In this month’s issue:
1) JFCom official: Military datalink picture bad
2) Chinese air strike capabilities boost market for new fighters
3) Chinese space, air capabilities growing, Moseley warns
4) Upgraded A-10s will be ready for combat soon, USAF says
5) Rockwell Collins gets $45M more for E-6B C2 system
6) SDB performing well, but some showing aerodynamic wear
7) In Brief: Boeing begins flight testing AC-130U gunship with new 30-mm cannon
8) E-2D Will Pack Next-Generation Sensors Into Old Shape
1) JFCom official: Military datalink picture bad
By John T. Bennett - Staff writer - AF Times
The military’s ability to use aging systems like Link 16 to pass battlefield data from aircraft to ground troops and headquarters-based leaders — as well as plans to replace those older applications — “is not a rosy picture,” says one Joint Forces Command official.
The military’s “datalink picture right now is just bad and ugly,” Douglass “Butch” Cassidy, deputy director of the command’s Joint Integrated Fires division, said April 24 in an address during a Precision Strike Association-sponsored conference here.
Cassidy, a former Navy fighter pilot, said his assessment of the military’s existing datalinks and plans to develop a set of replacement applications is largely based on a briefing he received a few weeks ago from a JFCom team focused on such systems.
The Department of Defense was moving toward using the same “datalink standard” planned for the Joint Strike Fighter, “but that’s up in the air right now,” Cassidy said.
The main problem with Link 16 is it often slows when war fighters attempt to pass large images to other battlefield machines, giving the datalink “no timeliness” in combat, he said.
Link 16 has been used in aircraft, ships and ground systems for years, allowing troops to share pictures, video, radar data and text messages. It also is used by a number of American allies around the globe. But the Pentagon has begun to look beyond the venerable datalink in recent years.
The ability to rapidly pass images among various platforms is becoming crucial in the kinds of battles
2) Chinese air strike capabilities boost market for new fighters
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report 04/20/2007
China's improving networking, strike and reconnaissance capabilities, along with some specific North Korea developments, are spurring programs for advanced aircraft among their neighbors including India, Singapore, Australia, South Korea and Japan.
It also has influenced the
single-place Su-27SK is an air superiority interceptor. The fighter has 10 hardpoints and would normally carry four Vympel R-73 (AA-11 Archer) infrared missiles and six Vympel R-27R (AA-10 Alamo) semi-active air-to-air missiles.
The PL-12, known in its export configuration as the SD-10, was developed by the China Air-to-Air Missile Research Academy. The PL-12 has a significantly greater kinematic envelope than the Russian R-77 (AA-12 Adder) active radar-guided AAM.
likely bring the People's Liberation Army Air Force's dependence on foreign-made medium-range air-to-air missiles to an end. This poses two problems for
The introduction of the two-seat Su-30MKK provided the PLAAF with its first genuine multirole fighter/strike capability. It can deliver Russian-made precision-guided munitions in all weather, day and night conditions.
- David A. Fulghum
3) Chinese space, air capabilities growing, Moseley warns
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report 04/25/2007
The recent Chinese anti-satellite demonstration shows how vulnerable major commercial and military satellites - American and foreign - are to attack, Moseley told reporters April 24 during a roundtable breakfast meeting. Most of the commercial and imagery satellites operate in the type of low-earth orbit reached by the Chinese test shot, he said. "It's a significant
risk."
What ups the ante a bit, Moseley said, is that the Chinese conducted the test from a mobile ground system, meaning it could be deployed - or exported -out of country and wind up in other theaters. The scale of the threat is significant, he said, and whole satellite constellations could be at risk.
In light of the Chinese anti-satellite test, Air Force space officials are now analyzing space situational awareness, defensive counter-space measures and ways to ensure precious space-based communications links, Moseley said. But he emphasized that none of the current plans or analysis call for anything beyond defensive measures. Any offensive space measures would need to be addressed by policy at higher levels.
While
- Michael Fabey
4) Upgraded A-10s will be ready for combat soon, USAF says
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report 04/12/2007
The U.S. Air Force's A-10C Thunderbolts should soon be combat operational with upgraded avionics and enhanced weapons capabilities, said Col. James Ratti, 508th Aircraft Sustainment Squadron commander, and A-10 System Program Manager. Ratti said during an April 11 press briefing that he could not divulge
where and when the upgraded A-10s would see combat. "You can connect the dots," Ratti said. "You know where they've been flying."
The Thunderbolts have been one of the stalwart combat aircraft in
As a result, the A-10s should be able to just about double their current combat lifetimes, Ratti said. The average aircraft now has racked up about 8,400 flight hours, and Ratti said the upgraded A-10s should be able to tally twice as many. The entire 356-aircraft fleet is getting the upgrades.
The aircraft should be in flying operations until 2028, Ratti said. Its replacement is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). "We'll ramp down when the JSF comes in," Ratti said. "But, of course, that's a bit of a moving target."
