PENTAGON REJECTS TWO-ENGINE OPTION FOR F-35

March 30, 2010

An F-35 Lightning II marked AA-1

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has said that there is still no valid business case for buying two different engines for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, despite concerns raised by lawmakers and a new government audit indicating potential benefits.

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) reiterated in 24 March congressional testimony that buying both the Pratt & Whitney F135 and General Electric (GE) Rolls-Royce F136 engines may prove financially feasible and also provide non-financial benefits, such as better contractor responsiveness.







The F135 engine with lift fan, roll posts, and rear vectoring nozzle,
as designed for the F-35B, at the Paris Air Show, 2007

The costs of opening two separate production lines "could be recouped if competition were to generate approximately 10.1 to 12.6 per cent savings over the life of the programme", Michael Sullivan, the GAO's director of acquisition and sourcing management, said in written testimony submitted to the House Armed Services subcommittees on Air and Land Forces and Seapower and Expeditionary Forces.

However, Ashton Carter, the Pentagon's top acquisition official, said the DoD remains opposed to buying two engines; while acknowledging that competition may drive down costs in the long-term, he insisted the short-term costs are too high.

F-35B's thrust vectoring nozzle and lift fan

Source by : Jane's Defence

March 19, 2010

BMT Nigel Gee Ltd and BMT Defence Services Ltd, subsidiaries of BMT Group Ltd, the leading international maritime design, engineering and risk management consultancy, have unveiled their new design for a highly capable Fast Landing Craft (FLC).

Contracted by Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) the BMT team developed a novel, tri-bow monohull platform using a parent hull-form derived from an internal BMT research and development programme, which included model tests to optimise performance.

Ed Dudson, Technical Director at BMT Nigel Gee, says: "Sized to occupy a similar footprint to the existing LCU Mk10 and thus capable of operating with UK amphibious support vessels, our innovative design meets the demanding UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) requirement for an FLC with high transit speed and high payload capacity whilst demonstrating excellent on-beach stability."

Made from aluminium for light weight and strength, BMT's specially developed FLC hull-form design allows:

* High-speed, heavy-payload operations (up to 28.5 knots fully fuelled and carrying four all-terrain vehicles, or up to 22 knots fully fuelled and carrying a main battle tank);

* Minimum speed loss in rougher seas (less than 1 knot speed reduction in Sea State 4);

* Excellent sea-keeping and manoeuvrability characteristics;

* On-beach stability.

Other features include:

* Three high-speed MTU diesel engines coupled to waterjets, providing reliability and redundancy;

* Dependable, easily accessible machinery.

BMT has a pedigree in independent naval design, strong technical capability, proven record of innovation and extensive portfolio of designs, particularly for high-speed vessels. BMT was awarded this important MOD contract as part of a DE&S Design Solutions Study to determine viable hull forms to satisfy a FLC requirement.

The MOD will, as part of its FLC Concept Phase, conduct a cost and performance based appraisal of this design with other options determined in the FLC Design Solutions Study.

Source by : BMT Group

UAV FOR BATTLEFIELD AMBULANCE

Marc 13, 2010

UAV for SAR (photo : Urban Aeronautics)

The Israel Defense Forces medical corps is looking at procuring an innovative unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that will evacuate critical casualties directly from the battlefield to the hospital. This would get more wounded to the hospital within the “golden hour,” the critical time in which a medical evacuation has the best chance of saving a wounded soldier’s life.

One of the candidates for the program is the AirMule, a vertical takeoff and landing UAV developed by Urban Aeronautics Ltd., an Israeli company specializing in Fancraft technology. Other aircraft being considered include helicopters converted to unmanned vehicles.

Lt. Col. Gil Hirschorn, a doctor and former flight medic who leads the medical corps’ trauma branch, says an important benefit of AirMule is its ability to land in areas of a fire-saturated battlefield that would be inaccessible to other vehicles. Hirschorn says the UAV, which is now being tested, will be equipped with stretchers, air conditioning and a communications system that establishes video contact between injured soldiers and the medical center. The wounded will be transported in a protected compartment and monitored throughout the flight. The current design holds two wounded soldiers lying prone. Future versions will include space for a medic.

The vehicle would add an important capability to the logistics of casualty evacuation, and be able to support amphibious operations as well as ground forces.

AirMule is a ducted-fan vehicle that uses Urban Aeronautics’ patented Fancraft lift system, based on internal rotors that provide lift and propulsion systems. The core of the technology is the Vane Control System (VCS), which consists of a cascade of vanes at the inlet and outlet ducts that can be deflected simultaneously (top and bottom) or differentially to generate side force or a rolling movement. Front and rear ducts are deflected differentially for yaw. “The VCS generates six degrees of freedom independent of one another. For the first time we have a vehicle that moves sideways without the need to roll,” says Rafi Yoeli, founder and CEO of Urban Aeronautics.

The company successfully completed the first phase of tethered flight trials, which consisted of autonomous hovers in which the vehicle maintained stable height and attitude. An onboard fly-by-wire system controls pitch, roll and yaw. The next series of tests will evaluate the AirMule’s position-keeping capability, and the vehicle will fly untethered for the first time.

The UAV is powered by a 730-shp. Turbomeca Arriel 1D1 turboshaft engine, which drives the fore and aft ducted rotors and aft thrusters through gearboxes and shafts. Its unique propulsion capabilities reportedly enable safe flight through areas of dense vegetation, in urban areas, over rough terrain and at high temperatures. The flight-control developed by Urban Aeronautics is a four-channel redundant system that relies almost entirely on inertial measurements and is augmented by GPS for translational position and velocity readings. Two laser altimeters indicate the vehicle’s height above ground. According to Yoeli, data show that the AirMule will hover with high precision even in gusty wind.

