Whispers

The F-35 Looks to the Future

According to Defense News, “Marking a milestone for the joint strike fighter program, Rockwell Collins this week delivered the first Generation 3 helmet for the F-35.

The Generation 3 Helmet-Mounted Display System (HMDS), which was handed over to the Joint Program Office Tuesday in a ceremony at the company’s headquarters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is crucial to the F-35’s advanced suite of technologies. It provides a 360-degree digital view of what’s going on around the aircraft, essentially letting the pilot “look through” the cockpit floor and walls. All the information pilots need to complete their missions is projected on the helmet’s visor.

Developed and built by the Rockwell Collins ESA Vision Systems joint venture, the new helmet includes an improved night vision camera, improved liquid-crystal displays, and automated alignment and software upgrades, according to an Aug. 11 company statement. The Gen 3 helmet will be introduced to the fleet as part of the low-rate initial production lot 7 in 2016.”

The new helmet improves the situational awareness for the pilot, enabling him to see his environment in a more robust fashion rather than confining his vision to a small, forward-looking crystal display. And, as the test pilot in this accompany video indicates, it gives the pilot better interoperability with his wingmen, thereby enabling them to work as a team rather than individual weapons platforms. The new helmet will be used across all three versions of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

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Russia Continues to Eye its Next Bomber

With the USAF set to announce its proposed Long Range Strategic Bomber (LRS-B) this September, Russia is continuing to develop plans for its own next-generation strategic bomber. Dubbed the Pak DA, the subsonic PAK-DA is destined to replace Moscow’s aging fleet of 63 Tu-95 Bear and 13 Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers.

According to the RIA Novosti, Russia’s Air Force commander insisted that the aircraft will be equipped with advanced electronic warfare systems and armed with new nuclear-capable long-range cruise missiles, and will be able to carry a wide array of conventional precision guided weapons.

With its flying wing shape and radar-evading capabilities, the new plane will enter production stage by 2020 with the first bomber in active service by 2025-2030 timeframe.

The PAK-DA will not be hypersonic (even if it will probably carry hypersonic missiles) as opposed to the American X-51, Falcon HTV-2 and other hypersonic development programs on which U.S.’s perspective strike capability will be based.

A supposed “sixth-generation” pilotless strategic bomber based on the PAK-DA could enter service around 2040-2050, provided Russia can afford its massively inflated defense budget put in place by President Vladimir Putin.

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Russia Takes First Steps to Militarize Space

According to The Diplomat, “Russia created a new military branch, the Aerospace Forces, by merging the Russian Air Force with the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces, TASS reports. The $60 billion reorganization appears to be a direct response to the perceived increased risk of NATO air and missile attacks on Russian soil — in particular, the United States military’s Global Strike program has the Kremlin worried.”

The change, which occurred on August 1st, is being officially called the Aerospace Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. “The Aerospace Forces will be subdivided into the air force, air and missile defense troops, and space forces,” claims The Diplomat. And, according to Russia’s defense minister, Sergey Shoigu, “Now the single command unites aviation, air defense and anti-missile defense troops, space forces and means of the armed forces’”

The new service branch will be responsible for launching and operating intelligence/nuclear missile warning satellites, as well as coordinating air and missile defenses, next to having control over one of the largest air forces in the world along with its conventional weapons arsenal. Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces will remain a separate service branch and will continue to control all of Russia’s land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, will remain a separate entity directly under the orders of the General Staff.

Back in May, former President of the Soviet Union, Mikhael Gorbachev, said that if the United States developed space-based weapons, the price could be not only an end to the Geneva talks, but “the scrapping of every prospect for an end to the arms race.” Apparently, members of the Russian military took note of his comments, and initiated steps that could conceivably begin to see advanced military projects enter the realm of space, in an effort to keep up with western initiatives.

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Should Our Armour Be Better Protected?

