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GUAM - Despite taking some time to adjust to a totally different climate that challenged them to work extra hard to do their best and challenged maintainers to keep aircraft operational, deployed airmen from Alaska's Elmendorf Air Force Base and their fleet of $140 million F-22 Raptors performed above and beyond expectation with their 36th Wing counterparts stationed at Andersen Air Force Base. As Guam News Factor reported on October 5, heavy rains on Guam caused electronics problems on the visiting Raptors during their temporary basing on island. The Air Force Times had reported that crews at Elmendorf Air Force...

Many senior members of the U.S. military, defense officials, members of Congress, and analysts have long-warned of the growing fighter gap facing the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps and its implications for U.S. national security. A fighter gap is essentially a deficit between the services' fighter aircraft inventories and their operational requirements based on emerging and possible air threats to U.S. security. At a hearing just last year, defense officials testified projecting a "most-optimistic" deficit of 125 strike fighters for the Department of the Navy, including 69 aircraft for the U.S. Navy and 56 for the Marine Corps....

Pittsburgh was treated to an impressive show the week of the recent G20 conference. A nice assortment of military choppers of various types and missions, along with odder aircraft difficult both to identify and explain. Both police and the National Guard were out in force, with downtown nearly sealed off. None of this hardware was used against the "3,000 - 4,000" (more like a few hundred) anarchist demonstrators when they turned their righteous wrath on a dozen Starbucks and a Whole Foods store. No serious confrontation was expected and none occurred. Because all of it - the Guard troops, the...

In an exclusive June 2006 interview, Israeli Air Force (IAF) chief procurement officer Brigadier-General Ze’ev Snir told Israel’s Globes publication that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was a key part of their IAF recapitalization plans, and that Israel intends to buy over 100 of the fighters to replace their F-16s over time. A 100-plane deal would have cost at least $5 billion under Israel’s original estimates, and would involve the F-35A conventional take-off Air Force version. Snir added that:“The IAF would be happy to equip itself with 24 F-22s but the problem at this time is the US refusal to...

Japan is negotiating a contract with the United States that will provide Tokyo with sensitive information about the systems and performance of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) as it seeks to evaluate the aircraft in a bid to procure a next-generation fighter (FX) for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. A source at the Japanese Ministry of Defence (MoD) told Jane's on 6 October that the contract is expected to be signed shortly....the development signals a clear move by Japan towards the JSF - and away from the F-22 Raptor ...the MoD has been requesting the US government...

The U.S. military’s historic dominance of the skies, unchallenged since around spring 1943, is increasingly at risk because of the proliferation of advanced technologies and a buildup of potential adversary arsenals, according to Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, the service’s chief for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Speaking today at the Air Force’s annual convention in the Washington area today, he provided a wide ranging assessment of what the QDR team is calling “high-end, asymmetric threats.” Emphasizing the increasing capabilities of “anti-access weapons,” such as long range precision missiles, Deptula said pilots in future wars will not operate in the...

But make no mistake, so are we. If a project doesn’t support our troops, we will not fund it. If a system doesn’t perform, we will terminate it. And if Congress sends me a defense bill loaded with that kind of waste, I will veto it. We will do right by our troops and taxpayers. We will build the 21st century military we need. President Barack Obama 8/17 Speech to VFW Many Veterans were upset at the President for canceling the F-22 fighter without having a back up until the next bomber will be ready. The POTUS promised that it...

Sarah Palin, outlying her "common sense conservative" foreign policy views in Hong Kong yesterday, denounced her former running mate's push to cut new F-22 Raptor fighter jets, an efficiency move in which Senator John McCain allied himself with the White House and against many other Republican hawks. "Though we are engaged in two wars and face a diverse array of threats, it is the defense budget that has seen significant program cuts and has actually been reduced from current levels!" Palin said, according to a portion of the private speech I obtained. Defense spending will, in fact, increase this year...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Senate panel urged the Air Force on Thursday to start developing an export model of its F-22 Raptor, the most advanced U.S. fighter jet, even as it voted to end U.S. purchases. Japan, Israel and Australia have shown interest in buying the supersonic, radar-evading F-22 Raptor, designed to destroy enemy air defenses in the first days of any conflict and clear the way for other missions.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's demands to kill off a super-expensive, ultramodern fighter and the way-over-budget, behind-schedule presidential helicopter drew a sympathetic hearing from a Senate panel Wednesday. The F-22 is a next-generation fighter aimed at maintaining U.S. dominance in air combat, but is poorly suited for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The VH-71 is the high-security replacement for the aging fleet of presidential helicopters.

