Romeo Must Fly: Australia's first MH-60R Seahawk takes to the air

© Commonwealth of Australia

The first of 24 Royal Australian Navy Sikorsky MH-60R helicopters flew for the first time at Sikorsky’s Production Facility in Connecticut on 26 June 2013. The acquisition of 24 MH-60Rs allows the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) to provide at least eight helicopters embarked at any one time with Australia’s Anzac Class frigates and the new Hobart Class air warfare destroyers, with the remainder based at HMAS Albatross in Nowra. The "Romeos" will replace 16 older S-70B-2 Seahawks currently operated by the RAN.

More photos at http://images.navy.gov.au/S20130572

S Korean F-X III bidders still over budget; asked to resubmit bids

Photo © BAe Systems

What if they held a fighter competition and all the bidders refused to submit bids under the customer's budget? It's looking that way in South Korea's FX-III fighter program.

The bidding for 60 aircraft has opened 2 weeks ago, and South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration has conducted 30 bidding sessions, but the three contenders have consistently submitted proposals over the target budget of 8.3 trillion won (US$7.3 billion). The bidding process will resume July 2nd, and given the current market, we reckon the bidders will most likely cave in eventually. But given the disparity in the budgeted amount and listed price of US$10.8 billion in the DSCA notification for the sale of F-35s to South Korea, there may be interesting days ahead for the program.

F-X III is South Korea's largest defence acquisition program ever; the three contenders for the contract are the Boeing F-15SE Silent Eagle, the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Lockheed-Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.

VIDEO: Exercise Aces North (and a reference to the movie Top Gun)

An interesting piece over at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, who reported with the Royal Australian Air Force's 75 Sqn at Exercise Aces North, which recently concluded over at the RAAF bases in Australia's Northern Territory.

Aces North 2013 is the final phase of the No 32 Fighter Combat Instructor (FCI) course, which is conducted every two years and provides experienced F/A-18 A/B Classic Hornet, F/A-18F Super Hornet Pilots and Weapon System Officers with five months of highly specialised training in all air combat related roles. The exercise was held from June 3-28 and involved the RAAF's F/A-18A/B Hornet, F/A-18F Super Hornet, the E-7A Wedgetail and a KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transport.

And fans of the movie Top Gun will make instantly make the connection between the name of CO 75 Sqn RAAF and his callsign, as seen from the below screengrab of the ABC video:

For those who are unaware, the main character in the 1986 movie Top Gun (played by Tom Cruise) is Pete Mitchell and his callsign is Maverick.

PHOTO: RAAF C-130Js carry out low-level training

© Commonwealth of Australia, Department of Defence. Click on thumbnail for high resolution image.

Four Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Lockheed-Martin C-130J Hercules transport aircraft conducted an early morning tactical training flight on 21 June 2013. Departing RAAF Base Richmond at dawn, the aircraft flew a simulated airdrop mission in central New South Wales (NSW), before flying at low level for the NSW coast and tracking along the coastline, before heading inland to the Blue Mountains and returning to base. The Hercules crews, from No. 37 Squadron, were practicing their ability to navigate whilst flying in a tactical formation, similar to what they may do if conducting an airdrop of paratroops and cargo loads to a drop zone.

More Images are available in this Australian Defence Force Gallery

Helicopters to join increased Marine detachment in Darwin from 2014

US Marine CH-53E Sea Stallion (US DoD Photo/Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Ken J. Riley)

Here's an interesting announcement by the Australian Prime Minister's Office/Department of Defence that seems to have pretty much flown under the radar of the defence media; from 2014 the Marine presence in Darwin will increase to 1,150 from the current 250. The Marines will also station four "heavylift helicopters" (Ed: CH-53 Sea Stallions, I presume? The MV-22 Osprey can haul more, but they aren't technically "helicopters" per se) at RAAF Darwin with 130 personnel to support the deployment, which will occur on six-month rotations during Darwin's dry season (May to October).