The upgrade program is costing about $300 million, with each kit costing about $450,000, excluding installation, Air Force and Lockheed officials say. Altogether, including installation, each upgrade costs about $1.42 million per plane, said Lt. Col. Ralph Hansen, Air Force A-10 requirements director.
The Air Force also has included $23 million for overall A-10 upgrades and other work in its fiscal year 2008 budget request for the fight against terrorism. The baseline Air Force fiscal 2008 budget request includes $167 million for A-10 enhancement procurement and $2 million for research, development, testing and evaluation.
One of the keys to the A-10C upgrade is the advanced avionics, anchored by the new software releases by Lockheed. The upgraded avionics has five times the amount of computer code, said Roger Il Grande, Lockheed Martin Systems Integration, A-10 program director. That kind of enhanced computer capability has enabled the Air Force to bring on new systems about a year earlier than planned, such as the
situational awareness data link and the ability to launch the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), a precision weapon, according to service and company officials. There are other improvements the Air Force is still looking for, Ratti said.
For example, the service is installing new A-10 engines, based on a commercial plant being used by Canadian regional jets, to add more thrust to the aircraft. That work is likely to cause other structural changes for motor mounts, aft fuselage and possibly control or display equipment, Ratti said. "We've just
not scoped that out yet," he added.
- Michael Fabey
5) Rockwell Collins gets $45M more for E-6B C2 system
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report 04/17/2007
MERCURY C2: The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command is awarding Rockwell Collins almost $45 million to an existing contract for the E-6B Block I modification program, including the design, development, installation and testing of a fully integrated airborne command and control communication system, the Pentagon said April 13.
Most of the work will occur in
6) SDB performing well, but some showing aerodynamic wear
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report 04/30/2007
SDB GLITCH: Lt. Gen. Donald Hoffman, the U.S. Air Force's top uniformed acquisition officer, says the new 250-pound Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) continues to perform well since being deployed to support Iraq operations last year on the F-15E. The Boeing-made weapon has, however, had a glitch. Officers
noticed what Hoffman says is "wear and tear" on some weapons that were not dropped on their first sortie. Those weapons experienced more aerodynamic forces and showed some minor problems, he says. This has been seen before when some of the Air Force's past air-to-air missiles were first deployed. Hoffman says fixes have been minimal and no design changes were required to continue using the SDB.
7) In Brief: Boeing begins flight testing AC-130U gunship with new 30-mm cannon
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report 04/30/2007
GUNSHIP TESTING: Boeing has begun flight testing the AC-130U Gunship with new Bushmaster 30-mm cannons at
8) E-2D Will Pack Next-Generation Sensors Into Old Shape
New E-2D surveillance aircraft will pack next-generation sensors into a familiar shape
Aviation Week & Space Technology 04/30/2007
Author: David A. Fulghum
The world's navies have a new reality: They are facing rapidly changing threats and taking on more missions with fewer aircraft and ships. The following three articles focus on some of the ways the U.S. Navy is adapting to prolonged, low-intensity warfare. Its venerable P-3s are being deployed for overland reconnaissance and monitoring of the sea lanes used for weapons smuggling and the movement of insurgent leadership.
The U.S. Navy is focusing on the steady proliferation of sophisticated fighters and cruise missiles in the world's arsenals. That means planners must try to find ways to defend far-away fleets against attack by waves of small, perhaps even stealthy weapons launched from outside the range of shipboard radars.
The latest element of a
Until March, Navy aviators would not admit to cruise missile defense as one of their primary missions. Now, with introduction of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet's new active electronically scanned array (AESA), service officials have revealed that the aircraft can find very small targets, such as the head-on aspect of a cruise missile. Navy officials are still not allowed to comment on the Advanced Hawkeye's cruise missile detection capability. But as the aviation component of cruise missile defense edges out of the classified arena, what becomes apparent is that the Advanced Hawkeye will become the "quarterback"-- firing target location data like long-distance passes to fighters or Aegis missile ships patrolling the perimeters of the fleet.
Some countries with small defense budgets see acquiring cruise missiles as a cheap and relatively clandestine alternative to training aircrews and buying squadrons of expensive fighters and bombers. But to effectively defend against them, these small missiles must be detected at over-the-horizon ranges, well beyond the reach of ship-based radars.
Part of the over-the-horizon solution will be provided by carrier-based, E-2D Advanced Hawkeye surveillance aircraft. It will make its first flight this summer, says Navy Capt. Randy Mahr, E-2 program manager. Providing the pulse of the new-production surveillance aircraft is a hybrid, long-range, APY-9 radar from the team of Lockheed Martin (prime), Northrop Grumman (transmitters) and Raytheon (receivers). It was especially designed to operate in the UHF band, which provides the best frequencies for picking small targets out of the reflected electronic clutter produced by ocean turbulence and longer range.
