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from JDW 30 Nov 2005

Nighthawk joins mainstream operations
MICHAEL SIRAK JDW Staff Reporter
Wasington, DC

The F-117A Nighthawk will be included for the first time in a multinational air combat exercise The increased contact of the F-117A with other units has reaped benefits for the US Air Force
The US Air Force will include the F-117A Nighthawk stealth attack aircraft for the first time in a multinational air-combat exercise in January 2006, according to service officials.
While the inclusion of the Nighthawk in the US-sponsored 'Red Flag' exercise at Nellis Air Force Base, New Mexico, may not seem significant, air force officials said it reflects the major strides the service has made recently in integrating the radar-evading aircraft into mainstream activities and planning.
The F-117A began operations in the early 1980s, but the air force kept it shrouded in secrecy until later in that decade. Even after publicly acknowledging the aircraft, its missions were executed apart from the service's main operations.
Gradually, however, this policy has changed. The F-117A has now become "an integral part" of the aircraft packages that the air force deploys to support regional commanders, said Major Scott Hurrelbrink, assistant operations officer of the 9th Fighter Squadron, a Nighthawk unit, at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico.
The increased contact with other aircraft units has reaped benefits, said Maj Hurrelbrink at a presentation on 18 November in Washington, DC, during a conference on fighter aircraft held by the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement.
For example, the air force deployment of F-117As to South Korea for a stint in 2004 was a valuable learning experience, he said. It gave pilots of other strike platforms who were unfamiliar with the Nighthawk the opportunity to experience first-hand what the F-117A can do, he said.
The Nighthawk remains "the air force's most precise bombing platform", with the ability to overcome sophisticated air defences, he continued.The forthcoming 'Red Flag' exercise, which will include allied and coalition aircraft from countries including Australia and the UK, is another milestone to entering the mainstream, he said.
Concurrent to these developments, the air force is increasing the variety of weapons that the F-117A can carry since it intends to use the aircraft until 2017. The 2,000 lb (894 kg) Joint Direct Attack Munition should be ready for use on it by mid 2006, said Maj Hurrelbrink. Already it operates weapons like the 2,000 lb Enhanced GBU-27 laser-guided bomb.
Nighthawks now fly at lower altitudes and use mixed formations to make detection and tracking more difficult, he said.
The aircraft does not yet have satellite communications or a datalink. Although there are plans to install the former, there is no funding to install antennae on the aircraft, said Diane Filliman, director of the F-117A systems squadron at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, on 17 November at the same conference.
The Nighthawk fleet currently comprises 55 aircraft, 36 of which are combat-coded, meaning they are cleared for wartime operations.
The air force tried to reduce the size of the Nighthawk fleet by 10 aircraft in 2005, but Congress blocked the move.
All Nighthawks will be configured with the same radar-absorbing materials before the end of 2006, simplifying the process of maintaining the aircraft, Maj Hurrelbrink said.
The F-117A had the highest mission-capable rate at 89 per cent of any aircraft during Operation 'Iraqi Freedom', he said.
During the conflict, the air force learned that it could maintain the flight-ready status of the aircraft by parking them under sun shelters without the need to enclose them in hangars, he said.
Filliman said the air force is negotiating a follow-on, five-year Nighthawk sustainment contract with Lockheed Martin that would commence in Fiscal Year 2007. The company exercises total oversight of the aircraft's logistics infrastructure.
Lockheed Martin built 64 Nighthawks between 1981 and 1990, she said.
The Nighthawk has flown 1,600 sorties to date, said Maj Hurrelbrink. The air force has lost several F-117As to test crashes. It also lost one aircraft over Serbia in 1999, reportedly to a Serbian anti-aircraft missile.
The service has been evaluating the potential use of the Nighthawk fleet in daytime.
US Air Force Colonel Bruce Litchfield, commander of Agile Combat Support Systems Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, said the air force intends to develop an integrated sustainment roadmap for all of its low-observable platforms. The goal, he said, is to develop a "synergistic approach" to maintaining the Nighthawk, B-2A Spirit stealth bomber, F/A-22 Raptor stealth multirole fighter and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

In Brief - EDO explores Predator B bomb rack
EDO is working with aircraft maker General Atomics Aeronautical Systems to install a small bomb rack on the latter's Predator B unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) so it can carry Boeing's GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB), JDW has learned. As part of the US Air Force-led SDB programme, Boeing has designed the BRU-61/A carriage that holds four of the 268 lb (590 kg) bombs. However, a bomb-laden BRU-61 would be too heavy for the Predator B's wings, according to one US industry source, although an air force official said the service had not yet determined this. In June EDO unveiled the Sabre ultralight UAV bomb rack.

