Combine Skynet from Terminator and the Borg from Star Trek and you have Skyborg, also known as the latest Air Force AI that has successfully flown a drone.
As any avid science fiction fan can attest, there are some things that are just not a good idea. Creating an AI designed to autonomously fly fighter drones seems like one of them, but naming it after a combination of two of the most terrifying technological villains in moviedom takes the cake.
The Air Force developed two flavors of Skyborg. The first flavor — which we covered here — is an R2-D2 inspired copilot AI. The second is a fully autonomous system that can fly a pilotless drone.
The Air Force’s goal is to eventually have the Skyborg Autonomy Core System (ACS) fly dangerous missions that currently require putting a pilot in harm’s way. The latest test, over Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, was a big step in that direction.
“We’re extremely excited for the successful flight of an early version of the ’brain‘ of the Skyborg system,” said Brig. Gen. Dale White. “It is the first step in a marathon of progressive growth for Skyborg technology,” White said. “These initial flights kick off the experimentation campaign that will continue to mature the ACS and build trust in the system.”
“This test is a significant step toward teaming manned and unmanned aircraft in combat in the not-too-distant future,” said Maj. Nathan McCaskey, 40th Flight Test Squadron Test Pilot and AAAx Project Pilot. “Unmanned aircraft using the autonomy system developed for this experiment could go places where manned fighters can’t go, providing sensor information back to manned teammates, increasing the power projection capability of the Air Force.”
The Air Force hopes to have fully operational Skyborg craft flying missions around 2023. If science fiction is any guide, humanity should be fighting for its life shortly thereafter.
“COVID has really impacted the aerospace industry in this nation and nations around the world disproportionately to other industries… and the Air Force has not been exempt from these impacts,” says former Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, Dr. Will Roper:
COVID Has Really Impacted Aerospace… and the Air Force
COVID has really impacted the aerospace industry in this nation and nations around the world disproportionately to other industries. The Air Force has not been exempt from these impacts. We have had to go into a wartime posture and engage with exceptional authorities and funding to keep the aerospace industry, which allows us to go to war, whole.
But aside from the crisis response that we’ve all been in it’s forced us to do some serious reflection about how we engage with production and supply chains going forward. How does the Air Force need to change the way it views its future self so that we’re not just more ready for a crisis when it occurs but we’re actually designing better systems, doing better engineering, and using technology more effectively? Systems that we need to go to war are going to be hidden behind doors where their vulnerabilities are never going to be exposed because of secrecy.
Secrecy Hinders Our Ability To Digitally Go To War
We’re moving into an era where we’re leveraging commercial technology more frequently. Because of that, we can no longer hope that secrecy, keeping our systems classified, will be the sole means for us to be secure. We need to find a new paradigm where openness is also part of our security posture. Now we’re not going to be able to copy commercial industry one for one. Our systems in many cases don’t have a commercial analog. We can’t quickly replace them.
We’re not in a competition where spirals occur in years. Many of our aerospace breakthroughs, especially those in technologies like stealth, take time to do. Secrecy is going to continue to be part of the equation. But secrecy can’t be the catch-all approach to how we ensure systems are able to digitally go to war and be ready to fight in a cyber environment against an adversary as capable as we are.
Containerization Solves The Secrecy Problem
The software development capabilities that technologies like Kubernetes or containerization and Istio bring in to the Air Force. It’s amazing that companies like Google that have now transitioned this to an open-source driven initiative have solved a lot of what we would have to solve as a military. How do you write code in a development environment, in that tech stack that may also represent the physical aspects of your system, but it certainly represents the software components?
How do you go from your development environment out to the edge securely and know your code will run the same way. Containerization solves that problem for us. The military is behind and adopting it. It’s not old but this technology is moving through industry as fast as Linux did. If we don’t get off the dime we will be left behind. Keep pushing the Air Force and Space Force on this. Do not let us get comfortable.
COVID Has Really Impacted Aerospace… and the Air Force
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a new space business segment aimed at taking cloud computing farther than ever.
Space-based business ventures are coming into their own and getting off the ground (pun intended), with space-based internet, communications, cloud services and more. Manned space trips are increasing in frequency and importance, as countries are looking to the moon and Mars for possible colonization.
