The F-35 just proved it can take Russian or Chinese airspace without firing a shot - Charles D'Alberto

Two F-35B aircraft fly in formation over Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. | Lockheed Martin photo

An F-35B just carried out a remarkable test where its sensors spotted an airborne target, sent the data to an Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense site, and had the land-based outpost fire a missile to defeat the target — thereby destroying an airborne adversary without firing a single shot of its own.

This development simultaneously vindicates two of the US military’s most important developments: The F-35 and the Naval Integrated Fire Control Counterair Network (NIFC-CA).

Essentially, the NIFC-CA revolutionizes naval targeting systems by combining data from a huge variety of sensors to generate targeting data that could be used to defeat incoming threats.

So now with this development, an F-35 can pass targeting data to the world’s most advanced missile defense system, an Aegis site, that would fire its own missile, likely a SM-6, to take out threats in the air, on land, or at sea.

This means that an F-35 can stealthily enter heavily contested enemy air space, detect threats, and have them destroyed by a missile fired from a remote site, like an Aegis land site or destroyer, without firing a shot and risking giving up its position.

The SM-6, the munition of choicefor Aegis destroyers, is a 22-foot long supersonic missile that can seek out, maneuver, and destroy airborne targets like enemy jets or incoming cruise or ballistic missiles.

The SM-6’s massive size prohibits it from being equipped to fighter jets, but now, thanks to the integration of the F-35 with the NIFC-CA, it doesn’t have to.

The SM-6, as effective and versatile as it is, can shoot further than the Aegis sites can see. The F-35, as an ultra connective and stealthy jet, acts as an elevated, highly mobile sensor that extends the effective range of the missile.

This joint capability helps assuage fears over the F-35’s limited capacity to carry ordnance. The jet’s stealth design means that all weapons have to be stored internally, and this strongly limits the plane’s overall ordnance capacity.

This limiting factor has drawn criticism from pundits more fond of traditional jet fighting approaches. However, it seems the F-35’s connectivity has rendered this point a non-issue.


Demonstration shows capability to extend the battlefront using Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air (NIFC-CA). | Lockheed Martin photo

Overall, the F-35 and NIFC-CA integration changes the game when it comes to the supposed anti-access/area denial bubbles created by Russia and China’s advanced air defenses and missiles.

“One of the key defining attributes of a 5th Generation fighter is the force multiplier effect it brings to joint operations through its foremost sensor fusion and external communications capabilities,” said Orlando Carvalho, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, said in a statement.

“NIFC-CA is a game changer for the US Navy that extends the engagement range we can detect, analyze and intercept targets,” said Dale Bennett, another Lockheed Martin vice president in the statement.

“The F-35 and Aegis Weapon System demonstration brings us another step closer to realizing the true potential and power of the worldwide network of these complex systems to protect and support warfighters, the home front and US allies.”

#F35 #FighterJets #Military #Aviation #Charles_Dalberto #PerlaGroup

Posted By Charles D'Alberto

 

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USMC Will "Absolutely" Put Laser Guns on Its F-35s - Charles D'Alberto

Charles D’Alberto

The Marines believe one day, a laser-armed F-35 will see the light of day. Image source: Lockheed Martin.

It’s been nearly two years since we first caught wind of a new project, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. (DARPA), to put laser guns on warplanes. Two years since “the Pentagon’s mad scientists department” announced they had hired Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) to develop a means to “counteract the effects of turbulence caused by the protrusion of a turret from an aircraft’s fuselage,” and permit a fighter jet to fire a laser weapon with precision.


Two years later, the U.S. military has still not given up on its dream.

Last year, we updated you on the military’s decision to begin installation of laser guns on Lockheed Martin AC-130 gunships by 2020.

The theory then was that a 200 kilowatt laser canon wouldn’t take up much more room than a standard issue M102 howitzer — which the AC-130 is already equipped with. And the Allison engines on the AC-130 put out plenty of juice that could power a high-energy laser. And so, with just a little rejiggering, the Air Force thought it should be possible to switch out the howitzer, and replace it with a laser cannon.

