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Showing posts with label U.S. Air Force. Show all posts
Showing posts with label U.S. Air Force. Show all posts
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Watch! Boeing's Stealth Fighter of Tomorrow F-15 Silent Eagle
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Sunday, March 30, 2014
Globemaster Up
A C-17 Globemaster III takes off March 14, 2014, from the Geronimo landing zone at Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, La. Service members participating in JRTC 14-05 are educated in combat patient care and aeromedical evacuation in a simulated combat environment.
Monday, January 13, 2014
Six F-22 Raptor fighter jets trailing three tankers over the Mediterranean Sea_Captured by A Photographer
Stealth planes might be invisible to radars but they can do nothing against human eye. This is what the following images prove.
Taken by Gian Luca Onnis, a (lucky) photographer and aviation
enthusiast, on Jan. 25, the photographs show a flight of six F-22
Raptors trailing two KC-135 and a KC-10 tankers overflying Sardinia
island, Italy, on their way back to the U.S..
The radar evading planes, returning to Holloman, New Mexico, from a deployment in South East Asia, were clearly visible because of the long white contrails they left over the Mediterranean Sea.
The six F-22 Raptors had deployed to Al Dhafra in the UAE via Moron, Spain, on Apr. 20, 2012. Whereas the six stealthy planes of the 49th Fighter Wing returned to
the CONUS (Continental U.S.) six F-22 belonging to the 3rd Fighter Wing,
were flying in the opposite direction (via Lajes, Azores) to replace
them in the Persian Gulf area.
Noteworthy, unlike the Holloman’s F-22As the 3rd FW’s Raptors from
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, in Alaska, are Block 3.1 planes capable
to find and engage ground targets using the Synthetic Aperture Radar
mapping and drop up to eight GBU-39 SDBs (Small Diameter Bombs) in the air-to-surface role.
How the “Black Jet” became the “Gray Dragon”: the story of the only gray F-117 stealth plane
The Lockheed F-117A was not only the world’s first operational stealth aircraft, but also one of the most secret plane ever developed. Conceived for night secret missions, the “Nighthawk” was restricted
to fly only with darkness. In fact, in each operation from “Just Cause”
in 1989 to “Iraqi Freedom” in 2003, the F-117s only flew after sunset. Even if one example was lost in 1999 near Belgrade during “Operation Allied Force“,
the F-117A unique design, which consisted in blending different angles,
made the aircraft very hard to detect by the air defense systems.
But, low observability to radar alone was not sufficient to guarantee the plane to fly undetected through the enemy airspaces. During the development of the F-117, the Skunk Works (the Lockheed
legendary division that designed secret aircraft) found that to evade
visual detection the best solution was a paint scheme in different
shades of gray.
But since the F-117 had to fly only night missions, the U.S. Air Force stated that the Nighthawks had to be painted in black. However, in 2003 one example of the F-117A was painted in gray with
the task to determine if the aircraft could play a role in daytime
missions. This Nighthawk was nicknamed “The Dragon” and the operational testing on the type was accomplished at Holloman AFB (Air Force Base), New Mexico, by the 53rd Test and Evaluation Detachment 1 (Det 1). Flying two missions every day Det 1 pilots were able to determine their daytime capabilities and limitations.
The new kind of coat proved immediately that the “classic” black
paint scheme wouldn’t be good during daylight operations. During the
tests “The Dragon” was also upgraded with new software and hardware;
furthermore the new paints were evaluated by measuring the impact that
the gray had on the maintenance. All these trials were necessary to provide an accurate evaluation of
the daytime operations with the gray paint scheme, to ensure a 24-hour
stealth presence above the future battlefields.
However, despite the good results of the trials, “The Dragon” would
have been the only F-117 painted in gray: in fact, in 2005 when the USAF
had to take a decision about repainting in gray the entire fleet , it
was decided to retire all the Nighthawks.
The gray F-117 made its last flight on Mar. 12, 2007 at Holloman AFB.
Image credit: U.S. Air Force
Chinese fighters tail U.S. aircraft in disputed airspace
The Want China Times
has quoted the Tokyo’s Sankei Shimbun newspaper as saying that Chinese
J-7 and J-10 fighters tailed two US aircraft as they reached the
airspace close to the border between China and Japan.
The two U.S. aircraft allegedly shadowed by the People’s Loberation
Army Air Force were a U.S. Navy P-3C from Misawa and a U.S. Air Force
C-130 from Yokota airbase. According to the Japanese media outlets, the
Chinese fighter jets were scrambled to intercept them.
 |
| J-10 |
Image credit: Wiki/Retxham
This incident took place on January 10, the same day when a Japanese
reconnaissance aircraft attached to Japan’s Maritime Self-defence Force
were dispatched to monitor Chinese aircraft movements near to the disputed Diaoyutai islands (Senkaku in Japan).
The following day Japanese F-15J Eagle interceptors tailed two
Chinese J-10s that were launched to observe Japanese aircraft movements
close to the border.
Even if it would appear that both sides are only conducting routine
patrols in the area, there is a concrete risk that such close encounters
turn into something more serious, escalating tensions into a conflict.
On April 1, 2001, a U.S. Navy EP-3E SIGINT plane was intercepted by a PLA Navy J-8 of the island of Hainan. The two planes went a bit too close each other and collided mid-air.
The collision, caused the death of the Chinese fighter pilot, whereas
the American spyplane was forced to perform an emergency landing on
Hainan.
The 24 crew members were detained and interrogated by the Chinese authorities until being released on April 21, 2001.
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.
Bomber incident: two Nuclear-armed Russian Tu-95s reportedly skirt U.S. military base at Guam
 |
| Image of a past interception. Credit: U.S. Air Force |
According to the Washington Free Beacon website two Russian Tu-95 Bear-H strategic bombers circled Guam island, in the Pacific Ocean, on Feb. 12.
“Defense officials said the bombers tracked over Guam were likely
equipped with six Kh-55 or Kh-55SM cruise missiles that can hit targets
up to 1,800 miles away with either a high-explosive warhead or a
200-kiloton nuclear warhead,” reports Bill Gertz in his piece.
The episode happened shortly before President Obama delivered his
State of the Union address and prompted U.S. to scramble some Kadena
F-15s temporary deployed to Andersen Air Force Base. The Eagles shadowed the two Russian bombers until they left the the area in a northbound direction.
Andersen AFB, on Guam, is strategically located 1,800 miles (about 2,900 km) to the east of China. It has hosted a deployed strategic bomber force since 2004; recently, the Air Force has announced it will base two B-2 Spirit bombers in the Pacific atoll.
Although this kind of incident is not frequent, this is not the first
time Russian strategic bombers conduct a long range training sorties
into the south Pacific. And circumnavigate Guam.
In 2007, President Vladimir Putin said Russia had resumed the
long-range flights of its strategic bombers that had been suspended in
1992. According to Putin, those tours of duty would be conducted
regularly and on strategic scale.
On Aug. 8, 2007 two Tu-95 undertook a 13-hour round trip from
Blagoveshchensk base to “visit” Guam for the first time since the end of
the Cold War.
Guam is among the key strategic U.S. military installations in the
Pacific theater; a base that is pivotal to the Air Sea Battle Concept
strategy designed to counter China’s military power in a region
characterized by territorial disputes.
The Aviationist
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