June 2012 Archives

So after our foray out to Edwards AFB, the Boeing pre-Farnborough media tour continued onto Portland, Oregon, where we visited Insitu. Technically, they're in Hood River... but close enough.

Insitu is a wholly-owned Boeing subsidiary that builds the ScanEagle, NightEagle and Integator drones. They started off as a tiny operation consisting of a couple of dozen folks, but then 9/11 and Iraq happened... The company grew exponentially--now they have a couple of thousand people. Also Boeing bought them. Despite this they maintain an independent streak--proudly declaring that a Boeing employee badge doesn't get you through the door at Insitu.

So as part of Boeing's PR efforts, they took us out to the eastern part of Oregon--allegedly the "high desert", which  looks a lot more like the foothills of Alberta than say the Mojave or Sahara--to demonstrate the system to us in flight.

It was very impressive--my  colleague Tim Robinson (he's the dude to the right of Laura in the last post--he's practically invisible sitting next to her, but if you look closely he's there), editor of the Royal Aeronautical Society's Aerospace International magazine actually got to launch the plane. So I was kinda jealous...  

So here is a video I shot of the event using my trusty Blackberry...  Given how incredibly windy it was--I estimate winds of at least 30 knots gusting to 50 knots or so-- I was surprised they decided to fly.

So once it's in the air, it orbits about 800ft to 1200ft off the ground. They showed us the control trailer- operating the aircraft is mostly a fly-by-mouse affair. The control system software runs on--no kidding--Microsoft Windows... I would have preferred the Mac O/S myself, but to each his own. The sensor ball on the aircraft is controlled by a CH Flightstick--one of those old joysticks from back in the day when PC flight-sims were still popular (i.e. pre-X-box or Playstation). They also have a back-up radio controller similar (or more likely exactly the same as) to what R/C pilots use to control their model/toy aircraft.

The camera ball on the plane is pretty impressive too. We were able to track a truck quite easily as it moved down the road and track its human occupant once he left the vehicle. I could tell he had a rifle and that he was dressed in hunting gear. But unfortunately, while you can see the target, there is no way to kill the target... you have to call someone to do that part. Oh well, can't have everything...

 The ScanEagle is way too small to carry weapons with its tiny one-cylinder 1.9hp engine.

Here is the landing apparatus. It basically catches the aircraft in flight by having these hooks on the aircraft catching the ropes on it.

Continuing on Boeing's pre-Farnborough tour last week... From Hurburt Field, Florida, we flew to Kelly Field, near San Antonio, Texas, in a pair of Gulfstream 200 business jets.

Having now flown on a business jet, I can say that it is the best way to travel. I've decided I must have one when I grow up. It's way better than first class--and about a billion (maybe even a trillion) times better than flying in the regular cattle-car section.

Shot by Gareth Jennings my friend Guillaume Steuer at Air and Cosmos (as Gareth pointed out earlier today)- I'm not in this shot... but I was onboard. This is just to illustrate what it was like inside a Gulfstream

So moving on... Boeing's maintenance and overhaul facilities over in Texas do the depot level maintenance on the Boeing C-17 strategic airlifter and KC-135 tanker. On C-17, they do a bunch of avionics upgrades and other work. On the KC-135, they practically dismantle the jets and completely overhaul the entire aircraft.  

They were also doing some modification work on the 787 and 747-8 too on the civilian side. I saw a 787 that was being worked on. It's a pretty impressive aircraft. But according to one of the engineers, Boeing made it as light as possible. So there is very little excess structure... so a military derivative might not be possible.

This was a C-17 from Charleston that was being overhauled... didn't turn out badly for a Blackberry shot

From Kelly we then flew to Edward AFB in California. While Edwards is a veritable aviation Mecca, we didn't have access to the really cool stuff. For example, we could see F-22s, F-35s and Global Hawks (and lots of other stuff) on the ramp, but couldn't go talk to their guys (or play with their equipment)... Nor did they let us see their alien cold storage locker. Most disappointing...

