Feb 11
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Almost seven decades has passed but Abe Shamis has lived with a constant reminder of the day his B-17 was shot down over Austria during World War II. Shamis was a navigator on the U.S. Army bomber, and he was forced to jump when one of its engines was hit by enemy fire. He landed in a tree, injuring his right arm, and spent the next six months as a prisoner of war.
To this day, his arm and wrist remain contorted. But they don’t hurt, he said, and the 94-year-old Pine Ridge at Delray resident doesn’t consider himself a hero. “The heroes came back in pine boxes,” he said.
Shamis grins when asked about his deployment, especially his experiences flying the B-17. As he clenches his National WW II Museum Charter Member dog tags, Shamis talks with excitement about the museum, which is located in New Orleans; just a few weeks ago, the Boeing Section opened to the public featuring B-17s and B-24s.
Shamis’ daughter-in-law Ivy Shamis recently found out about the Jeremy Bloom Foundation, which grants “Senior Wishes.” Bloom is an Olympic skier and former National Football League player who started his organization in order to support seniors via the Wish of a Lifetime Foundation. More
Jan 31
ynaMarine Corps, News f-35 joint strike fighter, f-35 jsf, F-35 Lightning II, F-35 Lightning II JSF, F-35 model plane, F-35B, F-35B JSF, F-35B STOVL, Marine Corps F-35B, Pratt & Whitney
The F-35 Lighting II is not the only aircraft facing problems. The F-35B used by the Marine Corps are grounded after a fuel line detached and caused a propulsion system leak that led to an aborted take-off.
The F-35B is the most complicated design in the Pentagon’s F-35 program. It is capable of short take-offs and vertical landings. The test flights of the fifth generation jet plane conducted by the Marine Corps were immediately suspended after the incident.
The Pentagon’s investigation revealed a quality discrepancy resulting in a crimped line in the plane’s fueldraulic system was at fault. The propulsion system was made by Pratt & Whitney unit of the United Technologies Corp. (UTX).
Initially, the faulty fuel lines were planned to be sent to Europe, but in order to save time and money, it will be scanned in the U.S. The components will undergo a CT scan in order to detect the flaws.
Replacement fuel lines are already available and Marine Corps test flying are likely to resume soon.
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News Source: www.bloomberg.com, article.chicagotribune.com
Jan 31
ynaAir Force, News f-15, F-15 Eagle, F-15 fighters, f-16 falcon, F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-35, f-35 joint strike fighter, f-35 jsf, F-35 Lightening II, F-35 Lightening II Joint Strike Fighter, F-35 model plane, Lockheed Martin F-35
The production of F-35 Lightning II has encountered another setback. The fuel tank of the JSF was found to be problematic, casting another gloom to the most controversial and expensive defense program of Pentagon.
To make up for the late arrival of the F-35s, the US Air Force is spending nearly $6 billion to upgrade and refurbish its F-15 jet planes. Almost half of the money allocated for the F-15s will be spent on new electronics. The remaining budget will be spent on older F-15s. Introduced 30 years ago, the F-15 was originally designed to fly for just 8,000 hours. The Air Force is looking forward to adding another 10 thousand hours with internal and external improvements to the F-15.
The US Air Force is also looking forward to upgrade its fleet of F-16 Fighting Falcon Aggressors. The improvement involves equipping the jet planes with an electronic system that will improve the accuracy of replicating enemy fighters.
“To date, generally, it is considered that the aggressors under-replicate the current threat,” says Major Gary Barker, the ACC training operations division’s F-16 functional area and realistic training manager. “It’s very difficult for the aggressors to provide the threat picture that we think we would see in near-peer combat.”
The Air Force sees the System Capabilities Upgrade-8 (SCU-8) configuration as the solution. With the SCU-8, older Blocks 30 and 32 F-16s will have a helmet-mounted cueing system and a new center display unit, which Barker describes as having functionality similar to an Apple iPad
“With that, you can simulate missile WEZs [weapons employment zones] and provide more accurate cueing real-time that can aid in kill removal and weapons assessment airborne,” Barker says.
