+71
diabetus
billybatts91
Big_Gazza
nomadski
thegopnik
The-thing-next-door
Rodion_Romanovic
walle83
Belisarius
TMA1
Arkanghelsk
Podlodka77
AZ-5
lyle6
RTN
zepia
ALAMO
GreyHog
Finty
lancelot
Backman
miketheterrible
mnztr
Arrow
kvs
jhelb
LMFS
Hole
Isos
d_taddei2
PapaDragon
Odin of Ossetia
airstrike
OminousSpudd
Walther von Oldenburg
Solncepek
JohninMK
Werewolf
Kyo
AlfaT8
AirCargo
sepheronx
max steel
nemrod
victor1985
magnumcromagnon
andalusia
Airbornewolf
ATošić
higurashihougi
Hannibal Barca
Mike E
TR1
Sujoy
Mindstorm
Russian Patriot
medo
IronsightSniper
SOC
GarryB
KamovHelicopter
Viktor
nightcrawler
ahmedfire
NationalRus
solo.13mmfmj
milky_candy_sugar
Jelena
Vladislav
Turk1
Admin
75 posters
US Air Force: Discussion and News
Tsavo Lion- Posts : 5960
Points : 5912
Join date : 2016-08-16
Location : AZ, USA
- Post n°301
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
Their tankers, bases & ships can be destroyed by AA/B/CMs. Russia & China won't even need CBGs to do that.
LMFS- Posts : 5167
Points : 5163
Join date : 2018-03-04
- Post n°302
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
Arrow wrote:So the US already has a 6th generation prototype. They will again be a big step ahead of Russia and China.
There can be many degrees of freedom in how they are reporting it and what they actually have (not the first or the 1000th time they bullshit us like they actually think they the smartest asses in the world and we are all retards), and more importantly, why they do it. This gentleman was talking little time ago about the "digital century fighters" or something similar about fast tracking aircraft prototypes in order not to loose decades with the development of a new generation. So, in simpler less pompous terms, use what you have instead of developing very new risky concepts, sounds better with that PR cover than saying that after copying Russia with their 4++ fighters, they are also going to copy their evolutionary development approach. This is all relatively compatible with the proposals to create a F-22/F-35 hybrid.
In the end it is about them creating a plane capable of facing a second stage PAK-FA and what China can develop too, they know their current situation is quite vulnerable, if in a few years the VKS starts fielding a VCE equipped, long range high payload and extremely fast fighter with modern systems and weapons like it can be the case, plus backed by the rest of Russian IADS of course. They relaxed with the F-22 and they shut the production down instead of keeping the plane alive and evolving, the F-35 is airframe-wise incompatible with air superiority against high end platforms, no matter how much BS its terminally brain washed fans claim about it being the ultimate air dominance fighter. So what they need is the F-22 airframe with more fuel, systems and avionics based on those of the F-35 and most crucially, adaptive engines. If they manage it to carry bigger weapons it will be great for them, if not they have the F-15EX for that. They are not going to create some kind of alien tech, they much more probably intend to close the gap they have left open and sell it like if they were discovering the hyperspace jump. They have become predictable and boring as f*ck if you ask me, the best they can come up with is applying Musk-style trolling to the military development, as if with a couple of digital tricks they would magically solve the difficulties of developing real technology and leave everyone behind... the only relevant advantage they have is that they have already operational prototypes of three streams engines, this is the key element here and the rest is tired PR crap.
mnztr- Posts : 2898
Points : 2936
Join date : 2018-01-22
https://www.businessinsider.com/us-air-force-secretly-builds-flies-next-generation-fighter-jet-2020-9
That is interesting. Meanwhile the British have a mockup. I really think 6G = drones. I would design a small drone built around a 30 MM cannon. The idea is to have a swarm of these things operate around an AWACs platform. They would act similar to a SAM but will shoot 5 rounds at each target all prox fused.
That is interesting. Meanwhile the British have a mockup. I really think 6G = drones. I would design a small drone built around a 30 MM cannon. The idea is to have a swarm of these things operate around an AWACs platform. They would act similar to a SAM but will shoot 5 rounds at each target all prox fused.
miketheterrible- Posts : 7383
Points : 7341
Join date : 2016-11-07
- Post n°304
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
I wouldn't put much stock into this. Sounds like a lot of bullshit to sell.