AWS sees an opportunity to leverage their extensive cloud experience and portfolio to provide the backbone for these companies and industries. The new business unit, Aerospace and Satellite Solutions, will be run by retired Air Force Major Gen. Clint Crosier, who previously served as the director of Space Force Planning, referring to the latest branch of the US military.
“We find ourselves in the most exciting time in space since the Apollo missions,” Crosier said in today’s announcement from Amazon. “I have watched AWS transform the IT industry over the last 10 years and be instrumental in so many space milestones. I am honored to join AWS to continue to transform the industry and propel the space enterprise forward.”
Amazon’s investment in this space (pun intended again) illustrates the importance of the space industry to the US economy and technological future.
BGR is reporting that the newly formed U.S. Space Force has just conducted a successful nuclear-capable missile test.
As BGR points out, there’s nothing specifically interesting about a routine missile test. What makes this one stand out is that it was conducted by the 30th Space Wing, part of the newly formed Space Force.
The sixth branch of the U.S. military was formed when President Trump signed the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that, among other things, authorized its creation. Space Force falls under the Department of the Air Force, similar to how the Marines fall under the Department of the Navy, and will be responsible for protecting U.S. interests in space.
Tuesday night’s test is an indication the new branch is not wasting any time spooling up.
Lockheed Martin has announced it will replace current F-35 logistics software with a cloud-based solution, according to Reuters.
The current software, Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS), has been notoriously difficult to work with and has cost countless hours of lost time just trying to work around it. In fact, former Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson called ALIS “a proprietary system so frustrating to use, maintainers said they were wasting 10-15 hours a week fighting with it … and looking for ways to bypass it to try to make F-35s mission capable,” according to Breaking Defense.
Lockheed Martin appears to have a solution in its Operational Data Integrated Network (ODIN). ODIN “will be streamlined for efficiency ‘with the voice of the maintainer and the pilots at the forefront of the requirements list,’” according to Reuters. ODIN will be cloud-based, provide near real-time data on aircraft systems and should offer greater cybersecurity than ALIS. Lockheed Martin expects to have the majority of F-35s upgraded by the end of 2022, “except those deployed remotely or on ships.”
This news is another example of what experts have been saying for years, namely that cloud computing is more secure than on-premise systems. If the Air Force, not to mention intelligence agencies, are trusting the cloud for mission-critical tasks, it’s a good sign for the overall security of cloud computing.
According to the Denver Post, a swarm of drones numbering anywhere from 17 to 30 have been appearing in the night sky above Colorado and Nebraska.
The drones are roughly six feet across, and have been appearing and disappearing at the same time every night, and stay between 200 and 300 feet off the ground. Based on a statement by Phillips County Sheriff Thomas Elliot, the drones appear to be searching for something or mapping the terrain.
“They’ve been doing a grid search, a grid pattern,” Elliot told the Denver Post. “They fly one square and then they fly another square.”
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it did not know where the drones came from or who was operating them. Meanwhile, the Air Force, US Army Forces Command and Drug Enforcement Administration all denied the drones were theirs. Given the size and numbers of drones, it seems likely the drones are being flown by a company or agency, as an operation of this size would likely be prohibitive for hobbyists.
The FAA recently proposed a new rule that would give it the authority to identify and track the majority of drones in the skies. Such a rule would make it much easier for the FAA to know who the drones belong to and exactly what they’re doing.
Space.com is reporting that President Trump has officially signed the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, creating the U.S. Space Force (USSF) as the military’s sixth branch.
As we reported a week ago, the House and Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act, setting aside funds to create the USSF and thereby consolidating the various elements related to space defense under a single branch of the military. The USSF will be part of the Department of the Air Force, just as the Marines are part of the Department of the Navy.
In signing the bill, President Trump appointed General Jay Raymond as the first Chief of Space Operations. General Raymond will also represent the USSF on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The USSF “will be stood up over the next 18 months, military officials said.”
