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Ranger25

Ranger25

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  • #182
ngatimozart said:
The US Army intends to stop acquiring new build EMD CH-47F after US fiscal year 2020. It will however continue to acquire the CH-47G for Army SPEC OPS. This is so that it can divert funding to major modernisation programs including the FVL long range assault platform and the FVL attack reconnaissance platform.

Army plans to stop building newest CH-47 variant in FY20, except for special ops
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Perhaps telling on how the V-280 and Defiant programs are moving. Both provide more speed, higher altitudes and a better Radar Cross section than the Vintage Chinooks.

Future Vertical Lift poised to get Army out of the acquisition dark ages
 
John Fedup

John Fedup

The Bunker Group
It will be interesting to see what kind of split ratio buy will result. The V-280 has been flying for almost a year, the Defiant has yet to fly. The new version CH-53 has seen significant cost over runs and is short on specs. I would imagine both of these FVL candidates will be desirable but the planned heavier versions may be better served by tilt rotors versus helicopters if the CH-53 is any indication.
 
Ranger25

Ranger25

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US Army ramps up spending on its Big Six

FVL program up 400%


  1. Long-Range Precision Fires (LRPF), the top priority — essentially artillery, including missiles shooting more than 1,000 miles — gets $5.7 billion over 2020-2024. That starts with $1.3 billion in the 2020 request, up 190 percent from 2019.
  2. Next-Generation Combat Vehicles (NGCV) — i.e. armor, both manned and robotic — gets $13.2 billion over ’20-24. $2 billion of it comes in ’20, up 55 percent from ’19.
  3. Future Vertical Lift (FVL) — high-speed aircraft to replace existing helicopters — gets $4.7 billion over ’20-24. $800 million of it is in ’20, up 400 percent from ’19.
  4. The network — which commands and coordinates everything else — gets $12.5 billion over ’20-24. $2.3 billion is in ’20, up 15 percent from ’19.
  5. Air & Missile Defense (AMD) — which protects the rest — gets $8.8 billion over ’20-24. $1.4 billion of it is in ’20, up 90 percent from ’19.
  6. Soldier Lethality (SL) — primarily infantry gear — gets $6.7 billionover ’20-24. $845 million of it in ’20, also up 90 percent.


Army ‘Big Six’ Ramp Up in 2021: Learning From FCS
 
OPSSG

OPSSG

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Let me add to 2 items on the big six post by you.
Ranger25 said:
US Army ramps up spending on its Big Six
  1. Long-Range Precision Fires (LRPF), the top priority — essentially artillery, including missiles shooting more than 1,000 miles — gets $5.7 billion over 2020-2024. That starts with $1.3 billion in the 2020 request, up 190 percent from 2019.
  2. ...
  3. Future Vertical Lift (FVL) — high-speed aircraft to replace existing helicopters — gets $4.7 billion over ’20-24. $800 million of it is in ’20, up 400 percent from ’19
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1. The first flight tests for the US Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) replacement won’t happen until the end of 2019, according to the director in charge of Long-Range Precision Fires (LRPF) modernization. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are competing against each other to provide the Army with a future Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), which is expected to be fielded initially in 2023; and the Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) programme, for howitzers to reach out to 130 km or farther in range. These new howitzers will retain the 155mm bore diameter under the Paladin Integrated Management, or PIM, program. The PIM program aims to upgrade the Paladin howitzer with an M109A7 chassis. From there, the ERCA program will upgrade PIM’s turret, growing the tube length from 20 to 29 feet (to 58 calibre), while retaining the 155mm bore diameter.
  • China has sold to Thailand its technology for a 150km range DTI-1G rocket (out ranging existing HIMARS). This rocket is an improved version with guidance that is a derivative of the WS-32. The DTI-1G is a 300mm MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) which integrates advanced technology of guidance and control system to increase accuracy of the rockets. The rockets launcher system is mounted at the rear of a 8×8 truck chassis with four tubes in two lines.
  • China has sold to Qatar the DF-12 (with a range of over 280 km), who put them on display at a parade in 2017.
  • The Iranian designed Burkan-2H with a range of over 800km, was launched by the Houthi at Saudi Arabia on 22 July 2017.
  • The proliferation of rocket technology by China and Iran would mean a more complex multi-domain battle space.
colay1 said:
The Army working to cement it's relevance in the joint battlespace.

