Happy Tuesday, everyone. I’ve been at a briefing on Iran all morning so while I digest that I thought I’d give you this awesome picture of a Soviet Lun-class ekranoplan firing one of its six massive P-270 Mosquito anti-ship missiles while speeding over what’s likely the Caspian Sea sometime in the late 1980s or 1990s.

Thanks to a buddy for sending me a great pic I’d never seen before. It kind of looks like an album cover for a bad hard rock band from the ‘70s or ‘80s.

The picture below shows the ekranoplan today. Click here for an awesome slideshow of the vessel, once called the Caspian Sea Monster, in its present state.

January 24th, 2012 | Around the Globe, Bizarro, Crazy Ivan, Fire for Effect, Planes, Copters, Blimps, Sea Services | 161311 Commenthttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F01%2F24%2Fpic-of-the-day-angry-caspian-sea-monster%2FPic+of+the+Day%3A+Angry+Caspian+Sea+Monster2012-01-24+16%3A40%3A46John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D16131

Happy Monday, everyone. To kick things off I wanted to share this cool video of tons of what appear to be M2 Bradley fighting vehicles (without their Bushmaster chain guns installed, and yes, I know that M2’s aren’t really tanks) being shipped by train in California recently.

The video posted after the jump is one of several posted in the last few days showing this train making its way north accross the Golden State. Keep in mind that trainloads of military armor moving around the country are fairly routine, what’s unique about this one is that so many people seem to have caught the same train on video. The southernmost video I found was filmed in coastal Santa Barbara a hour or two north of LA and the northernmost one shows the train stopped more than 300 miles north of there in Hayward which sits just south of Oakland in the Bay Area.

My guess is that the Bradleys, and a few fuel trucks, were being shipped to or from Fort Irwin, (or maybe the Port of Los Angeles) to the Port of Oakland where they could be loaded aboard ships or they were going to points much further north, possibly the Yakima Training Center. But really, who knows where the armored vehicles are going. The rail network splits off just north of Oakland near Sacramento in a way that would allow the vehicles to be shipped north or east.

Anyway, it’s a cool video. Enjoy!

<iframe width=“490” height=“315” src=“http://www.youtube.com/embed/n118IwMQQPc” frameborder=“0” allowfullscreen></iframe>

January 23rd, 2012 | Armor, army, Video Lounge | 161003 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F01%2F23%2Fmonday-morning-video-tanks-on-a-train%2FMonday+Morning+Video%3A+Tanks+on+a+Train2012-01-23+15%3A21%3A58John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D16100

Army aviation officials, including several from the special operations side of the house, last week revealed that the special operations community will have a say in the design of the next generation of Army choppers.

When asked last week during an army aviation conference sponsored by the Association of the U.S. Army last week if the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment will get its own tricked out version of the service’s new armed aerial scout (AAS) chopper, Col. Vincent Reap, deputy commander of the 160th said no, but:

Attributes of being faster are certainly better, a lesser signature is better whether that signature be acoustic, visual or other [think radar and infrared evading stealth tech].

Whether or not SOF [special operations forces] would see that as a requirement peculiar from what the Army is looking at for its AAS, I don’t think that is necessarily true. Even were it true, certainly we believe that SOF wouldn’t be able to afford it. SOCOM and its resourcing authority does not stand to be able to build an aircraft that would be unique and sort of disparate from what the Army would do.

In short, no, but the more detailed answer would be a discussion and sharing of the particular requirements that SOF would see for rotary wing fire support platforms tied very closely with the Army as it needs to do and perhaps modify as necessary.

While the 160th — and from what Reap said, big Army aviation — are hoping to get a faster, stealthier scout chopper, it will be interesting to see how that requirement plays out against the services planned demo of existing choppers that could be pressed into service as the next gen scout. All of the birds slated to fly in that effort are existing airframes that don’t offer a huge leap ahead in speed and stealth. Then again, they could be modified for the 160th like the stealth Black Hawks that were used for the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound last year.

Enter special ops contributions to the Joint Multirole Rotorcraft (JMR) effort:

As soon as Reap was done speaking, his fellow aviator, Col. Charles Yomant — who has the vague title of Director, Army Compartmented Element, United States Army Special Operations Command — said that the Army’s SOF community is making sure spec ops capabilities are included in the service’s effort to develop a next-generation family of helos under the Joint Multirole Rotorcraft project.

“We’re working very closely with [Maj. Gen. Anthony Crutchfield’s] team on inserting our requirements into the future vertical lift, JMR, program so that they’re built into the platform up front.

Crutchfield himself then chimed in, saying that a SOF aviator is working with his team at Fort Rucker, Ala., to make sure that JMR is developed with special operations missions in mind.

