Briefings : Nuclear summit, USAF, Trident replacement

A summit by 47 leaders in Washington is discussing nuclear weapons and nuclear security. The key issue appears to be trying to stop rogue states and terrorist groups like al-Qaeda getting ahold of nuclear weapons or the material to make a device. France meanwhile says it will not give up it's nuclear weapons though the Ukraine is going to get rid of it's enriched uranium. Iran, North Korea and Israel are not attending for various reasons.

The USAF may convert some F-15Cs into radar jammers. These would be F-15Cs upgraded with AESA radar which would allow them to be fitted with a radar jamming pod. The USAF may retire 20 C-5s instead of modernising them to save money and because they have received more C-17s than they originally wanted.

HMS Monmouth has returned from a 6 month tour of service in the Middle East where it's main task was protecting Iraqi oil platforms. Labour have ditched their plans to only build 3 new SSBNs and have pledged to build 4 if they are re-elected next month.

Briefings : Type 26, RAAF, RMAF

A contract has been signed for the assessment phase for the next Royal Navy warships the Type 26 Combat Ship which will replace the Type 22 and eventually the Type 23 frigates. Calling the Type 26 a Combat Ship and not a frigate from the off is interesting, personally i think the terms like destroyer and frigate are obsolete. Though even more interesting perhaps is the fact the "combat ship" will be also suitable for non-combat missions like humanitarian relief. But its the MOD, its not supposed to make sense. Work on Astute #5 will also begin and long-lead items for #6 will be bought. A long term service agreement for the Astutes has also been signed with Babcock.

The first of the Royal Australian Air Force's new Super Hornets will be making their first flights over their new home tomorrow. Malaysia is looking to buy some new fighters and AEW aircraft.

Briefings : Red Arrows, JSF, More fighters

Two Hawks from the RAF's display team the Red Arrows were involved in a mid-air collision during training in Crete. One Hawk was destroyed and the pilot had to eject, he suffered non-fatal injuries. The other Hawk was able to land. The Bear is active it seems, RAF fighters have been scrambled 20 times over the last year to intercept Russian aircraft approaching British airspace.

Scratch one BAE Hawk, even Scotty couldn't fix this

The JSF may be a project rapidly stampeding out of control, at least cost wise, but at least there is being made some decent progress with the flight testing. The V/STOL F-35B has now made a vertical landing. Denmark is delaying it's decision as to whether to buy the JSF or some other fighter until 2014. Romania meanwhile is to buy 24 second-hand F-16s to replace it's Soviet era MiG-21s.

Briefings : JCA hover, Korean helicopter, Defence cuts

The F-35B JSF (JCA in the UK) has demonstrated it can hover during a test flight in the US. The aircraft hovered for 96 seconds.



The Korean Utility Helicopter, developed by KAI and Eurocopter, has made it's first flight. Stop the presses! Gordon Brown has admitted he was wrong. He told the Iraq Enquiry defence spending had increased in real terms during every year in the New Labour regime but has now had to admit in real terms the defence budget has dropped.

Briefings : FSC, FRES SV, Lots of fighter news

The UK could move ahead with development of it's next frigate (FSC / Type 26) and select a contractor for FRES SV soon (General Dynamics are already rumoured to have won this) in the next few days.

China is said to be close to flight testing it's next generation fighter which will surprise the US Secretary of Defence who said China would not have a 5th generation fighter before 2020. Maybe he meant "into service" which apparently is the PLAAF's aim for it to enter service.

Japan is looking to replace it's ageing F-4s and the Super Hornet could be an option. Boeing is willing to outsource some production to Japan if they decide to buy the jet and could deliver the first 10 in 2015 if the order is placed this year. Denmark is also looking at buying the Super Hornet instead of the F-35 according to some reports, sceptical on that to be honest. Argentina is also looking to replace some fighters at the end of their lives (some Mirage IIIA/DAs) however in their case their target is a rather more modest second-hand purchase of ex-Jordanian Mirage F1CJs. Two Saab 340 Eyieye AEW planes will also be bought.

Sunday Fail : F-111B

While the F-111 has had a successful career as a bomber for the US and Australian Air Forces it was also supposed to be an interceptor for the US Navy. The TFX (Tactical Fighter Experimental) programme in the early 1960s was supposed to combine the Air Force's need for a tactical fighter bomber with the Navy's need for an interceptor.

To try and please everyone is very difficult as we all know, especially as both services did not really want to share a programme. Requirements changed also, originally the Navy wanted a large interceptor but later maneuverability became "important" again after early experience in the Vietnam War showed that dogfighting was not yet relegated to the history books. But the F-111B, which was the Navy's version, was a large and rather sluggish plane.

The F-111B was overweight by some margin and this added to it's poor performance. It was noticeably inferior to the F-4 Phantom an aircraft it was supposed to be superior to and replace. By the late 1960s everyone had given up trying to make the F-111 the plane the Navy needed. The US Navy instead went for a new design... the F-14 Tomcat, which turned out quite well...

The F-111 for the USAF proved to be a solid tactical strike aircraft with strategic bombing and electronic warfare versions also developed. The F-111 was finally retired from US service in the 1990s and will leave Australian service later this year. Only 7 of the F-111B were built and were retired by the end of the 1960s.

Video : First in-flight engagement of lift-fan on F-35B

Pratt & Whitney's F135 engine and Rolls-Royce LiftFan® successfully powered the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) fighter through the first in-flight engagement of its STOVL propulsion system on Jan. 7, 2010.

