Marine Air in Exercise Keen Sword.

Video of F-35C arriving at Pax River.

Same story...two different view points.

The F-35.  A controversial project with many detractors.

But when you have one story but two different takes on the same facts it should give pause.  We have in one corner Bjørnar Bolsøy of F-16.net and in the other we have Graham Warrick of Aviation Week....

First Bjørnar's take...

As the third F-35A test jet joins the test fleet at Edwards AFB, the F-35 program has logged its 400th test flight this year - still with two weeks to go before year's end. The program had planned for 394 flights, a goal acheived on December 9.

Some 300 flights have been flown since June. This is despite a fleet wide grounding in October due to a software issue with the jets fuel boost pumps as well as challenges with the F-35B STOVL jet, which has slowed the type's flight test progress. Overall the program has logged 531 flights to date.

And now Graham's...

Lockheed Martin, meanwhile, says it passed its 394-flight test target for 2010 on Dec. 6, taking the program total to 531 flights since the F-35 first flew on Dec. 15, 2006. Two F-35As, four F-35Bs and one F-35C logged 60 flights in November against a plan of 51.

That sounds like progress, and it is, but it's worth remembering that, in September last year, the JSF program office leadership was pojecting that 12 aircraft would be flying by now, each logging 12 test sorties a month. That goal is unlikely to be achieved until well in 2011.

If these two differing views of the same information doesn't give you pause then nothing in the world of procurement ever will.

It appears that we've reached a point in the development of this airplane where either you're a supporter or a detractor....that my friends is a shame.

Pic of the day. Dec. 13, 2010.

USS Halsey is underway in formation with the French aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle.

101210-N-8824M-268
ARABIAN SEA (Dec. 10, 2010) USS Halsey (DDG 97) assigned to Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, sails in a formation with the French aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle (R 91) during a photo exercise. The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is deployed in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts to establish conditions for regional stability. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Spencer Mickler/Released)

Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361 (Reduced) (Reinforced) recover CH-47 Chinook in Afghanistan.

HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan-A CH-53E Super Stallion with the Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361 (Reduced) (Reinforced) “Flying Tigers” returns to Forward Operating Base Jalalabad, Afghanistan to deliver a disabled H-47 Chinook for repairs Dec. 10. The Flying Tigers, based out of Camp Bastion, flew across the country to conduct the mission. Their Super Stallions are the only aircraft in country capable of a 23,500 pound external lift., Sgt. Derek B. Carlson, 12/10/2010 2:00 AM

FORWARD OPERATING BASE JALALABAD, Afghanistan-A CH-53E Super Stallion with the Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361 returns to Forward Operating Base Jalalabad, Afghanistan to deliver a disabled H-47 Chinook for repairs Dec. 10. The Flying Tigers, based out of Camp Bastion, flew across the country to conduct the mission. Their Super Stallions are the only aircraft in country capable of a 23,500 pound external lift., Sgt. Derek B. Carlson, 12/10/2010 2:04 AM

FORWARD OPERATING BASE JALALABAD, Afghanistan-A disabled H-47 Chinook rests on the Forward Operating Base Jalalabad, Afghanistan, flightline Dec. 10, after being delivered by a CH-53E Super Stallion with the Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361 (Reduced) (Reinforced) “Flying Tigers.” The Flying Tigers, based out of Camp Bastion, flew across the country to conduct the mission. Their Super Stallions are the only available aircraft in country capable of a 23,500-pound external lift., Sgt. Derek B. Carlson, 12/10/2010 2:37 AM

FORWARD OPERATING BASE JALALABAD, Afghanistan-A disabled H-47 Chinook rests on the Forward Operating Base Jalalabad, Afghanistan, flightline Dec. 10, after being delivered by a CH-53E Super Stallion with the Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361 (Reduced) (Reinforced) “Flying Tigers.” The Flying Tigers, based out of Camp Bastion, flew across the country to conduct the mission. Their Super Stallions are the only available aircraft in country capable of a 23,500-pound external lift., Sgt. Derek B. Carlson, 12/10/2010 2:22 AM

