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Post by TsarSamuil on Feb 20, 2014 14:59:25 GMT -5
The F-35 Fighter Program: America Going Down in Flames. contraryperspective.com W.J. Astore - 2014/02/18 This past weekend, CBS 60 Minutes did a segment on the F-35 fighter program. The basic facts are these: the program is seven years behind schedule and $163 billion over budget. Yes, you read that right: Not $163 million, but $163 billion. The lead contractor, Lockheed Martin, is essentially unapologetic about the delays and cost overruns. Why should they be? The general in charge of the F-35 acquisition program said we’re going to buy thousands of the plane over the next two decades. Talk about rewarding failure! If we continue like drunken sailors to throw money at the F-35, it’ll be an effective fighter jet. But the biggest issue is that we don’t need it. Predator and Reaper drones are just the beginning of a new generation of pilotless aircraft that promise to be more effective. Why? Because we need not risk pilots getting shot down. Also, when you combine long loiter time over targets with super-sensitive sensors, drones reduce collateral damage while increasing the odds of “one shot, one kill.” Proponents of the F-35 like to brag about its (costly) stealthy features, its (costly) cameras and sensors (especially the computer- and sensor-integrated helmet worn by each pilot, which creates a virtual reality and visual scape for that pilot), and its survivability vis-a-vis Russian and Chinese fighters (which are largely still on the drawing boards in those countries). But the truth is that an updated generation of F-15s, F-16s, F-18s, and F-22s are more than capable of defending America and projecting power. (The Vietnam War proved that, in aerial combat, pilot training and skill matter more than technology. That’s why the U.S. military established realistic training at “Top Gun” schools.) The F-35, given the amount of money thrown at it, doubtless has some improvements over planes such as the F-15 and F-18. But at a price tag of at least $400 billion to purchase the F-35, and $1.45 trillion over the life of the program to operate and maintain them, it has simply become far too prohibitive for the United States to afford, especially in a climate of fiscal austerity. Based on its track record, it’s probably safe to say that the F-35 will soon be a decade behind schedule and $200 billion over budget, even as it’s increasingly rendered irrelevant by improvements in drone technologies. So why are we buying it? Simply because the program is too big to fail. The Air Force, Navy, and Marines are all counting on it. Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin has distributed its subcontractors across the USA, making it exceedingly difficult for Congress to cut the program without hurting jobs in virtually every Congressional district. Indeed, in an awesome display of chutzpah, you can go to the Lockheed Martin website to see how much your state is involved in building the F-35. Clicking on the “economic impact map,” I see that for the State of Pennsylvania, for example, the F-35 creates 759 jobs and an economic impact of nearly $51 million. For the DoD, the F-35 may have ridden off the rails, but for Lockheed Martin the F-35 will continue to soar into the stratosphere as a major money-maker for decades to come. In the battle between DoD program managers and Lockheed Martin, the winner and “top gun” is as obvious as it is depressing. Score another victory for Lockheed Martin! But please avert your eyes as America itself goes down in flames. Update: Another critical perspective from “War Is Boring” on the F-35 program that also takes “60 Minutes” to task for relying only on government sources for their (weak) critique. Here’s an excerpt: “But where was the long list of design and quality-control issues with the aircraft, 12 years after development began? What about discussing the many alternatives to this under-performing machine, such as F-22s and drones plus rebuilt F-15s, F-16s and F/A-18s? Why not point out how many experts in the defense journalism and analysis worlds see the JSF program as detracting from America’s security rather than enhancing it?” Those are very good questions. Update 2: For military/contractor perspectives, check out this video, which includes testimony by test pilots that is generally favorable to the F-35 program (at least from a technical sense). Update 3: Winslow Wheeler reveals the high cost and serious limitations of the F-35 here and here. Wheeler knows his stuff. He’s the Director of the Straus Military Reform Project of the Center for Defense Information, part of the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) in Washington, DC, and is the author of The Wastrels of Defense: How Congress Sabotages National Security (US Naval Institute Press) and Military Reform: An Uneven History and an Uncertain Future (Stanford University Press). Another critical article is by the legendary Chuck Spinney here with the telling title “F-35: Out of Altitude, Airspeed, and Ideas — But Never Money.” Update 4: An excerpt from Franklin C. “Chuck” Spinney: “But the F-35 program is not at serious risk, despite all the hysterical hype in the trade press — not by a long shot. The F-35′s political safety net has been front-loaded and politically engineered (the general practices of the power games are explained here) with exquisite malice aforethought. Domestically, the F-35 employs 130,000 people and 1300 domestic suppliers in 47 states and Puerto Rico. The only states missing the gravy train are Hawaii, Wyoming, and North Dakota. Internationally, there are already cooperative development/production plans involving nine countries, and more are in the offing. Given the intensity of the geographic carpet-bombing of contracts around the globe, can there be any question why the Secretary of the Air Force said in September, ‘Simply put, there is no alternative to the F-35 program. It must succeed.’ If you think that is an accident, dear reader, I have a Brooklyn Bridge to sell you.” |
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Post by TsarSamuil on Mar 4, 2014 18:33:20 GMT -5
Navy cuts F-35 order nearly in half.
RT.com
March 04, 2014 16:59
As the United States prepares plans to downsize its military, the Navy is set to order fewer Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jets than previously expected over the next five years.
Citing an unnamed defense official, Reuters reported that beginning in the 2015 fiscal year, the Navy will request the purchase of 36 F-35C fighter jets, which are designed to land on aircraft carriers. That’s nearly half as many as the 69 originally projected.