“It was nearly half a century from Kitty Hawk to the creation of the Air Force. And now it’s 50 years after Apollo 11 that we create the Space Force,” President Trump said at the signing at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. “It’s a big moment. That’s a big moment, and we’re all here for it. Space … going to be a lot of things happening in space. Because space is the world’s newest warfighting domain. Amid grave threats to our national security, American superiority in space is absolutely vital. And we’re leading, but we’re not leading by enough. But very shortly, we’ll be leading by a lot. The Space Force will help us deter aggression and control the ultimate high ground.”
The Trump administration on Thursday unsealed Federal criminal indictments against two Chinese nationals, accusing them of working for the Chinese government over the last 12 years to hack into computers and steal key technology from Western businesses and government agencies.
Retired Maj. Gen. Robert Scales says that we are already starting to see the manifestation of this hacking in the weapons they are deploying as we speak. The General added that we should take a long hard look at Chinese students in our universities and those that are hired from China to work in our corporate structure.
Maj. Gen. Robert Scales (Ret.) discussed the Chinese hacking of American businesses and government on Fox Business:
Compared to the Chinese Russians are Crass Amateurs
I’m glad this is finally coming out. The only thing we have talked about over the last two years about hacking has to do with the Russians interfering with our election. Let me just tell you something, compared to the Chinese the Russians are crass amateurs. They’re incompetent. The Chinese have this hacking institution that is so huge.
What makes it effective are a couple of things. Number one, it’s much larger than the Russians. Number two, it’s tied to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Even though a lot of the hacking is focused on commercial information, the people who are running this are the military. Here’s the scary part, the hacking is occurring in this country as well as in China. A great many Chinese immigrants are working in many of these industries and are scooping up this information and sending it home.
Seeing Manifestation of Hacking in Their Weapons
Just think for a moment if the Chinese have managed to put a bug into a chip in one of our anti-ballistic missiles or perhaps in a radar in a ship offshore in the South China Sea. Let me tell you another thing those of us in the military have seen. We are already starting to see the manifestation of this hacking in the weapons they are deploying as we speak to include their cruise missiles and their drones.
Also, if you look at their latest family of stealth aircraft, the J-20, it has a lot of the obvious characteristics with our F-22 and our F-35. They are so far advanced in their sophisticated hacking that they are already beginning to build military products and weapons to compete against us using our technology.
Hacking IBM or the Air Force is Essentially the Same
The Chinese leadership have said that the Chinese military and the technological slice of its corporate structure are to be at parity with the United States by 2030. There is no way by following a due-course process will the Chinese ever be able to achieve that without extensive and pervasive hacking of our technology. Both our civilian technology and our military technology.
Because so much of the military today is dependent on corporate technology, particularly with micro circuitry, that you can no longer distinguish between the two. A piece of IBM technology is the same technology that is being put in military computers, our radar systems, and are early warning systems. Having a hacking program against IBM or a hacking program against the US Air Force, today they are essentially the same.
We Should Take a Hard Look at Chinese in the US
What Should the US do? First of all I would say fight back. We’re just as good at this as the Chinese are. We can hack and we are pretty darn good at it. How many young men and women do we have in Silicon Valley who could do this on a weekend? Hack back at the Chinese and do it in a very public manner so that it becomes a cyber war where either side could win. It can’t get any worse since the Chinese are going full throttle as we speak. The only thing they would be afraid of is for us to start stealing their technology instead of vice versa.
The second thing I’d do is take a long hard look at Chinese students in our universities and those that are hired from China to work in our corporate structure. When I was in the army I visited China in 2000. I remember a Chinese general bragging to me that there were more PLA officers in American graduate schools than there were American officers in American graduate schools. I don’t think it has gotten any better in the last few years.
The other thing is for the Chinese students and employees in this country. What the Chinese government does very skillfully is they hold their relatives, their wives, children, parents, and grandparents at risk if they don’t toe the line and comply with instructions from China.
Are you familiar with a “wet Willy”? It’s a “prank” usually done by grade school kids where one sucks on the end of their finger and sticks it into another person’s ear. Oh the hilarity involved with someone feeling disgusted and uncomfortable now that they have spit transferred from one of the dirtiest parts of the body directly in their ear.
Our story takes place in Mankato, Minnesota, where after drinking at some local bars that closed early on Saturday, Riley Swearingen, 24, hopped on the Late Night Express (a $1 per ride bus for all the winos.)
