Threat Axis

Ok – I have kept everyone in suspense for long enough. Here is a side view of the same plane – and you can start answering some of the questions I posed.

This was a flight demonstrator for the Shaped Sonic Boom program. The thought was that a modified underside of the aircraft’s fuselage could potentially reduce the sonic boom that an aircraft made when going supersonic (Mach 1+) speeds.

[The newest jet engine's - i.e. the F119 on the F-22 Raptor - no longer has to go to afterburner to get to supersonic speeds. One of the reasons that the Concorde wasn't able to make money (and got retired) was because it was constantly on afterburner (and burned a huge amount of jet fuel). Beyond the fuel costs - the other reason that the Concorde wasn't successful - was because it was restricted to overwater flights. Because on an overwater flight - there was no homeowner's association or EPA to complain about the noise pollution].

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USNS Able (similiar to Impeccable) on trials

Earlier this week – a story came out that several Chinese vessels had been harassing a US Naval Support ship – USNS Impeccable while it was in international waters.

Now let’s be perfectly clear – USNS Impeccable is not a replenishment ship.  It is SURTASS ship.  SURTASS ships were designed to supplement fixed SOSUS sites to provide sound surveillance of large stretches of the ocean.

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Poseidon – C3

Originally uploaded by rob-the-org

Every organization has had it happen. For whatever reason – the one person who “knows” how things works leaves the organization and there were certain things that only that person knew how to do.

That’s fine when you are dealing with a store or consulting business – but how about the assembly of a nuclear warhead?

That’s what has happened w/ the warhead for the US Trident submarine launched ballistic missile. The Sunday Herald recently reported that the UK Trident modernization plan is threatened with costly delays because no one in the US weapons plants knows how to make a hazardous material code named ‘Fogbank.’

I remember seeing articles over the last couple of years talk about how all of the bomb designers at Los Alamos were nearing retirement and there was concern over who would be left to build the bombs when they left. I guess we know the answer to that question now….

But you have to wonder – if this lack of knowledge was an unspoken reason why the previous Administration had been pushing a new warhead design (the Reliable Replacement Warhead) so strongly.

[Update, March 11] And talking about developing nuclear warheads – take a look at this ScientificAmerican article about ‘Advances in Monitoring Nuclear Weapons Testing‘ (the article’s authors claim that any test of at least 1 kt would be detectable, and in some parts of the world – even below 1 kt).

BlackBerry Upgrade!

Originally uploaded by bluemarla

If you haven’t noticed – we have tweaked ThreatAxis so that if you try to read if via your mobile device (Crackberry, iPhone, Android) you will get an optimized version of the site for your device.

If you have any issues with this – please let us know.

Marine One

Originally uploaded by Pradagirl

It was disclosed this morning that blueprints and specifications of the Presidential Helicopter ‘Marine One’ have been compromised via a File Sharing program on a contractor’s computer.

And that the same data was found on a computer system in Tehran Iran.

The article doesn’t mention if this is the current Marine One, or the new Marine One (which might never go into service due to continuing cost overruns).

Someone will probably lose their job over this (unless they are a VP).

But this is a prime example of why you keep work on one computer and play on another.

Raptor_Airshow-2

Originally uploaded by Lockheed Martin

The President has a decision to make by this weekend. Whether or not to start shutting down the production of the F-22 Raptor, or to buy some additional planes.

It is a decisive issue – not just for the military and the government, but also the economy;

• It is the most expensive fighter plane ($191 million apiece) ever
• It has no use in the conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan
• Service Chiefs want more
• DOD needs to cut new acquisition programs to fund on-going combat operations
• Congress supports buying more
• Allies (Australia and Japan) want to buy it
• Suppliers or factories for the plane are in 44 of 50 states
• Estimates are 40,000 people would be affected by shutdown of program

Read the entire story – on USAToday.com.

HMS Vanguard

Originally uploaded by forargyll

Earlier this month – and first reported this morning (since both sub’s are now back at base) – the British and French SSBN’s on deterrent patrol collided with each other.

Unlike the larger US SSBN fleet – the UK and France each have a small SSBN fleet, such that usually only ONE boat is at sea at a time.

