No More Challenging Carrier Traps?

Saw this article last week in the San Diego Union-Tribune with the catchy title: "No More Tricky Landings" and had to laugh.  Do the pointy-head engineers really think they can program carrier landings to a science?  Hmm, seem to remember ACL and auto-throttle systems from the 70s and 80s. Sure, the technology is leaps and bounds better, but once the ship starts rocking and rolling, turbulence and lightening strike and a black box or two fails, dare to say it is more than "tricky" to land a 60,000-pound jet--even one with the most sophisticated computer system.

X-47B Update

It's been a while since I posted on the Navy's X-47B program. Here's a link from late Aug where the navy was conducting integrated flight ops on the THEODORE ROOSEVELT alongside an F-18 Hornet. I understand further carrier ops are scheduled in the coming months.

In researching unclassified websites and news reports, it looks like the navy is still at least five or six years away from IOC of the drone. Capitol Hill and the Pentagon continue to fight over what type of platform and mission is best suited for the X-47B-- light strike in a permissive or contested environment. In the meantime, trials and testing continue.

At a Bookstore Near You?

On a business trip to the East Coast this week, a good friend of mine texted me these photos from Chicago O'Hare and DFW airports. Already on Amazon.com and Kindle, striving for a bookstore near you next.

And to the readers of "The Last Top Gun" who have written reviews on Amazon, thank you!

The Sierra Hotel Break

The "Shit Hot" Break explained in titillating detail in Fightersweep.com.  The author describes the penultimate carrier break perfected by Mike "Nasty" Manazir, a former F-14 fighter pilot and Landing Signal Officer, now serving as Director, Air Warfare (OPNAV N98).  A great article! 

Sep 3rd Press Release

The Last Top Gun: F-14 Pilot’s New Novel Rocks the Wings of Fact & Fiction, Paying Homage to Culture of Last Generation All-Male Navy Fighter ‘Jocks’.

‘The Last Top Gun: A Story Of The Last Generation Of Navy Fighter Jocks’ catapults readers off the carrier deck and into a world that only a privileged few have experienced.  Author Dan Zimberoff tells a collective story of 1980s and 1990s fighter pilots who were part rock star, part airborne warrior and 100% male. Zimberoff was himself a Top Gun graduate, and part of an elite group whose lifestyle and out-of-the-cockpit experiences will never be repeated in today’s diverse new military.

For Immediate Release

Seattle, WA – Each time Dan Zimberoff fired up an F-14 Tomcat perched on the deck of an aircraft carrier, he knew that flying a fighter jet demanded a level of brashness and rock star-esque aplomb. He never forgot that he was part of an all-male team that was the envy of many – a culture that has now crashed and burned like the fiery mishaps he witnessed too many times over his distinguished career.

Zimberoff now practices law and, acutely aware of the military’s growing use of drones and embracement of women and openly gay pilots, is proud to have been a part of a fraternity that no longer exists. His novel, ‘The Last Top Gun: A Story Of The Last Generation Of Navy Fighter Jocks’, depicts this changing culture and gives readers an opportunity to don their flight suits for an inside look at how life as a navy fighter pilot used to be before political correctness took over the military.

Synopsis:

While flying fighters in and out of combat, US Navy pilot Eric "Spyder" Greene repeatedly came face-to-face with his own mortality. But none of his cockpit exploits prepared him for what lay ahead. The same navy that had Spyder piloting the last manually flown fighter on and off aircraft carriers, now has the reserve commander assigned to a staff job where he grapples with a post-9/11 world filled with unmanned aircraft and drones, politically-driven policies, women in combat, and doubt as to his role in any of it.

In The Last Top Gun, a novel by Dan Zimberoff, Spyder meets the future of naval aviation in the form of two young, aspiring aviators. The grizzled fighter pilot, raw and anything but politically correct, recounts his harrowing experiences when he and his squadronmates were part rock stars, part Olympic athletes in the air--and all male. Spyder's encounters and chronicles intrigue the young officers, and like the reader, they want more.

