Space Force must adapt to strengthen commercial ties, Raymond says

On the same subject

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  June 17, 2022 | International, Land

  Lithuania's defense minister heads to Paris to buy Caesar howitzers

  The new weapons are to boost Lithuania's artillery capacities, which currently rely on the country's 155mm PzH 2000 howitzers.

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  February 6, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, C4ISR

  The Navy's Surprise Unmanned Fighter Is a Glimpse of War's Near Future

  In a surprise announcement, the U.S. Navy revealed on Tuesday that it had successfully flown tests involving unmanned versions of the EA-18G Growler electronic attack fighter. The tests involved a single manned EA-18G controlling two unmanned versions of the same aircraft, opening up the possibility that the U.S. Navy could fly armed unmanned aircraft sooner than originally thought. The test, conducted by the U.S. Navy and Boeing, was undertaken by the U.S. Navy's flight test wing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. According to a C4ISRNET, a single EA-18G Growler controlled two unmanned Growlers in the air. The test is notable for several reasons. One, the Navy was not known to be working on unmanned systems other than the MQ-25 Stingray, a future drone tanker set to join the fleet in the mid-2020s. Second, the ability to convert a manned fighter such as the EA-18G Growler into an unmanned aircraft was also previously unknown. The EA-18G Growler is an electronic attack airplane. The EA-18 is based on the F/A-18F Super Hornet, has a crew of two, and is designed to escort Super Hornets on high risk air strikes. The Growler carries both a jamming pod designed to interfere with enemy radars and communications, preventing enemy air defenses from acquiring inbound aircraft and coordinating their attacks. The Growler also carries HARM anti-radar missiles, which detect the probing beams of enemy air defense radars and follow them to their source, destroying them. Without radars to guide them, many types of air defense missiles become unusable in combat. The Growler's electronic warfare mission is particularly high risk, placing the jet and its crew between the strike fighters it escorts and enemy missiles. That makes it a good candidate for the unmanned mission, where the loss of an aircraft won't result in the loss of a crew. The Growler and the Navy's main strike fighter, the Super Hornet, share 90 percent of their parts and systems. This makes it simpler to maintain both aircraft and allows the Growler to keep up with Super Hornets on missions. It also likely means that the Super Hornet can be unmanned, and possibly controlled by other Super Hornets. This test also reinforces the Navy's seriousness about unmanned aviation. The service caught considerable flak in the 2010s after testing the X-47B unmanned aerial vehicle—and then promptly shelved it. The service greenlighted the new MQ-25 Stingray carrier-based drone, but made it a tanker instead of a fighter or strike aircraft. Now we know that there's been an interest in unmanned aviation all along. But instead of building new unmanned aircraft, the Navy decided to leverage its fleet of hundreds of manned aircraft, devoting resources into converting them into unmanned platforms. Now it seems unmanned aircraft will almost certainly be an important weapon in the Navy's arsenal for future missions. Although drones can be controlled by crews on the ground on the other side of the planet, enemy electronic attack forces will be doing their best to interfere with U.S. forces, attempting to jam communications between a drone and its controllers. A manned aircraft could control multiple drones, providing instructions through unjammable short range communications. For now, it's still important to have a human around. https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a30771030/growler-unmanned-navy/

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  January 14, 2021 | International, Aerospace

  Northrop Grumman lands $325M deal for Air Force JSTARS sustainment

  By Ed Adamczyk Jan. 13 (UPI) -- A $325 million U.S. Air Force contract to support E-8C surveillance planes in the Joint STARS program was announced on Wednesday by Northrop Grumman. The contract executes the Total System Support Responsibility program for the fleet of 16 planes in the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, or JSTARS. The E-8C planes are modified from the Boeing707-300 series commercial airliner, and carry a variety of specialized radar, communications, operations and control subsystems. The contract includes program management, engineering technical support, aircrew and maintenance training, supply chain and spares management, technical data and publications, program depot maintenance and overall customer support, Northrop Grumman said in a press release. The planes are elements of the 116th and 461st Air Control Wings at Robins Air Force Base, Ga., and in overseas forward operating locations. The JSTARS program, developed by the U.S. Air Force and Army, has been in place since 1996, providing surveillance and target acquisition radar, and serving as an airborne command and control center. It was announced in 2019 that a replacement for the system, the Advanced Battle Management System family of platforms, is underdevelopment, but members of the U.S. Congress have shown reluctance to retire JSTARS. https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2021/01/13/Northrop-Grumman-lands-325M-deal-for-Air-Force-JSTARS-sustainment/5351610556602