UAV with a high-aspect ratio wing hinted at the aircraft's mission, which Lockheed has now confirmed.


MPLE will challenge the Aurora Flight Sciences' Orion vehicle for a new Air Force Research Laboratory contract to demonstrate a medium-altitude surveillance aircraft that can remain airborne for five days, says Bob Ruszkowski, a Skunk Works systems engineer. Ruszkowski declined to clarify MPLE's propulsion system, although he ruled out a hydrogen-fueled aircraft. MPLE is actually a scaled-down version of a much larger concept design developed by Skunk Works, he adds.

Meanwhile, Skunk Works also described its approach to the US Navy's new requirement for an unmanned, carrier-launched, airborne surveillance and strike (UCLASS) system. A request for information issued by the navy in May called for concepts that were "heavy on the surveillance mission, and light on the strike", Ruszkowski says. Lockheed is waiting for the navy to release a draft request for proposals in October to further clarify the requirements.


Ruszkowski says Skunk Works will leverage technology developed for the RQ-170 Sentinel and the F-35C carrier variant for the UCLASS mission. To illustrate the company's long interest in carrier-based UAVs, Skunk Works unveiled a new photo of a nearly forgotten UAV concept called the multi-role endurance (MRE) UAV (shown above). Flightglobal published a story about the MRE program 10 years ago, using a completely different image for the Lockheed concept. 

Lockheed's MRE concept would have been able to lift a 2,000lb sensor or weapon payload and remain airborne for 12 to 14h, Ruszkowski says.

Photos courtesy of Lockheed Martin

Draganfly is one of the few remote control aircraft companies who have pushed into the market for high-end, unmanned aerial vehicles. I interviewed founder Zenon Dragan about the company's newest product -- the X8 octo-rotor unveiled and flown for the first time yesterday inside the AUVSI exhibit hall. Read the full story here.

Fighter Chart

Feast your eyes on this chart released two months ago by the Congressional Budget Office, which came attached with an alarming note on the blog of CBO director Douglas Elmendorf.

"The Air Force has been spending nearly as much annually to purchase relatively small numbers of F-22 fighter jets and Joint Strike Fighters (JSFs) as it did to purchase much larger numbers of F-15s and F-16s during the 1980s," Elmendorf wrote.

Indeed.

The USAF's purchasing power is declining dramatically over a 30-year period, according to CBO. Adjusted for inflation, the same amount of money -- roughly $6.8 billion in today's dollars -- that was good for 220 jets in 1986 is worth only 80 jets in 2016. In the computer industry, technology becomes cheaper even as the products become more sophisticated. The chart above is another vivid example of how that is not happening in the aerospace and defense industry.

Ever seen an aircraft fly that is designed to be powered by liquid hydrogen? Well, now you have.

Bob Curtin, AeroVironment business development director, revealed video of the 5 August first flight event for the Global Observer (GO), which is designed to remain airborne for several days. US Special Operations Command plans to use the aircraft as a communications relay system.

During the first flight, GO was actually powered only by batteries. The hydrogen propulsion system will be integrated after a few more test flights, Kirtland says.

Lockheed Martin has unveiled a concept for a new unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that appears aimed at the emerging market for a medium-altitude surveillance aircraft with several days of endurance.


A diagram on the exhibit booth yesterday identifies the aircraft by the acronym "MPLE", but does not elaborate. The photo shows the aircraft flying at what appears to be medium altitude over a desert landscape. The turreted sensor appears to be hanging from beneath the nose. The high-aspect ratio wings are bent upwards at the tips for a dihedral angle.


Lockheed's new MAPL design appears reminiscent of the twin-boomed P-38 Lightning, except with a high-aspect ratio for long-endurance flight at slow speed. The P-38 was designed by Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson several years before he founded the Skunk Works organization, which produced the MAPL concept.

Photos by Stephen Trimble

The Kerrar UAV unveiled by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad bears a striking (no pun intended) resemblance to the South African Skua target drone. Flightglobal's Tel Aviv-based correspondent Arie Egozi is reporting that Israeli officials believe the basic design is based on the Skua, with the engine moved to the top of the fuselage and the wing straightened. If true, it will be interesting to find out how the Skua technology matriculated from Cape Town to Tehran, especially given the strong links between the Israeli and South African defense industries. A four-year-old article on Flightglobal, however, may provide a clue. The article says have Skua manufacturer Denel's three export customers for the target drone have "also recently taken to offering use of their Skua systems to third nations as the basis of a training services business".

