Military Heat

After tens of years of development and tens of billions of dollars spent on the project, the world’s first production tiltrotor aircraft, the V-22 Osprey entered service with the U.S Marines. There is still a lot of controversy surrounding this aircraft, so how exactly did it all begin?

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North Carolina (SSN-777) was delivered by Northrop Grumman Newport News to the United States Navy. The North Carolina is the last ship of the First Block, following the USS Virginia (SSN-774), the USS Texas (SSN-775) and the USS (SSN-776) that are already in service. Also, the brand new Virginia class attack submarine will be the fifth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the 12th state. (Read more…)

The Visby Class of stealth corvettes is being built for the Swedish Navy by the Swedish company Kockums (a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems of Germany). Visby is the first operational stealth ship in the world. The first ship of the new stealth corvette class is named after the main city on the island of Gotland, Visby.
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The Sea Shadow is an experimental stealth ship designed by the US Navy, Lockheed and DARPA ( Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). The Sea Shadow was ordered in 1982 to examine the applicability of stealth technology on naval vessels as well as a test bed for automatic on-board systems to reduce the number of crew members. (Read more…)

Dissimilar air combat training ( DACT ) was introduced as a formal US air combat training during the Vietnam war, following the 9 to 1 kill ratio of North Korean MiGs over US air assets. Thus Topgun was introduced. The idea of the DACT is to place pilots in simulated aerial combat using different types of aircraft ( rather then have them using the same type ) in order to understand the value of knowing the enemy’s weak points. Here is a video of Topgun DACT featuring the US Navy F-16 Falcon versus the F-14 Tomcat . The instructors, flying the Vipers, play the role of aggressors while the students fly the Tomcats. Seems the students still have something to learn. (Read more…)

In 2006 the US Navy VAW-116 “Sun Kings” Command and Control Squadron that deploys aboard USS Abraham Lincoln became famous after releasing their version of the “Pump It” music video, by the Black Eyed Peas. The video production started out as a way to fight off boredom on the long patrols but turned out to be quite a hit, with more than a million views on YouTube. The video was also aired on national television. (Read more…)

The Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is a larger and more advanced variant of the F/A-18C/D Hornet. The Super Hornet is 20% larger, 7,000 lb heavier empty and 15,000 lb heavier at maximum weight than the Hornet. The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet has replaced the F-14 Tomcat in the United States Navy’s primary maritime air superiority fighter role and is 11,000 lb lighter than the Tomcat at empty weight.
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In November 1963 the C-130 Hercules made history by setting a record for the largest and heaviest airplane landing on a Navy aircraft carrier. The aircraft carrier was the USS Forrestal, a US Navy supercarrier named after former Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal. The Forrestal was launched on December 11th, 1954, and was the lead ship of her class of aircraft carriers.
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On January 4, 1989, two US F-14 Tomcats downed two Libyan MiG-23 Flogger Es in an engagement that has come to be known as the Gulf of Sidra incident. This was the second Gulf of Sidra incident following the downing of two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 Fitters in August 19, 1981.

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One of the most advanced submarines in the world is the German Type 212 class. Equipped with a fuel cell propulsion system, the Type 212 submarines are the first of only two fuel cell propulsion system equipped submarines, the other being the Russian Lada class submarine.

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There is a saying: “If it’s ugly, it’s British; if it’s weird, it’s French; and if it’s ugly and weird, it’s Russian.” On October 18, 1966, the KM Ekranoplan, Russian for Wing-In-Ground effect vehicle ( WIG) flew for the first time. Larger than any other flying craft at the time, the Ekranoplan was nicknamed the Caspian Sea Monster. (Read more…)

The Phalanx close-in defense system was first fitted to the USS Coral Sea in 1980 and is actually a 20 mm M61 Vulcan (Gatling-type) rotary cannon which is controlled by a system that acquires and tracks possible threats by radar.

Initially the system was able to fire only 3000 rounds per minute, but that improved as the Block 1, 1A and 1B came into play with upgraded radar, control systems, new sensors (FLIR) and rates of fire up to 7000 rpm.
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In the late 1960’s a secret program was undertaken by the US Air Force and Navy to evaluate flight characteristics of soviet built aircraft. The US acquired aircraft, radar systems, missiles as well as other hardware from friendly nations (Israel,Egypt,etc.) or aircraft used by their pilots to defect. The program continued until the early 1990’s, when the fall of the Soviet Union led to the end of the Cold War. (Read more…)

The Scorpene class submarines are part of a new class developed by DCNS (former DCN) of France and Navantia of Spain.Chile has ordered two of these new submarines to replace the Oberon Class submarines (retired in 1998 and 2003).

In June 2002 the Royal Malaysian Navy also ordered two Scorpene submarines and in October 2005 India placed an order for six Scorpene submarines that will be built at Mazagon dockyard in Bombay.

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Launched in 1985 but fully operational 10 years later, the Admiral Kuznetsov is the only aircraft carrier in the Russian Navy.Under the name Project 1143.5 or Orel Class, the Kuznetsov was constructed at Nikolayev South Shipyard on the Black Sea in the Ukraine. Construction began September 1st 1982 and the ship was laid down in 1983.Only 71% complete by summer 1989 the ship has undergone major maintenance and refits to return to the Northern Fleet.

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