NAVAIR Photo Releases.

Fire Scout prepares for CENTCOM deployment

The Navy’s Fire Scout Unmanned Air Vehicle system is about to begin its first land-based deployment to U.S. Central Command this month.

The Fire Scout effort is led by the Navy and Marine Corps Multi-Mission Tactical Unmanned Air System program office, PMA-266, at Patuxent River, Md. In response to an urgent needs requirement from DoD’s Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance task force, the team rapidly modified, tested and verified the Fire Scout system to adjust to land-based operations and the demanding environmental conditions in CENTCOM.

“This is an exciting time for the Fire Scout program,” said Capt. Tim Dunigan, PMA-266 program manager. “The system has proven its capability on its two ship-based deployments, and I am confident it will perform well in CENTCOM.”

A combined team of military, civilian and contractor personnel loaded 90,000 pounds of equipment, including three aircraft, two ground control stations (GCS) and associated hardware, on U.S. Air Force C-5 and C-17 aircraft. The C-5 left with the GCS and hardware April 8, and the C-17 deployed April 13 with three air vehicles.

“It’s very unique for an aircraft to deploy directly from Pax River,” Dunigan said. “The activity conducted by our test team at Webster Field was done exceptionally well. We were able to meet tight schedule timelines so we could support the warfighter as soon as possible.”

The Fire Scout will provide hundreds of hours of Full Motion Video in theater supporting U.S. Army and coalition forces during its year-long deployment. The system will be operated by contractor personnel.

The Fire Scout’s first flight in CENTCOM is expected this month. The system is also currently deployed aboard the USS Halyburton (FFG 40) tallying more than 200 flight hours to date in support of humanitarian assistance and counter-piracy missions. 

Photo release: Third F-35B aircraft completes STOVL mode flight

NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. - Over an Atlantic test range near Naval Air Station Patuxent River, U.S. Marine Corps test pilot Lt. Col. Fred "Tinman" Schenk completes the first flight of F-35B test aircraft BF-4 in short takeoff, vertical landing (STOVL) mode. The flight marks growing maturity of STOVL flight with the third F-35B aircraft at NAS Patuxent River performing STOVL test missions. BF-4 is also the only mission systems test aircraft flying Block 1.0 software to fly in STOVL mode. The F-35B STOVL variant and F-35C carrier variant are undergoing test and evaluation at NAS Patuxent River prior to delivery to the fleet. Photos courtesy of Lockheed Martin.

A theory on the J-20.

I haven't heard this theory regarding the J-20 and I want to throw it out there...

What we do know.

1.  The Chinese are developing weapons to not only exploit perceived Western weakness but also to match our capabilities and if possible exceed them.
2.  The Chinese have a hacking enterprise second to none.  An enterprise that fetched them details on the F-35...presumably on its avionics package.

What has been speculated.

1.  The J-20 is a large airplane to allow it to operate across the expanses of the Pacific.
2.  In its production version it will sport thrust vectoring and F-22 class engines.
3.  Its extremely agile and achieves it in a unique way not currently being utilized (exactly) in the West.

What I'm guessing.

The J-20 is a long range missile truck that operates under the assumption that maneuvering is irrelevant.  A Chinese version of helmet mounted cuing...rearward facing AESA and some form of EOTS would in essence change what is needed in modern day aerial combat.

If the Chinese have been reading and keeping up with Air Force and Navy Journals regarding the use of Electronic Attack...the possibility of microwave and solid state lasers in the near future and the Achilles heel of power generation then it would lead them to build what we consider a huge fighter.

My guess is that the Chinese have put it all together, possibly much quicker than we did, with primary considerations NOT being agility but instead power production, long range, extremely large internal weapons bays and the ability to carry large all aspect sensors.

Just a guess but I can't get past how big this sucker is!

AH-1Z / UH-1Y vid...

NATO, Europe and the US.

Military.com has an article detailing the movement of a US Army Combat Brigade out of Europe.  I find it surprising that moving so small a formation could cause so much controversy.  Read the article but this stood out.

First this...

Moving the brigade would weaken the NATO alliance, said Ståle Ulriksen, chair of the Security and Conflict Management Department at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs in Oslo. Norway, for instance, went to Afghanistan, like the other European nations, "to show solidarity and to stay on the good side of the U.S. -- to be an ally," he said.
Ulriksen said that "free-riding" on the U.S. had enabled Europeans to avoid devising their own coordinated defense structures and that they should "grow up and take responsibility."
But he also said a European alliance was hard to imagine without the U.S. as leader.
"It's a kind of a comfortable situation. You have a leader no one disputes," he said. "What would be the alternative -- the British? The French? The Germans?"

and then this...

In the House, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., spearheaded a plan last year to eliminate an Air Force fighter wing overseas, two Marine Corps infantry battalions on Okinawa -- and one Army brigade in Europe.
"NATO was a wonderful concept. But 61 years later, I think it's time to say our Western European allies should be on their own. We'll cooperate with them, but we shouldn't be subsidizing their defense," Frank said.

In the Senate, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, whose state stands to gain troops at Fort Bliss in the restructuring, was advocating similarly.
"For the future security posture of U.S. military forces and for the fiscal health of our nation, [the] military construction agenda should be guided by these words: build in America," she wrote in Politico last year. "Some argue that the U.S. overseas presence provides assurance to our allies and deterrence to our adversaries. History has proven otherwise."

Long story short.

US forces will be coming home.  Europe will have to stand on its own two feet.  The alliance, if its to survive, must evolve.

Notice one thing.

You have a prominent Republican and Democrat saying the same thing.  They're reading the political winds.  Forward deployed forces on even allied soil is something that the American people are tiring of.

Bell Helicopter - Scouts Out Website.

Bell Helicopter has a website up that I hadn't seen before...its called "Scouts Out" and its advertising the upgrades to the OH-58.

Bad news EuroCopter fans.

The US Army looks like they're just going to do an upgrade to an existing system and the competition for a new observation helicopter is going away.  In a way its positively brilliant.  An upgrade.  No worries about a competition.  Easily approved by Congress.

To be honest I'm not sure if the OH-58 will be more capable than the UH-72 but its here now and good enough, appears to be enough these days.

F-35B BF-4 Flies STOVL Mode

BF-4, the fourth F-35 short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) test aircraft, flies mode 4 for the first time on April 7, 2011, at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. Mode 4 engages the F-35 STOVL’s shaft-driven LiftFan system that allows the aircraft to hover, perform short takeoffs and land vertically. BF-4 is the first aircraft equipped with full mission systems to fly mode 4.

New Marine AH-1Z attack helicopter ready for war