Eric Palmer blog: A-29 Super Tucano selected by USAF

Eric Palmer blog: A-29 Super Tucano selected by USAF: The A-29 Super Tucano has been selected for the USAF light air support mission.

UPDATE: January 5, 2011: The USAF has sent out a stop order on the recent contract awarded to Embraer due to legal action brought forth by Hawker Beechcraft. Check out the details in the link below.

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Ref.

1. bizjournals.com. "Air Force stops Jacksonville military plane contract" by Sarah Mueller. January 4, 2011. ( http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2012/01/04/air-force-stops-work-on-the-embraer.html?ana=RSS&s=article_search&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+vertical_46+%28Software+Industry+News%29 ).

Huff Post vs USAF over UFOs

The Huffington Post discovered a referrence to UFOs in a 2008 United States Air Force document - and wrote about it. Now, this week, that USAF document has been "updated" and there is no mention of UFOs again.

The doc in question is Air Force Instruction 10-206. It advises pilots, radar operators, and other Air Force personnel on what they should do if they encounter any unknown strange objects, i.e. UFOs. Now in the 2011 version, the reference to UFOs has been dropped.

Just for the record. Project Blue Book was stopped in 1969.

As early as September 2011, USAF personnel were advised to note the following information about any UFO... quote: "altitude, direction of travel, speed, description of flight path and maneuvers, what first called attention to the object, how long was the object visible and how did the object disappear?"

Eyes in the sky and on the ground were commanded to treat a UFO as they would if they had seen a missile, hostile aircraft or unidentified submarine. end quote.

For more information, please read the entire article on Huffington Post. "Air Force UFO Rules Vanish After Huffington Post Inquiry" by Lee Speigel. OCtober 19, 2011.

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Ref.

1. Huffington Post. "Air Force UFO Rules Vanish After Huffington Post Inquiry" by Lee Speigel. OCtober 19, 2011. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/19/air-force-deletes-ufo-rep_n_982128.html#s283323&title=UFO_Over_Holloman).

Boeing Tanker Won over EADS's Tanker

Well, I am surprise by this announcement. I thought for sure that enough lobbyists from both sides had enough congressmen and senators paid off that the final decision would be a split purchase between the two companies.

And going by what one article said, that may still be in the works for a future purchase after these first 176 KC-46As are purchased. Price tag is $30 billion plus. EADS version of its Airbus A330 plane to be converted over to a tanker would have been called the KC-45A.

Problems with the F-35 keep on taking place along with the price tag keeps on going up. The USAF is rapidly retiring many of its legacy fighter aircraft such as the F-15 and F-16. Just to try and keep the wonder plane (i.e F-35) on track.

As a smaller aircraft, the KC-46A is expected to burn less fuel in absolute terms than the KC-45 over a 30 year lifespan for the airframe.

Boeing has to deliver the first 18 KC-46As within six years of the contract award date. The production spans over 13 years for building all 179 aircraft. And Boeing has confirmed that first flight for the KC-46A is scheduled for 2015. So, we should see a KC-46A flying by February 2015. I won't hold my breath. Something ALWAYS happens to screw up the production schedule. Then Boeing has to go to Congress to get more funds, etc., etc.

Now its a race against time. The USAF has 400 really old KC-135 Stratotankers that have to be replaced. Many of them are 50+ years old.

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Ref.

1. ELP Defens(c)e Blog. "Boeing KC-46A air-refueling tanker for the USAF. Now what? #military" by Eric Palmer. February 24, 2011. (http://ericpalmer.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/boeing-kc-46a-air-refueling-tanker-for-the-usaf-now-what-military/).

2. Flight Global.com. "USAF selects Boeing for KC-X contract" by Stephen Trimble. (http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/02/24/353642/updated-usaf-selects-boeing-for-kc-x-contract.html).

The Great Mystery Missile Launch of 2010!

No one knows WHO owns this baby! The USAF, USN, NORAD, don't claim it as one of their own.

Should we be glad of this or worry over it?

Just be glad that the missile didn't travel EASTWARDS toward California and the rest of the United States. It headed out towards the Pacific, maybe to the Pacific Missile Range Facility; if it was ours.

There was video shot by a KCBS tv news helicopter crew of the missile launch and its resulting contrail.

The most likely source of this mystery missile is a test firing of a missile from a US Navy missile submarine. Failing that, maybe a missile went 'haywired' in the tube and it had to be launched to prevent the sub from being destroyed (as likely a theory as anything else).

Another theory could be a foreign power showing off a little muscle as a warning to the USA to stop printing worthless dollar bills to buy ourselves out of a recession.

ET on the other hand uses gravitic drives (supposely), so in this case, I cannot put the blaim on aliens and UFOs from other worlds!

There are some stuff about a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) that Information Dissemination has put out, but they admit that the time stamps are wrong for the time of the missile launch.

UPDATE 1 (November 10, 2010): Well, the experts at Jane's Defence Weekly have spoken on the matter now. See the original article here (http://amerpundit.com/2010/11/10/janes-editor-yeah-that-was-a-missile/).

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Ref. "Pentagon Can't Explain "Missile" off California" November 9, 2010. by CBS/AP News. (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/09/national/main7037857.shtml?tag=topnews). There is a video attached to the original news article if you want to watch it.

Information Dissemination (http://www.informationdissemination.net/2010/11/rogue-notam.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+InformationDissemination+(Information+Dissemination)).

Image off of Drudge Report.

USAF Future

This article by Eric Palmer on his blog echos some concerns that I have been having for several years concerning just what direction our Air Force is heading towards.

Retirement of the B1-B bomber. Taking several squadrons of F-15s and putting them into storage. The great Air Tanker Charlie Foxtrot saga. The T-38 is FINALLY being retired.

Now Palmer goes after the AFA (Air Force Association) for supporting current Air Force policy. And if that policy is bad...

I go into some similar things in a recent posting dealing with the DoD buying Russian helicopters for Afghan military forces.

Anyway, check his blog out.

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Ref. "I call on America, the DOD and the USAF to save the Air Force before it is too late" by Eric Palmer. June 25, 2010.(http://ericpalmer.wordpress.com/2010/06/25/i-call-on-america-the-dod-and-the-usaf-to-save-the-air-force-before-it-is-too-late/).

Aerospace, Technology, Paranormal and UFOS "Depend on your government - to screw things up! DoD Buys Russian Helos" by Don W. Shanks, June , 2010. (http://aerospacedreams.blogspot.com/2010/06/depend-on-your-goverment-to-screw.html).

The Ongoing Saga of the Charlie-Foxtrot Tanker Deal

Well, I think after reading this article (see link below in ref section), the Great US Air Tanker saga is going to end up with a split buy between Boeing and Northrop Grumman.

Its (really) no longer about getting what the Air Force really needs. It's about politics and keep voters supplied with jobs in key states. That means both Boeing and Northrop Grumman will both win the KC-X tanker project.

The KC-135s are REALLY long in the tooth now and needs to be replaced quickly as possible. Neither company is in favor of the dual build contract. Boeing and Northrop Grumman want a winner take all approach. The USAF supply chain would prefer just a single type of aircraft to support for this mission instead of two.

By doing the split buy, the Air Force gets new tankers in the air quicker. Current projections mean that at least 15 new tankers can be built a year. It will take decades to replace ALL of the KC-135.

Image is of the Boeing offering based upon the Boeing 767 airframe.

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Ref. (http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/split-25582-aerospace-tanker.html)