As of now, the current F-15s and F-16s are well-suited to deal with fourth-generation enemy fighters. But with the emergence of new warplanes such as the Chinese Chengdu J-20 and Shenyang J-31 or Russian Sukhoi PAK-FA, the Air Force has to take measures to keep up while waiting for the fifth-generation F-35 jet fighters.
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News Source: www.flightglobal.com, www.strategypage.com
Jan 25
ynaNASA, News b-2 spirit, b-2 spirit model plane, B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, comnmercial jet planes, flying wing, hybrid aircraft, hybrid commercial jet planes, hybrid jet planes, NASA hybrid planes, Northrop Grumman B-2 Stealth Bomber
NASA was successful in demonstrating a manufacturing technique to make large hybrid aircraft possible. Compared to the conventional jet planes, a hybrid aircraft is more fuel-efficient and produce less noise.
Before the NASA demonstration, there were four generally known airplane shapes – a tube with wings, a blended wing body, a hybrid wing, and a flying wing. The last three discard the use of the tube for a flatter chassis that has an almost rectangular cross-section. The body on these three designs also act like wings giving additional lift to the aircraft. It gives the advantages of reduced weight and drag resulting to higher top speeds and less fuel consumption. However, aerospace engineers have always faced the dilemma that flying wings cannot transport large number of people. The US military use a dozen of flying wings aircraft, but these are generally small aircraft that do not necessarily consider that comfort of the soldiers that use it. The B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber of Northrop Grumman is the probably the most popular example of a hybrid aircraft.
In the space agency’s demonstration, NASA showed a manufacturing method of making a hybrid flying wing aircraft that can be big and comfortable enough for commercial travel. The new technique can reduce up to 25 percent of the aircraft’s structural weight. NASA hopes that in a decade or two, this manufacturing technique can be use to build commercial jet planes.
The hybrid flying wing is part of NASA’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project. The project started in 2009 and aims to reduce the impact of aviation on the environment.
Hybrid jet planes can be the aircraft of the future. Fuel your love for aviation with the jet model planes from Warplanes. Warplanes also offer detail-rich replica of your favorite NASA models.
News Source: www.extremetech.com
Jan 24
ynaMarine Corps, News Ah-1z attack helicopter, AH-1Z Super Cobra, Bell Helicopters, H-1 helicopters, Lockheed Martin, Marine AH-1Z Cobra, Northrop Grumman, uh-1 huey, uh-1 model, UH-1Y, UH-1Y utility helicopter, US Marine Corps
Bell Helicopter delivered the 100th unit of H-1 Helicopters for the U.S. Marine Corps during a ceremony at Amarillo Assembly Center. A Textron Inc. Company, Bell Helicopter is in contract to make 349 helicopters for the H-1 Helicopter program of the Marine Corps. The H-1 Helicopter program is made up of UH-1Y utility helicopter and the AH-1Z attack helicopter.
John Garrison, president and CEO of Bell Helicopter said: “We are deeply proud to be the marine corp’s partner in these aircraft. They are among the most advanced, capable and affordable attack and utility helicopters serving today.”
The UH-1 Helicopters have a strong lineage of military service that started in the Army back in 1958. Popularly known as the “Huey,” the Marines Corps first use these during the Vietnam War in 1963, as the UH-1E. The Huey helicopters are also the foundation for the AH-1Z Cobra attack helicopters.
Bell Helicopters has the help of major supplier to make the H-1 helicopters. Northrop Grumman supplies the integrated avionics suite while Thales provides the helmet mounted sight and display system. Lockheed Martin Orlando supplies the AH-1Z target sight system (TSS), FLIR Inc. with the UH-1Y BRITE Star II forward-looking infrared sensor, the UH-1Y cabin structure is provided by L-3 Crestview Aerospace, and the T700 engines are from General Electric Aviation.
Apart from the U.S. Marine Corps, Bell Helicopter is also planning to supply their helicopters to foreign military.