See photos of Kerrar (top) and Skua (bottom) below.
 

Lockheed Martin Skunk Works has posted a new marketing video featuring the VARIOUS (acronym alert: VTOL advanced reconnaissance insertion organic unmanned system). The video appears on YouTube on the eve of the AUVSI convention in Denver next week, where we expect to see the major UAV manufacturers address the US Navy's emerging requirement for a stealthy, carrier-based surveillance and strike aircraft called UCLASS.

VARIOUS is not a new concept. The fan-in-wing/jet-powered hybrid was originally described as a next generation Fire Scout for the US Marine Corps. The USMC, however, is rethinking whether it needs vertical takeoff capability for a "Group 4"-level UAS. Lockheed may seek to re-apply VARIOUS to the UCLASS program.

Airbus Military has released a new photo showing the A400M lined up next to the Lockheed Martin C-130J and Boeing C-17. The photo was taken last month at RAF Brize-Norton, which is the only base so far destined to house all three heavy Western airlifters still in production. This is the first photo that I am aware of showing all three aircraft grouped side-by-side. 

Photo courtesy Airbus Military

The inadvertent revealing of two new aircraft design concepts offers proof Northrop Grumman is plotting an aggressive new push deeper into the UAV market.



These images of MQ-X and MUVR appeared on a 10-month-old presentation by a Northrop executive to aerospace suppliers in California. The briefing is posted online (see slide 4).

The designs show that Northrop is reaching into its past even as it looks to the future of UAV technology. The MQ-X aircraft's nose and fuselage bears an at least passing resemblance to the Global Hawk family, although the wings and tail are designed for a medium-altitude, multi-purpose mission.

MUVR, meanwhile, borrows the fan-in-wing concept for vertical takeoff thrust that was pioneered by the short-lived Ryan XV-5 Vertiplane (see video below). Northrop actually first revealed a blurry image of MUVR at the 2009 Paris Air Show, but this is the first clear image of the aircraft design.
 

Both concepts are proof that Northrop's 18-month-old advanced technologies shop -- led by former KC-X executive Paul Meyer (also, a former Skunk Works employee -- has been busy.

Lockheed Martin and Raytheon/Boeing have both released video of successful missile launch tests during the technology demonstration phase of the competition for the joint air to ground missile (JAGM) contract. Both test shots were fired from static launchers positioned 16km away from an 8m by 8m target board, which is the maximum range for a helicopter-fired JAGM. Contract award is expected early next year. Meanwhile, you can compare the missiles for yourself:

Lockheed Martin JAGM:



Raytheon/Boeing's JAGM:

A Canadian Forces combat crew captured the first landing of a Boeing C-17 at CFS Alert station in Nunavut Territory -- basically, as close to the North Pole as the C-17 will ever get. A Canadian air force press release notes the C-17 can haul three times the cargo of the C-130. On this trip, however, it appears only one pallet of supplies was unloaded, and it mainly consisted of cans of soda!

During a wide-ranging interview last week with Aurora Flight Sciences chief executive officer and founder John Langford, a single question set off a long and provocative monologue by the MIT-trained aerodynamicist and UAV pioneer that ripped into the heart of the ongoing debate about how the Department of Defense streamlines and reforms the industrial base.

My question concerned, of all things, retracing Aurora's role in the competition for the contract to build the X-55 advanced composite cargo aircraft (ACCA).

For Aurora, ACCA meant far more than an experiment in manufacturing all-composite airframes. It was a chance to leap into the ranks of aerospace "prime" manufacturers. If European-based aircraft-makers like EADS North America and Alenia North America could elbow aside major US primes during the last few years, why couldn't a homegrown start-up with a good reputation?

As I learned, however, the ACCA competition proved a bitter experience for Aurora.

"We were disappointed, although I can't say totally stunned, when they picked Lockheed over us [to build the aircraft]," Langford says. "But we were blown away when [Lockheed] then just blew through the design -- what we thought were the requirements -- and everybody still acted happy about it."

In Langford's view, the story offers a case study of today's defense industrial base.