At 2:20 AM while in the idling drunk bus, Swearingen snuck up behind a police sergeant who was chatting with the driver, prepared both of his index fingers by lathering them in tongue juice, and then stuffed them in both of the officer’s ears, the Mankato Free Press reports.
The officer felt “wet with saliva being pushed into his right and left ear canals, which caused pressure and discomfort” which prompted him to turn around and see Swearingen walking back to his seat like nothing happened.
“I thought it would be incredibly funny to give a police officer a wet Willy, to which I was sorely mistaken,” Swearingen said, according to the Free Press. “I’m incredibly sorry for what I did. I never thought I would be going to jail for the weekend.”
Swearingen was charged on Monday with a fourth-degree assault on a peace officer involving bodily fluids (a felony in Minnesota), a fifth-degree assault, and disruptive intoxication, KTOE reported. Shortly after, Swearingen, who was on leave from a U.S. Air Force base in North Carolina, settled with a plea deal by pleading guilty for a lesser charge of disruptive intoxication, a misdemeanor.
According to Minnesota statutes, a fourth-degree assault of a police officer is a gross misdemeanor, unless it involves bodily fluids (in this case, saliva) or feces. If you decide to use your bodily fluids or poop to assault an on-duty peace officer, then the gross misdemeanor escalates to an even grosser felony that carries a maximum penalty of up to three years in prison with a fine up to $6,000.
Officials said that the alcohol played a key factor in the “hilarious” wet Willy joke; Swearingen’s blood alcohol content was 0.18, which, for a 160 pound male is equivalent to roughly eight beers. Imagine going through a six-pack of Miller and then polishing off two more – would you transform into a grade school kid?
Wet Riley was sentenced to three days in jail and paid $77 in court fees for his wet Willy.
Aiming to add to their fleet of RQ-4 Global Hawks, the US Air Force has awarded a $354 million contract to Northrop Grumman Corporation, which manufactures the aircraft. The contract requires Northrop Grumman to make an additional three aircraft to bring the number of Air Force Global Hawks up to 37 by 2017.
The Global Hawk is used to retrieve intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data. It carries sophisticated imaging and electronic signals sensors that can gather various types of intelligence from high altitudes for as long as 32 hours. Included in the contract with Northrop Grumman are retrofit kits for the Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload sensors for two of the Global Hawks, allowing them to gather more information. These sensors are also manufactured by Northrop Grumman.
“Northrop Grumman is proud that the RQ-4 Global Hawk has become an indispensable ISR resource for the Air Force. These new systems will provide further opportunities to keep our warfighters safe,” said Mick Jaggers, program manager for Global Hawk at Northrop Grumman.
The company is closely tied with the Air Force and remains a major sponsor of one of service’s premier running events, the US Air Force Marathon. From September 19 to 20, the 18th installment of this running event is expecting the participation of 15,000 runners in 5K, 10K, half and full marathon events at Wright State University and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton.
“In 2014, we’re expecting approximately 70 Northrop Grumman employees and their family members to participate in the Air Force Marathon events. Many more of them will be manning aid stations or cheering the runners along the course,” said Kevin Bell, corporate lead executive for Northrop Grumman in Dayton.
Besides the Global Hawk, Northrop Grumman has also been supplying the Air Force with B-2 stealth bombers and the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System battle management and command and control aircraft.
In the wake of an internal scandal, United States Air Force has fired nine commanders of Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. According to CBS News, the scandal has become associated with several lapses in security and cheating on exams, stretching as far back as 2011. Although none of the officers fired were directly involved in the cheating, the Air Force feels that their lack of leadership is to blame for the scandal.
“They weren’t aware this [cheating] was going on in any way, shape or form, and I think they should have been,” Lieutenant General Stephen Wilson said of the officers fired. The Los Angeles Times said the lieutenant general also stated that classified information was conveyed over cell phones in the form of pictures and texts.
ABC News reported that because the nine officers fired were under his command, the senior officer of the 341st Missile Wing, Colonel Robert Stanley, has submitted his resignation. His retirement will prevent his promotion to brigadier general, for which he was nominated earlier this year.
