July 2012 Archives

The six-nation exercise 'Pitch Black 2012' kicked off in Darwin, Australia on 27 July, with the Royal Australian Air Force hosting visiting aircraft and personnel from Indonesia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and the USA.

Among the equipment on show are four of the Indonesian air force's great-looking Sukhoi Su-27 and Su-30 fighters, which are making a rare overseas appearance. We ran one picture of the formation arriving on our Image of the Day blog today (with two Boeing F/A-18As from the RAAF's 77 Sqn), but here are a couple more for your enjoyment (images courtesy of the Commonwealth of Australia).

The single-seat Su-27s deployed are aircraft TS-2703 and -2705, with the twin-seat Su-30s being TS-3004 and -3005, if you like to know that kind of thing. Indonesia flies five of each type.

The Northrop Grumman X-47B made its first flight out of the US Navy's flight test center at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, yesterday.

Here is a Naval Air Systems Command video of the event.

My colleagues Flight reporter Zach Rosenberg and Stephen Trimble--the original creator of this blog-- are at the base today for its media day. The Navy is showing off its various unmanned aircraft and conducting various briefings on various programs. I was supposed to be there, but instead I'll be at the Pentagon for the US Air Force's F-22 briefing.

The success of the X-47B, which was developed as part of the Navy's Unmanned Combat Air System-Demonstrator (UCLAS-D) program, is critical to the success of the follow-on Unmanned Carrier Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft. The UCLASS will harvest much of the technology developed as part of the UCAS-D, the Navy's UCLASS program manager Charlie Nava told me earlier in the year. Every potential contractor will have access to the technology, he said.

Next year, the Navy will conduct carrier take-offs and landings onboard the USS Harry S. Truman... What makes that possible is a new ship-relative GPS that generates extremely precise positional data. That technology will also be used for when X-47B conducts aerial refueling demonstrations with both the USAF boom system and the Navy's probe-and-drogue system.

The US Air Force is holding a press conference tomorrow to address lingering questions about the root cause of a series of hypoxia-like incidents that have plagued its Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor fleet since 2008.

Maj Gen Charlie Lyon, Air Combat Command's director of operations, along with a panel of USAF experts will try to explain how the service reached the conclusions that it did. The USAF is blaming the Combat Edge upper pressure garment and associated hoses and connector for the Raptor's well-publicized problems. But not everyone is convinced...

The problem for the USAF is that it has a credibility gap on this issue not only with the public and Congress, but with the pilots who fly the Raptor.

One Raptor pilot sums it up succinctly.

"There's one thing I know for certain: The Combat Edge isn't the culprit," he says. "But they're trying to show positive momentum."

Read the full story here

Tomorrow, Lyon will have to convince the Congress (he's briefing them in the morning) and the media during an afternoon press conference that the USAF's official finds are correct and that the service has finally gotten to the bottom of the problem.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, a squadron of Raptors from the 1^st Fighter Wing has safely arrived at Kadena, Japan. The unit will train under the direction of the resident 18^th Wing. It's a reunion of sorts, Brigadier General Matt Molloy, the commander of the 18^th Wing, previously commanded the 1^st FW until last year.

One of our most-read stories from the Farnborough air show reported on the confusion caused when eagle-eyed flight ops types caught sight of the Yak-130's engine-intake blanking doors for the first time and were concerned that something was not right with the aircraft. Only after some reassuring words from Irkut personnel about this being a smart design feature (intended to avoid the ingestion of FOD on unpaved landing strips) was the pilot allowed to take off to perform his display validation flight.

Thanks go to The DEW Line reader Airboyd for sending me a link to his YouTube footage showing not one but three take-off runs involving the Yak-130 at Farnborough, which show beautifully how the inlets open as the aircraft gets up to speed on the ground. Certainly an odd sight if not seen before.

In case you didn't see/read it a couple of weeks back, our UK-based test pilot Peter Collins got an exclusive chance to fly the Yak-130 in Irkutsk, Siberia, earlier this year. His report (which was published as part of our Russian industry special in mid-July) explained how the blanking doors and associated top-intake openings are scheduled by the quadruplex fly-by-wire flight control system on the ground. Read the full flight test report here.

Russia and Algeria have bought the Yak-130 so far (Irkut image above); they won't be the only operators to do so.

Looks like the US Navy's Unmanned Carrier Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program is starting to take-off. The USN has already completed its analysis of alternatives for the program. Right now, the service's three-stars are hashing out the future aircraft's key performance parameters.

This is a Lockheed Martin rendering of the Sea Ghost--looks a lot like the RQ-170 or Polecat to me.

Once the USN sets those requirements, they have to be blessed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense. If that all works out as planned, the USN will issue technology maturation contracts to a number of contractors, a senior Navy official says. After that, the USN will pick a single design to develop into an operational aircraft around 2016. The service still wants to have about a half-dozen jets available to train on a carrier deck by 2020, but the UCLASS squadron wouldn't necessarily deploy with that carrier air wing at that time. That would probably happen later.

