Latest news with #AFRL
Miami Herald
13 hours ago
- Science
- Miami Herald
US tests bomb that splits ships in half
By Dean Murray The U.S. has successfully tested a lighter version of a bomb that can blast huge ships in half. The U.S. Air Force (USAF) said Wednesday (June 4) they dropped a 500-pound QUICKSINK munition from a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. It follows a dramatic 2022 trial where a larger 2,000-pound variant was used to destroy a full-scale surface vessel. The USAF say the smaller version of the precision-guided bomb offers a lower-cost anti-ship weapon, with more being able to be carried by bombers and fighter jets. Col. Dan Lehoski, 53rd Wing commander, said: "QUICKSINK offers an affordable, game-changing solution to rapidly and efficiently sink maritime targets. "AFRL's 500-pound QUICKSINK variant adds options for the warfighter and enhances operational flexibility." The live-fire exercise was a collaborative effort between Air Force Materiel Command's Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and Air Force Test Center and Air Combat Command's 53rd Wing. Col. Matthew Caspers, AFRL Munitions Directorate commander, said: "QUICKSINK is the result of a Joint collaboration that rapidly prototyped an affordable concept for holding surface targets at risk." It has not been reported what target the new variant was used against. The post US tests bomb that splits ships in half appeared first on Talker. Copyright Talker News. All Rights Reserved.
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Smaller Version Of Quicksink Ship-Killing Smart Bomb Tested By USAF
The U.S. Air Force says it has tested a modified 500-pound-class GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, optimized for use as an anti-ship munition as part of its Quicksink program. The service has already demonstrated a 2,000-pound-class Quicksink bomb, and the new version could offer a valuable lower-cost anti-ship weapon that bombers and tactical jets could also carry more of on a single sortie. At the same time, there are questions about the exact scope of maritime targets that a Quicksink GBU-38 might be effective against. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) announced the test of the GBU-38-based Quicksink munition today, but did not say when exactly it had occurred. A B-2 Spirit stealth bomber dropped the weapon over the Gulf Test Range, which the 96th Test Wing at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida manages. The Air Force first unveiled the Quicksink program in 2021 after a test of the 2,000-pound-class type, which is a modified GBU-31/B JDAM. 'This new 500-pound [Quicksink] variant expands the B-2's targeting capabilities, providing combatant commanders with an expanded complement of innovative warfighting solutions,' a press release from AFRL states. 'A collaborative effort between Air Force Materiel Command's Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and Air Force Test Center (AFTC), and Air Combat Command's 53rd Wing enabled execution of the Quicksink live-fire tests.' How much the 500-pound-class Quicksink munition may differ from the 2,000-pound-class type is not immediately clear. Typical JDAMs consist of a low-drag bomb body combined with a new tail section that contains a GPS-assisted inertial navigation system (INS) guidance package, as well as clamp-on aerodynamic strakes. JDAM kits exist for 1,000-pound-class bombs, as well as 500 and 2,000-pound-class types. JDAMs, which can only hit static targets, can be built around various types of unguided bombs, including general-purpose high explosive and bunker-buster types. At least when it comes to the 2,000-pound-class version, the Quicksink bomb combines the JDAM kit with a new imaging infrared seeker fitted to the nose. The Air Force has said in the past that the resulting munition, which is capable of engaging moving targets, navigates to a designated area first via GPS-assisted INS before switching over to the seeker. The weapon then finds and categorizes the target by checking its length against a detailed internal reference database. The seeker then provides additional course correction data to put the bomb on a path where it is intended to detonate right next to the target ship's hull, just below the waterline. Initial cueing to the target, which the launch platform or offboard sources could provide, is required. The computer-generated video below depicts a full engagement cycle. The GBU-31-based Quicksink munition already presented a notably lower-cost option for engaging enemy ships, especially compared to traditional air-launched anti-ship cruise missiles. JDAM kits cost around $85,000, with the unguided bombs that they are paired with adding a minimal increase to the overall price tag. AFRL has said in the past that each Quicksink seeker unit costs around $200,000, and that the goal was to drive that price point down to some $50,000 as production ramped up. For comparison, the unit cost for the AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), the U.S. military's premier air-launched anti-ship cruise missile, is around $3 million. Past U.S. military cost data has also pegged the price point of current generation AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship cruise missiles at around $1.4 million. A GBU-38-based Quicksink munition also offers important magazine depth benefits for both bombers and tactical jets. A B-2 like the one used in the latest Quicksink test can carry up to a whopping 80 500-pound-class JDAMs on a single sortie. Loadouts for F-15E Strike Eagles, which have also been used extensively in past Quicksink testing, can often include up to nine GBU-38s. Strike Eagles have also been test loaded with as many as 15 500-pound-class JDAMs, but not necessarily with the intention to drop them all during a single mission, as you can read more about here. As a comparison, F-15Es have also been tested loaded with five AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) cruise