What we need to do is do what we’re saying right now; make sure as we’re laying out requirements for the future vertical lift that it includes what SOF aviation needs. Even in the end state, there will be special packages on that same airframe, every aircraft will not be outfitted as a special operations aircraft. But, if we don’t share requirements, we don’t share ideas now, I think it will be too late in the end when we get to 2030.

Again, we are including the requirements of special operations aviation [in the JMR effort] which I’m not sure we’ve done a good job of in the past.

This last sentence is very interesting since JMR, or potentially AAS, would mark the first time a brand new Army helo is designed from the ground up to accomodate SOF missions. Think about it, the entire Army spec ops aviation fleet is made up of modified designs  – MH-60s, MH-6s and MH-47s – that predate the 160th SOAR.

(The image above are Army concepts of what JMR might look like)

January 19th, 2012 | army, Commandos, Door Kickers, Future Wars, Money Money Money, Planes, Copters, Blimps, Rotary Wing, Special Ops | 1606844 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F01%2F19%2Farmys-new-helos-will-be-designed-with-spec-ops-in-mind%2FArmy%27s+New+Helos+Will+Be+Designed+With+Spec+Ops+in+Mind2012-01-19+21%3A58%3A42John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D16068

Does anyone know anything about the mysterious RQ-4 Global Hawk crash that occurred downrange — possibly just inside Pakistan close to the Afghan city of Jalalabad — last August?

The Air Force’s crash report database doesn’t allow you to open up the accident investigation board’s report on the incident which received surprisingly little media coverage. I say this because the Global Hawk is a big, jet-powered strategic intelligence plane, packed with some very advanced and expensive spy gear as opposed to the smaller and much cheaper low-flying MQ-1 Predator or MQ-9 Reaper drones that crash on a regular basis.  The last time a Global Hawk was lost was 2002 (another might have crashed in 2009, according to these Air Force stats but I can’t find a record of it in the crash report database).

(The Northrop Grumman-issued picture above gives a good sense of just how big the plane is. It shows the jet at a the Seoul Air Show in South Korea.)

If a U-2, the plane that the Block 30 and 40 versions of the Global Hawk will eventually replace (when it gets over its teething issues and enters full production), went down, it would be a big deal.

I’ve asked the Air Force for comment but mum’s the word from the boys in blue so far.

The only thing resembling a news report that a quick Google search turned up is this crowdsourced article from Pakistan, and the article’s date doesn’t quite match up with the Aug. 20, 2011 crash date listed by the Air Force. The Google search did however, bring up plenty about the crash of China’s Global Hawk rival that happened two days later on Aug. 22., an incident that seems to have out-shined the RQ-4 crash.

Sound off in the comments if you’ve heard any more about the crash.

January 20th, 2012 | Afghan Update, Air Force, Around the Globe, Drones | 1608910 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F01%2F20%2Flast-summers-mysterious-global-hawk-crash%2FLast+Summer%27s+Mysterious+Global+Hawk+Crash2012-01-20+21%3A34%3A13John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D16089

As the Marine Corps F-35B short take-off and vertical landing version of the Joint Strike Fighter comes off ‘probation” today, we thought we’d give you these pics of the A-model of jet making the JSF’s first ever night flights two nights ago.

The pics show an an F-35A with a Lockheed test pilot at the helm making its first night (more like dusk) flight out of Edwards Air Force Base in California on Wednesday night. The jet took off at 5:05 PM and landed a little after sunset at 6:20 pm, according to Lockheed.

As t=for the B, well, there have been a ton of reports good and bad about it. It’s catching up on its flight test goals and made its first landings aboard an amphibious assault ship (it still has to deal with weight issues, those pesky bulkhead cracks and an overheating clutch). However, the C-model just became the center of F-35 bad press when reports emerged saying that among other flaws, it’s tailhook is too short to reach the arrestor wires on a carrier’s flight deck; the best part, there’s no easy solution to the problem. We’ll see what the year ahead brings for the program

Click through the jump for more photos of the F-35’s evening flight.

January 20th, 2012 | Air Force, F-35 Watch, JSF Watch, Marine Corps, Money Money Money, navy, Planes, Copters, Blimps | 160863 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F01%2F20%2Fphoto-gallery-f-35s-first-night-flights%2FPhoto+Gallery%3A+F-35%27s+First+Night+Flights2012-01-20+16%3A02%3A40John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D16086

Last week we showed you this photo I took of a mysterious missile that Boeing had on display at the Surface Navy Association’s annual convention just outside of DC.

