Tag: Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II

Iran’s Su-35 Aircraft Procurement Is More Dangerous Than You Think

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Iran’s Su-35 Aircraft Procurement Is More Dangerous Than You Think

Related:

The Difficulty of Disrupting Iranian Drones

Russia and Iran Are Building a Trade Route That Defies Sanctions

In all of this, some analysts see echoes of an idea that dates back more than a century and is reckoned to be the foundation of geopolitical thinking. It focused on the struggle between an oceangoing world power—the UK then, the US today—and the land giants of Eurasia. [Heartland Theory]

GOP won’t bird-dog defense budget with these hawks at the helm

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Speaker McCarthy may have promised to cut defense spending, but his early actions suggest that he has little interest in rocking the boat.

GOP won’t bird-dog defense budget with these hawks at the helm

How Much it Actually Costs to Fly U.S. Military Aircraft

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

How Much it Actually Costs to Fly U.S. Military Aircraft

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter costs $41,986 an hour across all models, including the F-35A for the Air Force, the F-35B for the Marine Corps, and the F-35C for the Marine Corps and Navy. The Air Force in particular is stuck with the headache of replacing the F-16, which costs $26,927 an hour, with a plane that costs 25 percent more to operate, permanently raising costs. This is especially a problem as the F-35 was originally promised to cost the same to operate as the F-16. The Air Force must now either buy fewer F-35s or figure out how to foot a bigger annual bill.

RISE OF THE MACHINES: AI to the Rescue as the Military Continues to Struggle With Pilot Shortage

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

AI to the Rescue as the Military Continues to Struggle With Pilot Shortage

Only further causing headache this year was the fact that the Air Force had to temporarily ground nearly 300 trainer aircraft over concerns that their ejection seats would not fire correctly in an emergency. The problem, which also impacted the entire Air Force’sF-35A Lightning II fleet, was also discovered in 203 T-38 Talons and 76 T-6 Texans IIs.

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There are now various efforts underway to use advanced technology to address the pilot shortage gap. The United States Air Force and Merlin Labs are now developing software that could allow the Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules to fly with just a single pilot, whereby artificial intelligence (AI) would act as the second pilot. The C-130, built at Lockheed Martin’s facilities in Marietta, Georgia, now holds the record for the longest continuous production run of any military aircraft – first entering service in 1954.

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The software will be able to follow verbal instructions* from air traffic control, while the goal is for it to respond much like a human pilot. It is just one of several efforts currently underway to explore how AI can fill the pilot shortage.

The U.S. Army is also looking at how AI could be employed in its aircraft. Earlier this year, a Sikorsky UH-60A successfully conducted a 30-minute flight over Fort Campbell, Kentucky. It had no pilot or aircrew. The test was conducted as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program.

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“All modern combat jets are inherently instable, which makes them more maneuverable, and only fly due to the help of a computer,” explained technology industry analyst Roger Entner of Recon Analytics.

Hope that it’s better than Apple’s Voice Control.