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This topic will discuss the latest US arms

Navy seeks to improve F/A-18E/F military jet's ability to search without radar
January 26, 2015


Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet - Wikipedia

PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md., 26 Jan. 2015. Electro-optics engineers at the Boeing Co. are equipping additional U.S. Navy carrier-based jet fighters with passive search gear to detect and track enemy aircraft without the use of radar.
Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., announced a $60.4 million contract to the Boeing Defense, Space & Security segment in St. Louis for six low-rate-initial-production (LRIP) infrared (IR) search and track (IRST) systems for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet jet fighter-bomber.
Although Boeing designs the Super Hornet, the IRST systems for the Super Hornets are designed and manufactured by the Lockheed Martin Corp. Missiles and Fire Control segment in Orlando, Fla. The system is called the IRST21 Sensor System, and fits on the front of the Super Hornet's centerline fuel tank.
The contract is another step toward full-scale production of the Super Hornet's IRST system and installing it on all F/A-18E/F aircraft in the fleet.
Related: Navy asks Boeing to update obsolescent electronic modules in F/A-18 AESA airborne radar
Boeing won a $135 million contract in August 2011 for the engineering, manufacturing, and development (EMD) phase of the F/A-18E/F infrared search and track system. EMD refers to full-scale development, which is one of the last steps before full-scale production.
The contract moves the IRST program from EMD to LRIP, and is the last stage in the IRST system's development before the Navy considers mass-production contracts.
The Super Hornet's IRST is a long-wave infrared detection system that can detect, track, and target enemy aircraft without the use of radar. Infrared sensors are completely passive, while radar emits RF signals that can reveal its presence to the enemy.
Even amid enemy electronic warfare jamming, IRST provides autonomous tracking data that can help the Super Hornet pilot react quickly to the presence of enemy aircraft and enable first-look, first-shoot capability, Lockheed Martin officials say.
Related: Boeing completes F/A-18E/F, EA-18G deliveries ahead of schedule, on budget
Infrared sensors like the IRST detect the heat from an aircraft's engine exhaust or even the heat generated by the friction of an aircraft as it passes through the atmosphere.
The IRST21 system that Lockheed Martin is providing to Boeing helps Super Hornet pilots determine the number of enemy aircraft in the area, even at long range. This ability can enable Super Hornet pilots to fire their missiles at their maximum ranges.
Data from the IRST system can stand alone or be fused with other on-board sensor data situational awareness. On the F/A-18 E/F, it mounts in the nose section of the centerline fuel tank. Lockheed Martin also is developing an IRST pod that can be fitted to the F-15C and F-16 jet fighters.
The IRST21 system is the next generation of the F-14D AN/AAS-42 IRST that accumulated more than 200,000 flight hours aboard U.S. aircraft carriers, Lockheed Martin officials say.
On this contract Boeing will do the work in Orlando, Fla.; St. Louis; Santa Ana, Calif.; and Irvine, Calif., and should be finished by August 2017. For more information contact Boeing Defense, Space & Security online at www.boeing.com/boeing/bds, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control at www.lockheedmartin.com/us/mfc, or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.

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F-35 Lightning II undergoes extensive all-weather climatic testing
January 30, 2015

The F-35 Patuxent River Integrated Test Force in Maryland ferried aircraft BF-05 to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida to undergo climatic testing at the 96th Test Wing's McKinley Climatic Laboratory. During the six-month test, the F-35s will be exposed to extreme wind, solar radiation, fog, humidity, rain intrusion/ingestion, freezing rain, icing cloud, icing build-up, vortex icing and snow. (Photo by Michael D. Jackson, F-35 Integrated Test Force)
An F-35B military aircraft from the F-35 Patuxent River Integrated Test Force in Maryland has endured extreme weather temperatures during tests designed to certify the fleet for deployment in any corner of the world.
With 13 countries currently involved with the program, the F-35 must be tested in meteorological conditions representative of those locations from which it will operate -- ranging from the heat of the Australian Outback to the bitter cold of the Arctic Circle above Canada and Norway. The McKinley Climatic Laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida supports all-weather testing of weapon systems to ensure they function regardless of climatic conditions.
“We’ve designed an environment at the chamber where we can simulate virtually any weather condition—all while flying the jet at full power in either conventional or vertical takeoff mode,” affirms Dwayne Bell, McKinley Climatic Laboratory technical chief.


