NEW WEAPONS TESTING PLANNED FOR B-52H
THE USAF PLANS to quadruple the
external bomb load of its B-52H
Stratofortress eet and on June 21
Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC)
released a request for information
(RFI) that seeks a new external
weapon pylon for the type. The
service hopes to increase the load
carried on the B-52’s two external
pylons from 10,000lb (4,536kg) to
40,000lb (18,144kg).
Designed in 1959, the current
improved common pylon (ICP) is
capable of carrying a single largeweapon weighing up to 5,000lb
(2,268kg). The service hopes to
develop the pylon during an
accelerated engineering and
manufacturing development (EMD)
phase that will eld a replacement
capable of carrying multiple
weapons in the 5,000 to 20,000lb
weight class within 72 months. It
would enable the B-52H to carry
any of the air-launched munitions
in the USAF inventory including the
22,000lb (9,979kg) GBU-43/B Massive
Ordnance Air Burst (MOAB) bomb.PEGASUS DELIVERY
DATE SETTLED
BOEING SETS OUT NEW SCHEDULES WITH USAF
C-5M DELIVERIES NEARLY COMPLETE
Lockheed Martin is preparing to
deliver the last of 52 upgraded
C-5Ms to the USAF. Serial
87-0043 served as the backdrop
during a celebration of the 50th
anniversary of the C-5A’s fi rstfl ight held at Lockheed Martin’s
Marietta, Georgia, facility on June- It will be delivered to Air Force
Reserve Command’s 439th Airlift
Wing at Westover Air Reserve
Base, Massachusetts.
BLOCK II CHINOOK ENTERS FINAL ASSEMBLY
FINAL ASSEMBLY OF the rst
Block II CH-47F began at Boeing’s
Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, facility
on June 27. Boeing was awarded
a $276-million contract to design
and build three engineering and
manufacturing development (EMD)
helicopters in July 2017. The Block
II program incorporates several
updates including an upgraded
fuselage, new fuel system, a new
drivetrain and advanced Chinook
rotor blades that are intended to
increase the type’s lift capability.
The rst Block II CH-47F is expected
to be completed in 2019 and
low-rate initial production will
begin in 2021. Delivery of the rstproduction examples will follow in- The US Army plans to acquire
542 Block II Chinooks comprising
472 CH-47Fs and 69 MH-47Gs.
In related news, Boeing received
a $139.8-million order for four
new-build Block II MH-47G special
operations helicopters from US
Special Operations Command
on July 12. It had previously
received an $80.7-million order
associated with the contract in
late June. The order meets an
urgent need for additional special
operations forces (SOF) heavy
assault, rotary-wing aircraft support
resulting from increased SOF
operational demands.
HARVEST HAWK PLUS UNDERGOES TESTING
NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS Command
and air test and evaluation
squadron VX-20 recently completed
a ve-week development and
integrated test (DT/IT) live re
event that evaluated a KC-130J
equipped with the roll-on, roll-o
Harvest Hercules Airborne Weapons
Kit (HAWK) Plus (HH+). The HH+
Hercules completed multiple
sorties that involved successful
strikes on both xed and moving
targets. Conducted at NAWS
China Lake, California, the live re
evaluations allowed the program
to move into the follow-on test andevaluation phase. It also included
four dedicated tactical integration
ights made in conjunction with
the weapons tactics instructor (WTI)
course at MCAS Yuma, Arizona.
The HH+ weapons kit will begin
entering service in early 2019. The
upgrade to the precision strike
package weapons system features
an updated mission operator pallet,
improved video and imaging and
greater targeting capabilities. It
allows the aircraft to deliver newer
missile variants including the
improved AGM-114P4 and P4A
version of the Hell re.KC-46A serial 15-46005 approaches
a USAF KC-135R during testing
over the Pacifi c Ocean near Santa
Catalina Island, California, on May- Boeing/Paul Weatherman
US DoD/MSgt Stephen D. Schester[NEWS] UNITED STATES
10 September 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
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