The development, entry into service and widespread worldwide use of the United States’ controversial new stealth fighter is, by now, a foregone conclusion. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), produced by aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, has been in full-scale development for 11 years — and low-rate production for six. More than 120 of the single-engine jets have rolled out of Lockheed’s sprawling factory in Ft. Worth, Texas, and the first training and operational squadrons have stood up in the United States, with operational use slated for as early as 2015.

Military and political backing for the squat, silver-painted warplane is strong. “We need the F-35; it’s not going away,” U.S. Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, who sits a key military-funding committee, said in April. What’s less clear, however, is just how good the JSF is as a jet fighter. Flight testing has turned up a long and growing list of performance gaps, design flaws and safety concerns. Compared to older American jets, to say nothing of the latest Russian and Chinese fighter designs, the F-35 is looking worse and worse. “Can’t turn, can’t climb, can’t run,” is how one independent analysis summarized the new plane’s performance.

Read the rest at ISN.

ALP commander Toorjan in April 2013. Photo: David Axe

ZARI DISTRICT, Afghanistan — The sound of gunfire was the first sign that the Afghan cop’s loyalty was suspect.

It was February in Hadji Musa, a village in the poppy-growing Zari district of northern Kandahar province, traditionally one of the most violent regions in a violent country. 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company, 3-41 Infantry — part of the high-tech 1st Brigade of the 1st Armored Division — had received a tip from Toorjan, commander of the village local police unit, claiming that someone in Hadji Musa wanted to talk. Someone with direct knowledge of Taliban activities.

Beyond that, Toorjan had provided almost no information. All he could offer was an implied promise: Trust me.

Read the rest at Danger Room.

Art: Tim Hamilton

From the U.K. Metro:

Following the trail blazed by Joe Sacco’s Palestine, comic books and war reportage unite once again in ARMY OF GOD (Public Affairs) where U.S. military correspondent David Axe takes us undercover into the Congo, a country the U.N. has dubbed “the rape capital of the world.”

Axe may fall short of his mission impossible “to map the emotional and spiritual landscape” of the Lord’s Resistance Army led by Joseph Kony, currently “most wanted” for crimes against humanity, but his outsider account is still immediate and intimate.

Where he can, Axe uses his own first-person interviews as the basis for Tim Hamilton’s starkly drawn panels, exposing in traumatic snapshots a terrorized people. An invaluable guidebook to the conflict for the many millions who’ve so far viewed the Jason Russell documentary Kony 2012 on YouTube.

Photo: David Axe

The latest robots and high-tech electronic warfare, silently watching over soldiers as they sleep. Rickety but vital helicopters whose pilots devise new tactics to make up for aging hardware. Hand-carried devices that promise to end age-old battlefield dilemmas but end up causing more problems than they solve.

These are the most important techs in arguably the most important U.S. Army brigade in the waning months of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. The Texas-based 1st Brigade of the 1st Armored Division is the “last brigade” — the final full-up combat unit with a major frontline role before American forces in Afghanistan switch to a strictly training and advisory role.

1st Brigade is the beneficiary of a last-minute influx of new and upgraded systems. Some of the basic hardware is decades-old but still proving its worth with new tactics. Other systems are so new that the bugs are just now being worked out. But all of the gear reflects the hard lessons of 12 years of war — and offers a glimpse of the future as the Army pulls out of one conflict and prepares for others.

Read the rest at Danger Room.

Art: DARPA

The U.S. military has cancelled a seven-year, $200-million effort to develop a new kind of satellite — one comprising groups of small, formation-flying craft orbiting in tight-knit formations and sharing data wirelessly.

The Future, Fast, Flexible, Fractionated Free-Flying Spacecraft, or F6, was overseen by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, and featured an unusual program structure that probably contributed to its demise. Offiziere.ch spoke to one space-industry insider with insight into F6′s promise and problems. “It was a good idea to can F6,” the insider says.

Read the rest at Offiziere.ch.

X-47B touch-and-go. Photo: Navy

The U.S. Navy’s X-47B jet-powered drone prototype touched down on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush for the first time on Friday — continuing an historic series of accomplishments begun on May 14, when the 62-foot-wingspan Unmanned Aerial Vehicle launched for the first time from the carrier’s deck, landing at the nearby Patuxent River air station in Maryland.

Friday’s touch-and-go, in which the drone briefly landed on the carrier deck without catching the arresting wire and quickly returned to flight, is a prelude to a full arrested landing slated for the coming two months. “That is the most technically demanding and significant portion,” says Capt. Jaime Engdahl, program manager for the Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration program.

Read the rest at Offiziere.ch.

The F6 concept. Art: DARPA

Space News broke the story of F6′s cancellation today. Brad Tousley, the new director of Darpa’s Tactical Technology Office, told the trade publication he killed off the program after a recent review of research programs. Tousley told Space News he based his decision on schedule delays, technical and management problems and the Pentagon’s lack of interest in F6.