An icing cloud test calibration fixture is shown in front of an F-35B Lightning II aircraft as it undergoes cold weather testing at the 96th Test Wing's McKinley Climatic Laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. (Photo by Michael D. Jackson, F-35 Integrated Test Force)

The F-35B Lightning II was ferried to Eglin AFB in September 2014 to begin a six-month assessment of the aircraft’s performance under a variety of environmental conditions, including: wind, solar radiation, fog, humidity, rain intrusion/ingestion, freezing rain, icing cloud, icing build-up, vortex icing, and snow.
“While we are testing in the world’s largest climatic testing chamber, we’re pushing the F-35 to its environmental limits — ranging from 120 degrees Fahrenheit to negative 40 degrees, and every possible weather condition in between,” explains F-35 test pilot Billie Flynn, who performed extreme cold testing on the aircraft.
“To this point, the aircraft’s performance is meeting expectations,” Flynn adds. “It has flown in more than 100 degree heat while also flying in bitter subzero temperatures. In its final days of testing, it will fly through ice and other conditions such as driving rain with hurricane force winds.
“We are learning more and more about the aircraft every day,” Flynn says. “The future warfighters can be confident the F-35 will perform in any condition they find themselves in for the future.”

The F-35 Lighting II is a multi-role, multi-service, single-seat, single-engine strike fighter featuring next-generation stealth technology. By delivering 5th Generation airpower essential to our mutual security strategy, the F-35 is a single solution that yields multi-dimensional capabilities to defeat 21st Century threats and enables joint and coalition partners to conduct shoulder-to-shoulder operations in future conflicts.
The F-35 Lightning II has surpassed 25,000 combined flight hours with 16,200 hours in the F-35 military fleet aircraft and 8,950 hours of System Development and Demonstration (SDD) testing. To date, 158 F-35 pilots and more than 1,650 maintainers have graduated from training at Eglin AFB. The F-35 has completed multiple weapons tests as well as F-35B and F-35C first-life durability testing; the test fleet has conducted two F-35B sea trials aboard the USS WASP (LHD 1), and last November the F-35C completed its first sea trial aboard USS NIMITZ (CVN 68).


F-35 Lightning II - The U.S. Navy variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35C

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This information originating from the portal INTELLIGENT AEROSPACE.

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U.S M1 Abrams ( M1A2 ) VS Russian T-90 MS...

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M16 vs AK47 :Which one is better?

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Airborne Laser

The ABL weapon system consists of a high-energy, chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) mounted on a modified 747-400F (freighter) aircraft to shoot down theater ballistic missiles in their boost phase. A crew of four, including pilot and copilot, would be required to operate the airborne laser, which would patrol in pairs at high altitude, about 40,000 feet, flying in orbits over friendly territory, scanning the horizon for the plumes of rising missiles. Capable of autonomous operation, the ABL would acquire and track missiles in the boost phase of flight, illuminating the missile with a tracking laser beam while computers measure the distance and calculate its course and direction. After acquiring and locking onto the target, a second laser - with weapons-class strength - would fire a three- to five-second burst from a turret located in the 747's nose, destroying the missiles over the launch area.

The airborne laser would fire a Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser, or COIL, invented at Phillips Lab in 1977. The laser's fuel consists of the same chemicals found in hair bleach and Drano - hydrogen peroxide and potassium hydroxide - which are then combined with chlorine gas and water. The laser operates at an infrared wavelength of 1.315 microns, which is invisible to the eye. By recycling chemicals, building with plastics and using a unique cooling process, the COIL team was able to make the laser lighter and more efficient while - at the same time - increasing its power by 400 percent in five years. The flight-weighted ABL module would be similar in performance and power levels to the multi-hundred kilowatt class COIL Baseline Demonstration Laser (BDL-2) module demonstrated by TRW in August 1996. As its name implies, though, it would be lighter and more compact than the earlier version due to the integration of advanced aerospace materials into the design of critical hardware components. For the operational ABL system, several modules would be linked together in series to achieve ABL's required megawatt-class power level.