The UCLASS would not have everything the Navy wants right off the bat, the senior Navy official says. But it will grow over time as technology and money becomes available. Particularly, while the UCLASS will start off with some degree of stealth, it will continue to add more signature reduction measures over time--as the budget allows. It will also add new capabilities in terms of sensors, weapons and payload over time--if there is money to pay for it. Cost could almost be considered a key performance parameter unto itself.

The US Air Force is planning on leveraging the UCLASS's initial capabilities document, mostly because it doesn't have the money for a new program right now. The service has already embedded a procurement officer with the Navy's UCLASS effort.

For many of the largest defense contractors like Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Lockheed and General Atomics, the UCLASS represents one of a handful of opportunities to get onboard a new start developmental effort--the other being a US Air Force Long Range Strike-Bomber. Boeing's military aircraft president Chris Chadwick said weeks ago that he is confident his company has a competitive UCLASS design. General Atomics has its Sea Avenger. Meanwhile Northrop Grumman is the incumbent with its X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System-Demonstrator. Though Lockheed does have a role the X-47B program, the company is planning on offering its own design for UCLASS.

Today Lockheed unveiled its Sea Ghost concept. At least to my eye, it bears a striking resemblance to Lockheed's previous RQ-170 and Polecat stealth unmanned aircraft designs. Kudos to Flight reporter Zach Rosenberg for spotting this earlier today...

Here is our full story.

I shudder to use the expression 'Drone Wars' when talking about what are more correctly termed unmanned air systems or remotely piloted air systems, but the phrase seems to have entered the public psyche too far now to ban entirely on The DEW Line, and is admittedly attention-grabbing for headline purposes.

My interest was caught the other day, when I saw the response to this 24 July question in the House of Lords: "To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their policy on the use of unmanned armed drones outside Afghanistan against terrorist suspects".

EADS's subsidiary Eurocopter was showing off its X3 compound helicopter today at the Pentagon. The company hopes to pitch the concept for the US Army's Joint Mulit-Role/Future Vertical Lift program. While it was only on static display at the five-sided puzzle palace, it was caught on camera by EADS's photographers when it came in to land at the building's heliport. There is a lot of helicopter traffic in this area, I wonder if any of our local denizens noticed the difference between this and all the other choppers around here.

So here the X3 is landing at the Pentagon...

The USAF believes that manned aircraft aren't going anywhere anytime soon especially in the light of ever growing anti-access/area-denial threats. That's why the service needs the F-35 and the nascent Long Range Strike-Bomber (and associated family of systems), the service's outgoing chief of staff Gen Norton Schwartz says. Unmanned aircraft just don't have that kind of capability and probably won't for a good long while yet, he says. So that's job security for the pilots of manned combat aircraft...

This is General Atomics Predator-C prototype--something like this thing could be a candidate for a next generation UAV for the USAF and US Navy. GA has sold a couple of these to someone in the USG already... (General Atomics photo)

Meanwhile, the USAF has identified a requirement for a stealthier unmanned aircraft, but it doesn't have the money to pay for it. So the service will be leveraging the US Navy's Unmanned Carrier Launched Surveillance and Strike program and its associated initial capabilities document to buy what it needs--eventually. There is already a USAF procurement officer embedded in the Navy's UCLASS efforts. In the meantime, the USAF will soldier on with Predators and Reaper... It will upgrade those planes with new payloads if and when there is money available.

Read all about that here...

The Navy, meanwhile, is moving forward with the UCLASS. It has completed an analysis of alternatives and is just waiting for its three-stars to set the key performance parameters. The Navy is planning on fielding the aircraft in a spiral manner since it doesn't have the cash to field everything it wants in one go.

That feature is coming soon... so keep an eye out on the news portion of the site.

I didn't make it to Dassault's half-year results briefing in Paris today, but there are a few interesting items for all to see within the company's media material from the event, which is now available online.

Firstly, only a combined four Rafales were delivered to the French air force and French navy in the first six months of this year (for a total of 108 so far built), versus six handed over during the same period in 2011.

The company says it still expects to deliver "around 11" of the type (Dassault file shot below of aircraft on its Merignac assembly line) this year, and that "defence net sales showed an upturn of 2%, due to an increase in support and development activities."

Chief executive Charles Edelstenne used fighting talk when referring to Team Rafale's victory in India's medium multi-role combat aircraft contest (where it beat the Eurofighter Typhoon), but noted that it must still close out negotiations on the 126-aircraft deal.

"The Indian choice, on technical, operational and financial criteria, confirms the Rafale superiority as soon as the influence of the United States is not the criteria," he says in a statement. Great stuff; especially as it reminds me of Dassault's response on losing a South Korean competition to the Boeing F-15 a few years ago, when it cited a Chinese proverb which states that "bamboo always leans the way it's pushed the hardest."

Edelstenne also commented on the Dassault-led Neuron unmanned combat air vehicle technology demonstration programme. This had been scheduled to achieve its first flight around mid-year (Dassault image below), but this milestone is now described only as set to happen "in 2012".

His bullish comment that "Neuron has no equivalent in Europe" is likely to raise eyebrows in the UK, where the French company's partner BAE Systems is getting ready to fly the UK's Taranis air vehicle in the early part of 2013.

