Air Force Wants A Bomber That Balances Cost With Capability

Gestart door jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter), 16/01/2013 | 11:53 uur

Sparkplug

A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Sparkplug

A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Sparkplug

A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Sparkplug

A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.


Sparkplug

A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.


Harald

Rolls-Royce Will Build F130 in Indianapolis If It Wins B-52 Re-Engining

Rolls-Royce has officially selected the F130, a variant of the commercial BR700, as its entrant in the B-52 re-engining competition, and will build the powerplant at its freshly renovated Indianapolis, Ind., facility if it wins the contract, company Vice President for Military Strategic Systems John Kusnierek told reporters during a telecon Monday.

Rolls said it has invested $600 million over the last few years in its Indianapolis plant, and Kusnierek said the upgrades were designed for "this-sized engine." The company anticipates it will hire 150 additional engineering, manufacturing, and program management workers in Indianapolis if it wins the B-52 re-engining contest. The facility has new digital design capabilities, as well as improved "efficiency and capacity," which Kusnierek said will be important for the competition.

Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper said last September he anticipates a "digital flyoff" among competing engines for the B-52 work.

Indianapolis is the site of Rolls' "Liberty Works" advanced development shop, and the company said it has invested $1 billion in Research and development in the last six years. 

Kusnierek said the F130—also flying on USAF's E-11 BACN and C-37—will undergo final assembly, test, and integration in Indianapolis, but declined to discuss the specific amount of US part content, saying only there is "variety" in the F130 supply chain. The F130 will be an "American" engine, he asserted.

General Electric and Pratt & Whitney also are expected to offer engines for the B-52 program. The fiscal year 2020 defense budget request is expected to offer details on the timeline of the B-52 re-engining program. 

The B-52 work "fits perfectly with our plans" for Indianapolis, Kusnierek asserted, and the F130, given its 17,000 pounds of thrust and physical size, is a "perfect fit" for the venerable bomber. The company also produces engines for the C-130J transport, CV-22 Osprey, and Global Hawk remotely piloted aircraft at the Indianapolis facility. Rolls has previously said it would likely offer the F130 for the B-52 contest.

The Air Force is seeking a commercial, off-the-shelf replacement for the Pratt & Whitney TF33 engine, which was original equipment on the eight-engined B-52H, the last of which was built in 1962. The service seeks a one-for-one replacement of the TF33, with new powerplants clustered in four two-engine nacelles per jet. For its fleet of 76 B-52s, the Air Force needs over 600 engines, plus some spares. Rolls pegged the requirement at 650 engines.

Rolls noted that it has amassed 22 million flight hours on the BR700 series, and "over 200,000 combat hours" with the F130 in USAF service. Rolls said it employs 6,000 people in the US, and indirectly supports 52,000 jobs in 27 states.

http://www.airforcemag.com/Features/Pages/2019/February%202019/Rolls-Royce-Will-Build-F130-in-Indianapolis-if-it-wins-B-52-Re-Engining.aspx

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

Retired General Says F-22 Production Was Killed So That A New Bomber Could Live

Other revelations include the Next Generation Bomber was to be armed with air-to-air missiles and the B-21 is indeed one part of a family of systems.

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/20472/retired-general-says-f-22-production-was-killed-so-that-a-new-bomber-could-live

Sparkplug

A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.



Sparkplug

Citaat van: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 19/09/2016 | 18:30 uur
Air Force Unveils Name of Future Stealth Bomber as B-21 'Raider'

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/09/19/air-force-unveils-name-of-future-b21-bomber-as-tk.html?ESRC=todayinmil.sm

Beter Raider dan Nuts of Snicker  ;D

Om bij oude Northrop namen te blijven, had ik voor Black Widow (Northrop P-61) gekozen.
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.


Sparkplug

USAF basing revised bomber count on 'minimum' of 100 B-21s

By James Drew, Washington DC | 20 April 2016

US Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) expects to complete an analysis of its bomber force numbers by the end of this calendar year, but already says that number will be based around a "minimum" operational requirement for 100 Northrop Grumman B-21s.

The major command's chief Gen Robin Rand said at the Air Warfare Symposium in February that America's needs somewhere between "175 and 200" combined strategic and conventional bombers.

The command counts 159 bombers in its inventory today including the B-1B, B-52H and B-2A.

"AFGSC continues to analyse the required future bomber force structure which includes successfully fielding a minimum of 100 B-21s," an AFGSC spokeswoman says in an email. "AFGSC is very focused on ensuring we are ready with properly trained operators and maintainers for the B-21. The minimum of 100 B-21s that we intend to field will fly with a mix of legacy bombers and the total number of bombers required is still being evaluated."

The air force has moved forward with its $80 billion bomber acquisition after teammates Boeing and Lockheed Martin unsuccessfully challenged the selection of Northrop.

The secretive B-21 aircraft, powered by an undisclosed Pratt & Whitney engine, will enter service sometime in the mid-2020s. It will replace the B-1 and B-52, and eventually the Northrop B-2.


Northrop Grumman B-21 concept image
US Air Force

However, if Global Strike's bomber count is bumped up, the air force may retain some of those old bombers for longer until the B-21 is fielded in greater quantities.

"Eventually, the B-21 will replace much of the legacy bomber fleet," AFGSC confirms. "We must continue to sustain and modernise the B-1, B-2 and B-52 until sufficient B-21's are operational.

"This process will not occur overnight, it will take time to manufacture B-21s in addition to organising and training aircrew and maintainers. One main focus is to ensure we are able to meet current taskings and US Central Command requirements by sustaining and modernising our current bomber force. The other is successfully fielding a minimum of 100 B-21s."


US Air Force

In introduced in the 1960s, the B-52H is currently expected to remain in service until its 80th anniversary. It's currently being equipped with a smart rotary launcher to carry smart weapons like the Boeing Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), Lockheed Martin AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and Raytheon ADM-160 Miniature Air-Launched Decoy-Jammer (MALD-J) internally.

This month, B-52s from Barksdale AFB in Louisiana arrive at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar to join the air campaign against the Islamic State terrorist group in Iraq and Syria, assuming the mission from the B-1Bs that brought home for maintenance and upgrades.

Though it's equipped for nuclear war, air force officials say the new aircraft will operate as a conventional munitions truck and "battle network node" in its day-to-day role.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/usaf-basing-revised-bomber-count-on-minimum-of-100-424433/
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.