Warton, United Kingdom - The first ever release of a Paveway IV precision guided bomb from a Typhoon aircraft, using the avionics system to safely release the weapon, has been achieved in an hour long test flight over the Aberporth Range in Wales. The integration of Paveway IV demonstrates a commitment to enhance and upgrade Typhoon’s capabilities in its ground attack role and forms part of the Typhoon Future Capability Upgrade.
Typhoon Test Pilot Nat Makepeace, who was at the controls of development aircraft IPA6, said: “This was a successful test flight demonstrating the avionics system is able to use global positioning system (GPS) data and target information sourced from the aircraft to prepare for the release. All communication with the aircraft and safe release of the bomb went to plan.”
Paveway IV is a highly accurate, precision guided bomb capable of significantly minimising collateral damage. It is low cost and will provide Typhoonpilots with the very best technology for operations with its all-weather, day and night precision capability.
The test is part of an ongoing programme to integrate Paveway IV onto the aircraft and builds on the environmental and jettison trials which have already been performed.
Paveway IV is expected to be provided to the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) early in 2012 when the RAF will start operational evaluation.
This work further demonstrates the systems integration capabilities of the BAE Systems Typhoon team. These skills are essential for the continued development of the Typhoon aircraft. The team is working closely with the MOD, the Eurofighter partner nations and Raytheon on this development programme.
Paveway IV is the next generation guided weapon selected by the UK Ministry of Defence for the Precision Guided Bomb (PGB) programme. In an environment where time sensitive targeting remains fundamental to success, Paveway IV provides the ultimate in operational flexibility. The combat proven dual-mode guidance, together with height of burst and penetrating capability in one weapon system, enable the decision of target engagement to be made right up to the point of release.
Paveway IV has been successfully integrated onto the Harrier GR9/9A and Tornado GR4 and under contract is being integrated onto Typhoon and Joint Combat Aircraft. It expands the boundaries of traditional laser guided weapons and also exceeds the range of rival GPS guided bombs. The enhanced launch zone increases both weapon effectiveness and platform survivability.
USS MOUNT WHITNEY, Mediterranean Sea (AFNS) -- Two crew members ejected from their U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle when the aircraft experienced equipment malfunction over northeast, Libya, March 21, at approximately 5:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
Both crew members ejected and are safe.
The aircraft, based out of Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, was flying out of Aviano Air Base in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn at the time of the incident.
The cause of the incident is under investigation.
The identities will be released after the next of kin have been notified.
Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn is the U.S. Africa Command task force established to provide operational and tactical command and control of U.S. military forces supporting the international response to the unrest in Libya and enforcement of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1973. UNSCR 1973 authorizes all necessary measures to protect civilians in Libya under threat of attack by Qadhafi regime forces.
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. (AFNS) -- Airmen piloting three B-2 Spirits returned to Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., after striking targets in Libya in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn.
The B-2s returned after a more than 25-hour mission in support of the international response to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya.
The B-2s employed 45 guided joint direct attack munitions, each weighing 2,000 pounds, against hardened aircraft shelters in Libya, officials said.
A no-fly zone was imposed by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, authorizing military action in order to ensure the protection of the Libyan people and compliance with the conditions of UNSCR 1973.
Airmen assigned to the 608th Air Operations Center here coordinated four aerial refuelings for the B-2s during the mission, officials said. The Airmen coordinated the transition of command and control between Global Strike Command and U.S. Africa Command as the aircraft flew from the continental U.S. to African air space and back, officials said.
The goal of coalition strikes is to reduce the Libyan regime's ability to defy the no-fly zone and to enhance protection of coalition air forces charged with implementing it.
TRIPOLI: Western forces hit targets along the Libyan coast on Saturday, using strikes from air and sea to force Muammar Gaddafi's troops to cease fire and end attacks on civilians.
Libyan state television said 48 people had been killed and 150 wounded in the allied air strikes. It also said there had been a fresh wave of strikes on Tripoli early on Sunday.
There was no way to independently verify the claims. French planes fired the first shots in what is the biggest international military intervention in the Arab world since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, destroying tanks and armoured vehicles in the region of the rebels' eastern stronghold, Benghazi.
Hours later, US and British warships and submarines launched 110 Tomahawk missiles against air defences around the capital Tripoli and the western city of Misrata, which has been besieged by Gaddafi's forces, US military officials said.