All was not lost though...  My good friend Gareth Jennings over at Jane's took this photo of Cape Canaveral's alien storage locker... But while we missed out on the aliens, Boeing and NASA let us take a look at the hydrogen-powered Phantom Eye drone. The aircraft is powered by two modified truck engines which run on hydrogen--it's apparently much more efficient than a conventionally fueled machine.

The Phantom Eye was damaged during its first flight recently, but the damage doesn't really look that bad. Granted the damaged section was mostly covered up. Boeing's guys say the problem was traced back to the nose gear. They're planning on redesigning it and then getting the plane back in the air relatively soon.  Boeing hopes to eventually fly this thing up to 65, 000 ft.

If it works, they're planning on building a larger version. There has apparently been a lot of interest from customers.

We also saw the X-48C blended-wing body subscale test bed aircraft. It's a lot smaller than I expected for a multi-million dollar research project. With this new version, Boeing and NASA are exploring technologies to reduce the aircraft's noise footprint. Eventually, they hope to build a larger-scale aircraft... Potentially with a pilot even--but that's in the future. Right now, they just want to fly this thing.

There was also an X-51 hypersonic test vehicle brief, but we didn't see any hardware. But it was very interesting...

So before heading to LAX to fly off to Portland, we stopped off at the base museum. Inside was this gem--one of the two original YF-22 prototypes that faced-off against the Northrop YF-23. As I'm sure you guys know--this design evolved into today's F-22 Raptor.

The DEW Line has been quiet as of late... that's because I've been on multiple back-to-back trips to various places during this past month.

Last week was Boeing's pre-Farnborough air show media tour. The tour started off here in Washington DC but quickly moved to Hurlburt Field in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Hurlburt, as I am sure most of you know, is the home of US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC).

The AFSOC crews graciously showed us around their AC-130 gunship and also the Bell-Boeing CV-22 Osprey special operations version of the V-22 tilt-rotor.

I was impressed with the AC-130. It's an older airframe, but a capable one. It's basically a legacy C-130 fitted with a 25mm Gatling gun, a 40mm Bofors cannon (WWII vintage) and a 105 mm cannon.  Except for the 25mm, the other two weapons are hand-loaded--which means it's hard work for the crew. It's not just the manual labor; it's also the fact that it is quite cramped back there. It also gets pretty hot (and smoky) when the weapons are firing. Hats off to those guys... but their lot might be improving soon--the new AC-130J is in the horizon.

The 8^th Special Operations Squadron also afforded us the chance have close look at one of their CV-22s. It's quite similar to the Marine aircraft, but has some added hardware--a terrain following radar for example. Also the USAF seems to take better care of their planes, but admittedly, it was a much newer aircraft than the USMC birds I've flown in before.

But the really interesting part for me was a chance to fly 19^th SOS's CV-22 simulator. It's not an FAA Level D sim with full-motion, but it's quite close. While it doesn't move, it's realistic enough that your brain thinks it's moving.

What was a little surprising is how easy the CV-22 is to "fly". It's a pretty standard setup with the stick/cyclic, throttle/collective, and rudder/anti-torque pedals--but in helicopter mode the collective works backwards. That caused me some problems, but I'm told people get used to it after a few sim rides. I wasn't used to it...

Anyways, for takeoff, you use a thumb wheel on the throttle/collective to rotate the engine pods to 87 degrees and smoothly push up the power. Like I said, it works like a throttle rather than a collective--so it's a little weird. Then as you lift-off, as you build up speed, you tilt the pods forward and eventually convert fully to turboprop mode.

Assuming the sim is accurate, which the USAF guys say it is, the aircraft is a sports-car--just awesome. I was motoring along at 330 knot indicated airspeed actually pushed it up into a 45 degree climb... It slowly bled off airspeed but didn't stall--I saw the airspeed coming down to 140 knots and I pushed the nose hard over to recover airspeed. It was very responsive... now if only they'd let me fly the real thing.

Landing was also pretty easy, it a matter of simply rotating the engine pods via the thumb wheel and easing the aircraft down to a landing. Again, the collective/throttle setup was a bit tricky... since I accidentally cut power instead off adding power. But it all worked out--good smooth landing.