“We’ve seen the reputation of our beloved wing, and America’s ICBM mission, tarnished because of the extraordinarily selfish actions of officers entrusted with the most powerful weapon system ever devised by man. As you are now learning, the ramifications are dire. Many lives will be permanently changed as a result,” Stanley said according to the Los Angeles Times, “Had just one solitary airman spoken up for integrity, our leadership team would have been able to take action immediately. Tragically, peer pressure and the fear of being an outcast prevailed.”
Exact numbers vary concerning how many officers were involved in the cheating scandal. ABC News said 79 had at one point partaken in the cheating. The Associated Press reported 82 were involved, with 30 to 40 eligible to be disciplined and retrained. The Los Angeles Times had the largest figure of 91.
An employee of one of Lockheed’s suppliers was arrested en route to Iran last week on suspicion of attempting to smuggle secret F-35 Joint Strike Fighter documents there.
Back in November, the investigation initiated when customs officials and homeland security agents said they intercepted a shipment Mozaffar Khazaee was sending to Hamadan, Iran. The 59 year old engineer was said to have claimed that the boxes labeled “Household Goods” only contained personal items. However, an Agent of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, declared in an affidavit that there were “thousands of pages contained in dozens of manuals/binders relating to the JSF program.”
Mozaffar Khazaee, a citizen of both Iran and America, formerly worked for Pratt & Whitney as a military contractor. Court documents indicate he was responsible for carrying out engine part strength tests and officials state the documents he attempted to send included design outlines of the fighter’s jet engine that were labeled as subject to export restrictions.
On January 9, Khazaee was arrested at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, after traveling from Indianapolis to Newark. Per a statement by the prosecutors, Tehran was his final destination.
The discovery of this incident might exacerbate the already precarious nuclear deal the U.S. and 5 additional countries have with Iran. As stated by the Fiscal Times, the consequences of the leaked information are that the whole F-35 program will be compromised as well.
This news has come tandem to reports that Lockheed “greatly exaggerated” just how many U.S. jobs were created by the F-35 fighter jet, (the Pentagon’s costliest weapons program).
“The real figure, based on standard estimating procedures used in other studies in the field, should be on the order of 50,000 to 60,000,” the Center for International Policy reported today.
As for Khazaee’s indictment, although he has not been arraigned yet in the case, he is currently being detained in New Jersey before heading to Connecticut where he will face charges. Those charges comprise two counts of transporting, transmitting and transferring in interstate commerce goods obtained by theft, conversion or fraud.
He could face up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted.
Two unarmed U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers entered a Chinese air defense zone on Monday, defying China’s expanding claim over an island chain in the East China Sea.
The flight occurred without incident, and the Pentagon declared on Tuesday that the flyover was not significant of any reaction to China’s expanding declaration of sovereignty over the archipelago which that country calls the Diaoyu Islands. Japan calls the group the Senkaku Islands, and both nations claim dominion over the region, as well as over the oil and gas fields nearby.
The B-52 flyover comes directly after U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s scathing comments rejecting Chinese air defense zone expansion in the area, which some see as a threat to regional stability. Hagel said over the weekend, “We view this development as a destabilizing attempt to alter the status quo in the region. This unilateral action increases the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculations.” Both China and Japan have been harassing one another over the island chain for years.
The two B-52 Stratofortresses departed from Anderson Air Force Base in Guam, and China issued an initial public response on Wednesday, stating that the planes were detected and monitored as they flew over the zone, for two hours and 22 minutes. Beijing asserted its right to monitor aircraft entering the region, but did not include any threats of taking action against any offending planes.
Lieutenant Colonel Tom Crosson, a U.S. Department of Defense spokesman, commented that the two unarmed, long-range strategic bombers flew “as part of a long-planned training sortie,” adding that the Chinese did not attempt to challenge the flight whatsoever. Crosson also pointed out that the US pilots didn’t announce themselves to any Chinese authorities.
China is scheduled to participate in the major Rim of the Pacific wargame alongside the US navy and its regional allies next year, which is intended to forge stronger U.S.-Chinese military ties.
Nick Szechenyi, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, commented on the flyover, “Engagement with China is very important to assure China its rise is welcome, but on the flip side, you have to dissuade China from taking potentially destabilizing actions.”
