C-130 Chunks Up

How do you make the world's best selling military cargo aircraft, even better? Fatten her up! That's exactly what Lockheed Martin is considering with the C-130XL (should be XXL). This photo from Stephen Trimble's blog is the first known image of the new fat girl being designed to compete against the A400M and C-17B. The concept is still in the preliminary phases without an official go-ahead but it would include widening the current fuselage and supporting a new load of up to 65,000 lbs. What a pig!

Click on the photo for higher detail.

[The DEW Line]

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ABL Fires High Energy Laser For First Time

The future of warfare is very very near. We're already seeing in Iraq and Afganistan autonomous drones that can loiter over combat for 24 hours and Humvee mounted microwave beams that can heat up the surface of the human skin. The Air Force also wants to develop laser gunships to replace AC-130s for precision ground...um...lasering. And now the Air Force's Airborne Laser program has reached a historic milestone in its quest to bring warfare into the 21st century when it achieved "first light" and fired its high-energy chemical laser during a ground test September 7th at Edwards AFB. The Air Force and the Missile Defense Agency are very optimistic about the future of the YAL-1 program and what it will mean for future combat. The prototype has been in testing for quite some time now and has had success in firing its beam control/fire control system, developed by Lockheed Martin. This has all lead up to the big ray gun (aka chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL)) developed by Northrop Grumman which is mounted on the modified 747-400F produced by Boeing. The multi-contractor team and the Air Force are moving one step closer with the recent test towards its first missile shoot-down demonstration scheduled for 2009. After that, perhaps the Defense Department should look into an Imperial Death Star for it's next futuristic weapon.

[Boeing]

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Lockheed Cormorant Not Starring In Halo 4

Straight out of a Sci-Fi movie, the Lockheed Martin Cormorant is hands down the coolest idea for a UAV that I have ever seen. I had come across the video below a while ago but hadn't posted it because I couldn't find a suitable version to embed until now. Known as a MPUAV (Multi-Purpose Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) the Cormorant is being designed to launch from 150 underwater on the back of a Trident ballistic missile submarine. Once it reaches the surface booster rockets carry it to a height and speed where the internal jet engine can take over. It can then cruise stealthily and autonomously over enemy territory to engage targets or collect intelligence before landing back in the water where it will be collected by an underwater drone and reeled back into a launch tube. Lockheed Martin sees this as a perfect fit for the US Navy who needs ideas on what to do with some of their Ohio-Class nuclear subs after the signing of Start II, the second strategic weapons reduction treaty. The Cormorant is science-fiction meets science-fact at its greatest. Two divisions within Lockheed Martin are working with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to fulfill my fantasy of seeing the Cormorant get off the ground get out of the water.

[Lockheed Martin via Gizmodo]

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First STOVL F-35 makes first flight

History was made today when the world's first production aircraft that combines stealth, supersonic speed, and STOVL capabilities made its first flight in Fort Worth today. The Lockheed Martin F-35B piloted by Graham Tomlinson made a conventional takeoff and landing today, but the first production F-35B (known as BF-1) will make the transition to short takeoffs, hovers, and vertical landings next year as it becomes the second F-35 to join the test fleet. The first, an F-35A, has only conventional takeoff capabilities as required by its main customer, the US Air Force. The F-35B, will make full use of its Short TakeOff and Vertical Landing (STOVL) abilities when it enters service with the United States Marine Corp, and both the United Kingdom's and Italy's Air Force and Navy forces. The flight took place only a few weeks after the aircraft successfully completed its first hover pit test. Although it was only a 45 minute flight, it was a huge milestone for the advance war fighter that is scheduled to enter service with the Marines in 2012.

For a little more information on how this bad boy will hover, check out what Lockheed is saying about it:

Though nearly identical in appearance to the F-35A, the F-35B incorporates a counter-rotating shaft-driven lift fan positioned directly behind the cockpit. The lift fan, produced by Rolls-Royce, is turned by a drive shaft from the F-35’s massively powerful single engine, which features a swiveling rear exhaust nozzle that vectors thrust downward during vertical flight. The lift fan, engine and stabilizing roll ducts beneath the F-35B’s wings combine to produce 40,000 pounds of lifting force. Converting the F-35B from STOVL to conventional flight and vice-versa requires only the push of a button by the pilot.

Where can I get one?

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1st F-35B switches to hover mode (while tied down)

The first production F-35B performed a hover pit test at the Lockheed Martin facilities in Fort Worth, TX on May 25th. The aircraft was tethered to the pit for this test, but it should not be long before we see a vertical takeoff/landing from this amazing machine. I just love watching this thing's metamorphosis from conventional to VSTOL. Maybe it's because I watched too much Transformers when I was a kid.

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Lockheed flips the switch on first F-35B

Lockheed Martin announced today that they successfully completed the first power-on test of the F-35B which is the STOVL (Short TakeOff and Vertical Landing) variant of the upcoming Joint Strike Fighter. This milestone gets them even closer to a first flight scheduled sometime around early June. The test, which actually took place on April 18th, was the first time that the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine has ran while integrated to an F-35B airframe. BAE test pilot Graham Tomlinson was at the controls for the engine run that took the F135 all the way up to full military power without afterburner. Tomlinson, a Brit, will also be the first for fly the F-35B. Program officials were quite pleased with the engine run that lasted nearly one hour and included opening and closing the shaft-driven lift fan doors. Can't wait to see this baby hover.

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Israeli F-16 pilot's greatest threat not Iranian air defenses, but cancer

The Israeli Air Force has grounded its entire fleet of 62 Lockheed Martin F-16I Sufas after it discovered formaldehyde in the cockpit. Known to cause cancer at certain concentrations, it is unclear as to how the formaldehyde, a by-product of jet exhaust, is entering the cockpit. Lockheed Martin officials are working closely with the IAF and have a suspicion that the chemical may be entering the cockpit through the air conditioning system. The IAF did not ground its fleet of F-16C/Ds and this problem has not been reported by any other operator of the aircraft. It does,however, have many IAF pilots concerned and rightly so.

Air Force quietly retires one of its most secret jets

After 27 years of service with the US Air Force, the "old school", low-observable, OG Stealth Fighter, the F-117A is being quietly slipped into mothballs next month. Program managers at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH are hosting a private retirement ceremony for the jet today along with officials from Holloman AFB in New Mexico where the fleet of 45 Nighthawks is based. The last flight of F-117s will leave Holloman for Palmdale, CA on April 21 where they will hold another ceremony at the home of Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. The Skunk Works team of engineers were the grand wizards of stealth technology in the late 1970s when the now obsolete F-117 technology was created. The last flight of Nighthawks will then continue on to the Tonopah Test Range in Tonopah, NV which was the home of the F-117 flight test program. There they will be mothballed with the (slim) possibility they could come back out of retirement for service if needed. The rush to retirement was in part due to free up funding to field more F-22 Raptors.

This aircraft holds a special place in the hearts and minds of my family as certain members were very involved in the development program for this awesome plane. It's amazing how fast it's time went. Oh well, thanks Nighthawk for your valiant 27 years of service to defending this country!