11/12/2013: Members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and U.S. Marines took part in the landing of an MV-22B Osprey on a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship for the first time ever in the Asia Pacific.
Cpl. Brandon Suhr takes us to Ship Ise to witness the landing.
Credit:III MEF:11/12/13
11/12/2013: The last test CV-22 flies final sortie.
Credit: Hurlburt Field:10/31/13
As Major Hutchings, one of two pilots recently awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for surviving under combat fire, highlighted the USAF and USMC collaboration associated with the Osprey.
“The USAF pilots for the Ospreys train here at New River before going to New Mexico for their training specific to their systems aboard the CV-22.”
According to the USAF, the CV-22 Osprey as an Air Force system is to be understood as follows:
http://www.af.mil/AboutUs/FactSheets/Display/tabid/224/Article/104531/cv-22-osprey.aspx
Mission
The CV-22 Osprey 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.
Its mission is to conduct long-range infiltration, exfiltration and resupply missions for special operations forces.
Features
This versatile, self-deployable aircraft offers increased speed and range over other rotary-wing aircraft, enabling Air Force Special Operations Command aircrews to execute long-range special operations missions.
The CV-22 can perform missions that normally would require both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft.
The CV-22 takes off vertically and, once airborne, the nacelles (engine and prop-rotor group) on each wing can rotate into a forward position.
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.
Background
The CV-22 is the Special Operation Forces variant of the U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey.
The first two test aircraft were delivered to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., in September 2000.
The 58th Special Operations Wing at Kirtland AFB, N.M., began CV-22 aircrew training with the first two production aircraft in August 2006.
The first operational CV-22 was delivered to Air Force Special Operations Command’s 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, Fla., in January 2007.
Initial operational capability was achieved in 2009.
The 27th Special Operations Wing, Cannon Air Force Base, NM, received its first CV-22 in May 2010. A total of 50 CV-22 aircraft are scheduled to be delivered by 2016.
General Characteristics
Primary Function: Special operations forces long-range infiltration, exfiltration and resupply
Power Plant: Two Rolls Royce-Allison AE1107C turbo shaft engines
Thrust: More than 6,200 shaft horsepower per engine
Wingspan: 84 feet, 7 inches (25.8 meters)
Length: 57 feet, 4 inches (17.4 meters)
Height: 22 feet, 1 inch (6.73 meters)
Rotary Diameter: 38 feet (11.6 meters)
Speed: 277 miles per hour (241 knots) (cruising speed)
Ceiling: 25,000 feet (7,620 meters)
Maximum Vertical Takeoff Weight: 52,870 pounds (23,982 kilograms)
Maximum Rolling Takeoff Weight: 60,500 pounds (27,443 kilograms)
Armament: 1 x .50 Cal Machine gun on ramp
Range: combat radius of 500 nautical miles with 1 internal auxiliary fuel tank ; unlimited range with aerial refueling
Payload: 24 troops (seated), 32 troops (floor loaded) or 10,000 pounds of cargo Unit cost: $89 million (fiscal 2005 dollars)
Crew: Four (pilot, copilot and two flight engineers)
Builders: Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., Amarillo, Texas; Boeing Company, Defense and Space Group, Helicopter Division, Philadelphia
Deployment Date: 2006
Inventory: Active duty, 17; Reserve, 0; ANG, 0
11/08/2013: The MEADS missile defense system developed by the United States, Italy and Germany intercepted and destroyed two targets simultaneously in a final test.
The system provides unique 360 degree capabilities for protection of mobile forces as well as fixed sites.
Credit: White Sands Missile Range Public Affairs:11/6/13
Lockheed, which plans to keep working on the project with Germany and Italy, said the test showed the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) can provide 360-degree protection against air and ballistic missile threats.
MEADS was developed by a joint venture of Lockheed and the Italian-German group MBDA. In Wednesday’s test at White Sands Missile Range, MEADS destroyed two targets launched from opposite directions at the same time: a QF-4 air-breathing drone coming from the south, and a Lance missile that was flying a ballistic missile trajectory from the north.
“No fielded ground-mobile air and missile defense can intercept targets from two directions at the same time, as MEADS did today,” said Gregory Kee, who manages the program for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
He said the system can intercept “multiple targets,” more than the two it destroyed on Wednesday. He could not give the exact number since it was classified.
“MEADS has eight times the capability of some of the existing systems today,” he added.
The United States, Italy and Germany spent about $3.4 billion to develop MEADS over the past decade as a successor to the Patriot missile defense system. Washington decided last year to withdraw after the development program, citing budget cuts.
Poland is considering joining the program, and sent officials to observe the test conducted jointly by the United States, Germany and Italy, the company said.
11/07/2013: Many people flew in to the National Museum of the USAF with these historic planes to pay tribute to the Doolittle Raiders
Credit:88th Air Base Wing:11/6/13
For a special section of the Washington Times commemorating the event:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/specials/doolittles-tokyo-raid/
11/05/2013: This video provides footage of Soldiers loading M119 Howitzers to Chinooks.
Credit:4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division:9/13/13
11/02/2013: Sailors and Marines conduct flight operations aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68).
Credit:USS Nimitz:9/6/13
11/01/2013: A group from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam visits USS Arlington to receive capabilities briefs from various Naval Expeditionary Combat Command elements at Naval Station Norfolk.
Credit: Expeditionary Combat Camera:10/28/13
We were present at the christening of the USS Arlington and have visited since.
For our latest piece on the USS Arlington, see the following:
http://sldinfo.wpstage.net/re-visiting-the-uss-arlington/
10/30/2013: The Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyer DDG 1000 is floated out of dry dock at the General Dynamics Bath Iron Works shipyard.