"I tell that story because it goes right to the bigger picture of how does the US actually do innovation in the defense business," Langford told me. "I'm not saying that they should have picked Aurora. But I'm saying it's a problem if you can't move innovative new companies into the space because they always get kicked out in favor of the safe choice."   

My transcript of Langford's version of the ACCA story is on the jump. As a postscript, I've also added a response from Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works, which won the contract.

Photo courtesy of Aurora Flight Sciences.

Flightglobal artists Giuseppe "Joe" Picarella and Tim Brown have published in this week's magazine a new cutaway revealing the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Block 40.

The cutaway is the centerpiece of our special report on unmanned aircraft systems, which is timed to preview next week's annual convention of the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) in Denver. I will be joining several of my colleagues next week to report on the show, where we will produce a daily newspaper, hourly web and blog updates and a show report for the magazine.

Meanwhile, please enjoy our preview coverage in this week's magazine.

Contents

• Long endurance - Systems to go
• Surveillance - Orion to challenge
• Europe - MALEs on display
• Micro air vehicles - T-Hawk's next step
• Tactical aircraft - Tactical decision
• Global Hawk - Gold standard
• Cutaway - Global Hawk
• For more news about unmanned air vehicles

This early-1940s-vintage film is a time capsule of the Lockheed Aircraft Co. at a key moment in its history. The company was just at the beginning of its war-driven growth trajectory. The film focuses on Lockheed's commercial division. It highlights the Model 18 Lodestar airliner, and offers only a glimpse of the hundreds of Hudson bombers -- the Lodestar's military variant -- then in production. Meanwhile, the P-38 Lightning -- "a man-made comet!", the narrator says -- makes a cameo appearance at the end. If you look closely, I think you see actual footage of legendary designer and Skunk Works founder Kelly Johnson in a wind tunnel at the 14-minute mark.

Polish photographer Slawek Krajniewski attended the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) at Fairford, UK, last month. His photos of the F-22's flying display deserve a few moments of your time today. Click here.

You can't accuse Northrop Grumman for over-selling the news in this press release about the F-35. As we say in journalism, if anything, Northrop "buried the lede".

The press release says Northrop is building a new F-35 center fuselage every 10 working days. Normally, this kind of announcement doesn't catch my attention -- as in, 'gee, thanks, but isn't that, you know, what you're supposed to be doing'?

But then I did some very easy math. If you figure there are about 20 working days in a month, Northrop is also saying they can build 24 center fuselages per year. Stick with me here. The supply chain is currently working on deliveries for F-35s ordered in the third year of low-rate initial production (LRIP-3). In fact, Northrop released a photo showing the center-sections of BF-13 (shown above, left) and AF-14 (right), which are both LRIP-3 jets. The LRIP-3 contract is for only 17 jets, so Northrop's factory is actually out-pacing the orders, according to the press release.

That's no minor accomplishment for the F-35 supply chain. In April 2009, we now know the monthly assessment report by the Defense Contracts Management Agency warned in despair that Lockheed may never "achieve or sustain" full rate production if supplier delays continued.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a new report today that for the first time reveals how US Air Force plans to deal with a fighter shortfall that is expected to reach 200 jets by 2025.

The GAO report summarizes two mandatory reports the USAF delivered in March to Congress. There are four options:

1. Extending the service life of and modernizing about 300 F-16 aircraft
2. Increasing annual F-35 procurement above 80 aircraft per year
3. Procuring new upgraded variants of legacy aircraft such as the F-16 and F-15
4. A combination of options 2 and 3

The fact that the USAF has even considered resuming F-16 and F-15 orders could be very significant. Two decades of USAF leaders have consistently upheld the all-stealth rule for combat aircraft.

The USAF reports, however, do not endorse the non-stealth procurement option, according to the GAO. Modernizing and extending the service life of 300 F-16s could provide the same capability as buying new jets, but at 10-15% of the cost, GAO says. On the other hand, the GAO notes that the service life extension program for the F-16 only restores the aircraft's original threshold of 8,000 hours, rather than truly extending its lifetime.

