Phantom Phever

I was recently hosted by the 82ATS, Det.1, at Holloman AFB, for a day of shooting Phantoms on their ramp.  There were about 30 QF-4Es there, including 8 that carry Heritage paint schemes.  It was like a time warp, seeing all those birds in Vietnam camouflage lined up for my camera.  Outstanding!

Maverick and Goose ... Officially Cooked

The X-47B UCAS demonstrator performed its first arrested landing upon a carrier at sea, the USS George H W Bush.



Navy Secretary Mabus provided a statement to the press about he feels about this event:

"It isn't very often you get a glimpse of the future.  The operational unmanned aircraft soon to be developed have the opportunity to radically change the way presence and combat power are delivered from our aircraft carriers."

Yeah, a glimpse into the future of our military, if Obama and his minions continue to massacre our forces and turn us into a nation defended by robots.

Maverick and Goose ... Where Are You?

The Navy's X-47B UCAS demonstrator recently completed its next phase of flight tests.  The unmanned aircraft was launched from the deck of the USS George H W Bush (CVN-77), and performed a touch and go landing before recovering backs at its shore base.  Next step is a launch and full, arrested, recovery back aboard ship.

Maverick and Goose are going from the Danger Zone to the pile of discarded parts and pieces pretty soon.  How sad.

Photos credit U S Navy

Missing Persons Report

Maverick and Goose are missing!

The Navy is rapidly moving forward in its testing of the Boeing X-47B stealth fighter/attack demonstrator aircraft.  This next generation machine is destined to operate from our carriers in the future, alongside the current F-18s and (maybe) future F-35s.

Catapult tests have recently started at NAS Pax River.  Landing tests have been underway for some time.  One example of the jet was just placed aboard the USS Harry Truman for deck handling tests.  I have not seen a schedule for actual launch and recovery tests on the carrier yet.

OK ... its a new airplane.  So what, you might ask.

There's nobody in it.

It's a UCAS ... Unmanned Combat Air System ... drone ...

Yes, the United States Navy is planning on operating unmanned jet attack aircraft from our carriers.  This is not a surveillance aircraft that is supposed to putt-putt around in circles way up high using its cameras to spy on bad guys.  This thing is intended to carry weapons and attack the bad guys, much the same way our manned fighters do.

You know, drones have come a long way.  The technology needed to operate one of these from the deck of a ship is way beyond that needed for land base operations.  If I'm a Deck Boss, Air Boss, Captain, or anyone stationed anywhere near the flight deck of a carrier that has these things on it, I'm going to be more concerned with keeping myself alive than doing my actual job.

Accidents in carrier operations are more frequent than most folks know about.  Lots of airplanes get damaged or destroyed, lots of folks get hurt, and a few die.  That's normal for the beast.  I just am concerned about how those accident rates my go way up in the days of mixed drone/manned aircraft operations.  I wouldn't want to be on deck for that first cruise!

Photos credit US Navy.

Phantom Eye - Dayum ... That's Ugly!

Boeing rolled out its Phantom Eye unmanned aircraft for a high speed taxi test at Edwards AFB on March 10. No problems were reported.

Except, that is, it's so damn ugly.

I admit to not knowing much about this aircraft except that it is supposed to be a hydrogen powered, high altitude, long endurance test bed, and the guppy shaped mid section contains about a ton of hydrogen fuel.

I was trying to think of other aircraft or combinations of aircraft that would approximate what this thing looks like, and I failed. It's just yuck ...

Photo credit NASA.

Here's a link to a Boeing produced video of the taxi test ...

http://bcove.me/cq9a80xx

Iran Scores With Stealth UAV

Drones strike again!

The USAF lost what is reported to be a RQ-170 stealth recon drone over Iran. There is debate as to whether it just went rogue, or was shot down. In any case, US officials confirm that it is in Iran's hands. Us officials have also stated that the drone may have went 'out of contact' while operating over Afghanistan last week, and wandered over the Iranian border. While I have no way of knowing for certain, I'd call Bullshit on that one - the Taliban has no radar that would require the stealth qualities of the RQ-170, while Iran does. Iran says the drone went down 120 miles inside of Iraq, and appeared to be monitoring one of their nuclear facilities.

Controlled by the 30th Reconnaissance Squadron based at Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, the drone is thought to have been operated out of Kandahar, Afghanistan, where it has been glimpsed occasionally over the past couple of years.

You can bet that the Chinese and Russians are lining up access to the robot right now, and they will have comparable ones in about 6 months. Hooray for drones!!!!

Lockheed-Martin builds the aircraft, which is intended to replace the manned U-2 spy plane. Quoted costs are around $6,000,000 per plane, but that seems awfully low to me.

UPDATE - Iran released a video, now on youtube, supposedly showing the captured drone. US officials have been quoted as confirming it. I have looked at this video several times, along with photos of the aircraft, and I think it is a fake. There is no damage visible at all, which is impossible, given that this thing's operating altitude is in the neighborhood of 50,000 feet., You can't seen under the drone. The lines of the drone look wrong - they are close to the pictures, but don't seem to be exact to me, and there are features that are certainly not stealthy. Also look at the droop of the wings outboard of what looks like an external seam - there are no such seams visible on any photo I've seen.

To me, this looks like a fabrication. I could be, and am probably, wrong - but too many things just don't look right about this. This think looks like a fiberglass copy. Why would Iran do this? Propaganda - showing off something intact is a lot more impressive for them than a pile of wreckage.

They might indeed have an RQ-170 - but I just don't think this video shows it.



