12/17/2015: MV-22 Osprey pilots with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 262, Marine Air Group 36, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, III Marine Expeditionary Force, obtain carrier qualification in conjunction with Blue Chromite 2016, a large-scale amphibious exercise in Okinawa, Japan.
Units participating in Blue Chromite benefit from naval training resources in the area while maintaining a forward-deployed posture.
Credit:III Marine Expeditionary Force / Marine Corps Installations Pacific:10/29/15
12/15/2015: Flight on HH139 from It.A.F. 82nd CSAR of 15th Wing during search and rescue operations at Trident Juncture 2015.
Credit:Natochannel:10/29/15
12/12/2015: The Japan Ministry of Defense (MOD) Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency (ATLA) and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), in cooperation with the U.S. Navy, announced the successful completion of a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA flight test from the Point Mugu Sea Range, San Nicolas Island, California.
This test, designated SM-3 Block IIA Cooperative Development Controlled Test Vehicle-02, was a live fire of the SM-3 Block IIA.
The missile successfully demonstrated flyout through kinetic warhead ejection.
No intercept was planned, and no target missile was launched.
Program officials will evaluate system performance based upon telemetry and other data obtained during the test.
The SM-3 Cooperative Development Project is the joint U.S.-Japan development of a 21-inch diameter variant of the SM-3, designated Block IIA, to defeat medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) is the naval component of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS).
The MDA and the U.S. Navy cooperatively manage the Aegis BMD program.
Credit:http://www.mda.mil/news/15news0009.html:12/8/15
According to Raytheon:
SM-3® is a defensive weapon used by the U.S. Navy to destroy short- to intermediate-range ballistic missile threats.
This “hit-to-kill” missile interceptor uses an exoatmospheric “kill vehicle,” to collide with targets in space, a capability that’s been likened to hitting a bullet with a bullet.
The massive collision of the kill vehicle hitting its target obliterates the threat completely; explosives are not necessary.
The resulting impact is the equivalent of a 10-ton truck traveling at 600 mph.
The SM-3 program is a critical piece of the United States’ Phased Adaptive Approach for missile defense.
Currently, U.S. Navy ships carrying SM-3s deployed off Europe’s coast provide the continent’s only “upper tier” defense from the growing threat of ballistic missiles.
Starting this year, the first land-based SM-3 site will become operational in Romania, further enhancing Europe’s protection.
The flexibility of SM-3 to be both land- and sea-based offers countries that do not have ballistic missile defense-enabled navies to take advantage of the SM-3’s incredible capacity to protect large areas of land, often referred to as regional defense, with fewer interceptor sites when compared to other “lower tier” missile defense solutions.
12/11/2015: Amendola Air Force Base, 32nd Wing, Puglia (Italy) 32nd Wing 28th Squadron is the Italian Air Force unit equipped with the Predators (MQ1 and MQ9).
As Lt. General Preziosa, the head of the Italian Air Force put it about the Predator “Enterprise.”
A final topic for discussion was the operation of Predator by the Italian Air Force, notably in Djibouti.
Here the Predator enterprise (if one might call it that) had already shaped ways to share data, and the data sharing arrangements with Predator presaged some of the ways the F-35 fleet will also share data.
“Predator is an important building block moving forward in 21st century air operations, and our data sharing capabilities have provided crucial information to shape combat decisions.”
Credit:Natochannel:10/26/15
12/08/2015: Members of the 8th Special Operations Squadron conduct night operations above Eglin Range Florida.
Credit:Hurlburt Field:10/26/15
The CV-22 is the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) variant of the U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey. The CV-22’s mission is to conduct long-range infiltration, exfiltration and resupply missions for special operations forces.
Like the MV-22 Osprey, the CV-22 is a tiltrotor aircraft that combines the vertical takeoff, hover, and vertical landing qualities of a helicopter with the long-range, fuel efficiency and speed characteristics of a turboprop aircraft. Those capabilities give this versatile, self-deployable aircraft the capability to conduct missions that would normally require both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft.
The CV-22 is equipped with integrated threat countermeasures, terrain-following radar, forward-looking infrared sensor, and other advanced avionics systems that allow it to operate at low altitude in adverse weather conditions and medium- to high-threat environments.
12/05/2015: Gen Nakatani, Japanese Defense Minister, tours Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron (VMGR) 152 facilities during a visit to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Dec. 2, 2015.
Station officials welcomed Nakatani before touring VMGR-152 and the air traffic control tower.
Credit: Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni:12/2/15
12/05/2015: Video shows USS Boxer leaving San Diego on route to a training exercise.
Credit: Navy Public Affairs Support Element West:10/19/15
12/03/2015: Sailors hook up a pendant to an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the Dusty Dogs of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 7 on the flight deck the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) during a replenishment at sea between Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Military Sealift Command fleet replenishment oiler USNS Kanawha (T-AO 196).
Dwight D. Eisenhower, with embarked Carrier Air Wing 3, is underway conducting the Tailored Ship’s Training Availability (TSTA) and Final Evaluation Problem (FEP) as part of the basic phase of the Optimized Fleet Response Plan.
Credit:USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69):11/29/2015