Could this be the secret new strike weapons Boeing executives told a bunch of us reporters the company was working on during the Farnborough air show in 2010?

I spotted the mystery weapon in Boeing’s booth at the Surface Navy Association’s annual conference here in Washington. I’d never seen the design or the name before so I promptly asked about it; no one staffing the booth claimed to know any more than I did about the weapon (they did, however, give me a refresher on their railgun tech).

Here’s what Bill Sweetman wrote at Av Week after a Boeing official’s admission that it had a secret new strike weapon (I’ve got to admit, I was in the room, but chose to write about the new stealthy Super Hornet that Boeing unveiled at the same press conference.):

Boeing is in production on at least one “proprietary” strike weapon system, claims Shelley Lavender, vice president and general manager of global strike systems. But Lavender refused July 20 at the Farnborough International Airshow to provide more information when pressed.

“I have nothing further for you on that,” the executive said.

Could it be a Tomahawk cruise missile/AGM-86 replacement; a part of the so called, “family” of next-gen strike systems being designed for use by the Navy and the Air Force?

Maybe it will be a stealthy, stand-off cruise missile meant to fit inside the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s internal weapons bay. Remember, the stealthy AGM-158B Joint Air to Surface Stand-off Munition is too large to be carried inside the F-35, meaning that it would compromise the jet’s stealth if carried aboard the wings. Norway is already working on a stand-off missile that would fit inside the F-35’s weapons bay. Competition?

Maybe it has to do with this penetrating weapon that’s intended to be a mini–MOP carried by the F-35.

It could also be some new name for the Joint Dual Role Air Dominance Munition.

January 13th, 2012 | Ammo and Munitions, Arms Trade, Future Wars, Missiles, Money Money Money, navy, Sea Services | 160318 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F01%2F13%2Fboeings-mystery-missile%2FBoeing%27s+Mystery+Missile2012-01-13+22%3A19%3A08John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D16031

The future of helicopter tech will come in waves, according to one Army aviation official. As the Army fights to ensure funding for its effort to field a brand new class of choppers, known as joint multirole rotorcraft, some Army officials are hoping to advance the state of the art in chopper tech through gradual but significant upgrades to existing helicopters. This technology, once proven on existing birds, could reduce the cost and time required to build a brand new helo.

One such example is how Col. Shane Openshaw, the Army’s AH-64 Apache program manager is eyeing F-35-style distributed aperture sensor (DAS) tech for use on the Apache. “We’re thinking about how to do integration” with DAS-style technology on the third development phase of the Block III Apache sometime later this decade, Openshaw told me this week. “It’s very much in the realm of the possible.”

The F-35’s DAS system consists of six infrared cameras mounted in the airplane’s skin providing a 360-degree sphere of coverage around the jet. Video filmed by the cameras is fed directly onto a screen on the pilots helmet visor allowing him to literally look down through the bottom of his aircraft. Now, the system is still having its teething issues, especially the helmet part, but an F-35 flying over Maryland and Virginia recently tracked a missile launch in Florida by using its DAS system.

Now, the Apaches may not necessarily use the same system as the F-35, but its the concept that Openshaw likes. The miniaturization of sensor tech could someday allow him to install a network of tiny but powerful sensors around the Apache’s airframe and feed their data back to the cockpit. He pointed out that this could allow him to remove the 400-pound sensor turret on the helo’s nose. The reduced weight would improve the aircraft’s speed and fuel and weapons load.

Combine this with advancements in engine and blade tech that are already in the works — and possibly even pusher propellers mounted on the aft of the chopper — and modified versions of the basic Apache design could inch Army aviation ever closer to achieving the speed, altitude and maneuverability breakthroughs that the service wants from its next generation helo fleet, said Openshaw.

He also pointed out that the choppers must have a truly open software system that allows the helos to accept a variety of small sensors ranging from infrared cameras to threat warning receivers and a variety of weapons and countermeasure systems that can all be installed on a ‘plug and play basis’ similar to a USB stick on a computer.  This would not only allow the choppers load to be customized for missions but would ensure that new technology could be quickly developed for and installed on the aircraft.

January 13th, 2012 | army, Future Wars, Gadgets and Gear, Planes, Copters, Blimps | 160181 Commenthttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F01%2F13%2Ff-35-style-sensors-could-be-integrated-onto-apaches%2FF-35-Style+Sensors+Could+Be+Integrated+Onto+Apaches2012-01-13+16%3A22%3A45John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D16018

Here’s your thurdsay Iran update. If you haven’t seen it, someone blew up yet another Iranian nuclear scientist. This is the fourth scientist to die from a car bombing in Iran in the last two years. According to multiple news accounts 32 year old Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan and his bodyguard were killed when someone drove past his Peugeot 405 on a motorcycle and slapped a sticky bomb to the side of the car. Sound familiar? The same method was used to kill an Iranian scientist back in November 2010.

