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China Builds Big Floaters
August 11, 2009: China is buying four Zubr hovercraft from Ukraine. The 555 ton watercraft were developed by the Soviet Union during the 1980s. But when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, three years after the first Zubr entered service, the shipyard the built the Zubrs went to Ukraine, where it was located. After years of marketing the Zubr, Ukraine finally got its first export sale, to Greece, in 2000. Before that, only four were in service (two in the Russian Navy, and two in the Ukrainian.) These craft are expensive. The Greeks paid $50 million each for four of them. When the Chinese order is completed in the next three years, there will be 14 Zubrs in service.
The Zubrs can carry about 150 tons of cargo, including tanks (three of them). Alternately, ten smaller armored vehicles can be carried, or trucks, or up to 500 troops. The big advantage of the Zubr is that it moves over coastal waters at speeds of up to 110 kilometers an hour (nearly a hundred kilometers an hour sustained.) Range is about 480 kilometers, mainly because a craft like this consumes enormous quantities of fuel. Armament consists of a 30mm autocannon for defense against anti-ship missiles, and two quad launchers with SA-N-5 anti-aircraft missiles (with 6,000 meter range.) Zubr is also designed to carry 140mm unguided rockets, or up to 80 naval mines. Zubrs have a crew of 31, and usually stay at sea for less than six hours per sortie.
The Chinese are buying two Zubrs to be built in Ukraine, and another two built in China, with the help of Ukrainian engineers and technicians. Apparently the Chinese are buying, licensing or stealing the Zubr construction technology. China is paying about $80 million each for their Zubrs. China has a long coast, and the Zubrs will have plenty to do. The Zubrs will be something else for Taiwan to worry about, and would come in handy if the communist government in North Korea collapsed, and China wanted to rush in forces to seize ports along the west coast of the Korean peninsula.
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htsurf/articles/20090811.aspx
thanks for putting the schedule in the i box.
i haven't looked in there in a while, was there anything else in there other than the logo?
that sums it up perfectly.
CH-53K Delay Questions Linger
Aug 7, 2009
By Bettina H. Chavanne
Against a backdrop of unanswered questions on the extent of potential program delays, Sikorsky celebrated the arrival of the first set of 8,500 supplier parts that will comprise the U.S. Marine Corps CH-53K Heavy Lift helicopter.
The CH-53K will be the newest, heaviest and first fly-by-wire helicopter in the Corps’ arsenal when it flies in 2011. That date may move, however, depending on the extent of cost overruns acknowledged by the program manager, Navy Capt. Rick Muldoon, and Marine deputy commandant of aviation, Lt. Gen. George Trautman, in June. Muldoon has qualified the problem as “moderate,” without providing additional details.
Seven prototype CH-53Ks will be delivered during system design and development. Four will serve as engineering development vehicles and the remaining three will serve as a dedicated ground test vehicle, a static test article and a fatigue test platform.
The program of record calls for 156 aircraft.
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=aerospacedaily&id=news/CH53-080709.xml&headline=CH-53K%20Delay%20Questions%20Linger
Race begins next week for 12 bln-dlr India warjet deal
Boeing will be the first to take part when it displays its F-18 "Superhornet," the official said, adding that a team of US-based aviation experts would be present in the southern city for the trials.
by Staff Writers
New Delhi (AFP) Aug 7, 2009
India will next week start fighter jet trials as the world's six top aerospace giants vie for a 12-billion-dollar military contract, an official said Friday.
The trials for what will be the world's most lucrative fighter contract in more than a decade will begin in Bangalore, India's space research and aeronautical industry hub.
The assessment is due to continue for almost a year before New Delhi makes its choice from the six companies, the official said.
Boeing will be the first to take part when it displays its F-18 "Superhornet," the official said, adding that a team of US-based aviation experts would be present in the southern city for the trials.
Lockheed Martin of the US and Europe's EADS will be among the other five firms descending on Bangalore.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the precise date for the start of trials will depend on weather conditions.
India is on a spending spree to update its largely Soviet-era weapons system and is looking at buying 126 fighter jets.
After Boeing, Lockheed Martin is next in line to showcase its F-16 to the technology-hungry Indian airforce, the official said.
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) will offer its Typhoon Eurofighter, while Russia is seeking to sell the MiG-35 and MiG-29.
French Dassault, which constructs the Mirage, has put forward its Rafale aircraft as a contender.
In April, India said it would not buy the Rafale because it was too expensive. But within weeks New Delhi without elaborating said the French firm had re-joined the race.
The line-up is completed by Gripen, part of Sweden's Saab.
Industry sources have said Lockheed Martin and Boeing have emerged as front-runners.
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Race_begins_next_week_for_12_bln-dlr_India_warjet_deal_999.html
Race begins next week for 12 bln-dlr India warjet deal
Boeing will be the first to take part when it displays its F-18 "Superhornet," the official said, adding that a team of US-based aviation experts would be present in the southern city for the trials.
by Staff Writers
New Delhi (AFP) Aug 7, 2009
India will next week start fighter jet trials as the world's six top aerospace giants vie for a 12-billion-dollar military contract, an official said Friday.
The trials for what will be the world's most lucrative fighter contract in more than a decade will begin in Bangalore, India's space research and aeronautical industry hub.
The assessment is due to continue for almost a year before New Delhi makes its choice from the six companies, the official said.
Boeing will be the first to take part when it displays its F-18 "Superhornet," the official said, adding that a team of US-based aviation experts would be present in the southern city for the trials.
Lockheed Martin of the US and Europe's EADS will be among the other five firms descending on Bangalore.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the precise date for the start of trials will depend on weather conditions.
India is on a spending spree to update its largely Soviet-era weapons system and is looking at buying 126 fighter jets.