They said US forces and planes were working with Britain, France, Canada and Italy in operation "Odyssey Dawn".
Gaddafi called it "colonial, crusader" aggression. "It is now necessary to open the stores and arm all the masses with all types of weapons to defend the independence, unity and honour of Libya," he said in an audio message broadcast on state television hours after the strikes began.
China and Russia, which abstained in the U.N. Security Council vote last week endorsing intervention, expressed regret at the military action. China's Foreign Ministry said it hoped the conflict would not lead to a greater loss of civilian life.
Explosions and heavy anti-aircraft fire rattled Tripoli in the early hours of Sunday. The shooting was followed by defiant shouts of "Allahu Akbar" that echoed around the city centre.
Libyan state television showed footage from an unidentified hospital of what it called victims of the "colonial enemy". Ten bodies were wrapped up in white and blue bed sheets, and several people were wounded, one of them badly, the television said.
Tripoli residents said they had heard an explosion near the eastern Tajoura district, while in Misrata they said strikes had targeted an airbase used by Gaddafi's forces.
A Reuters witness in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi reported loud explosions and anti-aircraft fire, but it was unclear which side was shooting.
The intervention, after weeks of diplomatic wrangling, was welcomed in Benghazi with a mix of apprehension and relief.
"We think this will end Gaddafi's rule. Libyans will never forget France's stand with them. If it weren't for them, then Benghazi would have been overrun tonight," said Iyad Ali, 37.
"We salute France, Britain, the United States and the Arab countries for standing with Libya. But we think Gaddafi will take out his anger on civilians. So the West has to hit him hard," said civil servant Khalid al-Ghurfaly, 38.
GADDAFI SEEN LOSING GRIP ON LIBYA
The air strikes, launched from a flotilla of some 25 coalition ships, including three US submarines, in the Mediterranean, followed a meeting in Paris of Western and Arab leaders backing the intervention.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said participants had agreed to use "all necessary means, especially military" to enforce the Security Council resolution calling for an end to attacks on civilians.
"Colonel Gaddafi has made this happen," British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters after the meeting. "We cannot allow the slaughter of civilians to continue."
Some analysts have questioned the strategy for the military intervention, fearing Western forces might be sucked into a long civil war despite a US insistence -- repeated on Saturday -- that it has no plans to send ground troops into Libya.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper suggested that outside powers hoped their intervention would be enough to turn the tide against Gaddafi and allow Libyans to force him out.
"It is our belief that if Mr. Gaddafi loses the capacity to enforce his will through vastly superior armed forces, he simply will not be able to sustain his grip on the country."
But analysts have questioned what Western powers will do if the Libyan leader digs in, especially since they do not believe they would be satisfied with a de facto partition which left rebels in the east and Gaddafi running a rump state in the west.
One participant at the Paris meeting said Clinton and others had stressed Libya should not be split in two. And on Friday, Obama specifically called on Gaddafi's forces to pull back from the western cities of Zawiyah and Misrata as well from the east.
"It's going to be far less straightforward if Gaddafi starts to move troops into the cities which is what he has been trying to do for the past 24 hours," said Marko Papic at the STRATFOR global intelligence group.
"Once he does that it becomes a little bit more of an urban combat environment and at that point it's going to be difficult to use air power from 15,000 feet to neutralize that."
The Libyan government has blamed rebels, who it says belong to al Qaeda, for breaking a ceasefire it announced on Friday.
In Tripoli, several thousand people gathered at the Bab al-Aziziyah palace, Gaddafi's compound bombed by US warplanes in 1986, to show their support.
"There are 5,000 tribesmen that are preparing to come here to fight with our leader. They better not try to attack our country," said farmer Mahmoud el-Mansouri.
"We will open up Libya's deserts and allow Africans to flood to Europe to blow themselves up as suicide bombers."
US SAYS NOT LEADING INTERVENTION
France and Britain have taken a lead role in pushing for international intervention in Libya and the United States -- after embarking on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- has been at pains to stress it is supporting, not leading, the operation.
In announcing the missile strikes, which came eight years to the day after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, Obama said the effort was intended to protect the Libyan people.
"Today I authorised the armed forces of the United States to begin a limited action in Libya in support of an international effort to protect Libyan civilians," Obama told reporters in Brasilia, where he had begun a five-day tour of Latin America.
