TomcatViPUS Air Force to release OA-X invitation this week
While previous OA-X efforts have favored turboprop aircraft, the USAF has not drilled down requirements for specific platforms. The service is seeking an aircraft optimised for an austere environment that can operate off of 6,000ft or shorter runwasy and fly with an average fuel flow of 1,500lb/h or less, Bunch says.
“For light attack, it’s going to be open to anybody,” he says. “But there are selection criteria. I don’t know what the art of the possible is for industry right now, so we’re trying to keep it as broad as we can, industry may have something that’s very innovative that we haven’t thought about.”
The service expects responses from industry within a month and will make a selection for participants to fly this summer at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. That experiment would continue work from a previous US Special Operations Command effort known as Combat Dragon. Combat Dragon I operated low-cost aircraft at Fallon Naval Air Station, Nevada, and its successor Combat Dragon II demonstrated OV-10 Broncos in the Middle East. Like the previous iteration of low-cost aircraft experiments, the Holloman exercise would determine whether the service should transition to a second phase with demonstrations in the Middle East, USAF chief Gen David Goldfein told reporters 3 March at the annual Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Florida.
Source:
FlightGlobal.com
TomcatViPThat Parrikar went placarded is a sign that the balance is leaning toward the Fr side IMOHO.
TomcatViPSyria Fires Missiles at Israeli Warplanes – Anti-ballistic missile defend
the Syrian missiles set off Israeli air raid sirens and aerial defense systems in the Jordan Valley, and the Israeli military said its Arrow air defense system had intercepted one of the missiles that appeared to be heading toward Israeli territory — the first confirmed operational use of that antimissile system.
While the Israeli aircraft may have escaped unscathed, the sirens and explosions served to thrust Israel’s yearslong shadow war in Syria uncomfortably into the limelight.
[…]
Israeli aircraft [had] conducted operations around the ancient city of Palmyra
A Jordanian civil defense source told Reuters a projectile had landed in a village on the outskirts of the northern Jordanian city of Irbid, about 12 miles from the Syria-Israel border, causing light damage. The source said army engineers were examining the object, believed to be fired from Syrian territory in the direction of Israel.
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[reuters:]
The military said in its statement that one of the anti-aircraft missiles had been intercepted. The blast was heard as far away as Jerusalem, dozens of miles away. There were no reports of casualties or damage.
[The Aviationist:]
Other sources said the Syrian SAM was intercepted by a Arrow-2, an air defense system more likely to be employed against an SA-5 considered the size, operating altitude and range of this surface-to-air missile.
Syrian army claimed one shotdown and one damaged and threatened to retaliate.
The Syrian army said that Israel had targeted a military site near Palmyra and swore to retaliate “directly, with all means at its disposal.”
Source:
The New York Times.com
CBS News.com
Reuters.com
Haaretz.com
The Aviationist.com
TomcatViPIn a serie of revelation yesterday, Leonardo CEO revealed that Raytheon-Honeywell impasse to blame for T-X breakup
“The problem with Raytheon was not (our) price, because Raytheon checked it against a U.S. benchmark and our prices were lower.”
Moretti suggested Raytheon did have a problem with conditions set down by Honeywell, which provides propulsion for the jet, which was renamed the T-100 for the bid.
“Raytheon could not get what they wanted with Honeywell on the engines,” he said.
[…]
it was time Italy sold a defense product in the U.S., given Italy’s long history of buying U.S. products, from the AV8 jump jet up to the F-35. “We can not only buy U.S. products and not be able to sell a single product,”
Source:
DefenseNews.com
TomcatViPBronco will never come back. It was a test only with the two Broncos in Iraq, to confirm the idea.
Perhaps that
[Speaking about the Scorpion] The jet’s ability to fire precision-guided munitions while maintaining low levels of noise could make it a better choice for urban close-air support than loud, less advanced turboprop planes, [Textron AirLand’s vice president of Scorpion sales] Harris said.
Source (Defense News.com):
Textron sets its sights on US Air Force’s light aircraft experiment
A dual buy of airframe is discussed in here and Textron is well placed having two complementary products already.
TomcatViPDrone warfare in Mosul shapes US Army training to defeat airborne threats
The reports coming from the fight have been “driving our counter-UAS training and technology significantly,” Lundy said. “The use of small UAS in Mosul right now by Daesh and ISIS [other names for the Islamic State], they’ve actually gone to almost swarm-level capability in a couple of cases. That is a big area that we are learning.