4:10: EADS North America has released a new statement: "It was with a great sense of relief and gratitude that we learned that Sean, and his son, Kevin, survived the aircraft crash in Alaska. We extend our deepest sympathy to the families of those less fortunate in this terrible accident. We owe a debt of gratitude for the heroic efforts of the members of the rescue crew and others who rushed to the scene. We look forward to Sean's full recovery and his rapid return to EADS North America."

2:55: Great news. Keith Cowing at NASA Watch reports Sean O'Keefe and son survived crash with broken bones.

1:25: NASA posted a photo gallery of O'Keefe as he departed the agency, which you can view by clicking here. There is still no word on O'Keefe's status.

1:20: Alaska TV station reports Ted Stevens died in the crash, quoting a former aide and longtime family friend.

11:40: MSNBC reports one of O'Keefe's sons was on board. Again, the status is unknown for all nine people aboard, including Stevens, but local reports indicate five died.

11:25: Reading Twitter updates on O'Keefe reveals his prolific career. He is variously credited in Twitter-sphere as the EADS NA CEO, former NASA administrator, former chancellor of LSU and, according to @NBCConnecticut, a "graduate of Wheeler High in North Stonington". That list still doesn't include his assignments as Secretary of the Navy, director of the office of Management and Budget and senior executive at General Electric. 

11:20am: According to the FAA web site, the aircraft was owned by GCI Communication Corp, an Anchorage-based company. The DHC-3T was manufactured in 1957.

11:14am: Still no word on status of passengers. Click here to see a map of the area where the aircraft crashed. According to local reports, the aircraft was en route to a lodge.

Original post: EADS North America has confirmed that chief executive officer Sean O'Keefe was aboard the DeHavilland DHC-3T that crashed about 8pm last night, local time, in Alaska. Former Senator Ted Stevens is also believed to be aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board has dispatched an investigative team to the crash site, citing local reports indicating four of the nine people aboard the aircraft survived. At this time EADS does not know about O'Keefe's status.

Our thoughts are with O'Keefe's family and colleagues, and we hope for the best for the nine people aboard the aircraft. Very often the initial reports are wrong. Let's hope this one turns out in our favor.

We'll keep updating as more news arrives.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the US will sell 82 F-15Es to Saudi Arabia over objections from Israel. According to the article, standoff weapons were the main issue of concern in Jerusalem. Of course, standoff weapons are only necessary if the aircraft is unable to penetrate defended airspace to release weapons directly over the target. Boeing has designed the F-15SE Silent Eagle precisely for that mission, but the company has been careful to point out that Saudi is not a potential customer for Silent Eagle. The WSJ article about Israel's concerns probably explains why. The irony, of course, is that Israel is a major supplier on the F-15, with the Lahav division of Israel Aerospace Industries providing conformal fuel tanks and vertical stabilizers for all F-15s in service. 

India's TimesNow TV reports the country's air force wants to choose between only the Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault Rafale for the 126-aircraft contract called medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA).

It's difficult to assess the reliability of the report. The journalist cites only "the air force" as the source for his potentially bombshell scoop. The Rafale and Typhoon seem to be popular in India. An unscientific poll posted last week by Indian aerospace blog LiveFist showed that Typhoon and Rafale are the most popular aircraft in the competition.  

What really happened in the skies over Al Dhafra last November and December when US Air Force F-22s fought mock dogfights with French Rafales may never be confirmed. The French and the Americans who were involved have different stories. A new blog post today by Arabian Aerospace doesn't shed new light on the outcome of the dogfights, but does offer new information about the F-22's reliability on deployment.

Only a year ago, Department of Defense officials claimed the F-22 was twice as expensive to operate than the F-15. Now the USAF claims that the F-22 will require a smaller logistics footprint than the F-15 after unspecified changes are made within six months.

Though the deployment marked the F-22A's first extended test under such harsh desert conditions, with fierce sandstorms and 100° temperatures, and despite operating thousands of miles from its normal supply chain, the aircraft exceeded the USAF's expectations, demonstrating impeccable availability and a higher-than-expected sortie rate. "The maintenance group didn't know what to expect and so we took a generic support equipment package," Rogers said later. "We pretty well got it just right." In the event, the F-22A operated at a higher tempo and with a smaller logistics footprint than would be required by the F-15 or F-16 - aircraft types that have been deploying to the region since the 1970s.The 27th Fighter Squadron's CO expressed his satisfaction with the progress that had been made, stressing: "The problems we had with software, avionics, sensor tasking and sensor fusion back in 2003 when I joined the F-22 programme have all been ironed out, and we're transitioning to a great point in the next six months where the aircraft will truly be cost-effective and fully mature." He said he expected a real improvement in sortie generation capability in the near future.