The press release repeats the plan to increase the Marine presence in the Northern Territory to 2,500 personnel from 2016, which will then comprise of a full MAGTF (Marine Air-Ground Task Force).

VIDEO: Marine V-22 Osprey lands on Japanese DDH Hyuga off California

This video from the Associated Press shows a United States Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft landing on board the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopter destroyer JS Hyuga (DDH-181) off the California coast as part of Exercise Dawn Blitz. Dawn Blitz is a scenario-driven exercise led by the U.S. 3rd Fleet and 1st Marine Expeditionary Force that will test participants in the planning and execution of amphibious operations through a series of live training events.

This marks the first occasion an Osprey has landed on a JMSDF ship, with the aircraft coming from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 161 (VMM-161) "Greyhawks" based at nearby Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

Related Links:
Marines land Osprey aircraft on Japanese ship (Associated Press)
Images: MV-22 Osprey lands on Japanese destroyer (DVIDS)

Declining yen may force Japan to delay F-35 purchase

Photo © Tom Harvey/Lockheed Martin

An interesting article over at Defense News on how the declining yen may force Japan to defer the delivery for some of its F-35s. The current plan is for Japan to receive four F-35As from the Low Rate Initial Production Batch 8 (LRIP-8) in 2016/17 before locally assembling the remaining 38 locally by 2021.

The article also touches on other developments in Japan's fighter fleet, such as the moving of a second squadron of F-15J/DJs to Okinawa's Naha Airbase in 2015 and the upgrading of the JASDF's F-15 and F-2 fleets.

PHOTOS: Chengdu J-10A w/ targeting pod

Click on images above to access higher resolution

The photos above are those that have appeared over the past week or so, via Chinese internet forums, of a new targeting pod carried by a Chengdu J-10A. Despite the style of the tail serial number in the first photo, the aircraft does not belong PLA Navy Air Force (PLANAF), instead belonging to the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group as an in-house aircraft used for test and evaluation.

Via Andreas Rupprecht

PHOTO: Awesome view of Marine Hornet launching Sparrow AAM

U.S. Marine Corps photo by Capt. Christopher Prout. Click on thumbnail for high resolution image.

This photo is awesome on so many levels. It provides us with an insight into something we seldom have a chance to see as U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Christopher Prout with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 232, Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing shoots a AIM-7 Sparrow missile from a F/A-18C Hornet airplane while participating in a deployment for training (DFT) near Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., May 16, 2013. The DFT prepared the squadron for future combat and contingency operations.

On a side note, the Red Devils of VMFA-232 were deployed to the Asia-Pacific last year when they were spent six months at Marine Combat Air Station Iwakuni, Japan on rotation as part of the Marine Corps' Unit Deployment Program (UDP). Their stint in this part of the world included the squadron's participation in the multinational Exercise Pitch Black in Australia, which saw these other photos taken.

Kadena-based USAF F-15C crashes off Okinawa; pilot rescued

18th Wing F-15C Eagle

A United States Air Force F-15 Eagle from Kadena Air Base has crashed into the Pacific Ocean this morning Okinawa time. A Japanese military search-and-rescue team recovered the pilot around 10 a.m., about an hour after he ejected safely. The F-15 developed an unspecified problem leading to the pilot’s ejection about 70 miles (~115 km) northeast of Okinawa, the Kadena Air Base public affairs office said.

The USAF said the incident will be investigated and more details will be released as they become available. Kadena Air Base, on the island of Okinawa, is home to the USAF's 18th Wing which has two squadrons (the 44th and 67th Fighter Squadron) of F-15C/D Eagles.

EDIT: The USAF has now grounded Kadena's F-15s for one day to carry out a safety review and inspect the Wing's aircraft following the crash.

