U.S. Navy Compromises on Ship Programs

The U.S. Navy’s topline fiscal 2013 baseline budget request of about $155.9 billion is a study in compromise, protecting some of the service’s signature programs by reducing some, delaying some, and scuttling some other programs altogether.

The request is about $9.5 billion less than planned for in the fiscal 2012 budget, and the proposed Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) includes about $58 billion less than had been planned going into the middle part of the decade.

The budget proposal adds funding for the next-generation aircraft carriers, but also includes a plan to drop to 10 carriers in fiscal 2013 from the current fleet of 11 — a temporary reduction, analysts note.

And while the budget proposal continues to support submarine programs, the spending plan reduces the level of funding for the Ohio-class nuclear-missile submarine fleet and delays the procurement of a Virginia-class sub to fiscal 2018 from 2014.

The Navy also intends to reduce the procurement of the Joint High Speed Vessel and terminate the fleet oiler replacement, T-AO(X).

Another program facing reductions across the FYDP is the MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor, which has become a workhorse for the Navy and U.S. Marine Corps.

Of the $155.9 billion, the largest share is being proposed for operations and maintenance, about $49.9 billion, with about $44.2 billion being sought for personnel, $42.5 billion being requested for procurement, $16.9 billion being tagged for research and development and $2.4 billion being slated for military construction.

The proposed procurement request breaks out this way: $17.3 billion for aircraft, $3.1 billion for weapons, $13.6 billion for shipbuilding and conversion, $6.3 billion for “other” Navy procurement, $2.6 billion for the Marine Corps and $1 billion for ammunition.

Altogether, total procurement is about $32 billion less than the proposed fiscal 2012 budget, including requested cuts of about $14.6 billion for aircraft, $10.1 billion for ships, $1.1 billion for weapons, $2.5 billion for the Marine Corps, $700 million for ammunition and $3 billion for other Navy procurement.

The research and development request is about $2.3 billion less than the previous fiscal year’s, and operations and maintenance amounts are about $2.6 billion less.

-aviationweek.com

V-22 gets more lift options via software change

A test team from the V-22 Joint Program Office spent about six weeks in Logan, Utah confirming that a small software change will result in more lift capability for the Osprey.

The actual change calls for the V-22 rotors to be tilted about four degrees outward. This change reduces the air flow from the rotors over the wings, which allows the V-22 to carry more weight and achieve greater overall performance in hover mode.

“We did see the performance gain from the software change that we expected,” said Trevor Strand, V-22 flight test engineer. “It gives the pilot more options. He can either carry more fuel, more troops, go to higher altitudes, or some combination of the three.”

This effort was the result of about two years of work by NAVAIR engineers to improve the hover performance of the V-22. The software change that was measured and confirmed in Logan has already been implemented into some MV-22s. The plan is to upgrade all V-22s by the end of the year. The test team is currently updating performance documentation for V-22 operators.

The V-22 team averages about one off-site test event a year. Considerable research and planning goes into finding just the right spot.

“We don’t like to do all of our hover performance testing at sea level because the proprotor is not working at its maximum limits,” Strand said. “We don’t want to max out the engines at a very high altitude like 9,000 feet either so the ideal location is somewhere in between.”

Source: TheBAYNET.com

Navy’s Osprey completes successful biofuel test flight

The Navy and Marine Corps team reached another milestone toward achieving the Secretary of the Navy’s energy goals by successfully flying a Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey on biofuel Aug. 10, at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.

“This is the first Marine Corps and tilt rotor aircraft to fly on biofuels,” said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. “This brings us one step closer to reducing our dependence on foreign oil and becoming more energy secure and independent.”

The “Blackjacks” of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (HX) 21 flew the Osprey tilt rotor aircraft at altitudes of up to 25,000 feet on a 50/50 blend of camelina based and standard petroleum based JP-5 (aviation) fuel. The camelina sativa plant is a U.S. grown, non-food feedstock plant.

The MV-22 is a multi-mission aircraft, flown by the Marine Corps, and combines the functionality of a helicopter with the long range and high speed of a turboprop aircraft.

“The MV-22 testing builds upon our successful test flights of the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet, F/A-18 C/D legacy Hornet, MH-60S Seahawk as well as extensive testing in the Navy’s Patuxent River fuels lab in demonstrating that Navy and Marine Corps aircraft can safely operate on fuel produced from renewable sources,” said Rick Kamin, the Navy Fuels lead.

Story and photo from navair.navy.mil

VMM-161 becomes First West Coast Osprey squadron

As the first West Coast Osprey squadron to meet final operating capability requirements, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 161 is now “an official squadron in the Fleet Marine Force,” said Houston native Maj. Jeffery D. Cabana, the aircraft maintenance officer for the “Greyhawks.”

VMM-161 reached its FOC milestone in the allotted 18 months with 26 pilots flying approximately 2,388 flight hours, 110 maintenance personnel, 12 MV-22B Ospreys and obtaining a T-3 rating in the Defense Readiness Reporting System – allowing the squadron to enter into a Pre-deployment Training Program or Marine expeditionary unit work-up cycle.

What makes this significant for VMM-161 is that it is now eligible to enter the deployment cycle and take pressure off the East Coast VMMs – or other aviation squadrons – that are deploying more often due to the non-operational status of the West Coast squadrons, explained Capt. Ahron K. Oddman, a Greyhawks’ pilot training officer from Brooklyn, N.Y.

“It’s an added tax from which we didn’t have, but makes the West Coast MV-22 transition more seamless,” he continued.

Now that the squadron has its FMF status, the Greyhawks look forward to getting into the deployment rotation cycle as early as this fall or as late as next summer.

Source: dvidshub.net