China Puts Up a Fighter Beijing's fifth-generation military challenge to the U.S. By RICHARD D. FISHER JR. ZHUKOVSKY, Russia—With few exceptions, Beijing rarely says much of substance about its ongoing military build-up or its strategic thinking. But the overriding message from the recent Moscow Airshow and other airshows, plus occasional interviews with Chinese and Russian engineers, is that Beijing is not conceding next-generation air superiority to anyone, least of all the United States. Exhibit A is Beijing's long-running effort to build a fifth-generation fighter plane equivalent to the U.S. F-22 and F-35. Such planes use extensive stealth and advanced radar...

The Air Force spent years fighting to keep building the $350 million F-22 fighter, an airplane crammed with so much gee-whiz technology there's a law barring it from being sold to any other nation. But since no other nation is building such a plane to challenge it, the F-22 has become a costly investment with an uncertain payoff, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates just killed it. That sent an unmistakable message to the two new top Air Force officials Gates recently appointed, and now the service is seeking 100 slower, lower-flying and far cheaper airplanes — most likely prop-driven —...

As part of an expanding programme of battlefield automation, the American air force has said it is now training more drone operators than fighter and bomber pilots. In a controversial shift in military thinking – one encouraged by the confirmed death of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in a drone-strike on 5 August – the air force is looking to hugely expand its fleet of unmanned aircraft by 2047. Three years ago, the service was able to fly just 12 drones at a time; now it can fly more than 50. At a trade conference outside Washington last week, military...

Earlier this year, President Barack Obama sent his Administration’s 2010 budget priorities to the Congress. What it revealed was shocking, even if it should not have been surprising, with trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see, even before healthcare reform spending is counted. The only significant cuts were in future defense spending, even as American forces are fully engaged in fighting two wars and the world appears as dangerous as it ever was. The White House’s budget submission called for ending production of the Air Force F-22 Raptor, a replacement for the 40-year old F-15 Eagle air-superiority fighter....

After the Senate vote, General Peter Pawling, who moved to the staff of U.S. Pacific Command earlier this year after serving as commander of the Hawaii Air National Guard's 154th Wing, told Aviation Week's David Fulghum that he was "still planning on getting those airplanes." "There is nothing out there that can fly against it," Pawling said. "If we had a major conflict [against someone with advanced air defenses], I can't imagine going in there with anything but an F-22." Indeed, that same day Fulghum quoted another Air Force official, this one identified only as a "senior intelligence officer." "The...

Russia and China, two potential U.S. adversaries in a future war, are committed to big increases in defense spending and global military adventures in the coming years, just as President Obama is forcing the Pentagon to scale back. The imbalance has defense experts worried that re-emergent Russia and China will be able to defeat U.S. forces in an air, sea and ground conflict because they will field superior fighters, ships and tanks in the next decades. This week, China announced its most ambitious military exercise to date. The People's Liberation Army is sending 50,000 troops to far reaches of the...

If you are trying to figure out what your congressmen really believe in, don't focus on what they say - look closely at what they do when it comes time to vote. A good example of that involves Georgia's two senators, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, and their approach to spending about $2 billion of your money. The two senators, especially Chambliss, have worked hard this summer to take nearly $2 billion out of the defense budget and earmark it for the building of more F-22 fighter jets at Marietta's Lockheed Martin plant. ... Here are some criticisms of the...

It’s been more than half a century since American soldiers were killed by hostile aircraft. Let's keep it that way.The United States relies on the Air Force, and the Air Force has never been the decisive factor in the history of war. —Saddam Hussein, before Desert Storm High-end conventional war is characterized by the clash of industrial forces. It’s armored, mechanized and increasingly air-power centric. Few are equipped by training or temperament to understand the phenomenon, especially as it concerns air warfare, a relatively recent aspect of the human experience. (In this regard, Saddam Hussein had plenty of company.) But...

There’s a nice little piece over in today’s Wall Street Journal authored by General Merrill McPeak, expressing his dismay at the premature termination of the build-out of the originally-planned fleet of the F-22 Raptor - the kick-*ss air-superiority fighter pictured above. The piece is rather good, so I’ll let you go read the whole thing via the link. I’ll just note a couple of things here: The future air combat capabilities we should build are based on the F-22, a stealthy, fast, maneuverable fighter that is unmatched by any known or projected combat aircraft. …. It’s been more than half...