AirTanker just Tweeted this shot of the sixth A330 to enter conversion as a Voyager tanker/transport for the UK.

Photographed on its arrival from Toulouse on 23 July, the widebody will be the fourth aircraft to enter work at Airbus Military's Getafe site near Madrid, following a recent decision to relocate the activity from Cobham Aviation Services in Bournemouth, Dorset. The UK company will complete only two of the 14 Voyagers to be operated by the Royal Air Force under a PFI deal with industry.

There was a lot of chat in the run-up to the Farnborough air show about major problems affecting the Voyager's ability to conduct air-to-air refuelling activities - a fairly fundamental part of its operational requirement. However, sources tell me that the fuel venting issue which has dogged the type during testing has now been resolved.

Let's hope so, because with the RAF's last VC10s due to retire in March 2013, the pressure's certainly on.

The US Air Force says that it has discovered the root cause of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor's oxygen problems. It was basically what I reported before (first!), the Combat Edge upper-pressure garment's breathing regulator/anti-g (BRAG) valve is the main culprit along with the hose and connections to the aircraft. They're hoping to have the pilot's gear modified by September...

Let's hope this solves the problem. We'll see...

Here is the link to the full story

Yesterday, EADS subsidiary Eurocopter showed off its X3 high-speed compound helicopter concept demonstrator to a host of reporters (yours truly included), foreign military attaches and diplomats at a local Washington-area regional airport in Manassas, Va.

Read the full story here

Here is a video of the aerial display--which was similar to the show the aircraft put on in Paris last year. It's in two parts-the take-off and the rest of the flight.

The company is hoping that the Pentagon will pick the concept for further development as part of its nascent Future Vertical Lift program. Hoping to further that goal, the aircraft will be on static display at the Pentagon on Thursday.

The aircraft is fast-it has already achieved 232 knots in level flight and 242 knots in a decent. It will probably go faster still.

Last year, Sikorsky displayed its X-2 concept demonstrator in a similar manner. The X-2 reached about 260 knots when it was still flying.

My daily trawl of the UK's Hansard publications threw out an interesting snippet this morning, with an answer in the House of Lords revealing the number of times the Royal Air Force has scrambled quick reaction alert fighters due to Russian activity within the last four years.

Noting that "The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace at all times", Lord Astor of Hever detailed the number of days on which RAF aircraft were launched as:

2009 - 11

2010 - 11

2011 - 10

2012 - 6 (as of 1 July)

Sadly we don't know the exact split of near-visiting types, but they have included the mighty Tu-95 "Bear" (shown with a Typhoon in the Crown Copyright image above) and the more menacing Tu-160 "Blackjack" (flanked by a Tornado F3 in the Crown Copyright picture below).

Eurofighter Typhoons are now solely responsible for standing "Q" in the UK, from their bases at RAF Leuchars in Scotland (which previously had Tornado F3s, prior to their retirement in 2011) and Coningsby in Lincolnshire. Others are currently held at short readiness at RAF Northolt to protect London during the Olympics, the opening ceremony for which is on 27 July.

It was good to see The Vulcan to the Sky Trust's XH558 back in action at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) and Farnborough air show earlier this month, following the team's rapid replacement of both port engines following a ground incident.

In case you haven't been fortunate enough to see the last of Avro's "Tin Triangles" in the air this "summer" (for non-UK residents that's a sarcastic reference, as we haven't had one this year) then check out this onboard video from RIAT, compiled by the Trust. Don't be put off by the awful opening muzak - that only lasts for a few seconds, and then you get to hear nothing but the faint noise from the Rolls-Royce Olympus quartet.

I have to send my thanks to the Trust for letting me have a tour inside the aircraft's cockpit on the Saturday at RIAT - that was a real privelege, and highlighted the level of work involved in keeping the old girl flying. Please visit their website if you'd like to support them.

It's a Friday thanks to our friends at the Norwegian defence ministry for sending through a link to a short video showing a stunningly-liveried F-16AM fighter (1984-vintage aircraft 686) strutting its stuff over and around the nation's beautiful capital, Oslo.

The reason for the snazzy colour scheme (which replicates the Royal Norwegian Air Force roundel) and jazzy soundtrack (called "Vidda", performed by Norwegian trumpeter Ole Edvard Antonsen) is the celebration of the first 100 years of military aviation in Norway. Your pilot is Maj Eskil "Taz" Amdal, and the camera platform was a C-130J transport.

The aircraft in the video will be appearing at a series of Norwegian air shows this year, and also during the main centenary celebrations in Oslo on 1-2 August. Click here to find out more.

The British are taking delivery of their first F-35B from Lockheed Martin tomorrow at the company's plant in Fort Worth, Texas. I was originally planning on going, but I have a ton of work to do after last week's Farnborough air show and the upcoming AVUSI show in Las Vegas, Nevada, so I am not.

Read all about it here

This is a picture of an F-35A over Los Angeles, California. I was going to put up a photo of BK-1, the first UK jet, but the shots were kinda lame. It's a Lockheed Martin photo.