I had never seen, or heard of, this missile before and no one at Boeing’s booth could talk about the weapon. Well, a spokeswoman with Boeing’s Phantom Works division just emailed me to explain that the Joint Air-Breathing Multi-Role Missile (JABMM) is being designed for use by the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships (LCS). Remember, the sea service replaced the canceled Non-Line of Sight missile system as one of the LCS’ primary weapons with Raytheon’s tiny Griffin missile – a munition that was originally designed as a smaller alternative to Hellfire antitank missiles for use by UAVs. Well, the JABMM is a purpose-built weapon designed to take out fast moving enemy ships, aircraft and possibly even incoming missiles, explains Phantom Works spokeswoman Deborah VanNierop in the following email:

The JABMM or Joint Air Breathing Multi-Role Missile is a surface engagement weapon enlisting air breathing propulsion capabilities for greater range  than some current solid rocket propelled missiles. It could be used as an air interceptor or surface engagement weapon against fast moving vessels.

The JABMM is designed to fit into deck mounted canisters aboard U.S. Navy Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) for ease of ship integration.

The JABMM would be launched out of its canister by a solid rocket booster and then at take over speed the turbo-jet air breathing engine would take over.

The JABMM is currently a conceptual design.

January 18th, 2012 | Missiles, Money Money Money, navy, Sea Services, Ships and Subs | 1605334 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F01%2F18%2Fboeings-new-missile-for-littoral-combat-ships%2FBoeing%27s+New+Missile+for+Littoral+Combat+Ships2012-01-18+18%3A11%3A48John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D16053

You see a ton of animated pics of a UAV that looks just like Northrop’s X-47B carrier-launched stealth drone operating off of U.S. carriers of the 21st Century but this pic from General Atomics serves as a reminder that Northrop isn’t the only company vying to build the sea service’s first combat ready, carrier-launched attack drone.

This image from GA’s booth at the Surface Navy Association’s annual convention last week just outside Washington shows one of the company’s Predator C Avenger drones (or should I say Sea Avenger) getting ready to be launched from the USS Gerald R Ford’s bow by a GA-built electromagnetic catapult.

The Sea Avenger is one of four programs in the mix to build the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) drone. Other entries are Northrop, whose X-47B is gearing up to fly from an aircraft carrier, Lockheed Martin, who makes the Air Force’s RQ-170 and Boeing who makes the stealthy Phantom Ray drone.

January 18th, 2012 | AirSea Battle, Drones, Money Money Money, navy, Planes, Copters, Blimps | 160481 Commenthttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F01%2F18%2Fa-carrier-launched-predator-c%2FA+Carrier+Launched+Predator+C2012-01-18+16%3A36%3A40John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D16048

The Joint Strike Fighter schoolhouse at Eglin Air Force Base, Fl., recieved its first two F-35B short take-off and vertical landing variants of the JSF today. The two jets — the Marines’ first two production model F-35s — are the seventh and eighth JSFs to be sent to Eglin since last summer. No word on how long they’ll stay on the ground now that they’ve arrived. Remember, the Eglin jets have yet to be cleared to begin any sort of training flights so they’re being used as maintenance trainers.

Here’s Lockheed’s announcement on the latest delivery:

The first two Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] production model F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft were delivered to the U.S. Marine Corps today. The two jets are now assigned to the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing’s Marine Fighter/Attack Training Squadron 501 residing with the host 33^rd Fighter Wing at Eglin AFB, Fla.

The aircraft, known as BF-6 and BF-8, flew separately arriving at 3:13 p.m. and 4:39 p.m. CST respectively after their approximate 90-minute ferry flights from Fort Worth, Texas. U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Joseph Bachmann piloted BF-6 while U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Matt Taylor flew BF-8. Both 5^th Generation fighter s will be used for pilot and maintainer training at the new F-35 Integrated Training Center.

“Today marks the beginning of a new era of advanced capabilities for the U.S. Marine Corps,” said Larry Lawson, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program executive vice president and general manager. “The F-35B’s versatility, as demonstrated onboard the USS WASP (LHD-1) last fall, will revolutionize our nation’s expeditionary combat power in all threat environments by allowing operations from major bases, damaged airstrips, remote locations and a wide range of air-capable ships. This aircraft will give our warfighters the ability to accomplish their mission, wherever and whenever duty calls.”

F-35 STOVLs met many critical milestones in 2011. In October, F-35Bs conducted their first set of ship trials, known as Developmental Test 1, 20 miles off the coast of Wallops Island, Va. During the 19-day testing period, BF-2 and BF-4 conducted 72 vertical landings and short takeoffs, accomplishing all test milestones during the mission. For the year, F-35Bs accomplished 333 System Development and Demonstration test flights and 268 vertical landings.

