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).
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.
USA – Air Force Boeing VC-25A (747-2G4B) (82-8000) **Air Force One**
Originally uploaded by Michael Davis – AirTeamImages
Then get ready for the competition between Boeing and Airbus over building the new Air Force One.
It will be an interesting showdown between the Boeing 747-800 (Intercontinental) vs the Airbus A380.
No matter who wins – I am sure that the interior will be installed by a ‘trusted’ contractor – so that there is no repeat of the bug issue on the Chinese President’s Boeing 767.
Merry Christmas from all at Threat Axis.
Santa's new ride (for high threat environments)
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.
Earlier this summer – Military.com/DefenseTech.org published a story saying the Air Force was not ready to retire the U-2 in favor of the Global Hawk.
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.
According to a Northrup-Grumman press release back in January 2008 – the first Block 40 fuselage was supposed to come off the assembly line back in September.
The fact that the Air Force transferred two early model Global Hawk’s to NASA earlier this year – seems to indicate that that some serious fuselage changes are needed for the later modifications (and that these changes cannot be retrofitted to the earlier models).
Additionally – the on again off again potential sale of the Global Hawk to Korea – maybe back on again. I bet it will only be a Block 20…..
“…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.”
I guess the designers really stuck by this logic – especially for the Navy/Marine Corp version of the JSF. Because only the Air Force (CTOL) version will have an internal gun.
[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.
There is a reason that the F-4 Phantom was redesigned to include an internal gun on the ‘E’ model. I guess none of the Lockheed-Martin designers have studied history.
Boeing EA-18G Growler 166858 VAQ-129 Vikings NAS Whidbey Island WA taxiing at El Centro
Originally uploaded by F18E777
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.
The much maligned F-35 Lightning prototype broke the sound barrier during a test flight yesterday.
From Ares (AviationWeek’s blog) – - – -
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.
Found on Flickr via the Military Vehicles group.
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.
Late Friday the Pentagon announced that a percentage of the A-10′s in service were being grounded after cracks were discovered in the wings.
The cracks were found on A-10′s undergoing inspection at Hill AFB in Utah, and similiar cracks were found in A-10′s based at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona.
Just another sign that our military is being worn out by 5 years of active duty.
Imagine – you know that a high value target will be at Location “X” in approximately 30 minutes.
It is far from the Continental US and there isn’t a CVBG in range. And Congress (among a host of others – including me) didn’t like the idea of putting conventional warheads on old Minuteman III’s.
The war against Iraq started in 2003 with a strike very much like this. But in this case – there was a B-1 bomber loitering far overhead – that was able to dash in and drop a dedicated load of bombs in an attempt to take out Saddam Hussein (The decapitation strike was a result of Saddam giving false information to a possible traitor on his staff. USAF blew up the building – and Saddam knew who to have shot).
But what do you do when you don’t have a heavy bomber nearby? In Afghanistan – UAV’s – like the Predator and the Reaper have been flying as much as the pilots and the mechanics can support them. Both those still require a forward base for the UAV’s to launched and recovered to.
For years the US has dreamed of having something able to be launched from the continental US and be able to fly at hypersonic speeds to be able to hit a target.
DARPA’s FALCON project – has been an attempt to create just such a system.
The requirement – deliver a 12,000 lb payload, out to 9,000 miles, in under 2 hours.
[This is the first in a series of articles about FALCON - and whether or not it will ever happen]
B-2 Spirit on IR
This picture was supposedly taken by a Eurofighter Typhoon. Obviously from below the B-2. Pretty cool overall. If you look to the trailing edge of the wing – near the center – you will see white lines – which is probably the heating from the engines.
I bet the same shot from overhead – would show a more dramatic rise in the exhaust signature.
I have to wonder though – why this image got out anyway. It shows me – that the best way to look for a B-2 – would be from above. Very high altitude a/c – or even an orbit IR sensor.
Unless it is time to illustrate the B-2′s shortcomings – so the NGB can get more $$$$.
The Pentagon has announced that the controversial bidding for the new Tanker aircraft – won’t start again until after the New Year (i.e. after the Election).
Which will give Boeing a chance to redo their proposal to be based on the 777 instead of the 767 (since the USAF seems to prefer a large airplane).
Boeing needs all of the help they can get right now. Not only are they in the middle of what will probably turn into a bitter strike with their Machinists Union – but they just announced that the delivery of the 767 tankers to Italy will slip to 2009.
For those of you who have burned out watching the Olympics – and don’t want to look at the mess that is the former Soviet republic of Georgian today – take a look at this wonderful picture of an Indian Air Force SU-30 that was taking part in the annual Red Flag exercises at Nellis AFB (LV NV).
Aviation Week’s Area blog has an interesting article about the restrictions that the Indian pilots were under during the exercise. And the probable ESM snooping that was going on to evaluate all of the capabilities of this front line fighter.
Rounding out the International participation in Red Flag – were Rafale’s from the French Air Force – and F-15′s from South Korea.
This is interesting….this thing already flew…YEARS ago.
http://www.scaled.com/projects/ares.html
Buried at the bottom of an Area/AvWeek post about the Russian’s trying to overfly Denmark w/ a pair of Fencer’s (Su-24), was this blurb;
However, the activity has prompted NATO to resume air patrols from Iceland, something that had stopped for several years. In recent months, F-22s, Typhoons and others have been able to get a close-up look at Russian air force aircraft on long-range patrol exercises.
Time to get the parkas back out, and allocate those E-3′s that have been working Northern Command since 9/11 – and send them back to Keflavik.
Have we run out of things for the F-22′s to do yet? Maybe we should be BUYING MORE!?!?
The Airbus A330 MRTT (multi-role tanker-transport) seen here in RAAF markings – being tested before the addition of the air refueling package.
In addition to the Australian order (5 airplanes), Airbus is currently working on these additional orders;
I will have to hand it to the Airbus engineer’s – for their plane – they used the wing from the A340 (which was designed for 4 engines). The refueling pods (for the probe and droque system – that everyone BUT the USAF uses) will be attached on the wings were the outboard engines would have gone.
The picture shows Boeing’s 767 tanker that is being built for Italy – being tested in the always-wet weather in Seattle.
The point is – that both airplanes (systems if you will, counting the refueling mechanism’s) have already been developed. So all that has to be done is to set up the production pipeline to deliver the aircraft.
(this assumes that Boeing sticks w/ the 767 airframe. There has been talk that Boeing would propose a tanker based on the 777, to add the dual role (air refueling and cargo hauling) that the USAF would really like).
When the Soviet Union started to disintegrate – the US and its Allies spend millions (if not billions) of dollars to shore up the Soviet nuclear arsenal. This was so the arsenal – and the scientists who created it – would not go to work for unfriendly countries.
But in light of recent security and accountability issues with our own Nuclear Arsenal – maybe we need to stop spending that money overseas (besides – doesn’t Russia have all of that $$$ from oil and gas sales that it is using to modernize its own forces) and spend it own beefing up our own security?
Recent issues;
- B-52 flies from Minot AFB, ND to Barksdale AFB, LA w/ live nukes (5 Colonels get relieved)
- Minot AFB (home of the B-52 that flew w/ the nukes) failed its annual nuclear security review (contibuting to the Sec of AF and AF COS to be dismissed)
And now comes the latest – that US nukes stored in Europe – have the same sort of security issues that inspectors found at Minot.
I think the upcoming election – should be the least of our worries.
