USAF News and Discussion

[Air Force Brat]

A bag of mixed news.

One, the US Air Force (USAF) pauses flight ops for C-130s over ‘atypical’ cracking. A total of 123 of 450 C-130H and C-130J aircraft will be temporarily grounded while inspections occur. “This temporary removal of service will not impact ongoing C-130 support to overseas contingency operations.” See: US Air Force pauses flight ops for more than a hundred C-130s over ‘atypical’ cracking.

Two, on 12 Aug 2019, the USAF completed the re-winging of all 173 of the A-10 attack aircraft, popularly known as the Warthog. This is expected to allow the A-10 to keep flying until the late 2030s, Air Force Materiel Command said in a release. See: Air Force Completes A-10 Re-Winging to Keep Iconic Aircraft Flying for Years to Come. This A-10 update is welcome news from a sustainment and risk diversification perspective.

Three, the 413th Flight Test Squadron successfully conducted the first USAF piloted flight of the HH-60W Combat Rescue Helicopter 11 July 2019. The test took place at Sikorsky’s testing facility. The aircraft, based on the Army’s UH-60M helicopter, is modified to perform missions locating and rescuing downed pilots in hostile territory. The USAF is contracted to purchase 113 HH-60W aircraft to replace its aging fleet of HH-60G helicopters.

The A-10 and HH-60W are important recapitalisation efforts. BZ

Yes Sir, most of those 130's are back to hauling "trash", the rainbow fitting issue is on 130's that have not had the "center wing box" SLEPed.... I'll never forget the first 130 that we lost, to the center wing box failure, it was a tail number that had seen extensive use in Vietnam! (you should go back and watch some of those assault strip landing video's, I saw my first one at "Base Op's, LRAFB" even though I was just the "Air Force Brat"), (did I tell you about the time I went out on the flight line for a full run-up of a new Allison T-56, I was positive that those 4 Allison's were going to tear the wings completely OFF, when the OLD MAN got them all wound up TIGHT!)

Anyway, my OLD MAN was squadron check pilot, flew with all the brass, he was also maintenance officer! Anyway back to our accident aircraft, Little Rock had just become the "school house", and they were down at Piggot Ark, doing airwork and stalls, apparently they did a deep power on stall! Yes the USAF made you do some serious "stuff", in the recovery they allowed the airplane to pick up some excessive speed, and during the recovery pulled a little hard and lost a wing, the aircraft and the whole crew...

Very sad, and very sobering, folks at the school house were a close knit group, we were all shocked, number one because the 130 was so damn tough, I'm certain that more than 1 A model was rolled and looped back when the "cowboys" were running the show, check out the 4 Horsemen, all in the Amazing A model, it was a hot rod!

 

[John Fedup]

I posted this link in the cybersecurity thread but I have added it here as well. Rather concerning but at least this idea of using friendly outside hackers will help find some the vulnerabilities.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ilitary-fighter-jet/5d53111988e0fa79e5481f68/

 

[ngatimozart]

The USAF has produce its first certifed 3D printed aircraft parts. This was done at Travis Air Force base and is for non structural items, in this case toilet covers for the C-5M. Took 73 hours to prouce the covers Vs one year to acquire them through the normal channels.

Travis Air Force Base produces first certified 3D-printed aircraft parts

 

[John Fedup]

I wonder how the 3D price compared to the normal channel price, likely classified to protect the original vendor’s reputation.

 

[OPSSG]

Sounds like NG is building the first full sized B-21 flight demonstrator. This puts the TS program on or ahead of Schedule

U.S. Air Force Builds First B-21 Raider 'Test' Stealth Bomber - Warrior Maven

The USAF’s number-two general made an announcement that the first flight of the B-21 could occur around December 2021 (see: The B-21 Raider looms large over the celebration of B-2′s first flight). Hopefully, this program will be successful and reduce the number of boneyard B-52 reactivations.

 

[Boagrius]

Raytheon is developing a new medium-range small air-to-air missile that comes in at half the size of current equivalent weapons systems.

The company’s website bills the new Peregrine missile as ‘a small, fast, lightweight air-to-air weapon for use against drones, manned aircraft and cruise missiles’.

Raytheon says the smaller size makes the missile more manoeuvrable than legacy systems, with the weapon taking up less space on new fighter jets like the Lockheed Martin F-35.

Raytheon Advanced Missile Systems vice president Dr Thomas Bussing said: “Peregrine will allow US and allied fighter pilots to carry more missiles into battle to maintain air dominance.


“With its advanced sensor, guidance and propulsion systems packed into a much smaller airframe, this new weapon represents a significant leap forward in air-to-air missile development.”

Raytheon says Peregrine uses off-the-shelf components and additive manufacturing to make the missile cheaper to build than current equivalents.

Raytheon unveils new Peregrine advanced air-to-air missile

Sounds like a big step forward for 5th gens and a potential game changer in the WVR domain.

 

[ngatimozart]

It appears that the USAF is dramatically transforming its next gen fighter acquisition strategy and returning to the Century Series fighter (F100 -106) acquisition process where a new type will be fielded by different manufacturers, every 4 or 5 years, with incremental advances in technology and capability with each new type rather than the one rather large leap that occurred with the F-15 / 16 and F-22 / 35 programs. They are going to force industry to go along with this whether industry like it or not and I can just see lots of Congress critters sticking their snouts in. However, IMHO, it does make sense and would I think keep costs down in the long run. We shall see.

The US Air Force’s radical plan for a future fighter could field a jet in 5 years

 

[cdxbow]

I wonder how the 3D price compared to the normal channel price, likely classified to protect the original vendor’s reputation.