So next time I'll tell you guys about our flight on these Gulfstream 200s to Kelly Field, Texas, and on to Edwards AFB, California.

These are worrying times for the UK Royal Air Force, with the service facing major upheavals to its air transport and air-to-air refuelling inventories over the next 18 months.

By the end of this year, the last of the UK's Lockheed Martin C-130K Hercules will be retired from use, while the replacement Airbus Military A400M won't start appearing on the ramp at RAF Brize Norton until during 2014. More hours on the hard-worked C-130J fleet will cover part of the shortfall, along with the introduction by March 2013 of two ex-TNT Airways BAe 146 passenger/freighters now being modified for military operations in Afghanistan. The service also recently took delivery of an eighth Boeing C-17.

But it is in the tanker sector that the biggest headache is emerging. The RAF's last nine Vickers VC10s (Crown Copyright image below) are to be retired in March 2013, with its Lockheed TriStars (including four tankers) to follow by the end of the same year.

In their place will come a Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) fleet eventually to total 14 modified A330s named Voyagers; although only around nine of these will be in the "core" inventory at any one time. Only one of these is currently in service, initially in an air transport capacity only, and I'm hearing that fuel venting problems encountered during earlier refuelling trials have yet to go away.

As if that wasn't enough of a concern, the AirTanker consortium responsible for delivering the FSTA service has pulled the plug on further A330 conversions planned to have been performed by Cobham Aviation Services in the UK. Airbus Military will instead complete this work at its Getafe plant near Madrid, in a move which is intended to safeguard a tight delivery schedule planned to have six or seven aircraft available by the end of 2013 and nine in use by mid-2014.

The RAF needs tankers to sustain quick reaction alert duties flown with the Eurofighter Typhoon from Coningsby in Lincolnshire and Leuchars in Scotland, as well as supporting deployed examples defending the Falkland Islands and allied strike aircraft flying over Afghanistan. With the noise of the VC10's "Conway quartet" to fall silent in only nine months, the pressure is really on for the Voyager to deliver.

My colleague Zach Rosenberg found this interesting satellite image of Lockheed Martin's facility at Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. It looks a lot like a RQ-170, but bigger... in fact, the shape--from what we can make out--looks a lot like the P.420. But who knows? It's not like they're going to tell us what it is...

Here is where Zach found this: http://osgeoint.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/us-lm-skunk-works-unknown-uav.html

Here is a Lockheed patent for an aircraft with a remarkably similar planform:http://www.ptodirect.com/Results/Patents?query=PN/D382851

So it is the P.420? You be the judge...

Earlier today, a group of reporters including myself visited Boeing's Saint Louis, Mo., plant where they build the F/A-18E/F, EA-18G and the F-15. Amid the briefings, Boeing afforded us the chance to assemble an inert Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM)--which was kinda cool. But the real highlight of the tour for me was an opportunity to fly Boeing full-domed simulator for the F/A-18F Block II and a tour of the advanced capabilities labs. But alas, they didn't allow us to take photos...

The simulator was in a word: awesome. Our host was Boeing's chief test pilot for the Super Hornet, Ricardo Traven--a veteran of the Canadian Forces with more than 3000 hours in the E/F versions alone. Once again I found myself in awe of the Super Hornet's handling characteristics, which are simply magnificent. The jet is quick and responsive and I performed feats such as a tail slide with ease. But Traven also taught me how to perform a high angle-of-attack maneuver called a "pirouette." Basically, slow the jet down, put in a good amount of AOA, say about 42 degrees or so in this case. Then, step on the rudder and input full lateral stick and the jet will kind of do a 180-degree turn around its Z-axis. I did that a couple of times.

We also did some carrier landings... Initially, the Boeing guys want me to use the auto-throttles, but I declined. (It's just not natural to me to not be able to control the throttle settings) Anyways, on my first try, my approach was good and I set the jet down smoothly on the deck, but as I pushed the throttles into full blower, the hook didn't catch a "cross deck pendant". So it was a bolter.... On my second attempt, I made it no problem. Not sure what my grade was, but I'm willing to bet it was the three-wire.