The well-known aerospace corporation Boeing has had a long relationship with the United States Air Force since the Cold War, and it is also a big supplier of planes to the Air Force as well. This past Thursday marked a milestone for this relationship when Boeing delivered its final model of the C-17 (Globemaster III) to the Air Force’s military officials, along with holding a ceremony to commemorate this event.
A description from Boeing’s website of the C-17 Globemaster III is provided below, along with the reason why this model is so important to the Air Force.
“The C-17 Globemaster III is a high-wing, four-engine, T-tailed aircraft with a rear loading ramp. In 1980, the U.S. Air Force asked for a larger transport that could be refueled in flight and use rough forward fields so that it could fly anywhere in the world.”
According to Boeing’s description, the corporation accepted this challenge, and in 1981, McDonnell Douglas (who later merged with Boeing in the 90’s) won the contract and proposal to build the C-17. With this contract, the specifications of the C-17 met and exceed the Air Force’s expectations.
At this past Thursday’s ceremony to commemorate the last C-17 to be produced for the Air Force, many Boeing employees attended, along with Bob Grech, who has been involved with the C-17 project for the past 19 years. Grech stated, “It was a long run with the U.S. military, and it was a good run.” Rachid Ali, an avionics inspector for the C-17, was also present at the ceremony and praised the C-17’s performance, saying, “It’s an awesome airplane. Capability, reliability, it’s above and beyond. The first 50 are still flying. After 25 years, you can refurbish them and they’re as good as new. It’s going to be in the air for years to come.” (Source: Yahoo News)
Following the ceremony, the final C-17 that was delivered to the USAF took to the air en route to the Air Force Base in Charleston, S.C. The reason for the C-17’s destination was to recreate the same flight that took place during the first C-17’s maiden voyage. Coming in for a landing, an airmen took a great picture of the C-17 getting ready to touch ground as shown in the tweet below.
No one wants to eat at a restaurant that has received a failing grade from the health inspector, or one that has received any lower than an A-, and that’s pushing it for some. Now, imagine that failed restaurant could potentially kill not only you, but also every living thing on Earth.
That’s the feeling many are experiencing today as news of Malmstrom Air Force Base’s failure in a security check spreads. The anxiety is because the unit stationed there controls a staggering one-third of the nation’s land-based nuclear missiles.
The news doesn’t mean that citizens should start building fallout shelters in their back yards, however. Commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, Lt. Gen. James M. Kowalski, was quick to point out that the portion of the test that was failed was not one that would put the weapons stockpile at immediate risk. He said in a phone interview that “The team did not demonstrate the right procedures,” and that there was no reason to call the safety of the missiles at Malmstrom into question.
When asked whether or not those responsible for the failure would face disciplinary action from the military Kowalski said that they are “looking into it.” The fact that the 341st wing, which is the one responsible for this failure, also failed a similar test in 2010 could turn that possibility into reality. The two failures by the 341st are the only two failures in the security check since it was implemented in 2008.
Kowalski was reassuring, saying that “This is a difficult inspection.” For our sake, I hope it is truly as difficult as he claims.
A U.S. Air Force drone crashed shortly after takeoff in the Florida panhandle near Tyndall Air Force Base today, forcing the closure of U.S. highway 98.
The cause of the crash is not yet known, but authorities say that the highway will remain closed for 24 hours. The drone carries a small self-destruct charge designed to bring the plane down if it wanders off its programmed course. The battery attached to that charge runs down after about 24 hours, according to Air Force officials.
The drone in question is a QF-4, which is a full-sized fighter jet used primarily for testing weapons systems. It belongs to the Air Force’s 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group. The QF-4 is an unmanned variant of the old F-4 Phantom II fighter jet. The F-4 was the primary air superiority fighter of both the Air Force and the Navy in the 1960s and 1970s, before being replaced by the F-15 Eagle in the Air Force and the F-14 Tomcat in the Navy. A few F-4s still see active service in the air forces of other countries, but those still owned by the U.S. military are almost exclusively QF-4 drones.
Witnesses told local media that the drone crashed during takeoff around 8:25 this morning, bursting into flames and sending up a large column of black smoke.
