t68
Well-Known Member
From memory Boeing put all the equipment to build C17 into storage, so I theory they could restart production. If its cost effective is another story.
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USAF News and Discussion
- Thread starter RobWilliams
- Start date
John Fedup
The Bunker Group
Of course they were. Because Congress did what it always does and tacks on aircraft purchases for 'jerbs' reasons, but there is no extra money to sustain them and the USAF had to keep finding money from within to operate these aircraft they neither wanted nor needed.
Blue Jay
Member
The US seems to be seeing a new emergence of air-deployed anti-ship mines. The idea revolves around so-called Quickstrike mines: replace the bomb's fuse with a magnetic/seismic sensor, and it becomes a mine.
Now give it a guidance kit like JDAM, and it becomes Enhanced Quickstrike. These mines can be airdropped with the same parameters as any other JDAM, with standoff capability, and can be used to lace any precise area with anti-ship mines. This is in contrast to legacy low-speed, low-altitude on-site deployment.
Theoretically any platform capable of dropping bombs can drop Quickstrikes as well. So an aircraft like a B-1 can now lay multiple minefields from a safe standoff distance. The Enhanced Quickstrikes themselves can be completely assembled with components already in stock.
It looks like mine warfare will see a huge surge in importance, especially in peer-peer warfare scenarios. Example given in the article is the return of harbor mining.
The Antiship Mine Gets New Wings | The Diplomat
EDIT: I put this in the US aviation thread because the mines were air-deployed, but I've just realized that the maritime forum might be a more appropriate place for it.
Now give it a guidance kit like JDAM, and it becomes Enhanced Quickstrike. These mines can be airdropped with the same parameters as any other JDAM, with standoff capability, and can be used to lace any precise area with anti-ship mines. This is in contrast to legacy low-speed, low-altitude on-site deployment.
Theoretically any platform capable of dropping bombs can drop Quickstrikes as well. So an aircraft like a B-1 can now lay multiple minefields from a safe standoff distance. The Enhanced Quickstrikes themselves can be completely assembled with components already in stock.
It looks like mine warfare will see a huge surge in importance, especially in peer-peer warfare scenarios. Example given in the article is the return of harbor mining.
The Antiship Mine Gets New Wings | The Diplomat
EDIT: I put this in the US aviation thread because the mines were air-deployed, but I've just realized that the maritime forum might be a more appropriate place for it.
also, the likely trucks are P8's, which are USN capital assets
FormerDirtDart
Well-Known Member
So far the likely trucks are B-1's, B-52's and F/A-18's. As they have already been dropping the weapons.also, the likely trucks are P8's, which are USN capital assets
its part of their future load out...
I knew B52's had been sowing seeds in days past - didn't know that the smalls had been.
Interesting given how tight locations like the straights of Malacca are
The Air Force’s B-52H Stratofortress, B-1B Lancer and B-2A Spirit strategic bombers compose the nation’s only high-volume mining capability. The seemingly ageless (expected to remain in operation through 2040, the first B-52H entered service in 1961) 77 active B-52s each can carry about 45 Mk 62 Quickstrike mines, 18 Mk 63 mines, or 28 Mk 65 mines; the 66 B-1s can carry 84 Mk 62, 24 Mk 62, or eight Mk 65 mines; and the 20 B-2s carry eight Mk 62s. The B-52s and B-1s — but not the stealthy B-2s — train and practice this mission.
The AF is pushing back against suggestions that a separate service be set up to oversee space operations which would take a big chunk out of their portfolio. So has the time has come to begin a transition to a US Space Force that can better exploit what is considered a key operational and strategic domain?
Air Force lays out its case for keeping space operations - SpaceNews.com
The Air Force has been facing questions on reorganizing military space operations from lawmakers, many of whom are weighing whether to eventually create a separate space force.
But Goldfein argued that it’s not the time to try to set up a new service.
“Right now, to get focused on a large organizational change would actually slow us down,” he said. “Whether there’s a time in our future where we want to take a look at this again, I would say that we keep that dialog open, but right now I think it would actually move us backwards.”...