Incidentally, no one else made a trap, though John came close... (but with auto-throttles-if memory serves). I did screw up one thing though; I accidentally shot down my wingman when I mistook him (or her... It's a computer simulator--so it?) for a bandit... Oh well, sacrifices have to be made.

Anyways, the Super Hornet and Lockheed's F-35 are often maligned on their performance--particularly since both aircraft top out short of Mach 2.

But with the notable exception of the F-22 Raptor, modern fighters seldom achieve speeds above Mach 1.5 during an operational sortie. It's very difficult, consumes time and more importantly gas to achieve those speeds, especially when encumbered with weapons and fuel tanks as fourth-generation machines inevitably are in any combat configuration. Navy pilots will tell you that the Super Hornet's performance is more than sufficient.

But one area where the Super Hornet is somewhat lacking is transonic acceleration. With the new enhanced engines which produce more than 20% more thrust than the existing power-plants being developed by General Electric, that could change. Mark Gammon, Boeing senior manager for F/A-18 advanced capabilities, says that under certain flight conditions, acceleration times are reduced by a factor of four. The engines are also more fuel-efficient and durable than the existing F414 variants.

Should the Navy buy the new engine, the existing Super Hornet inlet has a 10% margin for increased mass-flow, so it could be retrofitted to the existing fleet with ease, Gammon says.

Now here's something that you don't see every day: pictures showing all five of Airbus Military's A400M development aircraft "turning and burning" together.

The company just released a couple of images showing its entire "Grizzly" fleet getting ready to take off from Toulouse, France, and I'm guessing that air-to-air shots might also be following before too long (see below for an update on this).

This is good news for the A400M programme, and follows my report from earlier today that MSN6 had flown its first six flights during a projected 300h period of function and reliability testing.

A subsequent image of the formation in flight shows a couple of interesting things (well, for me at least): MSN1 at the far left still has the measuring equipment fitted to support recently completed natural icing tests, while MSN2 is carrying underwing hose and drogue refuelling pods and has an aerodynamic shape added to its tail ramp to simulate the presence of a fuselage refuelling unit.

While we often talk about the newest fifth-generation fighters in the US (and now others') inventory, it can't be forgotten that the vast majority of the operational fleet consists of so-called "legacy" fourth-generation machines.

Though having sometimes served for decades, many of these fighters are still extremely capable. The Boeing F-15C Eagle is considered by many to be the finest air superiority machine ever built.

Recently in April, the 18^th Wing's 67^th Fighter Squadron, which flies active electronically scanned array radar-equipped versions of the venerable Eagle, participated in a two-week exercise in Malaysia where the unit flew with Russian-built Mikoyan MiG-29s and, for the first time, Sukhoi Su-30MKMs.

"We flew with the Sukhois in 1 vs. 1, within-visual-range missions (BFM) as well as in beyond-visual-range (BVR), large force missions," says Brigadier General Matt Molloy, commander of the 18^th Wing.

"As expected, their new aircraft performed marvelously," Molloy adds. "They displayed great maneuverability during the BFM (basic fighter maneuvers) sorties and strong situational awareness in the BVR (beyond visual range) missions."

For many USAF pilots, "to get to fly with the MiG-29 and Su-30 is a once in a career opportunity," Molloy says.  "The MiGs have been in the RMAF [Royal Malaysian Air Force] inventory for years and they are flown by capable, seasoned pilots.  Many of them have flown against and with the USAF many times in this same exercise during the last decade."

Normally, a line USAF fighter squadron flies mostly against similar aircraft replicating threats. It's a somewhat rare treat to fly against such a wide variety of jets. "As an air-to-air (air superiority) squadron representing the US in this exercise, it was our pleasure to fly with and against the variety of RMAF aircraft that participated in the 2 week event," Molloy says. "It's always great to fly dissimilar, and a few times a year, our pilots will get to fly against Hornets."

Molloy is effusive in his praise of the RMAF: "The professionalism, lethality and combat spirit of the Malaysians cannot be understated.  I am glad we call them 'friends and partners.'"

