Threat Axis Log

PC023-068

Originally uploaded by Lockheed Martin

I have been trying for it seems weeks to write a post to do this picture (and the Blackbird) justice, but I just haven’t had the time.

The picture dates from 1990 just after the Air Force had decided to retire the Blackbird from active service.

The current Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine included this same picture in their article about Lockheed’s famed designer Kelly Johnson where they also discussed the development of the Blackbird (but if you are a fan of the Blackbird, then you know that lots of books have already been written about its development and past glories).

Northrup B-2 Stealth Bomber

Originally uploaded by rob-the-org

I came across two articles on-line from the week before last this morning. Both were written by a British journalist who got permission to visit Whiteman AFB – the home of the B-2 ‘Spirit’ Stealth Bomber.

Here is the article that got published – Daily Mail [http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1241116/Britains-new-bomber-command-The-2bn-aircraft-aiming-world-peace.html] and the overflow material that was published in the journalist’s blog [http://www.angusbatey.com/index.html?id=578&category=blog].

Both articles are worth reading. One of the highlights of the Daily Mail article was the too small picture of the cockpit (which basically looks like the glass cockpit in any modern airliner). The 2nd story was a closer look at the people who are involved with the B-2, including two RAF exchange pilots (one who is just joining the squadron, and one about to rotate out – and the justification for allowing a British journalist to come onto the base).

Northrup Grumman RQ-4A Global Hawk

Originally uploaded by rob-the-org

Several interesting stories have been published in the last week about UAV’s (Unmanned Air Vehicles).

MSN/New York Times – Military is deluged in intelligence from drones Duh – I think the NSA has suffered from this for years.

AviationWeek/Ares – Caught on Film: UCAS Taxi Test (UCAS is Northrup-Grumman’s X-47 which is being designed to work from the Navy’s Carrier’s)

Combat Aircraft/MilitaryPhotos.net – RQ-170 Clear Daylight Photo (the RQ-170 is the UAV that was nicknamed ‘the Beast of Khandhar’)

If all of this doesn’t show that we are inevitably moving towards the an unmanned air force – I don’t know what will.

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]

IDFAF F15-I Ra’am in interception mode.

Originally uploaded by NGPhoto.biz

A little over two years ago – Israeli jets destroyed a suspicious complex in eastern Syria, that was thought to have ties to a possible nuclear weapons program.

With all of the attention on Iran’s nuclear program – the details of this raid are still few and far between (unlike the Israeli 1981 raid on Iraq’s nuclear reactor).

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.

Wing Commander’s F-16 Falcon

Originally uploaded by rob-the-org

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).

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General Atomics MQ-1 Predator

Originally uploaded by rob-the-org

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.

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General Atomics MQ-1 Predator

Originally uploaded by rob-the-org

According to reports over on Ares (Aviation Week’s blog site) – the US Air Force had to shoot down one of their own Reaper’s – after communication/control over the UAV was lost and it was about to leave Afghan airspace.

I wonder whose airspace it was about to violate – when they took it out?

US Navy 167953

Originally uploaded by Drewski2112

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.