“People in these prior studies and today believe that there needs to be some kind of segregation to protect the space budget, to leverage expertise from the workforce, and it’s to really clearly designate who’s in charge,” she said. “So if it’s not going to that, it needs to be some kind of solution that does those things.”
Air Force leadership doesn’t want to lose responsibility for space, and is creating a new three-star position – known as the A-11 – on the Air Staff that will oversee military space matters.
MORE
Air Force lays out its case for keeping space operations - SpaceNews.com
The Air Force has been facing questions on reorganizing military space operations from lawmakers, many of whom are weighing whether to eventually create a separate space force.
But Goldfein argued that it’s not the time to try to set up a new service.
“Right now, to get focused on a large organizational change would actually slow us down,” he said. “Whether there’s a time in our future where we want to take a look at this again, I would say that we keep that dialog open, but right now I think it would actually move us backwards.”...
“People in these prior studies and today believe that there needs to be some kind of segregation to protect the space budget, to leverage expertise from the workforce, and it’s to really clearly designate who’s in charge,” she said. “So if it’s not going to that, it needs to be some kind of solution that does those things.”
Air Force leadership doesn’t want to lose responsibility for space, and is creating a new three-star position – known as the A-11 – on the Air Staff that will oversee military space matters.
MORE
Nice shot of an A-10 elephant walk
https://theaviationist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/A-10-Elephant-Walk-Moody.jpg
https://theaviationist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/A-10-Elephant-Walk-Moody.jpg
2018 USAF budget released
Increases across the board.
THE PENTAGON—President Donald Trump’s first proposed budget for the U.S. Air Force keeps the service’s top modernization priorities on track, but does not include the major boost to procurement programs that many defense hawks had hoped for.
Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget blueprint fully funds Boeing’s KC-46A tanker and slightly increases planned buys of Lockheed Martin’s F-35A. It also adds research, development, test and evaluation funds for Northrop Grumman’s next-generation B-21 stealth bomber and the future Penetrating Counterair capability, according to budget documents released May 23. It also keeps lower-priority modernization programs on track—the T-X Advanced Pilot Trainer, Joint Stars Recap, and Air Force One recapitalization.
Crucially, the budget plan continues the focus on the other legs of the Air Force’s nuclear deterrent, including replacing the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile with a new Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, replacing the Air Launched Cruise Missile with the Long Range Standoff Weapon, and recapitalizing the UH-1N Hueys used by the service’s nuclear forces to guard missile fields and transport VIPs.
Overall, Trump’s budget funds the Air Force at $183 billion, up from $171.2 billion in fiscal 2017, including $24.7 billion for procurement, $49.2 billion for operations and maintenance, and $25.4 billion for research, development, test and evaluation.
In addition to continuing investment in new equipment, Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget also funds upgrades of legacy assets. The Air Force will invest in the next increment of software for the F-22A, which provides increased weapons capability and improved data links. Budget documents seem to leave the door open to retiring the F-15 C/D fleet in the 2020s and replacing it with F-16s upgraded with an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, but do not indicate a final decision either way. The service will continue modifying F-16 fighters with the AESA radar, which is crucial to homeland defense and evolving threats, according to budget documents. Meanwhile, the Air Force allots $7 million in fiscal 2018 for a Service Life Extension Program on its fuselage longerons, which will help reach the aircraft’s planned service life. The service has said it could cost $30-40 million per aircraft in total to keep the Eagle flying beyond the late 2020s, including rebuilding the center fuselage section.
The service will continue modifying F-16 fighters with the AESA radar, which is crucial to homeland defense and evolving threats, according to budget documents. The documents note that the legacy F-15C/D will need a Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) on its fuselage longerons to reach its planned service life, but they do not specifically commit to the upgrade.
The Air Force also will continue to modernize its bomber fleet to extend the life of the legacy B-52 Stratofortress, B-1 Lancer, and stealthy B-2 Spirit. These upgrades include the B-52 Radar Modernization Program, B-2 EHF strategic communications, and the B-2 Defensive Management System-Modernization program.
