March 28, 2024

Lasers Shoot Down a UAV at ‘Black Dart’

laser trap

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River economic community. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Leader’s owners or staff.

Morning Coffee logoBoeing’s two-man portable 2 kW laser disabled a UAV during Black Dart exercises, reports IHS Janes 360. All the services want laser technology, reports Breaking Defense, but the Air Force is pursuing lasers differently than the others. Lasers are included in The Pentagon’s  search for radically new weapons, reports Aviation Week.

Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets’ service life is arriving sooner than expected while there is a backlog of Super Hornets waiting for service extension maintenance, reports USNI, forcing the Navy to re-think the aircraft’s tanking mission. A parked Hornet caught fire during refueling on the flight deck of carrier USS Harry S. Truman, reports USNI.  Two sailors suffered injuries.

The Gen 3 JSF helmet is delivered, reports IHS Janes 360.

The Air Force’s black budget long range strike fighter bomber will begin emerging from the shadows soon, reports Bloomberg. The government must soon choose between Northrop Grumman and a Lockheed-Boeing team to build it.

A Black Hawk crashed forward, among cargo on the USNS Red Cloud off Okinawa, early Wednesday morning, Aug. 12, 2015, reports NBC News, with video. Seven people were injured. The Aviationist, with photos, speculates the chopper was modified.

#ILookLikeAnEngineer hosts its first community gathering today, Aug. 13, in San Francisco, reports the Washington Post. The hashtag grew from marketing responses that shocked Isis Wenger, a 22-year old, female platform engineer into revealing “a lot of the crap that those who do not identify as male have to deal with,” she explains on Medium.com.

Two female students advanced to the final phase of the famously exhausting course in the swamps of Florida, the last hurdle to becoming the first Ranger-qualified women, reports Pilot Online.

Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems to get the 6-year contract to engineer and manufacture JPALS, the Sea-Based Joint Precision Approach and Landing System  to use GPS for aircraft carrier landings, reports Intelligent Aerospace.

Three dozen retired generals and admirals urge Congress to support the Iran nuclear deal, reports the Washington Post.

Army Gen. Ray Odierno, leaves his post as the Army’s top officer still warning of the risks continuing cuts to the regular forces, reports Military.com. Other high command turnovers are: Marine Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford to replace Army Gen. Martin Dempsey as JCS Chairman; Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, head of U.S. Transportation Command, to replace Navy Adm. James “Sandy” Winnefeld as JCS vice chairman; Navy Adm. John Richardson to replace Adm. Jonathan Greenert as chief of naval operations; and Marine Gen. Robert Neller to replace Dunford as the next Marine commandant.

Navy divers find and recover the CSS Georgia, the Confederate ship scuttled by its crew as Gen. William T. Sherman approached the Savannah River, 150 years ago, reports Pilot Online.

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