Fifty percent of the profits from the sale of this book are donated to charity organizations that support US active duty and veterans organizations.

Author's Comments:

“This book shares the story of my generation’s military,” explains Zimberoff.  “We truly were a fraternity of airborne warriors; a generation that no longer exists as the military works diligently to form a ‘best of the best’ team of Top Guns representing every cross-section of society,” he adds.  “I’m certainly not saying that diversity is a bad thing—far from it—but times have changed and the all-boys club I was once a part of, and every generation of military man before me, is now just a shadow of its former self.”

Continuing, “Readers get to experience all of the bravado of the ready room and heroic actions at 30,000ft, as a group of “men’s men” would say goodbye to their families without notice to travel the world fighting or keeping the peace. Some never made it home, and we all were just seconds from a fiery death on multiple occasions.  The Last Top Gun s is a true showcase of what being a navy carrier pilot used to be all about.”

Reviews:

Since its release, the novel has garnered rave reviews. Clarion Review states, “A lively, testosterone-driven debut novel. . . Zimberoff puts readers right in the cockpit with Spyder during missions, not only detailing technology and radio chatter, but also conveying the thrill of flight.  Top Gun fans will get the full story here.”

“An insightful, sometimes witty look at the life of a seasoned Navy pilot,” writes Kirkus Review.

Gerald Nielsen Jr. comments, “Fantastic book giving a true and personal prospective of Top Gun naval aviator. Demonstrates what these heroes lives are like defending our country. Great read!”

Edward Malynn adds, “I loved this book. I am a little biased...I relived some of my past life. I flew F-14s and was one of the last few lucky souls to make it to Cubi Point before the Navy closed the base. If you want to know the life of a Naval Aviator (A Navy Fighter Puke), read this book. I hope there is a sequel!”

‘The Last Top Gun: A Story Of The Last Generation Of Navy Fighter Jocks’ is available now: http://amzn.to/1p8kfED. For more information, visit the official website: http://www.thelasttopgun.com.

F-18 Hornets Pound ISIL Militants in Iraq

The U.S. military says American jet fighters and drones conducted four more airstrikes Saturday on Islamic militants in Iraq, taking out armored carriers and a truck that were firing on civilians.

U.S. CENTCOM says the Islamic State militants were firing on Yazidi civilians near Sinjar. The refugees have been taking shelter in the Sinjar mountains.

Fitting that the Hornets flew of the USS GEORGE HW BUSH (CVN-77), eh?

Bush to Launch X-47B

 

The Navy says it will make its first attempt tomorrow to launch Northrop Grumman's X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System drone from an aircraft carrier. The aircraft is scheduled to undergo a catapult launch from USS George H.W. Bush off the East Coast.

 

Rear Adm. Mat Winter, the Navy's program officer for the X-47B, said online Monday that:

Controlled by a mission operator aboard the ship, the X-47B will execute several carrier approaches demonstrating its ability to operate seamlessly within the carrier environment before it flies over the Eastern Shore and lands back at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., where two demonstration aircraft have resided for the past year

Over the coming years, we will heavily leverage the technology maturation, networking advances and precision navigation algorithms developed from the X-47B demonstration program to pursue the introduction of the first operational carrier-based unmanned aircraft. This future system will provide 24/7, carrier-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and targeting capability, which will operate together with manned aviation assets allowing the opportunity to shape a more efficient carrier air wing.

Is it just me, or does development of the X-47B seem to be on the fast track?  Guess the Navy wants to challenge the Air Farce for UAV funding.

Stopping Terminator and Skynet

Future Tech reports debate beginning on autonomous weapons systems. Preparing for a future in which robots may be given a tad more independence, an international coalition of humans rights organizations including Human Rights Watch are banding together to propose a treaty ban on "killer robots."

The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots publicly launched April 23 with the goal of bringing the discussion about autonomous weapons systems to regular people, not just politicians and scientists.

In a world with when Google cars guiding themselves through the streets of San Francisco, algorithm powered stock trading accounts crash markets based on keywords and many weapons systems already semi-autonomous (e.g., Predator, Phalanx, Patriot), good luck putting that genie back in the bottle. 

