Category Archives: Aviation

Lockheed Installs F-35 Sims at New Training Site

Lockheed Installs F-35 Sims at New Training Site

An undated photo of the F-35 Full Mission Simulator. Lockheed Martin Photo

An undated photo of the F-35 Full Mission Simulator. Lockheed Martin Photo

Lockheed Martin is installing high-fidelity F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) full mission simulators (FMS) at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C., in anticipation of the service’s Joint Strike Fighter training squadron moving to the base next year. Read More

Document: CBO Report on Options for Reducing U.S. Deficit

Document: CBO Report on Options for Reducing U.S. Deficit

From the Congressional Budget Office report, Options for Reducing the Deficit: 2014 to 2023:

The Congress faces an array of policy choices as it confronts the dramatic increase in the federal government’s debt over the past several years and the prospect of large annual budget deficits and further increases in that debt that are projected to occur in coming decades under current law. Read More

Document: Block Buy Contracting in Defense Acquisition

Document: Block Buy Contracting in Defense Acquisition

From the Oct. 29, 2013 Congressional Research Service report: Multiyear Procurement (MYP) and Block Buy Contracting in Defense Acquisition.

Multiyear procurement (MYP) and block buy contracting (BBC) are special contracting mechanisms that Congress permits the Department of Defense (DOD) to use for a limited number of defense acquisition programs. Compared to the standard or default approach of annual contracting, MYP and BBC have the potential for reducing weapon procurement costs by several percent. Read More

Navy Completes Initial Development of New Carrier Landing System

Navy Completes Initial Development of New Carrier Landing System

An F/A-18C Hornet, assigned to the Salty Dogs of Strike Aircraft Test Squadron (VX)23, tests the Joint Precision Approach Landing System (JPALS) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71). US Navy Photo

An F/A-18C Hornet, assigned to the Salty Dogs of Strike Aircraft Test Squadron (VX)23, tests the Joint Precision Approach Landing System (JPALS) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71). US Navy Photo

The U.S. Navy has completed the initial development of the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS), Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) officials told USNI News. Read More

Air Force Seeks Laser Weapons for Next Generation Fighters

Air Force Seeks Laser Weapons for Next Generation Fighters

This is a Lockheed Martin concept for a sixth-generation concept aircraft to replace the F-22 Raptor. The Air Force released a request to arm its next generation fighters with offensive lasers. Lockheed Martin Illustration

This is a Lockheed Martin concept for a sixth-generation concept aircraft to replace the F-22 Raptor. The Air Force released a request to arm its next generation fighters with offensive lasers. Lockheed Martin Illustration

The U.S. Air Force has released a new request for a high-powered laser weapon that could be mounted on a next-generation air dominance fighter in the post-2030 era. Read More

Damage Assessment Still Underway After Target Drone Collision with Navy Cruiser

Damage Assessment Still Underway After Target Drone Collision with Navy Cruiser

An image of guided missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG-62) following a collision with a BGM-74 target drone on Saturday. The impact area is circled. NBC 7 San Diego Image/U.S. Naval Institute photo illustration

An image of guided missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG-62) following a collision with a BGM-74 target drone on Saturday. The impact area is circled. NBC 7 San Diego Image/U.S. Naval Institute photo illustration

Engineers with U.S. Navy are still tallying the damage caused when a 13-foot target drone punched a three to four foot hole in the side of guided missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG-62) on Saturday, Navy officials told USNI News on Tuesday. Read More

House Panel Will Take on Pentagon Acquisition

House Panel Will Take on Pentagon Acquisition

cap_shutdownSaying “we’re making it harder and harder for good people to serve in the system,” the vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said Monday that for “roughly the next two years” the panel will focus on how to overhaul the acquisition process in all its hearings, including personnel policies limiting program managers to relatively short periods of service in their positions. Read More

Debate Continues Over UCLASS Requirements

Debate Continues Over UCLASS Requirements

The X-47B on the deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) on Nov. 10, 2013. US Navy Photo

The X-47B on the deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) on Nov. 10, 2013. US Navy Photo

The requirements for the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft program might not be settled just yet. Read More

Opinion: What the Navy Can Learn from Golf

Opinion: What the Navy Can Learn from Golf

A sailors hits golf balls in an inflatable driving range during a Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) event in the hangar bay of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) in 2012. US Navy Photo

A sailors hits golf balls in an inflatable driving range during a Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) event in the hangar bay of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) in 2012. US Navy Photo

Golfers may not realize it, but they have a keen understanding of combined arms.

I’m not a particularly good golfer myself. Some may suggest what I do is not actually “playing golf,” but I know well enough not to use a putter in the sand trap or use my sand wedge from the tee and certainly not buy any club that claims to cover all those situations. Read More