Do Marines Have To Hitchhike At Sea? The Real Story
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WASHINGTON: Is the US Navy really so short of warships that Marines must catch a ride on foreign vessels, like heavily armed hitchhikers? The answer is, well, sort of. Where there’s smoke, there’s often fire — the Marines definitely could use more amphibious warfare ships — but on this story, politicians, lobbyists, and some of… Keep reading →
V-280 Valor: Bell Starts Building Joint Multi-Role Prototype
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Somebody’s finally doing something tangible about the future of Army aviation. Bell Helicopter subcontractor Spirit AeroSystems of Wichita, Kan., has started assembling the composite fuselage for the first prototype V-280 Valor, Bell’s new military tiltrotor. The Valor is sleeker, smaller, and, by design, more Army-friendly than the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey, which was built to fit… Keep reading →
Boeing’s Phantom Works Tries Its Hand At Trucks
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The people that built the X-37 unmanned spaceplane and the X-51 Mach five missile now want to bring you an ultra-lightweight truck. Can brains this big think that small? The beautifully named Phantom Badger vehicle looks a little out of place alongside other products of Boeing’s famous Phantom Works division. In fact, Boeing itself looks… Keep reading →
VIDEO Of F-35B Operational Tests Aboard USS Wasp, With Gorgeous Views Of DC From V-22
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ABOARD USS WASP: When the Marines decided to bring the press aboard the USS Wasp for the F-35B’s first set of operational tests — takeoffs, landings and flights designed to nearly simulate combat conditions — they provided the world with a glimpse of how they will fight using amphibious ships, F-35Bs and V-22 Ospreys. We… Keep reading →
Gen. Davis Hopes To Keep F-35B Out Of War Zones Right After IOC
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WASHINGTON: As the Marines started doing operational testing of the F-35B aboard the USS Wasp, the head of Marine Aviation is visibly and demonstrably confident the aircraft will meet the date for the plane’s Initial Operational Capabiility. “To me the F-35 program is right on track where it should be,” Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, the head… Keep reading →
AFSOC Ospreys Armor Up After Painful Lessons Learned In South Sudan
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When three CV-22s were riddled with 119 rounds of AK-47 and .50 caliber fire as they tried to land at Bor, South Sudan, 18 months ago to evacuate U.S. citizens from a civil war, four Navy SEALs in the lead Osprey were wounded. Now a Florida company is providing the program office at Naval Air Systems Command… Keep reading →
Sub Builders Face Triple Threat: Ohio, Virginia, & VPM
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CAPITOL HILL: It’s a problem the US Navy wants to have, but it’s still a problem. If the service gets enough money both to build its top priority, the Ohio Replacement Program nuclear missile submarine, and to keep producing its vaunted Virginia-class attack subs, then so much new work will be hitting the shipyards so rapidly that they’ll be… Keep reading →
Navy 2016 Budget Funds V-22 COD Buy, Carrier Refuel
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PENTAGON: The Navy 2016 budget yields to Congress’s strong opposition to the service’s previous efforts to cut the active fleet to save money. It funds nuclear refueling and overhaul of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington –that it had tried to retire — and modifies its plan to put 11 cruisers and an amphibious ship… Keep reading →
V-22 Perfect For COD: Navy Leaders
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CRYSTAL CITY: Nudge nudge, wink wink, we love V-22s, Navy officials said here today. We couldn’t possibly confirm the Breaking Defense report that the service’s 2016 budget request buys V-22 Ospreys for the Carrier Onboard Delivery mission, they said, but if hypothetically the Navy happened to choose the V-22 to shuttle people and supplies to… Keep reading →
Navy Decides to Buy V-22 Ospreys for Carrier Delivery
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The Navy will buy V-22 Osprey tiltrotors to replace its aging C-2A Greyhound turboprop aircraft in flying carrier on board delivery (COD) missions. Breaking Defense obtained a Jan. 5 memo, signed by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert, and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford. It stipulates that… Keep reading →