Source:
DefenseNews.com
TomcatViPUndercover police operation targets IAI for fraud allegations
“This is a complex, multi-faceted investigation, broad in scope and involving a large number of instances that prompt suspicions of a cover-up for offenses of embezzlement; fraud under severe conditions; money laundering; theft by public employees; and breach of trust,” the Israel Police’s 443 Fraud Division noted in a public statement.
According to the police, the investigation thus far into a case known as “the 630 Affair” has uncovered “a large and varied number of involved individuals, who can be found in different levels of the company, among them, senior executives, members of the labor union, members of the board of directors, management and low-level employees.”
[…]
president and chief executive of the firm has ordered all relevant individuals to “fully cooperate with authorities without hesitation with the Israel Police and to act according to directives, with the purpose of concluding the investigation and bringing to justice all those who broke the law.”
Source:
DefenseNews.com
TomcatViPAlso, an incident related to Lithium Batteries: embedded headphone battery exploded in flight
.
Notice how a small battery indisposed a large part of the cabin passengers with smokes and fumes.
MH370 cargo bay was filled with 2t of electronic products including Li-ion batteries as we have detailed it earlier.
Source:
USA Today.com
TomcatViPTextron AirLand to forgo T-X bid with Scorpion jet
Textron Airland has officially decided against offering its Scorpion jet for the Air Force’s T-X trainer competition, ending speculation about whether the aircraft would emerge as a dark horse candidate.
“We certainly believe the Scorpion can fit a good training role, […] but with the requirements that had been put out there for the T-X, we don’t believe the Scorpion fits all the requirements,” said Bill Harris, the company’s vice president of Scorpion jet sales.
Source:
DefenseNews.com
TomcatViPGE, Rolls, Pratt Vie For B-52 Engine Upgrade
– GE Aviation […] says it supports the Air Force’s B-52 re-engining plan and would offer the 18,000-lb.-thrust-class CF34-10, developed from the TF34/CF34 family [(a derivative that power already the A-10)].
– Pratt & Whitney Engine Enhancement Package […] would address the TF33’s performance, durability, reliability, fuel consumption and time between scheduled overhauls as much as possible without needing to buy new. “The TF33 currently meets all B-52H power and performance specifications and would not require any changes to the aircraft structure, [or EM hardening] ” the company says.
– British engine maker RR’s U.S. division has already had “several conversations” with the Air Force about a B-52 propulsion upgrade. The company would offer something from its BR700 series, which already powers the Air Force’s Gulfstream V/C-37A personnel transport fleet and the Bombardier E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node—based on the Global Express.
Source:
AviationWeek.com
*rerouted from the wrong tthread
TomcatViPGE, Rolls, Pratt Vie For B-52 Engine Upgrade
– GE Aviation […] says it supports the Air Force’s B-52 re-engining plan and would offer the 18,000-lb.-thrust-class CF34-10, developed from the TF34/CF34 family [(a derivative power already the A-10)].
– Pratt & Whitney Engine Enhancement Package […] would address the TF33’s performance, durability, reliability, fuel consumption and time between scheduled overhauls as much as possible without needing to buy new. “The TF33 currently meets all B-52H power and performance specifications and would not require any changes to the aircraft structure, [or EM hardening] ” the company says.
– British engine maker RR’s U.S. division has already had “several conversations” with the Air Force about a B-52 propulsion upgrade. The company would offer something from its BR700 series, which already powers the Air Force’s Gulfstream V/C-37A personnel transport fleet and the Bombardier E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node—based on the Global Express.
Source:
AviationWeek.com
TomcatViPyou know, http://www.portail-aviation.com is not really a journalistic reference. Guys with an agenda they are and the quality of their editing is really low, if we make exception of some of their collaborators.
TomcatViPnice one.
TomcatViPNot quite — SCMP is a privately owned paper based in Hong Kong, not a Chinese state media outlet.
SCMP’s track record for reporting on the latest Chinese military developments is very spotty at best.
Anyhow, the message seems to have meet adequately its public (Reuters, Def news…)
TomcatViPWhat nonsense! You are all wrong!
Here is a highly classified image leaked from the Defense Intelligence Agency:
EXCLUSIVE****EXCLUSIVE
Wikileaks had a shot of the secret pilot in its archive:
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Obviously it’s one of those Roswell guy
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