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The Navy's new drone being tested near Chesapeake Bay stretches the boundaries of technology: It's designed to land on the deck of an aircraft carrier, one of aviation's most difficult maneuvers. What's even more remarkable is that it will do that not only without a pilot in the cockpit, but without a pilot at all. The X-47B marks a paradigm shift in warfare, one that is likely to have far-reaching consequences. With the drone's ability to be flown autonomously by onboard computers, it could usher in an era when death and destruction can be dealt by machines operating semi-independently. Although...

The U.S. Air Force has decided to scrap its Northrop Grumman Corp high-altitude unmanned surveillance plane program and keep its Cold War-vintage U-2 spy planes flying into the 2020s, according to a government official and a defense analyst. Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of the Virginia-based Lexington Institute, said the Air Force decision was based on the cost of the RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned planes, and said the service would investigate using a marine version with different sensors that Northrop is developing for the Navy. The Navy is proceeding with its plans to buy 68 of that version of the...

LONDON — British and French ships joined a US carrier group in a six-strong flotilla of warships which passed through the sensitive Strait of Hormuz, Britain's Ministry of Defence said. The ministry said a Royal Navy frigate, HMS Argyll, was part of a US-led carrier group to sail through the waterway which Iran has threatened to close over Western moves to impose new sanctions over Tehran's nuclear programme. A spokesman said: "HMS Argyll and a French vessel joined a US carrier group transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, to underline the unwavering international commitment to maintaining rights of passage under...

A U.S. aircraft carrier sailed through the Strait of Hormuz and into the Gulf without incident on Sunday, a day after Iran backed away from an earlier threat to take action if an American carrier returned to the strategic waterway. The carrier USS Abraham Lincoln completed a "regular and routine" passage through the strait, a critical gateway for the region's oil exports, "as previously scheduled and without incident," said Lieutenant Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fifth Fleet. The Lincoln, accompanied by strike group of warships, was the first U.S. aircraft carrier to enter the Gulf since late December...

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told sailors aboard the country's oldest aircraft carrier that the U.S. is committed to maintaining a fleet of 11 of the formidable warships despite budget pressures, in part to project sea power against Iran. Panetta also told the crowd of 1,700 gathered in the hangar bay of the USS Enterprise that the ship is heading to the Persian Gulf region and will steam through the Strait of Hormuz in a direct message to Tehran.

Is F-35 program flying high or sputtering? By Bob Cox rcox@star-telegram.com Now that the F-35 joint strike fighter program has gotten a pat on the back and morale boost from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, officials at Lockheed Martin hope to put their recent run of bad report cards and bad press behind them. All those problems with the F-35 that have been reported of late? They're not that bad; they're being fixed. Just watch, they say. "We're starting to see a lot of good stuff happening," Tom Burbage, Lockheed's co-executive vice president and general manager overseeing the F-35 program, said...

Pentagon to take F-35B off "probation": sources WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expected on Friday to remove the threat of termination that has been looming over the Marine Corps version of Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 fighter jet, according to multiple sources. Panetta will announce on Friday that he is taking the B-model of the stealthy F-35 fighter off "probation" a year ahead of schedule, given the plane's progress on resolving technical issues, the sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly, told Reuters. The announcement will come during Panetta's visit on Friday to Naval Air Station...

UKIP: 'UK must build naval Typhoon' 19 January 2012 The UK should cancel the purchase of the F-35C and invest in developing a naval variant of the Eurofighter Typhoon, the UK Independence Party (UKIP) has said. Lord Alexander Hesketh, UKIP's defence spokesman and former executive deputy chairman of Babcock International Group, said that adopting a naval Typhoon would allow the UK to restore carrier strike capability on its Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers before 2020 while saving money and protecting UK jobs. UKIP estimates suggest it would cost £1.4bn to develop a naval typhoon, with unit costs of around £80m....

Underscoring its desire to keep U.S. aircraft carriers from the Persian Gulf, a senior Iranian military commander today announced his possible plan to ambush the American fleet. Chalk this one up to more bluster, or part of a mounting back and forth rhetoric headed nowhere good, either way - Tehran plans to rely on its subs. Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Army's Self-Sufficiency Jihad, Rear Admiral Farhad Amiri told Fars that Iran has the finest electic diesel submarines in the world, and that while the U.S. has focused on Tehran's "astonishing surface capabilities," it has forgotten about the underwater threat....

India sizes up V-22 Osprey By:Greg Waldron Singapore India has shown interest in the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey, although it has not stated a formal requirement for the tiltrotor aircraft. Boeing confirmed that it was "invited in-country to provide more information" on the V-22, but that it has not received "an official, written [request for information] from India". In addition, Indian officials visited the V-22 aircraft during the Dubai air show in November 2011, where they asked questions about the aircraft. The V-22 would be well suited to operations along India's vast Himalayan frontier, where high altitudes and long distances...