VMM-265's MV-22 Ospreys to take part in Talisman Sabre

In a wide-ranging interview with Second Line of Defence, the Commanding Office of Okinawa-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit has revealed that 10 Boeing MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft from Marine Medium Tilitrotor Squadron (VMM) 265 will deploy to Australia for the forthcoming Exercise Talisman Sabre. It is expected that seven Ospreys will operate from the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS BonHomme Richard (LHD-6) while three others will fly to Australia under their own power.

Some, or all of the Ospreys will then continue training with the Australia-based U.S Marine detachment in Australia's Northern Territories after Talisman Sabre, which runs from July 15 to August 5 2013 and will be held mainly in Northern and Central Queensland. The Marine exercises in the NT are expected to last till September.

This will mark the first visit by the V-22 Osprey and the BonHomme Richard to Australia, with both VMM-265 and the "Bonnie Dick" having arrived on station in MCAS Futenma in Okinawa and Sasebo Naval Base in Japan respectively in 2012. Talisman Sabre is a biennial joint Australia-United States military exercise held in Australia. Other than amphibious forces, recent Talisman Sabre exercises have seen deployments by US Navy carrier groups, land-based Marine F/A-18 Hornets and US Air Force F-15 Eagles. At this moment, it is unclear what other US forces will be involved in Talisman Sabre 2013.

New Gallery: Exercise Pitch Black 2012

Finally got down to editing and uploading the photography from our visit to RAAF Darwin last August for Exercise Pitch Black 2012. 20 photos have now been added to the Pitch Black Gallery. The photo below, of Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18A+ Hornet A21-7 of 77 Sqn holding short on Darwin's Runway 29 while waiting for a Republic of Singapore Air Force Gulfstream 550 Conformal Airborne Early Warning aircraft to land, is my favourite photo from two days of shooting.

Indonesia turns down South Korean offer of F-5E/F Tiger IIs

Indonesia has turned down an offer by South Korea of surplus Northrop F-5E/F Tiger II interceptors to bolster the TNI-AU's Tiger II fleet. This linked article from Indonesia's Tempo newspaper is in Bahasa, but the gist of the article is in the paragraph below:

According to the TNI-AU's Chief of Staff Marshal Ida Bagus Putu, the RoKAF Tiger IIs are virtually in the original specification as delivered from Northrop in the 1970s, unlike the TNI-AU's fleet, which underwent an avionics upgrade in the 1990s. It was felt that the difference in configuration would add a burden to the maintenance cost.

Indonesia operates the survivors of 12 F-5Es and 4 F-5F two-seaters delivered in 1980. The aircraft underwent an upgrade in the 1990s, Belgium's SABCA installing new avionics offering commonality with the TNI-AU's F-16s and Hawk 109/209s, rewiring, structural repairs on at least one aircraft and a radar upgrade. This improved the F-5s air combat and ground attack capability, and enabled the type to serve as a lead-in trainer for the F-16s.

Spotter's badge for the article goes to ASPI's Natalie Sambhi (‏@SecurityScholar).

Taiwanese F-16 crashes into sea; pilot rescued

RoCAF (Taiwan) F-16B of the 455th TFW. Photo © unknown

A Republic of China (Taiwan) Air Force F-16A crashed into waters southwest of Chiayi in southern Taiwan on Wednesday, but its pilot ejected to safety, according to the RoCAF. The pilot, Lieutenant Wu Yen-ting, reported an unspecified problem soon after takeoff and ejected shortly after. He was rescued by a RoCAF S-70 Search and Rescue helicopter.

Chiayi (嘉義) is home to the 455th Tactical Fighter Wing of the RoCAF, which operates three squadrons (Tactical Fighter Groups in RoCAF parlance) of F-16A/B Block 20s.

Taiwan wants more than F-16s to replace F-5s, but who's selling?