If that works out well, then the Air Force would see about shrinking the laser down in size, and perhaps putting it aboard a smaller warplane. And now we learn that the Marine Corps is on board with this plan as well.

As website PopularMilitary.com. revealed last week, the Marine Corps has plans to install laser weapons on F-35 fighter jets — indeed, that it is “absolutely” committed to doing so.

As with the Air Force, the Marines’ initial intention is to mount laser weapons aboard large planes such as the KC-130 (an armed version of Lockheed’s C-130 Hercules, similar to the Air Force’s AC-130). But “as soon as we could miniaturize them,” says USMC Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, the Corps would plan to begin installing lasers aboard F-35s, Cobra attack helicopters, and MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft as well.

The reason: Economics.

Projectile-based weapons — be they guns, missiles, or cannons — imply by necessity ordnance to fire from them. That ordnance must be transported to the battlefront (which costs money), loaded aboard a plane (which costs space), and then carried in flight (which costs fuel … which in turn costs both money and space). In contrast, a laser is powered by the airplane’s own engines, and its own fuel load. While that fuel certainly costs money, it’s so efficient at creating destructive energy that even today, laser weapons are estimated to cost only about “a dollar-a-shot. ” to operate.

And that’s a whole lot cheaper than a missile.

So first the Air Force, and now the Marines — that’s two-thirds of the operators of Lockheed’s F-35 that are now on record and on board with the idea of arming warplanes with laser guns. (And we already know that the Navy has its own fondness for lasers. ). But who will be building these weapons for the military, and which companies should you be looking to invest in to profit from the transition from projectile weapons to lasers?

Lockheed Martin is the most obvious candidate. Not only is it working on laser weapons for DARPA, it also builds the plane most people are saying will be the first platform to carry them — the world-famous C-130 Hercules — as well as the F-35 stealth fighter that the Marines hope will be the vehicle that laser guns eventually end up on.

However, you also need to keep an eye on Boeing (NYSE: BA), which ran the Pentagon’s last large-scale airborne laser project., and on Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) and Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) as well. Both Raytheon and Northrop partnered with Boeing on the Airborne Laser project before its cancellation in 2009. And then there’s Kratos Defense (NASDAQ: KTOS), a small company that’s been making a lot of news in the drone space. lately — and also coordinated the Navy’s effort to put a laser cannon on one of its warships.

Basically, it’s hard to name a company in the defense industry today that isnot actively researching laser weapons. But the place to start your research is still Lockheed Martin. With a hand in both the development of the laser gun itself, and the platform(s) it will be mounted on, Lockheed is the single company burning this candle at both ends — in a good way.

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#Military #Lasers #Weapons #FighterJets #F35 #Charles_Dalberto #Perla_Group

Posted By Charles D'Alberto

 

www.charlesdalberto.com

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F35: The Centerpiece of 21st Century Global Security - Charles D'Alberto

Charles D’Alberto

Since the first F-35 Lightning II rolled out of the Lockheed Martin factory in Fort Worth, Texas in 2006, the program’s reach has exponentially expanded around the globe.

Of the original nine partner countries –  Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States – six have received their first jets and eight have pilots and maintainers in training. In addition, two of the three foreign military sale (FMS) customers, who are Israel, Japan and the Republic of Korea, will receive their first jets in 2016.

Suppliers in all nine of the program’s partner countries are producing F-35 components for all aircraft, not just those for their country. And in addition to the Fort Worth plant, there are two Final

Assembly and Check Out (FACO) facilities outside the United States: one in Cameri, Italy, where the first jet was delivered in December 2015; and another in Nagoya, Japan, where the first jet is currently being manufactured.

#F35 #Fighterjets #Military #Aviation #Australia #Canada #Denmark #Italy #Netherlands #Norway #Turkey #UK #USA #Charles_Dalberto #Perla_Group

Posted By Charles D'Alberto

 

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