Napoleon_Tanerite Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Link Looks like the Air Force Global Hawk is being canceled in favor of retaining the U-2. This is interesting that a manned airplane is actually beating out a UAV. I wonder what this means for all the people recently hit with a GH gig but haven't PCSd yet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrainerModel Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 If you're expensive as shit and can't do you prescribed capes you deserve to be cut. (F-35) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matmacwc Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Expected this, F-35 will continue with some f-16 upgrades in the near term. Bet on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Day Man Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 in before spoo/huggy show up with an "I told you so" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WheelsOff Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingBull Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Maybe Air Force crews could do cross service assignments like with the Growler and Prowler since they're already trained to operate it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiFlyer Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 You'll note it says the Block 30. No mention of the Block 40 being cut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoleIt Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 WASHINGTON: The Air Force's RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft appears to be the latest big-ticket program to fall victim to the Pentagon's budget axe. The venerable intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance drone will be nixed as part of the Air Force's upcoming fiscal 2013 budget proposal, according to Loren Thompson, a consultant and defense analyst. Specifically, the Air Force will retire the Block 30 variants of the drone already in the service's fleet and end production of the platform entirely, he wrote. The decision comes as Global Hawk-manufacturer Northrop Grumman is developing a new Block 40 version of the drone for the Air Force and a maritime version -- known as the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance system -- for the Navy. The cancellation also comes at a time when company officials have been aggressively pushing the Global Hawk into foreign markets. Deals with NATO, South Korea, Japan and Australia were potentially on the table until today's announcement. "Obviously, it's a disappointment," company spokesman Jim Stratford said, noting that the Pentagon issued an Acquisition Decision Memorandum last June that concluded Global Hawk is "essential to national defense and no other platform could do this mission at lower cost." The ADM was issued when the Defense Acquisition Board approved a massive restructuring of the program. But the Global Hawk's multiple breaches of federally-mandated cost caps, including the one that prompted the June restructure, have proven a persistent headache to the Air Force. Ultimately, that concern pushed service leaders to offer the ISR drone as a "bill-payer" in the 2013 budget plan, according to Thompson. The Global Hawk's cancellation may ultimately leave the brunt of the Air Force's high-altitude ISR operations to the aging U-2 spy plane. A burden that will only get heavier as U.S. military forces begin to pivot from Southwest Asia to the Western Pacific. Since the Global Hawk's inception, Air Force leaders have repeatedly claimed the drone would replace the legacy U-2. But as years passed, service leaders always came up with reasons why the RQ-4 was not yet ready to take the manned aircaft's place. What will be really interesting to watch is, if the Global Hawk program is killed, will the Pentagon order a new aircraft capable of doing the same missions. Source: http://defense.aol.com/2012/01/24/pentagon-mothballs-air-force-global-hawk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BQZip01 Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Hear, hear! Re-route to Creech/Cannon. RIF? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMN1 Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Does this mean the U-2 will be around longer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PolyestherDuck Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Wow. I thought Global Hawk program was like the F-35... you know, too big to fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BolterKing Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 U-2 bud of mine has always said "The best thing the U-2 has going for it is the Globalhawk" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CAVEMAN Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Maybe Air Force crews could do cross service assignments like with the Growler and Prowler since they're already trained to operate it? Growler probably; Prowler no Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 There is a Growler squadron TDY here at NAS Jax that has an AF Captain flying with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LL Windshear Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Looks like we just found our next batch of MC-12 "volunteers"...at least until it transitions to AFSOC/ANG/whatever else, or cut in favor of preds/reapers/whatever else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKopack Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 (edited) Best aviation