Photo © Reuters

Taiwan's Defence Minister Kao Hua-chu has said that even if the United States were to soften its stance, Taiwan may not necessarily agree to buy 66 F-16C/Ds from the United States as the island looks for more advanced fighters for the future. Taiwan has been lobbying to acquire the F-16C/Ds for some time, however the United States has baulked at the sale for fear of antagonising China and offered to upgrade Taiwan's current fleet of 145 F-16A/Bs instead.

Which is well and good, but for the fact that with China continuing to successfully isolate Taiwan diplomatically, it is questionable that any of the countries who currently have advanced fighter programs will be willing to sell and risk China's ire. There aren't all that many 4th Gen fighter types available on that market now, and that already small pool shrinks even further once one takes into consideration the political/diplomatic minefield selling weapons to Taiwan currently is.

With the recent announcement that the survivors of the Republic of China Air Force's F-5E/F Tiger IIs are due to be retired in 2019, Taiwan's fighter needs in the face of a strengthening China will become more pressing, yet without a radical change in how the United States and other nations view their relationship with China vis-a-vis Taiwan, the latter will find it extremely difficult to find willing seller of arms.

Anyone can ID this aircraft seen at a PLAN bomber base? [SOLVED]

© Google

The above is a Google Earth satellite image, taken in January 2010 of Changzhou-Benniu (常州奔牛) airport/airbase in Jiangsu Province, China. It is a civil/military aerodrome, and the military side is the home to a regiment of People's Liberation Army - Navy (PLAN) Xi'an H-6 bombers. So it's no surprise to see H-6s parked on the ramp (like the aircraft on the left in the above photo) on the satellite images of the base taken at various times.

But it's the aircraft on the right that left me scratching my head. Using Google Earth's measurement tool, it comes up to an approximate length of 20m and a wingspan of 18m, with air intakes on either side of the fuselage and twin exhausts just after the wing trailing edge. The wing chord of this unidentified aircraft also appears to be thick, reminding one of the British Buccaneer. It appears to be a military aircraft of some description and is painted in the same white scheme as the PLANAF H-6s, but the plan view and wing shape does no appear to look like any aircraft known (by me) to be in the PLA (either PLAAF or PLANAF) inventory.

So, if you know, or would like to hazard a guess at what the aircraft is, do leave a comment below. It might just turn out to be something really prosaic and nothing earth-shattering, but I'll be most appreciative if it could be identified. Sorry, no prizes for the right answer though! (Other than perhaps a smug sense of self-satisfaction for the person who gets it right)

And if you would like to see the image on Google Earth for yourself, go to 31°55′07″N 119°49′20″E. Remember the image was dated Jan 3 2010, so you have to access Google's historical imagery to see this.

[UPDATE]: Thanks to Blitzo over at Key Publishing Forums, the mystery is now solved. Below is a photo, first posted at China Defense Forum last year, showing that our mystery "plane" is a mockup (for training purposes maybe?) of some sort. As expected, there was a perfectly logical answer, and nothing sinister whatsoever.

UPDATED: USAF KC-135 crashes in Kyrgyzstan, photos of crash site

A USAF Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker of the 22nd Air Refuelling Wing, normally based at McConnell AFB, Kansas has crashed soon after takeoff from Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan. Serialled 63-8877, the KC-135 was supporting coalition forces participating in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan when witnesses reported seeing the aircraft crashing into a hillside.

The aircraft, carrying three crewmembers, came down at 14:55 local time in the Panfilov district, between the villages of Cholok-Arik and Chorgolu, some 90km west of Bishkek, near the border with Kazakhstan.

Manas AB is located about 23km (14 miles) from the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek. Below are some photos of the crash site:

UPDATE: Sadly two of the crew have been found deceased among the wreckage of the aircraft. According to the Air Force, the crew were from the USAF's 92d Air Refueling Wing at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington. The aircraft itself had just recently arrived in-theater, having been logged by European planespotters in the Netherlands and United Kingdom departing RAF Mildenhall bound for Manas on the 2nd of May.