During a pre-Farnborough briefing day with MBDA about three weeks ago, we received an update on the Fire Shadow loitering munition system, developed to meet part of the British Army's indirect fire precision attack requirement.

Production deliveries were made in March, but a decision has been taken to not deploy the weapon - which, as the company-supplied image below shows, offers the ability to precisely hit fixed and moving targets - to Afghanistan. I guess the question of "proportionality" versus Taliban fighters was a contributory factor, no doubt along with public perception of using unmanned systems to conduct lethal strikes (which of course ignores the fact that humans are in the loop to select targets and authorise an attack sequence).

The Royal Artillery is expected to conduct its own firing trials with the Fire Shadow in Sweden later this year, in order to further its development of tactics, techniques and procedures for any possible future combat use of the system. And while the demonstrated SUV killer won't be going to Afghanistan, I'm pretty sure that the army's Apache AH1 attack helicopter community won't be complaining too much.

Major Jay Spohn, the 33^rd Operations Group's chief of Standards and Evaluation, had his first F-35 flight yesterday. He needs to complete five more rides before he becomes fully qualified as an instructor in the jet. What's unique about Spohn is not that he's a Weapons School grad or that he flew both the Fairchild Republic A-10 Warthog and Boeing F-15C before transitioning to the F-35, but rather that he is the Air National Guard's first F-35 driver.

Here is a series of photos taken by his instructor pilot Lt Col Eric "Emmitt" Smith, the 58^th Fighter Squadron director of operations, of his first flight. Smith is also one of the very first F-35A-model test pilots. Smith took these shot from the back of a Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon.

Meanwhile, pilots at the base have started on the very basics of employing the F-35 as a weapons system... Read the full article here.

F-35 pilot training at Eglin AFB, Florida, is picking up stream as the US Air Force's 33^rd Fighter Wing gears up for its operational utility evaluation later this summer. Already, the unit has gradated its first true student--US Marine Corps Lt Col Roger Hardy--who finished his transition course last week. Hardy is the Defense Contract Management Agency's first F-35 acceptance pilot--his job will be to ensure new jets being delivered from Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth plant are meeting their specs. Unlike others who have transitioned to the F-35, he is not a test pilot nor is a member of the initial instructor pilot cadre.

Marine Lt Col Roger Hardy on his check ride-July 10, 2012--USAF Photo Maj Karen Roganov

Lt Col Roger Hardy on his first flight--USAF photo Maj Karen Roganov

Additionally, the commander of VMFAT-501, Marine Lt Col David "Chip" Berke has started his transition to the F-35B. That makes him the third Marine pilot to start training at the Florida base, but unlike Maj Joseph "OD"Bachmann or vice-wing commander Col Arthur "Turbo" Tomassetti, Berke is not a test pilot. His first flight was on 11 June when I was at Farnborough--but it was also Elgin's 100^th F-35 sortie.

"The realistic training of the Full Mission Simulator prepared me well for flying the F-35 for the first time," Berke says. "Unlike legacy aircraft, there is no back seat in the F-35. So the first time you fly and land the aircraft it is just the pilot."

Marine Lt Col David Burke after his flight--he is flying an aircraft with OD's name on it though. USAF photo by Maj Karen Roganov

Burke taxiing in... USAF Photo by Maj Karen Roganov

But the Marines and active component Air Force are not the only ones who are starting to fly the F-35 at Eglin. The first Air National Guard pilots have started to train at the 33^rd Fighter Wing. More on that later...

It seems that it's not just our friends in the Brazilian air force who enjoy nothing more than a good low-level flypast.

This Rex Features shot shows one of the Venezuelan air force's 24 Sukhoi Su-30 fighters getting down below rooftop level during Independence Day celebrations in Caracas on 5 July. Hopefully President Hugo Chavez was impressed.

An Su-30 was also pictured (Rex Features shot below) at higher level flanked by six Hongdu K-8 jet trainers during the annual show of strength.

Is there anything more that I have to look forward to in life? On Thursday, July 12, I had the opportunity to fly a Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet at the Farnborough air show in England. So, barring another flight in the Super Hornet, or perhaps a spin in a Boeing F-15D or E, a Lockheed Martin F-16, or maybe a Eurofighter Typhoon (and while we're dreaming--maybe getting checked out in a F-22 Raptor or F-35), I would say no... I've accomplished all I've set out to do. I can now die a happy man.

Though Boeing arranged the flight, I was flying with Commander Jonathan "Gabby" Wise, the operations officer for the US Navy's Strike Fighter Wing Atlantic.

It was about 08:00 when I showed up at Boeing's chalet to meet the saintly Mary Ann Brett, the company representative who setup my Super Hornet sortie. Soon we were on our way to Farborough's north side where all the flight display aircraft were parked. 

Once at the hangar--which is possibly the cleanest hangar I've ever been in--I was taken to meet the life support guys to be fitted out with a g-suit, helmet, life preserver and everything else I needed for my flight. Lanny (I completely forgot his last name--sorry) and Reginald Mathis, the two Boeing life-support techs got me kitted out quickly and efficiently... One thing of note--the Boeing flight gear didn't include the Combat Edge upper pressure garment. The only real problem we had was my shoulders are way too big to fit properly into the flight suit. But these things happen...

