Pax Americana, Technological Readiness and broken weapons systems

[AdamG]

WASHINGTON — As the production rate of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 joint strike fighter goes up, the company is wrestling with quality escapes involving the jet’s low observability features, which now amount to about half of all defects on the aircraft, the company’s vice president of the program revealed Monday.
Last week, Vice Adm. Mat Winter, the head of the government’s F-35 Joint Program Office, slammed Lockheed for what he sees as its too-slow progress on eliminating so-called “quality escapes”— errors made by Lockheed’s workforce that could include drilling holes that are too big or installing a dinged part.
While those errors are minor, the rework done to bring the plane up to requirements is driving up the amount of money and time spent producing an airplane, Winter said.

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018...m-head-states/

[AdamG]

WASHINGTON — The Russian military has been jamming some U.S. military drones operating in the skies over Syria, seriously affecting American military operations, according to four U.S. officials.

The Russians began jamming some smaller U.S. drones several weeks ago, the officials said, after a series of suspected chemical weapons attacks on civilians in rebel-held eastern Ghouta. The Russian military was concerned the U.S. military would retaliate for the attacks and began jamming the GPS systems of drones operating in the area, the officials explained.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/militar...-syria-n863931

[AdamG]

First look: Super smart LRASM missiles that can obliterate enemies

Stronger, faster and technologically smarter, here's a look at Long range anti surface missiles. These "super" missiles can be fired from the air or sea and is poised to deliver far more damage.
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2018/04/...emy-ships.html

[AdamG]

For a quarter century, the U.S. and its allies owned the skies, fighting wars secure in the knowledge that no opponent could compete in the air. As tensions with Russia and China surge, that’s no longer the case.

Rapid technological progress in China’s aerospace industry, particularly air-to-air missile systems fired from an aircraft, is changing the game for Western air forces and the global arms trade. It’s also altering the picture for China’s neighbors such as India.

“In the United States we’ve been on holiday for 25 years and maybe a little bit more,” Michael Griffin, under secretary of defense for research and engineering, said in a recent address to the Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank. “We failed to continue to fund the practices that had gotten us where we were, which was at the very top of the technological heap.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...r-in-the-skies

[AdamG]

Good & reasonable OPSEC or Brewster Aeronautical Corporation grade shenanigans?

The Pentagon's $928 million hypersonic weapons program is now shrouded in secrecy

The Pentagon and Lockheed Martin have shared limited details about their efforts in developing hypersonic weapons.
A U.S. Air Force spokesman said the service will not be making any announcements in the near future regarding its work on hypersonics.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/us-m...n-secrecy.html

[AdamG]

The Pentagon has completed initial draft plans for several emerging low-yield sea-launched nuclear weapons intended to deter potential attackers and add new precision strike options to those currently possible with the existing arsenal.

While final requirements for both a low-yield sea-launched nuclear cruise missile and long-range sub-launched low-yield warhead are still in development, Pentagon officials tell Warrior Maven the process has taken several substantial new steps forward.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2018/06/...ar-weapon.html

[AdamG]

Anyone remember the tale of the 4th Infantry Division in 2003?

At the eleventh hour the Turkish parliament refused passage, and the division belatedly redeployed through Kuwait.

Blocking the delivery of the F-35 fighter jets to Turkey over its procurement of the Russian-made the S-400 air defense system would bring about consequences, said Turkey’s foreign minister in a meeting with two senior United States senators on the margins of the NATO Summit.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu met with Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from the New Hampshire, and Tom Thillis, a Republican from North Carolina, in Brussels on July 12. Both senators initiated congressional actions against the delivery of the F-35s to Turkey because of the continued detention of Pastor Andrew Brunson and Ankara’s planned procurement of the S-400 anti-ballistic missile system from Russia.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/tur...er-jets-134546