Mil-Tech

US Air Force Creates New Cyberspace Officers

The military in the US runs off information. Without information, the military can’t find targets and keep abreast of what the enemy is doing. With the huge importance of information and data it is no surprise that the military spends huge sums of money to protect and gather data and information.

The US Air Force has taken about 3,000 officers and moved them from communications officers to a new title of cyberspace officers. The total airmen that have moved from communications to cyberspace is about 30,000 reports the AirForceTimes.

The new cyberspace officers will continue to perform the same tasks they used to by supporting base computers and communications, but they will also be experts on how a computer or communication network can improve the war-fighting capabilities of the Air Force. The new cyberspace officers will attend courses at Keesler Air Force Base that lasts for 115 days whereas the old communications officer training was only 26 days.

US Air Force Launches Prototype Military Space Plane

A state-of-the-art military space plane’s prototype capable of remaining in space for up to nine months at a stretch has been launched by the U.S. Air Force (USAF), reports informed.

Code-named X-37B, the plane blasted off into the night sky over Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 19:52 hours local time Thursday and its ambitious mission will be controlled by the Air Force Space Command.

Built by aircraft major Boeing, X-37B with a wing span of 4.5 meters resembles a scaled down version of space shuttle and is nine meters long, five meters wide and weighs 5,000 kilograms.

It was launched vertically atop an Atlas V rocket and USAF says the vehicle will be used to test advanced guidance, navigation and control, thermal protection systems, avionics and high temperature structures and seals.

Besides the obvious difference in size, the X-37B is powered by a solar array and lithium-ion batteries and is unmanned while a regulation space shuttle uses fuel-cell power system and is guided by a crew, but the X-37B does have a cargo space as in space shuttles.

Originally started by NASA in 1999, the project was later shifted to the Pentagon and apparently the U.S. military is likely to use it as a ‘sounding board’ for testing materials, sensor and new equipment.

Earlier this week Gary Payton, the USAF’s Deputy Under Secretary for space programs, told journalists on teleconference that “the top priority technology demonstration on this first flight is the vehicle itself.

“Getting it into orbit, getting the payload bay doors open, the solar array deployed, learning about on-orbit attitude control and bringing it all back,” Payton informed.

Despite the Pentagon failing to specify the date of the plane’s return, it is believed that X-37B can remain in space for up to 270 days. “In all honesty, we don’t know when it’s coming back for sure. It depends on the progress that we make with the on-orbit experiments, the on-orbit demonstrations,” Payton informed.

On completion of its mission, mission control will send a message to X-37B prompting it to fire its engines to re-enter earth’s atmosphere before a planned landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Space history will also be made as this will be the first autonomous re-entry and landing in the annals of the U.S. space program which, however, was successfully tried out by the erstwhile Soviet Union using its Buran space shuttle in 1988.

Air Force Informed X37-B Space Plane Is Not A Weapon

Air Force spokesman says X37-B space plane is not a “weaponization of space.”

An Air Force official today said the X-37B space plane should not be considered a weapon. In this photo, the X-37B space plane sits in its capsule atop an Atlas V rocket as it makes its way to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Fla. The rocket launched Thursday night.

United Launch Alliance

The hush-hush X-37B robotic space plane launched by the United States Air Force late Thursday is many things, but it’s no space weapon, according to high-ranking official with the project.

Gary Payton, Air Force deputy undersecretary of space programs, scoffed at speculation that the X-37B space plane is the vanguard for a space weapon fleet and said its main purpose is to test space technology, not orbital weapons.

“I don’t know how this could be called a weaponization of space,” Payton told reporters this week before the launch. “Fundamentally, it’s just an updated version of the space shuttle kinds of activities in space.”

Payton’s comments were aimed at questions from reporters on how the secretive nature of this X-37B may appear to other countries with and without assets in space.

