mattwould not be completely impossible to to try to re-engineer the mig-29’s to a tail free config, but it would be a major undertaking needing completely new stability and control matrix’s for the flight control system. with the obvious extra control surface if need be or conversion of previous control surface into dual use system.
mattAnyone else notice how the reduction in the weapons bay is not going to go onto the “normal” takeoff JSF, and their would be a reason for this. Maybe I am stretching it too far but maybe the reduction would mean that the JSF would have problems carrying future smart weapons currently in development such as the JSOW.
By how many mm will they cut the length of the bay ? anyone got figures?
mattHow can MIG-29 do 180 to 250 hrs. Old MIG-29 life is 2500hr while upgrade is
to 4000hrs. So the MIGs will run of steam pretty quickly.
They would run off steam quickly but if they used kerosene instead of steam they would be quicker.
mattAlthough it might be something to think about the M2k is not something i would be using to replace the LCA, I rather have the Gripen.
mattglad to see you back mate..
mattCould the Indians modify it to boost the range to beyond 300km?
I would be suprised if the missile doesnt have about 300 or a bit more..they have to underquaote it to get beyound the missile tech transfer ban. This might be the worst performance of the missile.
mattThe Eisenhower gets a new look
The Eisenhower will be moved to a new pier at Northrop Grumman Newport News on Saturday to test and certify some of its overhauled systems.
The Eisenhower will be moved to a new pier at Northrop Grumman Newport News on Saturday to test and certify some of its overhauled systems. PHOTOS BY ARIANA LINDQUIST/THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
By MATTHEW DOLAN, The Virginian-Pilot
© July 22, 2004
NEWPORT NEWS — It’s the Navy’s version of “Extreme Makeover.”
First, you find an aging aircraft carrier in need of a face lift. Then you rip open its heart to juice up its power source. You tear out, repair or replace almost everything from berthings to bulkheads, seal up the decks and finally, call it a day.
Or, in the case of the Dwight D. Eisenhower, call it three years.
“Being at sea is fun,” Capt. Charles E. Smith, the carrier’s commanding officer, joked while barreling down an unfinished passageway deep inside the ship. “Being here is hard work.”
On Saturday, the nation’s second Nimitz-class carrier will move from its temporary pierside home at Northrop Grumman Newport News to another pier at the shipyard to test its propulsion systems and certify its radar capabilities.
It’s the latest milestone in the carrier’s once-in-a-lifetime nuclear refueling and overhaul, bringing the flattop one step closer to a return to sea by November.
The carrier, commissioned in 1977, arrived at the shipyard in May 2001. Much of the heavy work for the $1.5 billion project, including the refueling of the two nuclear reactors, is now complete.
But while on time under a new construction schedule, challenges remain.
During the first visit by a reporter to the carrier in three years, miles of exposed cable and duct work could still be seen this week clogging passageways throughout the ship.
Airman Apprentices Michael A. Hamblen, left, and Christopher L. Adams work Tuesday on the flight deck of the Dwight D. Eisenhower. The ship is still very much a construction zone.
When the carrier moves on Saturday , it won’t be able to steam under its own power. There are no pilots on board. That’s a good thing because their ready rooms aren’t ready.
Only two of the carrier’s four catapults used to launch aircraft have been completely rebuilt. And the pebbly, non skid surface on the flight deck is only one-quarter complete.
“Non skid is a unique animal,” said Robert L. Gunter Jr., senior vice president for the aircraft carrier program for Northrop Grumman Newport News. “You can’t put it on in less than 40 degrees or when it gets greater than 100. And you can’t put it on if it’s going to rain in the next 24 hours.
“That middle section there,” he said, pointing to a grainy tar patch in the rear half of the flight deck, “it had to be taken up four times.”
Safety on the carrier, already one of the world’s most dangerous environments, carries special weight in the yards.
On the Ike, cutting metal, sanding surfaces and laying new floors are a daily event. Sailors in uniforms and shipyard workers in T-shirts are all required to wear hard hats and safety glasses.
“We’ve had a lot of bumps, bruises and cuts,” said the Ike’s senior medical officer, Lt. Cmdr. Walter Dalitsch III . “But so far, no serious accidents.” The crew has hauled its gear back onto the Ike slowly.
About 700 have moved aboard so far, with hundreds more expected to arrive in the next two weeks. Ike executive officer Capt. John D. Alexander said 186 arrived this week alone.
It has created a surreal environment for sailors living, eating and sleeping in the midst of a busy construction zone. Many services are displaced. Some of the soda machines and cafeteria-style tables, normally in the ship’s mess decks, take up space in the hangar bay where aircraft once stood.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Tracy Dalton stands in her berthing aboard the Eisenhower, where the new beds have been made longer to accommodate taller sailors. The bathrooms also have been improved.