The Air Force, meanwhile, is postponing its own request for four F-35A jets for one year. Beginning in 2016, however, it remains on track to move forward with its purchases as planned, an arrangement that will see the Air Force purchase about 238 jets total.
The Marine Corps stands out as the sole player committed to its original plan, still expected to request 69 F-35B jets over five years. These are scheduled to be combat ready and in use by mid-2015.
According to Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale, the move to purchase fewer jets does not indicate that the military is underwhelmed with the jet’s performance capability, but rather it was based primarily on budgetary considerations. Defense officials told Reuters that the plan is still to purchase a total of 2,443 F-35s over the next few years.
As RT has reported in the past, however, the F-35 project has suffered from some significant obstacles, notably price. The fleet of 2,443 fighter jets is expected to cost $392 billion, a 68 percent increase over original projections from back in 2001. According to the Washington Post, this has led the military to cut back on the number of planes it first expected to purchase by more than 400. Additionally, the Post noted statements by the Pentagon’s chief tester, who in January said the jet “wasn’t sufficiently reliable in training flights last year.”
Other performance and manufacturing setbacks have also hobbled the program as it unfolded. Last year, a Pentagon report found issues with the jet’s internal software, while leaked budget review documents suggested some within the government would consider cancelling the project.
Still, the military has continued to reiterate its confidence in the program’s ultimate success.
"The basic design of the F-35 is sound, and test results underscore our confidence in the ultimate performance that the United States and its international partners and allies value so highly," Air Force Lieutenant General Chris Bogdan, who heads the F-35 project, said last year. "Of course, we recognize risks still exist in the program, but they are understood and manageable."
The decision to purchase fewer jets also comes amid reports that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is planning an overhaul of the US armed forces in order to fulfill President Obama’s goals of scaling back overseas military operations while remaining capable of waging war when necessary. Under Hagel’s proposal, US troop levels would fall somewhere between 440,000 and 450,000, the lowest level scene since World War II.
According to Reuters, the sequester could also come back to affect the F-35 project. Just last week, Hagel said that if Congress does not revoke or somehow deal with the automatic cuts scheduled for the 2016 fiscal year even fewer jets may be bought.
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Post by TsarSamuil on Mar 11, 2014 14:52:06 GMT -5
Chinese components found in B-1 bombers and F-16 fighters.
RT.com
March 11, 2014 16:06
A Pentagon investigation has found that despite prohibitions by federal law, multiple US aircraft and weaponry are housing Chinese parts and raw materials.
The news comes a couple of months after it was initially revealed that Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet was using Chinese magnets in its new radar system. Despite concern over Chinese espionage efforts and military buildup, the Pentagon reportedly waived laws barring the parts in order to keep $392 billion program on schedule.
According to Reuters, the US Department of Defense said that in addition to the F-35, the B-1 bomber, the F-16 fighter jets, and the SM-3 IIA missile were also found to be housing Chinese components or raw material. Specifically, the Pentagon authorized waivers for the inclusion of specially manufactured magnets in the aircraft, while Chinese-sourced titanium may have been used in the missile’s construction.
While US law prohibits the use of Chinese parts and raw material in American weaponry over fears that the military could be weakened by a reliance on foreign suppliers, chief US arms buyer Frank Kendall said in January that it would’ve cost more than $10 million dollars to retrofit and replace the $2 magnets in the F-35s, which had already seen software and manufacturing setbacks.
A senior defense official, meanwhile, said the waivers were authorized when it was determined parts such as the magnets posed no risk, since China did not get its hands on any system specifications while filling out orders for defense contractors.
"You don't break a multimillion dollar radar to replace twenty dollars' worth of magnets. There was no technical risk," the official told Reuters.
Still, the news service reported the initial waivers were authorized “with the expectation” that contractors would adjust their supply chain afterwards. The Pentagon is expected to seek compensation from the companies, though it’s unclear exactly how the supply chains have been corrected.
"It's not a 'get out of jail' free card. This is something we should be good at. We shouldn't be caught short on these," the defense official said to Reuters. "Hundreds of regulations change yearly and there's a whole group of folks whose job it is to make sure that those (changes) are properly implemented in contracts."
The Pentagon investigation, conducted in 2012 and 2013, highlights some of the problems involved in the US military’s efforts to lessen its dependence on rare earth materials and components manufactured in China. A late 2013 report by the military found that China’s grip on the rare earth market had been loosened since 2011. The Defense Department also stated that work continues on efforts to produce rare earth metals domestically, but one strategic planning and consulting agency called the report’s conclusions “wishful thinking.”
“We still have no producers of the more defense-critical heavy rare earths,” Jeff Green of JA Green & Co told Bloomberg News, “and significant gaps remain in the domestic production of metal, alloy and magnets, all found in our most critical weapons, with no appreciable investment planned to solve the production problem.”