US Aerospace Inc could halt the KC-X tanker competition after filing a protest with the US Government Accountability Office. The California-based company says in a new regulatory filing that the US Air Force has tossed the company out of the competition for submitting a late bid. The fact that the bid is based on a twin-jet powered version of the Antonov An-70 apparently did not factor into the USAF's decision. Here's an excerpt from the US Aerospace filing with the US Securities Exchange Commission today:

Our proposal was hand delivered on July 9, 2010. The messenger arrived at the government installation, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, well before 1:30 pm, more than half an hour before the 2:00 pm deadline. Air Force personnel initially denied the messenger entry to the base, then gave incorrect directions to 1755 Eleventh Street Building 570, and finally instructed the messenger to wait where he was for Air Force personnel to come and get him. He at all times complied with the instructions of Air Force personnel, from the time he arrived at the installation until the proposal was taken by Air Force personnel at the program building. Although the proposal was arbitrarily marked received at 2:05 pm, it was under Air Force control before the bid deadline.

Update: The GAO web site confirms that US Aerospace filed a protest on 2 August. I copied and pasted the text below from the GAO's bid protest docket web site.

U.S. Aerospace, Inc. (FA8625-10-R-6600)
Department of the Air Force
Quick View     Outcome: Not Decided     Status: Case Currently Open

According to this video posted anonymously on YouTube last week, it might be a good month to buy a Lockheed Martin jet. The six-year warranty on a pre-owned F-117 is truly a one-time offer! If they throw in the floormats and waive the excise tax, I might crack open the checkbook.

Only four months ago, UK government officials confidently predicted Oman would shortly buy an undisclosed number of Eurofighter Typhoons. The motivation was clear: Oman could assume a portion of the UK government's order commitment on Tranche 3A for the Eurofighter program, relieving pressure on the UK's strained defense budget.

Well, something may have changed since April.

Yesterday, the US Congress was informed that Oman had requested a possible order for (wait for it ...) Lockheed Martin F-16s!

It's unlikely that Oman will buy both fighters. The Royal Air Force in Muscat needs to replace about 16 Sepecat Jaguars. Yesterday's notice by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) indicates that Oman could buy as many as 18 F-16s worth $3.5 billion.

It wouldn't be the first time that the F-16 has embarrassed a European government. France had appeared to lock-in a deal with Morocco for Dassault Rafales, yet somehow the F-16 triumphed.

US Air Force photographer Bill Evans captured the Boeing/Insitu ScanEagle at the moment the wingtip latch captured the dangling line from the SkyHook. This image comes from a photo essay by Evans showing Air Force Academy cadets controlling the ScanEagle at Fort Carson, Colorado. As a side note, the captions on the link above provoke one of my pet peeves. The USAF unfortunately chooses to call the Insitu product a "remotely piloted aircraft", but, unlike the Predator/Reaper family, the ScanEagle flies autonomously. It is not remotely piloted. (h/t StrategyPage)

Embraer has significantly revised the KC-390 product card from the Paris Air Show last year to the Farnborough event two weeks ago. I picked up cards at both shows. A side-by-side comparison is very revealing.

In addition to the exterior changes shown below, Embraer has increased maximum payload from 19t to 23.6t and normal maximum takeoff weight from 65t to 74.4t.

Most significantly, Embraer changed the shape of the representative engine. The previous card displays an engine resembling the CFM56, but the new image shows an engine that looks more like the V2500. Embraer plans to select an engine in the 27,000-29,000lb-thrust class within the next six months. Also, note the sharper nose design in the new product card.

The Lockheed U-2 Dragon Lady today celebrates the 55th anniversary of its official first flight. History buffs will recall of course that the U-2's first real flight occurred three days earlier, but it was an accident. Lockheed test pilot Tony LeVier inadvertently lifted the U-2 prototype off the ground during a ground taxi test, a fact he wouldn't discover until he attempted to apply brakes to end his "ground taxi". Truly, the U-2 is an aircraft that wants to fly.