He said US troops were acting in support of allies, who would lead the enforcement of a no-fly zone to stop Gaddafi's attacks on rebels. "As I said yesterday, we will not, I repeat, we will not deploy any US troops on the ground," Obama said.
But despite Washington's determination to stress its limited role, Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, director of the US military's Joint Staff, said the strikes were only a first phase.
Earlier on Saturday, hundreds of cars full of refugees fled Benghazi towards the Egyptian border after the city came under a bombardment overnight. One family of 13 women from a grandmother to small children, rested at a roadside hotel.
"I'm here because when the bombing started last night my children were vomiting from fear," said one of them, a doctor. "All I want to do is get my family to a safe place and then get back to Benghazi to help. My husband is still there."
Those who remained set up make-shift barricades on main streets, each manned by half a dozen rebels.
In the besieged western city of Misrata, residents said government forces shelled the rebel town again early on Saturday, while water supplies had been cut off for a third day.
Taurus KEPD 350 AG of Germany and the Swedish Air Force long-range cruise missiles produced by TAURUS Systems and is operated by the Air Force in Germany and Spain. TAURUS Systems GmbH live LFK (EADS / MBDA) and is established between the Swedish Saab Bofors Dynamics.
During the development of range 150 ~ 350 ㎞-class long-distance engineering support guided missile as Tornado, Eurofighter, Mirage, Rafale, Gripen, F-16, F-18, and the Australian F-111 fighter bomber and operated in the goal was, and Australia from the U.S. AGM -158 JASSM is introduced is missing.
Stealth has a maximum range of formal and 500 kilometres (311 mi) is larger than. Taurus up to the turbo engine, the pen is flying as mach 0.8 ~ 0.9 Tornado, Eurofighter Typhoon, Gripen and F/A-18 fighters can operate.
Dual 499-kilogram (1,100 lb) warhead Mephisto (Multi-Effect Penetrator, HIgh Sophisticated and Target Optimised) referred to as precharge and initial penetrating charge to shape the land or the entrance to the bunker destroyed by bombing targets jutandureul with delayed fuses destroyed.
Missile weight is 1,400 kg (3,086 lb) and maximum diameter of body 1 m (3.3 ft) is. Primary targets well-protected bunkers, command posts, command and control systems, air base facilities, port facilities, AMS / ammunition storage; sea or being anchored vessels, bridges, etc. is.
In addition, fully equipped self-defense mechanism to respond. Programmers mission targets, air defense location, terrain, pathways, and considering the type of missile and missile program is launched IBN (Image Based Navigation), INS (Inertial Navigation System), TRN (Terrain Referenced Navigation) and MIL-GPS ( Global Positioning System) and the low-altitude terrain, close to the flight course may be closer to the target. In addition, long distance, without the support of GPS navigation is available.
Introduced so far by 57 countries and ten million euros to the German Air Force Luftwaffe ordered six white flag, is being introduced in Spain were ordered in 43 groups.
The following is a description that appeared in the Air Force website.
O Tech support long-range guided missile TAURUS DASA of Germany and Sweden jointly develop BOFORS of (Germany's DASA Saga 2 / 3, Sweden BOFORS Saga 1 / 3 of investment)
TAURUS o KEPD 150 series of the Swedish Air Force guided missiles, KEPD 350 German Air Force, 350-A which is being developed by the Royal Australian Air Force's requirements
O an operation mounted in the German Air Force Tornado in March 1998 to 270 billion won to 600 feet a second gyeyakham
Specifications and Characteristics
Nine minutes TAURUS KEPD 350 TAURUS KEPD 150 TAURUS 350-A
Weight 350: 1,400 ㎏ 150: 1,060 ㎏ 350-A: 1,090 ㎏
Length 350: 5.00m 150: 4.50m 350-A: 4.90m
Lim Director: Major jeompyo precision strikes on enemy
Maximum range 350: 350 ㎞ 150: 150 ㎞ 350-A: 200 ㎞
Speed Mach 0.8
Yen Gene 350: turbo jet engine (1,500 lbs) 150: turbo-jet engine (1,300 lbs) 350-A: turbo-jet engine (1,300 lbs)
* KEPD 350 and KEPD 150 is a single warhead, 350-A, depending on the mission can be mounted several types of submunitions
Ally to increase the aircraft's survivability and mission effectiveness for the enemy air defense targets outside the region far from the depth available in the precision strike
Low-altitude high-speed flight at a speed of Mach 0.8, and in doing stealth technology applied to increase the survivability of the missile
Initially, INS / GPS navigation and terminal guidance to the city maintains accuracy by using an infrared imaging
Fire & Forget is available to state and can be used at night and the weather, and Way Point with multiple targets to effectively attack
Robust facilities, bunkers, command and control facilities, radar sites, bridges, ships and about 2-4 feet to the target can be attacked simultaneously
Depending on the shape and characteristics of the target of the attack mode, with 4 types by the side of a building or bunker sangbuna of possible attacks, and using the air burst caused by debris on the ground, such as aircraft or sites capable of destroying multiple targets simultaneously
Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter-bombers from the Woomera range AGM-154C Joint remote bombs (JSOW: Joint Standoff Weapon) to the scene before being jettisoned to drill in 2010 has been raised.
