Check this out. We’ve been wondering how the cancellation of the C-27J Joint Cargo Aircraft would impact the Army’s tactical airlift needs. While the Air Force says canning the JCA won’t hurt anyone, it looks like the Army is eying the optionally-manned K-MAX helo to carry realatively small but urgent loads of cargo to remote [...]
Military Defense
Friday Eye Candy: China’s Newest Attack Helo
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
Check out these latest photos of China’s newest attack helo, the Z-19. The twin-seat bird, an updated version of the Z-9W that’s been in service since the 1990s, is just one more example of China’s military modernization. If the chopper’s lines look vaguely familiar, it’s because the bird is based on the Eurocopter Dauphin series, [...]
Meet the Air Force’s Newest X-Plane
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
Aviation Week dropped a heck of a story yesterday when it revealed the Air Force’s newest X-plane, the X-56A. The the flying wing is being designed by Lockheed Martin’s Skunkworks to test out the technologies that will allow a new crop of reconnaissance planes to stay aloft at high altitudes for long periods of times; think days or weeks. [...]
Creepy-Cool Video: Tiny UAVs Flying in Formation
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
In case you guys haven’t seen this video, it’s awesome. It shows a swarm of tiny quadrotor UAVs flying in numerous formations, performing figure eights with each other and even flying around obstacles. Talk about sense and avoid! The little drones (monsters?) were developed and programmed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s General Robotics, [...]
Get Ready for the EQ-4 Global Hawk
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
The Air Force is paying Northrop Grumman $47 million to equip two more Block 20 RQ-4 Global Hawks with BACN. You know, the communications link that allows different types of datalinks to communicate with one another; allowing troops on the ground to easily share info with pilots in jets overhead even if they’re out of [...]
Ponce Not Quite Floating Spec Ops Base
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
Well, the Navy is trying to downplay the special operations role the USS Ponce will play after it is converted into a floating base for anti-mining, coastal patrol and special operations missions in the Persian Gulf. The amphibious transport dock, commissioned in 1970 is being rapidly converted into an interim Afloat Forward Staging Base for [...]
Rafale Wins in India
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
France finally scored an international customer for its Rafale fighter jet. After years and years of fits, starts and frustrations, India’s medium multirole combat aircraft (MMRCA) contest ended this morning with a French victory. Remember, MMRCA pitted the Rafale against everything from the Eurofighter Typhoon and Mig-29 to the American made F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and [...]
Sandia’s New Smart Bullet
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
In case you haven’t seen it, Sandia National Labs is working on a self-guided bullet for small arms that can hit targets a mile away. Kinda like a small version of the Army’s Excalibur smart artillery round. The four-inch, dart-like round uses tiny fins and an optical sensor in its nose to follow a laser [...]
Britain Sending Air Defense Ship to Falklands
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
Well then. An already turbulent 2012 is getting even weirder ina geopolitical sense. Britain just announced that it is sending one of its most sophisticated warships, HMS Dauntless, to the Falkland Islands in March. Not only is the pride of the Royal Navy on its way south, the Type 45 destroyer (rumor has it the 8,000-ton Type [...]
USAF’s Big Penetrator Needs to Be Harder
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
Yup, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) needs to be harder, according to anonymous Pentagon sources cited in a Wall Street Journal article. A series of recent tests found that the Air Force’s 30,000-pound tool for penetrating 32 stories of reinforced concrete might not have enough penetrating power to take out Iran’s most heavily protected nuclear [...]