They made the claim a while back they were looking at 6th gen. But they never detailed what is 6th gen let alone have the tech for it.
6th gen is their marketing scheme. Essentially they probably made a better F-35 which isn't hard to do. But it will still be it's AESA radar (maybe GaN modules) and semi autonomous capabilities. But that isn't 6th gen.
6th gen will have to be something like ROFAR radar and other such tech. Something US doesn't have
They made the claim a while back they were looking at 6th gen. But they never detailed what is 6th gen let alone have the tech for it.
6th gen is their marketing scheme. Essentially they probably made a better F-35 which isn't hard to do. But it will still be it's AESA radar (maybe GaN modules) and semi autonomous capabilities. But that isn't 6th gen.
6th gen will have to be something like ROFAR radar and other such tech. Something US doesn't have
JohninMK- Posts : 15652
Points : 15793
Join date : 2015-06-16
Location : England
- Post n°305
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
More from the conference
15 September 2020
AFA 2020: General Atomics announces new ISR/strike UAV
by Pat Host
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) unveiled an artist’s illustration of a new intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR)/strike unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on 14 September during the Air Force Association’s (AFA’s) annual conference.
The company did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication. But GA-ASI issued a statement that gave some insight into the aircraft’s attributes.
GA-ASI is embracing ultra-long endurance for this ISR/strike UAV. The company envisions this aircraft as a conduit, supplier, and consumer of information. GA-ASI believes that it is imperative that future unmanned systems are able to communicate, share information, and collaborate tighter, and intuitively with its human counterparts, across systems and domains.
The company views this ISR/strike UAV as being based on an interconnected framework of vision, operating concepts, agile capacity development, and rapid fielding that embraces a family of systems. GA-ASI’s operating concepts and agile capability development will prioritise openness, modularity, and expandability.
The ISR/strike UAV will leverage combat operational experience of the company’s MQ-9 Reaper medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) aircraft in UAV operations and digital engineering techniques. GA-ASI will focus on automation and autonomous capabilities for this ISR/strike UAV. GA-ASI developed a multi-mission control capability for this ISR/strike aircraft that will allow commanders to control up to six UAVs with a single pilot.
GA-ASI went with a blended wing-body with tailless design due to the physics involved in reducing the radar signature of an aircraft, according to an expert. Todd Harrison, director of the aerospace security project and defence budget analysis division at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank in Washington, DC, told Janes
https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/afa-2020-general-atomics-announces-new-isrstrike-uav
15 September 2020
AFA 2020: General Atomics announces new ISR/strike UAV
by Pat Host
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) unveiled an artist’s illustration of a new intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR)/strike unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on 14 September during the Air Force Association’s (AFA’s) annual conference.
The company did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication. But GA-ASI issued a statement that gave some insight into the aircraft’s attributes.
GA-ASI is embracing ultra-long endurance for this ISR/strike UAV. The company envisions this aircraft as a conduit, supplier, and consumer of information. GA-ASI believes that it is imperative that future unmanned systems are able to communicate, share information, and collaborate tighter, and intuitively with its human counterparts, across systems and domains.
The company views this ISR/strike UAV as being based on an interconnected framework of vision, operating concepts, agile capacity development, and rapid fielding that embraces a family of systems. GA-ASI’s operating concepts and agile capability development will prioritise openness, modularity, and expandability.
The ISR/strike UAV will leverage combat operational experience of the company’s MQ-9 Reaper medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) aircraft in UAV operations and digital engineering techniques. GA-ASI will focus on automation and autonomous capabilities for this ISR/strike UAV. GA-ASI developed a multi-mission control capability for this ISR/strike aircraft that will allow commanders to control up to six UAVs with a single pilot.
GA-ASI went with a blended wing-body with tailless design due to the physics involved in reducing the radar signature of an aircraft, according to an expert. Todd Harrison, director of the aerospace security project and defence budget analysis division at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank in Washington, DC, told Janes
https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/afa-2020-general-atomics-announces-new-isrstrike-uav
GarryB- Posts : 40553
Points : 41055
Join date : 2010-03-30
Location : New Zealand
- Post n°306
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
So the US already has a 6th generation prototype. They will again be a big step ahead of Russia and China.