Next, we went upstairs to do my briefing with Gabby and Boeing's chief pilot Dave Desmond. Desmond has so many hours in the Super Hornet that he could practically fly the jet in his sleep... The briefing was, of course, a pretty standard affair... basic safety/common sense stuff (Like don't fly when you're sick, for example). 

Then it was on to the flight line... As I strode towards the F/A-18F; I could scarcely believe I was actually going to fly in a Super Hornet. This particular aircraft is currently equipped with a Raytheon APG-73 mechanically scanned array radar and is based out of NAS Lemoore in California with VFA-122. While it doesn't have the much more capable Raytheon APG-79 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, it does have the advanced displays in the back. Also unlike a fleet aircraft, as a trainer, it has dual-controls installed... It also had two AIM-9X and two AIM-120 training rounds hanging on the wings. The other thing I noticed was how it absolutely dwarfed the Lockheed Martin F-16 and Saab Gripen parked next to us.

Lanny and Reggie helped me strap into the jet... which was actually pretty straight forward. Then Gabby ran through the start-up procedures. For me, the most important thing to remember was to turn on the oxygen flow to my mask and turn on all the displays. That was easy enough. I was a little surprised that the flow from the OBOGS was cool--I'd always assumed that since it came though the bleed air system that it would be warm.

We then taxied out to the runway... As we received clearance for take-off, Gabby told me to arm the ejection seat. Again, easy...

A full afterburner take-off is quite different from what you'd expect from an airliner or strategic airlifter like the Boeing C-17. I was pushed back into my seat and the aircraft basically leapt into the air in its relatively lightly loaded configuration. But we had to quickly cut back on the power because of airspace restrictions and the sheer volume of traffic over the skies over the UK.

After we cut back on the power, we flew a relatively benign climb profile due to traffic. The APG-73's air-to-air modes (range while search--if memory serves) helped in spotting general aviation traffic and gliders as we headed west toward Boscombe Down. But even so, I was impressed at how quickly Gabby could visually pick-out traffic...

User upload by Billypix

Once we got into our designated box to demo the jet, that's when the fun started. We started off with a couple of g-warming turns. I was a little worried because I had had a bout of food poisoning the night before and I had bit of a cold (and my ear drums are still paying for it). Incidentally, flying with either one of these conditions is a big no-no normally... but additionally--to make matters worse--I was also somewhat dehydrated and sleep deprived. But you only have one chance to fly a Super Hornet and I took it.

As it turns out I had nothing to worry about, the two g-warming turns of about 4G and then 6G were mildly uncomfortable, but it was all good--similar to doing a medium weight set of squats in terms of exertion. Seeing that I was fine, Gabby started putting the jet through its paces. (It turns out being relatively short and muscular has advantages)

 Not my flight, Navy Pax River jet... USN Photo

We did a high angle-of-attack (AOA) maneuver called the pirouette. As the jet slows down and the angle of the attack increases to the high 40s and even touches 50 degrees before the jet rotates around its own Z-axis. Then Gabby repeated the maneuver inverted--it was unbelievably awesome. At low speed, the Super Hornet's handling is nothing short of spectacular... especially in afterburner. We were flying at airspeeds between 40 and 50 knots--which is near the stall speed of a Cessna C-172!

Then onto the high-speed maneuvers... Gabby showed me what a mock visual range dogfight might look like. As Gabby explains, the Super Hornet was designed to dominate in a one-circle fight--which it usually does--if it is properly flown. (Though it'll do pretty damn well in a beyond visual range fight too... especially with the APG-79. The Navy gave up nothing in terms of BVR with the retirement of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, even the Blk 1 Super/legacy Hornet's APG-73/AIM-120 combo is far superior against fighter-sized targets. AWG-9/Phoenix combo kinda sucked against anything that wasn't bomber-sized, Gabby tells me. Boeing pilots tell me that if one takes into account the F/A-18E/F's classified capabilities, even advanced Sukhoi Flanker derivatives are not a problem for the Navy's Super Hornet drivers).

 Pax River bird, USN Photo

In full afterburner the jet accelerates quickly... we very quickly approached Mach 0.95 from barely 275 knots. As we entered the merge--so to speak, since we were flying against an imaginary threat--Gabby stood the throttles up to avoid having us being shot in the face and then he put the jet into a hard 7.4G turn--I was surprised that I wasn't graying out or getting any sort of tunnel vision--especially since I have no idea how to do the L1 anti-g straining maneuver. I was perfectly fine--I can only describe the sensation as being similar to a heavy-ish (it wasn't like doing a max or anything) set of squats or a leg press. After a couple a violent high-g maneuvers, Gabby finished off our imaginary adversary with a high-alpha (I think we touched 53 degrees AOA!) vertical loop... 

