This guy gets it!

via DOD Buzz...

Incoming House Armed Services Committee Chair, Howard “Buck” McKeon, today laid out his stance on defense spending as the top man on the committee, backing the embattled F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, its alternate engine program and the Pentagon’s efforts to reduce costs.
While the U.S. Marine Corps’ F-35B short take-off and vertical landing version of the jet has experienced numerous testing delays over the past year and is unlikely to meet its scheduled operational date of 2012, McKeon said he doesn’t want to see it cut.

“If you take that away then what plane are the Marines going to have,” asked the congressman. “I would not be supportive of cutting that.”

This guy so gets it.  

 

I wondered why we have been fairly drowned in F-35 news lately and now I think I'm putting it together.  It seems like the critics of the program once again were organizing a drum beat of negative news in an effort to influence policy makers...and as usual they've lost again.

AWESOME!

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.