This is the second drone from Tyndall AFB to be destroyed recently. A week ago another drone was deliberately brought down by Air Force personnel over the Gulf of Mexico. The drone reportedly failed to respond to repeated attempts to land it, and its controllers feared that it could present a danger to civilians, so they steered it out over the gulf and detonated its self-destruct charge.
Officials say the crash presents no further threat to the local population, and that the closure of the highway is only a precaution until crews can begin recovering the aircraft.
According to multiple publications, a United States Air Force F-15 operating out of Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan has crashed. The report, generated by the Associated Press, also indicates the pilot ejected and survived the incident:
A U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter crashed off the southern Japan island of Okinawa early Tuesday after the aircraft developed problems in flight. The pilot ejected and was recovered safely.
The Wikipedia entry for Kadena reveals the base has been open since 1945, and is the home of the USAF’s largest combat wing, and there are two squadrons responsible for the F-15C Eagles used by this particular wing branch. For those who haven’t seen the F-15 in action in either video or an air show, here’s an idea of just how impressive these machines really are.
Also, keep in mind you’re watching an aircraft that, as of 2008, has a 104-0 air-to-air combat record, which is much better than your favorite sports team:
On January 24, 1963, a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber training flight carrying a crew of nine crashed into Elephant Mountain in Maine. There were only two survivors of the crash, the pilot, Lt. Col. Dan Bulli, and the navigator, Capt. Gerald Adler (pictured). Both survived a night in freezing temperatures that reached -30°F while rescue workers searched for survivors throughout the night. In the morning, rescuers were able to use dog sleds, snowmobiles, and aircraft to locate the fallen airmen.
This week, over 50 years after the incident, one of the crash’s survivors has finally come face-to-face with his rescuer.
According to an Associated Press report, the now 81-year-old Adler this week met with Eugene Slabinski, the 83-year-old former medic who rescued Adler and Bulli all those years ago. Slabinski was a part of the first rescue team to reach Adler and Bulli the morning after the crash. According to the AP report, Slabinski dropped from a helicopter and helped to airlift the surviving airmen to safety.
The reunion came at a Memorial Day remembrance that took place at the site of the B-52 crash.
Adler stated to the AP that his experience highlights the fact that a military career can be dangerous, even out of combat. His comments are particularly poignant, coming just weeks after a Navy SEAL died during a training exercise at Fort Knox. Two Navy divers also died earlier this year, drowning during a training exercise in a test pond at the Aberdeen Proving Ground.
Every year in Brazil they celebrate something called Praça dos Três Poderes in their capital city. It is an exchanging of the national flag that happens out in front of the Supreme Federal Court building. The awesomely beautiful building has a ton of glass, from head to toe. Part of this celebration was to have 2 Dassault Mirage 2000 fighters do a high speed flyby. They went a little too fast and the ensuing sonic booms completely shattered every pane of glass on that building.
The spiking air pressure that is caused when an object goes faster than the speed of sound can cause an audible booming noise often referred to as a “sonic boom.” When the sonic boom happens that close to the ground it has the ability to shatter glass. The delta winged Dassault Mirage 2000 has a top speed of mach 2.2 so hitting this was probably an accident, but negligence non the less. I’d be really surprised if the pilots didn’t get in a lot of trouble.
In a statement, Brig Ar Kanitz Marcelo Damasceno, chief of the Center for Social Communication of the Força Aérea Brasileira (FAB), said that the Brazilian Air Force Command has initiated the investigation of the incident and will compensate the damage caused.
All I can say is that Guile would be proud.
Image courtesy of Capcom
Cover image courtesy of the Department of Defense.
The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor is the pinnacle of airborne technology right now. The plane can fly higher, go faster, use less fuel, and be more invisible than nearly every other plane thats out there. How dominate is the F-22 you ask? In 2009 they had a war game where they pitted F-22 pilots against the best the Navy and Air Force had to offer. F15’s, F-18’s, and F-16’s in what were called aggressor units, and there was one common theme that the opposing aggressor pilots came away with. “Aggressor pilots are not typical Air Force line units. They tend to have much more experience,” says Mike Estrada, a spokesman at the air base that the games were held at. “And I can tell you that our Aggressor pilots are getting very tired of always getting shot down by the F-22.”
thanks to http://www.af.mil/ for the infographic
But early this year an F-22 crashed in Alaska and the reason was unknown until recently when Air Force pilots of the based in Virginia started to complain that they were feeling hypoxia symptoms.These pilots went public with the problem and actually refused to go up in the plane anymore. Then there was a reported incident of the ground crews for the F-22 suffering from hypoxia like symptoms as well.
