USAF leader confirms manned decision for new bomber

The US Air Force has confirmed for the first time that the Long Range Strike-Bomber (LRS-B) will be manned on entry-into-service, one of a few new details revealed about the classified programme. 

Several military experts have predicted the LRS-B programme would eventually become optionally-manned but enter service with a flight crew or a pilot, but the USAF has never revealed such details publicly.

Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley said today at a Defense Writers Group breakfast that the service will initially field the new stealth bomber as manned aircraft. "It's likely that we'll start the bomber programme as a manned programme," Donley says. "It'll have the option to be unmanned at some point and so I think that option will be protected."

Boeing

The USAF is still some distance away from awarding a contract for the new aircraft, but Donley there have been no major changes in design or requirements since the programme was launched. "We're still a year or two away from those, what I would call a downselect decision," Donley says. 

The USAF still hopes to build anywhere from 80 to 100 LRS-B aircraft which would become operational in the mid-2020s. "Cost is a major factor for us," Donley says.

Donley says he is not yet sure when the service will disclose more about the Pentagon's acquisitions strategy for the LRS-B, but he did say contract details are under review. "We are developing a contract strategy at the air force and AT&L [acquisitions, technology and logistics], that work is ongoing," he says.

"We're going to protect the capabilities of this airplane," Donley says. "I think several years down the road [we might disclose more details] because we think the capabilities that it will have represent advantages not unlike those that we have enjoyed with the [Northrop Grumman] B-2."

When the B-2 was new in the early 1990s, that aircraft represented a revolutionary leap in capability for strategic bombers. Even now, nearly two decades after the bat-winged aircraft was declared operational, the USAF is still tight lipped about the stealth bomber's exact performance and capabilities. 

"We have not talked about B-2 capabilities in great depth, we did not reveal the existence of the B-2 programme until it rolled out of the hangar," Donley says. "We're years from that."

Source: flightglobal

Russian Air Force Approves New Bomber Design – Commander

MOSCOW, April 11 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Air Force has approved the conceptual design and specification of its future PAK-DA strategic bomber, paving the way for development of components for the aircraft, Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said Thursday.

“The development of the aircraft is going as planned. The outline of its design and characteristics has been approved and all relevant documents have been signed allowing the industry to start the development of systems for this plane,” Bondarev said at a meeting with Russian lawmakers.

The PAK-DA (meaning future long-range aircraft) project has been in the works for several years but was given the formal go-ahead by the Russian leadership last year. It is due to replace Russia’s aging fleet of 63 Tupolev Tu-95MS Bear and 13 Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers in the next decade.

 

Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bomber

According to recent reports in the Russian media, citing defense ministry sources, the Tupolev design bureau has won the PAK-DA development tender with its concept for a subsonic aircraft with a “flying wing” shape which provides superior “stealth capabilities.”

The Defense Ministry insisted that the PAK-DA should be equipped with advanced electronic warfare systems and armed with new nuclear-capable long-range cruise missiles in addition to a veriety of high-precision conventional weapons.

The new bomber is expected to go in production by 2020 and will be built at a new aircraft assembly line at Russia's Kazan plant (KAPO), according to defense ministry officials. The same plant previously built the Tu-95MS and Tu-160.

B-2 stealth bombers conduct “extended deterrence” round trip mission from the U.S. to S. Korea

B-2 stealth bombers of the U.S. Air Force from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri have conducted a long-duration, round trip (training) mission to the Republic of Korea on Mar. 28.

The new “extended deterrence” mission is just the last “show of force” by the United States whose aim was to show its commitment and its capability to defend South Korea and allies in the Asia-Pacific region.

 

B-2-Russell-Hill

However, unlike previous sorties that were launched by B-52 Stratofortress bombers based at Guam (strategically located 1,800 miles (about 2,900 km) to the east of China), the last mission was conducted by stealth bombers assigned to 509th Bomb Wing that took off from the Continental U.S., flew for more than 6,500 miles to drop inert bombs on the Jik Do Range and returned home in a single, continuos mission like those flown during Allied Force in Serbia or Odyssey Dawn in Libya.

By the way, the B-2 is the only platform capable to deliver the Massive Ordnance Penetrator 30,000lb bomb.

Although the mission was tasked within Ex. Foal Eagle it represents a significant answer to the recent Pyongyang threats. On Mar. 26, 2013 North Korea announced it has ordered artillery and rocket units into “combat posture” to prepare to target US bases in Hawaii, Guam and the US mainland.

Russia’s fearsome (badass) next-generation stealth strategic bomber

 

PAK-DA

This last week has been pretty hectic in terms of next generation concepts: Boeing unveiled the updated version of the F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter concept, Lockheed Martin’s Skunk  Works released a new UCLASS Concept video and, after some years of evaluation and study, Russia’s PAK-DA conceptual design was given the official approval.

In a meeting with Russian lawmakers, Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said that all the relevant document were signed allowing the industry to begin the development of systems for the plane.

With its flying wing shape and radar-evading capabilities, the subsonic PAK-DA is destined to replace Moscow’s aging fleet of 63 Tu-95 Bear and 13 Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers.

According to the RIA Novosti, Russian Air Force commander insisted that the aircraft will be equipped with advanced electronic warfare systems and armed with new nuclear-capable long-range cruise missiles, and will be able to carry a wide array of conventional precision guided weapons.

The new plane will enter production stage by 2020 with the first bomber in active service by 2025-2030 timeframe.

The PAK-DA will not be hypersonic (even if it will probably carry hypersonic missiles) as opposed to the American X-51, Falcon HTV-2 and other hypersonic development programs on which U.S.’s perspective strike capability will be based.

A “sixth-generation” pilotless strategic bomber based on the PAK-DA could came around 2040-2050.

Top image shows PAK-DA concept. It’s not believed to be an official image and it may not depict the plane as it is intended to be. According to some readers, it may be Sukhoi T-4MS design which lost out to the Tu-160 Blackjack in 1970.

The Aviationist

New build Xian H-6K bomber

 

 

 

New build Xian H-6K bomber powered by by new fuel efficient D-30KP turbofan engines allowing H-6K to carry 6 long range land attack cruise missiles on its under wing weapon pylons.