Last month I was part of a photography group trip to the Naval Air Facility in El Centro, California. NAF El Centro is a training field – and doesn’t have any aircraft or squadron’s based at it. It provides someplace for other Navy squadron’s (or even Allied countries) to send their aircraft for training in a different environment.
We were allowed access to the LSO shack area – right on the edge of the runway (not your normal distant airport vantage point).
The slideshow link below goes to the highlights of the trip. Mainly F/A-18 Hornets (from the East and West Coast Fleet Replacement squadron’s) practicing air to ground on the ranges, but also some T-45 Goshawk’s practicing their landings.
[There were no incidents (i.e. we didn't do anything we shouldn't) so maybe they will let us go back again in the future]
Since then countless politicians have attempted to use the attack when warning against another suprise attack in other areas.
In Space. January 2001 – the Rumsfield (yes, that Rumsfield) Commission warned against a “Space Pearl Harbor” on American satellites, due to the continued reliance on satellites for communications, early warning and even navigation (GPS).
A ‘bolt from the blue’ attack – that Pearl Harbor has come to symbolize – could be seen more as a bookmark in history when warface has dramatically changed. Look at the Pearl Harbor attack. It basically signalled the end of the battleship as the dominant player in naval warfare, and heralded the rise of the aircraft carrier.
The German magazine “Der Spiegel” published an article earlier this week attempting to pull together more of the details on the raid, as well as the aftermath. At first glance – it appears to be worth the time to read it.
Big news out of Washington at the end of last week – at least as far as Arizona is concerned. Luke AFB made the first cut – and is still in the running to be considered as the primary training base for the F-35 (Joint Strike Fighter).
According to the BBC – the Somali Islamist’s have shot down a US drone of the Somali coast.
And this is exactly why a drone is supposed to go into area’s that would normally be questionable for a manned aircraft. Without a crew being killled or captured – there is little chance for a politically minded escalation.
[this story might not make CNN - because no one in the US seems to care about Somalia any more. Which will just about guarantee that this is the next global hotspot.]
Every modern airforce has Airborne Radar and Command & Control aircraft to not only direct offensive operations – but to also control their air defenses. But these aircraft are not cheap. Up until recently – only the major powers (US, NATO & Russia) could afford a fleet of these highly specialized aircraft.
The Western powers have standardized on the US Boeing E-3 Sentry (based on the Boeing 707 airliner), while the Russian’s based their AWACS on the Ilyusin IL-76 transport, refered to as the Beriev A-50 ‘Mainstay’.
[As technology has advanced and electronics have shrunk - Air Forces have no longer needed the size and capacity of a four engined aircraft. Newer AWACS-type aircraft are based on smaller aircraft - like the Boeing 737 pictured above undergoing shakedown tests before being delivered to the Royal Australian Air Force.]
One of the side affects of the Gulf War (I and II) was that the world saw the effect of a quality command and control system (and what happens when you don’t have one), so many countries have tried to add this capability to their own armed forces.
One of the most watched countries in the world – Iran – had recently upgraded its sole large AWACS aircraft. It was a hand me down IL-76 that originally came from Iraq (before the first Gulf War kicked off several Iraqi Air Force aircraft were ‘evacuated’ to Iran, rather than being shot down by Coalition forces), and was upgraded by the Russian’s last year.
Will this change the UK deterrent posture? Probably not. The normal cycle – is one on active patrol, one just coming back from patrol, and two in workups ready to go out on patrol. So instead of two in workups – there would be only one in workups.
[It is possible that this has been something that has been under consideration since earlier this year - when HMS Vanguard was involved in an 'incident' with a French SSBN. It is possible that the damage from that 'incident' along with the current economic crisis has just made the decision to reduce the force - more politically viable]
What is disconcerting about this – is that with only one boat on patrol – and one boat close to patrol – the UK deterrent force is vulnerable.
But let’s be clear. Today’s announcement really doesn’t change the vulnerability in any way. It just may be the first step in its elimination at the hands of a future government.
The BBC is reporting that the US is unhappy with Pakistan’s supposed modification of the Harpoon Anti-Ship missile (that Pakistan purchased from the US back in the 1980′s).
What have they supposedly done? Converted the anti-ship missile to a land attack missile, in violation of the US Arms Control Export Act
Just like a Gun Store owner selling a handgun to someone – the minute you sell it – you lose control over how it is used (or adapted). When these missile were originally sold to Pakistan 20+ years ago – the political/military situation was dramatically different in SW Asia than it is today.
This sub has had a interesting post-Cold War history. It was originally acquired by a Finish businessman in 1993 to be used as a off-beat restaurant/bar and tourist attraction in Helsinki. This attempt did not generate the $$$ that the promoter had hoped for – so in 1998 the boat was leased to a Canadian promoter who wanted to set the boat up as a tourist attraction in Tampa Bay Florida. The intended location did not have the depth needed to moor the Juliett – so it was moved to a more remote location. Lack of business caused the Canadian promoter to declare bankruptcy and the ownership of the sub reverted to the original Finnish owner.