I was still doing quite well at this point, but after a couple of more high-g turns, my stomach was starting to act up (aforementioned food poisoning--the night before many of the other Flight reporters thought I was going to die...), so I asked Gabby to take it easy for a couple of minutes. His response was to let me fly the jet, so I took the controls.

 Pax River jet, USN Photo

The real jet is as easy and delightful to fly as the Boeing full dome simulator... Of course, a simulator can't replicate the physical sensation of the g-forces in the cockpit. But the Super Hornet handles magnificently. I started off with some benign turns, mostly at 4G to 4.5G--I kept things relatively flat since I was having some difficulty clearing my ears--but it turns very precisely. I also pushed the jet up to about Mach 0.96 or so and put it into a hard turn, Gabby had to reign me in a touch since I almost over-Ged the jet (at higher speeds, it's easy to assault the limiter--so even though there is a 0.5G cushion--you can take the Hornet up to 8G even though its limited to 7.5G). But I sustained 7.4G--which was freakin cool!

My full blower high-speed runs burned off a lot of gas... So on our way back towards Farnborough, Gabby showed me the APG-73's air-to-surface mapping mode.  The APG-79 AESA radars on the newer Block II jets are vastly superior--Gabby says it's like comparing night and day--I was still impressed at how good some of the imagery generated was. I also learned something--a radar needs a squint angle to generate a good map.

 Not my landing at Farnborough... USN Photo

Touching down at Farnborough we did the standard Navy unflared landing--but it wasn't that bad. It was much smoother than I would have imagined. I've suffered through far rougher landings--mostly at my own hands when I was first learning to fly...

So the flight was awesome... The Super Hornet may not be the fastest or highest flying jet out there, but it's by far the most powerful aircraft I've ever flown and it was just awesome. Even US Air Force pilots admit its avionics are spectacular even if they say they'd want more power and speed. But for the Navy, the service is less concerned with sheer power and speed and more with delivering an all-round performer that can deliver air power from wherever the service deploys its fleet of carriers. And in that role, the Super Hornet excels.

In the future, the Navy hopes to replace the Super Hornet with a new F/A-XX starting in the 2030s... Until then the F/A-18E/F will the Navy's primary fighter.

Now to convince the bosses to let me go to Japan to fly with the USAF 18^th Wing's Boeing F-15D-model Eagles...

Before the madness of the Farnborough air show kicked in (and boy, does that feel like an age ago), I had an enjoyable day with Saab at the Royal International Air Tattoo. This included a quick briefing about the company's plans to open a Gripen Fighter Weapon School at Overberg air base in South Africa.

To be open to all current Gripen operators (namely the Czech Republic, Hungary, South Africa, Sweden and Thailand) and future users (likely to include Switzerland, which is now negotiating a 22-aircraft deal), the facility will run one two-month course per year. Benefits for South Africa will include hosting international partners and getting funds from leasing access to a few of its aircraft (Saab image below), while other nations will get access to "extensive airspace over mountain ranges, deserts and the Indian and Atlantic Ocean", along with "favourable metrological conditions", says Saab.

The first course will kick off in October 2013, and this contributor to The DEW Line would love to be there, having been to the stunning Overberg base once before.

Saab South Africa president and ace Gripen test pilot Magnus Lewis-Olsson is looking for a more catchy name for the school, and has already ruled out "Top Gun 2". I'm suggesting "Top Sun" but would like to hear any of your suggestions; keep them clean, folks!

Apologies for the lack of blogging from me while the Farnborough air show has been in full flow, but just to prove that life goes on away from soggy Hampshire, here's a nice image of something happening in sunny Texas.

Lockheed Martin performed the first flight yesterday with BK-2 - the second short take-off and vertical landing F-35B for the UK. The event (caught by one of the company's photographers) happened just over a week before the delivery ceremony for aircraft BK-1, due on 19 July.

In all, three UK aircraft will be used to support initial operational test and evaluation work on the three-variant F-35 programme. Hopefully that will have moved forward enough for us to be able to commentate on the type in flight at the next Farnborough show in 2014.

The weather here at Farnborough is much improved today (still cloudy though) and there were some flight demos in the afternoon. The Eurofighter Typhoon, Saab JAS-39 Gripen and Boeing F/A-18 all flew, as did the MV-22 Osprey. There were others flying too.

You can watch live footage at this link:http://www.flightglobal.com/fg-club/air-show-live/ It's shot from a camera on our deck here at the show. All you have to do is register.

This is the Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet at the show--this was uploaded by user Billypix 

So it looks like the Voice of Russia story about the Russian Federation Air Force attending Red Flag at Nellis was wrong--really wrong. And it seems Nellis public affairs dropped the ball in confirming the that the Russians were attending.

This is what they had sent me originally:

"Yes, The Russians will be participating in Red Flag 13-1.

Thanks for your interest in Nellis.

-Nellis Public Affairs"

 This is what the USAF headquarters sent me today:

"The Voice of Russia reporting is a complete fabrication. The Russian Air Force (RFAF) was supposed to observe RED FLAG-Alaska (RF-A) 12-2, 6-14 Jun 12 but RFAF observation was cancelled due to reciprocity issues.

