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

This free all day (7 a.m.-4 p.m.) fundraising event with free vehicle and $1 bike parking in a gated corral is in support of Tahoe-Truckee youth programs.

The Opening Ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m. and will feature special performances by the “Just-In-Time Skydivers” and the Red Star Formation Flying Group. Both are certain to get the energy flying high.

“Never seen a skydiving performance or a formation flying team? Then don’t miss the opening ceremony. It will truly wow spectators. Smoke, a flag and cheers will explode at this time during the event,” says AirFair & Family Festival Chairman Tim LoDolce. “The Red Star formation flying team, soaring in YAK 52s, and the ‘Just-in-Time Sky Diving Team’ are going to make the Truckee sky come alive!”

The AirFair will feature a wide variety of aircraft on the ramp and in the air including the World War II era B-25 Old Glory and P-51 Man O’ War. Possibly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many, the Man O’ War is offering rides with profits going to the Commemorative Air Force (CAF). The CAF is the premier warbird organization now operating 156 vintage aircraft in honor of American military aviation. Ride fares are tax deductible.

AirFair spectators will also be thrilled by the “Parade of Planes” throughout the day. The airport ramp will crackle with all types of static aircraft displays and pilot docents explaining the details about each aircraft. Military, experimental, corporate and everyday general aviation aircraft offer something for everyone.

Free EAA Chapter 1073 Young Eagle flights for youth ages 8-17 are on a first-come, first-serve basis. Rides are subject to weather conditions, and parents must accompany their children at time of sign-up. Prior notice of those children interested in a free flight is highly recommended so AirFair planners may schedule planes and pilots. Call EAA Young Eagle Coordinator Michael Golden at 530-587-8017.

Another event highlight includes the attendance of two of the original Tuskegee Airmen as Grand Marshals: Les Williams and Le Roy F. Gillead. The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-American military aviators in the United States armed forces. Videos of these veterans can be viewed on the AirFair & Family Festival Facebook page and by watching the newly released Lucas Films movie “Red Tails.”

“The participation of the Tuskegee Airmen is a true honor,” said LoDolce. “Bring your children to meet and shake hands with these military aviator historians. They will also be honored on Friday, July 6 at the pre-AirFair dinner in hangar one.” Tickets for the Friday Night Pre-AirFair Dinner honoring the Tuskegee Airmen are available in advance for $40 per person. Call the Airport at 530-587-4119, ext. 0 for ticket purchasing information.

The Family Festival will boast an array of activities including a participatory bike rodeo with ramps and obstacle course; live music by SambaDa; a live two-hour radio remote from Truckee’s KTKE 101.5FM; giant bubbles; face painting; arts and crafts; stilt walkers; food court; beer garden; souvenirs; vendors and much more family fun.

The last air shows held at the Truckee Tahoe Airport were from 1974-1996 and featured displays like Air Force F-16s, Marine Corps, Vietnam-era helicopters and other privately owned war birds. In addition, some of those planes performed an array of spectacular aerobatics with trailing smoke. The 2012 AirFair will not feature aerobatics; instead periodic fly-overs will occur including the “Parade of Planes” flown by local aviators in different and exciting aircraft.

The AirFair & Family Festival is being put on by the Truckee Tahoe Airport District with the cooperation of Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 1073, KidZone Museum and the Truckee Optimist Club. This fundraising event replaces the well-known annual KidZone Family Festival and Truckee Optimist Club’s Cannibal Cruise.

The Truckee Tahoe Airport District is the “Golden Wings” sponsor of this event, meaning they are paying for all operational costs. Other sponsorship monies and proceeds go directly to youth programs.

Major sponsors to date include Amador Cellars Winery; Charter Media; CLM Design; Community Ink; DBI Beverage Company (Coors); Dickson Realty; GLA-Morris Construction, Inc.; KTKE Radio; Paragon PR; Northstar California; Robert E. Sutton Company; Sierra Sun; Suddenlink; Taco Bell; Tahoe Donner Association; Tahoe Forest Health System; Tahoe Mountain Resorts Foundation; Tahoe Truckee Sierra Disposal; Teichert Aggregates; The Weekly; Truckee Tahoe Lumber and World Fuels.

Satisfy aircraft cravings through quality model planes from Warplanes.

News Source: Sierrasun.com

The F-16 is considered the best combat airplane of the jet age. It is the foremost warplane of the United States Air Force and 25 other nations. The 4500^th plane is bound for Morocco. Almost half of all the F-16 that was built was ordered by foreign nations.