After Boeing, Lockheed Martin is next in line to showcase its F-16 to the technology-hungry Indian airforce, the official said.
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) will offer its Typhoon Eurofighter, while Russia is seeking to sell the MiG-35 and MiG-29.
French Dassault, which constructs the Mirage, has put forward its Rafale aircraft as a contender.
In April, India said it would not buy the Rafale because it was too expensive. But within weeks New Delhi without elaborating said the French firm had re-joined the race.
The line-up is completed by Gripen, part of Sweden's Saab.
Industry sources have said Lockheed Martin and Boeing have emerged as front-runners.
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Race_begins_next_week_for_12_bln-dlr_India_warjet_deal_999.html
US strike on Iran 'feasible and credible': retired general
Iran bomb-grade uranium not expected before 2013: State Dept
The State Department's intelligence bureau has concluded that Iran will not be technically capable of producing weapons grade uranium for nuclear weapons before 2013, the US intelligence director has told Congress. The assessment by the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research was included in written responses to questions submitted to Congress by the Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair. Even though Iran has made significant progress in enriching uranium, the State Department bureau "continues to assess it is unlikely that Iran will have the technical capability to produce HEU (highly enriched uranium) before 2013," Blair said. In his earlier testimony to Congress, Blair has said Iran could have enough highly enriched uranium for a bomb as early as 2010 or as late as 2015, and noted that INR believed it would not be before 2013 "because of foreseeable technical and programmatic problems." In the update, he said the judgement was based on an estimate of when Iran would have the functional ability to perform the enrichment rather than when it might make a political decision to produce HEU. The US intelligence community "has no evidence that Iran has yet made the decision to produce highly enriched uranium, and INR assesses that Iran is unlikely to make such a decision for at least as long as international pressure and scrutiny persist," the document said. "INR shares the Intelligence Community's assessment that Iran probably would use military-run covert facilities, rather than declared nuclear sites, to produce HEU. Outfitting a covert enrichment infrastructure could take years," the document said. The document, which was submitted in April, was released to the Federation of American Scientists in response to a freedom of information request.
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Aug 7, 2009
A devastating US military strike against Iran's nuclear and military facilities "is a technically feasible and credible option," a retired general asserted in an article published on Friday.
Retired air force general Charles Wald, a former deputy commander of US forces in Europe, said US policy makers must prepare for a "Plan B," including the military's role, should diplomacy fail.
"A peaceful resolution of the threat posed by Iran's nuclear ambitions would certainly be the best possible outcome," Wald wrote in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal.
"But should diplomacy and economic pressure fail, a US military strike against Iran is a technically feasible and credible option," he said.
Wald's views were in striking contrast with those of the Pentagon's top civilian and military leaders, who have warned repeatedly that military action against Iran would be highly destabilizing.
In a related development, the State Department's intelligence arm has concluded that Iran is unlikely to have the technical capability to produce highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons before 2013, according to a newly released congressional document.
US intelligence chief Dennis Blair has said Iran could have the technical means to produce bomb-grade material as early as 2010, although there is no evidence it has made a political decision to do so.
President Barack Obama, meanwhile, has sought to engage Iran diplomatically, but prospects of a breakthrough have been clouded by political turmoil in Iran over President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's disputed re-election.
"Many policy makers and journalists dismiss the military option on the basis of a false sense of futility," Wald wrote.
"They assume that the US military is already overstretched, that we lack adequate intelligence about the location of covert nuclear sites, and that known sites are too heavily fortified," he said.
"Such assumptions are false," he said.
Wald argued that serious military preparations for a strike could in themselves help persuade Iran to end its nuclear defiance "without firing a single shot."
Pressure could be applied by deploying additional aircraft carrier battle groups and minesweepers to waters off Iran and conducting military exercises with allies, he said.
If that failed, he said, the US Navy could blockade Iran's Gulf ports, cutting off gasoline imports that constitute a third the country's domestic consumption.
"Should these measures not compel Tehran to reverse course on its nuclear program, and only after all other diplomatic avenues and economic pressures have been exhausted, the US military is capable of launching a devastating attack on Iranian nuclear and military facilities," he wrote.
Wald acknowledged there were "huge risks to military action," including that Iranians would rally around "an unstable and oppressive regime" and that reprisals and regional unrest would follow.
"Furthermore, while a successful bombing campaign would set back Iranian nuclear development, Iran would undoubtedly retain its nuclear know how," he said.
"But the risks of military action must be weighed against those of doing nothing," he said.
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_strike_on_Iran_feasible_and_credible_retired_general_999.html
Boeing Receives $1.15B Contract for 15 Canadian Chinooks, Announces Matching Reinvestment in Industry
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today announced that it has received a US$1.15 billion contract from the Canadian government for 15 new CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopters. Under the contract, Boeing will match Canada's purchase price by executing contracts and investments of equal value with Canadian industry.
Designated the CH-147 in Canada, the Chinooks have been contracted to meet Canada's Medium-to-Heavy Lift Helicopter program requirements. They will be produced at the Boeing Rotorcraft Systems facility in Ridley Township, Pa., with deliveries expected to occur between 2013 and 2014.
Speaking today at an event hosted by the ministries of Defence and Industry at the I.M.P. Aerospace facility in Halifax, Jack Dougherty, Boeing vice president, H-47 Programs, said, "Boeing is extremely pleased that Canada has selected the CH-147 Chinook, the world's leading tandem-rotor helicopter, to modernize its defense forces' airlift fleet.
"This is also great news for Canadian troops," Dougherty added. "They are a national treasure, because they not only place themselves in defense of Canada, but also are the heroes who are called on in every manner of civil emergency."