Would it really be any step at all considering the 5th gen step was two steps forward and a realisation that their main 5th gen plane is shit and a rapid step backwards to their 4th gen fighter that was too expensive at the time.
I remember an American member of congress saying the US will never buy a 20 million dollar fighter aircraft again... meaning the 20 million for the F-15s at the time was too much and in future they will be much cheaper planes they were buying.
He turned out right but only because they have never had a fighter plane that cheap since... which is the opposite of what he meant...
Now they are making 6th gen.... well why waste time with 6th and 7th... why not just go straight to 10th generation fighters...
If they can't get 5th gen ones right it wont matter if they fail at getting 10th gen fighters right because everyone will still be four generations behind...
The US can afford hundreds of new aircraft. Russia is to introduce only 78 T-50s by 2028
The F-35 was only going to cost 120 million an airframe when they were going to make 3,500 of them... if they only make 1,000 of them they will be like 500 million each and more... what are the chances they will get the price of the 6th gen down to less than the price of a 5th gen fighter?
It seems they are more interested in getting the price of a 4th gen fighter up to the price of a 5th gen...
I do not know what the orders will be, but the USA is the first to have a prototype of the 6th generation fighter when Russia and China are introducing only the fifth, and Russia is just starting a very small series production. They were ahead of their competitors by 20 years.
In many ways Americas 5th gen light fighter is totally inferior to their 4th gen fighters... an F-16 is much cheaper, faster, better armed, longer ranged, than the F-35 that was supposed to replace it... unless the 6th gen is a block 200 F-16 I don't like their chances of moving forward.
They always had an advantage in numbers, but it used to be quality too and with the Su-35 and Su-57 and even MiG-31 and MiG-35 they really don't have any advantage in terms of quality... just numbers.... and the cost of the 5th gen means they can't do the numbers either because even they can't afford them...
LMFS- Posts : 5167
Points : 5163
Join date : 2018-03-04
- Post n°307
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
Great, they came up with some new BS in the line I was pointing out: the eSeries (TM)
https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2346441/secaf-unveils-new-eseries-classification-in-nod-to-departments-digital-future/fbclid/IwAR0YUclguLumOi0AOqlMP9mzo0V24PvbYNIlQlRZujUM50hQIPbyC73soNo/fbclid/IwAR2l5Im2bJfFyx1iS7aJVUjtzI2gxvOuMEMoA1xCIVzEleqktVINjFIC1dk/
Apart from being game-changing, unmatched and ground-breaking, I wonder... are they aware that literally everyone out there is using mathematical modelling to develop their systems from top to bottom, and additive technologies to build them? Is this digital engineering allowing them to do without technology demonstrators, prototypes and flight testing? The Zvezda spacial showed briefly the modelling department of Sukhoi and how they recreate such complex and specific phenomena as the spreading of fire / oxygen under combat damage inside the fuel tanks of the plane and how to contain it. Poor Russian guys, they just know about doing hard cold engineering and have no clue about BS marketing...
https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2346441/secaf-unveils-new-eseries-classification-in-nod-to-departments-digital-future/fbclid/IwAR0YUclguLumOi0AOqlMP9mzo0V24PvbYNIlQlRZujUM50hQIPbyC73soNo/fbclid/IwAR2l5Im2bJfFyx1iS7aJVUjtzI2gxvOuMEMoA1xCIVzEleqktVINjFIC1dk/
Apart from being game-changing, unmatched and ground-breaking, I wonder... are they aware that literally everyone out there is using mathematical modelling to develop their systems from top to bottom, and additive technologies to build them? Is this digital engineering allowing them to do without technology demonstrators, prototypes and flight testing? The Zvezda spacial showed briefly the modelling department of Sukhoi and how they recreate such complex and specific phenomena as the spreading of fire / oxygen under combat damage inside the fuel tanks of the plane and how to contain it. Poor Russian guys, they just know about doing hard cold engineering and have no clue about BS marketing...