“It’s the best air-to-air fighter. Then it proved to be the most adaptable plane for ground attack missions as well,” said Pierre Sprey, a former civilian weapons analyst in the Pentagon.

Apart from its capabilities, the F-16 stands out for being a low-cost and problem-free program. Unlike other jet programs like F-35 jet fighter, the F-16 was designed and built quickly, passed performance test readily and did not suffer from technical delays or cost overruns. It is a simple and inexpensive plane that was very capable of doing its job.

The F-16 is also very significant to the economy of the community around Fort Worth. The plant employs thousands of employees who had built their career and raised their families thanks to F-16. Small business have thrived by supplying components and services to Lockheed and General Dynamics.

The success of the F-16 program is a source of great pride from the men who first conceptualized it and to every hand that worked on an F-16 jet plane.

Get your own desktop model of the F-16 jet from Warplanes. Made from mahogany wood, the jet model planes are as beautiful and detailed as the ones you can see at museums.

News source: www.star-telegram.com

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced weeks ago that the armed, unmanned Predators and Reapers will fly more often in the coming few years, going up to 65 combat air patrols, or CAPs — teams of up to four flying robots — “with a surge capacity of 85.” That’s up from 61 today. But the Air Force’s budget figures, released on Monday, show that the flyboys will slow down their drone purchases, rather than increase them.

Under last year’s defense budget, the Air Force bought 48 Reapers, the bigger, faster, more lethal descendant of the Predator. (The Air Force stopped buying Predators in 2010.) In the proposed budget, the Air Force wants to buy half as many — 24 armed, spying drones. And its budget chief, Maj. Gen. Edward Bolton Jr., was unsure when the service will start buying the next-generation, jet-powered, stealthy Avenger drone in earnest.

There are a couple reasons for the shift. One is that there aren’t enough airmen who know how to remotely pilot the things. Another is that the Air Force says it can do more stuff with fewer drones. And of course, there’s the budget crunch.

“It turned out, when the [Pentagon's Joint Requirements Oversight Council] established this past year the requirement of 65 CAPs, we determined we could meet that with this [reduced] production rate,” Bolton told Danger Room during a Monday afternoon briefing.

After the briefing, Brig. Gen. Les Kodlick, the Air Force’s public-affairs chief, told Danger Room that the reduced Reaper purchase has to do with flesh-and-blood concerns — namely a lack of airmen trained to fly the drones and analyze the data the robots collect.

Well, sort of, clarifies Jennifer Cassidy, an Air Force spokeswoman. “Manning was a consideration in reducing the MQ-9 Reaper purchases for [the next fiscal year], but not the only consideration,” Cassidy emails Danger Room. “The MQ-9 crew production rate and the attrition rate of the [Predator] allowed the reduction of MQ-9 purchases [next year] without impact to the Air Force ramp-up to 65 CAPs.”

But the Air Force has acknowledged it’s got a people problem with its unpeopled planes. “Our No. 1 manning problem in the Air Force is manning our unmanned platforms,” Gen. Philip Breedlove, the vice chief of staff, recently told the Los Angeles Times.

In recent years, the Air Force relaxed its restrictions on who can fly its drones, in order to make up the shortfall; there are pilots now flying Reapers who have never grabbed the throttle of a traditional aircraft. But it hasn’t been enough. Contractors are brought in to the drone bases to remotely pilot the Predators and Reapers, as well as to help analyze the endless hours of full-motion video they collect. Thousands of airmen have been shifted into new jobs, in order to better scour all the video.

Absent a big crash program to train up new drone experts– or switch to the Army’s preferred method of using pasty, video-gaming teenagers to pilot their robot planes — the manpower problem is likely to get worse. In the next few years, the sensor and video packages carried by Air Force drones are going to get more sophisticated, like when the panopticon Gorgon Stare spy suite comes online. And the Air Force will cut 9,900 personnel over the next year, although it’s unclear what specialties the cashiered airmen will have performed.

When top Pentagon officials like former Defense Secretary Bob Gates browbeat the Air Force into accepting 65 unmanned CAPs, top service officials complained that there was no formal “requirement” for the drones — no way of knowing when it had satisfied the other services’ need for robotic eyes in the sky. Even drone-backers at the top of the Air Force thought all those patrols were overkill. So it’s not surprising that they chose to slow the rate of drone buys, when budgets got tight.