The ceremony also included remarks from the Honorable Peter MacKay, Canada's Minister of National Defence and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway.
"This contract is key in ensuring the Canadian Forces are a first-class, modern, flexible force capable of defending Canada and the Canadian interest for years to come," MacKay said. "This helicopter will give Canada's military a robust capability with the ability to operate in remote and isolated areas, and increase their capacity to respond to disasters both at home and abroad."
In line with Canada's Industrial & Regional Benefits policy, Boeing will match every dollar spent by the Canadian government in acquiring its CH-147 fleet by partnering with and issuing contracts to companies in Canada. These opportunities will result in long-term, high-value jobs for Canadians and build on the long-standing partnership between Boeing and Canadian industry. Contracts worth in excess of $500 million have been signed against this commitment and are being implemented by companies across Canada.
"This is a win-win for Canada and The Boeing Company," said Mark Kronenberg, vice president of International Business Development for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. "Boeing seeks to partner with the very best of industry, and as a result, we continue to make a significant commitment to Canadian industry. This new contract has created opportunities for new partnerships to further grow our already large supplier base in Canada."
Along with the reinvestments Boeing will make as part of the delivery contract, the company could provide additional industry benefits in excess of $2 billion over 20 years for in-service support of the CH-147 fleet. The performance-based in-service support could include aircraft maintenance training systems and services, engineering support, supply chain management, and other expertise.
The CH-147, which will be modified to meet Canada's operational environment, will be powered by two 4,733-horsepower Honeywell engines and feature extended-range capabilities. It will be able to transport more than 21,000 pounds (9,525 kg) of cargo.
A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world's largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $32 billion business with 70,000 employees worldwide.
###
Contact:
Hal Klopper
International Rotorcraft Communications
Office: 480-891-5519
Mobile: 602-391-7489
hal.g.klopper@boeing.com
Amy Horton
Supplier Management and Industrial Participation Communications
Office: 314-233-4368
Mobile: 314-705-0283
amy.e.horton@boeing.com
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2009/08/mil-090810-boeing01.htm
QDR Team: Big Threats Matter
QDR Team: Big Threats Matter
By Greg Grant Friday, August 7th, 2009 6:05 pm
Posted in Air, International, Naval, Policy
We’ve been hearing from sources that for all the talk about irregular and hybrid warfare, the driving force in the QDR strategic review currently underway is the High End Asymmetric Threat, or HEAT, team. That team is examining the threat posed by a “near peer” competitor armed with an inventory of advanced “anti-access” weapons: anti-satellite systems, increasingly accurate ballistic missiles, anti-air weapons, anti-ship systems, undersea warfare systems and cyber attacks.
It makes the timing and the findings of a new RAND analysis of a full blown Chinese attack across the Taiwan straits all the more interesting. The new report, in typical RAND style, uses sophisticated modeling to simulate a Chinese invasion of Taiwan in the 2010-2015 timeframe, including a preemptive ballistic missile bombardment, a cyber assault on the island’s infrastructure and a Normandy style amphibious landing.
In a 2000 report that looked at a similar scenario, RAND predicted a bloody repulse for the attacking Chinese as Taiwanese and U.S. aircraft savaged the Chinese air fleet and seaborne landing force. However, this time around, RAND sees China establishing air superiority over the strait within hours of the first shots being fired.
How to explain such a reversal? Primarily, it’s due to China’s burgeoning stock of increasingly accurate short range ballistic missiles (SRBMs), around 1,000 of which are deployed opposite Taiwan. Launching a preemptive strike, RAND figures that with 90 to 240 SRBMs, China could: “cut every runway at Taiwan’s half-dozen main fighter bases and destroy essentially all of the aircraft parked on ramps in the open at those installations.” Follow on bombing raids by Chinese aircraft armed with precision bombs would destroy any surviving Taiwanese aircraft parked in hardened shelters.
A similar fate would be inflicted on U.S. aircraft at the Air Force base at Kadena and the U.S. Marine Corps base at Iwakuni on Okinawa, RAND says.
Even with its air fleet a smoldering wreck, Taiwan is unlikely to roll over for China; the Chinese would have to actually pull-off a successful amphibious landing and occupy the island. Continuing with the anti-access theme of the report, Taiwan could still successfully defend its beaches with a combination of anti-ship cruise missiles, U.S. bombers launching Joint-Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSMs), shorter range missiles, such as Hellfire, and some very tenacious dug-in Taiwanese infantry.
Contested amphibious assaults are exceedingly difficult to pull off successfully in the era of long-range, precision weaponry where ships bobbing on the seas are very exposed, as are the landing craft making the run in to a defended beachhead.
The smart folks over at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments have been harping about the implications of anti-access weapons for some time. I spoke to CSBA fellow Dakota Wood a few weeks back about a series of war games they conducted for OSD highlighting the “game changing” potential of precision guidance and range, and how such weapons will force changes in the way the U.S. military organizes and equips for the future battlespace.
With guided missiles of all types increasing in accuracy and readily available, it will demand a change in thinking from “How does my weapons system match up against the enemy’s similar system?” to “How does your costly system match up against the enemy’s missile magazine and what’s the size of that magazine?”, Woods said.
There are rumors that the Marine’s amphibious warfare capabilities may fare poorly in the QDR. This recent RAND report certainly doesn’t bolster their case. It also raises questions about the utility of short range tactical fighters when an enemy’s ballistic missiles can hold nearby airfields at risk. OSD won the battle against the F-22, yet favored large numbers of the F-35. We’ll see if that’s still the case come February.
http://www.dodbuzz.com/2009/08/07/qdr-team-big-threats-matter/
i am including this comment from the site because he brings up some very good questions
Cole August 9th, 2009 at 1:48 am
Notes about the study:
* 27:1 loss-exchange for F-22
* 4.5:1 for F-15C
* 2.6:1 for F/A-18E/F
Might buy the F-15C/F/A-118E/F ratios against the Su-30, Su-27/J-11, and J-10. But they included day-one sorties for only 315 of those modern fighters out of a 798 sortie total.