The SSBN fleet are the only strategic nuclear force that either country still maintains. The French decommissioned their land based missiles (S-3′s) in 1996, and the British bomber force lost their nuclear role in 1970 (when the first British Polaris SSBN was commissioned).

Besides the general uproar when something happens to a nuclear asset – what else does this event tell us?

- The British and French SSBN’s have overlapping area’s of operation

Beyond that – everything else is a guess – and will probably never be known publically;

- Were both submarines trying to avoid detection by a 3rd submarine or other ship?
- Was either submarine trying to ‘hide’ behind the other?
- Was either submarine able to detect the other?
- Did they forget that they drive on different sides of the road?

This was the original reason that I was going to go down to Pima on the photo trip.  I hadn’t been to the museum since the new ‘Spirit of Freedom’ (Hanger 1 South) had opened up.  And it was the new home to the museum’s SR-71 Blackbird.

The pictures in this slideshow documents the progression of the Blackbird’s display at Pima.  From being tucked under a temporary sun shade/car port, to being out in the middle of the Arizona sun, to finally being inside and showcased in the new hanger.

This is the last set of pictures from the January photo-safari.  If you would like to explore more of my pictures from different trips to Pima – please click HERE.  If you are interested in learning more about the Pima Air & Space museum – click HERE.

If you would like to see all of my posts about Pima – click HERE.

This was the reason that most of us had come on the trip. A chance to photograph the Convair B-36 Peacemaker that the Museum staff had been working on reassembling for over three years now.

[This slideshow/picture set is of ALL of my B-36 pictures from Pima.  Not only my trip in January 2009, but from trips in 2006 and 2007.  So you can see the visible progress.  For a more current and up close status of the restoration of the Peacemaker, take a look at the project page on the Pima website]

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F-22 Raptor

Originally uploaded by Rob Shenk

In an attempt to position additional purchases of the F-22 Raptor as either an ‘economic recovery project‘ or for sales to performance details of the plane have been released by Lockheed-Martin.

• Radar Cross section – -40 dBsm., the equivalent radar reflection of a steel “marble.”
• Supercruise – Mach 1.78 rather than Mach 1.5
• Acceleration – 51 seconds rather than 54 seconds (did not disclose what speed/altitude this performance metric is for)
• Altitude – non-afterburning/full military – above 50,000 feet (even though reports have the Raptor’s ceiling at 65,000 feet)
• Radar range – 5% greater than expected (ranges on AESA radar‘s are classified, but is estimated to be above 100 miles)

  In support of potential foreign sales – the Raptor will make its Paris Air Show debut later this year. The Raptor was not sent to Paris in 2007, due to the way that French officials handled a previous visit by the F-117 Nighthawk (routing the F-117 over several French military establishments – so they could conduct electronic intelligence gathering).

  Cross your fingers – maybe we will still have enough Air Superiority fighters in 10 years to control the skies over a battlefield.
  
  

X-48B

Originally uploaded by cherbro1

When I first blogged about the X-48 a year and a half ago – the radio controlled scale model had just taken its first flight.

This program hasn’t died yet – but its focus has changed. In a AvWeek article published on-line earlier this week – NASA now believes that the Hybrid Wing Body (HWB, its generic term for BWB shapes) is key to reaching its agressive environment targets (for both fuel economy and radiated noise).

Boeing’s Phantom Works has supposedly even talked to two large shipping companies (believed to be FedEx and UPS) about the BWB, causing internal problems with Boeing Commercial Airplanes (who normally handles cargo aircraft).

The US Air Force is still in the mix – looking for tanker/cargo aircraft with the best fuel efficiencies possible, which leads to……

NASA’s lead investigator said they are looking to partner w/ the Air Force Research Lab on a large scale structural demonstrator in the next couple of years. That would then lead to a manned flight demonstrator approximately the size of a 737.

By now – everyone should be aware that the Iranian’s launched a small Sputnik type of satellite into low Earth Orbit yesterday.  But what was suprising – was the time that it took for the it to be publicized by the mainstream press.

