Yup. Important stuff. Navys biggest problem is available manpower to run what it currently has. Drawing a larger circle around the carrier to do strikework is a good thing. I would prefer JSF gets cancelled so the X-45 and X-47 programs could have less funding stress on them.

Yeah, the old style “dumb area weapon” submunitions can dud up to 10%.

Old way: Here you get the container to the target like a dumb bomb and before release, program the container to burst open at a certain altitude….dropped like dumb iron using visual bombing or radar bombing and dumb area submunitions. They scatter and what ever they kill or what ever the dud rate is, so be it.

Newer way: Use a “smart container” like WCMD, to get the container there, and still use dumb area submunitions.

Even newer way: Use a smart container like WCMD and have “smart area weapons” that come out of it when it bursts open.

WCMD
is a GPS assisting tail kit that is attached to Cluster Bomb containers like CBU-87,-89, and -97, 105. This way a CBU can be released from extreme height, and miles away and still hit where the Ground FAC or other targeting source provider indicates. WCMD means that you have a good chance of getting the container there in bad weather, you can launch it from farther away ( less aircrew risk ) and it can drive through a 100 mph + wind shear on the way down, correct for it and still break open over the target.

Substituting, a “smart area weapon” SFW ( Sensor Fused Weapons ( BLU-108 ) ) also known as “skeets” instead of a “dumb area weapon like conventional cluster submunitions for deployment by the CBU does several things:

Each “skeet” that comes out of the CBU when it bursts open, falls down and a chute is deployed so it spends more time in the air, using a multi-sensor method to aquire ground vehicles or other types of targets and when it does, shoots out and attacks the target, destroying it. This WCMD, SFW combo, would be CBU-97 or 105. Although pricey, SFW technology doesn’t leave duds laying around afterword for kids or friendlies to get killed by afterward.

SFW Video ( large .wmv file )

The old way of “dumb area weapon” submunitions means you have to do a bombing profile not unlike dumb iron, requiring good visibility or a radar return ( or nearby radar return for offset bombing ) in order to deliver the weapon. Bad thing is that if there is no radar bombing, then that means fair weather only. Either way you are depending on a ballistic fall of a dumb weapon which can put you in the engagement zone of AAA, small SAMs / MANPADs, trashfire. Other things like a bad toss ( in the loft toss mode ) or high wind could put you off target.

Unfortunately a lot of submunitions used by JSOW and the Army’s MLRS are “dumb area weapons” and you don’t want to send friendly troops into one of these areas after hitting something. Bad news all the way around. One MLRS story I heard was a little friendly Iraqi girl picked up one of these dumb area weapon/MLRS sub munition UXBs ( remnants of a fire mission on an area south of the Baghdad Airport ) and took it over to a couple U.S. Army guys and it went off. The girl and one of the GIs were killed instantly. “Dumb area weapons” have bought more than a few wheelchairs for people. The old dumb area weapons were a good idea for the old Fulda Gap scenario, but thats about it.

Ok so it is the same airframe type for the STOL bird photo above. It’s only about a mile or so from my place. Don’t know how the rockets were positioned on there. That photo above shows them pointing down. I only saw the video of them pointing forward on landing. Took these photos today. Note the weird mounting fittings and other stuff on it…

If we were smart we would pull all the shooter wings from Europe, F-15, F-16, A-10. They are doing nothing there except eating U.S. tax dollars.

The B-1B community is also looking at reengining, but for a slightly different reason. Recent combat experience has shown the need for higher-altitude performance to put the bomber beyond the reach of all but the largest of surface-to-air missiles. The preferred solution is to use the PW F119 engine that currently powers the F/A-22.

http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers/archive/2004/april/cover1.html

The MOST important funding for B-1 would be to go ahead and fund existing plans to replace ALL of the flight control system and cockpit displays. The current systems by themselves add to the maintenance pig reputation of the jet. Then work on ECM then engines. Would be nice to have a whole bunch less maintenance per flying hours per jet. Again, one of the advantages of the B-52 is the low cost / small support footprint when it deploys.

I am against pulling a few more B-1s out of the bone yard. They need to fund what I mentioned above so you have a jet with more up time. Fund all of BLOCK F and procede with a BLOCK G and H if such a thing exists.

Ja, that EC-130V was bought by the Coast Guard after they had borrowed a few E-2s from the Navy, and really liked the experience. So they had one of their HC-130Hs converted with a rotodome. It was retired because operating and maintaining it was too expensive for a small organisation like the Coast Guard. Besides, in the War on Drugs it had been made sure already that other aircraft (mostly USN E-2Cs operating from Puerto Rico and Curacao) took over the anti-dope AEW role.

Deino, when looking for funny Herks i’m sure you came across the Credible Sports ones? These were two VTOL machines ment to free the hostages during the Iranian Hostage Crisis, but they canned the project to have the hostage-rescue fail another way. It did fly though, and one of the aircraft (after having been de-modified) is now at the Robins AFB museum in Georgia – ELP and/or Phantom probably have pics of it. Just do a google search on Credible Sport C-130, that should work.

That VTOL bird you show there is kinda different. The failed x birds for the Iranian rescue were short take off and landing, not vertical. There are big mounting brackets for rockets that fire forward to slow it down once it lands.
Yeah one of the Iran x birds is here ( the one that didn’t crack up in training ) there is a old video around in public consumption that shows the other one hitting the retro rockets too soon and busting up on the runway.