The remaining day-one 483 Chinese sorties were mostly old aircraft to include 343 sorties of J-8 (MiG-21) and 96 sorties of “B-52″-like H-6 heavy bombers. Is RAND telling us the F-15 and F/A-18E/F loss-exchange ratios are identical against both Su-30/Su-27 and J-8(MiG-21)/H-6 heavy bombers?
The loss-exchange for the F-22 should also be higher. For some inexplicable reason, despite only 27 of 72 F-22s being destroyed by Chinese missiles on the ground, there were only 20 F-22 sorties flown on day one??
In addition, in any given 4 hour sortie, only 4 F-22s fought (compared to 22 F/A-18 and 10 Taiwan aircraft). They also had F-22s launching only 1.5 missiles and F/A-18E/F only 1.7 missiles in those 4 hours in a target rich environment. Huh???
And of course, a 2013 timeline is played so no F-35s were available with their better loss-exchange. In addition, there was no play of Navy Aegis while Taiwan SAMs were postulated…but get killed off on day one in many scenarios. Considering that never happened against Serbia over 78 days, not sure why it would happen on day one against Taiwan.
Finally, while all manner of TBM, cruise missile, and precision guided munitions were destroying allied aircraft on the ground, there was no indication that we were doing the same to them with B-2/F-22/cruise missiles. That would significantly alter the results for subsequent day sorties.
I’m still trying to figure out why with so few F-22s flown, launching so few AMRAAM per sortie, the PLAAF on day-one still managed to lose 140 aircraft in air-to-air and 70 to Taiwan SAMs compared to our claimed air-to-air losses of just 48. That’s losing? We lose one F-22, and 17 F-18E/F with Taiwan losing the other 30 aircraft.
Half our day-one losses were on the ground, and if we had moved to Guam and other more distant bases at the first indications/warnings of trouble, those aircraft would still be available.
The study seems to be pushing Guam and Kadena shelter upgrades and alternate basing locations further from Taiwan. Seems like an equally cogent argument could be made for more missile defense and long range bombers, plus carrier aircraft when the F-35C is fielded.
i work in the city and i am on the west side about half of the month. its a war zone and its nothing compared to the south side.
i dont remember which weekend in july, but they had 69 shootings on that weekend. its a weekend in review thing on 890 WLS.
there are a lot of decent people living in those neighborhoods, they have a right to protect themselves and this administration is leading the lambs to slaughter.
colombia's military would kick chavez's ass. much more exp and better western hardware
i might be getting my hands on a .460 weatherby from an uncle. not a done deal yet as i have not seen it. hell im not even sure if it exists as i havent started any research on it yet
this is why we need more F-22s, just to make the fight unfair
great song
IMO they dont care what we want, until its re-election time. and yet the same morons keep electing the idiots.
and they bitched at the ceo's of the automakers taking company jets to Washington!!! these people need a serious reality check, in a recession they think its ok to take a private/military jet to wherever the hell they want?!
budget cuts should come from the politicians first, but they are the first to give themselves raises and new jets
Hypersonic Test Flight On Track
Aug 5, 2009
By Guy Norris
DENVER - First flight of the X-51A scramjet demonstrator is now on track for early December while captive carriage tests on the NASA-operated B-52H mothership at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., are set to begin in October.
A joint effort by the U.S. Air Force, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, and Boeing, the hypersonic vehicle is designed to be the first air-breathing craft to demonstrate sustained speeds in excess of Mach 4 using a "logistically friendly" hydrocarbon fuel.
The initial vehicle is the first of four X-51As to be launched by April 2010.
First flight, targeted for December 2008 under the original schedule before budget cuts in 2005, was later reset for early in the fourth quarter of 2009. But integration issues with the B-52H mothership, along with logistic delays, pushed the first flight target toward late November.
The target date has now been moved to Dec. 3 to take advantage of aircraft availability and avoid crewing complications around the late November holiday period in the U.S., program officials say.
Although current plans are to fly four identical flight profiles, Air Force Research Laboratory X-51A Program Manager Charles Brink says senior Air Force officials have recently been briefed on potential tactical demonstrations with the final pair of flights, should the first two go as planned. Speaking at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 45th Joint Propulsion Conference here, Brink says the scenario, which includes modifications to the guidance and control system, would entail additional costs and include "standing down the schedule and revising the timetable."
Brink says if more X-51 flights are funded beyond the current sustained hypersonic demonstrations, future potential goals could include longer-duration flights and slower scramjet-cycle initiation speeds. "The lower it can go, the lower the stress on a turbine," he adds, referring to potential combined cycle-weapon developments.
The static test vehicle has completed initial "risk-abatement" ground tests at Edwards and is now being moved back to Boeing's Palmdale, Calif., facility for refurbishment and installation of a thermal protection system. Once completed, the revamped vehicle will become FTV-4, the final X-51A to be launched next year.
The first flight vehicle, FTV-1, is nearing completion at Palmdale and is expected to be moved to Edwards "within weeks" in preparation for the start of captive-carriage flights on the B-52 attached to a MAU-12 stores rack, Boeing X-51A Program Manager Joe Vogel says.
On the first flight, the B-52 will drop the 3,942-pound "stack" consisting of the 25-foot long X-51 cruiser and its modified ATACMS missile rocket booster, at around 50,000 feet and Mach 0.8. The booster will accelerate the stack to Mach 4.6-4.8. During the boost, air will flow through the cruiser's engine, exiting via a ducted interstage, warming the scramjet and its circulating fuel.