Begun in 2006, F6 was meant to break up today’s big, complex and monolithic military satellites, one of which usually handles several tasks simultaneously — surveillance and communication and self-defense, for instance. Brian Weeden, a space expert with the Colorado-based Secure World Foundation, calls this the “battleship” approach to military operations in space.

Read the rest at Danger Room.

Photo: U.K. Forces Afghanistan

by TOM HART

British MQ-9 Reapers have started operations from a base in Lincolnshire, northeast England, according to Ministry of Defense (MoD) reports. The British drones had been flown from Creech air force base, Nevada. Now the 10-strong fleet will see operations directed from home.

For sometime the Royal Air Force (RAF) was the only air force to operate the Reaper other than the United States Air Force (USAF), Italy’s contingent is set to be rolled out in the next few months. Meanwhile the RAF doubled its Reaper force late last year. The drones only operate in Afghanistan, for the moment. While the new drone compliment will operate from RAF Waddington, the original drone force will continue to fly from Creech.

As 13 Squadron, which used to fly Tornados, came online hundreds of protesters arrived at the base. While the RAF emphasizes the Reaper’s role in intelligence, and as an eye-in-the-sky to protect British forces, the protesters raised concerns over civilian casualties from U.K. drone strikes. Operational updates from the RAF point to 39 Squadron’s 260 hours of full-motion video, with actual attacks on insurgents mentioned in passing.

This approach to drones sits well with Britain’s existing fleet. A response to a parliamentary question tabled late last year revealed Britain’s drone fleet is overwhelmingly based around the Desert Hawk III, a model airplane-like drone used for surveillance, with 239 in operation. Micro-drones like the Black Hornet form the second-largest contingent. Other operational drones include nine Hermes 450, which are used for artillery spotting. The Hermes provides the basis for Britain’s Watchkeeper WK450, a French-Israeli venture that will probably be used for artillery spotting.

Although reconnaissance seems to be the primary role for British drones at the moment, with the Army leading the way, Reaper drones have not played an entirely passive role in Afghanistan. A Freedom of Information (FoI) request revealed that Reaper attacks have grown year-on-year since 2008. There were 104 attacks last year, up from 30 in the first year of operation. Weapons preferences have also changed, with a move from Paveway to Hellfire missiles. According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, British drones accounted for almost 40 percent of all attacks in Afghanistan during 2011.

Drones remain in the background as far as flights over home ground are concerned. Flights take place from ParcAberporth in west Wales, the technology park and airport complex provides about 500 square miles of restricted air space for drone tests and is operated by arms giant QinetiQ. This site has also seen anti-drone protests. As more Members of Parliament and activists probe Britain’s nascent drone operations the scene is being set for the issue to become a hot political topic.

The X-47B after its first carrier flight Tuesday. Photo: Navy

America’s ship-launched X-47B killer drone prototype took off for the first time from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush sailing near the Maryland coast on Tuesday morning — the first step in proving that a high-performance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is compatible with the Navy’s fleet of 10 gigantic nuclear-powered flattops.

But that doesn’t mean the sailing branch will definitely be purchasing similar jet-powered drones for frontline use. According to Bob Work, until recently the Navy undersecretary and a big supporter of armed UAVs, the sea service must choose between X-47B-style ‘bots and a simpler, propeller-driven drone similar to the Air Force’s Predator.

The Navy’s wager makes could determine the course of U.S. air power for decades.

Read the rest at Danger Room.

An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator is towed into the hangar bay of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), May 13, 2013. CREDIT: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Timothy Walter

If all goes according to plan, sometime on Tuesday the military balance of power in the Pacific Ocean could tilt to America’s advantage. The U.S. Navy’s main warships, whose firepower now cannot match the range of Chinese missiles, could gain a new weapon that more than levels the playing field.

It all boils down to a 62-foot-wide, hook-nosed Unmanned Aerial Vehicle built by Northrop Grumman. This new drone is set to launch off the 1,092-foot-long flight deck of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, known in Navy parlance as CVN-77 and until Tuesday morning docked at the sprawling naval base in Norfolk, Virginia.

Read the rest at Reuters.

X-47B. Photo: Navy

Sometime today the U.S. Navy will launch a modern, jet-powered, armed drone from the first time from an aircraft carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush. The X-47B Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, built by Northrop Grumman, is a possible precursor to a new class of naval drones that could transform American sea and air power.

Read the rest at Offiziere.ch.

Sharp Sword. Photo: via Secretprojects.co.uk

A pair of grainy photos shot at long distance could be the best evidence yet of Beijing’s first jet-powered and presumably armed drone warplane.

The images, one of which was cropped and enhanced by Internet users and has been reproduced here, first appeared to the wider English-speaking world on Thursday afternoon on the Secretprojects.co.uk web forum.

The pics follow close behind the equally ambiguous photo debuts of China’s two stealth fighter prototypes (in 2010 and 2012) and its homegrown heavy transport plane (this year). A far blurrier and even more ambiguous photo possibly depicting the new drone appeared on a Russian Website in March.

Read the rest at Danger Room.