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Post by TsarSamuil on Mar 14, 2014 7:09:13 GMT -5
Who comes up with these names? It would be better if they came up with random numbers, letters instead of that crap  Operation 11003jdfkfjwiewefjwekewjhkefhhcwe, much better  ------------ New Chinese stealth jet built with stolen F-35 component designs. RT.com March 14, 2014 04:02 A new Chinese stealth fighter jet’s design includes details obtained in a Chinese cyber-spying operation conducted seven years ago against the F-35 Lightning II, according to a new report based on conversations with US military officials and contractors. The Chinese espionage plot, dubbed Operation Byzantine Hades  by US intelligence agencies, primarily targeted government as well as US industry. While the US Office of National Intelligence is known to have more details about the plot, Bill Gertz of the Washington Free Beacon reported that new Chinese planes have incorporated technology previously only found in the F-35. A video posted on a Chinese military message board was reportedly the first evidence that such a theft had taken place. The websites featured images of a newer version of the J-20 stealth jet, a twin engine aircraft currently under development by the Chinese People Liberation’s Army. The initial J-20 prototype was revealed in 2011, however the aircraft shown in the video was equipped with a new electro-optical targeting system under its nose, an updated coating that will help the plane hide from radar, and newly hidden engine nozzle, according to the Free Beacon. Pentagon officials have said that the data was first taken by a Chinese military group called the Technical Reconnaissance Bureau based in Chengdu province. The information was then given to the Aviation Industry Corp. (AVIC). The AVIC then passed it on to a subsidiary, the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, to incorporate the information into the new design. The US military first began development on the F-35 in 2006. Since then, the stealth fighter has a reported 100 percent success rate in its weapons testing in recent years, according to Michael Brissenden of ABC news in Australia, although reliability issues with the plane mean its design is not yet complete. The F-35 was designed to carry out ground attacks and air missions, with advanced sensors attached to make up for any maneuvering vulnerabilities. Richard Fisher, a specialist on Chinese weapon systems, told the Free Beacon that technology installed under the J-20’s nose is remarkably similar to the F-35’s sensors. “This targeting system and a set of distributed high-power infrared sensors give the F-35 a previously unrivaled ‘situational awareness,’ but now it is clear that the J-20 will have a similar targeting system and its own set of distributed sensors,” he said. “If as part of their espionage, China had also gained engineering insights into the F-35’s very advanced sensor systems, that could prove disastrous to its combat potential barring a rapid redesign and improvements before entering service.” Last year US officials denied that the Chinese had gained an edge on American military capabilities, although they did not refute that cyber-espionage is becoming more common in the tense world of geopolitics. “The viciousness, and just the volume of attacks, not only by the Chinese but Russians and others trying to get the blueprints of our most sensitive material is just breathtaking – and they’re getting better,” Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN. “It costs billions and billions of dollars extra to try to make sure that we’re staying ahead of our adversaries with technology. When they steal it, they leap ahead. That means we have to invest more, and change that technology. It is a serious problem,” he said. |
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Post by TsarSamuil on Mar 14, 2014 12:16:20 GMT -5
Underwater drone fleet’s budget nearly doubled by the Pentagon. RT.com March 13, 2014 22:54 Officials at the US Defense Department have requested extra funding for a new fleet of submarines and unmanned underwater vehicles and surveillance drones, according to newly unveiled budget documents. The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to double its current spending from $14.9 million to $29.9 million for the Hydra program. When Pentagon designers debuted the Hydra program they unveiled a large, mothership-like craft capable of moving through the water and deploying a number of smaller surveillance drones. The budget released last week also shows that DARPA is seeking a 59-percent increase from $11.9 million to $19 million for the Upward Falling Payloads program, with the intention of developing “forward-deployed (drones) that can provide non-lethal effects or situational awareness over large maritime areas,” as quoted by Ray Locker of USA Today. One of the motivating factors behind the Upward Falling Payloads program is the need to sidestep the costly and time consuming process of transporting distributed technology devices to a specific area. Instead, the Navy would plant those devices in designated areas throughout the ocean and access them by remote during times of need. DARPA hopes to target nearly 50-percent of the international oceans that are more than 4 kilometers deep. That surface provides “vast areas for concealment and storage…concealment provided by the sea also provides the opportunity to quickly engage remote assets that may have been dormant and undetected for long periods of time, while its vastness allows simultaneous operation across great distances.” Another 16 unmanned drones will exist only to collect information about the oceans’ currents, temperature, and salt content. These developments are expected to markedly improve the accuracy of studies regarding climate change and weather forecasting. Those drones, equipped with depth meters and GPS sensors, were developed as part of the Challenger Glider Mission, a research project by Rutgers University. Scott Glenn, the co-leader of the Challenger Glider Mission and professor of Physical Oceanography at Rutgers, told Rhiannon Williams of the Telegraph that the environmental evaluations are an integral part of the budget request. “The technology underpinnings of this mission are truly enabling our researchers to gather more and better data than ever before, enhancing the basis of knowledge for future generations,” he said. “Part of our goal with this mission is to increase global ocean literacy. This expanded dataset will enable students and researchers to focus on the science of their local waters, as well as be a part of a global research community, all working toward understanding the ocean’s role in regulating the changing climate and weather.” The budget report’s publication comes a week after the Pentagon released its Quadrennial Defense Review, which indicated the military is shifting its focus from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to possible threats in the Pacific. “We will continue our contributions to the rebalance of the Asia-Pacific region, seeking to preserve peace and stability in a region that is increasingly central to US political, economic, and security interests,” the Quadrennial report said. “In the coming years, countries such as China will continue seeking to counter US strengths using anti-access and area-denial (A2/AD) approaches.” Admiral Samuel Locklear of US Pacific Command told reporters earlier this year that he hopes China will not interpret any of the military strategies as a sign of hostility. “We have to do better at being able to communicate with each other in a way that allows us to not lead to miscalculation,” he said, as quoted by the Voice of America. “That won’t be a productive security environment.”  Still from YouTube video/George Tonchev |
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Post by TsarSamuil on Mar 14, 2014 22:02:58 GMT -5
UK Navy ships fires torpedo at nuclear sub dockyard.
RT.com
March 14, 2014 20:13
HMS Argyll fired a torpedo by mistake during a training drill at the Devonport dockyard in Plymouth south west England, where nuclear submarines are also docked.