At the top of the boost phase, around 60,000 feet, the vehicle's own guidance control unit and scramjet digital controller will command the X-51A to roll inverted, placing the inlet uppermost and giving the vehicle a positive angle-of-attack.
At booster burnout and separation, the vehicle will briefly coast before ethylene is injected at 4,500 psi to light off the engine.
Heated by the burning ethylene, fuel will be introduced and the two flows combusted simultaneously until thermal equilibrium is achieved and the vehicle can accelerate on JP-7 alone.
Rolling upright, the X-51A is expected to cover almost 400 miles in five minutes and reach an altitude of around 100,000 feet before the fuel is exhausted and the vehicle ditches in the Pacific test range off southern California.
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/Hyper080509.xml&headline=Hypersonic%20Test%20Flight%20On%20Track&channel=space
most of us normal people, i have given up on the rest. and ill leave it at that
hey!!! miller is made in Milwaukee 2hrs from Green Bay. good enough for me as i open another. lol
Protection A Top Priority for Space Reviews
Aug 6, 2009
By Amy Butler
Protecting satellites in orbit and international cooperation appear to be among the key issues under consideration in space policy reviews underway at the Pentagon and White House.
An emphasis on both of these areas is stemming from an increasingly widespread recognition in government that space is essential to all facets of U.S. military, industrial and economic might and that U.S. satellites are threatened by potential adversaries.
China’s 2007 shootdown of one of its own aging satellites had a “galvanizing effect” on government officials, says David Ochmanek, a deputy assistant secretary of Defense at the center of the Pentagon’s Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). Some had taken for granted that space services such as communications and reconnaissance were safe. The QDR is focusing on resources needed for future conflicts, and will wrap up this fall.
The Pentagon’s Space Posture Review (SPR) began this spring and could continue to year’s end. It is a sweeping look at strategies for operating in space—from deterring nations from conducting dangerous or provocative acts there, to appropriate responses for hostile meddling or an attack. The National Security Council is leading the White House review, and it will provide overarching policy for civil and military space.
“What we are carrying into the Space Posture Review as our number one item is: What steps do we need to take to improve our protection posture?” said Gen. Robert Kehler during a recent interview with Aviation Week. Kehler, the overseer of Air Force Space Command, says that several questions arose during the Schriever war game this spring that require attention during the SPR.
Results are not public, but the war game showed that many potential adversaries would be willing to risk interfering with U.S. space capabilities because, if successful, they could cripple military operations, according to one space expert in the Pentagon. “They would be willing to trade their space for our space because they aren’t as reliant” on space services, this Pentagon expert said about a hypothetical engagement with China. Questions on just how far a commander can go to either protect space systems or to react to a hostile act must be addressed before an engagement begins, the space defense expert adds, because debilitating effects would be felt immediately and would likely be widespread.
U.S. policy calls for assured access to space and its assets there, and allows for the U.S. to deny access to those that would interfere with its operations. “We’ve said for a long time we don’t think there is anything fundamentally wrong with the policy,” Kehler says. “The question is: How do we implement [it]? That is where we typically engage in the greatest debate.”
Sam Black, a research associate at the Harry L. Stimson Center, says three policy areas need attention. Loopholes in diplomatic agreements must be addressed, including laying down specific guidelines for notifications and consultations of space activities among operators, he says. Plans are needed to replace space capabilities in the event of an attack. Finally, “you need some bite to go along with the bark,” he says. This should not be in the form of an ASAT (anti-satellite), but in crafting policies that allow for reaction to an attack.
Pentagon officials have said that an attack on U.S. satellites is akin to any other military provocation. A major challenge is pinpointing the source of an attack on space systems, including interference with communication links or a directed-energy ASAT; a kinetic kill could be tracked by satellites. The U.S. space situational awareness (SSA) network—a combination of ground-based electro-optical and radar stations—lacks an attribution feature. The Pentagon expert argues that the SPR must direct more funding to this arena. “Everybody thinks we are out there doing something to back it up,” he says, noting an uptick in rhetoric about SSA. “You are a bully until someone finds out you can’t back it up.” Roughly $500 million in funding set aside for in-orbit space situational awareness systems to help with this challenge was shifted from 2011 to as late as 2015 in the Fiscal 2010 budget, the expert adds.
Kehler says he is comfortable with space situational awareness spending.
There is agreement in government circles that more attention needs to be placed on prioritizing specific levels of protection needed for particular space systems. This is a thorny issue, as so-called defensive counterspace capabilities are often akin to the technologies needed for offensive operations. Proliferation of either is frowned upon by allies as provocative. Kehler, however, says protection is not just akin to actions in space. “It is not about the survivability of an individual spacecraft, it is about mission assurance,” Kehler says. “We neither need to nor want to protect everything to the same level.” An ASAT threat to protected communications and missile warning systems in geosynchronous orbit more than 22,000 mi. away is unlikely to mature soon. China’s test proved that satellites in low Earth orbit only 200 mi. up—where reconnaissance spacecraft and Iridium orbit—are under threat.
Planners are forming contingencies in the event of losses in space. These include the use of high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles to augment space services (reconnaissance collection or communications) or, in some cases, reliance on terrestrial communications. Complications with this approach arise in territories that deny access to U.S. aircraft, however. The Pentagon space expert says a focus on contingency planning could be a symptom a government hierarchy ill-equipped to deal with thorny political questions about control of space. Bureaucratic paralysis also appears to play a role; the U.S. has lacked a cohesive space office in the White House to coordinate strategies across civil and military space. “So therefore, we protect nothing,” he says. “There’s not a whole lot of concrete stuff being done.”
