In the next 10-15 years – the Trident D-5 SLBM deterrent force for both the US (Ohio-class) and the UK (Vanguard-class) will be approaching the end of their service lives.
I took a road trip this past weekend down to the Pima Air & Space Museum on the east side of Tucson, AZ this past Saturday. It was my first visit in almost two years, and my first trip with my current camera.
Each time I have gone, I have found something new and surprising, and this trip was no exception. Expect to see the highlights from this trip over the coming days.
While the loss of what should be a sizeable percentage of the US’s Early Warning capacity (especially on the eve of a Presidential transition) is alarming – that is not the meat of this story….
Bucking the open-source trend, the British Royal Navy has developed a modified version of Microsoft Windows XP and has begun installing it on its fleet of nuclear submarines.
According to the BAE (lead integrator) news release – the new Submarine Command System Next Generation (SMCS NG) “transfers the software applications proven on earlier variants of SMCS to a modern system architecture that uses mainstream PCs to provide the computer processing with Microsoft Windows as the software operating system.”
So at this point – all of the RN’s nuclear submarines have been upgraded with these new control stations. Including – the 4 Vanguard class SSBN’s.
Nuclear Weapons – Trident SLBM’s – controlled through Windows.
Maybe Apple should make a Mac commerical based on Windows doing this. Or else another way for Microsoft to push Vista?
During the announcement of the test – it came out that the countermeasures that were supposed to be part of this test – did not deploy.
This may sound silly or naive – but if we can’t get countermeasures to work on a simple test missile (with all of the time to prep the attempt) – can we realistically expect that a minor power has been able to integrate a successful countermeasure into their ballistic missile?
According to the DEW Line blog over at FlightGlobal – one of the two 767 airborne tankers delivered to the JASDF was damaged during an emergency landing earlier today.
DEW Line has link to Japanese statement – and someone’s attempt to translate the statement to English.
The key argument – was that the U-2 could collect more info during a single flight – due to a larger payload and more electrical power (more sensors) – than the Global Hawk.
The Pentagon has said it will not retire the U-2 at least until the Global Hawk Block 30, which will carry the Advanced Signals Intelligence Payload, is flying.
I think the quote is perfect. As recent events in the US have shown, if you don’t pay understand history – and mistakes others made before hand – you will quickly become history.
“…the JSF is often referred to as a “bomb truck” that will attack ground targets once the skies have been cleared of any enemy fighter threat by dedicated air superiority fighters like the F-22 Raptor and F-15 Eagle.”
[At first I thought it was a trade off between the internal gun and the VTOL system, but even the Marine Corps CTOL version will not have the internal gun]
That seems to be a serious compromise – which I am sure that the pilots will grumble about from the start.
Hopefully Cobra Ball got some good info about both tests.
Maybe the new Administration will realize that we better start putting some R&D into the Triad, since the newest US ballistic missile is the Trident 2 D5 (using late 70′s/early 80′s technology).
The EA-18G Growler is being developed as the replacement for the EA-6B Prowler. The three Electronic Warfare Officers (EWO) on the EA-6 are being replaced by a single EWO (and lots of electronics) on the EA-18.
The only clue that this isn’t a normal Super Hornet – is the fact that the wingtips don’t have the normal Sidewinder load. Instead this is where the EW pods/antennas are mounted.
Why is this situation not getting the attention it deserves?
As long as the pirates can keep funnelling money to support the radicals destabilizing Somalia – there will be a safe haven for terror. There is no way that the Somali government (if one still exists) can even compete when you are talking about the radicals getting millions of dollars in ransom for each ship.
Stop the pirates and you have a chance to restore order to Somalia.
Russia launched a top secret military satellite Friday in an unannounced flight from the country’s northern space base, according to news reports.
A Soyuz rocket blasted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at 1550 GMT (10:50 a.m. EST) Friday. The launcher released the classified satellite payload about nine minutes later.
Russian officials did not provide details of the spacecraft’s mission, but the satellite is likely a Kobalt spy satellite with retrievable film canisters that return to Earth.
The satellite was delivered to an orbit with a high point of about 200 miles and a low point of about 110 miles. The orbit’s inclination is about 67.2 degrees, according to U.S. tracking data.
Russia is calling the satellite Kosmos 2445 under the military’s naming system for defense spacecraft.
They are still using FILM capsules? Hasn’t it been like 20 years since the US has had to do that?
It was AA-1′s second flight of the day and the 69th since its maiden sortie on Dec. 15, 2006. Total flight time is just past the 95-hour mark – not a huge amount, but if anyone is plotting this out, the curve has been reasonably steep in the last few weeks.
LM says AA-1 completed four runs to Mach 1.05 for a total supersonic time of 8 minutes. The aircraft was also carrying a full 5,400 lb. internal load of (inert) weapons.
The US has had its share – but nothing as deadly as either the Akula or the Kursk – in the last 40 years.
+ USS Greeneville (this one appears to be cursed – and should be decom’d);
- Feb 2001 – Surfaces under Japanese Fishing boat – kills fishing boat crew
- Aug 2001 – Runs aground entering Saipan harbor
- Jan 2002 – collides w/ USS Ogden during personnel transfer at sea
+ USS Hartford – Oct 2003 – runs aground leaving Sardinia harbor
+ USS Newport News – Jan 2007 – collides w/ Japanese tanker in Arabian Sea
+ USS San Francisco – Jan 2005 – collides w/ an uncharted sea mount at flank speed. One killed. Reports say that boat was almost lost (due to loss of buoyancy from the forward ballast tanks). Repairs completed at Puget Sound Shipyard in Oct 2008 (yes – last month) by using the forward hull from the USS Honolulu (which had been decommissioned).
+ USS Minneapolis-St.Paul – Dec 2006 – loses 4 crew overboard during rough seas departing Plymouth (England) Harbor. 2 men recovered. 2 men pronounced dead at local hospital.
As for the Canadians – they don’t have a current sub in service. They have the old UK Upholder diesel electrics – and while they got them for a bargain price – they learned why the price was a bargain. The boats had been laid up for a couple of years before the Brits sold them to the Canadians, and it took a bit of repair work to get them ready for transfer. Wiki link has a lot of detail that I won’t bore you with here.
HMCS Chicoutimi - Oct 2004 – crippled by on-board fire after water came in a hatch during rough weather in the North Atlantic. One killed.
No matter who wins next week – the defense establishment of the United States will be changing drastically over the next four years.
The economic/credit crisis that has turned into a world-wide economic slump – will make sure that the military will only get the bare minimum’s (I hope) to maintain some sort of effective force.
The West privately laughed when the Russians had to park/dock/mothball/ground most of their once feared armed forces when they went through their own collapse post-Yeltsin. Now the shoe is on the other foot.
Would have liked to see more of the SU-34. Looks like a variant of the Su-27, but if it is replacing the Su-24, it is for mid-long range Air to Ground.
