Aerospace and Ordnance discussion/news.

[Belesarius]

1 hour ago, Ramlaen said:

The Pentagon reverses the planned 2019 deadline on limiting cluster weapon use to weapons with 99%+ reliability.

 

This also applies to artillery like DPICM.

Looosered in the Artillery thread.

 

[Belesarius]

https://www.airrecognition.com/index.php/archive-world-worldwide-news-air-force-aviation-aerospace-air-military-defence-industry/global-defense-security-news/global-news-2017/december/3918-qatar-orders-12-more-rafale-fighter-jets.html

 

Qatar ordered another dozen Rafales. This brings them up to 36. With another option for a further 36.

 

That along with the F-15, and EFT/Hawk order.

Hrmmm.

 

 

 

[Ramlaen]

Qatar is also buying 24 Typhoons, their money is burning a hole in their pockets.

 

 

[LoooSeR]

First in Russia automated bomb-filling plant started to work.

 

[Belesarius]

Boeing set to announce a new aircraft on Tuesday. Tyler Rogoway thinks it might be the Phantom Swift

 

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/17024/could-phantom-swift-be-the-aircraft-boeing-defense-is-set-to-reveal-next-week

 

[Ramlaen]

On 12/17/2017 at 8:27 AM, Belesarius said:

Boeing set to announce a new aircraft on Tuesday. Tyler Rogoway thinks it might be the Phantom Swift

 

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/17024/could-phantom-swift-be-the-aircraft-boeing-defense-is-set-to-reveal-next-week

 

 

The tail matches what they tweeted the other day.

[Ramlaen]

 

[Belesarius]

Hey! Missed this somehow.

 

http://news.bellhelicopter.com/en-US/162449-bell-v-280-valor-achieves-first-flight

 

 

[Renegade334]

 

Not the Phantom Swift (thank God, that thing looks like a botched abortion to me, only exceeded in ugliness by DARPA's LightningStrike), but Boeing's MQ-25 flying tanker proposal. I confess I'm a bit disappointed, the V-type empennage originally had me hoping for a revival of the Boeing Bird of Prey, instead of another boring X-45/X-46 derivative. Oh, well.

 

Quote

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 19, 2017 – Boeing [NYSE:BA] for the first time is showing what it believes is the unmanned aircraft system (UAS) best suited for refueling U.S. Navy jets operating from aircraft carriers.

Through its MQ-25 competition, the Navy is seeking unmanned refueling capabilities that would extend the combat range of deployed Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, Boeing EA-18G Growler, and Lockheed Martin F-35C fighters. The MQ-25 will also have to seamlessly integrate with a carrier’s catapult and launch and recovery systems. 

“Boeing has been delivering carrier aircraft to the Navy for almost 90 years,” said Don ‘BD’ Gaddis, a retired admiral who leads the refueling system program for Boeing’s Phantom Works technology organization. “Our expertise gives us confidence in our approach. We will be ready for flight testing when the engineering and manufacturing development contract is awarded.”

The UAS is completing engine runs before heading to the flight ramp for deck handling demonstrations early next year.

The Navy issued its final request for proposals in October. Proposals are due Jan. 3.

 

[Ramlaen]

Boeing to buy Embraer?

 

I preemptively congratulate the A-29 on its OA-X victory.

[LoooSeR]

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3016213.html

Quote

   According to Pyotr Butovsky in the article "Russian bombers to be armed with new Kh-50 theater-level cruise missile" in the magazine "Jane's Missiles & Rockets", Russian sources in early December 2017 disclosed the designation Kh-50 for the new Russian operation-level (sub-strategic) cruise missile. Sources said that the deployment of Kh-50 missile production is planned within the framework of the new Russian State Arms Program for 2018-2027 (GPV-2027).

   Scheme of the new Russian cruise missile Kh-50, pcitured on the basis of the patent of Tactical Missile Armament Corporation (KTRV), JSC (c) Petr Butovsky (via Jane's)

 

Quote

   Developed by JSC "State Engineering Design Bureau "Rainbow" them. A. Ya. Bereznyak" in Dubna as part of the Kh-SD ("medium-range") program, the Kh-50 missile is presumably a subsonic cruise missile using the Kh-101 strategic cruise missile guidance system, but with a smaller stealth glider , similar to the American rocket AGM-158 JASSM. R & D on Kh-SD began in the early 1990s, but was subsequently suspended for several years.

   The Kh-50 missile, designed to be used in Tu-22M3 bombers, Tu-95MS and Tu-160 strategic bombers, is 6 m long in length - about 1.5 m less than the Kh-101 missile - and has a mass of about 1600 kg. It is expected that the rocket equipped with a engine developed by JSC Omsk Engine-Building Design Bureau (OMKB) "Product 37-04" (or TRDD-50B) reaches a range of more than 1500 km, having a cruising speed of 700 km/h and a maximum speed of 950 km/h.