In Brief - F/A-22s demonstrate greater range
The unrefuelled combat radius of the US Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor stealth multirole fighter aircraft is greater than originally thought by 55 n miles, or about 15 per cent, according to the air force. The Raptor's performance requirement is to be capable of flying out 260 n miles subsonically, to transition to supersonic flight and maintain it for 100 n miles and to return following the same pattern, said Colonel Jimmy Clark, Chief of Air Combat Command's F/A-22 system management organisation, on 18 November. Based on the aircraft's performance in flight evaluations to date, the air force now believes that the aircraft can fly out to 315 n miles before transitioning to its 100 n mile supersonic dash, said Col Clark. The air force remains on track, he said, to declare its first Raptor squadron ready for combat by the end of 2005.

In Brief - US Air Force eyes laser protection for JHMCS
The US Air Force intends to incorporate laser eye protection into the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS), according to air force officials. While no fielding date has been set, the air force would like to add the Aircrew Laser Eye Protection system, they said, because the threat to pilots from lasers is growing. The JHMCS is used on US Navy F/A-18E/F and air force F-15C fighter aircraft, with the former having already demonstrated it in combat. There are plans to add the JHMCS to the cockpits of F-16 and F-18C/D aircraft. Further, there is the desire to integrate the helmet with the F-15E multirole fighter aircraft, said one air force official.

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In Brief - F/A-22s demonstrate greater range
The unrefuelled combat radius of the US Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor stealth multirole fighter aircraft is greater than originally thought by 55 n miles, or about 15 per cent, according to the air force. The Raptor's performance requirement is to be capable of flying out 260 n miles subsonically, to transition to supersonic flight and maintain it for 100 n miles and to return following the same pattern, said Colonel Jimmy Clark, Chief of Air Combat Command's F/A-22 system management organisation, on 18 November. Based on the aircraft's performance in flight evaluations to date, the air force now believes that the aircraft can fly out to 315 n miles before transitioning to its 100 n mile supersonic dash, said Col Clark. The air force remains on track, he said, to declare its first Raptor squadron ready for combat by the end of 2005.

The F/a-22 is really exceeding the desired USAF requirements in almost all performance categories..Supercruise is good and 15% better , stealth and RCS are favourable when compared to the requirments..2% better acceleration then desired,5% greater radar detection range then desired,MTBM is also currently getting to the levels desired...ALL in ALL a very well engineered aircraft..Now only if the retards in washington can realize that the team has acheived what is extremely hard to acheve (be it at a cost) and its only gonna get higher on the economy curve so they might aswell buy about 100-150 more raptors as they have a fully developed fifth gen. aircraft rather then put all the eggs in the JSF basket.

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Posts: 12,109

Lockheed in U.S. Airship Deal

Lockheed Martin Corp. won a $149-million contract Thursday to build a prototype unmanned airship about 17 times the size of a Goodyear blimp that would hover about 60,000 feet above the Earth.

The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency said the High-Altitude Airship would be untethered, be able to remain in place for one month over a designated place, and be able to carry as many as 500 pounds of sensors that could detect enemy ballistic missiles.
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Missile Defense Agency spokesman Rick Lehner said the program was aimed at exploring the possibility of using the airship to track and detect ballistic missile launches.

Under the contract, which runs through November 2010, Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed would build and fly the prototype, to "prove its military utility," Lockheed spokeswoman Kate Dunlap said.

The military has been exploring possible military uses of near-space vehicles partly because they are far less expensive to launch and operate than satellites.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-blimp9dec09,1,3691858.story?coll=la-headlines-business&ctrack=1&cset=true