missiles, from which the LRASM is derived. Smaller jets like the F-16 Viper, which have more limited payload capacity overall, could also benefit greatly from access to a 500-pound-class anti-ship weapon. For instance, a typical anti-ship loadout for the Viper today includes just two Harpoons. Any increased magazine depth translates to more engagement opportunities per sortie for an individual aircraft. It also means more munitions are available during a mission to employ against a single target, which could help overwhelm enemy point defenses. For years now, there has been great interest within the Air Force and elsewhere across the U.S. military in new, lower-cost precision bombs and missiles, in general, particularly amid planning for a potential future high-end fight across the Pacific against China. Acquiring cheaper precision munitions as complements to more exquisite types is seen as essential for ensuring stockpiles are sufficiently full before such a conflict breaks out, and also to help replenish them in the event of protracted fighting. Lessons learned from recent U.S. operations in and around the Middle East, as well as observations from the ongoing war in Ukraine, have only validated this viewpoint and provided new impetus for programs like Quicksink. The prospect of a large-scale conflict in the Pacific has also driven a broad push across America's armed forces to expand anti-ship capabilities and capacity across the board, again with capabilities like Quicksink. It's also interesting to note here that Quicksink seeker technology is already known to have migrated to the Air Force's separate Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM) effort. ERAM has been centered on the development of a low-cost cruise missile, primarily for Ukraine's armed forces. At the same time, though far lower cost than something like the AGM-158C, modified JDAMs do not offer anywhere near the same standoff range capability to help keep the launch platform away from threats. A low-observable (stealth) platform like a B-2 or an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) would have added the ability to bring Quicksink munitions closer to their intended targets with lower risk (but not no risk) in the face of limited defenses. Non-stealthy aircraft could use Quicksink munitions to help finish off damaged small surface combatants with already degraded defenses, or employ them against targets that are less-well-defended, or even essentially defenseless, to begin with. These could include vital sealift assets and civilian cargo vessels pressed into military service. Hitting ships at anchor in port or other littoral areas, especially if they are densely congregations, could be another application for Quicksink. Wing kits that can extend the range of JDAMs from around 15 miles up to 45 miles, depending on the weapon's exact configuration and release envelope, also exist. The JDAM-Extended Range (JDAM-ER) is now a combat-proven capability as a result of their employment by Ukraine's Air Force in recent years. However, this is something the U.S. military has curiously not invested significantly in for its own use. Quickstrike-ER air-launched naval mines, which leverage the JDAM-ER kit, are the only example of this capability known to be in American service today. JDAM prime contractor Boeing has also been developing a cruise missile derivative, or Powered JDAM (PJDAM), which you can learn more about here. The 2,000-pound-class Quicksink bomb has at least demonstrated its ability to sink a civilian-type cargo ship, but the smaller size of the new version might present limitations in terms of effectiveness. At the same time, it is worth noting that 500-pound-class Quickstrike mines are in service now, and are expected to detonate further away from a target's hull. The magazine depth benefits of the GBU-38-based Quicksink munition also means that a single aircraft could more readily release a salvo of the bombs at a ship for increased effect. There are smaller maritime assets, including landing craft and other types of ship-to-shore connectors, that Quicksink bombs based on the GBU-38 could be used against, as well. Overall, Quicksink bombs offer a way to help free up weapons like LRASM for use against targets that demand higher-end capabilities to tackle. The Air Force is clearly interested in the potential cost and other benefits that a 500-pound-class version of the Quicksink anti-ship munition could offer, and more details about its capabilities may now begin to emerge. Contact the author: joe@
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Ohio and Wright-Patt's Air Force research lab to continue to share knowledge, tech
Jun. 2—BEAVERCREEK — The state of Ohio and the Air Force's chief research and science arm renewed an agreement to share knowledge and technical know-how Monday, agreeing to find ways to foster mutually beneficial economic development in Ohio. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Brig. Gen. Jason Bartolomei, commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) documents at the Pentagon Tower Club. "This is a relationship that is vitally important to the state of Ohio, and I hope, general, vitally important to the Air Force," DeWine said to Bartolomei in a joint press conference announcing the continued partnership. Bartolomei called Ohio "a vital partner." "This memorandum represents a shared vision of the future," the one-star general said. Headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, AFRL is the primary scientific research and development center for the Air Force. Wright-Patterson itself is a hugely important economic engine for the Dayton area and the state, being Ohio's largest single-site employer with some 38,000 military and civilian employees and a reliable magnet for high-paying defense industry jobs. "The brainpower we have at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is unsurpassed anywhere in the world," DeWine said. DeWine credited