Meanwhile, the Air Force will continue to fund the C-130H Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) Increment One—a programming and communications upgrade to comply with FAA mandates—and Increment Two, which modernizes its cockpit. The service also will fund the C-130 Center Wing Box replacement, extending the aircraft’s service life.
Finally, the fiscal 2018 budget fully funds the entire fleet of 283 A-10s, a move in line with the Air Force’s announcement earlier this year that it will not begin to retire the fleet until 2021 at the earliest.
“Fleet strategy and viability will be assessed as the Air Force determines a long-term strategy,” budget documents state.
Looking ahead, the fiscal 2018 budget begins an increase in commitment to fielding Penetrating Counterair, the next-generation of air superiority fighter, according to the documents.
The Air Force is also focused on replenishing its weapons inventory. Since operations against Islamic State terrorists in Iraq and Syria began in 2014, the service has expended over 50,000 weapons, drawing down current inventory levels. The fiscal 2018 budget request maximizes production capacity of certain munitions, including the Joint Direct Attack Munition and Small Diameter Bomb Increment I.
“The USAF will look to invest in critical technologies and begin energizing the industrial base to ultimately provide air capability improvements focused on persistence, survivability, and lethality in the most highly contested environments,” according to the budget documents.
The budget also increases the Air Force’s end strength to 502,000 personnel.
Procurement:
• 46 F-35As
• 15 KC-46As
• 5 MC-130J Recaps
• 2 HC-130J Recaps
• 16 MQ-9A Reapers (OCO)
• 3 EELV Launch Opportunities
• 310 AIM-9X Sidewinders
• 205 AIM-120D Amraams
• 360 AGM-158 Jassm-ERs
• 10,330 JDAMs (Base budget)
• 16,990 JDAMs (OCO)
• 399 AGM-114 Hellfires (Base)
• 3,230 AGM-114 Hellfires (OCO)
• 4,579/460 Small Diameter Bombs I/II (Base)
• 2,273 Small Diameter Bombs I/II (OCO)
RDT&E:
• $2B for B-21 Raider
• $611M for F-22 upgrades
• $451M for Long Range Standoff Missile
• $417M for Joint STARS Recap
• $354M for CRH
• $295M for Next Gen Air Dominance/Penetrating Counterair( large increase, up from 21m)
• $216M for Ground Based Strategic Deterrent
• $434M for Presidential Aircraft Replacement
Full article here (apologies)
http://aviationweek.com/federal-bud...m=email&elq2=7b57859fa62449d2820ebd122c1d85bb
Increases across the board.
THE PENTAGON—President Donald Trump’s first proposed budget for the U.S. Air Force keeps the service’s top modernization priorities on track, but does not include the major boost to procurement programs that many defense hawks had hoped for.
Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget blueprint fully funds Boeing’s KC-46A tanker and slightly increases planned buys of Lockheed Martin’s F-35A. It also adds research, development, test and evaluation funds for Northrop Grumman’s next-generation B-21 stealth bomber and the future Penetrating Counterair capability, according to budget documents released May 23. It also keeps lower-priority modernization programs on track—the T-X Advanced Pilot Trainer, Joint Stars Recap, and Air Force One recapitalization.
Crucially, the budget plan continues the focus on the other legs of the Air Force’s nuclear deterrent, including replacing the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile with a new Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, replacing the Air Launched Cruise Missile with the Long Range Standoff Weapon, and recapitalizing the UH-1N Hueys used by the service’s nuclear forces to guard missile fields and transport VIPs.
Overall, Trump’s budget funds the Air Force at $183 billion, up from $171.2 billion in fiscal 2017, including $24.7 billion for procurement, $49.2 billion for operations and maintenance, and $25.4 billion for research, development, test and evaluation.
In addition to continuing investment in new equipment, Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget also funds upgrades of legacy assets. The Air Force will invest in the next increment of software for the F-22A, which provides increased weapons capability and improved data links. Budget documents seem to leave the door open to retiring the F-15 C/D fleet in the 2020s and replacing it with F-16s upgraded with an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, but do not indicate a final decision either way. The service will continue modifying F-16 fighters with the AESA radar, which is crucial to homeland defense and evolving threats, according to budget documents. Meanwhile, the Air Force allots $7 million in fiscal 2018 for a Service Life Extension Program on its fuselage longerons, which will help reach the aircraft’s planned service life. The service has said it could cost $30-40 million per aircraft in total to keep the Eagle flying beyond the late 2020s, including rebuilding the center fuselage section.