A year ago, USAF had a fully funded modernization program. That program has unraveled. The Air Force is in the throes of what could prove to be one of the greatest upheavals in its turbulent 62-year history. The words “danger” and “difficulty” have become only too appropriate in describing the situation of USAF’s critical combat formations. Today is a time when aged fighters fall out of the sky and no replacement bomber is in sight. The nation bets its basic security on a force that is older—by far—than at any time since World War II. Some see the current turmoil...

The pilot of an F-22 Raptor that crashed during a test flight on March 25 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., almost lost consciousness during a high-g maneuver and failed to pull the aircraft out of a steep, high-speed dive in time to recover. Lockheed Martin test pilot David Cooley was killed immediately by windblast forces when he ejected from the F-22 at 765 knots equivalent airspeed, roughly 150 knots above the Aces II ejection seat’s design limits, U.S. Air Force accident investigators say. The mishap occurred on the third of three high-speed, high-g test runs to evaluate how opening...

EDWARDS AFB - A veteran Lockheed Martin test pilot died in an F-22A crash after nearly losing consciousness during a high-speed, high-g test maneuver, according to an Air Force accident investigation report released Friday. The $140 million jet, assigned to Edward Air Force Base's 412th Flight Test Wing, crashed during a mission to test the effects of carrying weapons on the aircraft's performance. These tests involved a series of high-speed, high-performance maneuvers in which the pilot experienced several times the force of gravity. The accident investigation concluded that Cooley experienced such disorientation brought on by the high g-forces, and recovered...

WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday approved President Obama’s plan to kill the F-22 fighter jet. But Democratic leaders bucked White House veto threats on other programs, and they heatedly rejected a Republican effort to strip more than 550 earmarked expenditures from the $636 billion military bill. Mr. Obama and other political leaders had hailed last week’s vote in the Senate to cancel the F-22 as a sign of their progress in changing military spending practices. But in sometimes tense exchanges on the House floor on Thursday, two Republicans, Representatives Jeff Flake of Arizona and John Campbell of California, sought...

WASHINGTON, July 30 (AP) - (Kyodo)—The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a $636.3 billion defense spending bill that scuttled the disputed F-22 fighter jet program but retained funding for other projects the White House opposes. The passage followed the White House's renewed threat for President Barack Obama to veto a bill for fiscal 2010, starting Oct. 1, if it includes money to continue producing the F-22.

WASHINGTON, July 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday killed new funding for the disputed F-22 fighter jet program as part of a $636.3 billion military spending bill that was expected to clear the chamber. House action on a vote of 269-165 to bury additional production of Lockheed Martin Corp's (LMT.N) F-22 solidified an important victory for the Obama administration on procurement reform and nullified a veto threat over the matter.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has released the first public images and the new name of its Predator C "Avenger" unmanned air vehicle. The pictures reveal a stealthy design powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PW545B; the same engine that powers the Cessna Citation XLS business jet. The UAV's 20m (66ft) wingspan is swept at 17°, allowing a maximum speed of over 400kt (740km/h), General Atomics says. Operating altitude can exceed 60,000ft, the company adds. Further details about specifications and performance are not being released. But company officials acknowledge that a second aircraft is already in production with a 0.61m...

The most remarkable thing happened in Washington this past Tuesday. Congress scrapped the F-22 stealth fighter jet, killing off a 30-year-old Pentagon hardware program that employs 25,000 people in 46 states. It was a dogfight almost to the end over $1.75 billion and the need to remake military readiness. Threats and promises, blunt talk and grand gestures -- all were deployed to support an appeal to common sense and for urgent change, according to principals involved. The White House coordinated the ultimately successful vote-wrangling, and its specific tactics may show up again in another epic battle now unfolding: getting Congress...

"The JSF jets, for which Australia is likely to pay $16 billion, were comprehensively beaten in highly classified simulated dogfights against Russian Sukhoi fighters, it has been reported. The war games, conducted at Hawaii's Hickam airbase last month, were witnessed by at least four RAAF personnel and a member of Australia's peak military spy agency, the Defence Intelligence Organisation, The West Australian said." "WA Liberal backbencher Dennis Jensen said he had spoken to a third party with knowledge of the final classified test results who had claimed the JSF had been clubbed like baby seals by the simulated Sukhois, The...