Wright-Patterson's importance and location with attracting industry players such as Joby Aviation and Anduril Industries to the state. The governor singled out for praise the SkyVision system at the Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport, a system that allows Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) control in the national airspace system for drone operators. "The future of Ohio is tied very, very closely to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base," DeWine said, adding: "What's going on in Springfield is also vitally important." Springfield-Beckley is also home to the National Advanced Air Mobility Center of Excellence that supports research at Wright-Patterson, AFRL, NASA and a host of private companies. In 2007, the state and the Air Force signed a similar memorandum of understanding. "This partnership will enable AFRL to engage with the state of Ohio at a higher level to maximize AFRL and state of Ohio collaboration opportunities," Maj. Gen. Curtis Bedke, then AFRL commander, said at the time. Based at Wright-Patterson, AFRL performs Air Force-focused research with more than 12,500 employees across the world.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hybrid-Electric GHOST Strike-Recon Drone In The Works For USAF
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has awarded General Atomics a contract for work on what is described as a 'hybrid-electric propulsion ducted fan next-generation intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance/strike unmanned aerial system,' or GHOST. A propulsion system of this kind can offer a very high degree of efficiency, which can translate to significant unrefueled range, as well as being very quiet. General Atomics has publicly touted work in this area in the past, tied in part to its Gambit modular drone family, which it has said could lead to a design capable of staying aloft for up to 60 hours, at least. The Pentagon included AFRL's GHOST award to General Atomics, a cost-plus-fixed-fee deal valued at $99,292,613, in its daily contracting notice today. The full entry reads: 'General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. Poway, California, was awarded a $99,292,613 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for hybrid-electric propulsion ducted fan next-generation intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance/strike unmanned aerial systems (GHOST). This contract provides for the advancement of the hybrid-electric ducted fan next-generation intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance/strike unmanned aerial systems to provide capabilities across a spectrum of contested environments. Work will be performed at Poway, California, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 26, 2028. This contract was a sole source acquisition. Fiscal 2024 research, development, test and appropriations funds in the amount of $26,867,479 are being obligated at time of award. The Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA2931-25-C-B035).' Additional details about the GHOST effort, including what plans there might be now to operationalize what the program produces, are scant. TWZ has reached out to AFRL for more information. 'For more than 30 years, General Atomics has advanced unmanned aerial systems in ways never before achieved and often poorly replicated,' C. Mark Brinkley, a spokesperson for General Atomics, told TWZ when asked for more details. 'Satcom [satellite communications] control? Did it. Kinetic strike? That was us. Automatic takeoff and landing? That, too. Unmanned jets? We're building our third.' General Atomics' third jet-powered drone, at least that it has publicly acknowledged, is the YFQ-42A under development now as part of the U.S. Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program. It is derived from the experimental XQ-67A drone produced for AFRL's once-secretive Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS) program. There is also the company's stealthy Avenger uncrewed aircraft. 'We've been promising something impressive related to hybrid-electric propulsion, and now I can't talk about it anymore,' he added. 'That's how it goes with these things. Contrary to what you see on the news, the revolution won't be televised.' In general, hybrid-electric propulsion systems offer improved fuel economy and other benefits by combining fuel-powered engines and electric motors. The system can be paired with batteries of various capacities to achieve its desired performance. Using ducted fans can offer additional performance and other benefits. Hybrid-electric configurations can also help reduce infrared and acoustic signatures on top of other low-observable (stealthy) design features. As noted, General Atomics has been very open in the past about its work on hybrid-electric propulsion involving ducted fans for future stealthy long-endurance drones. 'We are working on hybrid electric propulsion,' Mike Atwood, then Senior Director, Advanced Programs at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), told Breaking Defense in 2022. 'We believe that GA is going to pioneer a completely new way to propel airborne air-breathing [vehicles]. That will be unveiled in the coming years, but it is a completely disruptive technology. It uses a hybrid electric system where it's basically a Tesla Model S and an RQ-170 got together and you have a fully electric aircraft.' Atwood has since become GA-ASI's Vice President for Advanced Programs. At that time, General Atomics had presented a notional concept for a stealthy flying wing-type drone, referred to as MQ-Next, and pitched as a potential successor to the company's still-popular MQ-9. Two years earlier, the Air Force, the largest known operator of MQ-9s, had announced its desire to stop buying those drones largely over concerns about their vulnerability in future high-end fights, especially one against China in the Pacific. The service has continued to receive additional representatives since then. 