The unmanned X-37B space plane, now known as the Orbital Test Vehicle 1, actually began its life as a civilian project founded by NASA in 1999 to test landing and other spacecraft technologies. NASA turned the program over to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in 2004. The Air Force took control of the project in 2006.

Space policy analyst Joan Johnson-Freese, professor of National Security Studies at the Naval War College in Newport, RI, has told SPACE.com that the X-37B could either be a major advancement in human spaceflight or be the unmanned end result of the Air Force’s dream of building a crewed space plane.

“In any case, it is likely that other countries will see it as another capability intended to assure the United States will be able to dominate access to and the use of space,” she informed in an earlier interview.

Spaceship or weapon?

Payton said that the X-37B launch is primarily aimed at testing fundamental technologies for reusable spacecraft and space applications.

“If these technologies on the vehicle prove to be as good as we estimate, it will make our access to space more responsive, perhaps cheaper, and push us in the vector toward being able to react to warfighter needs more quickly,” Payton informed.

But it is the spacecraft’s appearance as a rapid-response vehicle that can be launched on unmanned rockets has led to some speculation of its potential as a space weapon.

“Regardless of its original intent, the most obvious and formidable [potential use] is in service as a space fighter – a remotely piloted craft capable of disabling multiple satellites in orbit on a single mission and staying on orbit for months to engage newly orbited platforms,” comparative military studies professor Everett Dolman, if the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies at the Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala., has told SPACE.com. That capability “would be a tremendous tactical advantage.”

Dolman said it’s still too early to determine what the ultimate use for the X-37B, or any future successors, may be.

The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle 1 was built by Boeing in Seal Beach, Calif., and weighs about 11,000 pounds (about 5,000 kg). This SPACE.com X-37B graphic illustrates some details of the space plane and its relative size.

Mini-shuttle in space

Air Force officials have said the X-37B will be tested as a “flexible space test platform to conduct various experiments and allow satellite sensors, subsystems, components and associated technology to be efficiently transported to and from the space environment.”

The space plane’s payload bay can fit a couple of small satellites to be launched and deployed, but it does not have a robotic arm to grapple objects in space and retrieve them. That means it could be used to support military operations oversees by rapidly deploying space-based assets like small communications or reconnaissance satellites.

“This launch helps ensure that our warfighters will be provided the capabilities they need in the future,” informed Air Force Col. Andre Lovett, 45th Space Wing vice commander, Launch Decision Authority for the mission, after the launch.

The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle also has a long loiter time in space. It has a solar array tucked in its payload bay that can keep it powered up for around 270 days, Air Force officials have informed.

“We, the Air Force, have suite of military missions in space and this new vehicle could potentially help us do those missions better,” Payton informed.

Payton has said he envisions the X-37B has functioning much like the SR-71 Blackbird spy aircraft, being on alert in times of need to fly a mission that could support military operations. The time between flights, during a rush period of many space launches, could be as little as 10 to 15 days, Payton said.

It is still unknown how long the first X-37B will remain in orbit. But when it returns, it is expected to autonomously fly itself through the Earth’s atmosphere and land at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, with Edwards Air Force Base as a backup.

Sikorsky Aircraft Developing Optionally Piloted Black Hawk Demonstrator Helicopter

Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. is collaborating with the U.S. Army to develop an optionally piloted demonstrator Black Hawk helicopter, the company informed from the AAAA Annual Convention. Sikorsky Aircraft is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp.

Sikorsky Innovations, Sikorsky Aircraft’s technology organization, is leading the development program. It plans to fly the optionally piloted demonstrator aircraft this year, and is targeting introducing the optionally piloted aircraft in 2015.

“This technology will provide commanders with manning options based on the mission and tactical situation, and will significantly reduce crew limitations while increasing Black Hawk helicopter flight operations,” informed Chris Van Buiten Director of Sikorsky Innovations.