FORWARD OPERATING BASE JALALABAD, Afghanistan-The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward) commanding general and sergeant major stand with Lt. Col. Douglas Gasgow, commanding officer for the Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361 (Reduced) (Reinforced) “Flying Tigers,” and a small group of his Marines in front of a disabled H-47 Chinook. The Marines conducted an external lift for the Chinook, returning the aircraft for repairs to Forward Operating Base Jalalabad, Afghanistan. The Tigers and their CH-53E Super Stallions are the only aircraft in country capable of a 23,500 pound external lift., Sgt. Derek B. Carlson, 12/10/2010 2:30 AM

CH-53E gets glass cockpit.

Upgraded CH-53E makes first flight on Marine Corps birthday

NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. -- The Marine Corps’ 235th birthday, Nov. 10, marked the first flight here of the Marine Corps first CH-53E helicopter equipped with a new glass cockpit and avionics upgrade.

Now that the first flight has been accomplished, the upgraded CH-53E Super Sea Stallion will now begin flight test which is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2011.

The H-53 program office, PMA-261, and the Air Combat Electronics program office, PMA-209, served as the Lead Systems Integrator (LSI) for the CH-53E cockpit and avionics upgrade and worked together to ensure the integration of the upgrades was successful.

“The CH-53E cockpit and avionics upgrade is very significant and provides tremendous capability improvements for our Sea Stallion aircrews. Our NAVAIR team has transformed an aging cockpit and numerous supporting systems into a modern flight deck that has a digital backbone for today’s demanding missions and growth capability for the future,” said Capt. Ralph Portnoy, program manager, PMA-209. “Some of the new capabilities include Communication Navigation Surveillance/Air Traffic Management, with Required Navigation Performance Area Navigation, Mode S transponder, and 8.33 kHz radio channel spacing.”

“We also added Mode 5, Integrated Blue Force Tracker, Integrated Moving Map, Integrated Degraded Visual Environment/Brown Out Hover Cueing, Engine Indicating and Crew Alerting System, Joint Mission Planning and a few others upgrades,” added Portnoy. “In today’s environment, information is key and this cockpit design and avionics upgrade is critical to getting that information in front of the right people at the right time. I can’t say enough great things about this combined multi-office team from across NAVAIR working together to make this happen. It goes to show you what we can accomplish when we collaborate as a team and drive to do things better.”

The CH-53E upgrade is another of many aircraft government LSI upgrades championed by PMA-209 and partnering with our fellow platform program office customers.

Previous PMA-209 LSI teamed upgrades include PMA-290's P-3C, PMA-231's C-2A and E-2C Hawkeye 2000 have all successfully completed flight test and have aircraft modifications underway.

PMA-209 has also teamed on other platform integrations such as the U.S. Coast Guard's HC-130H, PMA-261's MH-53E and commencing next year are the Navy C-130T’s under PMA-207.

Hmm...looks similar to what EADS did for the German CH-53D's...at least to the cockpit.  If I recall correctly they did a much more comprehensive upgrade on those helicopters.

Canadian industry visit Ft. Worth.

via National Defense and Canadian Forces website.

The Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Industry, and the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, leading a delegation from more than 60 Canadian companies, today attended an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Canadian sustainment conference in Fort Worth, Texas, hosted by Lockheed Martin and the Government of Canada.
The conference is a critical next step in the global F-35 program and a forum for Canadian aerospace and defence companies to secure their role in the program’s 40-year sustainment period. The ministers used the opportunity to visit Lockheed Martin’s mile-long F-35 production facility to see Canadian technologies at work.
Photo: Angel DelCueto, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co.

Happy Birthday Cloggies...

via Wikipedia...

