New U.S. military bases near the South China Sea

Antonio Bautista Air Base, on the island of Palawan, is a few dozen miles east of the disputed Spratly Islands, where China’s military buildup is underway. Basa Air Base is also near the South China Sea, and is in a rural area outside Manila. Bautista Air Base is the closest installation the Philippines has to the Spratlys, according to Philippine air force. Other bases were considered, according to Philippine media reports, but ultimately not included in the agreement.

Source:
the Washington Post

The first fighter to have demonstrated omnirole cap was… The F18 when two of them engaged and shot down and Iraqi fighter with 2000lb hanging under the wings during GW1.

Let’s be clear, all western fighters post the 80’s where designed with multi-role in mind.

as far as I’m concerned, the F-35 will never be what some guys around here (and LM) sell it to be. It will be a good striker (one day), but with too many compromises to make it a world beater in every regard

Auguries.
At the age of in orbit sensors and drones, those kind of fixed defense infrastructures are the modern age Maginot’s fence. The footprint as perfectly exemplified by your picture (I noticed the de-icing) is too large.

depends who you ask.. for F-35 crowd, the F-35 is the ultimate solution for everything and everyone

Let’s be clear, with the icecap melting, Norad will need to Frwd deploy to remain a coherent defense ring. 40000t carrier operating STOVL aircraft and inter-operative fleet with new allies (Denmark/Iceland/US) turns the balance back to a future CAF. Otherwise, as exemplified by the above discussion, Canada will be like a boxer pushed on the ring with amputated arms. Good luck!

When the USAF realized that it could not prevent a soviet bomber from reaching the continent, it began basing 60% of its fleet abroad. The model is here. No need to reinvent the F16.

Turkey Eyes Self-Sufficient Drone Industry

among other:

In efforts to further “nationalize” the drone systems efforts, Turkey’s procurement agency, the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM) in January announced that it would launch competition for the local development of fuel batteries for mini, tactical and MALE drones

Source:
DefenseNews.com

Mi chiamano Leonardo: Finmeccanica rebranded

Naming a defense company after the Renaissance artist who painted the Mona Lisa may raise eyebrows, but a company spokeswoman said the choice was in part inspired by Leonardo’s groundbreaking designs and inventions, including plans for a prototype helicopter, centuries before the first rotorcraft took flight.[…]
Last year, Moretti promised a new, “short and memorable” title for the firm as he pressed ahead with plans to turn Finmeccanica’s semi-autonomous units into centralized divisions, eliminating overlaps and shedding dozens of senior managers.

“Finmeccanica is an obsolete name, we will truly change it,” he said.

The prefix Fin in Finmeccanica was used by Italian governments to denote a state controlled financial holding company, and reflects Finmeccanica’s creation as a holding company which gathered together numerous small firms.

[… ]
Some analysts have however argued that the name is too closely associated with kickback allegations that have plagued the company in recent years.

What a Loss of time.

Helicopter orders dropped 14 percent from €4.56 billion to €3.9 billion[…]
Aeronautical orders dipped 44 percent from €3.1 billion to €1.74 billion

Italy’s Finmeccanica announced a 23 percent rise in core profits in 2015, driven by restructuring and cost-cutting.

Source:
DefenseNews.com

Lockheed’s 30-aircraft TR-X plan priced at $3.8 billion

“Instead of tearing it apart and rebuilding it as a U-2, you’d tear it apart and scavenge its parts and rebuild it as a TR-X,” Winstead explains. “Yes, we’d be scavenging pieces and parts off the Global Hawk, primarily it’s sensor inventory. You’d build your first handful of TR-Xs using the U-2 sustainment line.”

Lockheed estimates it will take six to eight years to recapitalise the air force’s 33 U-2s and another two years to replace its 21 Block 30, and 11 Block 40, Global Hawks. “At the end of the 10-year timespan, you’d have 30 TR-Xs, which give you greater capability than you’ve got today,” says Winstead.

“With a low signature for survivability, tie that in with a very good defensive system, and you’re going to have something with survivability better than an F-35 is today,” says Winstead. “It won’t be unnoticeable, but it will be survivable.”

Noticeable with active sensor? And survivable once them switched off?

Source:
FlightGlobal.com

First: it doesn’t seems as if they are advancing much. Last time we were shown some manufactoring shots, they were nearly at the same stage of assembly

Secondly: some Image still are rather messy. There are plenty to point at. I don’t understand why they show this. Swiss industrial are usually attentive to precision manufacturing (they lag in other field).

Thirdly: paperless is good for the Auto industry. I really don’t like the way they are applying it here (see the distance that the operator eye have to travel b/w the screen and his/her working position. Frankly, in this lapse of time, there is enough for many to even forget the name of their mother*.

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As i have written before, it looks like as if this plane was made by a dozen of different teams in succession without much lead b/w.

*written on a St Patrick day 😉