kvs- Posts : 15858
Points : 15993
Join date : 2014-09-11
Location : Turdope's Kanada
- Post n°308
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
LMFS wrote:Great, they came up with some new BS in the line I was pointing out: the eSeries (TM)
https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2346441/secaf-unveils-new-eseries-classification-in-nod-to-departments-digital-future/fbclid/IwAR0YUclguLumOi0AOqlMP9mzo0V24PvbYNIlQlRZujUM50hQIPbyC73soNo/fbclid/IwAR2l5Im2bJfFyx1iS7aJVUjtzI2gxvOuMEMoA1xCIVzEleqktVINjFIC1dk/
Apart from being game-changing, unmatched and ground-breaking, I wonder... are they aware that literally everyone out there is using mathematical modelling to develop their systems from top to bottom, and additive technologies to build them? Is this digital engineering allowing them to do without technology demonstrators, prototypes and flight testing? The Zvezda spacial showed briefly the modelling department of Sukhoi and how they recreate such complex and specific phenomena as the spreading of fire / oxygen under combat damage inside the fuel tanks of the plane and how to contain it. Poor Russian guys, they just know about doing hard cold engineering and have no clue about BS marketing...
The US is in love with supercomputers as a panacea for everything. That is why they pushed for the nuclear test ban treaty since the clowns
decided they could do all the necessary development using computer simulations. Even if these simulations are complex (e.g. full hydrodynamics
of nuclear detonations) they can never replace real world testing. All models are approximations by definition. Some approximations are better
than others and allow tedious work to be streamlined. But reality will always be bigger than any simulation (by definition) so any real innovation
will require real world testing. The key is innovation which is the search for new information which clearly is not a trivial part of any existing model.
The models involved in aircraft (and car) design are for mechanical parts and how they behave under various stresses. You can make a new wing
shape and see how it behaves. But wind tunnel tests are going to be needed anyway since wing boundary layer behaviour is something that
no finite element hydrodynamics code can simulate from the molecular scale on up. There is some turbulence closure scheme involved and these
schemes are all over the map in terms of realism. There really is no such thing as a closure since the parameterization is trying to use a reduced
set of variables (specifically ones that can be well simulated at the given grid resolution) to simulate a system where such pseudo-empirical
functional dependence is not there. Good for writing academic papers but not so good for real world design.
LMFS- Posts : 5167
Points : 5163
Join date : 2018-03-04
- Post n°309
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
kvs wrote:The US is in love with supercomputers as a panacea for everything. That is why they pushed for the nuclear test ban treaty since the clowns
decided they could do all the necessary development using computer simulations. Even if these simulations are complex (e.g. full hydrodynamics
of nuclear detonations) they can never replace real world testing. All models are approximations by definition. Some approximations are better
than others and allow tedious work to be streamlined. But reality will always be bigger than any simulation (by definition) so any real innovation
will require real world testing. The key is innovation which is the search for new information which clearly is not a trivial part of any existing model.
The models involved in aircraft (and car) design are for mechanical parts and how they behave under various stresses. You can make a new wing
shape and see how it behaves. But wind tunnel tests are going to be needed anyway since wing boundary layer behaviour is something that
no finite element hydrodynamics code can simulate from the molecular scale on up. There is some turbulence closure scheme involved and these
schemes are all over the map in terms of realism. There really is no such thing as a closure since the parameterization is trying to use a reduced
set of variables (specifically ones that can be well simulated at the given grid resolution) to simulate a system where such pseudo-empirical
functional dependence is not there. Good for writing academic papers but not so good for real world design.
Totally agree, a model is just a model and being able to run HIL or physical simulations is absolutely fantastic, but it does not absolve from testing the real thing in real environment. They are just treating all of us all as we were full retards needing their lead even to take a pee...
Tsavo Lion- Posts : 5960
Points : 5912
Join date : 2016-08-16
Location : AZ, USA
- Post n°310
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
US strategic bombers "visited" the Arctic
Tsavo Lion- Posts : 5960
Points : 5912
Join date : 2016-08-16
Location : AZ, USA
- Post n°311
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
PapaDragon likes this post
AlfaT8- Posts : 2488
Points : 2479
Join date : 2013-02-02
- Post n°312
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
Tsavo Lion wrote:
So, it's back to basics then.
