B-1B Lancers Upgraded

As part of the Sustainment-Block 16 program, Rockwell’s supersonic strategic bomber, B-1B Lancers are currently getting their most advanced hardware and software upgrades. The upgrades include a fully integrated data link in the station and vertical situation display in the front. Updates on the navigation, radar and diagnostic systems are also being done. The 337th Test and Evaluation Squadron Assistant Director, Major Thomas Bryant said that the following upgrades will give them an entirely new aircraft.

The crew station will now receive five new color displays all capable of providing moving maps and data link integration. While the weapon system officers will now have a full “QWERTY” keyboards and controllers to interface with the integrated battle station software.

The pilots will receive a new digital flight instrument display providing more precise flight parameters. The pilot and co-pilot stations each will start receiving a new 8-inch by 10-inch multi-function display installed in the crew station.

“Command and control assets will have the ability to send us targets electronically, automatically linking into our system rather than manually entering the coordinates” Bryant said. “The new data link capability is huge for the B-1B Lancer.”

These new situation displays provide independent interactive, moving maps and link information to the front station supplying them identical information available to the station. Developmental testing for the entire Sustainment-Block 16 package is scheduled to begin around March of 2013. The B-1B Lancers will then be tested and will start to operate in September of 2013.

The former Rockwell manufacturer, now part of Boeing, B-1 Lancer aircraft is a four-engine variable-sweep wing strategic bomber used by the United States Air Force (USAF). The B-1B Lancers started service on 1986 with the USAF Strategic Air Command as a nuclear bomber.

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Source: http://www.defencetalk.com

Video: First Test Flight for Military’s Phantom Eye

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) – A new Boeing unmanned drone that is designed to stay airborne for days has completed its first autonomous flight at Edwards Air Force Base, despite a rocky landing.

Manufactured by Boeing, U.S Military’ Phantom Eye, made its first test flight at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center last week, the company announced on Monday. They stated that the 28-minute flight of the Phantom Eye began at 6:22 a.m. Friday and the aircraft reached an altitude of 4,080 feet and a cruising speed of 62 knots before landing at the California desert base.

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Boeing says after touching down, the drone was damaged when the landing gear dug into a lakebed and broke.

“We don’t know yet (when it will fly again). We’re in the process of assessing the damage,” says Boeing. “Beyond that I can’t really give you a better picture, we’re going to have to figure out where we’re at.”

The drone is powered by liquid-hydrogen and the company says it can go up to four days in the air without refueling.

Boeing Phantom Works President Darryl Davis hailed the flight as the beginning of “a new era” of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

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News source: http://www.wric.com