Updates on new production aircraft

[bert]

Since it is a common source of questions (see the JSF thread) I thought I would put a bunch of info in one spot. Below are links to a number of aircraft currently in various stages of the acquisition process. Source for all the articles is Defense Industry Daily: while some articles are collated and have a number of links to other sources (including the primary contractor's propaganda), others are searches of their site and provide a lot of articles to wade through. This is by no means all the information that is out there, but it is enough to get you started.

Navy:

E-2D

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/e-2d-hawkeye-the-navys-new-awacs-03443/#more

P-8

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/p8-poseidon-mma-longrange-maritime-patrol-and-more-02980/#more

MH-60S

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/?s=mh-60s

MH-60R

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/?s=mh-60r

JSF

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/f35-joint-strike-fighter-events-contracts-2007-updated-02992/

USMC

H-1

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/snakes-rotors-usmc-h-1-helicopter-program-03541/#more

53K

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/ch53k-the-us-marines-hlr-helicopter-program-updated-01724/#more

MV-22

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/?s=v-22

 

[WVUBetaHornet]

Good post.. +1

 

[bunk22]

Would the T-6B be considered a new aircraft? I spoke with the current T-6B acquisitions (for lack of a better word) who said Whiting gets its first T-6B 01Dec 08 with a second shortly thereafter. Two T-6A's will add to those two to start the training for the first 6 IP's. Four more T-6B's will follow in March of 09. Dream Weaver was walking the halls of the wing working on the new course rules when I saw him and he fed me the info. Of course, all info is subject to change and written in pencil.

 

[bert]

It would. There are some interesting aspects to the program from an acquisition point of view (involving the Flight Risk Clause and the contract) but it is on track for Dec 08 as far as I know.

 

[kmac]

Where's the C-2B???

And when is Corpus going to get the T-6A?

 

[MasterBates]

I'm thinking they will just get another batch of C-2A(R2)..

And Kmac, you will fly the -34C and LIKE IT.

 

[Dingobat]

There's something about that -53K that gives me the shivers. It's such a friggen' beast!

 

[jamnww]

There's something about that -53K that gives me the shivers. It's such a friggen' beast!

hopefully I am still around when the switch over comes...

 

[phrogpilot73]

Speaking of the 53K - if anyone has any questions I may be able to answer some of them (based of course on limiting it to UNCLASS, and also not revealing trade secrets), since I work on that contract...

 

[E5B]

I find it interesting that the K does not have jettison capable Aux tanks. Any idea on how much the sponsons will hold in lbs?

 

[usmarinemike]

phrog, there seems to be a significant gap in the 53Es end of life and the 53K's production start time (which is always prone to being shoved back). Does the Marine Corps have an answer for this?

This looks like a situation strangely similar to the F18C/D to F35B gap (except without the waving of the F18E/F in front of the Corps's face trying to get them to bite.)


By the way, I see this thread eventually getting split into 10 different threads...Have fun with that mods.

 

[bert]

there seems to be a significant gap in the 53Es end of life and the 53K's production start time (which is always prone to being shoved back). Does the Marine Corps have an answer for this?

End of service life for an aircraft type is very much a moving target - look at the Navy's 60B/F/H's that just got an across the board approval to extend to 14k.

 

[Son of a Grunt]

I read on Wiki that the F-35B will replace the AV-8 and F-18 by 2012 for the Marines. However, there is no reference, so can anyone of your pros confirm this.

Here is a video I saw about the Lightning II:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:F-35_compilation.ogg

 

[hscs]

End of service life for an aircraft type is very much a moving target - look at the Navy's 60B/F/H's that just got an across the board approval to extend to 14k.

yet the bean counters want to mothball HHs that have 6k hours on them???????

Never had enough of those to go around.

 

[bert]

yet the bean counters want to mothball HHs that have 6k hours on them???????

Never had enough of those to go around.

Some hours are "longer" than others when it comes to airframe life, but Navy politics are driving that bus.