Air Force Tests How Quickly, Nimbly It Can Deploy F-35 in 'Agile Lightning'

On the same subject

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  April 26, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval

  Les Armées détaillent la feuille de route du porte-avions de nouvelle génération (PANG)

  DÉFENSE Les Armées détaillent la feuille de route du porte-avions de nouvelle génération (PANG) La coque du futur porte-avions de nouvelle génération (PANG) sera construite et assemblée de 2031 à 2034, avant les essais en mer en 2036 et l'entrée en service en 2038. Il semblerait que la configuration avec deux catapultes électromagnétiques EMALS de General Atomics soit privilégiée par le ministère des Armées. En ce sens, d'ici la fin de la décennie, un Rafale Marine (Dassault Aviation) doit vérifier sa compatibilité avec cette EMALS (Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System) et les brins d'arrêt américains. La valeur des équipements américains serait évaluée à 3 milliards de dollars (trois avions-radar Northrop Grumman E-2D, catapultes électromagnétiques de General Atomics, brins d'arrêt et aides à l'appontage). Se poserait donc la question des offsets. A l'occasion de l'achat des trois E-2C dans les années 90, l'entreprise Potez Aéronautique est devenue sous-traitante à part entière dans le programme. Air & Cosmos, 22 avril

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  September 3, 2019 | International, Land

  In first, MDA remotely launches a missile

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The first-ever test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system'sability to remotely fire an interceptor was deemed a success by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. Following the test in the early hours of Aug. 30, the Lockheed Martin-made THAAD has now had 16 successful intercept tests in a row. But the significant milestone is proving the ability to remotely engage the system with a government-developed remote launcher kit. The capability provides extended range of a defended area, an MDA statement notes. “Preliminary indications are that planned flight test objectives were achieved and the target was successfully intercepted by the THAAD weapon system,” the statement reads. "This test demonstrates the expanding capabilities of the THAAD weapon system and its ability to intercept and destroy ballistic missile threats in defense of our nation, deployed forces and allies,” MDA Director Vice Adm. Jon Hill said in the statement. THAAD operators from the E-62 Battery conducted radar operations as well as launcher and fire control operations employing a procedure used in combat and were unaware of the target-launch timing. The ability to launch an interceptor remotely achieves a more layered — and ultimately less stove-piped — approach to regional ballistic missile defense and to increase the battlespace. The U.S. Army is also working to integrate the Patriot medium-range air-and-missile defense system with THAAD in response to an urgent operational need on the Korean Peninsula. That effort uses some of the same principles of decoupling launchers and radars so an operator can, for instance, use a THAAD radar (which can see farther than a Raytheon-made Patriot radar) but decide to engage a Patriot interceptor depending on the threat picture. The ability to use the THAAD radar also gets more out of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) missile fired from Patriot units, which outperforms the organic Patriot radar. Earlier, in an Aug. 29 Army test also at White Sands Missile Range, a PAC-3 Cost Reduction Initiative interceptor took out an air-breathing threat “at a record distance," according to a Lockheed Martin statement. The company builds the missile as well as the PAC-3 MSE. The test also showed it can be integrated into the Northrop Grumman-made Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, the command-and-control system of the Army's future air and missile defense architecture. The test demonstrated the Northrop system's ability to detect, track and engage a low-flying threat at a distance that exceeds the range of the current Patriot system, according to a Northrop Grumman statement. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/08/30/first-remotely-launched-terminal-missile-defense-test-deemed-a-success

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  March 18, 2022 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  The Defense Department Is a Bad Customer. Let’s Change That.

  Two active duty officers spent time at tech firms. Here’s what they learned.