The U.S. Army’s total Black Hawk helicopter fleet exceeds 1,740 aircraft and has amassed six million flight hours. More than 3,000 Black Hawk helicopters are in use today, operating in 27 different countries. Designed to stringent U.S. Military standards, the Black Hawk helicopter has become the leader in multi-mission-type aircraft. Among the mission configurations it serves are troop transport, medical evacuation, attack, assault support and special operations.

Sikorsky Innovations is an agile, networked group of Sikorsky employees and industry teammates dedicated to demonstrating innovative technology solutions to the toughest problems in vertical flight. Sikorsky Innovations is pursuing a broad range of advanced technologies, including X2 high-speed helicopter technology, aware and adaptive aircraft systems and optionally piloted aircraft.

Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., based in Stratford, Conn., is a world leader in aircraft design, manufacture and service. United Technologies Corp., based in Hartford, Conn., delivers a broad range of high-technology products and support services to the aerospace and building systems industries.

Dunlop Aircraft Tyres Technology To Feature On Military Aircraft

Damage-resistant tyre technology developed by Birmingham-based Dunlop Aircraft Tyres is set to be used for the first time on a military aircraft.

Foreign object damage (FOD) resistance tyre technology pioneered by the firm will feature on the Airbus Military A400M.

The tyres will help aircraft on operations involving unprepared airstrips.

Dunlop Aircraft Tyres chairman Ian Edmondson informed: With over 100 years’ history of specialising in aircraft tyre producing and retreading, we have built considerable experience of pushing the boundaries in both civil and military tyre technology.

These new tyres for the A400M are an example of that.

They build on our experience in the military sector and will help protect the aeroplane when it operates to and from unprepared airstrips.”

More than 180 Airbus Military A400M transport aircraft have been ordered by Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Spain, Turkey and the UK.

Airspace For US Military Planes Opened In Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan has decided to open its airspace to U.S. military aircraft ferrying supplies to American troops serving in Afghanistan, it was decided on Sunday at a meeting between President Barack Obama and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev in Washington.

The permission granted by Kazakstan means that U.S. planes en route to Afghanistan can now use the polar route instead of flying along the indirect route through Europe, which would save precious time and fuel for moving supplies to forward locations in the war-ravaged country.

The meeting, the first between the two leaders, took place on the eve of the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) hosted by Obama and attended by leaders from 47 nations that opens on Monday.

“This will save money, it will save time, in terms of moving our troops and the supplies needed into the theater,” informed Mike McFaul, one of Obama’s security advisors told reporters.

According to McFul, Obama hailed Nazarbayev as “one of the model leaders in the world and stressed his role in drumming up support for the Nuclear Security Summit.”

The Kazakh leader reportedly proposed the setting up of an International Nuclear Fuel Bank in his country which would complement global monitoring of nuclear materials.

Besides, Obama and Nazarbayev discussed the current turmoil in Kazakhstan’s neighboring country of Kyrgyzstan and it was announced that U.S. industry major General Electric will be awarded a contract for building 150 diesel locomotives for use in Kazakhstan and other countries in the region.

An agreement on U.S.-Kazakh cooperation in the fields of science and technology was revealed at the summit-level meeting.

Following the disintegration of the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan had closed down its nuclear test site and taken steps to remove all nuclear material from its territory, including nuclear weapons.

Boeing Unveils Tanker Technology

The Boeing Co. estimates that Florida will benefit from an estimated 1,900 total jobs with 14 suppliers and generate an estimated $95 million annual economic impact if the Boeing NewGen Tanker is selected as the U.S. Air Force’s next tanker aircraft, the company informed today.

A military aircraft based on Boeing’s commercial 767 jetliner, the tanker would replace a fleet of aging KC-135 airplanes, the first of which was built in 1956. The new aircraft was featured in a traveling display that stopped Tuesday in downtown Tallahassee to acquaint residents with the company’s development program.

“We need Floridians to help us win the contract. If we win, we need Floridians to help us build this tanker,” informed Bill Barksdale, communications manager for the tanker program.