The service will continue modifying F-16 fighters with the AESA radar, which is crucial to homeland defense and evolving threats, according to budget documents. The documents note that the legacy F-15C/D will need a Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) on its fuselage longerons to reach its planned service life, but they do not specifically commit to the upgrade.
The Air Force also will continue to modernize its bomber fleet to extend the life of the legacy B-52 Stratofortress, B-1 Lancer, and stealthy B-2 Spirit. These upgrades include the B-52 Radar Modernization Program, B-2 EHF strategic communications, and the B-2 Defensive Management System-Modernization program.
Meanwhile, the Air Force will continue to fund the C-130H Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) Increment One—a programming and communications upgrade to comply with FAA mandates—and Increment Two, which modernizes its cockpit. The service also will fund the C-130 Center Wing Box replacement, extending the aircraft’s service life.
Finally, the fiscal 2018 budget fully funds the entire fleet of 283 A-10s, a move in line with the Air Force’s announcement earlier this year that it will not begin to retire the fleet until 2021 at the earliest.
“Fleet strategy and viability will be assessed as the Air Force determines a long-term strategy,” budget documents state.
Looking ahead, the fiscal 2018 budget begins an increase in commitment to fielding Penetrating Counterair, the next-generation of air superiority fighter, according to the documents.
The Air Force is also focused on replenishing its weapons inventory. Since operations against Islamic State terrorists in Iraq and Syria began in 2014, the service has expended over 50,000 weapons, drawing down current inventory levels. The fiscal 2018 budget request maximizes production capacity of certain munitions, including the Joint Direct Attack Munition and Small Diameter Bomb Increment I.
“The USAF will look to invest in critical technologies and begin energizing the industrial base to ultimately provide air capability improvements focused on persistence, survivability, and lethality in the most highly contested environments,” according to the budget documents.
The budget also increases the Air Force’s end strength to 502,000 personnel.
Procurement:
• 46 F-35As
• 15 KC-46As
• 5 MC-130J Recaps
• 2 HC-130J Recaps
• 16 MQ-9A Reapers (OCO)
• 3 EELV Launch Opportunities
• 310 AIM-9X Sidewinders
• 205 AIM-120D Amraams
• 360 AGM-158 Jassm-ERs
• 10,330 JDAMs (Base budget)
• 16,990 JDAMs (OCO)
• 399 AGM-114 Hellfires (Base)
• 3,230 AGM-114 Hellfires (OCO)
• 4,579/460 Small Diameter Bombs I/II (Base)
• 2,273 Small Diameter Bombs I/II (OCO)
RDT&E:
• $2B for B-21 Raider
• $611M for F-22 upgrades
• $451M for Long Range Standoff Missile
• $417M for Joint STARS Recap
• $354M for CRH
• $295M for Next Gen Air Dominance/Penetrating Counterair( large increase, up from 21m)
• $216M for Ground Based Strategic Deterrent
• $434M for Presidential Aircraft Replacement
Full article here (apologies)
http://aviationweek.com/federal-bud...m=email&elq2=7b57859fa62449d2820ebd122c1d85bb
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Post a link for this please.
A separate Space Corps may be in the offing now that the HASC has voted to split off responsibility for the Space domain away from the Air Force The latter have objected against the move but funnily some Representatives seem to have been unaware of the initiative. LOL.
https://federalnewsradio.com/defens...o-split-air-force-create-new-u-s-space-corps/
House panel votes to split Air Force, create new U.S. Space Corps
As part of its version of the 2018 Defense authorization bill, the House Armed Services Committee voted late Wednesday night to create a sixth branch of the U.S. armed forces: the U.S. Space Corps, which would absorb the Air Force’s current space missions...
