REAPERS FOR MARINES?
THE US MARINE Corps is considering
the acquisition of unmanned MQ-
Reapers. The service awarded General
Atomics a $39.5-million, one-year
contract to operate Reapers in support
of Task Force South-west and marine
ground forces, the rst time a large
Group 5 UAS had been assigned
speci cally to a Marine Corps unit.
The service is now preparing to
purchase Reapers and convert from
a contractor-owned/contractor-
operated (CO/CO) arrangement to a
government-owned/government-
operated (GO/GO) construct. Its rst
pilots will begin MQ-9A training with
the USAF’s 49th Wing at Holloman
AFB, New Mexico in late September.
The move follows a directive issued
by the commandant of the MarineCorps to eld a persistent intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance
capability in the ‘near future’.
The corps is already moving
forward with the Marine Air-Ground
Task Force Expeditionary (MUX)
UAS program to develop a Group
5 UAS capable of operation from
amphibious assault ships. The MUX
will be tasked with early warning,
electronic warfare, communications
relay and intelligence, surveillance
and reconnaissance missions.
Lessons learned operating the
land-based Reapers would likely
support the development of
concepts of operations for the MUX.
The service plans to award study
contracts associated with the MUX to
industry in 2019.‘FIGHTING SAINTS’ LOW DOWN
VFC-13’s fabulous gloss black F-5F (76-1580) low over California on a mission
from NAS Fallon in September. VFC-13 ‘Fighting Saints’, VFC-111 ‘Sundowners’
and VMFAT-401 ‘Snipers’ rely on three two-seat F-5F ‘Franken-Tigers’. These
jets feature the back end of a Swiss F-5, with the two-seat front end of the
original F-5Fs. Dan StijovichT
HE DIRECTOR OF the
Department of D efense’s
operational test and
evaluation force has
delayed the start of
the Lockheed Martin
F-35’s initial operational test and
evaluation (IOT&E) pending delivery
of the latest version of the aircraft’s
Block 3F software. The already-
delayed IOT&E had been slated to
begin in September, but will be
held up by a further two months
until the 30R02 software upgrade
is complete, meaning November
is now a likely start date. The new
software will reportedly be more
capable of supporting testing in air
interdiction, o ensive counter-air,
suppression of enemy air defenses
and electronic attack.The delay in formal operational
test hasn’t prevented other
related e orts. Six F-35Cs from
strike ghter squadrons VFA-101,
VFA-125 and VFA-147 plus pilots
from VX-9 ‘Vampires’ joined carrier
air wing CVW-7 aboard the USS
Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) as part
of the operational test-1 (OT-1)
phase. Evaluation of the F-35 as an
integrated part of the air wing is one
of several events that have preceded
formal IOT&E. Although the F-35C
had previously operated from the
ship, the OT-1 event marked the
rst time the ghter had taken part
in day-to-day carrier operations.
They saw the F-35C ying cyclic
operations with F/A-18E/Fs, E-2Ds
and EA-18Gs, conducting simulated
combat missions.Meanwhile, the Department of
Defense has noti ed US lawmakers
that estimates regarding the cost
of upgrading early F-35s built
under low-rate initial production
contracts have dropped by around
two per cent compared with initial
predictions. The cost reduction
is due to the discovery of fewer
forecasted issues with the aircraft.
The need to modernize early
jets comes as a result of the F-35’sconcurrent production method,
which overlapped the development
and production phases of an
acquisition program. As a result,
modi cations to jets from early
production lots are required
in order to correct de ciencies
discovered during testing or
as a result of design changes.
Those activities, which generally
involve retro tting changes into
operational aircraft, make up the
major portion of concurrency costs.
Some examples of retro ts that
have been performed are the F-35B
auxiliary air inlet door assembly
and fuselage station 496 bulkhead
modi cations.F-35 OPERATIONAL TEST DELAYED
CAMPAIGN DELAYED TO ALLOW FOR MORE SOFTWARE UPDATES
DIGITAL BLACK HAWK TESTED
EXPERIMENTAL TEST PILOTS
from the US Army’s Redstone Test
Center (RTC) recently teamed up
with the 82nd Combat Aviation
Brigade (CAB) to conduct a
limited user test (LUT) with two
prototype UH-60V helicopters.
During the LUT, the UH-60Vs were
own under realistic conditions,
conducting air movement, air
assault, and external load missions
under day, night, night vision
goggle and simulated instrument
meteorological ight conditions.
Post-mission surveys and
reviews with ight crews, carried
out by personnel from US Army
Operational Test Command’s
Aviation Test Directorate (AVTD),
will permit the evaluators todetermine how pilots interacted
with the digital platform during
missions. The data will assist an
independent evaluation by the
US Army Evaluation Center and
will support a low-rate initial
production decision later this year.
The UH-60V program will
replace the UH-60L’s analog
instrumentation with an integrated
avionics suite that features
upgraded navigation suite and
electronic instrument displays
and provides a pilot-vehicle
interface (PVI) nearly identical to
the newer UH-60M variant of the
Black Hawk. The USAOTC plans
to conduct initial operational test
and evaluation of the UH-60V in
late 2019.Sling load operations with
prototype UH-60V serial
90-26242 in support of limited
user tests on July 30. US Army[NEWS] UNITED STATES
08 November 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net