The exhibit was at Kleman Plaza from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and was open to the public. Company officials said the demonstrator showcases why Boeing’s aircraft is the best solution for the U.S. Air Force’s KC-X aerial refueling program.

Under this procurement, the Air Force is looking to the development of the next generation of tanker aircraft for airborne refueling operations. Boeing’s rival has been the team of Northrop Grumman/EADS, but Northrop Grumman announced in March it is withdrawing from the bidding process, citing an Air Force request for proposals the company believes is weighted in favor of Boeing.

The procurement, which replaces the military’s aging KC-135 tanker aircraft, is valued at $35 billion.

Boeing’s demonstrator features state-of-the-art flight-deck and aerial-refueling simulators. Guests took turns piloting the simulators and viewing the various displays.

Aerojet Performs Test For Missile In -65 Degree Conditions

Military aircraft at high altitude can experience extremely cold temperatures, which isn’t a problem for a new rocket motor technology developed by Lockheed Martin and Aerojet, a part of Rancho Cordova-based GenCorp.

The two companies informed that their motor for a Joint Air-to-Ground Missile program succeeded in operating down to -65 degrees.

Testing was performed in Camden, Ariz.

The new motor is potentially to be used for air-to-ground missiles mounted on everything from jet planes to helicopters and unmanned drones.

Ordered by the U.S. Army’s Joint Attack Munition Systems Project Office, the new missile program is to replace Hellfire, Airborn TOW and Maverick missiles currently carried on aircraft fielded by the Amry, Navy and Marine Corps.

Air Force Performs To Instill 'Warrior Culture' In Drone Crews

New training aims to get personnel to feel they are constantly in combat, even if they are operating the Predators and Reapers flying over Afghanistan from the Nevada desert.

Reporting from Washington – As part of an effort to extend the military’s “warrior culture” to unmanned planes, the Air Force is overhauling how it trains the crews that operate its rapidly growing fleet of Predators, Reapers and other remotely piloted aircraft.

The changes in training will affect hundreds of personnel who fly the unmanned aircraft remotely over war zones from distant bases and control their powerful cameras and targeting systems.

The effort is part of a move by the Air Force to put as much emphasis on drones as it does on traditional fighters and bombers, officials informed.

It also underscores the continuing expansion of the role of unmanned aircraft in the hunt for militants in Afghanistan and the increasing importance of the airmen who operate them.

Each of the MQ-1 Predators and MQ-9 Reapers is operated by two crew members. One is an Air Force pilot, who flies the craft. The second is a “sensor operator” who controls the plane’s camera and its targeting laser, used to guide missiles and bombs.

When the Air Force first began flying armed Predators over Afghanistan, image analysts were in the second seat; they are extensively trained on how to interpret spy satellite pictures.

But after years of flying missions in Afghanistan, senior Air Force officers concluded they had the wrong people in that job. Instead, officials want the second crew member to focus less on interpreting imagery and more on helping fly the plane and strike targets.

“We are rewriting the Air Force’s DNA,” informed Chief Master Sgt. Victor Allen, who is the career field manager for enlisted aviators.

The first group of recruits to receive the revamped training finished this month.

The new training is a mix of the technical — details about the radar, camera and laser systems — and what Allen calls “infusing the Air Force warrior culture” into the job.

“They need to understand the battle space. They need to understand working with a crew,” Allen informed. “This is absolutely flying a vehicle, and we want someone dedicated to this duty.”

The Air Force in recent years has drastically expanded its investment in unmanned planes. Officials want a fleet of more than 200 unmanned planes, enough to have 65 in the air at one time. To reach that level, under Air Force plane-to-crew ratios, officials said they need about 1,400 pilots and 1,100 sensor operators. The Air Force now has only 317 airmen in the sensor operator field and must train hundreds more.