The vehicle carries a useful payload of 227 kg. (500 lb.). It has a maximum takeoff weight of 1 ton, and is designed to fly missions of 2-4 hr. at up to 100 kt. Its maximum ceiling is 12,000 ft. An operational version is expected to be available by 2012.

The concept of ducted-fan technology was popular among aircraft designers in the late 1950s and early 1960s when Piasecki Co. developed ducted-fan vehicles known as “flying jeeps” for the U.S. Army. The configuration was similar to the design used by Urban Aeronautics—two ducts, fore and aft, with a cabin in the middle. The concept, though, was ahead of the technology needed to develop a viable aircraft. The flying jeeps were difficult to control and had little endurance—only about 20 min. Because of this, vertical takeoff and landing remained a feature exclusive to helicopters. An array of technologies that have evolved since—efficient, lightweight engines, composite materials and flight-control computers—solved most of the problems associated with ducted-fan vehicles. What remained were aerodynamic challenges, notably in the areas of drag and controllability. Urban Aeronautics patented a package of innovations that reportedly resolves these problems.

The company is working on two other unmanned applications of the Fancraft technology—Panda, a small, electrically powered surveillance UAV, and Mule, a mid-sized UAV with a 500-lb. payload capacity.

In 2006 the company began working with Bell Helicopter to design the X-Hawk, a large, man-carrying ducted-fan vehicle for urban missions in the military and civilian sectors.

Source by : Combat Aircraft

MILITARY RECONNAISSANCE SATELLITE LAUNCED BY CHINA

March 6, 2010

A Long March 4C carrier rocket carrying a remote-sensing satellite, "Yaogan IX", blasts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province. (photo : Xinhua)

China successfully launched another Earth observation satellite from the Jiuquan space base Friday, according to state-run media outlets.

The Yaogan Weixing-9 spacecraft blasted off from Jiuquan on a Long March 4C rocket at 0455 GMT (11:55 p.m. EST Thursday), or 12:55 p.m. local time. The three-stage rocket successfully delivered the secret payload to orbit, the state-owned Xinhua news agency reported.

The Jiuquan launch site is located in the Gobi desert near the border between China's Gansu and Inner Mongolia provinces. Jiuquan has hosted the launches of all three Chinese human spaceflights to date.


Yaogan 9 is the newest member of a series of satellites believed to harbor optical and radar military reconnaissance capabilities.

The satellite "would be used to conduct scientific experiment[s], carry out surveys on land resources, forecast grain output and help with natural disaster-reduction and prevention endeavor[s]," state media reports said.

But most experts believe the Yaogan series includes two variants with high-resolution electro-optical cameras and cloud-piercing radars designed to see targets through inclement weather or darkness.

In the past, optical Yaogan satellites launched from Jiuquan and radar-equipped spacecraft were shot into orbit from the Taiyuan space center in northern China's Shanxi province.

Before Friday's mission, analysts believed China had orbited three electro-optical Yaogan satellites and five radar payloads.

Previous Yaogan launches from Jiuquan used the less powerful Long March 2D booster. The Long March 4C launched Friday includes a restartable third stage to increase payload performance. Chinese officials did not address the change in rocket, but the more powerful launcher could indicate the mission carried an upgraded Yaogan satellite.

Official Chinese media did not announce the launch until Thursday, a typical communications procedure for closely-guarded military space missions.
Friday's launch was the second orbital flight of Chinese rockets this year, and it marked the ninth space launch to reach orbit worldwide so far in 2010.

Source by : STEPHEN CLARK (SPACEFLIGHT NOW)

Malaysia Postpones Purchase of New Combat Aircraft

March 2, 2010

Sukhoi- 30 MKM TUDM

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia will postpone the purchase of new fighter jets and delay the retirement of its Russian-made MiG aircraft for five years, the defense ministry said Wednesday. The plan to buy new multi-role combat aircraft has been held back by the economic downturn, a ministry official told AFP.

MIG-29NUB TUDM

"We initially wanted to ground the (MiG) jets and sell them to a third country but after much thought and deliberation, we have decided to hold on," Defense Minister Zahid Hamidi said according to the New Straits Times.

He did not say what type of new combat aircraft the government would eventually buy, or when. Last June, he said the air force would phase out its ageing 16 MiG-29N interceptor jets, purchased in 1994 for $380 million, and would be looking to buy new planes to fill the gap. Last June, he said the air force would phase out its ageing 16 MiG-29N interceptor jets, purchased in 1994 for $380 million, and would be looking to buy new planes to fill the gap. In December, former premier Mahathir Mohamad criticized the phasing out of the jets as a waste of money. In comments on his blog, Mahathir asked whether the interests of middlemen were influencing the decision to buy new aircraft as they would stand to make big profits. Defense ministry officials told AFP of Feb. 24 that 10 of the 16 MiGs would continue to fly, the other six have already been decommissioned.

F/A-18D TUDM

The Malaysian air force also flies Boeing F/A-18D Hornets and Sukhoi SU-30 MKM Flanker jet fighters. The ministry has recently come under fire over the 2008 theft of two U.S.-made engines for its Northrop F-5E reconnaissance aircraft, which saw charges laid against an air force sergeant and a businessman last month. The engines have been traced to Uruguay and Malaysian officials say they are working to get the engines returned.

Source by : AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE & Defense News