An internal Pentagon oversight board has found that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program is two years behind the publicly announced schedule, say multiple congressional aides familiar with the findings, sparking a sharp response from those invested in the debate over the F-22.As Congress has debated the future of the F-22 fighter program, lawmakers have used the promise of the F-35 plane’s completion as a key plank in their argument that the F-22 line could be ended without a significant risk to national security. Now, senators and aides are lamenting that the Pentagon oversight panel’s more pessimistic view on the...

An internal Pentagon oversight board has found that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program is two years behind schedule, according to multiple congressional aides familiar with the findings. Talk of the program’s problems comes amid intense debate over the future of another fighter plane, the F-22. Defenders of the F-22 argue that continued production is vital to national security. The White House and some lawmakers who favor halting the production of any new F-22 warplanes say the F-35 will fill the gap and meet the nation’s combat aircraft needs. Senators and aides are now lamenting that the Pentagon oversight panel’s...

Federal Spending: With the money spent on honeybee insurance in the stimulus package, the Army could buy nine utility helicopters and employ 1,200 skilled workers. Have we forgotten that the nation's interstate highway system was a defense project?The repairing of the nation's roads, bridges and infrastructure is touted by supporters of the stimulus package as a way of creating jobs that America needs to revitalize its economy. The interstate highway system initiated by President Dwight Eisenhower is cited as the kind of job-creating infrastructure work we need to do. What isn't noted is that when Eisenhower announced the program, he...

The ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee says the battle to fund more than 187 F-22 stealth fighters is not over, even though pro-Raptor forces suffered a stinging defeat in the Senate this week. Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon of California told HUMAN EVENTS the next F-22 war zone is a House-Senate committee conference on defense spending. There, as ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, McKeon will fight to preserve final bill language to provide for 12 more jets, as the House approved...Gen. John Corley, who heads Air Force Air Combat Command in Langley, Va., sent a...

In a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago this month, Department of Defense Secretary Robert Gates laid out the case for discontinuing the F-22 Raptor: "The F-22, to be blunt, does not make much sense anyplace else in the spectrum of conflict." In English that means that plane has not been used in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Gates wants to slay the beast, but he understands you have to feed the beast before you can kill it. So the administration supports ending the F-22's long $65 billion flight -- after seven new planes budgeted for 2010 bring the...

The congressional fight over the F-22 fighter moves to the House on Wednesday as appropriators continue their drive to save the program over President Obama’s objections. The House Appropriations Committee will vote on its version of the fiscal 2010 defense appropriations bill, which emerged from subcommittee with $369 million worth of F-22 funding, enough to purchase advance parts for 12 planes. House members of both parties are standing behind their effort to save the F-22, despite the Senate’s decision Tuesday to strip its defense policy bill (S 1390) of $1.75 billion for the fighter. House supporters of the aircraft argue...

America, Israel and Japan are now at a crossroad. America may not be able to sell an export version of the best fighter in the world, the F-22, to Israel and Japan. The reason is the Administration's current insistence on holding fast to a DOD-budgeted production run of F-22s that will stop soon at 187. The harsh reality of stopping F-22 production will be two American allies who are in increasing mortal danger will not have access to the absolute best when they really need America's help. It has been argued that the F-35 is a great substitute for the...

"July 21/09: The US Senate votes 58-40 in favor of S.Amdt 1469, the Levin-McCain amendment to strip $1.75 billion for 7 F-22As out of the Senate’s FY 2010 defense budget. The additional funds had been inserted in committee, just as the recently-passed FY 2010 House defense budget proposal contains $369 million in initial funding for 12 more F-22s.The vote was heavily determined by state lines, with 40/50 states voting coherently. Both Republicans voted “yea” to F-22 funding removal in AZ, SC and WY. Both Democrats voted against the amendment in CA, CT, HI, NM, and WA. John Kerry [D-MA], who...

""I hope liberalism fails? Liberalism is our problem. Liberalism is what's gotten us dangerously close to the precipice here," Limbaugh said on his radio talk show. At the time, his comments kicked up a mini-controversy on the blog and cable gabfests with commentators on the left dunning him for being unpatriotic. But Limbaugh's was an honest reflection of conservative suspicion about a decidedly liberal administration taking power in the midst of one of the worst economic and financial crises in the country's history. When Congress approved the administration's $787 billion the following month, the grumbling started in earnest. House Minority...

Defense Spending: The TARP bailout may hit $24 trillion, but the Senate says the F-22 is too expensive to build and maintain. So why are the Japanese so desperate to buy this "unnecessary" Cold War weapon?By a vote of 58-40, the Senate on Tuesday voted to remove $1.75 billion set aside in a defense bill to build seven more F-22 Raptors, adding to the 187 stealth technology fighters already in the pipeline. After some hope the production lines would be kept open, the Senate succumbed to arguments by the administration and others that the fighter was too expensive, too hard...