These complex questions appear to be driving U.S. officials into a potentially more engaging posture with allies. Increased participation in the Commercial and Foreign Entities program, a voluntary, web-based data-sharing system for satellite operators, is expected. The unanticipated collision of an active Iridium satellite with a defunct Russian spacecraft earlier this year “taught us” that more cooperation with commercial satellite operators was needed to avoid future incidents, Kehler says. Questions remain on what data the U.S. government is willing to share with other operators about its satellites, he adds. International pressure is also key for a policy of deterrence against provocative space actions, the Pentagon expert notes.
Others see hope for a path ahead for military space activities with the Obama administration. Despite budget constraints, several major space policy and strategy studies have begun. They include the SPR, the National Security Council’s space policy review and a sweeping re-examination of NASA’s future mission.
Finally, officials in industry and government agree that the dramatic increase in space debris—objects in orbit that can inadvertently collide—requires the White House to examine what role, if any, the U.S. needs to take in spearheading an agreement on debris mitigation strategies. This could include decreasing the amount of debris created, and could also call for new technologies to address debris already in orbit.
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/SPACE080609.xml&headline=Protection%20A%20Top%20Priority%20for%20Space%20Reviews&channel=defense
Russia working on undetectable spy plane: air force chief
Russia currently relies on the Su-24MR (pictured) and MIG-25RB intelligence airplanes.
by Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) Aug 5, 2009
Russia is working on a series of spyplanes that would be undetectable by air defence systems, the chief of Russia's air force said Wednesday.
"A special role in the air force's future strategy is set for a dramatically new class of spy planes -- high-flying stratosphere aircraft able to monitor a war zone without entering the defended air space," General Alexander Zelin was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.
Russia currently relies on the Su-24MR and MIG-25RB intelligence airplanes, Zelin said, adding that the airforce had "a sufficient number of them."
However, modern warfare required a higher level of information gathering which had forced the Russian airforce to dramatically upgrade its intelligence corps, Zelin said.
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Russia_working_on_undetectable_spy_plane_air_force_chief_999.html
US offers technology to win Brazil fighter deal: officials
US judge jails three over tech exports to China
A US judge has sentenced two Chinese nationals and a Chinese-American to up to five years in jail in two separate cases involving the export of sensitive technology to China, officials said. William Chi-Wai Tsu, a 61-year-old Chinese American who was formerly the vice-president of a California trading firm, was handed a 40-month sentence by the judge in California. He had been found guilty of seeking to export thumbnail-sized devices that can be used in high-tech communication and military radar systems, according to a statement from the US justice department. In a separate case, 53-year-old Tah Wei Chao of Beijing, pleaded guilty to, "attempting to smuggle 10 highly sensitive and advanced thermal-imaging cameras to China," and was ordered to serve 20 months. "Chao's co-defendant Zhi Yong Guo, 50, also of Beijing, was sentenced on July 27 to five years in federal prison for his involvement in the thermal-imaging cameras scheme," the justice department statement said. The cameras, each worth 5,000 dollars, were found hidden in the pair's luggage as they attempted to leave Los Angeles airport in April 2008. The justice department said the cameras, which were contained in small cubes, were so sensitive they could pick up heat sources "not visible to the naked human eye" as well as heat residues after the source has moved.
by Staff Writers
Brasilia (AFP) Aug 5, 2009
The United States is prepared to make an unprecedented offer to transfer technology behind its F/A-18 fighter jets to Brazil to score a multi-billion-dollar contract, US officials said Wednesday.
US State Department under-secretary for arms control Ellen Tauscher and Pentagon acquisition and technology chief Ashton Carter said they outlined the proposal to Brazilian officials on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Accompanied in Brasilia by President Barack Obama's national security advisor, Jim Jones, they said the technology transfer was part of a final gambit to try to persuade Brazil's air force to buy 36 new combat aircraft.
The deal is worth up to an estimated four billion dollars and involves delivering the aircraft from 2014 to replace Brazil's aging fleet of 12 French-made Mirage-2000 jets.
"The transfer... would be something that we had never done before, and specifically because the relation with Brazil is so prized, so significant for us," Tauscher told reporters.
She stressed that the move would be a "big departure from what the US typically does" when it exports sophisticated weaponry, and added that a decision would be made in the next 45-60 days.
Carter said: "We want to have a technology relationship with Brazil that gets deeper and deeper with the time. This is just the first step."
The offer appeared an attempt to blunt competing bids from France's Dassault, which was putting forward its advanced Rafale fighter, and Sweden's Saab, which was proposing its yet-to-be-built Gripen NG.
The Rafale, which has stealth-like technology and cutting-edge cockpit interfaces and threat detection, was seen as Brazil's favored choice, largely because France was offering full transfer of technology -- the key demand in the tender.
Saab, too, has promised to share knowhow with Brazil -- even though the Gripen's engines were US-designed and therefore subject to US foreign military sales authorization.
It was unclear what technology the United States was prepared to share from the F/A-18, which was the oldest model aircraft on offer, having been flying since 1980.
One consideration, both for Brazil and for the United States, was likely to be how the F/A-18 might stack up against Venezuela's air force should any future confrontation take place.
Venezuela recently purchased 24 Russian and Chinese-developed Su-30MK2s, a modern fighter considered to have superior performance over the US plane.
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_offers_technology_to_win_Brazil_fighter_deal_officials_999.html
Commander outlines future of the Russian Air Force
RIA Novosti
19:11 05/08/2009 MOSCOW, August 5 (RIA Novosti) - New and modernized aircraft will comprise 70% of the Russian Air Force by 2020, the Air Force commander said on Wednesday.