Instead, the Air Force’s priority future upgrades and purchases are all in manned planes. Upgrading the software on the F-22 Raptor, even as it’s got big problems with its oxygen systems. Enhancing the radar on F-15s. Extending the service life of F-16s. Buying 19 new F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, even as they develop 13 expensive new flaws. An arguable exception is that the service’s desired next-generation long range bomber won’t always be piloted by a human being; it’s “optionally manned,” as the Air Force calls it.

But a recent congressional study obtained by Danger Room explains the Air Force’s preference for manned planes. About 40 percent of the air fleet is robotic. Yet over 90 percent of the Air Force’s procurement money is spent on planes with a human in the cockpit. Of course, part of the allure of drones is that they are cheap. And obviously, drones are the weapon of choice for the Obama administration’s Shadow Wars against terrorists in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

Asked by Danger Room, Bolton said that the new budget figures “should not” be interpreted as a sign that the Air Force prefers its manned planes.

“This budget really is a manifestation of the strategy that was laid out by Secretary Panetta on the 26th of January,” Bolton said. “And so our real challenge within this budget was to first determine how we could build a budget that could implement that strategy, and then secondly, how could we do that within the necessary physical constraints as based upon the guidance of the Budget Control Act passed to us by [the White House].”

Except Panetta was clear that day that the Air Force would “provide unmanned capabilities through their operators as well” — and would increase its Predator and Reaper flights. The robots are still waiting for the humans to catch up.

-wired.com

The highly advanced fifth-generational aircraft had been conceived since 1990′s during the post-cold war. The F-35 JFS was envisioned to have evading radar system while having the ability to fly at supersonic speed. It is supposed to serve three branches of the U.S. military namely the Air Force, the Navy and the Marine Corps. Each service also wants its own customized model of the aircraft.

The aircraft was supposed to be built in rush, but production snags and flight-test problems that resulted to years of cost overruns lands the F-35 project to the chopping block of the Pentagon. This issue is vital for South Carolina where the three bases – Lower Richland, Sumter and Beaufort - that was assigned to receive the fighter jets are located. The F-35 will replace the aging aircraft on the bases like the F/A-18 and F-16. When the F-35 arrives in these bases, it will have the most modern aircraft in the service which will guarantee its continued operation and it can generate jobs for the locals. But if the project would not push through, the bases might close down and lead to unemployment.

Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that the F-35 JSF program would not be terminated outright. However, his deputy is less optimistic about the future of the fighter jets.

source: www.charlotteobserver.com

Corrigan will showcase his skills during the F-16 “Viper East Demo” at the Randolph 2011 Air Show this coming Saturday and Sunday.

“I knew I wanted to be a pilot after I saw my first air show,” Corrigan said. “My uncle was a Thunderbird F-16 pilot.” His older brother and cousin are also in the family business.

After 11 years in the Air Force (seven of which have been spent as an F-16 pilot), Corrigan acknowledged the difference between training for combat and an air show.

“It’s a different type of mentality,” he said. “Training for air shows takes you out of combat mentality and training. We get to showcase to Americans the maneuvering power and the airplane’s ability to change directions rapidly.”

Corrigan first applied for the position of demonstration pilot after completing his assignment as a combat aviator.

“I didn’t want a desk job somewhere, I wanted to hold onto the airplane as long as I could,” he said.

He will be flying the F-16 Fighting Falcon, commonly known as the Viper, a multirole fighter aircraft used for air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack. Corrigan compares the experience to driving.

“I still feel 18 when I fly. Imagine driving the most impressive sports car you can imagine and multiply it by 10,” Corrigan said.

Even though he enjoys the plane’s 360-degree views and its ability to fly upside down at supersonic speeds, Corrigan is quick to point out the amount of training and “book knowledge” required to fly a Viper.

“There’s a lot of preparation that goes into a flight before we hit the runway. It’s scripted and well thought out,” Corrigan said. “Each maneuver has a specific entry, and we have to be able to hit those numbers or else we won’t do the maneuver.”

Corrigan has spent the last four years as an F-16 instructor pilot and demonstration pilot stationed at Shaw AFB in South Carolina, but the 34-year-old grew up in San Antonio, and attended Windcrest Elementary and White Junior High school. Although Corrigan already knows who will replace him in Viper East, he’s waiting for his next assignment: “Hopefully, it involves a plane that goes real fast.”

-mysanantonio.com

The changes under consideration are raising concerns on Capitol Hill that U.S. arms will make their way to rogue states and adversaries after initially being exported to allies and friendly states.

As part of its export-control effort, the administration told congressional staff recently that it is conducting a review of the thousands of weapons now on the U.S. Munitions List that fall under the State Department’s import/export authority.