Update II - I saw some recent photos of this particular drone operating recently out of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Based on those shots, I revise my opinion on the above video. It appears the wings either broke off, or have been removed in order to move it - resulting in the droop, and the apparent tape job to cover it up. The color of the drone is actually a flat neutral grey - the yellowish tint in this video has got to be because of the light it is seen in.

News reports are indicating that the military knew when and exactly where it went down, and had contingency plans to either retrieve it or destroy it in place. It was in a remote area, and it took the Iranians quite some time to get to it. President Obama vetoed those plans, and decided to let the Iranians take possession of one of the most sensitive pieces of intelligence gear we currently have, and by default hand that technology not only to the Iranians but to China and Russia as well. Way to go, Appeaser-in-Chief!!!

You know, what would happen to anyone else in America who willfully handed over top secret technology to our enemies? They'd be rung up on espionage and treason charges. If you're Barack Obama, or Bill Clinton for that matter, you get to explain it away as diplomacy, and you're put on a pedestal for the left wing kooks to look up to.

So, Drones are Cheap, huh?

Holloman AFB is home to the USAF's 29th Attack Squadron, the drone pilot training unit for the Air Force. The unit 'flies' MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft. The 29th counts 13 Predators and 28 Reapers on strength.

A Reaper crashed on Oct. 7, while coming in for landing. Preliminary reports say it hit some power lines. This is the 5th or 6th drone crash (depending on which list you look at) for the unit since it became operational in September 2009. The piles of wreckage include 3 of each aircraft type.

Cost figures for these aircraft are difficult to pin down, because they are parts of 'systems'. However, figures hover around $10 million for a Predator and $14 million for a Reaper.

Drone crashes don't make the news like manned aircraft when they go down. With them in constant operation, a lot of them are being lost. They are here to stay, they provide valuable resources for our troops. They are not, however, a super cheap way of providing air power. These flying lawn mowers are costing the taxpayer a bunch of money!

Update - The USAF announced that the computer virus that had hit parts of its drone fleet was not one that was aimed at the aircraft or their controllers, but was instead one dropped onto the network by an online computer gaming program. Apparenlty, the 'pilots' at Creech AFB in Nevada, a central location for drone controllers, attached a portable hard drive infected with the virus to their workstations, probably in order to relieve some of the boredom associated playing an unexciting video game all day long.

A couple of thoughts. First, the IT security shown by this is pathetic. Another example of how the Pentagon's understanding of computer security is pretty lame. Second, the stupidity shown by the personnel involved. Why in the world would you plug a flash drive from home, where you've been gambling on-line and surfing porn, into a 'secure' defense computer system? I really don't want someone that stupid controlling multi-million dollar hardware (and I don't think the people on the ground counting on that hardware being in place on time would be too happy about it either).

Photo credit USAF

USAF Initiates Drone Pilot Training Track

Finally recognizing that using fully trained aircraft pilots to sit in comfy chairs to remotely pilot drones was not the best decision, the USAF has settled on training 'unmanned aerial system' operators specifically to do that mission.

Taking fully qualified pilots to do this job was bad for multiple reasons, but the two biggest were cost (it costs over a million dollars to train an actual pilot), and morale problems (taking a real pilot and dropping him into a trailer to run a flying lawnmower through a video screen was a real hit to the ego, and a career ender).

Five test classes were put through training beginning in 2009, to establish and fine tune the curriculum. Graduates of the first class are now 'flying' operational missions. The second class just graduated, and will soon become operational.

The USAF has a stated need of 1100 drone pilots and operations officers by 2012. Establishing this as a seperate career path from pilot training is smart - saves money, and helps calm down the morale problems.

It will be interesting to me to see if the graduates of this new career path are awarded wings, and if they'll wear flight suits to work.

Our New Breed of Aviator Warriors?

Drones have become an important part of our aerial might, there is no doubt about it. Global Hawks, Predators, Reapers, and more are becomming an integral component of aerial forces, particularly in recon tasking.

Uninhabited Aerial Systems, Unmanned Aerial Systems, Unmanned Aerial vehicles, Uninhabited Combat Aviation Systems .... the names keep changing to make them seem more complex and capable. Notice Uninhabited is replacing Unmanned - PC is even invading the drone world ....

The Obama Administration, Deense Secretary Gates, and some of the Pentagon's brass is infatuated with these radio controlled things. They see them as cheap (with cheap being a relative term!) vehicles that can do jobs without risking pilots (which is a good thing). They see them as the perfect weapon to wage a low intensity war against widely scattered, poorly armed terrorist types. They also see a future expansion of drone operations, to include fighter and bomber missions, and aircraft landing on carriers at sea - I have heard quotes from several officials stating they want to see a completely pilotless aerial force.

There are mutliple problems with these things. We lose a lot of these things, and they do cost multiple millions of dollars each. Most of them are completely reliant upon radio communications through satellites to ground control stations that may be half a world away. While most of them are under live operator control, the operator only has as much information on the situation as he can get from the vehicle's sensors, and other observors, if any.

A big problem I see is with the pilots who control these things. Currently, they are fully trained aviators who have been 'demoted' to flying a joystick from an armchair. These pilots are pissed off at this. The government has spent upwards of a million dollars for each of these pilots for training. Pilots who spend time in 'the chair' are unlikely to fly a real airplane for the military again - there are simply too many pilots for too few airplanes these days, and it's going to get worse for them.

Pretty soon, the government is going to figure out they don't have to have fully trained pilots for drones, and they will begin training drone operators - not pilots. Very sad.

Cockpit of the future: