Latest news with #NAVAIR
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Starlink-Equipped Navy C-130s Offer Communication Boost For Pacific Missile Tests
KC-130T Hercules tanker/transports belonging to the U.S. Navy's Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 30 (VX-30), the 'Bloodhounds,' are gaining the ability to link up to the Starlink satellite constellation to help with long-range missile and other test work out in the Pacific. Adding Starlink to the KC-130Ts underscores the growing importance of SpaceX's space-based internet service, and its more secure government-focused cousin Starshield, to America's armed forces, including to support tactical communications needs. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) confirmed to TWZ that one of two KC-130Ts assigned to VX-30, which is based at Naval Air Station Point Mugu in California (now technically part of Naval Base Ventura County), received a prototype Starlink connection last September. The Bloodhound's other Hercules is now set to be modified with Starlink this summer. NAVAIR does not currently plan to integrate Starlink onto three more KC-130Ts assigned to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 20 (VX-20) at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland. 'KC-130Ts have been modified with Starlink equipment to relay communications and data beyond-line-of-sight, providing mobile range infrastructure for operations on the Point Mugu Sea Range,' a NAVAIR spokesperson told TWZ. The expansive Point Mugu Sea Range lies in the Pacific just off the coast of Southern California. It is used for a wide array of research and development, test and evaluation, and training purposes, especially live-first tests of new and improved missiles. In recent years, the U.S. military has notably used the range to support testing of new hypersonic missiles. Just last week, NAVAIR's Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) announced that it had used a modified BQM-34 target drone to launch a test article equipped with a Solid Fuel Integral Rocket Ramjet (SFIRR) out over the Point Mugu Sea Range. 'This successful integration validates key aspects of our design and moves us closer to delivering an advanced propulsion system that will provide warfighters with greater range and speed,' Abbey Horning, product director of NAWCWD's Advanced Concepts, Prototyping and Experimentation office, said in a statement. 'We're not just revisiting an old idea; we're refining and modernizing it to fit today's mission.' The Navy did not name any specific missile programs that the SFIRR work might be supporting. As noted, rocket ramjets are not new, but modernized designs could still be very relevant for powering future high-speed and long-range missiles. Extended range and speed are key priorities in various known missile programs across the U.S. military. VX-30 also operates highly specialized range support aircraft equipped with radars, cameras, and other equipment to collect imagery, telemetry, and other data during tests. This includes one-of-a-kind NC-20G and NC-37B planes based on different Gulfstream business jets. For various types of aerial tests, especially of very-long-range hypersonic missiles that supporting aircraft can't keep pace with, it is important to have multiple air and other assets spread across the intended route. This, in turn, creates the additional challenge of relaying the data collected back to test facilities ashore to help with live monitoring and speed up the process of conducting deeper analysis. These are notably the same realities that also led the Air Force to convert retired RQ-4 Global Hawk drones into range support platforms as part of its SkyRange hypersonic weapon testing infrastructure program, which you can read more about here. Equipping VX-30's KC-130Ts with Starlink would give the aircraft the ability to help get important data from missile and other tests occurring far out in the Point Mugu Sea Range to wherever it might need to go. The KC-130Ts could also join other VX-30 range support aircraft on deployments to provide their services elsewhere around the world, including in other ranges in the Pacific off Hawaii and in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida. It is important to make clear here that the U.S. military's use of Starlink, as well as the aforementioned military-specific Starshield network, along with other commercial satellite internet services, is not new. This is a trend that extends beyond well aerial platforms and America's armed forces, as well. Starlink connectivity, specifically, has also been integrated onto C-130-type aircraft in the past. Previous testing has demonstrated how Starlink might even have potential applications for supporting tactical operations, including as a means of transmitting targeting data. There are certainly operational security questions when it comes to the use of commercial satellite internet to support even day-to-day peacetime operations, as you can read more about here. Still, VX-30's KC-130Ts getting this additional beyond-line-of-sight communications capability does further underscore the increasing importance of satellite