The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon, during the Navy’s Flag Officer Training.
Workers were shocked to see a the 2.6-meter long torpedo shoot out of the side of a ship, fly 200 meters through the air, blast a hole through a security fence and then slam into a metal storage container.
HMs Argyll, a type 23 Frigate, was the one to fire the torpedo during the training exercise, according to the Royal Navy. However the torpedo was a dummy and therefore not armed with explosives.
“We can confirm an incident occurred onboard HMS Argyll… while the ship was docked alongside at Devonport Naval Base in Plymouth. During a training exercise, an inert Test Variant Torpedo (TVT) unexpectedly jettisoned onto the wharf. There was no explosion and no casualties,” a Royal Navy spokesman said.
A major investigation has been launched into the incident.
“If anyone was inside it they would have had a nasty shock – the whole side of the container was stoved in. Had the thing been armed it would have let out a 200-meter blast. You could be talking about a major loss of life,” a source told the Plymouth Herald.
This is the second armed forces blunder reported by the Herald in as many weeks.
Earlier this month a live artillery shell went five miles off course, narrowly missing a main road and an entire village before exploding in a field near a railway line.The incident happened on Salisbury Plain, where marines based at Plymouth frequently train.
The latest incident comes as the Defense Secretary Phillip Hammond promised £300 million ($500 million) in extra cash for the Royal Navy’s submarine construction yard in Barrow in Furness, Cumbria, where the new Trident replacement will be built if the go ahead is given as expected in 2016.
However, navy chiefs have warned that defense cuts mean they are barely able to carry out their commitments, and have warned politicians that the Royal Navy is seriously undermanned.
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Post by TsarSamuil on Mar 26, 2014 13:28:58 GMT -5
Software problems will set back F-35 joint strike fighter another year – report. RT.com March 26, 2014 00:55 Delivery of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will be more than a year behind schedule due to ongoing software problems, according to a US government report. The delay marks the latest snag in the ongoing saga of the world’s most expensive aircraft. According to a new Government Accountability Office report, the F-35’s mission management system software needs a vast debugging effort to meet the plane’s various requirements. “Challenges in development and testing of mission systems software continued through 2013, due largely to delays in software delivery, limited capability in the software when delivered, and the need to fix problems and retest multiple software versions,” the GAO auditors wrote. “The Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) predicts delivery of warfighting capabilities could be delayed by as much as 13 months. Delays of this magnitude will likely limit the warfighting capabilities that are delivered to support the military services’ initial operational capabilities—the first of which is scheduled for July 2015—and at this time it is not clear what those specific capabilities will be because testing is still ongoing.” The GAO said the plane needs eight million new lines of software code to overcome the current functionary glitches. The report added that only 13 percent of the Block 2B segment of software had been tested as of last January. The target for this prime operational component of the plane was 27 percent. Earlier this year, the Pentagon's chief weapons tester, Michael Gilmore, provided an in-depth report to Congress on the F-35's technical features, emphasizing what he calls the "unacceptable" characteristics of the aircraft's Block 2B software, according to a draft obtained by Reuters in January. "Initial results with the new increment of Block 2B software indicate deficiencies still exist in fusion, radar, electronic warfare, navigation, electro-optical target system, distributed aperture system, helmet-mounted display system, and datalink," Gilmore's report said. Due to the high number of technical problems, the 2B software overhaul would not be finished until November 2015 - 13 months later than originally planned, the report predicted. This scenario would delay release to the F-35 fleet until July 2016, a year after the Marine Corps anticipated having “initial operating capability” with its version of the joint strike fighter. The all-in-one plane, designed for a host of potential missions, is to have similar versions for the US Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps. GAO auditors questioned whether the US government can still afford the F-35 program. Plans are for the purchase of 2,457 planes for the US military by 2037. Development and acquisition costs are estimated to be about $400 billion. To remain on schedule for 2037, the Pentagon must “steeply” increase spending on the program over the next five years, the GAO said, to the tune of $12.6 billion per year for the next 23 years for only research and acquisition costs. Pentagon brass has called the $1 trillion estimated operation and maintenance costs “unaffordable,” the GAO reported. In response to the GAO findings, the F-35 program's head, Maj. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, said in a statement that "software continues to remain our number one technical risk on the program, and we have instituted disciplined systems engineering processes to address the complexity of writing, testing and integrating software." The report, released Monday, detailed only the latest problems with what some have dubbed “the jet that ate the Pentagon,” plagued with chronic cost overruns and delayed deliveries. The Lockheed Martin fighter jet’s price tag is estimated to end up costing US taxpayers more than $1 trillion, factoring in maintenance expenses. Though, the Pentagon said in August that the program’s estimated cost was “slashed” to a trim $857 billion. Critics of the plane’s many functions say it’s too loaded down to be any more capable than the older, less-expensive F-16 fighter jet, which the F-35 is to replace along with F/A-18s, and A-10s. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, which started in 2001, is 70 percent over initial cost estimates and years behind schedule. Despite its fantastic price tag, the F-35 has even failed to generate the number of jobs its proponents had originally promised to Congress. In January, the Center for International Policy said Lockheed had “greatly exaggerated” its claim that the F-35 program will sustain 125,000 American jobs in 46 US states in an effort to win support for the program. In addition to the US, Lockheed is making F-35 versions for Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Turkey. Israel and Japan have placed orders for the fighter jet. South Korea ordered 40 joint strike fighters on Monday – the same day as the release of the GAO report. Despite the myriad problems in the F-35’s development, the first trans-Atlantic flight of an F-35 fighter jet is set for July, as the plane will take part in two international air shows near London, Reuters reported. |
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Post by TsarSamuil on Apr 16, 2014 14:37:24 GMT -5
China to boost space defense in ‘new-type combat force’
RT.com
April 16, 2014 00:41
China is planning to beef up its combat capability by increasing resources in a "new-type combat force," which includes integrating air and space capability in reaction to the international development of space weapons, local media reported.