 

   The fuselage of the rocket has an oblate cross-section and faceted sides; these forms combine the requirements for a reduction in radar visibility and for the most effective use of the volume of the weapons compartment of a heavy bomber when deployed on a six-position revolving launcher. The guidance system includes a combination of an inertial navigation system with correction for GPS / GLONASS in the march area and an electronic optical digital correlation system "Otblesk" (analogous to DSMAC) for the final section. In addition to the low visibility of the glider, to penetrate into areas covered by enemy air defense, the Kh-50 missile uses a low-altitude flight profile and is equipped with a self-defense system, including a small station of active electronic interference and towed traps. The warhead of the missile can be of two types: the penetrating BS-715P for the defeat of protected targets, or the cluster BS-715K for the destruction of aerodromes and other area targets.

 

   The Kh-50 missile is planned as an armament for modernized Russian long-range bombers. The Tu-22M3M bomber will house six Kh-50 missiles on the internal launcher and two rockets on the external suspension, while the Tu-95MSM strategic bomber can carry up to 14 missiles, including six on the internal suspension. Tu-160M / M2 aircraft will be capable of carrying up to 12 missiles on two internal revolved launchers.

 

About another new missile:

Quote

   Another Russian development designed to operate in conditions of strong enemy air defense is a new tactical operational hypersonic missile developed jointly by the head enterprise of the Corporation Tactical Missile Arms Corporation in Korolev and the State MRC "Raduga" in Dubna as part of the program "Hypersonic guided missile "(GZUR). The military designation of this missile remains unresolved to date.

 

   According to reports, GZUR is a missile with a speed of M = 6 and with a range of 1500 km in flight by high altitude profile. The length of the rocket is 6 m, and the weight is about 1500 kg. As you can understand, the missile has mainly anti-ship. The missile will be equipped with a ramjet engine Product 70 developed by PJSC TMKB Soyuz in Turaevo and equipped with a combined active-passive radar homing head known as Gran-75, which is being developed by JSC Ural Design Bureau "Detail" in Kamensk-Uralsky; broadband passive channel ("Gran-75PK") for this homing head is created by JSC "Central Design Bureau of Automation" (TsKBA) in Omsk. The "Granyu-75" refers to the modification of the "Gran-K" self-guidance head used in the tactical anti-ship missile Kh-35U.

 

   According to sources in the Russian industry, by 2020 it is assumed that GZUR will be mass-produced at a rate of "up to 50 items per year", which suggests that it is currently being tested.

 

[LoooSeR]

Prototype of Sukhoi SuperJet SSJ100 with new sabre wingtips

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Renegade334]

...Slightly...better look at Boeing's MQ25 proposal (that is, if you tolerate videos with quick cuts and whatnot):

 

 

...Would've been nice to see its entire planform, though.

 

And The War Zone now has an article on it with pics screenshots: http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/17336/new-details-emerge-in-boeings-first-video-of-its-carrier-based-tanker-drone

[Xlucine]

Begun, the drone wars have

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/reaper-unmanned-aircraft-destroys-islamic-state-drone/

Quote

Reaper unmanned aircraft destroys Islamic State drone

A Royal Air Force Reaper unmanned aircraft has taken out an Islamic State drone operator and his drone on the ground.

On Sunday the 14th January, a Reaper spotted a drone team identified during the week by other aircraft; on this occasion, the extremists attempted to conceal themselves in a building, but could be seen controlling the drone from the top-floor window.

A Hellfire missile was directed accurately through the window say the Ministry of Defence.

 

[Priory_of_Sion]

Nigeria using Chinese CH-3 drones against Boko Haram

 

[Donward]

Don't look now but India can into ICBm testing too...

 

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/india-successfully-test-fires-agni-5-ballistic-missile/articleshow/62551852.cms

 

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/18/asia/india-icbm-tests/index.html

 

 

The missile has been tested five times since 2012, with the most recent test prior to Thursday coming in December 2016. That launch drew the ire of India's two most important geostrategic adversaries: Pakistan and China.

The Agni-V's range distance means all of China is now in striking distance, according to Shukla.

"It's range has been long known, and India needs it to be able to retaliate against China's eastern seaboard's high value targets," Narang said.

[Ramlaen]

 

[Renegade334]

Must...reach...sixteen...

[Renegade334]

 

NASA Tests New Alloy to Fold Wings in Flight

 

 

NASA has successfully applied a new technology in flight that allows aircraft to fold their wings to different angles while in the air.