Instead, a RFAF one-star general participated in the Executive Observer Program at RF-A 14-19 Jun 12. RFAF participation at RED FLAG-Nellis was never considered and no further RFAF observation/participation in RF is planned at this time."

So my colleagues Zach Rosenberg, Greg Waldron and I stopped by the Eurofighter Typhoon chalet this afternoon... There wasn't any beer--which is unusual for Germans.

But they let me play with their Typhoon sim--it was only a cockpit demonstrator, but a Eurofighter flight-test engineer (who wasn't German, but was from some other part of Europe) says that the flight model is pretty accurate, if a little on the conservative side. It's only about 5% off, he says.

The avionics and weapons were dumbed down--that's obviously classified. One cool thing it had was a headset to simulate a helmet-mounted display.

So the Eurofighter is fast... very, very fast. It easily pushed out to around Mach 1.5 with a full weapons load and three tanks of gas. It also handles very nicely... Apparently, the design goal, from what our engineer acquaintance tells me, was that it should fly a lot like a super F-15. Which it apparently does...

Of course, the only way for me to be sure of how well the Typhoon flies is to go up in one... Martina?

This is not a picture of a chick flying the sim--I just have long hair...

Also while we were slaving away to gather coverage for you guys we captured this video of the Airbus A400 airlifter coming into the show. Greg shot this on his Samsung phone...  

The Flightglobal team has arrived at Farnborough. The weather could be better--it's been raining non-stop pretty much... (but it's better than DC where it is currently hotter than hell). We've been walking around scoping out the place while the folks here are setting up... Some interesting displays.

Here is a shot of the Russian Yakovlev Yak-130 trainer... It's pretty impressive. Like most Russian aircraft, the finish is rough and utilitarian, but it works. It was later developed into the Alenia Aermacchi M346 after the collapse of a Russian-Italian collaborative effort to build a trainer.

Here is a shot of the Alenia Aermacchi M346... It still retains the basic layout, but its finish is just beautiful. I flew the engineering sim for this aircraft a while back. Assuming the sim is accurate; the jet has some awesome handling characteristics. Very precise...  my only issue was that is was difficult to slow it down. But other than that, awesome.

That's Flight reporter Zach Rosenberg in the shot... I'm camera shy so you won't me anytime soon.

The Russian Federation Air Force will be coming to Nellis AFB, Nevada, to participate in the US Air Force's Red Flag (13-1) exercise. How the world has changed... This would have been absolutely unthinkable even a few years ago. It's actually kinda bizarre now... But at the same time, kinda awesome.

The questions I have are:  Will the Russians play the part of Red Air? It will certainly be interesting to see how the Russians react to the US interpretation of their tactics and doctrine... Also, I have to wonder how the Russian play-acting/dress-up the 64^th and 65^th Aggressors do will go over...  

Anyways, here is an excerpt from the Voice of Russia article--they kinda buried the lede...

"In spring of 2012 it became known that the Russian Air Force is to participate in the Red Flag training exercise in the fall of 2012 together with Americans. From 8 until 19 of October, Red Flag Air Combat Exercise 13-1 will be held at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada (the exercises are numbered in accordance with the fiscal years, and exercise in the fall will be number one in the 2013 fiscal year). Like India, who participated in the Red Flag several years earlier using its Russian-made SU-30 MKI, Russia will get a chance this year to test its aircraft in realistic combat maneuvers with USAF aircraft. This chance is very important, since up until now the only Russian aircraft of the fourth generation which fought in a real combat situation against western aircraft has been the MIG -29, but the possibility of deploying it in the conditions of very specific wars of 1991 and 1999 was limited. Under such circumstances, the chance to test modernized Russian aircraft such as the SU -27 SM, SU-30M2, MIG -29SM and other strike aircraft - despite simulations, they are still against real western aircraft and pilots - is too attractive to be miss out on."

UPDATE: The USAF confirms the Russians are going to be attending Red Flag 13-1 at Nellis AFB, Nevada, this October.

"Hello, sir.

Yes, The Russians will be participating in Red Flag 13-1.

Thanks for your interest in Nellis.

-Nellis Public Affairs"--email from 99th ABW/PA at Nellis AFB

UPDATE 2: Nellis PA was wrong--the USAF's SAF and ACC PA are looking into how they could have screwed up so badly. Here is the correct statement that USAF HQ sent over:

"The Voice of Russia reporting is a complete fabrication. The Russian Air Force (RFAF) was supposed to observe RED FLAG-Alaska (RF-A) 12-2, 6-14 Jun 12 but RFAF observation was cancelled due to reciprocity issues.

Instead, a RFAF one-star general participated in the Executive Observer Program at RF-A 14-19 Jun 12. RFAF participation at RED FLAG-Nellis was never considered and no further RFAF observation/participation in RF is planned at this time."

Maybe at Farnborough someone will unveil a genetically-engineered flying pig...

The British will be accepting their first Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II, aka the Joint Strike Fighter, at the company's Fort Worth plant on July 19. That will mark the first international delivery of an F-35, Lockheed says.

This is an F-35A test aircraft--AF-6--flying out of Edwards AFB, California, over Owens Lakebed.  As mentioned before, the Brits are buying the short take-off vertical landing B-model. That's after they flip-flopped from the B-variant to the carrier-based C-model and back again. So the photo isn't particularly relevant to what the RAF and RN are buying, but it's a nice shot...

This is a Lockheed Martin photo...

The US Air Force announced today that Air Combat Command chief Gen Mike Hostage finished his initial quals in the F-22 Raptor. He had promised earlier in the year to fly alongside his pilots until the Lockheed Martin-built stealth fighter's problems are solved.

Read the story here

USAF Photo

In the meantime, the operational USAF Raptor fleet is flying with some restrictions on their operations--i.e. they can't fly above 44,000ft where you need to start pressure breathing for altitude. They also have to remain relatively close to an airfield. There are also some other maneuvering restrictions on the aircraft since the pilots are not wearing their Combat Edge anti-g upper-pressure garments.

Despite this, they still fared well in Alaska when doing some basic fighter maneuvers training sorties with some visiting German Luftwaffe Typhoons. There were contradictory claims from both sides as to the outcome of a set of eight basic fighter maneuvers sorties. You can read that story here... But as one Raptor driver says in retrospective:  "I did review the HUD footage, a lot of gun shots from the F-22's to the Eurofighters and not a whole lot coming back." 

As an aside, I consulted my good friend and colleague Guillaume Steuer, defense editor for the French aviation trade publication Air and Cosmos about the French Armée de l'Air's experiences with the Raptor. There has only been one documented case where a French pilot has gotten a simulated kill on an F-22.  It wasn't a Dassault Rafale as one might expect, but rather it was a Mirage 2000-9. Interestingly, the aircraft was actually a UAE air force Mirage that was flown by a French pilot--it happened about two years ago. The Armée de l'Air pilots thought the event was significant enough that they made this patch:

Photo by Air and Cosmos

Meanwhile, down at Holloman, 49^th Wing's Raptors recently flew a Combat Archer live-fire exercise. The effort expended two more of the remaining QF-4 drones. The USAF is modifying its retired F-16 into QF-16 drones to replenish the ever dwindling fleet. Boeing is set to deliver six QF-16s to the USAF before the end of the year.

This here is a QF-4...

USAF photo

In other news, the entire Flight team is off to Farnborough for the airshow next week. Watch for our coverage...

Sherm Mullin, who was once part of the Lockheed Skunk Works team that developed mighty F-22 Raptor, shares his recollections of developing the single best air superiority fighter ever built in this paper he wrote at the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute. It's definitely worth the read, lots of awesome insights.  

Here is a link to Mullin's paper. Here is my retrospective of the program.

USAF shot... this bird is from the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley

Mullin confirms many details, which while known, are rarely discussed publically:

As 1989 unfolded, we conducted an internal competition to see which way was best for us to win the NATF portion of the competition. We gave Boeing more time to make their fixed-wing design work better. Finally in August 1989, Buehler strongly recommended that we select the swing-wing design. Our F-22 Team Program Office approved.

The team, working hard on every detail of our NATF design in late 1989 and early 1990, produced a very stealthy swing-wing fighter that could supercruise. It was very suitable for carrier operations. Most of the advanced integrated avionics system was identical to the system we had designed and prototyped for the Air Force. We felt very good about the NATF proposal we submitted in December 1990.

However, in early 1991, the Navy bailed out of the ATF program. They put all their carrier fighter aircraft eggs in one basket--the F-18E/F Hornet. It was a 20^th century airplane, jack of several trades, and master of none. But by going with the F-18E/F, the Navy avoided risk. There is no doubt that the A-12 stealth attack aircraft program failure had scarred the Navy's thinking for a generation. Navy leaders had lost their courage after decades of successfully pioneering excellent new carrier aircraft. They would not have a revolutionary new carrier aircraft in the early part of the 21st century. (Note: The Navy still got a vote in the ATF competition, and, as we found out later for certain, it cast it for our F-22 team.)

Personally, I always thought it was a real shame that the NATF was never built--it would have been one hell of a successor to the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. Ironically, the US Navy is only now getting a stealth fighter, but one without the sheer kinematics of what this jet could have been--and with twin engines to boot.

Some other interesting factoids:

Between Sept. 29 and Dec. 28 [1990], our [YF-22 ]team, with Abrams leading the charge, conducted one of the most intense and successful flight test programs in the history of aviation. This is what our team did:

• Flew 74 test flights

• Accumulated 92 flight hours

• Demonstrated and used in-flight refueling extensively

• Demonstrated supercruise (at about 1,000 miles per hour) with both airplanes

• Flew at speeds up to Mach 2 (about 1,400 miles per hour)

• Demonstrated engine thrust vectoring

• Demonstrated super maneuverability, from low speed to supersonic speed

• Demonstrated high speed maneuvers over 7 Gs

• Launched two types of air-to-air missiles from internal weapons bays

Too bad we didn't build more of these jets--oxygen problems aside--it might be a decision that comes back to haunt us.