But he didn’t want the submarine back and tried to sell it on Ebay for $1 million dollars. No takers. The submarine ended up being chartered for use in the filming of the Harrison Ford movie “K-19: The Widowmaker” and was towed to Nova Scotia, Canada.
In 2002 – the submarine was purchased by the USS Saratoga Museum Foundation and towed from Nova Scotia to Providence Rhode Island, and was on display there from August 2002 until April 2007 when it sunk in a storm (while tied to the pier).
While the British have been flying a jet powered maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) in the Nimrod’s for years now – the US Navy has finally started production of their own Jet MPA in the Boeing P-8 Poseidon.
Earlier this spring – the first test planes rolled out of Boeing’s Renton production facility, the same facility that the commercial/passenger carrying 737′s come out of (albeit a different building). The P-8 incorporates the body of the latest 737-800, w/ the wings from the 737-900 (the wings include ‘raked wingtips‘, instead more conventional winglets).
Once the testing of these new planes is completed – they will join an active duty squadron and the Navy’s current MPA – the Lockheed P-3 Orion – will head off to storage at the ‘Boneyard’ / Davis-Monthan AFB (outside of Tucson, AZ).
Where some Orion’s are already sealed up and waiting to be used in the future.
This is a YouTube video of James May (one of the Host/Presenter’s on BBC’s “Top Gear”) taking a flight in a U-2 Trainer up to 60,000 feet.
If you have never seen the BBC program “Top Gear” – I strongly suggest looking for it on your Cable or Satellite schedule (on either BBC or BBC/America). It is a motoring (car junkie) program with an occasional humorous or off-beat take on things.
Congress continues to ask the Air Force if they are willing to sell the Raptor to our closest Pacific (Japan & Australia) allies.
But probably the most interesting piece has been this press release out of Edwards AFB that announced that a team of their personnel had completed the Increment 3.1 upgrade two months early. The Increment 3.1 upgrade included;
Contrary to some reports she was NOT a WARSHIP. She was a former Liberty troop transport during World War 2, and was saved from the scrapyard in the 60′s to become a range support ship for the DOD and then supported NASA.
If you want to dive on a real ‘warship’ – go farther north from Key West towards Pensacola. The World War 2 Essex-class aircraft carrier, the Oriskany, was sunk 20 odd miles off shore – and its island is accessible to recreation certified divers.
Omega Air Refueling operates 3 aircraft (two Boeing 707′s and one DC-10) in support of their contract with the government. This contract is just the flying hours of the aircraft. The responsible party (i.e. squadron) for the receiving aircraft is responsible for the cost of the actual fuel (and can use their government credit card – just as if they were buying fuel during a cross-country or TDY).
The President’s first 100 days are over – and still no word on what is going to happen with one of the most watched Pentagon acquisition programs in years.
The Air Force tanker program (to replace the aging KC-135′s).
SecDef Robert Gates has said he opposes a ‘dual buy’ (some from Airbus and some from Boeing) option.
There isn’t a even a concrete ‘dual buy’ proposal on the table, only suggestions from some Senate subcommittee chairmen as a way to break the impasse. And even then – the actual committee chairmen have not yet decided other than to wait to see what the Pentagon proposes.
As the weather warms – it is time to get out of the house and take in the sights. For aviation photographers – that means it is Air Show season.
A couple of hints if you have never gone to a show before;
Check to see how big a backpack you are allowed to bring in (small bags – good, large bags – usually prohibited)
Check to see if you can bring folding chairs – if YES – then DO IT. You are going out onto an airport. So there aren’t benches to sit on. If you want to sit on something – you have to bring it with you.
Water. If you don’t bring your own – bring $$$ to pay the vendors for it.
Below is a link to a slideshow of my pictures from the Luke Air Force Base (Glendale, AZ) “Thunder in the Desert” airshow held last month.
To see if there is an airshow close to you – take a look at this web page from the Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. agency that oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons complex is shifting design work on a key warhead component — the tritium gas system — from one government laboratory to another, a move that is generating some controversy (see GSN, Nov. 10, 2008).
Robert Smolen — until last month a top National Nuclear Security Administration official — announced the decision in a Jan. 5 internal memo. The agency, he said, would soon consolidate responsibility for designing tritium “gas transfer systems” from the two organizations currently performing the work — the Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories — down to a single site, Sandia’s facility in Livermore, Calif.
Congress in 2000 established the National Nuclear Security Administration as a semiautonomous arm of the Energy Department. The agency oversees the national laboratories as part of its mandate to maintain the stockpile.
The component at the center of debate, called the “gas transfer system,” moves tritium from container bottles into the core of the nuclear warhead as the weapon explodes. It “enables tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, to boost the yield of a nuclear weapon,” according to an NNSA statement issued a day after Smolen’s internal memo.
The news release heralded the decision without identifying New Mexico-based Los Alamos as the facility expected to lose the work.
The NNSA announcement went largely unnoticed and a number of issue experts contacted for this article said they could not comment before learning more about the move. One U.S. nuclear weapons official opined that the arcane bureaucratic machinations amount to little more than “inside baseball.”
However, new revelations about the initiative raise broad questions about how competing interests might affect the future safety and reliability of the nation’s nuclear weapons.