Army Set to Sink Ship in 2018 as PACOM Operationalizes Multi-Domain Battle Concept

Army Set to Sink Ship in 2018 as PACOM Operationalizes Multi-Domain Battle Concept

U.S. Pacific Command has plans to put into practice a joint-service concept to integrate air, land and sea operations, with a mandate for all the services to incorporate the concept into their exercises in a lead-up to the Army sinking a ship at next year’s Rim of the Pacific exercise, the PACOM commander said last week.

Adm. Harry Harris said in a May 24 speech at the Land Forces in the Pacific Symposium in Hawaii that it is “critical that we approach implementing the Multi-Domain Battle concept with a sense of urgency” as threats in the Pacific increase. Multi-Domain Battle seeks to bring all the services together – with all their various sensors, weapons and networks – to create cross-domain warfighting capabilities for the combatant commanders to use.

Harris said in his speech that “I’d like to see the Army’s land forces sink a ship, shoot down a missile, and shoot down the aircraft that fired that missile – near simultaneously – in a complex environment where our joint and combined forces are operating in each other’s domains...The goal to provide joint solutions between sensors and shooters at the tactical level across multiple domains, this is juice worth the squeeze."

More...
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The US Army’s goal is to first develop PrSM to be used as an anti-ship missile, but it can’t just take one of the US Navy’s missile seekers to get after the problem, as all of those are “sea-skimming” and look at targets on the horizon. A seeker in PrSM will have to look from the top down; and is a needed capability for Australian, Japanese and Singapore defence forces whose navies will be even more out-manned in hulls by 2033. A multi-domain game changer like this would help.

2. After an unbroken string of failed helicopter programs over the last 14 years (RAH, ARH, and AAS), the US Army needs a home run with Future Vertical Lift (FVL), to replace UH-60 Black Hawks and AH-64 Apache helicopters in future. FVL is actually made up by a number of requirement tiers. There is room for both the X2 coaxial compound configuration and tilt-rotor configuration to satisfy different mission sets. One, Sikorsky/Boeing’s SB-1 Defiant is a compound helicopter with coaxial rotors, which features two main rotors that spin in opposite directions — from 11,400 lb (5.2 tons) for the S-97 tested to the 30,000 lb (14 tons) class SB-1. The S-97 is closely aligned to the AAS (Armed Aerial Scout) program.
  • The SB-1 demonstrator uses two Honeywell T55-GA-714A engines also used on the Boeing Chinook. FVL engine requirements are yet to be determined, but the Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP), now in competitive preliminary design, aims at a next-generation, 3,000 shp (2200 kW) class turboshaft with fuel consumption 25% better than today’s Black Hawk engine.
  • Due to its compound design, the SB-1 suffers fewer of the usual aerodynamic penalties of existing helicopters, allowing it to fly faster at 250 kt (463 km/h) and farther.
  • The FVL-M performance requirements includes cruising speeds greater than 230 kt (426 km/h), vertical takeoff at 6,000 ft/95 ̊F (1,800 m/35 ̊C) density altitude and a combat radius of 229 nm (424 km) with four crew and 12 troops.
  • The US Army has the least ambitious performance specs for FVL, it’s the only service so far to set a price target: no more than US$43 million per aircraft — which will make it affordable when the time comes for heli-lift replacements in the Asia Pacific — the design is not more complex than a BLACK HAWK.
Two, while the Army is the first mover, FVL is a joint effort that supports each of the services including the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Special Operations Command (SOCOM).
  • The V-280 use General Electric T64-GE-419 engines (derived from those used on the CH-53E) and is designed to be manufactured at a comparable cost as an AH-64E (roughly US$30M per unit) or Special Operations variant of a H-60. The requirements for the US Marines and SOCOM are more ambitious, which favours Bell’s V-280 Valor. The US Army may or may not have a shipboard requirement.
  • However, the USMC and Navy will likely require shipboard compatibility and marinization. The USMC will likely require the V-280 to have comparable speeds to a V-22 at more than 250 knots (460 km/h) as the future attack aircraft that will have to provide support to the V-22. US Naval Air Systems Command has worked on software upgrades for the V-22 and it’s maximum speed will be increased to 270 knots (500 km/h; 310 mph), with a new helicopter mode altitude limit of 12,000 feet (3,700 m), and increase lift performance. The V-22 with a rear ramp is capable of carrying 24 passengers while the V-280 with only side doors is designed for 12 passengers.
  • Like the V-22, the V-280 is also a tiltrotor aircraft, which can take off like a conventional helicopter and then tilt its rotors to fly like a propeller plane. The V-280 has the advantages of both rotary wing and fixed wing aircraft depending upon its desired flight regime, which also allows it to fly faster and farther than existing helicopters — making self deployment in the Pacific possible, with this increase in speed and range.
Beating the Air into Submission: Investing in Vertical Lift Modernization (Part II)
 