PapaDragon- Posts : 13472
Points : 13512
Join date : 2015-04-26
Location : Fort Evil, Serbia
- Post n°313
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
AlfaT8 wrote:So, it's back to basics then.
Don't fix what works
GarryB- Posts : 40553
Points : 41055
Join date : 2010-03-30
Location : New Zealand
- Post n°314
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
Don't fix what is clearly beyond repair....
Tsavo Lion- Posts : 5960
Points : 5912
Join date : 2016-08-16
Location : AZ, USA
- Post n°315
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/37401/was-the-secret-rq-180-stealth-drone-really-photographed-over-the-mojave-desert
George1- Posts : 18523
Points : 19028
Join date : 2011-12-23
Location : Greece
- Post n°316
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
First augmented reality (AR) dogfight held in the United States
The original was taken from colleague dambiev in the USA conducted the first training aerial combat using augmented reality (AR) technology The first aerial combat training using augmented reality (AR) technology was held in the USA Former F-22 Raptor pilot and founder of Red Six Daniel Robinson piloted an experimental Berkut 560 aircraft manufactured by Freeflight Composites with an augmented reality headset for aircraft ATARS (Airborne Tactical Augmented Reality System) developed by Red Six.
ATARS includes a complete set of display and control elements needed to introduce augmented reality objects into the cockpit of a real aircraft. The enemy was played by Tactical AI, developed by EpiSci. In this case, the enemy aircraft were virtual copies of the Su-57 and J-20 fighters. It is reported that the technology based on augmented reality (AR) could radically change the training system for military pilots in the United States. One of the main tasks of the developers is to recreate in the air the projections of Russian Su-57 fighters and Chinese J-20 fighters as realistic as possible.
https://bmpd.livejournal.com/4190089.html
The original was taken from colleague dambiev in the USA conducted the first training aerial combat using augmented reality (AR) technology The first aerial combat training using augmented reality (AR) technology was held in the USA Former F-22 Raptor pilot and founder of Red Six Daniel Robinson piloted an experimental Berkut 560 aircraft manufactured by Freeflight Composites with an augmented reality headset for aircraft ATARS (Airborne Tactical Augmented Reality System) developed by Red Six.
ATARS includes a complete set of display and control elements needed to introduce augmented reality objects into the cockpit of a real aircraft. The enemy was played by Tactical AI, developed by EpiSci. In this case, the enemy aircraft were virtual copies of the Su-57 and J-20 fighters. It is reported that the technology based on augmented reality (AR) could radically change the training system for military pilots in the United States. One of the main tasks of the developers is to recreate in the air the projections of Russian Su-57 fighters and Chinese J-20 fighters as realistic as possible.
https://bmpd.livejournal.com/4190089.html
GarryB- Posts : 40553
Points : 41055
Join date : 2010-03-30
Location : New Zealand
- Post n°317
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
One of the main tasks of the developers is to recreate in the air the projections of Russian Su-57 fighters and Chinese J-20 fighters as realistic as possible.
Yeah, cause nothing creates better pilots than having virtual enemies kicking the shit out of you in something that feels so real...
It seems all it takes to develop the next generation is to add one to the current generation... 5 + 1 = 6... and achieve it by reviving a previous generation aircraft because the current gen fighters are useless expensive crap.
The fact that they don't talk about it and what they are actually doing suggests the know the problem but don't want to admit it because they think they can keep playing this game of take large amounts of money for all sorts of promises and then just say it works... or it never needed to do that in the first place... we just set the bar too high...
Tsavo Lion- Posts : 5960
Points : 5912
Join date : 2016-08-16
Location : AZ, USA
- Post n°318
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/11/24/first-air-force-flies-b-1-bomber-externally-mounted-stealthy-cruise-missile.html
https://www.airforcemag.com/article/buff-up/
https://www.airforcemag.com/article/buff-up/
Last edited by Tsavo Lion on Sat Nov 28, 2020 2:29 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : add link)
magnumcromagnon- Posts : 8138
Points : 8273
Join date : 2013-12-05
Location : Pindos ave., Pindosville, Pindosylvania, Pindostan
Don't let mental-midget jackasses *cough, Vann, cough* fool you about fighter jets crashing in Russia, nothing compares to Uncle Sham! Mind you this was in a 6 year time span:
Losses of aircraft and people in US military aviation from 2013 to 2019: 224 dead 186 aircraft lost More than 6,000 accidents More than $ 11 billion in losses.