As part of the review, the administration has identified numerous items that can be moved to the less-tightly controlled Commerce Departmentcontrol list, including the helicopters and military transports.

Easing restrictions on sales of F-16s also is under consideration, the congressional aides said.

The decontrol plan will make monitoring how the systems are used and whether the arms are re-exported to states such as Iran much more difficult, the aides said.

The Obama administration launched the reform initiative in August. It calls for changing how goods and technologies are licensed and controlled for sale abroad.

Under the reform, two lists of items that require export licenses would be merged. The munitions list of strictly military items would be joined with a list of items that have military and civilian capabilities. The single list would be regulated by a single agency using a three-tier control mechanism.

According to congressional aides, the administration has prevented U.S. intelligence agencies from conducting comprehensive assessments of the security impact of the export decontrol plan.

Eugene Cottilli, a spokesman for the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, confirmed that the administration has spoken to Congress about changing rules for sales of tanks and military vehicles and soon will publish a list of proposed changes for military aircraft.

Most of the items moved from the U.S. Munitions List to Commerce’s control list “do not have an inherent military function,” Mr. Cottilli said.

The new licensing policies “will enhance national security by allowing for greater interoperability with our NATO and other allies,” he said, noting that “active weapons systems, such as fighter aircraft and attack helicopters,” will remain on the controlled U.S. Munitions List.

There are concerns among some defense experts that China’s militarywill benefit indirectly from the loosened export controls.

China has lobbied the U.S. government for years for access to Black Hawks and spare parts for its Sikorsky S-70s, a commercial version of the Black Hawk that was sold to China before its crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters in 1989 led to a ban on all sales of military goods.

China’s army “often complains that they need Black Hawk parts so they can use the helicopters for humanitarian relief efforts,” said Larry Wortzel, a former U.S. military attache who once was posted in Beijing.

“The Chinese military has used the helicopters for that purpose,” he said. “But the [army] also has used Black Hawks to move soldiers to suppress Tibetan protests and against Uighurs in Xinjiang, raising serious human-rights concerns.”

Mr. Wortzel said that during exercises on Dongshan Island in the late 1990s, China’s army used a Black Hawk to lift a 130 mm gun out to the island to simulate an artillery raid against Taiwan.

“Congress should not lift this embargo,” he said.

Rick Fisher, a China military affairs specialist, said the administration is wrong about the decontrol of Black Hawks.

“Instead of arming [China’s People’s Liberation Army] by selling new S-70 parts and C-130s, it should be putting greater pressure on Eurocopter to stop selling advanced helicopter technology to the PLA,” said Mr. Fisher of the International Assessment and Strategy Center, a security-issues think tank.

Mr. Fisher said the Chinese S-70s, like their copies of the U.S. Army’s Humvee, would boost Chinese special forces’ ability to blend in with Taiwan’s S-70s and Humvees should there be an armed conflict.

-washingtontimes.com

“These aircraft will help provide air sovereignty for Iraq to protect its own territory and deter or counter regional threats,” Little said.

The F-16 fighter aircraft, he said, “are also a symbol of the commitment to a long-term strategic partnership between the United States and Iraq.”

According to Little, the F-16s are the block 50/52 variant of the aircraft – the current production version of the F-16 Fighting Falcon. The sale is valued at about $3 billion. Such foreign military sales will be a cornerstone of future cooperation and support the development of a long-term cooperative security relationship with Iraq.

“Foreign military sales around the world, such as this purchase of F-16 aircraft,” the press secretary said, “strengthen our diplomatic and military relationships with our allies and supports American industry and jobs at home.”

The United States conducts foreign military sales with Iraq and fully supports Iraq’s efforts to purchase military equipment in line with its domestic spending priorities and in accordance with its budget laws and procedures, Little added.

Source: U.S. Air Force

FOLLOW THE STORY:

Iraq has signed a contract to buy 18 Lockheed Martin F-16 warplanes to bolster its air force, an adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday.

The value of the F-16 deal was not immediately known, but a senior U.S. military official said recently the offer on the table for the Iraqi government was valued at “roughly $3 billion.”Lockheed said in a statement it looked forward to a partnership with Baghdad and was “pleased with the confidence Iraq places in our products.” It declined to comment on the specifics of the deal, referring questions to the Iraqi and U.S. governments.

“The F-16 contract was signed … and a part of the contract cost was sent to the bank account of the company,” said Maliki’s media adviser, Ali al-Moussawi.