'The key to this design is [a] heavy fuel engine, driving very efficient generators and motors. And that way we can get fairly low [fan] speeds, get really good efficiency,' Dave Alexander, GA-ASI's President, also told Breaking Defense in 2022. 'So, this is [a] game changer right here. This is a low-pressure ratio fan, so it's a little tricky and we got to be careful with it. But we believe once we nail this, get the thrust out of it and installed weight, then that'll drive that aircraft [to new lengths.].' Breaking Defense's report added that Alexander had talked about a 60-hour endurance for the MQ-Next concept and described it as particularly well suited for persistent long-range intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions over the hotly contested South China Sea. He also talked about a goal being for the drone to be able to operate from a 3,000-foot-long rough runway in alignment with the Air Force's Agile Combat Employment (ACE) expeditionary and distributed concepts of operations. Last year, Alexander again highlighted General Atomics' work on hybrid-electric propulsion systems utilizing ducted fans in an interview with Aviation Week on the sidelines of the annual Royal International Air Tattoo in the United Kingdom. At that time, he also directly linked these developments to the Gambit family of modular drones, and the Gambit 4 design in particular. General Atomics has presented a variety of very different potential Gambit drones, but they are all designed around a common 'chassis' that includes landing gear, as well as key mission and flight control computer systems. To date, Gambit 4 has been consistently depicted as a stealthy flying wing-type design intended for long-endurance persistent ISR missions that is fully in line with the MQ-Next concept General Atomics had previously shown, as seen in the video below. 'That part of the Gambit series is still out there and we want to make sure we don't lose sight of that,' Alexander said. 'It's very unique.' 'Heavy Fuel Engine 2.0 in development for the MQ-1C Block 25 is not the basis for Gambit 4's hybrid propulsion system, Alexander said,' Aviation Week's report added. 'A different diesel engine with eight cylinders will be developed to generate the power for the electric motors in Gambit 4.' Without knowing more about the work General Atomics is now doing for AFRL as part of GHOST, it is hard to say specifically what kinds of operational tasks the resulting drone might be capable of performing. However, in previous reporting about broadly similar designs, TWZ has highlighted the value that a stealthy, ultra-quiet drone with significant range and endurance could offer for conducting ISR missions, and doing so covertly, in denied areas. The GHOST contract announcement also mentions the potential for the drones to be capable of performing strike missions. The ability to immediately prosecute at least some targets of opportunity would be another major benefit of this kind of uncrewed aircraft. Northrop Grumman subsidiary Scaled Composites is currently working on a different highly efficient and whisper-quiet hybrid-electric flying wing-type drone called the XRQ-73 as part of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program called the Series Hybrid Electric Propulsion AiRcraft Demonstration (SHEPARD). DARPA has been running SHEPARD in cooperation with AFRL, as well as the Office of Naval Research, since 2021. The XRQ-73 design is also a direct outgrowth of the XRQ-72A that Scaled Composites developed for a previous effort called Great Horned Owl (GHO), which the U.S. Intelligence Community's Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) ran from the early 2000s until sometime in the 2010s. AFRL was also involved in GHO. TWZ was the first to report in detail on the XRQ-72A, which featured a hybrid-electric propulsion system with ducted fan propulsors. The U.S. military and U.S. Intelligence Community have a long history of work on ultra-quiet crewed and uncrewed aircraft dating back to the height of the Cold War, and additional relevant developments could well be underway now in the classified realm. It's also worth noting here that the GHOST contract comes amid renewed concerns about the MQ-9's vulnerability even to lower-tier threats following a spate of losses to Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen in the past year or so. With General Atomics now on contract with AFRL for GHOST, it remains to be seen whether more details about that specific effort begin to emerge. Contact the author: joe@
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Wright-Patterson base debuts new chamber for research on Tuesday
Previous coverage on the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is above. DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday for its new Research Environmental Chamber (REC). The ceremony was held at 10 a.m. in Building 33 on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base's Area B. Brig. Gen. Robert K. Bogart, 711th Human Performance Wing commander, spoke at the ceremony alongside others about the AFRL. It is the primary scientific research and development center for the Department of the Air Force. WPAFB water treatment plants flunk EPA's new test for PFAS The REC is now a part of the many pieces of the base's hub for physiology research. Other pieces include AFRL's Research Altitude Chamber centrifuge, and the Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton's $19 million 'Kraken' and Darwin Chamber. 'By leveraging these cutting-edge research capabilities, AFRL aims to understand performance limitations of warfighters and the equipment they use in extreme operational environments,' wrote WPAFB. 'By effectively using resources, AFRL is developing mitigation strategies to ensure mission success in challenging operational settings like the Arctic and Pacific regions.' To learn more about the Air Force Research Laboratory, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