Meanwhile a new photo (below) has appeared purportedly showing the scene soon after the aircraft impacted the ground. Of note are the thin wisps of smoke near the top of the photo; which may (or may not) lend credence to eyewitnesses who said they saw the aircraft explode and fall to the ground in flames.

Australia confirms acquisition of 12 EA-18G Growlers, recommits to F-35

Click for hi-res. © Commonwealth of Australia

Confirming earlier reports, Australia has confirmed that it will acquire 12 new-build Boeing EA-18G Growler Electronic Attack aircraft in its Defence White Paper released today. (see P.77 and 88 of the White Paper). The Royal Australian Air Force's current fleet of 24 F/A-18F Super Hornets will retain their current configuration.

Australia has also reaffirmed its commitment to the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program, and expects to induct 3 operational squadrons of F-35s from 2020 to replace its current fleet of F/A-18A/B Hornets(P.88 of the White Paper). A decision on whether to replace the existing RAAF Super Hornets with more F-35s will be made closer to 2030.

China wants more (and bigger) aircraft carriers

Photo: Xinhua

Not exactly unexpected news, but a senior officer with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has said that China will have more than one aircraft carrier, and its next aircraft carrier(s) will be larger and carry more aircraft, including more fighters. China has recently completed the refurbishment of the Liaoning, a Kuznetsov-class carrier that was purchased unfinished from Ukraine soon after the turn of the century.

Rear Admiral Song Xue, deputy chief of staff of the PLA Navy, has also revealed that China plans for its future carriers to operate at least two aviation regiments on one carrier, including fighters, reconnaissance aircraft, anti-submarine aircraft, electronic countermeasure (ECM) planes and helicopters. As we have revealed on this blog before, there have already been sightings of what could possibly be China's future carrier-borne Airborne Early aircraft, based on the Y-7 transport (albeit heavily modified - possibly to fit inside a carrier) and reportedly designated the JZY-01.

So far, only the Shenyang J-15 Flying Shark carrier-borne fighter and the Changhe Z-8 helicopter have been pictured operating on the Liaoning. However, as she's widely expected to serve mostly as a training carrier, training up a core of naval and air crew, developing tactics and establishing a doctrine in carrier operations, we will probably see more training aircraft such as the Guizhou JT-9 carrier-borne trainer flying from the Liaoning.

As Flightglobal's Greg Waldron notes, if the PLA Navy were to operate a variety of (larger) aircraft types, it would also mean that it will almost certainly have to look beyond the current Short Take Off But Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) mode of carrier operations and invest in a Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) capability. Liaoning is equipped for STOBAR operations with a ski jump aiding aircraft take offs at the front of her flight deck, but this imposes fuel and payload restrictions on the J-15, limiting the type's combat effectiveness. More importantly, it prohibits larger aircraft (or aircraft with poorer thrust-weight ratios) from operating from the Liaoning. If China goes down the CATOBAR path, the challenge will then be for China to design and manufacture a working catapult system, as the only other countries operating the CATOBAR system at the moment are the United States, France and Brazil, and the willingness of these countries to transfer CATOBAR technology to China is questionable at best.

Oh, Rear Admiral Song has also said reports that the new carrier is currently being built at shipyards in Shanghai are not accurate. Whether that means that construction of China's next carrier has yet to begin, or if it is already being built someplace other than Shanghai, he did not say...

NOTE: This piece also appears at Asian Security Watch.

A couple of updates

I'm now guest blogging with the great team over at Asia Security Watch. If you haven't been there before, hop over now!

Have had a couple of news items/features/photos published in a couple of magazines the past couple of months. The Published Work section has been updated last week, which means...

...I haven't updated the info about the appearance of two of my photos on May 2013's Air Forces Monthly. One photo of two RAAF Hornets refueling taken from my ride on the RAAF KC-30A MRTT at the recent Avalon Airshow, and a photo of a Republic of Singapore AF F-15SG Strike Eagle at Exercise Pitch Black 2012.