“Eighty or 90 percent of them have never been to sea or even lived on a ship,” Master Chief Petty Officer Rodney Malbon , a 17-year Navy veteran who works in the Ike’s reactor department, said of his junior sailors. “It’s been a real adjustment for them, especially dealing with the lack of space.”
Petty Officer 2nd Class Tracy Dalton said the sailors have pride of ownership when they assembled their furniture in their own berthings.
Her space is now air-conditioned, and after 11 every night the shipyard has orders to scale back the most noisy work it does so she and others can grab some shut-eye.
Despite the challenges of serving on a ship that has not deployed in years, Smith said the Ike’s statistics for advancement, retention and discipline remain among the top three for carriers in the Navy.
The overhaul centers primarily on replacing two decks off the ship’s island house, modernizing its combat and communications systems, replenishing its two reactors and replacing about 6,000 valves.
There are smaller, quality-of-life changes, too.
The beds, a.k.a. “racks,” are longer to accommodate taller sailors. The bathrooms, or “heads,” have been retiled. And they’re building a second gym off the hangar bay.
The three-year overhaul centers on replacing two decks off the ship’s island house, modernizing its combat and communications systems, replenishing its two reactors and replacing about 6,000 valves.
But much of the niceties are still on the way. The officers’ wardroom lounge has new furniture but an empty space where a television should sit.
“When we’re at sea,” Smith said, grinning , “then they can watch TV.”
All Nimitz-class aircraft carriers are scheduled to undergo reactor regeneration and overhauls after about 25 years of service. The carrier Nimitz, the first ship of its class, went through its overhaul between 1998 and 2001 at Newport News.
Last year, the Navy and Northrop Grumman agreed to restructure their contract for overhauling the carrier by extending the work 11 weeks and reducing the minimum profit the shipyard will realize if work is completed late or is more than 5 percent over budget.
“Nothing happens without both of us working together,” Smith said.
mattRAF the big loser as forces modernise
Hoon announces plans to equip services for challenges of 21st century
Jamie Wilson
Thursday July 22, 2004
The Guardian
Royal Air Force
The RAF will be worst hit of the three services by the cuts announced in the white paper, with the number of personnel reduced from 48,500 to 41,000 over the next four years. The main casualty will be the three Jaguar fighter-bomber-squadrons, two of which will be disbanded by 2006 with the final one disappearing in 2007.
It will mean, as anticipated, the end of one Britain’s most famous airfields, RAF Coltishall in Norfolk, home to second world war fighter aces Douglas Bader and “Cats Eyes” Cunningham. Mr Hoon said the base, which recorded the first “kill” of a German bomber during the Battle of Britain, will close by the end of 2006.
He also announced an “extensive review” of the MoD’s future requirement for other airfields.
A reduced requirement for air defence squadrons will also mean one RAF Tornado F-3 air defence squadron will be cut, leading to the end of Tornado operations at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire from 2008.
According to the review, advances in missile and precision-guided bomb technology will mean 64 offensive fast jets will be able to carry out the full range of small, medium and large-scale operations, requiring 170 frontline crews rather than the present number of 210.
The number of Nimrod reconnaissance and maritime patrol aircraft, based at RAF Kinloss in Scotland, will also be reduced from 21 to 16.
But the defence secretary said the controversial Eurofighter programme – Typhoon – was moving forward towards initial operating capability. He said the MoD expected to sign a contract for the second tranche of the aircraft as soon as satisfactory negotiations over price and capability had been completed.
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Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, in a message to personnel, said the RAF had had to make “some very hard decisions about priorities” but that in the long run they would “improve our ability to meet the challenge of the the future”.
Navy
In terms of job losses the navy appeared to get off relatively lightly, being cut from around 37,500 to 36,000, achieved by normal staff turnover rather than redundancies. But in terms of ships, the losses will be harder to bear. In total the navy is set to lose more than a fifth of its destroyer and frigate fleet, as well as submarines, mine hunters and coastal patrol vessels.
The white paper justified the cuts by saying that effective networking and support meant the navy could deliver more capability from fewer platforms.
Three of the navy’s 11 Type 42 destroyers, HMS Cardiff, Newcastle and Glasgow, will be withdrawn from service by the end of 2005. HMS Glasgow was dubbed the luckiest ship afloat during the Falklands conflict when an Argentinian bomb passed through its hull without exploding.
The reduction in the potential submarine threat to most future UK operations will also see a cull in the 16 Type 23 frigates, with HMS Norfolk, Grafton and Marlborough – which bombarded the Iraqi coast as the Royal Marines went ashore – being taken out of service by 2006.
Three of the navy’s 21 minesweepers -HMS Inverness, Bridport and Sandown – will also be paid off, while the improved security situation in Northern Ireland will mean the retirement of all three Hunt class patrol vessels by April 2007.