3D parts are generally more expensive than parts manufactured in other ways. The metal powders are very expensive, more so than base materials used in industrial manufacturing. Also costs don't reduce with numbers anything like normal industrial processes. However for prototypes, small runs, making parts in the field, legacy parts or parts that are difficult or impossible to make with other means then 3D printing is a good way to proceed. The materials will get cheaper and the machines will get better, but I don't think we can be looking at replacement of most industrial techniques for a very long time.

 

[hauritz]

3D parts are generally more expensive than parts manufactured in other ways. The metal powders are very expensive, more so than base materials used in industrial manufacturing. Also costs don't reduce with numbers anything like normal industrial processes. However for prototypes, small runs, making parts in the field, legacy parts or parts that are difficult or impossible to make with other means then 3D printing is a good way to proceed. The materials will get cheaper and the machines will get better, but I don't think we can be looking at replacement of most industrial techniques for a very long time.

One area that 3d printing could save money is that it could negate the requirement to stockpile certain spare parts at all. All you need it the digital information and provided no special manufacturing processes are needed you can manufacture spare parts as required. Also relatively simple airframes such as UAVs could be manufactured as required which would reduce the need to purchase large numbers of these aircraft.

 

[ngatimozart]

Raytheon unveils new Peregrine advanced air-to-air missile

Sounds like a big step forward for 5th gens and a potential game changer in the WVR domain.

Mark Noyes from Raytheon discussing the Peregrine missile.

 

[ngatimozart]

The USAF has ordered a further 15 KC-46 for US$2.6 billion.

[url=https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2019/09/30/Boeing-nets-26B-for-next-15-KC-46-Pegasus-tankers/9411569856689]Boeing nets $2.6B for next 15 KC-46 Pegasus tankers[/URL]

 

[ngatimozart]

The USAF have trialled virtual reality as a tool for training helo pilots, and they've managed to complete a course six weeks quicker than previously. Quite an interesting development.

Cracking the ‘da Vinci’ code: Virtual reality accelerates helicopter aviator training

 

[Boagrius]

Mark Noyes from Raytheon discussing the Peregrine missile.

This came up in another thread but just wondering if anyone with relevant expertise can comment on how realistic the BVR range claim is likely to be on this thing? It looks to be about the same diameter as AMRAAM and half the length with a dual mode seeker and blast frag warhead. Seems like a big claim for a little missile?

 

[Millennium7]

It appears that the USAF is dramatically transforming its next gen fighter acquisition strategy and returning to the Century Series fighter (F100 -106) acquisition process where a new type will be fielded by different manufacturers, every 4 or 5 years, with incremental advances in technology and capability with each new type rather than the one rather large leap that occurred with the F-15 / 16 and F-22 / 35 programs. They are going to force industry to go along with this whether industry like it or not and I can just see lots of Congress critters sticking their snouts in. However, IMHO, it does make sense and would I think keep costs down in the long run. We shall see.

The US Air Force’s radical plan for a future fighter could field a jet in 5 years

Yep, I made a video about this

Mod Edit: Read the Forum Rules before posting again. Link to video deleted, as you need to pay attention to rule #17 and rule #28 specifically.

 

[Boagrius]

Is anyone else a little... skeptical about this approach? My concern is that it could leave the US with relatively small and disparate fleets of aircraft in varying states of maturity. The logistical side of things alone sounds like a potential nightmare.

 

[ngatimozart]

It appears that the new secret large UAV, thought to be designated RQ-180, has been outted and maybe FOC now.

USAF Unit Moves Reveal Clues To RQ-180 Ops Debut

 

[John Fedup]

Perhaps this is an approach the Pentagon should apply to a host of other military requirements to better contain exploding costs for kit.

USAF Research Lab builds an ‘open source’ jet engine in 13 months

 

[ngatimozart]

Head of USAF acquisition has listed his six keys for his new "Century Series Fighter" concept. These are:

1. Manage the fighter ecosystem.
2. Focus on design.
3. Share components and subsystems.
4. Volume of design, rather than volume manufactured, will drive innovation.
5. Don’t SLEP.
6. Change the industry.

It's an interesting concept and one that I first posted about here 7 months ago.

Roper’s Six Keys to Century Series Success

 

[Boagrius]

Interesting for sure. I've got to say I'm still skeptical though. Take PCA as an example - you're talking about an aircraft that will likely need particularly long legs, wide-band VLO, variable bypass engines, next gen EW, top of the line sensors and data sharing capability. I just don't know if you can deliver those essential features in a way that would make introducing significantly new iterations/aircraft every 5 years feasible. No matter which way you cut it, all of these things are going to add up to an expensive jet, not a relatively cheap and disposable piece of technology like an iPhone (Roper's analogy). This is to say nothing of the time taken to bed down an aircraft like this, train everyone up, develop CONOPS etc.

 

[ngatimozart]

Interesting for sure. I've got to say I'm still skeptical though. Take PCA as an example - you're talking about an aircraft that will likely need particularly long legs, wide-band VLO, variable bypass engines, next gen EW, top of the line sensors and data sharing capability. I just don't know if you can deliver those essential features in a way that would make introducing significantly new iterations/aircraft every 5 years feasible. No matter which way you cut it, all of these things are going to add up to an expensive jet, not a relatively cheap and disposable piece of technology like an iPhone (Roper's analogy). This is to say nothing of the time taken to bed down an aircraft like this, train everyone up, develop CONOPS etc.

Yep I know, but I think that something has to be done to break the duopoly of US combat aircraft manufacturing and reducing the time and costs of fielding new designs. He does have a point about them making heaps on the thru life servicing and SLEP.