Congress began looking into it and some conclusions were made about the plane but few were based on concrete facts. Lt. Gen. Janet Wolfenbarger went in front of some Senators and said that the problem was, “we’re realizing that we operate this aircraft differently than we operate any of our other fighter aircraft, we fly at a higher altitude, we execute maneuvers that are high-G at that high altitude and we’re on that oxygen system at those high altitudes for periods of time.” Translation? The F-22 is too awesome for us to fly and that is why there are problems.
Not a lot of people are buying into this especially since the ground crew started having problems and so people started pointing to something mechanical on the plane. Maybe is was as simple as a washer that comes loose and looses pressure in its corresponding system under extreme heat and stress. Or maybe it is the glue that is one of the key components of the stealth technology that the plane uses to stay invisible.
The glue theory is the one being thrown out there by F-16 co-designer Pierre Sprey. In an interview with the Panama City News Herald, Sprey said that the problem the pilots are suffering is due to “the pilot being exposed to diisocyanates, which are found within the polyurethane glues that comprise the stealth coatings, at a number of times because the adhesives are reapplied in the upkeep of the plane.” Mr. Sprey also believes that the Air Force or DoD will not admit the problem because “dealing with the F-22’s glues, which provide the F-22 its stealth, would mean a ‘major rebuild of the airplane.’”
Heidi Davis, an Air Force spokeswoman, disregards these claims saying that tests revealed a lack of toxins in the cockpit, air system and pilot’s blood, helping negate Sprey’s claim. But the Panama City News Herald spoke to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry who said that “these types of chemicals react with the body quickly and could potentially be out of the pilots’ system before testing even took place.”
Unhappy with the Air Force’s handling of the long-simmering problems with the oxygen system on the most expensive fighter plane in history, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordered restrictions on F-22 flights and told the Air Force to speed up its efforts to prevent Raptor pilots from experiencing life-threatening hypoxia in flight. That happened in May and to this date there is still no solution for what exactly is the problem is. At over $150 million per airframe, the cost to retrofit the 180 Raptors in service would be extremely expensive, but in my opinion worth it. When this fighter is in the air, there is nothing on this entire planet that can even eat its lunch.
all pictures courtesy of the United States Air Force
The department of defense released their 30 year plan for the entire fleet of aircraft currently available to the Department of the Air Force (DoF), Department of the Navy (DoN-includes the Navy and Marines), and the Department of the Army (DoA). The report included funding for replacements to Air Force One and the military’s aging 4th generation fighters (F/A-18, F-16, A-10, E/A-6B)
The U.S. military’s inventory of unmanned aerial vehicles, will grow to 645 aircraft in fiscal 2022 from about 445 in fiscal 2013, which is an increase of 45%. The total is in line with the military’s budget restraints going forward.
“The military departments adjusted their plans to comply with a constrained top line by procuring fewer aircraft than desired,” Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter wrote in a letter to the leaders of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee.
The Defense Department plans to spend $770 billion on aviation assets from 2013 to 2022. This includes fighter jets, attack helicopters, airlift and cargo aircraft, combat search and rescue aircraft, air refueling planes, bombers, anti-ship and submarine aircraft, drones, training platforms and other aircraft used by Special Operations forces. Annual funding levels will peak at $80 billion in 2022, according to the Pentagon.
The Air Force “plans to continue aggressive funding” for a new long-range bomber with nuclear capabilities, according to the aviation report. The bomber would reach its initial capability in the mid-2020s, according to the Pentagon. The Defense Department plans to “hold down” the unit cost to “ensure sufficient production” of 80 to 100 bombers, according to the report. And they are also starting to look at a 6th generation fighter tabbed the F-X to replace the brand new F-22. Before you freak out, remember that the F-22 is new now, but this is a 30 year plan. In 30 years, who knows where military technology will be.
