US military news, discussions and history

[Fenrir]

SOF

 

[AMDR]

 

[Fenrir]

Video: All of the US Navy's combat jets

Way back in 1939, FDR established National Aviation Day as August 19th, the birthday of Orville Wright. That’s today! So to celebrate in 2015, we created this awesome video that catalogs all of the US Navy’s combat jets. You’ll see modern jets like the Harrier and F-18 and F-35 along with old school, bad *** planes with names like Banshee and Phantom and Panther and Skynight.

It’s a really cool visual history of how far the US Navy has come (and it’s made even cooler seeing these planes take off from USS aircraft carriers).

 

[Fenrir]

Anyone want to guess what my favorite helo is?

 

[Indus Falcon]

Anyone want to guess what my favorite helo is?

OH-58 kiowa

 

[Fenrir]

PJs

 

[AMDR]

Lockheed Martin's LRASM Anti-Ship Missile Just Got its U.S. Navy Designation: AGM-158C
Lockheed Martin's LRASM Anti-Ship Missile Just Got its U.S. Navy Designation: AGM-158C

Contacted by Navy Recognition, a Lockheed Martin spokesperson said "we learned over the weekend that LRASM's official designation will be AGM-158C". AGM-158C is the designation for the air-launched LRASM missile only. There is no surface-launch LRASM program of record yet. The Department of the Navy, Naval Air Warfare Center, gave the official designation.

CGI: An AGM-158C LRASM is launched from an F/A-18E Super Hornet

We reported last week that the U.S. Navy began initial integration testing of its Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) onto the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet at Patuxent River’s Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 facility.

Based on the airframe of the proven Lockheed Martin JASSM (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile), the AGM-158C LRASM shares the designation of this land attack cruise missile too: AGM-158A being the designation of JASSM and AGM-158B being the designation of the extanded range version, JASSM-ER.

Lockheed Martin is also working on a surface launched variant of LRASM for the upcoming OASuW Increment II competition. In an exclusive interview conducted during Sea-Air-Space 2015, Hady Mourad, Lockheed Martin's Tactical Missiles Advanced Programs Director, told Navy Recognition that "As part of Lockheed Martin’s investment into its Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (OASuW) weapon offering, surface-launched testing will continue in 2015-2016'. (Read the full interview with some exclusive images at this link)

An AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) integrated on F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Aug. 12 at NAS Patuxent River, Md. The program's flight test team is conducting initial testing to ensure proper loading, unloading and handling of the LRASM on the F/A-18 E/F. (U.S. Navy photo)

When operational, LRASM will provide flexible, long-range, advanced, anti-surface capability against high threat maritime targets. This missile development program is a joint effort of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Naval Air Systems Command, the United States Air Force. the Office of Naval Research (ONR) with Lockheed Martin as prime contractor. The missile is fitted with BAE Systems' advanced long range sensor which is designed to enable targeted attacks within a group of enemy ships protected by sophisticated air defense systems.

The LRASM is a long-range subsonic cruise missile designed for better range and survivability than current anti-ship weaponry. It is carried with the wings and tail stowed and then deployed once released from the aircraft.

LRASM is set to be fielded on the U.S. Air Force B-1B Bomber in 2018 and the U.S. Navy F/A-18 E/F in 2019.

To learn more: Link to LRASM Long Range Anti-Ship Missile technical datasheet

 

[Fenrir]

F-22 Raptors Will Be Deploying To Europe To Send A Strong Message To Russia

After teasing the possibility of Raptors deploying to Europe months ago, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James has confirmed to reporters that Raptor is indeed going to be sent to Europe as part of an ongoing initiative to reassure NATO allies of America’s commitment to their defense.

Secretary James made it clear that the move to send the F-22 to Russia’s front doorstep is part of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s “strong and balanced” approach to reminding Russia of the consequences of extra-border ambitions:

“Rotational forces and training exercises help us maintain our strong and balanced approach, and we will certainly be continuing those in the future... For the Air Force, an F-22 deployment is certainly on the strong side of the coin.”