Atmospheric turbulence, which weakens and scatters the laser's beam, is produced by fluctuations in air temperature [the same phenomenon that causes stars to twinkle]. Adaptive optics rely on a deformable mirror, sometimes called a rubber mirror, to compensate for tilt and phase distortions in the atmosphere. The mirror has 341 actuators that change at a rate of about a 1,000 per second.

The Airborne Laser is a Major Defense Acquisition Program. After the Concept Design Phase is complete, the ABL will enter the Program Definition and Risk Reduction (PDRR) Phase. The objective of the PDRR phase is to develop a cost effective, flexible airborne high energy laser system which provides a credible deterrent and lethal defensive capabilities against boosting theater ballistic missiles.
The ABL PDRR Program is intended to show high confidence system performance scalable to Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) levels. The PDRR Program includes the design, development, integration, and testing of an airborne high-energy laser weapon system.

In May 1994, two contracts were awarded to develop fully operational ABL weapon system concepts and then derive ABL PDRR Program concepts that are fully traceable and scaleable EMD. A single contract team was selected to proceed with the development of the chosen PDRR concept beginning in November 1996. Successful development and testing of the laser module is one of the critical 'exit criteria' that Team ABL must satisfy to pass the program's first 'authority-to-proceed' (ATP-1) milestone, scheduled for June 1998. Testing of the laser module is expected to be completed by April 1998. The PDRR detailed design, integration, and test will culminate in a lethality demonstration in the year 2002. A follow-on Engineering Manufacturing and Development/Production (EMD) effort could then begin in the early 2003 time frame. A fleet of fully operational EMD systems is intended to satisfy Air Combat Command's boost-phase Theater Air Defense requirements. If all goes as planned, a fleet of seven ABLs should be flying operational missions by 2008.

Performance requirements for the Airborne Laser Weapons System are established by the operational scenarios and support requirements defined by the user, Air Combat Command, and by measured target vulnerability characteristics provided by the Air Force lethality and vulnerability community centered at the Phillips Laboratory. The ABL PDRR Program is supported by a robust technology insertion and risk reduction program to provide early confidence that scaling to EMD performance is feasible. The technology and concept design efforts provide key answers to the PDRR design effort in the areas of lethality, atmospheric characterization, beam control, aircraft systems integration, and environmental concerns. These efforts are the source of necessary data applied to exit criteria ensuring higher and higher levels of confidence are progressively reached at key milestones of the PDRR development.

The key issues in the program will be effective range of the laser and systems integration of a Boeing 747 aircraft.

http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/program/abl.htm

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The B61 (Mk-61) thermonuclear bomb



The B61, which exists in several mods, is actually a family of weapons based on a single basic weapon and physics package design. The physics package of the B61 has been adapted to yield several other warheads - the W-80, W-81 (now retired and dismantled), W-84 (now retired and in the inactive stockpile), and the W-85 (which was retired, and then readapted to yield another B61 variant).

The Obama administration has approved an upgrade to the B61 nuclear bomb that will, through use of a new tail kit assembly, become a guided standoff nuclear bomb. If the upgrade—the 12th modification of the original B61 design—is pursued as planned, the US Air Force will obtain the low-yield, precision-guided nuclear weapon it first sought in the 1990s, despite concerns that it could increase the likelihood of use. The weapon’s overall price tag is expected to exceed $10 billion, with each B61-12 estimated to cost more than the value of its weight in gold.

http://thebulletin.org/2014/may/b61-fami...-bombs7138

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B-2 Spirit: America's Best Airplane



25th anniversary of the B-2 Spirit's inaugural flight. Through its quarter-century of service, the original Stealth Bomber has earned its place among the most elite warbirds in the USAF fleet and remains a vital weapon of the US arsenal to this day.