"We expect 70% of the Air Force strength to be new and modernized aircraft by 2020," Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin told reporters.
"The development of the Russian Air Force will be carried out through extensive acquisition of new advanced aircraft and continuing modernization of the existing fleet," he added.
STRATEGIC AVIATION AND RECONAISSANCE AIRCRAFT
According to Zelin, Tu-95MC Bear and Tu-160 Blackjack bombers, Tu-22M3 Backfire long-range bombers and Il-78 Midas aerial tankers will form the backbone of the Russian strategic aviation in the next decade following extensive modernization.
The bombers, in particular, will be equipped with new targeting and navigation systems, which will enable them, in particular, to use conventional unguided bombs with a very high degree of accuracy - effectively engaging any target within 20 meters.
They will also have their operational range increased and their onboard defense systems significantly upgraded, the general said.
In addition, Zelin said Russia had been developing a fifth-generation strategic bomber which could be used effectively in both conventional and nuclear conflicts.
"The new plane will use a wide selection of high-precision weapons, and will have a whole range of new combat capabilities, allowing it to apply new methods to carrying out deterrence tasks," he said.
Russia will also develop in the near future a number of advanced reconnaissance aircraft including a stratospheric plane capable of avoiding enemy air defenses.
"Ultra-high altitude reconnaissance planes will play a key role in future wars because they will be capable of staying in the air for a long time and conduct reconnaissance operations deep into enemy territory while avoiding hostile air defenses," the Air Force commander said.
FRONTLINE AVIATION
The frontline aviation is the core of the Russian Air Force and currently comprises MiG-31B Foxhound interceptors, Su-27 Flanker and MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters, Su-24M Fencer fighter-bombers, Su-25 Frogfoot ground attack aircraft, and MiG-25R Foxbat and Su-24MR Fencer-E tactical reconnaissance aircraft.
Zelin said the Air Force will receive in the next decade not only modernized Su-27SM and MiG-29SMT fighters, but also generation 4++ Su-35S Flanker-E and MiG-35C Fulcrum-F fighters.
"The Russian Defense Ministry will start purchasing large numbers of these aircraft at the beginning of the next decade," the general said.
Meanwhile, Russia's fifth-generation multirole fighter is being developed by the Sukhoi aircraft maker, part of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), along with India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), under a preliminary intergovernmental agreement signed in October 2007.
"Flight tests of the [fifth-generation] aircraft are scheduled to start in the second half of 2009, and the aircraft is expected be put into service in the next few years," the commander said.
He also said Su-24 fighter-bombers will soon be replaced by advanced Su-34 Fullback aircraft.
The general reiterated that Russia will start in 2009 the production of the Su-25UBM, a two-seat version of the Su-25SM.
MILITARY TRANSPORT AVIATION
There are up to 300 transport aircraft in service with the Russian Air Force, including An-12 Cub, An-72 Coaler, An-22 Cock, An-124 Condor and Il-76 Candid planes.
The An-12, An-22, and An-26 planes will be decommissioned in the near future, Zelin said.
The An-26 plane will be replaced by Il-112B light transport aircraft with higher payload capacity and better fuel efficiency.
"The first Il-112 is expected to make its maiden flight in 2011. The Air Force will order over 70 planes of this type," the general said.
The An-12 will be most likely replaced by a medium-haul transport plane jointly-developed by Russia and India, Zelin said.
The plane, with a 20-ton cargo capacity, is expected to go in service with the Russian and Indian air forces in about eight years.
The An-124 and its modernized version, the An-124-100, will remain in service as a strategic heavy airlift transport aircraft. In addition, 12 Il-76 aircraft will be modernized to Il-76MD-90A starting in 2011.
HELICOPTERS
The existing fleet of Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters will be fully replaced with new-generation Mi-28N Night Hunter and Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopters by 2015.
"We have started deliveries of Mi-28N helicopters to combat units [in the North Caucasus military district] and plan to re-equip at least one squadron with these aircraft by the yearend," Zelin said.
"We are also expecting to complete the tests of the Ka-52 helicopter this year," he added.
The Ka-52 is a twin-seat derivative of the Ka-50 Hokum-A attack helicopter, and is designed primarily for reconnaissance and target designation purposes. It is similar to the U.S. AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.
UAV
The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) will start playing an increasingly important role in future combat. Given their much lower manufacturing and maintenance costs they could form as much as 40% of the Air Force fleet by 2025, Zelin said.
The Air Force will start receiving domestically-developed attack UAVs in 2011.
"Unmanned and manned aircraft will complement one another, and must be able to accomplish a full range of combat missions in regional or local conflicts," the general said.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/russia/2009/russia-090805-rianovosti03.htm
you are the man! now i dont have to screw up the i box. lol
thanks
heard about this on the radio this morning, i dont see any other purpose than to let us know they are still out there. i cant believe they think we are threaten by those 2 heaps. i imagine we had them covered pretty well.
are those really his exact words?!
doesnt need a date, it will apply to life whenever someone reads it. my respect for Ben Stein has gone up, its a great article.
of course! just glad you are trying to figure it out before i mess the i box up. lol!
i was going to try this weekend, hoping you could fix all my missteps
im glad you are still trying to figure it out. lol
signed and forwarded! thanks EZ!
Russia in talks on buying French warship
RIA Novosti
18:33 04/08/2009 MOSCOW, August 4 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is discussing the purchase of a French Mistral-class amphibious assault ship worth between 300 and 400 million euros ($430-580 mln), a high-ranking source close to the talks said Tuesday.
"Such talks are being held at the level of experts; the Russian side is represented by the Navy, the United Shipbuilding Corporation, and plants' representatives. In September we will provide a final conclusion for the Russian Defense Ministry," the source told RIA Novosti.
