Military and Aviation News Thread (NO DISCUSSION)

U.K. Monthly AAIB bulletin

A collection of accident reports and their findings.

Pushing Forward

VAZIANI, Georgia - Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles move forward, May 17, during Exercise Noble Partner 15 as part of a force on force training scenario. The scenario consisted of U.S. and Georgian soldiers working together to first secure an airfield before pushing forward into the mock village about a kilometer away. Improvised explosive devices and enemy ground forces were some of the obstacles the partnering units had to overcome before successfully seizing the village objective. (Photo by Sgt. Daniel Cole, Army Europe Public Affairs)

http://breakingdefense.com/2015/05/lasers-on-a-plane-air-force-wants-fighter-firing-100-kilowatts-by-2022/

PENTAGON: Star Wars fans, calm down. The US Air Force wants to fire a 100-plus-kilowatt laser from a small plane. And not just any airplane, Air Force Research Laboratory officials. The last laser on an airplane — the megawatt Airborne Laser, which filled a converted 747 and cancelled in 2011 — the 2022 demonstration will be fired from a fighter.

Crazy

I saw similar scenario in MonteReal AB engine shop during the F100-PW-200C into 220E conversion (a program finished years ago). They had engine module kits on site. Sadly I never had the opportunity to work on these (I work on turboprops and airline turbofans instead).

Hungarian Jas-39 Gripen crashes in Czech Republic

"The crew didn't brake" Interesting, shame to see such a nice looking little jet destroyed, I really like the twin seat Gripens. Glad the crew were unharmed though.

Didn't brake or brakes didn't work or braked to late?

Sikorsky flies S-97

http://aviationweek.com/defense/sikorsky-conducts-first-flight-s-97-helo

“Russia won’t be taking them [the Mistral vessels]. That’s a fact. There’s just a single discussion underway at the moment – on the amount of money that should be returned to Russia,” Oleg Bochkarev, a deputy chairman of the Russian governmental Military-Industrial Commission, is cited as saying by RBC.

Link: http://rt.com/news/262141-mistral-russia-france-compensation/

Dang Sith, is that a burner can sale? :D

http://theaviationist.com/2015/05/19/48th-fighter-wing-engine-shop/

Very nice video Sith! Thanks for posting. Giant sandbox under construction ... time to crank up the wave generator and get those surfers happy!

German Eurofighter 30+91 is shipped from Nörvenich to Manching on a flatbed transport!

The jet has had a midair collision with a LearJet some time ago. The crew of the LearJet died in the following crash, while the Eurofighter could land...

Over the last days it was shipped over hundreds of kilometers on the autobahn, through Hannover, Berlin and south to Munich and will arrive at EADS Manching today.

A spectacular sight, though the cause is not so nice.

From http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/05/27/us-air-force-confirms-boeing-electromagnetic-pulse-weapon/?intcmp=features

For the last few years, the creative minds of Hollywood had seemingly outpaced the reality of technological and scientific advances in the weapons field. But no longer. Stepping out of the realm of science fiction and into reality is the joint U.S. Air Force and Boeing electromagnetic pulse weapon, capable of targeting and destroying electrical systems without the collateral damage often associated with traditional firepower. As Don Cheadle noted in the ever-relevant Ocean's 11, this new weapon "is a bomb -- but without the bomb."

 

Known as the " CHAMP," or Counter-electronics High-powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project, the American military project is an attempt to develop a device with all the power of a nuclear weapon but without the death and destruction to people and infrastructure that such a weapon causes. Theoretically, the new missile system would pinpoint buildings and knock out their electrical grids, plunging the target into darkness and general disconnectedness.

 

The project has been in the works for a few years now, and has met with significant success in preliminary trials. In 2012, it was reported that a CHAMP mission in Utah managed to hit and subsequently disable seven separate targets in one mission, demonstrating its accuracy and precision. Indeed, it is this capacity to target individual buildings and not cities at large that makes the new weapon so effective, as it would allow military members to cut off electricity supplies to enemy parties while keeping civilians out of the melee.

 

According to Air Force Research Laboratory commander Major General Tom Masiello, CHAMP is "an operational system already in our tactical air force." While it appears that the Laboratory has only commissioned five such devices with Boeing, with the Air Force's recent confirmation of the weapon's existence, there may be more in the works in the future.

Military forces have been actively developing next-generation weapons that take warfare well beyond the guns and rockets that populate modern arsenals. Lasers have been a key area of advancement: Lockheed Martin test fired a laser weapon in March that took out a truck engine from a mile away, while the Navy deployed a Laser Weapon System (LaWS for short) on a vessel in the Persian Gulf in December.

 

Next stop, railguns, right?

Roundup of the Russian Air Force incidents this week:

• Su-34 flipped over during landing
  
• MiG-29KUB exploded mid-air, fleet grounded until second notice (unclear if this means MiG-29 family, MiG-29K or all VVS MF MiG-29 family units)
  
• Tu-95MS overran runway due to engine fire, fleet grounded until second notice (again, unclear if this extends to the Tu-142 or only Tu-95)
  

On the (very) positive side, despite all these dangerous incidents all crew are alive and well!

Everyone going to guns'r us these days. Feels like the old days.

Another hungarian Gripen crashed. About 10:50 our time, from what I hear it was a gear malfunction, the pilot ejected after belly landing. What the ****. Not sure how much damage was caused to the jet.

EDIT:

According to official statement the pilot could not raise the nose gear after takeoff, despite numerous attempts. After emptying the tanks he belly landed the jet and then ejected. He's conscious, and he's being investigated. Best wishes to him!

The jet looks allright. Probably repairable, unlike the other one.

Another hungarian Gripen crashed. About 10:50 our time' date=' from what I hear it was a gear malfunction, the pilot ejected after belly landing. What the ****. Not sure how much damage was caused to the jet.[/quote']

 

i found the image about this incident

My squadron had a belly landing in the Azores in the 90s. It does serious damage (you could see the runway through the fuselage) that requires depot level service every time. I wonder why the pilot would do a successful belly landing.. THEN eject.. I wish someone would have recorded that. It would make a great Monty Python clip.

My squadron had a belly landing in the Azores in the 90s. It does serious damage (you could see the runway through the fuselage) that requires depot level service every time. I wonder why the pilot would do a successful belly landing.. THEN eject.. I wish someone would have recorded that. It would make a great Monty Python clip.

Still better than breaking the fuselage in half, like in the other case. From what I know it went uncontrollable after impact and the pilot chose to eject because of that. I wouldn't wanna be in the thing when it starts tumbling either.

According to other non official sources, the damage might be beyond repair. They also probably smashed the LITENING that was onboard.

Ejecting is in itself a traumatic experience. Still, prob the overall safer option all things considered.

ejection is mandatory procedure when the jet is out of control at the runway.