The ship, the first of three Zumwalt-class destroyers, will provide independent forward presence and deterrence, support special operations forces and operate as part of joint and combined expeditionary forces.
The lead ship and class are named in honor of former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Elmo R. “Bud” Zumwalt Jr., who served as chief of naval operations from 1970-1974.
[slidepress gallery=’the-zumwalt-leaves-its-dry-dock’]
Credit:Navy Media Content Services:10/28/13
We noted earlier about the Zumwalt:
The “bundle” of technologies embodied in the DDG-1000 destroyer – as well as those innovative technologies that will easily find a “home” in this ship – represent many of the most cutting edge and transformational technologies adapted for military use:
In brief, the DDG-1000 destroyer represents one of the most ambitious technology leaps that the U.S. Navy has undertaken since steam-driven, iron-hulled ships replaced wood-hull sailing ships.
But as cutting-edge as the technologies currently embodied in the DDG-1000 destroyer are, it is the potential to host game-changing technologies in this ship as the Navy evaluates these and other technologies for the Navy-After-Next that makes the DDG-1000 arguably one of the most exciting naval vessels ever fielded.
For example, the Office of Naval Research recognized, “Among the possibilities inherent in all-electric ships are the new weapons that become feasible when virtually unlimited electric power is available on board.”[i] The advanced DDG-1000 propulsion plant can enable such weapons to be used without significantly drawing down the ship’s electronic surveillance and weapons control systems, or speed, a critical factor because of the high electrical demands of these cutting-edge, weapons.
These weapons are generally classified under the general heading of Directed-Energy Weapons (DEW) and include high-energy lasers, radio frequency weapons (high-power microwaves or ultra-wideband weapons), and electromagnetic rail guns. Far from futuristic weapons that may-or-may-not-be feasible, the Office of Naval Research is already developing and working to scale up the power of free-electron lasers, chemical lasers and their associated beam directors, radio-frequency weapons, and full-scale electromagnetic rail guns capable of launching precision-guided hypersonic projectiles at supersonic speeds.[iii] Indeed, independent assessments outside government have concluded that solid-state lasers (SSL) “are capable of making unique and important contributions to U.S. military effectiveness.”
The DDG-1000 can perform ideal host platform for the technologies that will accelerate the Navy’s revolutionary leap to the Navy-after-Next.[v] As the DDG-1000 destroyer technologies continue to be tested and mature, the DDG-1000 will serve as a credible platform to evolve these technologies for the Navy’s entire family of new surface combatants.
It is the prospect afforded by directed-energy weapons that promise to revolutionize naval warfare and will represent for the Navy and Marine Corps a dramatic paradigm shift on how the two services – as well as the Joint Force – will conduct operations on and from the sea in the 21st Century. As the only feasible host platform for directed-energy weapons for at least the next decade, the DDG-1000 destroyer is the ship that will move these technologies out of the laboratory and ground test sites and to sea where they offer the potential to revolutionize warfare at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels.
Hosting these directed-energy technologies on the DDG-1000 offers the promise of accelerating the development and refinement of these weapons in the operational environment and in so doing, not only identify “the art of the possible” for what the Navy-After-Next can look like, but if these emerging technologies deliver merely a portion of their enormous potential, the DDG-1000 destroyer will become the prototype for the entire high-end of the Future Surface Combatant family of ships.[vii]
With a defense budget under increasing stress, any new military technology must do more than just offer the potential to reshape how the military fights in the future – it must also have the ability to close current warfighting gaps today. And given the especially high cost of naval vessels, any ship the Navy deploys must have an impact today. In the case of the DDG-1000, this ship will immediately close important warfighting gaps.
A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower, the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard’s first new maritime strategy in a generation, lists six missions for U.S. maritime forces, four “traditional missions” ( Forward Presence, Deterrence, Sea Control, and Power Projection), and two new missions (Maritime Security and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response).
While the DDG-1000s destroyer will be capable of supporting all six-mission areas of the maritime strategy, it is the power projection and sea control missions that serve to define the primary focus of this ship and its “bundle” of new technologies….
In supporting a wide-array of Navy missions, the DDG-1000 will bring important capabilities to the fight, especially in the littorals. It is beyond debate that most of the areas of instability and strife are located in major cities and urban areas easily accessed by seaward approaches. The emergence of potential threats in these areas, coupled with the nation’s dependence on the world market and support for regional allies, demand increased U.S. presence in the littoral regions. This is not a “futuristic” concern, but a near- and mid-term warfighting requirement. The DDG-1000 is optimized to operate at the land-sea interface, supporting the Navy and the Marine Corps combined arms mission.
It is anticipated that the USN will procure a significant number of new littoral combat ships for operation in the littorals. There are key technologies on the DDG-1000, which will prove to be important compliments to the LCS ships and their supporting aircraft and unmanned systems. Notably the radar systems and defensive suites on the ship will provide to important assets added to the new destroyer or cruiser class to be built and deployed with the LCS in the future.
A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower states the power projection requirement clearly, “Our ability to overcome challenges to access and to project and sustain power ashore is the basis of our combat credibility.” The gaps in the Navy’s ability to dominate this littoral battlespace are significant – and growing. The ship is optimized for this mission and many of its other features – especially its radar, stealth, and survivability – are specifically designed to enhance its ability to project power and defend it effectively in the littorals. Sensors – radars in particular – are crucial to success in the littorals.
And the new destroyer class will be working with a number of new littoral assets, the F-35, unmanned systems and the LCS. It can form the lynchpin for the enduring littoral maritime presence mission.
https://sldinfo.com/leveraging-naval-technologies-the-case-of-the-ddg-1000/
They are synergistic with P-8 as well.