Not surprisingly, you don't want to be underneath a B-2 when it opens its bomb bay doors. The plane's internal bomb bays can hold up to 80 Mk-82 or GBU-38 500-pound bombs, 36 750-pound cluster bombs, 16 2000-pound Mk-84 or GBU-31 bombs, or as many as 16 nuclear B61 or B83 nuclear bombs. It is also the only platform in the US arsenal that can deliver our Massive Ordnance Penetrators (it can carry two) as well as the AGM-129 ACM cruise missile. There are also reports that the USAF is working on a "Long Range Standoff Weapon" that would allow the B-2 to target installations over the horizon with nuclear ordnance, an unprecedented capability.

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F-22 RAPTOR IN ACTION

The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor is a single-seat, twin-engine, all weather stealth tactical fighter aircraft developed for the United States Air Force (USAF). The result of the USAF's Advanced Tactical Fighter program, the aircraft was designed primarily as an air superiority fighter, but has additional capabilities including ground attack, electronic warfare, and signals intelligence roles. Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, former Chief of the Australian Defence Force, said in 2004 that the "F-22 will be the most outstanding fighter plane ever built."

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Air Force to buy Raytheon multispectral UAV sensor payloads for Reaper hunter-killer drone

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio, 9 Feb. 2015. U.S. Air Force airborne sensors experts announced their intention last week to buy as many as 49 MST-B multispectral targeting systems from the Raytheon Co. for the MQ-9 Reaper hunter-killer unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

Raytheon’s MTS-B multispectral targeting system provides electro-optical, infrared, laser designation, and laser illumination capabilities for the Reaper armed drone that are integrated into one sensor package.

Officials of the Medium Altitude Unmanned Aircraft System Division of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, say they intend to award a sole-source contract to the Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems segment in McKinney, Texas, for the MTS-B electro-optical UAV sensor payloads.

From Raytheon the Air Force will buy as many as 49 MTS-B turret units, turret containers,high-definition electronics units (HDEU), HDEU containers, and spare parts. The value of the upcoming contract has yet to be negotiated.

A multispectral sensor captures image data at specific frequencies across the electromagnetic spectrum, and separates the wavelengths to enable extraction of additional information the human eye fails to capture with its receptors for red, green and blue.

http://www.militaryaerospace.com/

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ATLANTIC OCEAN (Feb. 11, 2015) An F/A-18 Super Hornet attached to the Gladiators of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 106 takes off from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77). George H.W. Bush is conducting training exercises in the Atlantic Ocean.

http://www.navy.mil

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General Dynamics to upgrade six Abrams tanks

February 16, 2015
By John Keller
Editor



WARREN, Mich., 16 Feb. 2015. Main battle tank designers at General Dynamics Land Systems in Sterling Heights, Mich., will build six M1A2 Abrams System Enhanced Package (SEP) Version 2 (V2) main battle tanks with digital vetronics under terms of a $49.8 million U.S. Army contract modification announced Friday.

Officials of the Army Contracting Command in Warren, Mich., awarded the contract on behalf of the Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) in Warren, Mich. The M1A2 SEP V2 is considered to be one of the most technologically advanced and most survivable digital main battle tank available worldwide.

The networked M1A2 SEP has an electronic backbone, improved processors, high-resolution color displays, increased memory capacity, a day and night forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sighting system, auxiliary power, a tank-infantry phone, and an open architecture designed to accommodate future upgrades without redesigns.

Building advanced Abrams tanks helps support about 882 industry suppliers, General Dynamics officials say. Among the tank's suppliers is GE Intelligent Platforms in Huntsville, Ala., which provides graphics and communications embedded computing, as well as and rugged commercial off-the-shelf (R-COTS) processors.