 

The recent flight series, which took place at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, was part of the Spanwise Adaptive Wing project, or SAW. This project aims to validate the use of a cutting-edge, lightweight material to be able to fold the outer portions of aircraft wings and their control surfaces to optimal angles in flight.

 

SAW, which is a joint effort between Armstrong, NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, or GRC, Langley Research Center in Virginia, Boeing Research & Technology in St. Louis and Seattle, and Area-I Inc. in Kennesaw, Georgia, may produce multiple in-flight benefits to aircraft in the future, both subsonic and supersonic.

 

Folding wings in flight is an innovation that had been studied using aircraft in the past, including the North American XB-70 Valkyrie in the 1960s. However, the ability to fold wings in flight has always been dependent on heavy and bulky conventional motors and hydraulic systems, which can be cumbersome to the aircraft.

 

The SAW project intends to obtain a wide spectrum of aerodynamic benefits in flight by folding wings through the use of an innovative, lightweight material called shape memory alloy. This material is built into to an actuator on the aircraft, which plays a vital role for moving parts on the airplane, where it has the ability to fold the outer portion of an aircraft’s wings in flight without the strain of a heavy hydraulic system. Systems with this new technology may weigh up to 80 percent less than traditional systems.

 

The recent series of flight tests at Armstrong successfully demonstrated the material’s application and use, by folding the wings between zero and 70 degrees up and down in flight.

 

“We wanted to see: can we move wings in flight, can we control them to any position we want to get aerodynamic benefits out of them, and could we do it with this new technology,” said SAW Co-Principal Investigator Othmane Benafan. “Folding wings has been done in the past, but we wanted to prove the feasibility of doing this using shape memory alloy technology, which is compact, lightweight, and can be positioned in convenient places on the aircraft.”

 

On subsonic aircraft, such as commercial airliners, the potential aerodynamic benefit of folding the wings includes increased controllability, which may result in a reduced dependency on heavier parts of the aircraft, including the tail rudder. This may result in a more fuel-efficient aircraft, as well as the ability for future long-winged aircraft to taxi in airports. Additionally, pilots may take advantage of a number of different flight conditions, such as wind gusts, by folding their wings to adapt to any particular condition experienced in flight.

 

One of the most significant potential benefits of folding wings in flight, however, is with supersonic flight, or flying faster than the speed of sound.

 

“There’s a lot of benefit in folding the wing tips downward to sort of ‘ride the wave’ in supersonic flight, including reduced drag. This may result in more efficient supersonic flight,” SAW Principal Investigator Matt Moholt said. “Through this effort, we may be able to enable this element to the next generation of supersonic flight, to not only reduce drag but also increase performance, as you transition from subsonic to supersonic speeds. This is made possible using shape memory alloy.”

 

The shape memory alloy is triggered by temperature, and works by using thermal memory in a tube to move and function as an actuator. Upon being heated, the alloy would activate a twisting motion in the tubes, which ultimately moves the wing’s outer portion up or down.

 

NASA Glenn, which developed the initial alloy material, worked closely with Boeing to be able to use the alloy with an actuator in flight.

 

“The performance of this new alloy that we developed between NASA and Boeing really showed outstanding performance,” said Jim Mabe, Technical Fellow with Boeing Research and Technology. “From the time we started initial testing here at Boeing, up to the flight tests, the material behaved consistently stable, and showed a superior performance to previous materials.”

 

To test the technology, NASA turned to Area-I to operate a remotely-controlled flight testbed called Prototype Technology-Evaluation Research Aircraft, or PTERA. PTERA was designed and built by Area-I, which was also involved in the design and integration of a shape memory alloy-actuated, wing-folding mechanism for the aircraft. The small-scale UAV features extensive flight instrumentation that is ideal for gathering data on SAW, as well as the ability to accommodate newly-designed wings for testing. Area-I personnel also conducted flight operations for the test, allowing NASA and Boeing to focus on the research during the flights.

 

“PTERA was developed as a flying laboratory, and was used in this flight series to host the SAW experiment,” said Area-I Chief Executive Officer Dr. Nicholas Alley. “The intentional, in-flight actuation of the outboard wing panels was a historic event, made all the more special as it took place over Rogers Dry Lake, where so much aviation history has been written.”

 

Including a pair of system safety check flights, the SAW test flights were conducted over a two-day period. PTERA took off from the Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base with its wings at a level, zero-degree deflection. The testbed was flown in a large “racetrack” pattern, providing long legs of flight in which the necessary maneuvers for the research could be done. During these maneuvers, onboard controllers heated and cooled the SAW actuators, folding the wing panels to different angles between zero and 70 degrees.

 

For the first two flights, the wing tips were rigged to fold downward, while later flights featured rearranging the hardware to achieve 70-degree upward deflection. Wing-folding maneuvers were achieved in flight within three minutes each.