constellations like Starlink to the U.S. military. SpaceX is also working on additional satellite constellations for the U.S. military, including ones that could provide game-changing persistent air and ground moving target tracking globally. The company, founded by Elon Musk, a close political ally of President Donald Trump, is also vying to play a major role in the new Golden Dome missile defense initiative, which focuses heavily on new space-based interceptors and other additional capabilities in orbit. Whether VX-30's addition of Starlink capability to its KC-130Ts might lead to the addition of this capability on other Navy aircraft or ones elsewhere across the U.S. military. In February, the Navy did highlight continued progress on other upgrades to KC-130Ts assigned to Navy Reserve units. The service noted at that time how the aircraft could be called upon to play a role in future conflicts or other contingencies, especially across the broad expanses of the Pacific. 'If we look forward to any future fight, it's going to take intense collaboration between all of the forces: Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Army, Coast Guard,' Navy Capt. Elizabeth Somerville, Commodore of NAWCAD's developmental test wing, said at the time in a statement. 'Any resource that provides fuel airborne is going to be invaluable to all assets that are flying.' VX-30's inventory is also set to evolve in other ways with the impending retirement of its P-3 Orion range support aircraft. A pair of P-8A Poseidon test aircraft will be modified to allow them to fill the resulting gap, hopefully starting in 2026. The Navy has spent the past few years steadily withdrawing the P-3 from service. 'T-1, the airworthiness P-8 aircraft, will have a radar modification to integrate an APY-10 in the airframe, as one does not currently exist. This will provide T-1 with a supportable radar configuration and capability that mirrors the baseline P-8 fleet,' the NAVAIR spokesperson told TWZ. 'T-2 will be unmodified. Both aircraft will perform the Range Surveillance & Clearance mission as well as dedicated testing for Naval Air Systems Command programs supported by P-3 today.' 'The two P-8s will reduce sustainment costs and increase availability over the four P-3 aircraft VX-30 currently flies. P-8s also help alleviate P-3 manning challenges now that the FRS and operational squadrons have all transitioned to P-8 or decommissioned,' the spokesperson added. 'P-3 aircraft require a Flight Engineer crew position, and as the P-3 model manager, the return on time invested to train incoming pilots or qualify Flight Engineers in the P-3 is rapidly diminishing for VX-30's primary missions. P-8 will go a long way to enabling range support operations and will provide new opportunities for future developmental programs.' In the meantime, VX-30 is already getting an important boost in its ability to support missile and other testing with the addition of Starlink to its KC-130Ts. Contact the author: joe@
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
MV-22 Osprey Will Not Be Getting Tanker Capability To Refuel F-35Bs
When operating independently, one function the Air Combat Element (ACE) component that supplies aviation capabilities within a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) lacks is the organic ability to refuel its aircraft in the air. This doesn't make the unique melding of air, sea, and land power found in Expeditionary Strike Groups (ESG), which combine MEUs with Navy Amphibious Ready Groups (ARG), irrelevant, but it certainly limits their reach and flexibility. MV-22 Ospreys equipped with modular aerial refueling kits were viewed not long ago as a relatively cheap force-multiplying solution to this problem, but now that is no longer the case. This is a tough reality to reconcile, especially in the context of a potential looming Pacific fight, where every bit of range could mean the difference between relevance and irrelevance, and in some cases, life and death, for Marine tactical airpower and the vessels and remote airstrips it will operate from. TWZ asked Marine Col. Robert Hurst, head of the V-22 Joint Program Office, which sits within the U.S. Navy's Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), about the status of its previously tested and once much-touted aerial refueling payload for the Osprey at the Modern Day Marine conference in Washington, D.C., yesterday. Hurst replied, in part: 'It's not a capability that the fleet is currently training to is the way I would offer that. I don't think that, since the fleet's not currently training to it, I don't know that anybody's thinking about a timeline.' He added that we should reach out to the Marine Corps' Combat Development and Integration office for more info, which we have done. We also talked to a spokesperson from NAVAIR about the status of this capability, who stated: 'The program office has no requirement at this time for that effort.' So, suffice it to say, clearly this is not a capability that is being rushed to the fleet, especially considering it is now well over a decade after it was first successfully demonstrated in flight. The prototype of the V-22 Aerial