The U.S. Senate voted 58-40 on Tuesday to halt production of the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter. The fighter is built by Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) through its Aeronautics unit based in Marietta, Ga. The F-22 program, to develop, build and buy the jets, is managed by Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The center is part of Air Force Materiel Command, a major command that also is headquartered there. The command executes cradle-to-grave research and acquisition of all Air Force weapon technology, including new aircraft. The Senate’s vote to trim $1.75 billion from a $680 billion defense...

The Washington Post reports that the F-22 amendment in the senate defense spending bill was voted down 58-40. Many have called this pork, and I’m inclined to agree with them. However, I’m confused by a few things, namely that taking the Obama administration’s stimulus logic full circle seems to justify the F-22 program. There are tons of stimulus projects that create less jobs and are of dubious merit. For an aviation related example look at the small airports that receive million of dollars and serve minuscule communities. I’m positive that the F-22 program would “save or create” far more jobs...

The ailing Sen. Robert Byrd returned to the Senate chamber on Tuesday, casting a vote against an amendment that would strip money from a defense bill. Byrd, the longest serving senator in history, is a die-hard appropriator and zealously guards the purse strings. His vote Tuesday, cast from his wheel chair, bucked the White House and Pentagon, both of which have said that additional F-22 fighters jets are not needed. (snip) The 91-year old West Virginia Democrat has been out since May suffering from a staph infection contracted when he was hospitalized for another type of infection. He was recently...

The U.S. Senate voted 58-40 on Tuesday to halt production of the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter. The fighter is built by Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) through its Aeronautics unit based in Marietta, Ga. The Senate’s vote to trim $1.75 billion from a $680 billion defense bill will lead to the loss of thousands of jobs across America, Lockheed has previously said. Production of the F-22 at the Marietta plant will now stop in 2012. However, the plant also builds the C-130J Hercules and will begin building the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Lockheed’s Aeronautics division employs about 2,000 people on...

Lambasting defense “waste,” President Obama came to the Rose Garden this afternoon to take a little victory lap, his first veto threat – against a defense bill that until minutes ago contained $1.75 billion in funding for the F-22 “Raptor” fighter jet – having worked. “I reject the notion that we have to waste billions of taxpayer dollars on outdated and unnecessary defense products to keep this nation secure,” the president declared, saying he was “grateful” the Senate voted to kill the F-22 fighter jets “that military experts and members of both parties say we do not need.” Budgeting, the...

@senjohnmcain: Big win F-22 58-40 - and saved the American taxpayer $1.75 billion - Now let's get rid of the rest of the pork!Levin and McCain in preser after the F-22 funding vote

Senate Votes to Pull F-22 Funding Just broke live on Fox

The Senate on Tuesday voted to strip $1.75 billion on seven additional F-22 jets that President Obama said was unnecessary and would doom a $680 bill authorizing defense spending plans for the coming fiscal year. The 58-40 vote prevents Obama from carrying out a threat to use the first veto of his presidency if senators had kept the designation in the defense bill.

(Japan and its role on the international stage grow increasingly important by the day. As North Korea accelerates its nuclear and missile threats and China builds its military at a frantic pace. the role of Japan as one of American’s premier allies in the Pacific becomes even more critical and the byzantine internal politics of Japan are gaining more attention. On Sunday, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party lost the latest in a string of municipal elections to the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, this one in the capital city of Tokyo. Almost immediately, Prime Minister Taro Aso called a national...

With a vote set for high noon on Tuesday, the political tide in the Senate has shifted to now favor the White House and Pentagon in their pivotal fight to strike new procurement funds for the F-22 fighter. Just last week, conventional wisdom held that the $1.75 billion authorization would easily survive a challenge on the floor. But fearful of embarrassing President Barack Obama, Democrats appear to be moving back toward the White House, which has mounted its own late-breaking campaign to win the last votes.

"A showdown vote is coming in the Senate as early as Monday evening over the future of the F-22 fighter jet program. At issue is an amendment to the fiscal 2010 defense authorization bill (S 1390) that would strip out an authorization of $1.8 billion to procure seven new F-22s — money that President Obama did not request but that the Senate Armed Services Committee included." "Obama has vowed to veto any bill that would keep the program going — the first veto threat of his presidency. He believes that no additional F-22s are needed and that the money can...