The corps was founded on 10 December 1665 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War by the unofficial leader of the Dutch Republic, Johan de Witt, and Admiral Michiel de Ruyter as the Regiment de Marine. Its leader was Willem Joseph van Ghent.

F-35...full afterburner take-off...

Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti takes off in afterburner on 11 December 2010 in F-35A AF-3. The aircraft, the first fully low-observable compliant F-35, landed at Edwards AFB, California, a few hours later. AF-3 joins AF-1 and AF-2 at the Joint Strike Fighter Integrated Test Force at Edwards.

Aviation Photographer's websites in the UK that you must check out.

 We have some great aviation photographers in the US.  Joe Copalman is one of my favorites and there are a couple others.  But in the UK, I'm discovering that they have a few guys over their that are quite good with the shutter too.

Mark Jaye runs MJaviation website and I followed a link to some of his buddies sites that are definitely worth a look....

http://www.av8-images.com/

http://www.maxpix.co.uk/home.htm

http://www.fast-air.co.uk/

http://belmaati.zenfolio.com/

Via Marines.com (note: This exercise just down the coast from D.C. is proof positive that the Marine Corps is fully engaged and ready to battle the nay sayers that doubt the relevancy of amphibious forces in the future...on a readiness note, its good to see the Corps pulling its head out of the Middle East and getting ready to get back to its core mission.)

Marines return to their amphibious roots 

12/10/2010  By Capt. Timothy Patrick  , II MEF 

 

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C.  — After nearly a decade of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Marine Corps has been inappropriately branded as a second land army. In response to this misconception, the Corps returns to its amphibious roots Dec. 11 with exercise Bold Alligator 2011, an operation with the Navy's Sound Fleet which reestablishes Marines in their traditional role as "fighters from the sea."      
Initiated by Navy and Marine Corps leadership, Bold Alligator ‘11 is a two-part exercise leadership designed to reacquaint brigade and group-level commands with their amphibious doctrine, tactical skill sets and logistical requirements.

"Though we have focused (at this level) almost exclusively on land warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan for the last decade, amphibious operations continue to be the mainstay of our Corps’ mission," explained Col. Scott D. Aiken, operations officer for II MEF. "We have been working toward this for more than two years now and it’s one of the first of many steps in the direction to revitalize our core competency."

During these two years, planners from the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Staff Training Program located in Quantico, Va., have been busy engineering scenario-based environments to test the Navy/Marine Corps team on their amphibious competence and the dozens of different missions that fall under amphibious operations.

"Amphibious operations are much more than just assaults," said Lt. Col. Bowen Richwine, lead action officer for the MEF’s part in the exercise.

In fact, since 1990, the Navy/Marine Corps team has conducted more than 110 amphibious operations throughout the world - many of which were non-combatant evacuations, disaster relief, or similar crisis-response operations conducted in austere and uncertain environments.

"While assault is one reason for maintaining amphibious capabilities, the utility in conducting raids, demonstrations and amphibious support to noncombatant operations is immense," Richwine explained. "Amphibious forces also have enormous deterrent value against potential adversaries."

Bold Alligator ‘11 is the first installment in what will be regularly scheduled large-scale amphibious exercises involving the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade and the Navy’s Expeditionary Strike Group 2. This December, Marines and sailors will conduct the exercise from two Navy landing helicopter assault amphibious ships, the USS Iwo Jima and USS Bataan, and multiple simulation centers which will provide in-depth analysis of landing timetables, weather conditions and fires effects. The next scheduled event for the training cycle is a live exercise scheduled for February 2012.

The scenario for the exercise includes the conduct of a forcible entry operation to enable a noncombatant evacuation in the midst of a violent sectarian conflict. This complex but realistic mission requires the ability to respond rapidly, project a credible security force ashore, and organize the evacuation of thousands of noncombatants.