In the future, Molloy says that he hopes that USAF units and Su-30s can operate out of the same airfield. "In doing so, I think we could build a very special relationship with the Sukhoi squadron and expand our tactical knowledge base," he says.

One of the 18^th Wing's goals as part of the overall US security objective in the Pacific is building strong relationships with regional air forces.

Here is video of the 67th Fighter Squadron from earlier...

2012 Raytheon Award Video from Jersey on Vimeo.

The Combat Edge upper pressure-garment might be responsible for the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor's oxygen woes.

Read the full article here

The US Air Force isn't saying anything officially just yet though.

Lockheed Martin photo

The USAF still maintains it has two broad hypotheses as to the root cause of the Raptor's oxygen woes.  One theory is that there is a problem with the quality of the air reaching the pilot, which might include some sort of toxin or contaminant. "To date, we've seen no conclusive evidence of toxins in the analyses of life support system components, cockpit air samples, or pilots' medical work-ups, although we have not definitively ruled out contamination as a possible factor," the USAF says. That includes analysis of the contents of the C2A1 activated carbon filters when pilots were flying with those devices, the service adds.

The second hypothesis is that the quantity of air reaching the pilot may not be the correct amount. Factors that might impact right quantity of oxygen reaching the pilot include the demand for air versus the supply flowing through the life support system under operating conditions like high altitude and high-G force and other factors. This second hypothesis seems to be in line with what sources have disclosed to Flightglobal.

But the USAF has not ruled out decompression sickness, which could be a factor at the altitudes and cabin pressures encountered by F-22 pilots.

According retired Gen Gregory Martin, who led a USAF Scientific Advisory Board study into the F-22 oxygen system, the cabin pressure inside an F-22 cockpit is five pounds per square inch (PSI) greater than the atmosphere outside the aircraft. That means at 60, 000ft (15, 240m) the cabin pressure equivalent to only about 22, 500ft (6,705m).

While normal fighter aircraft like the Lockheed Martin F-16, Boeing F-15 and F/A-18 and even the new Lockheed F-35 have an operational ceiling of 50, 000ft, the Raptor has a ceiling of 60,000ft (18,288m). The 60,000ft limit is due to the Armstrong Line found at around 62,500ft (19,050m), above which water will start to boil at 37 °C (98.6 °F)--the temperature of the human body. Unlike their U-2 pilot brethren, who wear pressure suits at those altitudes, Raptor pilots wear only the standard Combat Edge anti-g ensemble worn by all USAF fighter pilots.  

"Some of the symptoms pilots have reported are listed as symptoms of [decompression sickness], but they're also non-specific symptoms of a number of other conditions or factors such as acceleration atelectasis or increased work of breathing that are as consistent or more consistent with what may be happening between pilots and their life support systems during incident sorties," the USAF says. "We continue to look at a range of potential root causes, but that range continues to narrow."

That Combat Egde suit is probably the source of the problem, sources say. The USAF release alludes to that... The F-35's suit might be a way of partially fixing the problem, but given the extreme altitudes and high g-forces Raptor pilots encounter at those cabin pressures, they may just need to take a day off after their flight. But there is another factor that plays into all this, and that is a newer model digital On-board Oxygen Generation System--but more on that later...

Some background...

F-22 pilots have been suffering from a spate of unexplained physiological symptoms resembling hypoxia since at least 2008. Last year, the entire Raptor fleet was temporarily grounded for about four months after 14 such incidents. After the USAF lifted the flight ban last September, there have been 11 more incidents despite various safety precautions taken by the service.

Recently, on 15 May, US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta ordered that the "all F-22 flights will remain within proximity of potential landing locations to enable quick recovery and landing should a pilot encounter unanticipated physiological conditions during flight." The move came partially as a result of two Virginia Air National Guard pilots who spoke out on national television about their refusal to fly the aircraft due to safety concerns.

But today...

Panetta also ordered the USAF to urgently field an automatic back-up oxygen system. The USAF today announced that it has awarded Lockheed a $19.1 million contract to buy 40 retrofit kits and 10 spares.