Getting Out There!

I just posted a video on YouTube to help get the word out.  Let's turn the publishing world on its head!  Check it out below:

Thanks!

Whidbey Island EA-6B Crashes in Wasington State

All three crew members on a Navy jet based at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island were killed this morning when their aircraft crashed in Eastern Washington’s Lincoln County, Navy officials have confirmed.

The crew’s names will not be released until 24 hours after their families have been informed, said Lt. Aaron Kakiel in San Diego. The crew was flying an EA-6B Prowler jet assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron VAQ-129. It crashed about 8:45 a.m. into a field in an unpopulated area near the town of Harrington, about 50 miles west of Spokane.

The Navy said the wingman of the crashed plane reported that no parachutes were deployed. The Prowler was “engaged in a low-level navigation training mission,” the Navy said. Whidbey Island officials said the cause of the accident was under investigation.

A spokesman for the Whidbey base confirmed that the crashed jet was based there. Whidbey is home to EA-6B Prowler and EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft. P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft and EP-3E Aries reconnaissance aircraft are also based there.

NAS Whidbey Island is home to the U.S. Navy’s tactical electronic warfare squadrons. Crews from the base, located on Puget Sound, regularly fly across Eastern Washington for training exercises.
“The thoughts and prayers of northwest Washington are with the families of the aircrew who lost their lives today,” said U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., who represents the Whidbey Island area. “This tragic crash is a painful reminder of the dangerous work that members of the armed services perform every day in service to our nation.”

NAS Whidbey Island serves as the backdrop for The Last Top Gun, where CDR Erik "Troll" Green meets EF-18 Growler aircrew LT Steve "Rolls" Royce and LTJG Grace "Ariel" Miller.

RIP for the three aviators who were killed today serving their country so you and I can enjoy our freedom.

Pentagon Handles Sequestration Somewhat in Stride

Though the Department of Defense appears to have planned reasonably well for the 9% across-the-board cuts that go into effect midnight tonight under sequestration, there are some troubling consequences: suspended Navy deployments, cancelled air shows, and even shortages of toilet paper. For a group that routinely adopts ConOps (Contingency Operations), it is far from surprising to hear the Pentagon has been planning for sequestration -- not to mention dealing with shortfalls brought on by Congress’s failure to pass a federal budget -- for months. As one defense department official reported to Stars and Stripes, the threat of sequestration is closer to a spreading “fiscal cancer” than sudden cardiac arrest.

Cost-cutting measures are under way: travel budgets have been cut, temp workers dismissed, managers across the DoD have been told to conserve funds. Service members have reported difficulty freeing up funds to buy items as seemingly necessary as toilet paper. Really, toilet paper? It almost makes us long for the $3,000 P-3 Orion toilet seats made famous under Beltway largess of the 80s.

Though the Pentagon appears to be a good soldier and taking sequestration in stride, I'm disappointed to see that Congress is sacrificing defense of our nation in favor of bipartisan politics. Sailors and soldiers are resourceful and can find alternatives for TP shortages, but cancelling the USS HARRY S. TRUMAN aircraft carrier's deployment to the Middle East, that's big news.

Come on Congress and POTUS, roll up your sleeves and work through this budgetary morass!

X-47B Sea Trials Aboard TRUMAN

The future of Naval aviation is here...and it looks a whole lot like the Air Farce. The unmanned carrier-based aircraft X-47B (yet to be named) stealth bomber underwent taxi and flight deck suitability trials about USS TRUMAN earlier this month.  Check out this comprehensive report from Defense News "Intercepts" website.

Though far from a definitive source on weapons or military systems, Wikipedia's summary of the X-47B provides a decent description of Northrop Grumman's latest carrier-based aircraft. 

It's hard to imagine unmanned aircraft will take over carrier decks or flight lines completely, but it is undisputed that their value and place in DoD's air warfare inventory increases each year. Just hoping "Fly Navy" bumper stickers aren't replaced with "Drone Navy" anytime soon.