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OPSSG

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FormerDirtDart said:
It seems the Army intends to separate the ERCA SPH from the 'M109' family designation
The image below was pulled from this powerpoint brief
U.S. ARMY COMBAT CAPABILITIES DEVELOPMENT COMMAND – ARMAMENTS CENTER - Informational Brief
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Thanks for the update. 155mm/58 caliber is a really long cannon to enable the 70+ km range. Does this need counter balance weight further catered for on the SPH platform? Or are there significant traverse restrictions with the extra long barrel? If you see any documents or publication, on these points, please share them.
 
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John Fedup

John Fedup

The Bunker Group
I like the V-280 engine setup where only the propeller/gearbox rotates to the vertical position. I wonder if this design will be incorporated into a future V-22 upgrade?
 
OPSSG

OPSSG

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John Fedup said:
I like the V-280 engine setup where only the propeller/gearbox rotates to the vertical position. I wonder if this design will be incorporated into a future V-22 upgrade?
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I don’t think so (as such major modification may affect shipboard compatibility). Such changes will introduce significant risk that is not easy to solve, meaning it’s like a new aircraft. See this 2016 article on the V-280 (as a new design) and it’s differences to the V-22 and lessons learnt.
 
Ranger25

Ranger25

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  • #196
In a major win for the US DOD, the government has agreed to a two year full budget. This will formally end the Obama Era Budget sequestration that hobbled the DOD and bring a period of certainty and stability.
All Big Six programs intact

Also will held with continuity for the USN in its shipbuilding programs. The FFX May be the biggest winner for the USN with continued funding and support

Esper Confirmed As SecDef; Budget Deal Leaves DoD Spending Flat Next Year
 
Ranger25

Ranger25

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4 of the US Army big six programs is Air Defense. With the new stability of the 2 year fixed budget it’s now moving last the 150KW laser prototype and straight to 300KW and a goal of 600KW. Truck mounted for base protection from Cruise missile threats.

New Army Laser Could Kill Cruise Missiles
 
John Fedup

John Fedup

The Bunker Group
The US army conducted a successful munition redirect. An operator in MH-47 launched a missile via iPad from a UAV. A ground operator then took control of the missile and sent on on to a higher priority target. Impressive technology but I guess the downstroke is a possible hack whereby an adversary redirects the weapon. Hopefully this possibility is extremely unlikely.

Smart Sensor Network Helps Redirect Missile
 
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