The radar components are being tested at Lockheed Martin's
The Pentagon considers networking as one of its toughest problems. The central question is how to fuse all the information in a way that is sensor-independent. The data need to come in, be validated, pushed into the network and then be used on anyone's display.
"The radar is the heart of the E-2D," Mahr says. But, "once I get the radar up there [at 25,000 ft.], the task is to get the information into the net. It's not about knowing, inside the E-2D, where a blip is. It's about getting the knowledge of that particular target is to the person who needs that information--whether it's to track a friendly freighter or put bombs on target."
Moreover, the radar is integrated with a digital electronic surveillance system to precisely identify and locate emitters--including radars, data links and radios the missile may use--for rapid attack. A modification slated for funding in Fiscal 2010 is to add third-generation network-centric collaborative targeting and a newly fielded airborne capability for invading and exploiting enemy tactical radio networks.
The Navy wants to field about 75 of the new-production, Northrop Grumman aircraft--enough to increase the size of ship-based squadrons to five aircraft from four, Mahr says.
Analysts predict that once the Navy goes into a full theater air/missile defense in a high-threat environment (such as the Straits of Malacca or Hormuz where a fleet is within 100 mi. of the shore), the Navy would fly Hawkeyes around the clock to keep the fight away from the carrier strike group.
With an endurance of 4.5-5-hr. flight time from catapult to trap, five aircraft would allow sustained, round-the-clock operations. An upgrade program proposed by Northrop Grumman could add inflight refueling for the Navy or export customers, says Scott Gibbs, Northrop Grumman's Advanced Hawkeye product support lead.
The Navy has already been experimenting with "dry plugs" to simulate the aerodynamic environment when refueling from either the KC-130 or F/A-18 buddy-pack tankers. Testing has involved a straight probe coming off the top centerline of the cockpit. Another element of the upgrade is to put fuel in the outer wing beyond the fold. The combination could increase the lengths of missions to 8.5-9 hr., a limit imposed by aircrew endurance.
The program will cost about $2 billion for the first five aircraft. Funding of long-lead items for low-rate initial production is expected by year-end. Production rates are expected to be about four aircraft per year, but could be sustained at a higher pace. First flight of the E-2D occurs the same year as those for three other key Navy aircraft--the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft--both heavily dependent on digital data. The Advanced Hawkeye's operational evaluation is slated for 2011 with first deployment predicted for 2013-14.
What's less certain are which radios and data links the aircraft will carry to the fleet. The current debate over links involves the tradeoff between the speeds and volume of data that can be handled. Compounding the problem for Mahr and others is that new technologies are quickly adding more choices. Radio advances also are presenting new options. Candidates include the VRC-99, ARC-210 and Joint Tactical Radio System. The choice doubtlessly will be a software programmable radio that can link to legacy radios as well as the new, more flexible designs. All the communications and data-link efforts are aimed at helping to create the Global Information Grid (GIG), which is envisioned as a sprawling network with rapid conduits for gathering (or at least cataloging) and distributing information.
To keep the debate open, the aircraft will have an open electronics architecture that allows rapid changes of equipment and new technologies. That architecture is to fly in the aircraft this fall. Much software was retained from the E-2C, but an additional 2 million lines of new code was added, Mahr says.
The additional code and a new glass cockpit with three 17-in. displays will tie together the flight deck (pilot and copilot) and the three operators in the aft compartment into a single mission crew. That change will, in effect, create a fourth tactical operator out of whichever pilot is not actively flying and if IFR conditions don't demand two pilots. Primarily they will help maintain electronic situational awareness of the battlespace. The first pilot and copilot training began in February.
Additionally, Northrop Grumman is proposing to ensure that upgrades are installed every 18-24 months, Gibbs says. At those intervals, hardware and software will be refreshed with the insertion of advanced technologies. Upgrades will also reflect a number of changes, such as improved combat identification, multispectral fusion and automation involving more machine-to-machine communications. In addition, decision aids will increase speed and eliminate errors. In fact, when the data links get big enough, planners anticipate beefing up the crew with operators on the ground.
"You could have fifth, sixth and seventh virtual Hawkeye operators," Gibbs says.
Testing of the two prototypes will also help to determine exactly how many aircraft the Navy will need, Mahr says. Development vehicle AA-1 will flight test the aircraft. AA-2 will be used to evaluate the mission system. The aircraft's aerodynamic performance is roughly the same as the E-2C despite weighing more. The new aircraft loses about one-tenth of an hour flight time. But that could be traded off against the inflight refueling capability.
Milestone C is slated for 2009, which allows for low-rate initial production for the fleet and the official start of 1.5 years of developmental flight tests. Funding of the core open architecture is slated for the next President's budget. The program's second priority is to expand the data links and improve the radio suite. A larger Navy-wide goal is to have a GIG functioning by 2013 or soon after.