Visiting the People's Liberation Army Air Force headquarters in Beijing on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed that the air force plays a decisive role in national security as well as military strategy, stating that it should have balanced strength in defensive and offensive operations, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.
Xi ordered the allocation of more resources in a "new-type combat force" to make sure the country’s army can "swiftly and effectively" deal with possible emergencies.
"The United States has paid considerable attention and resources to the integration of capabilities in both air and space, and other powers have also moved progressively toward space militarization," Xi said. "Though China has stated that it sticks to the peaceful use of space, we must make sure that we have the ability to cope with others' operations in space.”
Following the visit, Xi held China’s first meeting of a new national security commission on Tuesday. The leader stressed that China requires a way to coordinate domestic and foreign threats, such as social unrest. He added that China is living through "the most complex time in history,” Xinhua quoted him as saying.
The commission was announced in November and is loosely based on the National Security Council in the US. The idea behind the commission is to improve cooperation between different parts of China’s security apparatus – including police, military, intelligence, and diplomatic services, Reuters reported.
Xi argued that China needs to "implement and put into practice an overall national security view, paying attention to external as well as internal security.”
He said the security areas that need to be incorporated range from economic to nuclear security. "Security is the condition for development. We can only make the country rich by building up military power, and only with military power can we protect the country," Xi stated.
China’s move comes after new revelations from former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden that the agency has spied on Chinese leaders and businesses, Der Spiegel and The New York Times reported. China’s telecom giant, Huawei, was the core target for the NSA campaign in China.
Huawei Technologies is the world’s largest network equipment supplier and one of the leading mobile phone handset vendors.
In response, Beijing has demanded that the US stop the NSA's snooping activities against Chinese officials and companies.
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Post by TsarSamuil on Apr 25, 2014 16:34:43 GMT -5
Money for nothing? Boeing says F-35 isn’t so stealth after all. RT.com April 25, 2014 18:59 As the price of the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons endeavor ever soars even further, critics are calling into question the cost and capabilities of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. When all is said and done, the United States Department of Defense is expected to spend over $1 trillion on acquiring a fleet of the fancy stealth jets. But while concerns have been raised repeatedly regarding the program for years now, some new reports suggest that the military might soon sign-on to buy other state-of-the-art aircraft. On Friday this week, Military.com reported that the US Navy has not only decided to drop the number of Lockheed Martin-made F-35s it plans on purchasing from 69 to 36, but that 22 new EA-18G Growlers built by Boeing have been added to a list of unfunded priorities. Reporters Kris Osborn and Michael Hoffman wrote for the website that Boeing “has worked not so quietly this past year to offer the Navy an escape hatch from the costly Joint Strike Fighter program.” According to their report, since at least last summer Boeing has been urging the Navy to buy more F/A-18 Super Hornets and Growlers as concerns continue to emerge about the F-35. As RT reported extensively in the past, the F-35 program has been anything but a success for the DOD thus far — just last month, in fact, it was found out that ongoing software problems were going to push delivery of the Joint Fighter fleet even further behind schedule. But now in addition to the continuously increasing costs, the F-35's actual ability to stealthily soar through the sky is being called into question. Mike Gibbons is the vice president for Boeing’s Super Hornet and Growler programs, and has good reason to talk down the F-35s—after all, less money to Lockheed Martin likely means more for his firm. Regardless, Gibbons told Osborn and Hoffman that the F-35 is no longer as advanced of a stealth craft as once claimed, and is not as effective as the Growler when it comes to countering a wide spectrum of air defense systems. "The density of the threat is getting more complex and more difficult. The electromagnetic spectrum is getting more complex and more difficult and requires more of what the Growler provides in electronic attack and electronic awareness. Only the Growler has this capability," Gibbons told the website. Russia and China, Gibbons added, have developed air defense systems that put the F-35’s stealth technology to the test. And if those capabilities should improve, then the Pentagon’s widely-touted weapons program may be no match for the offensive capabilities of foreign militaries. Advocates for Growlers say that those aircraft can outsmart some of that stealth-defying technology, but the ability to actually stay hidden may soon be slipping away from the DOD altogether. "[ Stealth ] is needed for what we have in the future for at least 10 years out there and there is nothing magic about that decade," added Chief Naval Officer Adm. Jonathan Greenert. "But I think we need to look beyond that. So to me, I think it's a combination of having aircraft that have stealth but also aircraft that can suppress other forms of radio frequency electromagnetic emissions so that we can get in." But as developers continue to strive towards perfecting the F-35s, other problems aren’t exactly disappearing. RT reported last month that a study from the US Government Accountability Office had determined recently that the estimated acquisition cost of the F-35 fleet had dropped by around $11.5 billion during the last year. Just last week, however, the Pentagon published its latest Selected Acquisition Reports, and in it acknowledged that the price of the program had actually increased by about $7.4 billion. On Friday, former Government Accountability Office employee Winslow Wheeler wrote for CounterPunch.org that the latest report is a “major embarrassment” to the GAO given that the group’s report from last month made claims quite to the contrary. “In truth, the future of the F-35 program remains clouded, and most cloudy of all is the ultimate unit cost of the aircraft and the impact of that cost, as its reality unfolds, on existing and future buyers,” Wheeler wrote. Others, however, have suggested that the number of future buyers may soon shrink as well: on Thursday this week, the Australian military was blasted in a harshly worded op-ed published in the Brisbane Times who condemned efforts to acquire F-35 for down under. “Twelve billion dollars is a big wad of the folding stuff to drop on whizz bangs,” John Birmingham wrote for the paper, “And $12 billion probably won’t come close to the final cost of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighters both mainstream political parties are committed to buying.” “I got ten bucks says it’ll be more like twice that amount, but you’ll have wait 30 or 40 years to collect. That’s how long these things will be in the air. Assuming they shed their habit of shedding bits and pieces of equipment and airframe at inconvenient moments,” Birmingham added. “Like when they’re in the air.” |
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Post by TsarSamuil on Apr 30, 2014 17:27:43 GMT -5
EU states strike lucrative military contracts with China overriding embargo - report.
RT.com
April 30, 2014 14:14
Europe is powering the military rise of China, approving multi-million dollar deals for the transfer of weapons and dual-use technology – despite an arms embargo stemming from the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, AFP reveals.
China is the world’s second largest military spender and the fastest growing military market, with Beijing setting aside $132 billion in defense spending. While they are yet to touch the US’ massive $495.6 billion defense budget, China recently announced they would increase military spending by 12.2 percent for 2014.
“It will take China a long, long time before its budgets will effectively alter the military balance with the US,” Jonathan Holslag of the Brussels Institute of Contemporary China Studies, recently told Stars and Stripes.
“But that’s not the main concern. While the US still has some scope to respond, neighbors are getting much more nervous… Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines all know that they could be the first victim if the balance of power shifts at America’s detriment.”
Although Western partners in the East are skittish about China’s rise, Europe seemingly cannot resist the allure of Beijing’s billions.
French designed helicopters bolstering China’s air force, British jet engines driving fighter bombers and anti-ship strike aircraft, German and French engines providing the rudder to the Chinese navy – the role European exports play in China’s military is undeniable.
“Without European technology, the Chinese navy would not be able to move," Andrei Chang, editor of the Hong Kong-based Kanwa Asian Defense Review, told AFP.
EU weapons manufactures received licenses to export equipment worth three billion euros ($4.1 billion) to China in the decade to 2012, annual EU reports on trade reveal.
The most recent document said arms exports totaling 173 million euros were given the green light in 2012, 80 percent of which were issued by France. A French parliamentary report said the country delivered arms to China worth 104 million euros.
“Already, cynics claim that if the People’s Liberation Army went to war tomorrow, it would employ an arsenal filled with equipment from Germany, France and Britain," Emil Kirchner, an EU policy expert at Britain's University of Essex, told said.
Are exports legal with embargo in place?
The European Union imposed an arms embargo on China following the killing of hundreds, if not thousands of protesters during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Analysts, however, say EU states have free will to interpret the embargo as they choose, a reality which has generated tension with the United States.
An EU spokesman said in a statement that "the final decision to authorize or deny the (arms) export is the responsibility of EU member states."
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which monitors arms transfers, estimates that France, Britain and Germany account for 18 percent of Chinese military imports. Russia still provides the bulk of military hardware exports to China.
At the heart of China’s military modernization is its powerful new submarine fleet, which relies on state-of-the-art diesel engines designed by MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH of Friedrichshafen, Germany.
For Western states, these exports can impact the security of their allies. In January 2013, tensions nearly boiled over after a Jiangwei-class Chinese frigate locked fire-control radar on a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense destroyer and a helicopter near the disputed Senkaku/ Diaoyu Islands.
Military experts believe the ship relies on diesel engines produced by German firm MTU, AFP reports.
Another Chinese ship, a Jiangkai-class vessel, uses engines made by SEMT Pielstick, a French diesel engine manufacturer owned by German firm MAN Diesel and Turbo, according to analysts and specifications posted on Chinese military websites.
MAN told AFP that its Chinese licensees have supplied about 250 engines to China's navy. MTU said it "acts strictly according to the German export laws," without elaborating.
Meanwhile, in March Airbus Helicopters and China’s Avicopter – the helicopter business unit of Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) – penned a joint agreement for the production of 1,000 new generation EC175/AC352 rotorcraft at the Elysée Palace in Paris. Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Francois Hollande were present for the signing.
Citing the co-production deal signed in France, Chang said: "China uses the name of civil purchase to purchase French helicopter engines, and they shift those engines into military helicopters.
If (China) knows how to design the middle-sized EC175, they will know how to design a middle-sized military transport helicopter.”
Meanwhile, the Netherlands is also behind 18 million euros' worth of "vessels of war" or their accessories and components, while the acquisition of a British-made Airborne Early Warning (AEW) platform for the latest Chinese surveillance aircraft has provided a boost to the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.
The Chinese defense ministry has previously said reports of the People’s Liberation Army dependence on foreign arms technology are exaggerated. "According to international practice, China is also engaged in communication and cooperation with some countries in the area of weaponry development," the ministry said in a statement responding to this series. "Some people have politicized China's normal commercial cooperation with foreign countries, smearing our reputation."
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Post by TsarSamuil on Jun 6, 2014 3:22:43 GMT -5
Second US military jet in 24 hours crashes off California coast.
RT.com
June 05, 2014 15:39
A US Navy Super Hornet jet fighter crashed in the Pacific Ocean off the southern coast of California late Wednesday night, the US Navy said. This is the second crash of a US marine jet in the area in 24 hours.
The Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet jet “impacted the water” as it approached the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) at about 10pm local time (6am GMT) Wednesday.
“The pilot ejected from the aircraft, was recovered safely and is currently aboard Carl Vinson in stable condition,” the Navy said in a statement.
The jet was part of the Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 81 based at Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana in Virginia. The jet has not been recovered from the crash.
An investigation has been launched into the crash’s causes, while all operations have been halted aboard the USS Carl Vinson.
The remaining airborne aircraft operating in the area were diverted to NAS North Island in Coronado, California, and landed at about 11 pm local time (7 am GMT).
The Carl Vinson and Carrier Air Wing 17 have been conducting a Joint Task Force Exercise “to test a strike group's ability to operate in hostile and complex environments with other US and coalition forces,” the official statement of the Navy said. The exercise was carried out ahead of the group's upcoming deployment.
This incident is the second military jet to crash in the region of South California in 24 hours. Earlier on Wednesday the Third Marine Aircraft Wing AV-8B Harrier crashed into a residential area in Imperial Valley, Southern California. At least two houses caught fire.
There were no reports of injuries on the ground. The pilot successfully ejected from the aircraft and was not hurt. The jet was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, officials said. The causes are being investigated.
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Post by TsarSamuil on Jun 12, 2014 13:31:36 GMT -5
Buying single-engine F-35s for Canada a 'serious mistake': report
Michael Byers's One Dead Pilot report urges government to look at 2-engine options to replace CF-18s
By James Fitz-Morris, CBC News Posted: Jun 09, 2014 10:34 AM ET
The federal government is being urged to reconsider its expected decision to buy a fleet of F-35 fighters. This time the argument isn’t about cost or procurement problems, it's about what's inside the plane.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released a report by Michael Byers this morning in Ottawa.
Entitled "One Dead Pilot," the report argues that fighter aircraft with a single engine — as the F-35 has — are too dangerous and unreliable to be used by the Canadian military.
"This issue is especially important for Canada, which has the longest coastline in the world and vast Arctic territories," writes Byers.
Bird strikes
In the report, Byers compares the F-35 to the single-engine CF-104 Starfighter, which the Canadian air force used from the 1960s to 1987 and which was involved in 110 crashes in that time.
A quarter of those crashes were attributed to bird strikes and the fact there was no secondary engine to allow the plane to keep flying.
Byers is the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law and the University of British Columbia and also a former NDP candidate.
"Engine failures will still occur, and when they do so away from an airport, a second engine is the only thing that can prevent a crash," Byers concludes.
Serious mistake
"The need for a twin-engine fighter jet is very clear, and purchasing a single-engine fighter jet would be a serious mistake," he said.
The government is expected to make a final decision on the replacement for the CF-18 as early as this week.
Although Byers says the F-35 is not the plane for Canada, he has no issues with other countries opting for the strike-fighter.
As an example, he notes the U.S. has a much higher density of airports on its territory — providing greater options for emergency landing in the event of engine failure.
Hedging bets
Byers also says the U.S. has "hedged its bets," by having in its air force fleet the twin-engine F-22.
"The United States bases many of its F-22s in Alaska," he adds. "The F-35s will not be based in Alaska because a single-engine plane is inappropriate for the Arctic — the United States Air Force has decided that."
Byers says the Royal Canadian Air Force has studied the F-35 carefully, and may very well have examined the issue of single-engine versus twin — but the RCAF isn’t making its report public.
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Post by TsarSamuil on Jul 4, 2014 13:46:43 GMT -5
F-35 fleet grounded for the eighth time over unknown engine issue.  RT.com July 04, 2014 03:58 As the cost of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet continues to grow, so do the headaches: the United States military announced on Thursday that its entire fleet of aircraft has been grounded until engine inspections are completed. The decision comes as the Pentagon struggles to find the source of yet another problem with the $398.6 billion program. On June 23, an F-35 caught fire as the pilot attempted to take off at a Florida air base. According to Reuters, one unidentified source described the incident by saying, "The engine ripped through the top of the plane.” In the most recent Reuters report, the military said it still had not highlighted the cause of that fire, and that new inspections are being put in place in order to assess the capability of the entire fleet. "Additional inspections of F-35 engines have been ordered, and return to flight will be determined based on inspection results and analysis of engineering data," the Defense Department said in a statement to the news service on Thursday. According to the Burlington Free Press, the incident is also under review by the Air Force Safety Investigation Board. That overview could take up to a month to finish. "The flights have paused while we figure out what went wrong," 1st Lt. Hope Cronin, a spokeswoman at Eglin for the Air Force's 33rd Fighter Wing, told the Free Press. As noted by Gizmodo, this marks the eighth time the entire F-35 fleet has been grounded. The last time also occurred in mid-June, when an engine oil leak forced the military to inspect 104 of its jets. Three of the F-35s failed the test. It’s currently unclear when exactly the F-35 fleet could be back in the skies, but plans to fly a jet for a July 4 naming ceremony of Britain’s latest aircraft carrier have already been cancelled. There are also tentative plans to fly the jets during two air shows in the United Kingdom on July 11 and 14, though no final decision has been rendered. "We will contribute to the return to flight determination, and will aim to do what is prudent for the enterprise at large without compromising the ongoing mishap investigation," Air Force Lieutenant General Chris Bogdan said to Reuters. As RT has reported in the past, the problematic F-35 program has run into numerous costly and embarrassing problems over the years. In March, the US Government Accountability Office found that persistent software problems could delay the program for more than a year. The auditors even questioned whether the US could still afford the 2,457 planes that are slated for purchase. They could cost $400 billion – a 68 percent increase over original projections in 2001 – and keeping the program on schedule for 2037 could cost $12.6 billion per year. Prior to that report, the Navy cut its order of F-35 jets almost in half, while the Air Force delayed its purchase of four jets for another year. At the time, defense officials said they were still confident in the program and that the decision was based on budgetary considerations. |
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Post by TsarSamuil on Jul 15, 2014 18:27:17 GMT -5
Pentagon bars F-35s from Farnborough airshow after engine problems.