Iran is naturally pissed about this and blames the U.S. and Israel. While Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denied any American involvement, Israeli officials are simply refusing to discuss the matter on the record. However, the chief spokesman of the Israeli military did make this weird posting on Facebook yesterday, “Don’t know for sure who settled the score with the Iranian scientist, but for sure I am not shedding a tear.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. is set to have three carrier battlegroups in the region with the USS John C. Stennis and USS Carl Vinson being joined by the USS Abraham Lincoln soon.

This comes on the heels of several mysterious explosions at or near Iranian rocket and nuclear research facilities.

Is all this going to deter Iran from moving ahead with its nuclear program. Nope, says Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Mohammed Khazee.

From CNN:

“Based on the existing evidence collected by the relevant Iranian security authorities, similar to previous incidents, perpetrators used the same terrorist method in assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists, i.e., attaching a sticky magnetic bomb to the car carrying the scientists and detonating it,” Khazaee said in a statement.

“I would like to emphasize, once again, that the Islamic Republic (of) Iran would not compromise over its inalienable right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and any kind of political and economic pressures or terrorist attacks targeting the Iranian nuclear scientists, could not prevent our nation in exercising this right,” Khazaee said.

Gotta love a shadow war.

January 12th, 2012 | Around the Globe, Fire for Effect, Iran, Nukes | 160088 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F01%2F12%2Fanother-iranian-nuke-scientist-killed%2FAnother+Iranian+Nuke+Scientist+Killed2012-01-12+14%3A40%3A43John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D16008

Well, if we need a hint that China’s first aircraft carrier, the ex-soviet Varyag is getting ready for flight operations, this might be it. These pictures show ex-Varyag’s crew conducting what looks like a FOD sweep of the ship’s flight deck. Remember, we saw a Z-8 helo operating around her flight deck just before her maiden voyage last August. On her last couple of cruises we saw what appeared to be an aircraft fueling truck sitting on her deck. Speaking of interesting things on her flight deck, check out the camoflage trailer with what looks like some sort of satellite or radar antenna on top of it sitting on the deck just aft of the ship’s island.

Click through the jump for more images.

Images via China Defense Blog.

January 11th, 2012 | Around the Globe, Balance of Power, China Rising, Eye on China, Sea Services, Ships and Subs | 159882 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F01%2F11%2Fchinas-carrier-getting-ready-for-flight-ops%2FChina%27s+Carrier+Getting+Ready+for+Flight+Ops%3F2012-01-11+15%3A25%3A51John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D15988

As we mentioned they would last week, American Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and his British counterpart, Philip Hammond, signed an agreement last Thursday outlining how the U.S. Navy will help the Royal Navy rebuild its defunct carrier strike capability over the next decade.

From sister site DoDBuzz

Secretaries Panetta and Hammond signed a Statement of Intent on Carrier Cooperation and Maritime Power Projection that will serve as the framework for increased cooperation and interoperability on the use of aircraft carriers, as well as provide the basis for the U.S. to assist the UK Royal Navy in developing its next generation of aircraft carriers.  This cooperation is a cutting-edge example of close allies working together in a time of fiscal austerity to deliver a capability needed to maintain our global military edge.

The Royal Navy decommissioned its Harrier jump jets last year, leaving it without seaborne-fighter for the first time since before World War II. Now, Hammond himself expressed  concern about what effect the Pentagon’s slowdown of its F-35 buys will have on the UK’s F-35C purchases before he signed the agreement. However, InsideDefense is reporting that the F-35 program office  is gearing up to sell jets plenty to foreign JSF buyers despite the Pentagon’s slowed buys:

The F-35 joint program office is girding for a surge of international orders that would boost manufacturing rates for the seventh and eighth Joint Strike Fighter production runs by more than 40 percent above currently planned buys for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, according to Defense Department officials.

Ok, so maybe the Brits will get their jets in time to have at least limited carrier ops by 2020.

But wait, the UK is not only buying new F-35C Joint Strike Fighters to fly off its carriers, it’s fielding a brand new class of super carrier that uses electromagnetic catapults and arrestor wires. The Royal Navy hasn’t fielded one of these so called CATOBAR carrier since the 1970s, so it will be relearning how to operate this type of ship from the U.S. Ironic considering it was the British who invented the keystones of modern aircraft carrier design; an angled flight deck, the optical landing system and even the steam powered catapult that will be replaced by electromagnetic ones on the U.S. and British navies next aircraft carriers.

January 9th, 2012 | Around the Globe, F-35 Watch, Money Money Money, Planes, Copters, Blimps, Sea Services | 1597341 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F01%2F09%2Frebuilding-the-uks-carrier-fleet%2FRebuilding+the+UK%27s+Carrier+Fleet2012-01-09+21%3A49%3A18John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D15973

Happy Friday! These pictures of a rusting Soviet rocket motor factory taken by the adventurous young lady shown above have set the Internet abuzz. The explorer, named Lana, broke into the Energomash plant oustide Moscow and broke in, traipsing all over the place. As Animal NY points out, Russian officials are not pleased. Lana’s website posted threatening letters from the government telling her “not make [her] situation worse.”