BF-6 and BF-8 are the first two F-35 deliveries to the Department of Defense in 2012 and the seventh and eighth F-35 aircraft delivered to Eglin AFB since July 2011. Previously, six U.S. Air Force F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) jets were delivered to the base.

Click through the jump to watch a video of the first F-35B arriving at Eglin.

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January 11th, 2012 | F-35 Watch, Fast Movers, JSF Watch, Marine Corps, Money Money Money, Planes, Copters, Blimps | 16002150 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F01%2F11%2Fusmcs-first-f-35b-jsfs-arrive-at-eglin%2FUSMC%27s+First+F-35s+Arrive+at+Eglin2012-01-12+02%3A37%3A54John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D16002

Sikorsky executives today explained their strategy for moving their S-97 Raider coaxial rotor design forward in the Army’s armed aerial scout contest despite the fact that their design isn’t flying yet.

“We’re developing two prototype aircraft with the purpose of demonstrating this type of capability with the target of hitting the armed aerial scout,” said Doug Shidler, Sikorsky’s Raider program manager, when I asked him today how the company planned to effectively bid on the armed aerial scout contest with their unbuilt chopper at a press conference where Shidler was announcing the Raider’s 35 supplier companies.

“There aren’t any requirements out there yet for the armed aerial scout but what we’re trying to do is demonstrate that with new technology you can provide a great deal more capability to the Army versus extending the current fleet that has capabilities that have existed for many, many years,” said Shidler.

Keep in mind that the Army seems to largely be interested in developing an existing airframe into a new scout chopper.

Steve Engebretson, Sikorsky’s man in charge of winning the scout contest, added his two cents when I asked how the company can compete for the scout contract if it doesn’t have a prototype that can fly in this spring’s scout chopper demo.

“We have been told that everyone who was considered in the [Army’s analysis of alternatives for replacing the Kiowa Warrior chopper fleet] will have the opportunity to respond to the RfI we were one of the products included in the AoA,” said Engebretson. “The airplanes that fly [in the demo], and this is my understanding of what the Army is looking for, will be evaluated to see whether there is an existing capability good enough to meet the next AAS requirement. The other products, like ours, that were also evaluated in the AoA will get to come in and show off where our technology is, what we’re gonna cost, what our timeline looks like and how viable we are. We’ve got a ton of data, we’ve got 35 companies building hardware, we think we’re gonna be in a very good position to demonstrate the fact that we’ll provide a capability that will outdo anything that exists today at a timeline that will still meet the Army’s requirements.”

The S-97 is designed to be able to fly at 250 knots and turn in half the radius of current helos. The first flight of the Sikorsky’s demonstrator choppers is set for 2014. If the company is awarded a contract to build scout helos, it can begin production around 2021 and start fielding the choppers around 2025.

Engebretson went on to say that the coaxial technology upon which the Raider is based has already been proven, by Sikorsky’s record breaking X2 chopper and a number of existing tech that is being designed for use on the Raider.

“This is a fairly mature level of technology, it’s a new design, it’s next generation capability but it’s not a high-risk type of approach,” said Engebretson. “We’re going to demonstrate it to show that it’s an achievable in the timeline that’s there for the military requirements and that it’s going to be affordable as well.”

He also revealed that the Raider is one of the four technologies Sikorsky is considering offering up for the Pentagon’s next generation Joint Multirole Helo effort. He wouldn’t say what the other three technologies are.

January 12th, 2012 | army, Future Wars, Money Money Money, Planes, Copters, Blimps | 1601324 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F01%2F12%2Fsikorskys-bidding-plan-for-the-armys-scout-contest%2FSikorsky%27s+Plan+for+the+Army%27s+Scout+Contest+2012-01-12+19%3A40%3A29John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D16013

Happy Friday, given the amount of attention we’ve given to helicopters this week, I thougt I’d give you a killer helo image. This great picture from a few years ago shows an AH-64 Apache crew practicing a rescue technique where a soldier rides shotgun aboard the aircraft’s side sponson. It’s similar to a method AH-1 Cobra crews have used since the Vietnam war to rescue troops who can’t wait for a transport chopper. Basically, the passenger sits on the Cobra’s open ammo bay door and clings to anything he can while he’s whisked away. This method was famously used in 1968 to rescue future USAF Chief of Staff Gen. Ron Fogleman from capture by the Viet Cong when his F-100 was shot down in Vietnam.

January 13th, 2012 | army, Around the Globe, Old Skool, Planes, Copters, Blimps | 1602223 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F01%2F13%2Fpic-of-the-day-apache-rescue%2FPic+of+the+Day%3A+Apache+Rescue2012-01-13+18%3A05%3A22John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D16022