Last September 8, 2010 Royal Australian Air Force's latest Super Hornet fighter-bombers in the northern Adelaide silpoktan release from Woomera Test Range has conducted training. Royal Australian Air Force RAAF Amberley, Queensland base in a combat squadron of the F/A-18F 5 s and about 100 pilots and support troops jeongbiwon RAAF Edinburgh and moved to first place in the training conducted by the Royal Australian Air Force's main fighter-bombers as the future operational capability and readiness to support an armed state inspection and maintenance checks are intended to practice.
AG AGM-154A JSOW glide bomb being addressed in the late 90s, the U.S. Navy and Air Force-guided bombs used in the wongeoriyong Joint Standoff Weapon (integrated wongeoriyong weapons) that reduces the JSOW, enemy air defenses away from the targets at a distance to bomb accurately in conventional free-fall bombs were attached to the wing and guidance.
The bombs dropped at the same time Spread your wings and soar in inertial navigation systems and satellite navigation devices, while using the pre-filled to a point target after hwalgonghan targets spread over the coal used as early as AGM-154A and AGM-154B and 150 The ACC (子弹) to attack by releasing a large area, single-warhead, AGM-154C brother and infrared imaging (IIR: Imaging Infrared) Induction and find ways to attack the target. Enemy air defense base, primarily, various equipment parked jeonchadeung place, airfields, port facilities and large places such as scattered attacks on the enemy's forces are main function.
AGM-154C and infrared images (IIR) will retain the ability to induce thermal sikeoro automatically. AGM-154C and Broach ( Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmenting Charge) warhead is fitted. Two two warheads WDU-44 shaped augmenting nose and WDU-45 follow through with a bomb is made. This is a very solid targets to destroy. Navy is being introduced in February 2005.
The main function: to attack targets in a wide variety of AG Standoff from Point Defense (SOPD) weapons,
Prime contractor: Raytheon Co.
Guidance: GPS / INS (Global Position / Inertial), Terminal IR Seeker (unique to 'C' model)
Length: 160 inches (4.1 m)
Diameter: box shaped 13 inches (330 mm) on a side / other source 40.6 x 51.9 cm
Weight: From 1,065 pounds (483 kg) to 1,095 pounds (497 kg)
Wingspan: 106 inches (2.69 m)
Equipped aircraft:
Navy: F/A-18C/D, F/A-18E/F
Air Force: F-16 Block 40/50, B-1B, B-2A, B-52H, F-15E, F-35A
Range:
Low-altitude launch - 12 nautical miles (22 km)
High-altitude launch - 70 nautical miles (120 km)
Warhead:
BLU-97 / B - Combined Effects Bomblets (JSOW A)
BLU-108 - Sensor fused weapon (JSOW B - now cancelled)
BROACH multi-stage warhead (JSOW C)
Price:
AUPP AGM-154A, $ 282,000. Total program cost: $ 3,327,000.
AGM-154B, $ 484,167. Total program cost: $ 2,033,500.
AGM-154C, $ 719,012. Total program cost: $ 5,608,000.
First place: January 1999
Chabua (Assam): The Indian Air Force Tuesday inducted a second squadron of its frontline Sukhoi-SU30 combat jets in the northeast as part of a strategic deployment of advanced assets close to the Chinese border, an officer said.
A single Su-30 has presently been stationed at the Chabua air base, about 450 km east of Assam's main city of Guwahati, with the strength of the squadron gradually being raised to 18 aircraft.