In many cases, these capabilities can only be provided by amphibious forces. Bold Alligator ‘11 is not only designed to retain proficiency in amphibious operations for the Navy/Marine team, but also to update concepts, procedures and techniques, and to incorporate the new enablers developed since the units last focused on amphibious operations at the MEB/ESG level in 2001.

"We need to continuously refine our thinking and our training with amphibious capability," explained Richwine. "We have the opportunity to develop new skill sets across the entire range of military operations - from humanitarian assistance to contested beach assaults, and everything in between."

WHAT ARE AMPHIBIOUS OPERATIONS?

In a doctrinal sense, the term "amphibious operations" is a broad concept that covers a great range of military actions involving land operations, sea operations and the confluence between the two. Generally, amphibious operations are launched from the sea by naval shipping onto foreign or domestic shores in order to conduct a host of missions ranging from humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to full-scale assaults in combat environments. There are some misconceptions that amphibious operations are synonymous with beach landings or that the U.S. has not conducted an amphibious operation since Inchon during the Korean War.

In the past two decades, our nation has conducted more than one hundred amphibious operations in response to international security threats and crises with the vast majority of these falling into noncombatant evacuations, disaster relief or similar crisis response operations – a response rate more than double that during the Cold War era. Amphibious operations are more than just assaults. The utility in conducting raids, demonstrations and support to other noncombatant operations is immense.

Some amphibious operations/missions include: raids, counter-piracy, security cooperation, show of force/deterrence, humanitarian assistance, demonstrations, assault, withdrawal, crisis response, noncombatant evacuation and disaster relief.

WHY ARE AMPHIBIOUS OPERATIONS IMPORTANT?

Amphibious forces offered by the Navy/Marine Corps team are the only viable option that can assure access to littorals, straits and many other parts of the world to conduct robust military operations across the spectrum of conflict.

The world’s oceans account for nearly 90 percent of all international commerce. Straits are geographical areas littered across the oceans near land masses that constrict the passage of shipping to narrow passages. These straits often serve as strategic chokepoints that offer potential control of the world’s sea lanes of communication. Because international shipping lanes are forced to go through these specific vulnerable locations, they are often referred to as the "geographical Achilles heels of the global economy."

Many straits are in close proximity to politically unstable nations, which increases navigation risks and compromises access and use. These strategic passages can be mined, blocked by sinking ships, or interdicted by naval forces, artillery or missile systems.

Additionally, the littorals are home to 80 percent of the world’s population, most of which lives in urban areas beleaguered with poverty, lack of food, water, education and reliable medical care, making these locations most susceptible to influence of violent extremist ideologies that use these conditions as a basis to generate popular support for their anti-Western actions and rhetoric.

Because of these factors, amphibious forces have an enormous impact on the international security environment. Our distinctive ability to gain access to critical areas anywhere in the world with ground, air and logistics forces enables the Navy and Marine Corps to shape actions across the range of military operations to resolve conflict, conduct humanitarian assistance or combat the enemy in remote, austere environments that would otherwise be inaccessible.

STRAITS AND MARITIME CHOKEPOINTS

Examples include: Strait of Hormuz – provides transit for 88 percent of all the petroleum exported from the Persian Gulf Strait of Malacca - one of the most important strategic passages in the world because it supports the bulk of the maritime trade between Europe and Pacific Asia Strait of Bab el-Mandeb - a strategic link between the Indian Ocean and Red Sea that controls access to the Suez Canal, which in turn accounts for 14 percent of global commerce Passages of Bosphorus and Dardanelles – the only links between the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea, thus one of the few passages for commerce and petroleum from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean community Panama Canal - handles nearly 12 percent of the American international seaborne trade.

