1 Marine dead, 6 injured after training accident at Camp Pendleton (LAV rolled over).
“The system can combine the speed, rapid fire and depth of a close-range gun weapon system with the precision and accuracy of guided missiles — including from different directions — DARPA says.” Link is here. I wonder if Raytheon’s motor technology for this project depended, at least in part, on its partnership with a Norwegian firm for the AMRAAM rocket motors.
“A Boeing Co. program that speeds production by letting mechanics inspect their own work is leading to repeated mistakes on the 787 Dreamliner production line in North Charleston, workers say, at a time when the airplane maker is facing worldwide scrutiny over its safety record…. “I’m always finding cases where jobs are signed off and the parts aren’t installed,” said a Boeing worker, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal. “It happens a lot.” Recommended. See link here. Question: which units perform higher quality work, Boeing commercial or Boeing defense? Imagine what would have to be true if Boeing defense produced higher quality…
F-35 Deja Vu: The U.S. Air Force Promised the F-4 Phantom Would Never Dogfight. A couple thoughts from a tactical novice. What if the F-35 is super stealthy and so its adversary’s aircraft? Then dogfighting seems important. What if it isn’t as stealthy as once presumed? Again, you’ll get in a dogfight. And finally, what if the F-35 is crazy stealthy and the enemy has no stealth aircraft. Well, if they put up large numbers of 4th gen and there are important objectives, then F-35s will face the choice to run after they chuck a few missiles — leaving the battlespace to the enemy — or they’ll have to engage with a gun, n’est-ce pas?
Yeah, defense technologies are too big and specialized for commercial entrants — Report: Jeff Bezos wants to take Blue Origin straight to the moon.
“The U.S. Navy has ended its support to find a missing Japanese F-35A“… They found parts of the aircraft, but not the “all-important” memory of the flight data recorder.
If shooting down ballistic missiles with lasers wasn’t enough: New Lockheed Concept Shows Navy F-35C Armed With Hypersonic Cruise Missiles.
Related: Lockheed Develops Rack to Make F-35A/C a Six-Shooter…. At the bottom: “The idea of equipping the F-35A and F-35C with a six-missile load-out in the weapons bay has been around for over a decade. “
Pentagon Finishes F-35, A-10 Comparison Testing. A slice: “… the tests were not a fly-off.” Report to Congress due at the end of the year.
Another critical gap in the defense supplier base. Luckily the government doesn’t run other parts of the economy, or gaps in critical human needs and desires would simply be left unfulfilled.
Pseudo-extortion from the defense-industry? “We want to see that there’s going to be a sustained commitment to this current level of SCN account, for us to believe that the follow-on programs are going to get funded on time and efficiently, supporting hot production lines, supporting labor buildups, supporting the rhythm of the industry,”
Exciting 3D printing technology with good pictures. Some of the article: “DARPA has been investigating the possibilities of 3D printing since the late 1990s, keen to tackle ‘cost escalation’ and delay during the development, prototyping and testing of defense systems.” I love that they are explicitly tackling “cost escalation”. I wrote a good part of the DOD’s handbook on that, and here’s a post on the related Cost Disease.
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