Helicopters are vital in performing roles and responsibilities of the marines. Start your own fleet of helicopter models from Warplanes. Warplanes also features replica models of your favorite popular airplanes.
News Source: www.verticalmag.com
Jan 21
ynaNavy, News camouflage ships, F2A-1 Fighter, LCS, LCS Freedom, San Diego Bay, USS Bellaeau Wood, USS Monterey, World War II planes, World War II ships, World War II warships
The Littoral Combat Ship USS freedom is scheduled to be deployed to Singapore on March 2013. Before its deployment, it acquired a paint job that is reminiscent of the World War II ships.
As confirmed by Naval Surface Command in Sand Diego, the first LCS of the US Navy being painted a four-color camouflage look, making it stand out from the other ships in San Diego Bay. Freedom now has a combination of flat black, haze gray, haze white and ocean gray. The US Navy did not elaborate the reasons for the new paint job. But a Navy Times story quoted Cmdr. Patrick Thien, “I want my ship to look like a warship. … If we’re going to paint it, we might as well go all the way.” Cmdr. Patrick Thien is the commanding officer of one of two crew of the USS Freedom.
The new look of the LCS Freedom are similarly worn by the warships during the World War II as can be seen on the pictures from Naval History Center. Aircraft carriers of the CVL-22 class has the same camo look. Belleau Wood (CVL-24) and Monterey (CVL-26) also have the same color scheme.
World War II airplanes also carried a four-color camouflage look like the Brewster F2A-1 fighter.
The LCS Freedom will start its eight-month deployment this spring amid numerous detraction.
The US Navy believes that the LCS are valued addition to its fleet. Create your won fleet of warships with the model ships from Warplanes. Get a museum-quality replica of your favorite airplanes, ships, helicopters and diecast models at affordable prices.
News Source: www.utsandiego.com
Jan 17
ynaNASA, News Bigelow, Bigelow Aerospace, Bigelow Expendable Activity Module, Genesis 1, Genesis 2, inflatable spacecraft, International Space Station, NASA, NASA inflatable spacecraft
NASA announced that a prototype inflatable space module, designed by Bigelow Aerospace will be tested aboard the International Space Station.
The inflatable space module is predicted to play an important role in future space research and exploration. Lori Garver, NASA’s deputy administrator hailed the concept of inflatable spacecraft as both cutting-edge and affordable.
‘This partnership agreement for the use of expandable habitats represents a step forward in cutting-edge technology that can allow humans to thrive in space safely and affordably, and heralds important progress in U.S. commercial space innovation,’ she said.
‘The International Space Station is a unique laboratory that enables important discoveries that benefit humanity and vastly increase understanding of how humans can live and work in space for long periods.’
The inflatable technology also has the potential to into deep space, a quality that greatly interests NASA.
The experimental unit, Bigelow Expendable Activity Module, is designed to be launched easily as it is smaller than conventional spacecraft and then it can inflate to a bigger size when in space. Aside from being a practical solution to space research, Bigelow also hopes that the modules can serve as accommodation and workspace for astronauts while in orbit.
Bigelow had previously launched two inflatable spacecraft – Genesis 1 in 2006 and Genesis 2 in 2007. It was used to test if the spacecraft can maintain a constant temperature and pressure.
Among the potential plans of Bigelow is to create a moon base using the inflatable modules. It can be used for research as well as space hotels for companies planning to take tourists into orbit.
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News Source: www.dailymail.com.uk
Jan 14
ynaNavy, News Gulf, Los Angeles-class sub, nuclear submarine, P-3, P-3 Orion, Persian Gulf, SSN-669, US Navy Fifth Fleet, US navy submarine, USS Jacksonville
A US nuclear submarine’s periscope hits an unnamed merchant vessel in the Persian Gulf. There were no major damages and injuries according to a statement by the US Navy Fifth Fleet.