AMPHIBIOUS OPERATIONS SINCE 1990

1991: A large amphibious assault force, composed of United States Marine Corps and naval support, was positioned off the coast of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. This force was composed of 40 amphibious assault ships, the largest such force to be assembled since the Battle of Inchon in 1950. The purpose behind this amphibious maneuver (known as an amphibious demonstration) was to prevent six Iraqi divisions poised for the defense of the littorals, during the Gulf War, from being able to actively engage in combat at the real front. The operation was extremely successful and kept more than 41,000 Iraqi forces from repositioning to the main battlefield. As a result, the Marines maneuvered through the Iraqi defense of southern Kuwait and outflanked the Iraqi coastal defense forces.

1991: Marine Expeditionary Units, serving as part of an Amphibious Task Force and returning to the U.S. after the Gulf War were diverted to the Bay of Bengal after the region was struck by a tropical cyclone. This was part of Operation Sea Angel, one of the largest military disaster relief efforts ever carried out. The efforts of U.S. troops are credited with having saved as many as 200,000 lives.

1992: The 13th MEU conducted amphibious operations when it provided disaster relief in the wake of earthquakes in the Philippines. The 13th MEU also arrived off the coast of Somalia in early October 1993 in response to increasing hostilities there, and served as a temporary deterrent against civilian and nonpartisan violence.

1996: Elements of the Guam Amphibious Ready Group and the 22nd MEU, were ordered to the vicinity of Monrovia, Liberia to help defend the U.S. embassy and facilitate evacuation of friendly and allied civilians, as part of Operation Assured Response. Through the combined efforts of Navy, Air Force, Army and Marine Corps personnel, 309 noncombatants were evacuated — including 49 U.S. citizens.

1999: The 15th MEU, along with 17 other nations, contributed forces to the United Nations to create the International Force for East Timor, aimed at ending the surge of violence within the country. The task force landed in East Timor in September and brought the bloodshed there to an end.

2001: The Marines and sailors of the 15th MEU set new standards for Marine Corps amphibious doctrine when they conducted an amphibious assault more than 400 miles into the land-locked country of Afghanistan. Landing at a remote airbase 90 miles southwest of Kandahar, the Marines established America’s first Forward Operating Base while maintaining the first significant conventional ground presence in Afghanistan.

2003: Elements of the 26th MEU were ordered into northern Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, where the unit joined coalition forces in the vicinity of Mosul. The mission of the MEU was to promote stability in the region and eliminate any remaining Iraqi forces still loyal to Saddam Hussein and the Baath Party regime.

2004: The 15th MEU was on station in Southeast Asia to support the relief efforts in the wake of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami which inflicted catastrophic damage to Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.

2005: The USS Iwo Jima served as a sea base off the Gulf of Mexico, where the 24th MEU supported recovery and relief efforts in response to Hurricane Katrina, bringing much needed supplies, logistics and medical support to the flood victims.

2009: Off the coast of Somalia, when pirates boarded the Maersk Alabama, the 13th MEU and the USS Boxer were on station to support the counter-piracy operations.

2010: With Haiti’s airfield overwhelmed and their seaport disabled by wreckage following an earthquake, the USS Bataan and Nassau ARGs and the 22nd and 24th MEUs were mobilized to provide relief, as one of the few viable options for the delivery of humanitarian aid. Within three days, 5,000 Marines and sailors arrived, bringing much needed manpower to the disaster area.

2010: Marines with the 15th MEU liberated the Magellan Star, a German- owned cargo ship, and rescued the crew from Somali pirates without firing a shot.

2010: Naval ships and assets from more than 20 nations, along with 26th MEU comprise the Combined Maritime Forces, tasked with stemming piracy in the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

2010: The 15th and 26th MEUs were involved in providing relief support to flood victims in Pakistan.

F-35 readies to ferry...

F-35A AF-3 comes in for a landing after its eighth flight on 9 December 2010 with Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti at the controls. The aircraft is the first fully low-observable compliant F-35. The 2.5-hour flight at NAS Fort Worth JRB was an endurance flight in preparation for a ferry flight from Fort Worth to Edwards AFB, California.

(thanks B. Olsoy!)