'The idea is to ensure that the skies and the borders in the east are well protected and secured. The Sukhois can be used for both offensive as well as defensive purposes,' Air Marshal K.K. Nohwar, air officer commanding-in-chief of the Eastern Air Command, told reporters after the formal induction ceremony.
As part of the formal induction, the fighter jet staged an impressive flypast.
The IAF had inducted its first SU-30 squadron at Tezpur in northern Assam in June 2009.
The decision to deploy the Su-30s, the most potent fighter in the IAF inventory, follows repeated instances of Chinese incursions in Arunachal Pradesh in the last few years.
The Tezpur and the Chabua air bases are within striking distance of the India-China border along the mountainous state of Arunachal Pradesh.
According to the defence ministry, there have been about 350 violations by Chinese soldiers in the western, middle and eastern sectors of the border since 2008.
Beijing had in 2003 given up its territorial claim over the Indian state of Sikkim but still maintains that vast stretches of Arunachal Pradesh belong to China.
Arunachal Pradesh shares a 1,030-km unfenced border with China. This frontier is defined by the McMahon Line, a notional boundary that is now known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC). China has never recognised the McMahon Line, and claims 90,000 sq km or almost all of Arunachal Pradesh. India also accuses China of occupying 8,000 sq km in Kashmir.
India and China fought a bitter border war in 1962, with Chinese troops advancing deep into what was then called the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) and inflicting heavy casualties on Indian troops.
Capable of carrying nuclear weapons and tailor-made for Indian specifications, the Russian designed Su-30 is being manufactured under license by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The aircraft was inducted into the IAF in 1997.
'Forty-four Sukhois are being inducted into the IAF, taking the number of the jets to 270,' Nohwar said.
The IAF currently operates six squadrons of the Su-30s, with three stationed at Lohegaon in Pune, two at Bareilly, and one Tezpur. Chabua is the seventh squadron. Each squadron generally comprises 18-20 aircraft.
The Chabua air base was built in 1939 and during World War II was a major supply point for ferrying supplies to allied forces in and around Kunming in China to fight the Japanese. This was known as 'Flying the Hump'.
The Tezpur airfield was constructed in 1942, during the Second World War. It lies between Bhutan, Tibet, China, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Ever since its inception, it has been one of the most active bases in the northeast from where a variety of fixed and rotary wing aircraft have been operating.
DIBRUGARH/GUWAHATI: The country's eastern sector bordering China got fortified on Tuesday with the induction of the Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft at the Chabua Air Force station.
The initiation was done through a symbolic ceremony with the inaugural flight of the SU-30 MKI taking off from here. It also performed an overshoot before landing.
Wing Commander K Sundaramani and Flt-Lt MB Walunj took off for the first sortie on the SU-30 in the presence of senior officers of the Indian Air Force, including Air Marshal KK Nohwar, Air Officer Commanding in Chief Eastern Air Command, Air Commodore Mrigendra Singh, Air officer Commanding, Air Force Station Chabua. This was followed by a fly past by three SU-30 MKI aircraft.
Speaking to the media, Air Marshal Nohwar said the induction of the highly sophisticated aircraft was part of the process to ascertain that the borders in the eastern part of the country remain free from any intrusion. "The Chabua station (102 Sqn, 14 Wing) is the easternmost fighter base of the country. It is the first line of defence in the east and the induction of the SU-30 will strengthen its capability," added Nohwar.
The Air Marshal said the Vijaynagar runway in Arunchal Pradesh was being repaired and will be soon open to operations of the fixed wing aircraft for better air maintenance. At present, the Air Force has a fleet of around 270 SU-30 aircraft.
Describing the special features of the fighter plane, Nohwar said the Su-30 MKI was a state-of-the-art aircraft for better maintenance.
Chabua is the second airbase in the northeast after Tezpur to house the Sukhois, capable of striking targets inside China with a cruising speed range of 3,200 km, which can be more than doubled with mid-air refuelling by IL-78 aircraft.
The Air Force base at Chabua was constructed in 1939. The air field was extensively used for launching operations against the Japanese. In 1962, the IAF commenced operations in response to the Chinese invasion of Tibet and threat to the northeast.
While India is only now trying to counter China's massive build-up of military infrastructure all along the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control, the People's Liberation Army (Air Force) already has at least six fully-functional airbases in Tibet and three in south China. The Linzi airbase, for instance, is not even 30 km away from the LAC in Arunachal.