 

Follow-on SAW flights are planned for as early as summer 2018 that will expand the functionality of the SAW system, to be able to fold wings 70 degrees both up and down in a single flight. Tests are also expected to take place at Glenn, where engineers are working to scale up the technology flown on PTERA to be used on the wing of an F-18.

“We put the SAW technology through a real flight environment, and these flights not only proved that we can fly with this technology, but they validated how we went about integrating it,” commented Moholt. “We will use the data from these flights to continue to improve upon the actuation system, including speed and smoothness of actually folding the wings, and we’ll apply them as we get ready to fly again in 2018.”

 

SAW is an effort within NASA’s Convergent Aeronautic Solutions project under the agency’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.

 

Source: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/feature/nasa-tests-new-alloy-to-fold-wings-in-flight.html

[LoooSeR]

Myanmar is buying 6 Su-30SME (export version of Su-30SM) and it will be first customer for Su-30SM

 

Su-30SM of Kazakhstan Air Defence forces

[LostCosmonaut]

Iran's keeping at least a few of their Tomcats in service; http://www.combataircraft.net/2018/01/11/iranian-tomcats-still-going-strong/

 

I would think by now they're at a ship Tomcat of Theseus situation. I'm especially curious if they've tried to re-engine them (I didn't see any google results for sticking an RD-33 in there, which is the usual suspect when dumping Russian engines into a western airframe).

[Collimatrix]

RD-33 would be a bit weak, it's basically an F404 class engine, only worse in every way.  I had heard rumors of kludging AL-31s in somehow.

[LoooSeR]

Ukraine conducts successful flight test of Neptun cruise missile

Quote

The first successful flying tests of the new missile technology – the Ukrainian Neptun  ground-launched cruise missile, which can accurately hit ground and naval targets, have been carried out today.

[LoooSeR]

20 hours ago, LoooSeR said:

Ukraine conducts successful flight test of Neptun cruise missile

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3071011.html

Quote

   The bmpd comment. This is the first test of an anti-ship missile developed in Ukraine on the R & D "Neptune" under the leadership of the State Design Bureau "Luch." Judging from the video and photographic materials of the test, this test was purely a launch stage, aimed at testing solid-fuel the launch accelerator and the movement of the rocket from the launch container. The turbojet engine, as can be seen, was not switched on, and the missile itself is most likely a mockup not equipped with a control system.

 

   The AShM itself is in fact a replica of the Russian anti-ship missile 3M24, of the Uran system (Kh-35, or rather its upgraded version of the Kh-35U), the development of the Tactical Missile Armament Corporation (formerly the Zvezda-Strela). In the Soviet period, the mass production of 3M24 (Kh-35) missiles was planned to be organized at the Kharkov Aviation Plant (the current KSAMA), so in Ukraine there is apparently a complete set of production and design documentation for this missile, as well as the production of its engine , which makes it possible to reproduce it.

 

   The main problem in the creation of the Neptune AShM in Ukraine is the creation of its control system and, first of all, the active radar homing, the competence in which the Ukrainian enterprises are almost completely absent. It should be recalled that at one time the original 3M24 (Kh-35) missile turned into a "long construction" because of delaying the creation of a control system and an active radar warhead (the ARGS-35) developed by the NPP "Radar-MMS", despite their experience in such systems. The development of the active radar guidance system for "Neptune", according to known data, is being carried out by the private company "Radionics" in Kiev, which has only a minor semi-initiatory experience in the development of ARRLSN for the modernization of R-27 air-to-air missiles and for modernization of the air defense system S-125M, although those are not in a serial production. Difficulties with the creation of a control system for the Neptune missile were recognized by representatives of the Ukrainian Navy.

 

   The Neptune complex is also claimed as a means of destroying land targets, for which, apparently, it is supposed to be equipped with an inertial-satellite correction system using GLONASS and GPS receivers (as in the rockets of the Vilha complex, for this US commercially available equipment will be used). The maximum firing range of the Neptune missile is declared at 280 km, which makes it the layout analogue of the Kh-35U missile.

 

   Complex "Neptune" is planned to be created in ground, ship and air base versions. At the first stage, the main focus is on the creation of a ground-based ground system with a ground-based unified four-shot self-propelled launcher USPU-360 on an automobile chassis designed and manufactured by Kharkov Transport Equipment Plant LLC. As a radar target designation for a ground complex, it was stated that "on the first stage it is possible to use the old Soviet radar "Harpoon", which was part of the RRBK "Rubezh", which in the future can be replaced by a more modern radar, for example "Malachite", or another ".

 

[Ramlaen]

As expected, the Scorpion and Longsword are out of the OA-X selection.