RT.com
July 15, 2014 20:48
Despite the United States Department of Defense’s decision this week to clear for flight all jets in its fleet of F-35s, the stealth fighter won’t make its debut at a UK airshow as expected.
Rear Admiral John Kirby, a DOD spokesperson, told reporters on Tuesday that the Pentagon has decided to refrain from sending Lockheed Martin-made F-35 fighter jets abroad.
Previously, the planes were expected to make an appearance at the Farnborough air show this week in an attempt to dazzle potential buyers, but an engine fire onboard one of the jets forced the Pentagon last month to ground its entire fleet.
The F-35s were originally intended to be displayed at the UK’s Royal International Air Tattoo (RITA) show last week, but the Pentagon did not clear the fleet for flight until Monday this week when it was announced that Navy and Air Force officials had granted limited flight clearance, allowing the aircraft to fly with an engine inspection regimen and restricted flight envelope, according to CNN, which Rear Arm. Kirby acknowledged as being “an encouraging step.”
Nevertheless, Kirby told reporters early Tuesday that the partial lifting of restrictions wasn’t enough to green-light the fleet for a trip to Farnborough. The limited flight status will now “remain in effect until the root cause of the June 23 engine mishap is identified and corrected,” Kirby added.
"The Department of Defense, in concert with our partners in the UK, has decided not to send Marine Corps and UK F-35B aircraft across the Atlantic to participate in the Farnborough air show," he told reporters. "This decision was reached after a consultation with senior leaders and airworthiness authorities, despite the decision by airworthiness authorities to clear the aircraft to return to flight -- to limited flight."
“While we were looking forward to the F-35 demonstration at Farnborough, we understand and support the” decision, Lockheed Martin said in a statement given to the Washington Post on Wednesday.
When all is said and done, the F-35 program is expected to be the most costly weapons endeavor undertaken by the US military. Despite years of investments and billions of dollars’ worth of research, however, last month’s grounding of the fleet marked the eighth time the jets’ operations were suspended by the Pentagon in the last few years, all as costs continue to escalate beyond expectations. The Government Accountability Office has previously determined that the program will in all cost $1 trillion, and delays and extra expenses have already prompted some countries to reconsider purchasing the planes.
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Post by TsarSamuil on Aug 24, 2014 21:25:54 GMT -5
Vid, rt.com/news/182428-iran-new-missiles-unveiled/Iran unveils new-generation drones and missiles (VIDEO) RT.com August 24, 2014 15:28 New generation short-range anti-ship missiles and UAVs have been unveiled in Iran. Tehran’s revamped military doctrine is based on “deterrence and effective defense,” President Hassan Rouhani said at the presentation. Ghadir cruise missiles with a range 100 kilometers are designed to engage ships, reported the IRNA news agency. Iran uses the Ghadir system to reinforce its destroyers and coastal batteries. The range of another cruise missile, the Nasr-e Basir, has not been disclosed, although the agency announced it could “operate in silence,” without specifying exactly what this quality means. The Iranian military also showed two new high-altitude drones, the Karrar-4 and the Mohajer-4. The latter is capable of mapping a territory for military or civilian use. President Hassan Rouhani who attended the military hardware presentation stressed that while his country does not aim to possess a nuclear weapon, it cannot ignore external threats to the country. “We do not sit idly by with regard to threats. We do not remain calm towards plots by the enemy,” Rouhani said, as cited by the AP. The president did not specify the adversary’s name in a speech broadcasted live by state TV. “We have not been, we are not and we will not pursue weapons of mass destruction,” Rouhani said on Sunday. “For religious and humanitarian reasons we pursue neither nuclear nor microbial nor chemical weapons,” he said, calling for a nuclear-free Middle East, with an obvious reference to Israel’s undeclared atomic arsenal. After relative moderate Rouhani succeeded hawkish President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last year, he promised to interact with the West diplomatically. He made positive advances, considerably lifting international sanctions against Iran and managing to stop “nuclear Iran” hysteria in the Western world. Rouhani also made reports about the country’s military advances more discreet. “Widespread publicity of major military exercises, previously the norm, has been minimal,” The Washington Free Beacon’s report acknowledged recently. Iran adopted a program to develop the national defense industry and produce necessary military hardware, from tanks and mortars to missiles and submarines, domestically in 1992. Since then the country’s heavy weapons production, particularly rocket and missile engineering, has made tremendous progress. And not only in the military sphere - firm steps towards space exploration have also been taken, with Iran’s first space launch performed back in 2007. Today, Iran has surface-to-surface missiles with a 2,000-kilometer range, capable of reaching any US military base in the region, and also Israel, Tehran’s long-lasting adversaries since the 1979 revolution. Iran also regularly presents new drones and allegedly successful copycat technologies from American drones intercepted in national aerospace. |
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Operation 11003jdfkfjwiewefjwekewjhkefhhcwe, much better 
by US intelligence agencies, primarily targeted government as well as US industry. While the US Office of National Intelligence is known to have more details about the plot, Bill Gertz of the Washington Free Beacon reported that new Chinese planes have incorporated technology previously only found in the F-35.