Briefings (12/01/10) : Winter and warplanes, Sea based BMD, JSF

Defence Management has an interesting, and timely, article on some of the ways military aircraft can be protected from ice deposits. Aviation Week discusses sea-based BMD and how this trend in missile defence is gaining in credibility though you have to agree with one of the comments, there are some situations where a sea-based BMD platform will be too far away from the "action".

The Guardian looks at Gazprom, the Russian gas giant, and the increasing strangehold it has over European gas supplies, a powerful economic weapon.

Navy News has another pic of the F-35B prototype testing it's lift fan, the type will one day be the JCA in RAF and FAA service. The Dutch however have raised some concerns over the noise of the F-35.

Briefings (07/01/10) : Airport security, Streetfighter, FX-2

Information Dissemination looks the "Streetfighter 2010" concept.The Brazilian Air Force has completed it's technical evaluation of the various contenders for it's FX-2 project though not officially released the findings yet, unconfirmed reports state that the Gripen comes out on top in the evaluation.

London Heathrow, in the wake of the underpants bombing scare, expects to deploy body scanners in a few weeks time though the Guardian reports that body scanners may break child pornography laws!

Briefings (05/01/10) : C-17, A400M, PAK-FA

Contracts have been signed for a 7th C-17 Globemaster for the RAF. It should enter service in March next year.

However the RAF's future airlifter the A400M could be in trouble again, this time from Airbus who apparently want to ditch the project?! Airbus don't want their troubled airlifter to damage it's successful commercial division.

Russia have begun ground tests of their next generation combat fighter, the PAK-FA and it will hopefully make it's first flight later this month. There are still no photographs of this mysterious new beast though so we don't know yet if its a Raptorski, Flanker 3.0 or something else entirely.

A US drone has crashed in eastern Afghanistan, probably due to technical problems not enemy fire. The French Navy is celebrating 100 years of naval aviation this year (the FAA celebrated it's 100th birthday in 2009 of course).

A400M breaks cover

The troubled and delayed Airbus A400M military airlifter has been moved out of the Airbus factory in Seville to begin ground testing. First flight is now being mooted for the end of the year or the start of the next. It was supposed to fly in 2008 of course.

Airbus try and get A400M back on track

Airbus Military is trying to get the much-delayed and yet-to-fly A400M back on track with a show of commitment from from the 7 European partners before proceeding with the programme. The first flight is now expected some time later this year though the date as yet has not been made public. Delivery dates cannot be given until the flight testing has begun and they have some idea of how much work (and money) will be required to get the plane to completion. Earlier it was estimated delivery to the first customer will be about 3 years after the beginning of flight testing.



Of course the question remains for the RAF, in or out? Leaving it would seem the immediate relief for the short term pain but unfortunately in the long run the wrong option. Leaving A400M would put British jobs at risk and this plane will sell, and likely to sell a lot.

Of course the long term job prospects of Airbus employees is of little comfort or interest to hard pushed troops on the ground and strained RAF logistics crews and it is easy for some commentators to say an off-the-shelf solution should be procured immediately but that is ignoring politics. At the end of the day the military's greatest enemy is politics and its a fact of life that much military procurement is designed to generate or retain jobs in the home nation. Its not ideal for some reasons (but not a total loss, see below) but its a fact of life and grown-ups have to just "deal with it". Keeping arms production "local" is also one of the few times politicians actually think beyond their immediate re-election prospects.

To be reliant on foreign countries for your military hardware is not a situation you really want to be in. In some cases too you can only make some weapons for yourself (e.g. nuclear submarines) and you need to ensure a continual work stream to keep skills and facilities intact. For an example of what happens when you don't, Astute.

So basically the RAF will have to eat the short term pain to afford long-term political and economic gain, but they may get an extra C-17 or two out of it anyway.

Brave deeds of WW2 carrier pigeons remembered

In WW2 RAF bomber crews took carrier pigeons with them to send a distress message if the plane was shot down. (A very interesting book on all this kind of thing is "Shot down & in the drink" incidentally.) Sam the pigeon who rode with bomber crews from RAF Linton-on-Ouse has been honoured. Sam was injured over Berlin when a piece of shrapnel blew his beak off. The box Sam was in at the time still exists, as does the hole. Sam survived the injury thanks to care from the crew who were able to look after Sam as well as bomb the Hun. Well that is why the British won the war of course.


Harold Wood, who looked after Sam and other pigeons along with Sam's box. Pigeon is unnamed.

On a more serious note we should always remember the animals who died for the armed forces in warfare, unlike the humans (most of the time) the animals didn't have a choice in the matter!

First high power test for USAF laser cannon

The Boeing YAL-1 airborne laser laboratory has carried out it's first high power test, albeit parked in a hangar at Edwards AFB. The laser is a megawatt class chemical laser fitted in a Boeing 747-400F. Boeing are seeking funds to build a second YAL-1 based on the 747-8F (well they need every sale they can get) and also increase the role for the airborne laser to "multirole" though the USAF are only interested in the ABM role so far, that may change after an actual "shootdown".

USAF experimenting with synthetic fuel

The US Air Force are trialling synthetic fuel for it's aircraft based on natural gas. Aircraft from it's fighter, trainer and transport fleets have all been trialled or will be with the fuel, the F-22 recently conducting flight tests with the fuel and no anomalies were found. A T-38 is currently in flight test and a C-5 will begin trials next month. Trials will also take place with the C-130, A-10, RQ-4 and MQ-9. The USAF aims to have it's entire fleet certified by 2011 and by 2016 have half it's domestic fuel needs met by synthetic fuels derived from coal and natural gas by the Fischer-Tropsch process.



Syntroleum has produced over 400,000 gallons of fuel using the Fischer-Tropsch process and has been working with the USAF on the right fuel blend. It would be interesting to know what the RAF are doing on this, if anything.