For recruits, the unique challenge of the unmanned planes is keeping focused on the idea that they are in a war zone, even if they are physically half a world away, flying the planes from a base in the Nevada desert.

“You do not want to feel you are not in the actual fight,” said Airman Paul South, 20, of East Smithfield, Pa., a member of the first class of new sensor trainees. “You are in the fight, and you need to realize what is on the line every time you are doing your job.”

Before now, sensor operators trained for nine months to learn to interpret video and spy satellite pictures. But experience has shown they do not have time to analyze imagery while the plane is in flight.

The new recruits must train to be part of an air crew, then take a sensor operator course, followed by training in fundamentals of remotely piloted aircraft.

“They are taking us basically from scratch and reshaping us,” said Airman Joshua Davidson, 22, of Spokane, Wash., another one of the first recruits.

The Air Force is not eliminating the work of intelligence analysts. New technology being deployed this year will vastly increase the number of video feeds and the demand for imagery analysis. But those experts will be working at other stations, not as part of the team flying the aircraft.

The new career field is appealing to new enlistees who want to feel they are performing a crucial role in current U.S. military operations.

“If you turn on the news any day,” South informed, “you see something about another airstrike.”

Air Force researchers to speed optical interconnect development for chips, boards, and systems

U.S Air Force researchers are asking industry to improve photonics interconnect producing technology to hasten the future use of optical interconnects for chip-to-chip, board-to-board, and system-to-system high-speed optical computing.

The Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, released a broad agency announcement (BAA-10-10-PKM) Wednesday for the $2.4 million Photonics Manufacturing Program to find ways to cut costs, speed development, and increase availability of photonics interconnect technology for military applications.

The goal is to hasten the maturity of optical interconnect technology so Air Force leaders can introduce it quickly in their inventory of weapons. Funding for the three-year program should be $400,000 in 2010, $1 million in 2011, and $1 million in 2012.

In charge of this research initiative are scientists in the Manufacturing Technology Division of the Air Force Research Lab’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate at Wright-Patterson. Companies interested must respond no later than 26 April 2010.

The Photonics Manufacturing Program seeks to identify and meet the manufacturing challenges of producing militarized, high bandwidth photonics interconnect technology to enhance the affordability and capability of militarized photonics interconnect technology for current and future Air Force weapon systems.

Air Force ground, air, and space systems are processing greater and greater amounts of data and information, which demands increased interconnect communications bandwidths at intra-module (chip-to-chip), inter-module (board-to-board), and system (system-to-system) levels, Air Force researchers say.

Photonics interconnect technology can meet these needs, yet producing process improvements are necessary to make the technology more producible and affordable for Air Force applications.

Proposals should show how photonics interconnection technology solutions migrate from chip levels to system levels for and future bandwidth requirements. Proposed solutions must include anticipated technology insertions into Air Force weapon systems for the next five years.

Researchers want proposals for true insertion dates — no just transition opportunities — as well as Air Force weapon system office endorsements.

Phase-zero of the Photonics Manufacturing Program will be a six-to-eight-month study to identify current and future Air Force photonics interconnect requirements; identify Air Force users and get their endorsements; and identify producing solutions.

Phase-one will be a 15-17 month effort to address manufacturability issues; conduct at least three manufacturing readiness assessments (MRAs); set up a manufacturing strategy; and conduct a program review. Air Force researchers expect to make contract awards by 1 July 2010.

Send proposals no later than 26 April 2010 to Scott Savory by e-mail at scott.savory@wpafb.af.mil, or by post at Det 1 AFRL/PKMT, Bldg 167, 2310 8th St., Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7801. His phone number is 937-656-9001.

For technical questions and concerns contact Greg Cazzell by phone at 937-904-4599, by e-mail at greg.cazzell@wpafb.af.mil, or by post at AFRL/RXMT, Bldg 653, Rm 201, 2977 Hobson Way, WPAFB OH 45433-7739.