The USS Jacksonville (SSn-669), a Los Angeles-class sub, “struck a vessel while operating in the Persian Gulf” at about 5:00 am local time (0200 GMT), the statement said, adding “Jacksonville then surfaced from periscope depth to ascertain if there was any damage to the unidentified vessel. The vessel continued on a consistent course and speed offering no indication of distress or acknowledgment of a collision.”
According to the statement, only one of the submarine’s two periscope was damaged by the clash. The nuclear reactor and the propulsion plant of the submarine remain safe and unharmed.
A P-3 aircraft of the US Navy searched and secure the area and found no debris or distressed vessels in the water.
Ships and submarines of the US Navy patrols in different parts of the world. Build your own fleet of model ships from Warplanes. Get a museum-quality replica of your favorite airplanes, ships, helicopters and diecast models at affordable prices.
Source: AFP
Jan 11
ynaAir Force, News BAE, BAE Systems, Boeing, f-16, f-16 falcon, F-16 jet fighter plane, f-16 model plane, F-35, Lockheed Martin F-16, Lockheed Martin F-35, USAF F-16
Lockheed Martin, the maker of F-16 fighter jets are losing some parts of the $3 Billion servicing work to BAE.
Last year, BAE won over Lockheed to refurbish the 130 units of F-16 owned by South Korea. It was the first the Pentagon’s biggest contractor lost such bid. BAE is looking at possibilities of taking on more F-16 repair and upgrade work to boost its international sales. “We’re looking at potentially where to take this next,” David Herr, president of BAE’s support solutions business said. “It’s a big opportunity for us.” Aside from South Korea, BAE had also talked with other nation the possibility of other F-16 work.
According to defense analyst Kevin Brancato; due to the military budget cuts, defense companies are now shifting their focus on servicing and improvement contracts. This means that Lockheed have to defend its turf from its rivals that may soon include Boeing. Lockheed Martin are busy with the development of the controversial F-35, the most expensive Pentagon’s development program in history.
Ellen Buhr, a company spokesperson said that Boeing is interested in international F-16 upgrades. Boeing had experienced working with the F-16 through its work on converting the jet planes into drones used for military target practice.
In total, there 2,271 units of F-16 owned by other nations.
The F-16 is a significant member of the Air Force fleet. Start your own fleet of jet model planes from Warplanes. Space nut? Warplanes also have museum-quality NASA models that will look awesome in your home.
News Source: www.bloomberg.com
Jan 11
ynaArmy, News AH-64E, AH-64E Apache Helicopter, Apache attack helicopter, Boeing AH-64E BlockIII, Boeing Apache, Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire missile, Northrop Grumman Longbow fire, US Army AH-64E, US Army Apache, US Army attack helicopter
The US Army fielded its first unit of AH-64E Block III Helicopter. Manufactured by Boeing, it is hailed as the future of attack helicopters.
“Right now, we are currently fielding the first unit equipped, our FUE [first unit equipped] unit, with Echo-models, and we’re on track to meet that fielding schedule,” says Col Jeff Hager, the army’s Apache programme manager.
Boeing had also delivered 28 of the total 51 low-rate initial production units of AH-64E that they were contracted to build. The Army are also in the process of transitioning to full-rate production of AH-64H. There will a total of 634 units built.
As the full-rate production starts, the US Army will still be busy improving the completed units of AH-64E. Improvements include adding a Link-16 data-link, which is typically found on fixed-wing combat aircraft. The Northrop Grumman APG-78 Longbow fire control radar will also be enhanced for a wider range and overwater capability. The Longbow radar will be used with the Apache’s AGM-114 Hellfire missile for attaching landing craft or small warships. The Hellfire missile was developed by Lockheed Martin.
More improvements will be added in the future such as active electronically scanned array radar and cognitive decision aiding system (CDAS) which according to Hager can help the pilots and the crew with some tricky tasks.
The US Army is also supporting Boeing in getting an international market for the AH-64E as the demand for the helicopter continuous to rise.
The AH-64E will be a big boost to the US Army’s fleet. Start your own fleet with Warplanes’ helicopter models. Warplanes also features replica models of popular airlines.
News Source: www.flightglobal.com
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