Much is made about the US Army’s M1 Abrams tank’s ability to defeat anti-armour projectiles fired from ground-based platforms thanks to its highly-secretive Chobham composite skin, but little is mentioned concerning an active protective system designed to defeat munitions fired from low-flying attack helicopters or man-portable systems. Conversely, Russia’s new T-14 Armata tank features two levels of protection against these threats, as detailed in Wikipedia:

“In addition to dual-reactive armour Malachit the T-14 features an active protection system Afghanit (Russian: Афганит). This system includes a millimeter-wavelength radar to detect, track and intercept incoming anti-tank munitions, both kinetic energy penetrators and tandem-charges. Currently, the maximum speed of the interceptable target is 1,700 m/s, with projected future increases of up to 3,000 m/s. According to the news sources it protects the tank from all sides.

Defense Update released their analysis of the tank, where they speculate that Afghanit main sensors are the four panels mounted on a turret’s sides, which are probably the AESA radar panes spread out for the 360° view, and possible one more on top of the turret. In their opinion, the active part of the system it consists of both a hard kill and a soft kill elements, first of which actively destroys the incoming projectile (such as a dumb rocket or artillery shell), while the second confuses the guidance mechanism of ATGMs and such, causing it to lose the target lock. They believe that it would be effective against most modern ATGMs, including Hellfire, TOW, Javelin, Spike, Brimstone, JAGM, etc.

Afghanit hard-kill launchers are the long tubes mounted in groups of five between the turret’s front sides and the chassis. These send out an electronically activated charge that shoots an Explosively Formed Penetrator towards the target (in all directions). Aside from that, the tank is also equipped by the NII Stali’s Upper Hemisphere Protection Complex, which consists of two steerable cartridges with 12 smaller charges each, and a turret-top VLS with two more similar cartridges. It probably corresponds to the Defense Update soft-kill system. Additionally, using AESA radar and anti-aircraft machine gun it is possible to destroy incoming missiles and slow-flying shells (except hypersonic kinetic energy penetrators).”

As I understand it, the US Army is loathe to adding this type of “active” protection to its fleet of main battle tanks because it will likely cause collateral damage amongst any accompanying troops travelling on foot, putting them in harm’s way should the tanks have to defend themselves. As a result, more effort has been placed into providing units with accompanying anti-aircraft weaponry, both tracked and on foot, as a means of protecting its armored forces, as well as less lethal countermeasures against other threats. However, as we move further into the 21st Century, should the brass reexamine and reevaluate this strategy if its armour can no longer compete with its adversaries?

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“Tilting” the Battlefield to the US Army’s Advantage

If the US military has its way, tiltrotor aircraft will form the backbone of its heliborne forces for much of the early 21st Century. Resembling the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, the V-280 Valor, under development by both Bell Helicopter and Lockheed-Martin, is being designed to replace the aging UH-60 Blackhawk and AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, two very dissimilar aircraft that could be combined into one role to save on costs, parts-sourcing and other mitigating factors.

According to Flightglobal.com, “those attending a land warfare exposition by the Association of the United States Army in October are likely to see a V-280 mock-up on display as a utility platform one day and an attack variant the next. And, perhaps on the third day it will transform again into a medical evacuation platform.

Despite army desires to build two separate, specialized vertical-lift platforms to start replacing the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk and Boeing AH-64 Apache in the 2030s, Bell thinks both missions could be performed by one identical or near-identical rotorcraft based on the Valor design.”

While the US Marine Corps could be convinced to transition to one universal platform, the US Army still remains dubious about the proposed concept.

“The medium category is going to be two aircraft with two capability sets,” Maj Gen Michael Lundy, who heads the Aviation Centre of Excellence, told BreakingDefense earlier this year. “We’re not going to build a sub-optimised aircraft.”

Still, Bell thinks an AV-280 concept might gain traction, and it plans show off its utility and attack configurations on different days at AUSA. The company already builds attack and utility derivatives of the UH-1 Huey for the USMC (the AH-1Z Viper and UH-1Y Venom), and recently demonstrated forward-firing rockets and missiles on the Bell Boeing V-22 tiltrotor.