But the measure, which would also establish a new U.S. Space Command and make the new chief of the Space Corps the eighth member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has the support of both Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the chairman of the full committee, and its ranking Democrat, Adam Smith (D-Wash.) The bill language was developed by Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) and Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), the top Republican and Democrat on the strategic forces subcommittee.
All of them argued Wednesday that the creation of a dedicated service for space had been studied for years, and that the idea’s time had come...
The bill would order the Defense Department to establish the new corps by January 2019. It would be a distinct military service within the Department of the Air Force, in much the same way the Marine Corps operates as a service within the Department of the Navy. The Secretary of the Air Force would oversee both the Air Force and the Space Corps, but the new chief of staff of the Space Corps would be a new four-position, co-equal with the chief of staff of the Air Force. DoD would have to deliver reports to Congress in both March and August of next year on the details of how it plans to set up the new service.
https://federalnewsradio.com/defens...o-split-air-force-create-new-u-s-space-corps/
House panel votes to split Air Force, create new U.S. Space Corps
As part of its version of the 2018 Defense authorization bill, the House Armed Services Committee voted late Wednesday night to create a sixth branch of the U.S. armed forces: the U.S. Space Corps, which would absorb the Air Force’s current space missions...
But the measure, which would also establish a new U.S. Space Command and make the new chief of the Space Corps the eighth member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has the support of both Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the chairman of the full committee, and its ranking Democrat, Adam Smith (D-Wash.) The bill language was developed by Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) and Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), the top Republican and Democrat on the strategic forces subcommittee.
All of them argued Wednesday that the creation of a dedicated service for space had been studied for years, and that the idea’s time had come...
The bill would order the Defense Department to establish the new corps by January 2019. It would be a distinct military service within the Department of the Air Force, in much the same way the Marine Corps operates as a service within the Department of the Navy. The Secretary of the Air Force would oversee both the Air Force and the Space Corps, but the new chief of staff of the Space Corps would be a new four-position, co-equal with the chief of staff of the Air Force. DoD would have to deliver reports to Congress in both March and August of next year on the details of how it plans to set up the new service.
Tsavo Lion
Banned Member
Antonov looks to US for An-70 resurrection as An-77; it could be developed jointly with US: Antonov looks to US for An-70 resurrection | Jane's 360
https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/77-military-transport-aircraft-developed-jointly-us.html
Antonov seeks US partners for AN-77 project - heavyliftpfi.com
Ukraine’s Antonov seeks US industry cooperation for An-70-based lifter Who knows, US may even buy some! But Russia will raise the issue of intellectual property as AN-70 was developed jointly, not to mention their $100M invested in the project.
https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/77-military-transport-aircraft-developed-jointly-us.html
Antonov seeks US partners for AN-77 project - heavyliftpfi.com
Ukraine’s Antonov seeks US industry cooperation for An-70-based lifter Who knows, US may even buy some! But Russia will raise the issue of intellectual property as AN-70 was developed jointly, not to mention their $100M invested in the project.
Mines? The forgotten Hero's of the Pacific War. During "Operation Starvation" the USAAC dropped 12,000 mines from B-29s around Japanese harbors and choke points which resulted in the sinking of 1,250,000 tons of shipping being sunk and 670 ships. That was about 1/6'th of what we sunk with submarines.
It was highly effective then so why not now? Look at all the trouble those Iraqi mines caused in their war with Iran.
It was highly effective then so why not now? Look at all the trouble those Iraqi mines caused in their war with Iran.
John Fedup
The Bunker Group
The USAF will be adding another Raptor to its fleet.
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/usaf-returns-mothballed-raptor-to-fleet-440178/
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/usaf-returns-mothballed-raptor-to-fleet-440178/
t68
Well-Known Member
interesting, I didn't know that the USAF parked up some raptors any idea on numbers parked up google not coming up with anything
John Fedup
The Bunker Group
This one is the only available jet for upgrade and deployment to the USAF. 195 Raptors were built of which 8 were test jets. The new addition brings the fleet up to 188 I think. There have been 5 losses and one test jet is at Wright-Patterson and the other is at the National Air Force museum.
John Fedup
The Bunker Group
Absolutely!