http://charly015.blogspot.com/2020/12/el-informe-sobre-las-perdidas-de.html
AlfaT8, kvs, zepia, miketheterrible and LMFS like this post
kvs- Posts : 15858
Points : 15993
Join date : 2014-09-11
Location : Turdope's Kanada
- Post n°320
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
That is shocking. The MSM clearly does not report on all of these cases. I do not recall dozens of crashes being reported
in any year but that is what was happening.
in any year but that is what was happening.
magnumcromagnon- Posts : 8138
Points : 8273
Join date : 2013-12-05
Location : Pindos ave., Pindosville, Pindosylvania, Pindostan
- Post n°321
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
kvs wrote:That is shocking. The MSM clearly does not report on all of these cases. I do not recall dozens of crashes being reported
in any year but that is what was happening.
The nearly $12 billion in losses is truly astronomical! BTW here's the original PDF:
https://vk.com/doc4006000_579879425?hash=a909656cbd649e1d7b
AlfaT8 and kvs like this post
Hole- Posts : 11122
Points : 11100
Join date : 2018-03-25
Age : 48
Location : Scholzistan
- Post n°322
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
The MIC at work! Making lots of money for the oligarchs.
GarryB- Posts : 40553
Points : 41055
Join date : 2010-03-30
Location : New Zealand
- Post n°323
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
But that just shows the US flys 10,000 times more than Russia does blah blah blah... and in more war zones too blah blah blah...
ahmedfire- Posts : 2366
Points : 2548
Join date : 2010-11-12
Location : The Land Of Pharaohs
- Post n°324
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
2013 : 2018 USAF accident aircraft losses
157 aircraft
198 deaths
$9.41 billion lost.
43 percent of mishaps are caused by human error
38 percent were due to environmental factors
19 percent were split among organization issues ― among those, worn out parts or lack of proper manning ― and supervision issues.
157 aircraft
198 deaths
$9.41 billion lost.
43 percent of mishaps are caused by human error
38 percent were due to environmental factors
19 percent were split among organization issues ― among those, worn out parts or lack of proper manning ― and supervision issues.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/12/03/pilots-maintainers-are-worn-out-and-under-trained-aviation-safety-commission-says/
Pilots, maintainers are worn out and under-trained, aviation safety commission says
A group of aviation experts tasked with getting to the bottom of a surge in deadly military aviation accidents during the last decade came back with its report on Thursday, and there’s a lot that needs fixing.
A confluence of cultural issues, budget shortfalls and a lack of oversight have contributed to a general malaise, according to the report, as well as a rash of deadly and costly mishaps from 2013 to 2018: 198 deaths, 157 aircraft destroyed and $9.41 billion lost.
Despite finding passionate professionals on flight lines around the world, the heads of the National Commission on Military Aviation Safety told reporters, a lack of flight hours, a stressed supply chain, high operational tempo and administrative distractions have left the community in a bit of disrepair.
“What we found was that morale was generally degraded,” Dick Healing, a retired Coast Guard pilot and vice chairman of NCMAS, told reporters in the morning, before he was due to brief the results of the commission’s investigation to members of the House Armed Services Committee.
That period dovetails seamlessly with congressionally-imposed budget sequestration that began in 2013 and was carried on by delayed proper budgets in the following years, but the commission did not blame it entirely on money.
Mandated by the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, NCMAS stood up after Military Times investigation found that deadly mishaps rose 40 percent from 2013 to 2018
What’s going wrong?
Despite recovering that funding, the commission found that aviation units are still not getting enough flight hours, maintenance time and proper parts to keep everything running safely and smoothly, which is a likely contributor to accidents.
About 43 percent of mishaps are caused by human error, he explained, generally because someone didn’t follow procedure to the letter, or properly coordinate with the other aircrew or those on the ground. Another 38 percent were due to environmental factors, like weather and visibility.
The remaining 19 percent were split among organization issues ― among those, worn out parts or lack of proper manning ― and supervision issues, which include superiors making bad judgment calls or not enforcing policies.