The size of the submarine force will also be reduced from 11 to eight in 2008, while the navy will also merge the fleet and naval personnel headquarters in Portsmouth.
But the bitter pill of losing so many of the current crop of ships will be sweetened by the arrival of two new large aircraft carriers, eight Type 45 destroyers and the new Astute class nuclear-powered submarines over the next decade.
“I do not instinctively welcome the early disposal of good ships and these have been most difficult decisions,” Admiral Sir Alan West, chief of the naval staff, said in a statement to naval personnel. But he added: “They are essential if we are to ensure that the finite resources available to defence are targeted at the requirements of the 21st century.”
Army
Overall the army will only be reduced by some 1,500 posts, although General Sir Mike Jackson, chief of the general staff, said it was unlikely they would be able to avoid a redundancy programme.
The white paper said four infantry battalions – three from England and one from Scotland – were to be cut. But most of the troops would be redistributed to bolster under strength units.
At the same time, the regimental system would be reformed, with single battalion regiments merged into new large regiments of two or more battalions in a move intended to provide troops and their families with greater stability.
As part of the cuts package, new light armoured squadrons and artillery regiments will be balanced by a reduction of seven Challenger 2 tank squadrons and six AS90 heavy artillery batteries by 2007.
As a result of the reduced air threat to forces the number of Rapier anti-aircraft missile launchers will also be reduced from 48 to 24 fire units. The high-velocity missile capability will also be reduced.
The changes are driven in part by a shift in military strategy after the end of the cold war towards the development of highly flexible rapid reaction forces.
The white paper said the future army would consist of two heavy armoured brigades (one less than at present) three medium weight brigades, and a light brigade, in addition to the air assault and commando brigades.
Northern Ireland has been the largest single operational demand on the army since the end of the cold war. As a result of the improving situation the government had already announced a reduction in the number of battalions committed to the province by two, and yesterday’s white paper doubled that number, with a further reduction of two battalions to take place by the autumn. But the chief of the defence staff, Sir Michael Walker, said the army would retain the ability to “surge back” should it prove necessary.
There will be an increase in the size of the special forces and investment in new equipment for them, but the details remain classified.
The Apache attack helicopter will also be introduced into service this year.
Gen Jackson, in a message to the troops, said many of changes would appear “counterintuitive” to troops who had been “under sustained operational pressure”. He said: “We have had to make some tough choices and I am realistic about the fact that the outcome in some areas will mean a reduction in certain capabilities as well as much needed uplifts in others.”
Where the axe will fall
RAF
· 7,500 jobs to go
· Three Jaguar fighter-bomber squadrons and a Tornado F3 squadron disbanded
· RAF Coltishall to close and there will be an extensive review of other bases
Navy
· 1,500 jobs to go
· Three Type 42 destroyers withdrawn
· Three Type 23 frigates withdrawn
· Three minesweepers withdrawn
· Three Northern Ireland patrol vessels withdrawn
· Three submarines withdrawn
· Cut in number of new destroyers
Army
· 1,500 jobs to go
· Four infantry battalions axed
· Up to 90 Challenger 2 tanks withdrawn
· 33 AS90 long-range howitzers axed
· 96 Rapier and High Velocity missile fire units withdrawn
· Reduction in Lynx helicopter numbers
Civil servants
· 10,000 jobs to go by April 2008
mattSome of the picture i took using a DIMAGE Z2
mattno much chance of that happening phill mate. even the tories would have done the same. we need to be independent of america , British MP’s seem to think that the yanks can do no wrong and thats just a very dangerous attitude..
hmm 🙁
mattGreat photo flanker man.
I should have the B-52 coming down the runway. I will find out soon when the 5 rolls of film come back from the developers
the RJ Falcons were really good have a video of the solo performance but i dont know how to attache it here.
matti am way jealous you have a EOS300D .. you dont have a silver body on the EOS do you ? ?? lmao! did you spot the green pick up that kept on sounding its alarm?
mattTornado, before it made me go DEAF! 🙂
These guys did a good show. Sorry about image quality had to crop and reduce to get below 100k if some one wants i might be able to put up the 800Kb file
mattcame back last night, dissapointed in that no Exotic aircraft were their, and the F-15’s didnt do much, mostly the tornado and the jaguars. the grey something display team czech i think were abismally boring and lasted too long, RED ARROWS were AMAZING, have got shots. the Swiss in the F-5E’s were great too, B-2 only did 1 pass. EFA show was not even worth it. M2k was nice, adn the Alenia did a nice show too. DDay celebration was a bit of a damp squip and took to long pyro’s were a bit out of synch with everything lol.
F-117 was oki. Tornado’s were pretty good.
but the worst thin was they all banked before they got close to where i was and i could only get the underbelly of most aircraft :'(
but still some of the 200 or so photos should be good.
mattpostponed going 2morrow, didnt want to go in the rain…
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