My daily newsletter from Spaceflightnow.com – had this launch as their lead item when I got up in the morning (6am MST).

The headline about the launch from the BBC showed up a couple of hours later – in my crawl bar across the browser.

And then pulling up the rear – was CNN late in the day finally decided they had enough info to publish.  I guess CNN wanted to make sure that they were reporting a real story – and weren’t about to be had by a Photoshop’d picture – like during the Iranian’s Missile test last October (picture below);

Iranian Missile test - enhanced by Photoshop

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74-0787_IAB_19SEP07_1

Originally uploaded by Midwest Tail Chasers Aviation Photography

With the change of Administration last month, the National Geographic Channel ran a special on Air Force One, calling it America’s Airborne Command Post.

Unfortunately – that statement was just PR. As the documentary showed (in a recap of the flight during 9/11), Air Force One is not a ‘command post’ per se. It is a VIP transport, with a very secure communications system.

[For more commentary about the NatGeo documentary - check out "In From the Cold"]

The ‘real’ Airborne Command Post is currently a set of four Boeing 747-200 aircraft that were modified/enhanced, and are currently designated by the US Air Force as E-4B’s.

The history of this program;

• ordered – Feb 1973
• first delivered – Dec 1974
• fleet upgraded to E-4B standard – 1985
• Expected to continue in service to 2015

The E-4B modification consisted of EMP hardening of the aircraft electronics and systems, and replacing the original engine’s.

The four airplanes are based at Offut AFB in Nebraska, and will rotate through Andrews AFB (outside of Washington DC) and Wright Patterson AFB (Dayton, OH). Since the US no longer keeps the bomber force on alert – the E-4′s are one of the few aircraft that are maintained on a 24-hour alert status.

During the attacks on 9/11 – people had reported seeing a large, 4 engine plane overflying Washington, DC and this turned out to be an E-4B, even though the DOD never admitted it was theirs. According to later reports – there was an E-4B at Andrews AFB, participating in Exercise “Global Guardian” that was cancelled when the first plane hit the World Trade Center (and the E-4B was sent airborne).

Behind a sign that says ‘Museum Staff only’ rests the Restoration Hangar and storage yard.  This is where planes are prepped to go on display, and others sit either waiting for their turn, or waiting to used as parts for another exhibit.

Being allowed into the Restoration was the whipped cream on this photo trip (the cherry will be another post).  It was due to the diligence of the organizer of the photo trip.

The Restoration shop is where aircraft are taken apart, cleaned, holes patched, put back together again, and repainted.

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Boeing VC-25A – SAM 28000 Air Force One Climbs out of EFD

Originally uploaded by E-Mans av8pix.com

According to an Exclusive post over on Ares (AvWeek milblog) – an Airbus spokesman in Washington has said they do not plan on bidding on the replacement for the current Boeing 747-200 versions of Air Force One (VC-25).

Many had expected Airbus to propose their A380 superjumbo for the size and range requirements outlined in the Air Force RFI.

In the middle of the museum field of planes – there is a non-descript building which houses a special project.  This building is referred to as ‘Area 51′ – and is where the museum’s craftsmen are building their own P-51 Mustang.

Now – they don’t ever expect this plane to fly, so the strength of the wings and the fuselage are one of the areas that they are cutting back on.  But otherwise – they are working from original blueprints and where possible (budget & availability) using original parts.

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Back at the edge of the restoration area – was an Avro Shackleton AEW.Mk2 named ‘Mr McHenry’ – that was donated by Air Atlantique Classic Flight.

The Shackleton was a post World War 2 design for a RAF Maritime Patrol Aircraft.  This particular airframe, WL790, was converted to be a AEW (Airborne Early Warning) platform.

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The first new exhibit – was a Mig-29 Fulcrum on the fence line (along Valencia Road).

Even though the Mig is in Russian Air Force markings, one of the other photographers on the trip seemed to think that this is one of the former Moldovan Mig-29′s that the US bought back in 1997 (because this version of the Mig-29 – ‘S’ had a built in jammer on the spine, and was capable of being equipped with nuclear stand-off weapons).

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