Lockheed announces successful test of helo-mounted, Navy-bound electronic warfare system

Lockheed announces successful test of helo-mounted, Navy-bound electronic warfare system
Lockheed announces successful test of helo-mounted, Navy-bound electronic warfare system

The AOEW is designed to work independently or in conjunction with shipboard systems to protect vessels from incoming missiles.

ALIS Is Dying; Long Live F-35’s ODIN

ALIS Is Dying; Long Live F-35’s ODIN
ALIS Is Dying; Long Live F-35’s ODIN

WASHINGTON: The F-35 program began taking a major step the last two weeks toward removing an enormous albatross from around its neck by replacing the much-maligned ALIS logistics system with its sleeker, faster and younger replacement, ODIN. The move to install ODIN on two of 14 deployments brings the logistics and planning system to units in…

Navy Gets First Bell-Boeing CMV-22B: What It Means

Navy Gets First Bell-Boeing CMV-22B: What It Means
Navy Gets First Bell-Boeing CMV-22B: What It Means

The Navy’s Osprey differs from the Marine Corps and Air Force versions, boasting an enhanced fuel capacity, which required wing modifications to deal with the greater weight.

Hungry For More Chopper Pilots, Navy Picks New Training Helo

Hungry For More Chopper Pilots, Navy Picks New Training Helo
Hungry For More Chopper Pilots, Navy Picks New Training Helo

The Navy will replace all 115 of its aged TH-57 Sea Ranger training helicopters with Leonardo’s AW119 helicopter.

CH-53 vs. CH-47: Which Helicopter Will Israel Pick?

CH-53 vs. CH-47: Which Helicopter Will Israel Pick?
CH-53 vs. CH-47: Which Helicopter Will Israel Pick?

An IDF team has been taking test flights aboard Lockheed Martin’s new CH-53K in Maryland, but Boeing’s CH-47 Chinook is in the running too — and both programs could use a boost against their American critics.

Royal Navy Lands 1st F-35B on New Carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth

Royal Navy Lands 1st F-35B on New Carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth
Royal Navy Lands 1st F-35B on New Carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth

“We’re not going to pretend it’s easy,” Rear Adm. Keith Blount, assistant chief of the Naval Staff told reporters. “But this isn’t unfathomably difficult for us. We are enjoying going back into the big time, and this is one of those big steps on that ladder. It’s hugely exciting and should be reassuring to those back home and to those on this side of the Atlantic.”

New Problems Hit T-45; Navy Tightens Flight Limits

New Problems Hit T-45; Navy Tightens Flight Limits
New Problems Hit T-45; Navy Tightens Flight Limits

Days after the Navy’s T-45 Goshawk trainers returned to flight under strict safety restrictions because of problems with their air supply, the service felt compelled to make them even stricter. An aircrew’s report of “minor headaches” prompted the tighter limits, a Navy spokesperson told Breaking Defense. Only one flight out of 92 over 48 hours reported such…

Magic Carpet Ride: Navy Software Eases Carrier Landings

Magic Carpet Ride: Navy Software Eases Carrier Landings
Magic Carpet Ride: Navy Software Eases Carrier Landings

NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER: So easy, a journalist can do it. That could be the slogan for the Navy’s new Magic Carpet software, which simplifies the most stressful task in aviation: landing on deck of an aircraft carrier. I’d never pretend I could fly a real plane. But in a simulator, with Navy engineer Buddy…

First Osprey Flight With Critical 3D Printed Part

First Osprey Flight With Critical 3D Printed Part
First Osprey Flight With Critical 3D Printed Part

It’s one small part for an aircraft engine, one giant leap for 3D printing. The Navy has announced a Marine MV-22 made the sea services’ first successful flight with a “flight critical” component built by additive manufacturing. Specifically, in the test at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, the Osprey’s engine nacelle contained a 3D printed titanium link, small…

The Secret Is The Software For Sea Robots Vs. Mines

The Secret Is The Software For Sea Robots Vs. Mines
The Secret Is The Software For Sea Robots Vs. Mines

NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, MD: Pax River is a robot zoo today, showcasing unmanned vehicles from micro-mini-submarines — so small you can throw one like a football — to what appears to be a solar-powered canoe. More than 40 systems here from 30 projects and six nations were gathered by the US Office of…

Triton, Poseidon, & UCLASS: The Navy’s ISR Balancing Act

Triton, Poseidon, & UCLASS: The Navy’s ISR Balancing Act
Triton, Poseidon, & UCLASS: The Navy’s ISR Balancing Act

PATUXENT RIVER NAVAL AIR STATION: The future of Navy long-range reconnaissance, the recently arrived MQ-4C Triton drone, sprawls across its hangar here, with a wingspan 13 feet wider than a Boeing 737 but a body that’s 80 percent lighter. Designed for 24-hour-plus patrols at 50,000 feet, Triton still can’t do the job by itself, say both the program manager and…

No Decisions Yet On F-35B UK Flights; Tomorrow Looms

No Decisions Yet On F-35B UK Flights; Tomorrow Looms
No Decisions Yet On F-35B UK Flights; Tomorrow Looms

WASHINGTON: The F-35Bs have not left Patuxent River Naval Air Station to make their way across the Atlantic Ocean. After an all–hands meeting this morning to discuss the issue of securing a waiver or permission to fly from NAVAIR, Naval Air Systems Command — who must decide if the Marine Corps planes are airworthy —…

Navy’s F-35 Tailhook Passes Initial Tests; Carrier Flights In October

Navy’s F-35 Tailhook Passes Initial Tests; Carrier Flights In October
Navy’s F-35 Tailhook Passes Initial Tests; Carrier Flights In October

The F-35C, the Navy version of the Joint Strike Fighter and the plane most in danger of being cut or reduced by its service, has passed the first round of critical tests of its tail hook, the part of the plane that makes traditional carrier landings possible. “All flight test objectives were met,” Joe DellaVedova,…

Navy Cagey, Boeing Cocky, Over F-18’s Future

Navy Cagey, Boeing Cocky, Over F-18’s Future
Navy Cagey, Boeing Cocky, Over F-18’s Future

PATUXENT RIVER NAVAL AIR STATION: “My job is to preserve options and that’s what I do,” said Capt. Francis Morley, Navy program manager for the F-18 fighter family. Will the Navy press ahead to buy more F-18s in the face of what seems pretty determined opposition from the Office of Secretary of Defense, eager to…