news that I've heard in a long time. May be if not the first, one of the first times the USAF has been forced to "blink" during their current "UAV revolution". Airplanes without pilots on board are in vogue right now, they're "cool" to those in industry and the Pentagon, but "cool" doesn't mean better. Especially with higher costs and less capability - no matter how many buckets of money they've thrown at it. There may be a day when a UAV is ready to take over this role and the U-2 will fly off into the sunset, but it's not today. ...and tomorrow ain't looking good either. Edited January 25, 2012 by MKopack 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nrodgsxr Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 now if we can just get the preds axed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrainerModel Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 now if we can just get the preds axed Yea right, they're too good at what they do and are (relatively) cheap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiFlyer Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Wow. I thought Global Hawk program was like the F-35... you know, too big to fail. The difference is there's an alternative that outperforms it in most areas and is cheaper. Sort of makes you wonder, doesn't it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brabus Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 f-16 upgrades in the near term I wish my definition of near term was the same as the AF's definition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tank Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Also saw in Panetta's proposal that 6 of the 60 tactical squadrons are going to be closed; any ideas on which 6? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKopack Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 Back from the dead? Who would have seen this coming - maybe it's not all about the budget, or even capability (because if you can get less capability for more cost, how can you not just jump all over that). House appropriators add $5.3 billion to defense bill for weapons buys A powerful U.S. House defense spending panel has recommended adding more than $5.3 billion to the Pentagon’s procurement accounts in 2013 to buy more aircraft, ships, vehicles and weapons, according to a report quoted in Defense News. The chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.), announced a version of the 2013 defense appropriations bill last week that is $3.1 billion higher than the Pentagon’s $642 billion overall spending request. New recommendations will stop the USAF from retiring the Block 30 Global Hawks and the C-27J's. Also will provide additional funding for: - 17 C-27J's (to a total of 38) - a continuation of the C-130 AMP program - 1 C-130J, 2 HC-130J's and 2 MC-130J's - 12 MQ-9 Reapers - 10 Black Hawks (National Guard) - 3 EADS Light Utility Helos (Lakota's? - National Guard) - 11 additional F/A-18 Super Hornets (to 37 from 26) - 1 additional V-22 Opsrey, one Bell UH-1Y helicopter, one Bell AH-1Z helicopter, five Sikorsky MH-60R helicopters and two Lockheed Martin KC-130J tanker transports - PAC-3 Patriot missiles and launch systems - $$ to keep the M1 Abrams production line open from a planned temporary shutdown - Upgrades to Bradley fighting vehicles - Army NG Humvee modernization - 1 additional Navy DDG-51 destroyer and $$ to retain three cruisers And $$ for a Raptor "back up" oxygen system and $500 million in cuts to the F-35 program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClearedHot Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 Rep. McKeon to Secretary Panetta...also known as McKeon smacks Panetta in the lips OMB pushback to the HASC Marks: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeyWatchThis Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 Rep. McKeon to Secretary Panetta...also known as McKeon smacks Panetta in the lips OMB pushback to the HASC Marks: Theres a lot of strongly objecting in that there second link...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youngpj Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Back from the dead? Who would have seen this coming - maybe it's not all about the budget, or even capability (because if you can get less capability for more cost, how can you not just jump all over that). New recommendations will stop the USAF from retiring the Block 30 Global Hawks and the C-27J's. Also will provide additional funding for: - 17 C-27J's (to a total of 38) - a continuation of the C-130 AMP program - 1 C-130J, 2 HC-130J's and 2 MC-130J's - 12 MQ-9 Reapers - 10 Black Hawks (National Guard) - 3 EADS Light Utility Helos (Lakota's? - National Guard) - 11 additional F/A-18 Super Hornets (to 37 from 26) - 1 additional V-22 Opsrey, one Bell UH-1Y helicopter, one Bell AH-1Z helicopter, five Sikorsky MH-60R helicopters and two Lockheed Martin KC-130J tanker transports - PAC-3 Patriot missiles and launch systems - $$ to keep the M1 Abrams production line open from a planned temporary shutdown - Upgrades to Bradley fighting vehicles - Army NG Humvee modernization - 1 additional Navy DDG-51 destroyer and $$ to retain three cruisers And $$ for a Raptor "back up" oxygen system and $500 million in cuts to the F-35 program. C-130 AMP has GOT to go. 12 years with 3 modified aircraft, which have major issues still to work through. Terrible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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