Refueling System (VARS) was first tested in 2013, with its cabin-mounted drogue and hose unit successfully being deployed with F/A-18 Hornets in tow. The capability was supposed to be ready for operational use by 2017 and it was seen a critical to giving Marine aircraft, including other MV-22s, as well as AV-8Bs and F-35B/Cs, and even CH-53s, extended range, especially when operating from amphibious assault ships and remote locales, such as island airstrips. I detailed how important this capability could be, especially for the F-35B, back in 2014. Still, even as the prospect of a large war across the vast Pacific grew, and all the range concerns with tactical aircraft that go along with it, VARS never came to fruition. Now it looks like it is not a priority at all, which is very puzzling. The internal fuel of an MV-22 is listed as 1,721 gallons/11,700 pounds by Bell. The VARS concept appears to also include up to two 430-gallon auxiliary tanks mounted inside the cabin capable of holding another 5,590 pounds of fuel, for a total of 17,290 pounds. This is a lot of fuel that the V-22 could pass as a launch tanker – topping off F-35Bs after their gas-guzzling departure and climb out from the ship – and as a recovery tanker – offering gas to aircraft low on fuel before landing, especially during emergencies or when boarding the ship is an issue. Because of the MV-22's relatively long range, it would be able to pass valuable fuel in significant quantities fuel to aircraft – including other Ospreys – even hundreds of miles from the ship. This would be very advantageous for keeping aircraft on station longer for fleet defense or surveillance duties, as well as extending the air wing's maximum reach. It was officially stated that a single MV-22 could pass as much as 10,000 pounds of gas on a single sortie with VARS, although exactly how far away from a ship or base such a transfer would occur is not clear. Considering 7,292 pounds are not included, we are likely talking about hundreds of miles here. It's also worth noting that the total fuel load of a V-22 equipped with VARS is likely very close to that found on the MQ-25 Stingray tanker the Navy is ordering for its air wings. You can read all about the MQ-25's range and potential in this recent feature of ours. The V-22's ability to take off and land vertically also means it can grab fuel from smaller ships positioned along the route where tactical airpower will be transiting. In other words, the MV-22 could be stationed on or fly out to a ship located hundreds of miles from where a Marine tactical airpower sortie will originate. They can meet those aircraft in the air as they approach, refuel them, and the MV-22 can land back on the ship, refuel, and do the same on their return trip. No other aircraft can accomplish such a task, opening up major tactical possibilities and making Marine airpower far less predictable in the process. While VARS may have been seen as a nice thing to have in the early 2010s, today, with China's ever increasing in size and capability anti-access/area denial bubble emanating from its shores, this capability could be critical to the lethality and relevance of the ACE, as well as the survivability of the ships it operates from. A similar case was made for the MQ-25 Stingray tank drone aboard America's supercarriers, which is a far more expensive, albeit more capable, proposition than giving existing MV-22s tanker capabilities. We also are living in a time when the air wings on amphibious assault ships are growing in sophistication and prominence, and some of these vessels — variants of the America class LHAs — are constructed to be optimized heavily around airpower projection. We have also seen the advent and deployment of the 'Lightning Carrier' concept, where F-35Bs embark in far greater numbers aboard 'Gator Navy' flattops. This concept would make even greater use of an Osprey tanker capability. and it would unlock the tactical fast jet-focused Marine air wing's potential. The Marines' Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) concept, where Marine tactical airpower will hop from remote locale to remote locale (likely island to island) close to or within contested territory, could benefit from VARS-equipped MV-22s nearly as much as Marine airpower deployed aboard ships. Why VARS remains in purgatory is not clear. Marine KC-130J tankers are limited in number, and persistently supporting tanking for Marine airpower executing operations far out to sea would be problematic, especially considering how taxed they would be with providing logistical airlift during a major conflict. The idea that every element will fight as a joint force, even across the vast Pacific, where USAF or Navy tanking will be available, could be one part of why VARS has not entered service, as well, but that would be a highly dubious excuse. We reached out to other parties that may have more information on the status of VARS, or the lack thereof. We will report back when we hear more. Howard Altman contributed to this report Contact the author: Tyler@
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Could this device help catch Osprey clutch problems before disaster?