Earlier a French business daily, La Tribune, said Russia is planning to purchase a Mistral class assault ship from France. The purchase, if successful, would be the first large-scale arms import deal concluded by Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Russia first expressed an interest in bilateral cooperation with France in naval equipment and technology in 2008, when Navy chief Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky visited the Euronaval 2008 arms show in France.
The admiral said at the time that the Russian Navy was interested in "joint research and also direct purchases of French naval equipment."
According to military sources, the possibility of buying a Mistral class amphibious assault ship was discussed at the naval show in St. Petersburg in June this year.
A Mistral class ship is capable of transporting and deploying 16 helicopters, four landing barges, up to 70 vehicles including 13 main battle tanks, and 450 soldiers. The ship is equipped with a 69-bed hospital.
The Russian Kommersant business daily confirmed on Tuesday the possibility of the deal, but said Russian military experts were skeptical about it.
"The Russian Navy lacks the means to finance even the production of corvettes and missile boats, let alone the purchase of large combat ships," the paper quoted Mikhail Barabanov, science editor of the Eksport Vooruzheny (Arms Export) journal, as saying.
Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, said "although the practice of arms imports will become more common in Russia in the future, the Mistral deal is rather questionable from a military standpoint, as well as Russia's hopes for the transfer of advanced technologies from France."
Russia's current weapons procurement program through 2015 does not envision construction or purchases of large combat ships, so the possible acquisition of a French Mistral class ship is most likely to happen under the new program for the years up to 2020, which is still in the development.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2009/08/mil-090804-rianovosti10.htm
Chinese Enforcers Press Oz
August 3, 2009: Australians are outraged that Chinese hackers, apparently with government encouragement, have attacked and shut down online ticket sales for a local film festival showing a film the Chinese objected to. The film in question, “The 10 Conditions of Love”, was made by, and about, Uighurs (a Turkic Moslem minority in northwest China.) The director of the film is a Uighur activist that the Chinese consider a criminal. China earlier tried to pressure the film festival organizers by having three Chinese films withdrawn. But the Australians refused to give in. Then the Chinese took off the gloves and sent in their enforcers.
There's nothing secret about these Chinese cyber thugs. Three years ago, China organized a civilian Cyber War force. It's called the "Red Hackers Alliance" (RHA) and is officially a network security organization, composed of patriotic Chinese network security experts. China does have a major problem with network security, as the average Chinese PC user is much less well equipped, in terms of protective software, and expertise, to protect their computers. Computer viruses and worms that are a minor nuisance in the West, are often major problems in China.
The RHA has a paid staff, including university trained network security experts. Officially, the RHA provides training and advice about network security. But the RHA has also apparently absorbed the thousands of Chinese hackers who used to belong to informal hacker organizations. These groups often openly launched Cyber War attacks against foreign targets. One of the more notorious examples of this was in the Spring of 2001, when outraged Chinese hackers went after American targets in the wake of a Chinese fighter crashing, after colliding with an American P-3 patrol aircraft. American hackers fought back, and apparently there was more damage on the Chinese side. This offended the Chinese hackers a great deal, and they vowed to not fail in the future.
In the wake of the 2001 incident, the Chinese hacker organizations began to disband, even though they were the source of more serious, espionage related, hacking. The government apparently liked the talent of the Chinese hackers, but not their lack of discipline. Although the older hacker groups had liaison with the government, this was not enough to prevent "adventurism." The RHA is apparently the solution to that problem, and is yet another addition to China's growing Cyber War apparatus.
China has over 20,000 people involved in monitoring people using the Internet in China, as well as developing Cyber War weapons and defenses. This effort to organize Chinese hackers, for a network security effort, may be more successful than attempts to control their more playful activities. Hacking is all about spontaneity and, well, some misbehavior.
China does not want to alienate it's hacker community. Having the hackers on your side, in such an enthusiastic fashion, is rare, and a major advantage. But at the same time, ongoing government efforts to control Internet use angers many hackers. If the RHA officials lean on the hackers too much and too often, China may find that it has created a monster it has angered, and cannot control. Thus the need to turn the hackers loose on a "foreign enemy" periodically. And Oz became the most recent flavor of the week.
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htiw/articles/20090803.aspx
when i get a chance ill look up some of his posts. thanks for the heads up.
i was just at the local dicks sporting and gander mountain, the only ammo you can get in any quantities is 380, 223, any shotgun ammo, and most rifle ammo.
dicks didnt have any 9mm, gander only had $25 a box 9mm.
i think we need more. they are supposed to be our first line of offense with the couple of thousand F-35s following to clean up. how the hell are 187 F-22s suppose to accomplish this task against russia or china, much less iran with all of their air defenses? those planes would have to fly 24 hours a day for a week to be able to cover just iran and make sure it was safe for the F-35
my thoughts exactly.
there was a discussion on Bruce's board about this not having anything to do with the public because it only affected the dealers. i guess its ok that the govt owns a 2/3s of the domestic carmakers and now wants to own all the dealers comps and info on them.
as far as the swine flu, i think i might have had it. i was sick for a month with all those respiratory symptoms. just never went to the doc because i always recover and it never got so bad that i couldnt work, it did come close for a few days. and i have never been sick that long, no more that 3 or 4 days. not sure if it would matter now.
Marshall Law going into effect might be spark needed to start our next revolution
great article, nice to hear the cops side of it. and disturbing also, that adds credibility to what we see possible happening
i was at gander mountain looking at possibly my next purchase. a mossberg 500 with a tactical stock. not sure yet because the stock looked very cheap and it was in camo
lmao! i would be the first to say NO! to that, no worry lacy
hoagie, that means you are very old! lol
well you have been slacking, get on it! lol