Generally, human error is prevented by proficiency ― for example, pilots and aircrew with so much recent experience that they are operating on instinct and able to troubleshoot problems with ease.
But troops told the NCMAS members they, in many cases, they weren’t getting enough flight hours. In the past, the issue had been budget cuts slashing the amount of time they could afford to be in the air.
Now, according to retired Army Gen. Dick Cody, NCMAS chairman it’s more an issue of prioritizing.
Some young pilots are coming out of schoolhouses that lean heavily on hours in a simulator. That’s great for practicing emergency procedures, he said, but not for gaining proficiency in the aircraft.
So in order to get them up to speed, their first units of assignment are spending flight hours closing that gap, rather than spreading them more evenly up through more experienced pilots.
And that, in turn, is resulting in more waivers, or units making exceptions for pilots assigned to missions who are about to fall out of balance with the required number of flight hours they need every 60 days.
“We shouldn’t have pilots being tasked to do missions that have been waivered,” Cody said, adding that there have been “way too many accidents right on the 60-day current limit, and they’re out there flying a mission.”
While mishaps in general were down in 2019, the Navy and Marine Corps saw individual increases, including a 30-percent increase in the Corps.
The commission isn’t sure what caused that spike, Cody said, adding that the service is, anecdotally, “about as a stressed as any of the services that we saw” during their visits to 200 units across 80 installations over the past year and a half.
“We didn’t seen any new [types of] accidents,” he added, explaining that the most common causes of mishaps have largely remained the same.
But he did call out the physical conditions of the Marine Corps aviation community, which has been seen as taking a backseat to its other organizations.
“And some of their facilities were not facilities that we would want young Americans maintaining multi-million dollar aircraft [in],” Cody said.
How to fix the problem
While the report calls for cultural change and budget predictability, two factors that can’t be remedied with the snap of a finger, it does lay out several institutional changes that can happen right away.
Cody’s top recommendation is to start tracking those flight waivers, so that the services know just how common it is for borderline-current pilots to get in the cockpit and those trends can be traced.
Along those same lines, Healing made a plug to create a joint safety council within the defense secretary’s office, reporting directly to the deputy defense secretary, as an authority to centrally track aviation trends, factors and data that can be fed directly to high-level policy and funding decisions.
Such a council “basically gives them the information they need in order to make decisions that can seriously impact aviation safety,” Healing said.
Other remedies will require institutional motivation.
The report focuses heavily on the grinding combination of being overworked, untrained and under-incentivized.
The commission recommends increasing the ceiling on pilot retention bonuses to $100,000 per year. It also recommends boosting manning levels of administrative personnel in aviation units, so that pilots and maintainers don’t get sucked into doing paperwork rather than focusing on their intricate skill sets, which they have reported as a problem.
OPTEMPO a lingering issue
But the last part of the equation might be more difficult to tackle, as combatant commanders continue to request forces. The relentless demand for aviation units to support operations around the world, as they’re becoming more and more strained, is a recipe for disaster, both in safety but also retention of pilots and maintainers.
For example, carrier air wing deployments have stretched from the long-standing six-month underway to nine months or beyond ― and in the case of the aircraft carriers Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower, having only a few months at home before heading out again.
In the Army, downsized aviation brigades are doing back-to-back rotations in Korea and Europe. Doing the same amount, or more with less ― fewer aircraft, fewer personnel, fewer parts ― has become part of the culture.
“And they always say, ‘Will do,’ " Healing said. “People need to understand that there may be a time when they need to say ‘no.’ "
George1- Posts : 18523
Points : 19028
Join date : 2011-12-23
Location : Greece
- Post n°325
Re: US Air Force: Discussion and News
F-16 fighter crashed in the USA
It is reported that the F-16 Viper Block 30 was part of the Wisconsin National Guard. The aircraft was assigned to the 115 Fighter Aviation Regiment.
https://en.topwar.ru/177953-v-ssha-upal-istrebitel-f-16.html
It is reported that the F-16 Viper Block 30 was part of the Wisconsin National Guard. The aircraft was assigned to the 115 Fighter Aviation Regiment.
https://en.topwar.ru/177953-v-ssha-upal-istrebitel-f-16.html