The Navy has awarded defense and aviation technology company Shift5 a contract to test predictive maintenance technology on the V-22 Osprey, which the company hopes might prevent gearbox catastrophes that have proven fatal in recent years. Under Shift5′s contract with Naval Air Systems Command, or NAVAIR, the Marine Corps will run the company's manifold technology on Osprey's flown by its operational test squadron. This will allow the V-22 Joint Program Office to test how well continuous operational data monitoring works on the tilt-rotor aircraft, and how to develop rules for detecting maintenance problems that need to be quickly addressed, the company said in a release Wednesday. 'Given the criticality of solving some of these life-threatening issues that are happening on the V-22, it really is all about providing real-time insights to the crew for situational awareness so they can make better decisions,' said Shift5 chief executive and co-founder Josh Lospinoso. Perhaps most critically, Lospinoso said, the predictive maintenance technology could help the military understand how problems called 'hard clutch engagements' happen. Hard clutch engagements occur when an Osprey's clutch connecting the engine to a propeller's rotor gearbox briefly slips and then reengages. This can cause the aircraft to lurch and damage crucial components, which, in some instances, has been a factor in fatal Osprey crashes. Five Marines died in a June 2022 Osprey crash in Southern California, which was later attributed to a hard clutch engagement. Multiple other Ospreys have experienced hard clutch engagements that alarmed Air Force leaders and have, at times, caused aircrews to cut flights short. An Air Force CV-22B Osprey also crashed off the coast of Japan in November 2023, killing eight airmen and prompting a military-wide grounding of the tilt-rotor aircraft that lasted for months. The Air Force concluded that a critical gear in that Osprey's proprotor gearbox failed and caused the crash. Shift5′s manifold device will help build a dataset of clutch engagements, analyzing whether such engagements are becoming more aggressive and contributing factors, Lospinosa said. 'That really is the Holy Grail that NAVAIR has been after,' he said in an interview with Defense News. Shift5′s device, a four-pound box that will be plugged into the Osprey's data network, will upgrade how the aircraft collects data and make it more readily available to aircrews via a tablet-like display, Lospinoso said. Until now, he said, the most important data on hard clutch engagements have typically been only able to be accessed after the aircraft lands and investigators dive deep into the aircraft's inner workings. 'It's, in some cases, literally just taking data that already exists on a data bus and presenting it to the user,' Lospinoso said. That data can include precise readings on the intensity and frequency of vibrations within the gearbox, for example, Lospinoso said. The device could also give Osprey pilots reminders about the many actions they need to take and environmental factors they need to monitor, he said, which could reduce the chances of human error. 'Being an Osprey pilot is probably the most challenging job flying any aircraft of any kind,' Lospinoso said. 'If they forget to take [certain steps], it can be extremely dangerous, but there's nothing in the cockpit alerting them to [the fact that] these conditions exist. [The Shift5 device's alerts are] almost like the equivalent of a seat belt reminder.' According to Lospinoso, Shift5′s device will just be tested by the Joint Program Office for now. Eventually, the company hopes to have them installed in all of the military's Ospreys, which he said would require a phased approach of taking some Ospreys down to install the devices during maintenance. He hopes the military and Shift5 might be able to start working towards full fielding of the device in the next quarter.
South China Morning Post
19-03-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
US Navy to extend Pacific reach with long-range anti-ship F-16 stealth missiles: report
The US military is set to integrate long-range ship attack missiles into its fighter jets to strengthen its ability to launch air assaults in a potential war with China in the Pacific, according to a US media report. Advertisement Citing a contract notice posted online by the US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), US defence news website The War Zone reported on Tuesday that the US Navy was set to help integrate a variant of the AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) onto the F-16 Viper fighter. In the notice posted on Monday, NAVAIR said it intended 'to enter into sole source negotiations and subsequently award a cost-plus fixed fee delivery order to Lockheed Martin Corporation-Missiles Fire Control'. 'The anticipated [delivery order] is for required integration and test support of the AGM-158C-1 missile on the F-16 aircraft platform,' the notice said. Advertisement The stealth weapon has a range of 200 miles (322km) and features several advanced features, including autonomous route-planning supported by a suite of on board electronic support measures that allows the missile to automatically alter its course in response to sudden threats, as well as better track its target via its radio-frequency emissions.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
F-16 Is Getting Massive Anti-Ship Missile Upgrade
The U.S. Navy is set to help integrate the AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) onto the F-16 Viper fighter, giving those jets a huge enhancement in anti-ship capability. This comes amid a larger U.S. push to expand the total number of platforms that can launch the stealthy LRASMs with a particular eye on helping to prepare for a potential major conflict in the Pacific. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) announced its intention 'to enter into sole source negotiations and subsequently award a Cost-Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) Delivery Order (DO) to Lockheed Martin Corporation-Missiles Fire Control (LMMFC)' in a contracting notice posted online yesterday. 'The anticipated DO is for required integration and test support of the AGM-158C-1 missile on the F-16 aircraft platform.' The AGM-158C-1 is the main version of the LRASM in production now. A C-3 subvariant with roughly double the maximum range (approximately 600 miles versus 200-300 miles, based on publicly available information) and other improvements is now in development. LRASM is derived from the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) family. JASSM has already been integrated onto the F-16C/D. For U.S. Air Force F-16s, LRASM could be a particularly significant boon. The Viper does have an anti-ship cruise missile capability in the form of variants of the AGM-84 Harpoon, but it is unclear if any Air Force F-16 units have those weapons available and/or if they actively train to employ them. The Air Force is also in the process of acquiring examples of the Joint Strike Missile (JSM), a newer cruise missile with anti-ship and land attack capability, but only to arm its F-35A Joint Strike Fighters, at least so far. More importantly, the AGM-158C is also a stealthy design, which the Harpoon is not, and has an array of other advanced features, including highly autonomous route-planning capability supported by an onboard electronic support measures (ESM) suite. As such, LRASM can automatically alter its course in response to the sudden appearance of threats, as well as better find its target via its radio-frequency emissions. In the terminal phase of flight, the missile switches over to a passive imaging infrared sensor that does not pump out radio-frequency emissions for the enemy to detect and is immune to radio-frequency jamming, unlike Harpoon's active radar seeker. The imaging infrared seeker visually differentiates targets based on information in an onboard database, which allows it to zero in on a ship's most vulnerable spot, as well. LRASMs can receive additional threat updates and other targeting data from offboard sources while in flight via a two-way datalink, which also allows the missiles to work cooperatively for more coordinated strikes. Interestingly, NAVAIR's notice about integrating LRASM on F-16 also follows an Air Force announcement last month about a test of the communications gateway system designed to help speed up the integration of new weapons onto the Viper. The 53rd Test and Evaluation Group's Detachment 3 used a Navy XATM-84N-1, an inert subvariant of the AGM-48N Harpoon Block II+ missile, to demonstrate the gateway's capabilities. The Harpoon Block II+ is currently in service with the Navy, but not the Air Force. 'The gateway functioned as a translator, enabling the F-16 to recognize the Harpoon and the Harpoon to receive signals from the F-16,' according to an Air Force release. 'Leveraging the gateway approach, the 53rd TEG team expedited the integration process, significantly reducing the timeline and demonstrating a faster, more efficient method of adding new weapons capabilities to the aircraft.' 'Our primary objective was to demonstrate that rapid weapons integration on U.S. Air Force platforms can be achieved efficiently by modifying middleware, without necessitating extensive updates to the aircraft itself,' an unnamed project manager said in an accompanying statement. 'This test paves the way for future projects across various platforms and weapons systems, offering leaders expanded options for operational and contingency planning.' Though AGM-158C was not explicitly mentioned in this context, the new communications gateway might help speed up the integration of LRASM onto the F-16. As noted, there has already been a clear push to expand the number of available AGM-158C launch platforms across the U.S. military. Currently, Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and Air Force B-1 bombers are the only aircraft clear to employ the missile. However, work is underway now to add LRASM to the arsenals of the P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol plane and the B and C variants, at least, of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. In January, NAVAIR put out another contracting notice about plans to integrate the stealthy anti-ship cruise missiles onto Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle and F-15EX Eagle II combat jets. The U.S. military is interested broadly in expanding its air-launched anti-ship capabilities and capacity, particularly as part of efforts to prepare for a potential high-end fight against China in the Pacific. Just last week, the Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a modification to an existing contract, valued at nearly $122.6 million, to help step up production of both LRASMs and JASSMs. There are broader concerns about the adequacy of U.S. stockpiles of standoff munitions, as well as the ability to replenish them during a sustained conflict, especially a large-scale one against an opponent like China. The price point of weapons like the LRASM, which has a unit cost of around $3 million, as well as the long lead times required to source the complex components that go into them, has also been driving interest in lower-cost options, including for anti-ship use. For LRASM, integrating the missile onto the F-16, variants of which are in widespread service globally, and with a still-growing number of total operators, could also open up new export opportunities. Though when exactly F-16s might start flying operationally with LRASM is unknown, the Viper's anti-ship capabilities are now set to get a significant boost. Contact the author: joe@