Interestingly, Energomash partnered with Pratt & Whitney in the 2000s to produce Russia’s latest rocket motor, the RD-180 that powers the U.S.’ fleet of Atlas rockets. Before that, the Russian company’s  motors powered most Soviet and Russian spacecraft from 1965 to the present.

Well done, Lana and crew. These images really do look like the setting for a sci fi horror film.

Click through the jump for more pics and a link to her site.

A a couple of shots of the plant when it was operational:

Click here for many more oustanding pics.

January 6th, 2012 | Around the Globe, Bizarro, Crazy Ivan | 1591433 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F01%2F06%2Finside-an-abandoned-soviet-rocket-motor-factory%2FInside+an+Abandoned+Soviet+Rocket+Motor+Factory2012-01-06+17%3A19%3A11John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D15914

This is kind of funny. The same week that Tehran said that bad things would happen if the U.S. aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis returned to the Persian Gulf, American sailors rescued 13 Iranian fishermen who had been held hostage aboard their dhow (ship), the Al Molai, for several weeks by pirates in the Arabian Sea.  The destroyer USS Kidd rescued the Iranians on Jan. 5 after their captain put out a distress call saying he and his crew were being held hostage, according to a Pentagon news release. The shot above shows the Kidd’s visit, board, search and seizure team taking over the Iranian vessel, where they promptly captured the 15 pirates.

There goes that Great Satan again, rescuing people. I’d like to see how Tehran reacts to this one.

January 6th, 2012 | Around the Globe, Bizarro, Commandos, Iran | 1595054 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F01%2F06%2Fus-destroyer-rescues-iranians-from-pirates%2FUS+Destroyer+Rescues+Iranians+From+Pirates2012-01-06+21%3A06%3A51John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D15950

We may finally have a clue what the U.S. Air Force’s secret space plane, the X-37B, is up to on its record breaking mission in the heavens. Amatuer satellite trackers have noticed that the robo-shuttle’s orbital path is nearly identical to China’s brand new space station, Tiangong-1, which was launched in September.

Remember, the X-37B can stay aloft for nearly a year and is capable of changing its orbits around the Earth. These features, combined with the secrecy surrounding its missions have prompted many people to speculate that it is a spy craft capable of launching small spy satellites and snooping on other nation’s satellites up close.

“Space-to-space surveillance is a whole new ball game made possible by a finessed group of sensors and sensor suites, which we think the X-37B may be using to maintain a close watch on China’s nascent space station,” Spaceflight editor Dr. David Baker tells the BBC.

Remember, OTV-2, the second of two X-37Bs, launched last March and recently surpassed its official endurance of 270 days in space. It’s very plausible that Air Force officials decided to keep the bird aloft past its max endurance in order to get a better look at the Chinese space station. Tiangong-1 will receive its first human occupants later this year and is intended to serve as a prototype for several larger Chinese space stations.

From the BBC:

The current mission was launched on an Atlas rocket and put into a low orbit, a little over 300km up, with an inclination of 42.79 degrees with respect to the equator — an unusual profile for a US military mission which would normally go into an orbit that circles the poles.

The X-37B’s flight has since been followed from the ground by a dedicated group of optical tracking specialists in the US and Europe, intrigued by what the vehicle may be doing.

These individuals have watched how closely its orbit matches that of Tiangong.

The spacelab, which China expects to man with astronauts in 2012, was launched in September with an inclination of 42.78 degrees, and to a very similar altitude as the OTV.

“The parallels with X-37B are clear,” Dr Baker says in Spaceflight, the long established magazine of the British Interplanetary Society.

“With a period differential of about 19 seconds, the two vehicles will migrate toward or against each other, converging or diverging, roughly every 170 orbits.”

Read more about the U.S. and China in space here.

January 6th, 2012 | Air Force, Around the Globe, Bizarro, Cloak and Dagger, Drones, Eye on China, Space | 1595817 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F01%2F06%2Fx-37b-likely-spying-on-chinas-space-station%2FX-37B+Likely+Spying+on+China%27s+Space+Station2012-01-06+21%3A57%3A12John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D15958

Flight Global’s Steve Trimble pulled a coup the other day when he pulled Lockheed Martin’s 2012 holiday calendar out of his trashcan and discovered this  beauty gracing the month of February.

Yup, she’s apparenlty Lockheed’s concept for a post 2030 F-22 replacement that would “provide the next quantum leap in capabilities for the next generation of fighters.”

This quantum leap will be so big that it “will be driven by game changing technological breakthroughs in the areas of propulsion, materials, power generation, sensors, and weapons that are yet to be fully imagined,” Lockheed tells Trimble. This tells me the jet that will someday replace the F-22 won’t be a replica of the plane shown above. That drawing is merely meant to show that the company is already working on 6th-gen fighters. More on this tech tomorrow.

January 5th, 2012 | Air Force, Arms Trade, Fast Movers, Future Wars, Money Money Money, Planes, Copters, Blimps | 1590955 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F01%2F05%2Flockheeds-6th-gen-fighter%2FLockheed%27s+6th+Gen+Fighter2012-01-05+22%3A14%3A40John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D15909