Exactly what F-22 unit will be sent to Europe and where they would be based remains unclear, although General. Mark Welsh, the U.S. Air Force’s Chief of Staff noted:

“We’ll get the F-22 into facilities that we would potentially use in a conflict in Europe... This is a natural evolution of our bringing our best air-to-air capability in to train with partners... We have an aircraft with pretty advanced capabilities, and we need, and they would like, for us to be able to interoperate in multiple type scenarios... And being able to train side by side with them and do that kind of training is really, really important for us. And that’s what this is for.”

The Raptor’s inaugural long-term deployment to Europe (it has had a near constant presence in the Middle East) will most likely follow along the lines of what the Florida and Oregon Air National Guard have executed in their F-15C/Ds since Spring. As part of the ongoing Operation Atlantic Resolve, the Eagles hopped East from one key NATO base to another, training with local units along the way, before ending up at a temporary Eastern European air defense post.

Sending a detachment of Raptors to Europe also points to the possibility that things are not necessarily improving when it comes to Russian-NATO relations. If anything else, they are getting worse as forward deploying the world’s only truly operational 5th generation fighter to Eastern Europe is a card best held until needed.

Then again, the size of America’s air superiority fighter fleet has shrunk so much over the last 25 years that the Eagle community, made up of about 192 aircraft in total (about 25 percent of which are being used for training and development), may not be able to sustain these types of deployments alone while also meeting their homeland defense, regional deterrent and their many training goals. Additionally, both aircraft, the super complex F-22 and the aging F-15C, require large amounts of maintenance to keep them airworthy at any given time. As such, calling the F-22 to deploy to Europe may be an acknowledgement of an inevitable logistical reality as much as a strategic play.

...

I can't see them flying without drop-tanks or luneberg lenses:

Same with the F-35 when it's introduced in East Asia:

 

[Armstrong]

Anyone want to guess what my favorite helo is?

For a change I know what these Helos are....or at least I can make a decent guess - These are armed Hueys right ?

Mine are the Cobras....sleek, beautiful and deadly !

 

[Fenrir]

For a change I know what these Helos are....or at least I can make a decent guess - These are armed Hueys right ?

Hmm. I see Sven's still getting me into arguments/debates. I'm going to be dealing with this for a bit.

But no, those are OH-58 Kiowa:

Compared to a UH-1N Iroquois:

And the UH-1Y Venom:

Mine are the Cobras....sleek, beautiful and deadly !

Cobra or Supercobra?

Cobra:

Supercobra:

 

[Armstrong]

Hmm. I see Sven's still getting me into arguments/debates. I'm going to be dealing with this for a bit.

But no, those are OH-58 Kiowa:

Compared to a UH-1N Iroquois:

And the UH-1Y Venom:

Cobra or Supercobra?

Cobra:

Supercobra:

Those aren't Hueys !

They looked so much like the Hueys from the Rambo movies (the one about Vietnam) !

Just cobras 'cause they look better than their successors....plus the white color scheme effectively kills the 'deadly' look !

 

[Fenrir]

Breach and Clear:

 

[Fenrir]

Just cobras 'cause they look better than their successors....plus the white color scheme effectively kills the 'deadly' look !

Will you change your mind after Pakistan begins flying the Supercobra?

State Dept. OKs $952M Pakistan Helo Deal

Those aren't Hueys !

Nope.

UH-1

OH-58

I like the MH-6:

 

[Armstrong]

Will you change your mind after Pakistan begins flying the Supercobra?

State Dept. OKs $952M Pakistan Helo Deal



Nope.

UH-1

OH-58

I like the MH-6:

Naaah....I still like the Cobras more....old is gold !

And come to think of it...now that I look at it closely....the OH-58s look like the Eurocopter !

And whats this bulbous little thing at the end ?

A toy copter ?

 

[Fenrir]

And whats this bulbous little thing at the end ?

A toy copter ?

. Not familiar with the "killer egg" - MH-6 little bird?

And come to think of it...now that I look at it closely....the OH-58s look like the Eurocopter !

I do see a resemblance:

You might have meant EC135 Hermes, yes?

Eurocopter is a consortum whose products include Tiger, EC135 Hermes, EC225 Super Puma and AS365 Dauphin.