Brit Phil Warren took 63 years to build this incredible fleet of 432 ships in exacting 1:300 scale- and check this out: every last one of them is built entirely from matchsticks and matchboxes. The amazing collection includes nearly 370 American and  60 British RN ships. Mr Warren started the first one in post-war 1948 when just a lad of 17, and the only tools utilized in their impeccable construction are razor blade, tweezers and sandpaper. Balsa wood glue keeps it all together.. and that's it.  More than 650,000 used matchsticks and boxes were used to create the fleet (must know every...

Navy's £5bn Harrier jet replacement 'unable to land on aircraft carriers' The Royal Navy's multi-billion pound fighter plane programme is under threat amid claims that its new all-purpose jets cannot land on aircraft carriers, it has emerged. Leaked Pentagon documents claim a design flaw in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) has caused eight simulated landings to fail. The “F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Concurrency Quick Look Review” claimed the flaw meant that the “arrestor” hook, used to stop the plane during landing, was too close to the plane’s wheels. When a fighter lands on an aircraft carrier an arrestor cable catches...

  Our Troops Rock!  Thank you for all you do!   For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.   Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     ~ Hall of Heroes ~ Clyde E. Lassen Info from here.             CDR Clyde Everett Lassen (1942 - 1994) As the UH-2 Seasprite helicopter hovered over the water, its crew listened intently on their earphones for a message from the coastline.  Some where beyond the pitch-dark horizon were two naval aviators whose plane...

What you're looking at is the deck of the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan covered in the vehicles of Navy Sailors heading to Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Washington. At a cost of about $4.5 billion this is probably the world's most expensive parking lot. It may seem phenomenal, but this is actually a common occurrence for the Navy and a lot cheaper and easier than transporting the vehicles almost any other way. The weight of one E-2C Hawkeye is approximately 43,000 pounds, or about 12 cars, and a Nimitz-class carrier usually carries four of those. But more to the point, this...

On January 8, a Russian aircraft carrier group led by the Admiral Kuznetsov made a short visit to the Syrian port of Tartus, where Russia has maintained a small naval supply base since the Cold War. The Kuznetsov had sailed from Severomorsk, near Murmansk, on the Barents Sea on December 6, together with the frigate Admiral Chabanenko, emergency sea tug Nikolai Chiker and three small tankers. In the Mediterranean Sea the carrier group was joined by one more tanker, the corvette Yaroslav Mudri from the Baltic Fleet and the corvette Ladni from the Black Sea Fleet. In Tartus, the Russian...

U.S. military moves carriers, denies Iran link 5:28pm EST By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Wednesday that a new aircraft carrier strike group had arrived in the Arabian Sea and that another was on its way to the region, but denied any link to recent tensions with Iran and portrayed the movements as routine. The shift in the powerful U.S. naval assets comes at a moment of heightened tensions with Iran, which has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz - the world's most important oil shipping lane - if U.S. and EU sanctions over...

The carrier, along with the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group, reaches the region as tensions are rising with Iran. Deployed San Diego-based ships in the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and Makin Island groups are now in the Middle East, the U.S. Fifth Fleet and Central Command has announced. The sailors, Marines and airmen aboard the ships arrive after Iranian officials recent threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for the world's oil supply, and warned a departing U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS John C. Stennis, not to return to the Persian Gulf.

    ~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: NAS Whidbey Island, Washington Naval Air Station Whidbey Island is a naval air station located in two sections around Oak Harbor, Washington, USA. It was commissioned as an active U.S. Navy installation on 21 September 1942.In all, there are 19 active duty squadrons and two reserve squadrons currently based at NAS Whidbey Island. The air station also maintains a Search and Rescue Unit, flying the UH-3H Sea King helicopter, as well as two UC-12 Huron aircraft for operational support airlift and fleet logistic support. Over 50 tenant commands are also located...

US, Russian French and British air and naval forces streamed to the Syrian and Iranian coasts over the weekend on guard for fresh developments at the two Middle East flashpoints. The Russian carrier Admiral Kuznetsov anchored earlier than planned at Syria's Tartus port on the Mediterranean Sunday, Jan. 8, arriving together with the destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and frigate Yaroslav Mudry. To counter this movement, France consigned an air defense destroyer Forbin to the waters off Tartus. debkafile's military sources report a buildup in the last 48 hours of western naval forces opposite Iran in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea...

Probably the most cited example of China’s desire to expand its naval power beyond Chinese coastal waters is Beijing’s pursuit of aircraft carriers capable of operating conventional fixed-wing fighter aircraft. Chinese interest in acquiring aircraft carriers spans decades but financial, technological, political and strategic constraints have prevented serious pursuit of this capability. In April 2005, the unfinished Soviet Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier Varyag, that China purchased from Ukraine in 1998, went into dry dock at Dalian Shipyard in northern China for an extensive refitting. For the past several years, anyone with access to the Internet has been able track the extensive...