Iraq has long sought F-16 combat jet for its rebuilt air force. The government delayed a planned purchase of F-16s in February to divert a $900 million down payment to its national food ration program to help quell street protests.

Maliki said on July 30 Iraq would buy 36 F-16s, double the number it had originally planned, to shore up its weak air defenses. The OPEC producer has found itself flush with cash this year, reaping windfall profits as world oil prices have remained above budget projections.

Iraq is relying on the U.S. military for air support as it rebuilds its forces and battles a stubborn Islamist insurgency. Washington and Baghdad are discussing whether to keep some U.S. troops or military trainers in Iraq beyond the year-end deadline for U.S. departure.

Source: Reuters

Jimmy Leeward’s Mustang aircraft shot skyward like a rocket Friday before plunging into spectators at what appeared to be full throttle. Federal investigators continue to look for a cause of the crash at the National Championship Air Races that killed 11 people, including Leeward, and injured dozens, but have yet to come to a conclusion, something that could take months.

They’re focused on a range of possibilities, including Leeward’s health and the structural soundness of the plane after a piece of the tail called the “elevator trim tab” that helps control the aircraft’s pitch appeared to break off before the crash.

While some have called Leeward heroic for making a last-ditch maneuver around crowded stands, experts who have reviewed multiple amateur videos from the scene, photographs and witness accounts, doubt that theory. They say it appears Leeward wasn’t controlling the plane during the fateful last few seconds.

“He’s not there. He’s unconscious,” said Ernie Christensen, a retired rear admiral and former Vietnam fighter pilot who commanded the Navy’s Top Gun fighter school for a time in the 1980s.

Christensen said one key clue that Leeward wasn’t at the controls is the fact that his highly modified P-51 Mustang appeared to hit the ground at full throttle.

“The first thing you do when you get into those conditions is pull power, and that plane hit fast,” he said. “The power was up and that’s an indication he was not in control of the airplane when it hit.”

Leeward was midway through the Unlimited Gold heat race Friday when he narrowly missed the grandstands packed with fans and jerked into a steep climb at up to 500 mph, streaking skyward possibly a thousand feet or more before twirling and speeding into the ground.

Friday’s crash was the nation’s deadliest air racing disaster, with 11 confirmed dead and 14 others still being treated at Reno hospitals. In all, more than 70 people were admitted for injuries after the crashing plane sprayed shrapnel into the crowd of spectators, cutting limbs and other body parts.

Twenty pilots, including Leeward, have died at the races over the past 47 years, but this was the first time fans were killed.

Christensen said if Leeward were conscious, he would have cut power back once he gained altitude.

“Altitude is sanctuary,” he said.

“And his nose didn’t hang, it came over like he was doing almost a loop … and when his nose came down he started gaining air speed,” Christensen added. “This guy had the power up.”

Rough calculations by experts using video of the P-51 plane seconds before the crash indicate it might have been traveling at more than 400 mph when it suddenly went vertical, abruptly exerting 11 times the normal force of gravity on the pilot’s body, or 11 Gs, knocking him unconscious as the blood rushed from his brain.

By comparison, Christensen said, F-16 fighter pilots, who wear special suits to counter the G-forces, can typically take 9 Gs, but only for a limited time. And those are modern planes designed with tilted seats intended to help keep blood flow to the brain.

Average roller coasters expose riders to about 2 to 3 Gs, but only for brief moments.

Ken Liano, a structural engineer and aircraft consultant, said “it’s highly doubtful” Leeward was awake.

“My first thought when I saw the video was there’s no way that pilot is in control,” Liano said. “He went from horizontal to vertical so abruptly. No pilot would do that. Even an acrobatic pilot would probably not do that maneuver.”

Liano speculated the loss of the trim tab started the sequence of events. Leeward’s World War II-era plane was highly modified for speed, much like other aircraft at the races. But the plane wasn’t originally designed that way, so the extra speed gained from the modifications likely stressed the structure, causing the failure, he said.

“Eleven Gs is a lot,” said Dr. Daniel Foster, an active duty flight surgeon at Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida. “It probably would have been very difficult for him to maintain consciousness.”

He said fighter pilots train to combat the G-forces using abdominal exercises, among other things, to keep the blood in their heads.

Typically, as the forces increase, Foster said, symptoms will gradually appear, such as nausea, faintness, then cloudy vision, and there’s time to work to counteract the impact on the body.

But if the extreme acceleration comes on suddenly, and is prolonged, such as the case with Leeward, “it can be very rapid,” Foster said. “You’d go from zero to unconscious.”

-rgj.com