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The F-35 Can’t Dogfight

According to an F-35 test pilot, the F-35 isn’t a capable dogfighter, unable to turn or climb quick enough to keep up with a fictitious adversary. The single engine, fifth generation joint strike fighter is currently being deployed across several services, including the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, replacing a number of aging weapons platforms.

“The F-35 was at a distinct energy disadvantage,” the unnamed pilot wrote in a scathing five-page brief that War Is Boring has obtained. The brief is unclassified but is labeled “for official use only.”

The test pilot’s report is the latest evidence of fundamental problems with the design of the F-35 — which, at a total program cost of more than a trillion dollars, is history’s most expensive weapon.

The U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps — not to mention the air forces and navies of more than a dozen U.S. allies — are counting on the Lockheed Martin-made JSF to replace many if not most of their current fighter jets.

The Pentagon counters that the F-35 wasn’t designed for close-in knife fights that form the essence of a one-on-one dogfight. They claim that because of its advance avionics, stealth, and other characteristics, the plane was actually designed for stand-off combat, in which the aircraft would take out a target from a distance of several miles. Frankly, this was the same logic that was put forward when the F-4 Phantom II was introduced in the Vietnam Conflict, as many argued that the days of the dogfight was over in favor of advanced missile technology. The result proved so disastrous that the F-4 eventually had to be configured to carry a gun pod below the fuselage so it could deal with enemy aircraft should its missiles fail, which oftentimes proved the case.

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We Don’t Remember Playing with These Toys?

In the “for the guy that has everything department”, army brats can break the piggy bank and shell out the big bucks for a set of sterling silver soldiers. According to Defense News, “They’re like the classic green Army men toy figures. But for grown ups, grown ups with money.

For $235 each, or $2,585 for a full “squadron” of 12, you can buy sterling silver versions of the Vietnam-era Louis Marx & Co plastic Army men, from Good Art Hlywd, a Los Angeles jewelry maker. They come in “classic,” “skull face” and “doughboy” variants.” No word if the jewelry maker plans to up the ante by casting a squad of 14K gold enemy soldiers.

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The US Army Tests a Hoverbike

Taking its’ cue from the fictionalized speeder bike seen in Star Wars: Revenge of the Jedi, the US Army, in conjunction with prime contractor Malloy Aeronautics, debuted a work-in-progress man-portable hoverbike at the Paris Air Show.

According to MSN News, “Malloy Aeronautics was testing hoverbike technology with a robot-carrying drone. A few months later, it’s partnering with a Maryland-based defense company to develop a hoverbike for the US military. Working with Survice Engineering Co., the UK aeronautics company will set up shop in Maryland as part of “an ongoing research and development contract.” The duo will also work with the US Army Research Laboratory on the project that aims to create “a new class of Tactical Reconnaissance Vehicle (TRV).

The goal is to replace some of the work a helicopter does with the hoverbikes, a vehicle that provides increased safety and costs significantly less. “With adducted rotors you immediately not only protect people and property if you were to bump into them, but if you ever were to bump into somebody or property it’s going to bring the aircraft out of the air,” Malloy’s marketing sales director Grant Stapleton told Reuters. Funds from a Kickstarter campaign for those compact UAVs was used to build scale models capable of carrying a human — one of which was on display at the Paris Air Show.”

No word as yet as to the carrying capacity, speed or altitude it can reach, and whether or not the vehicle can be weaponized with a lightweight anti-personnel or anti-armor combat system for close assault beyond its surveillance capabilities. Obviously, there are commercial applications implied by its development, as thrill seekers armed with the latest Go Pro modular filming device takes the vehicle through its paces off road in varying environments and conditions. Likewise, the vehicle can serve as a mobile search-and-rescue system, capable of crossing terrain that a surface-going vehicle might have trouble negotiating.