Another vetronics supplier to the M1A2 SEP tank is the Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions in Santa Clarita, Calif., which provides Fire Control Communication Processor (FCCP) boards, which keeps the tank's 120-millimeter main gun on target and aiming accurately, even while the tank is on the move. Curtiss-Wright has been supplying these boards for the Abrams tank since 1997.

http://www.militaryaerospace.com/article...rades.html

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MH-60S Knighthawk (Seahawk) Multimission Naval Helicopter



http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/mh_60s/

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MV22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft

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A-10 Thunderbolt II

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PAC-3 Missile



Lockheed Martin is producing the combat-proven Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Missile under production contracts from the U.S. Army Air and Missile Defense Program Executive Office and multiple international customers. The PAC-3 Missile is being incorporated into the Patriot air defense system.

The ‘hit-to-kill’ PAC-3 Missile is the world’s most advanced, capable and powerful terminal air defense missile. It defeats the entire threat: tactical ballistic missiles (TBMs), cruise missiles and aircraft. The PAC-3 Missile is a quantum leap ahead of any other air defense missile when it comes to the ability to protect the Warfighter in their defining moments.

The PAC-3 Missile is a high velocity interceptor that defeats incoming targets by direct, body-to-body impact. PAC-3 Missiles, when deployed in a Patriot battery, will significantly increase the Patriot system's firepower, since 16 PAC-3s load-out on a Patriot launcher, compared with four of the legacy Patriot PAC-2 missiles. One hundred percent effective in Operation Iraqi Freedom, PAC-3 Missiles are now deployed with U.S. and allied forces.

Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Dallas, Texas, is the prime contractor on the PAC-3 Missile Segment upgrade to the Patriot air defense system. The PAC-3 Missile Segment upgrade consists of the PAC-3 Missile, a highly agile hit-to-kill interceptor, the PAC-3 Missile canisters (in four packs), a fire solution computer and an Enhanced Launcher Electronics System (ELES). These elements are integrated into the Patriot system, a high to medium altitude, long-range air defense missile system providing air defense of ground combat forces and high-value assets.

The PAC-3 Missile uses a solid propellant rocket motor, aerodynamic controls, attitude control motors (ACMs) and inertial guidance to navigate. The missile flies to an intercept point specified prior to launch by its ground-based fire solution computer, which is embedded in the engagement control station. Target trajectory data can be updated during missile flyout by means of a radio frequency uplink/downlink.

Shortly before arrival at the intercept point, the PAC-3 Missile's on board Ka band seeker acquires the target, selects the optimal aim point and terminal guidance is initiated. The ACMs, which are small, short duration solid propellant rocket motors located in the missile forebody, fire explosively to refine the missile's course to assure body-to-body impact.

The PAC-3 Missile was selected as the primary interceptor for the multi-national Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS). Managed by the NATO MEADS Management Agency (NAMEADSMA), MEADS is a model transatlantic development program focused on the next generation of air and missile defense.
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/products/PAC-3.html

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8x8 Armored Modular Vehicle

Havoc is a multi-mission expeditionary ground combat vehicle that is an evolution of a combat-tested design used by armed forces globally. Highly mobile and protected, it is designed to move warfighters and payloads quickly and securely, on both land and at sea.

Many of the baseline vehicles’ configurations are used by militaries around the world performing a variety of missions, from peace keeping to direct combat operations. It’s already a popular platform because of its strengths:

Proven – Based on a Patria 8x8 design, the baseline vehicle has over 1,200 models which are on order or have been delivered in six countries, some of which have deployed in support of operations in Afghanistan. The Havoc 8x8 is a low-risk, off-the-shelf solution for customers looking for modern platforms with experience to back it up.
Modular – Havoc’s configuration allows for a wide range of weapons, sensors and communications options to fulfill evolving mission requirements. For example, its 12.3 cubic meters of interior space can carry 12 people or be reequipped to be a mobile medical unit or repair and recovery vehicle.
Performance— Its torque-filled power pack and independent hydro-pneumatic suspension provide superior mobility at full combat weight, and its features give it full amphibious capability at sea state 2.
Protected—A modular protection system defends against a variety of ballistic threats, from high blast force levels to large-caliber kinetic threats.

A proven platform with Lockheed Martin’s weapon, network and sensor integration experience, the Havoc 8x8 is ready to fulfill modern multirole expeditionary needs worldwide.

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/products/havoc.html

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