More information on the device can be found here: http://www.hover-bike.com/MA/news/

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Army to Pick its Humvee Successor this Summer

Its called the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) and its designed to replace the venerable Humvee as the US Army’s vehicle of choice to move men and equipment over cross-country terrain in the early 21st Century. However, unlike the Humvee, the JLTV is well-protected against Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDS) which plagued the military during its recent campaigns in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Three designs are being submitted to the Pentagon: one each for AM General, Lockheed Martin, or Oshkosh (shown left to right in the accompanying images). According to Breaking Defense, “When you look at the three competitors’ vehicles, they all look pretty much like trucks. In fact, they look like smaller variations on the blocky theme of roadside-bomb-resistant wheeled vehicles — uparmored Humvees, Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, M-ATVs — that became as iconic of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq as the Jeep was of World War II.

Appearances, however, can deceive.

The first crucial difference is what the JLTV is meant to do: combine the protection of the bulky MRAPs with the off-road agility of the original unarmored Humvee, before layers of added armor weighed it down. Mobility matters both on the attack and on defense, because the best protection against a roadside bomb is to get off the road. Mining a key chokepoint along a predictable route is easy. Mining all possible cross-country approaches is not.

The second crucial difference is JLTV’s design. Squaring the circle of protection and mobility is impossible with traditional techniques. Even the lightest MRAP variant, the MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV) specifically designed for the rough ground of Afghanistan, weighs almost twice the 14,000 pounds (sans cargo) that the military wants for JLTV. That weight, in turn, brings down its cross-country speed.”

According to current projections, the contract at stake in this year’s competition is for the first 17,000 vehicles, but the Army plans to buy 49,000 and the Marines another 5,500, thereby bringing the total to at least 55,000 vehicles including variants and task-oriented, purpose-built platforms. The Navy and National Guard will also likely take part in acquiring the new vehicles, driving per unit production costs down and total requirements up.

Update: The Pentagon has chosen the Oshkosh version as their future Humvee replacement. The program, estimated at $30 billion, will commence with a $6.7 billion low rate initial contract, a base contract with options to procure the first 16,901 vehicles for the Army and Marine Corps. All told, the Army-led program will provide 49,100 vehicles for the Army and 5,500 for the Marine Corps.

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Father’s Day Wishes and Caviar Dreams

Some dad’s hope for an iPad, haberdashery, or a quiet day alone napping in a shade-covered hammock. For me, I have my own set of simple dreams for Father’s Day – perhaps a copy of Tom Clancy’s latest tome, but more importantly, loads of new diecast replicas that are oddly missing from the market.

To begin, there are a number of new navy ships from around the world that are now setting sail or coming to the fore, including the HMS Queen Elizabeth, USS Gerald R. Ford, the USS Independence (LCS-2), which is a bold trimaran littoral combat ship, USS Zumwalt – a stealthy guided missile destroyer, an all-new nuclear-powered People’s Liberation Army Navy cruiser, and a littany of other warships.

In the air, there seems to be a dearth of 1:72 scale twin engine aircraft, including the Messerschmitt Me 410, the Pe-2 bomber, and all sorts of Japanese and Italian aircraft from WWII. As far as modern aircraft goes, there’s the new Lockheed SR-72 reconnaissance plane that comes to mind, as well as the USAF new long-range strategic bomber.

And then there are the ground systems, or lack thereof, now that several players have exited the market. Minichamps left the 1:35 scale military market several years ago, yet we still receive oodles of requests for new vehicles. Likewise, Forces of Valor’s departure in the 1:32 scale regime doesn’t necessarily mean there isn’t a market for these vehicles – rather a marketing strategy that some where along the way went afoul. The Russians debuted their Armata tank, the Poles have an interesting new vehicle aimed at the export market and there are other vehicles soon-to-be deployed that would make for excellent replica subjects. C’mon guys, now’s a great time to test the waters and try something new before some one else beats you to the punch. Producing the same old same old, might work in the short run, but it gives your competition ample wiggle room to enter the fray with something new and fresh.

Happy Father’s Day!

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