New Navy contract aims to equip hundreds of ships with drones

[Onkel Neal]

New Navy contract aims to equip hundreds of ships with drones

The Pentagon is hoping a multimillion-dollar investment in new technology will enable drones on hundreds of Navy ships to provide air support to operations around the globe.

The goal of the "launch and recovery" system, as it has been dubbed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, is to provide airborne surveillance and drone strikes from the decks of "forward-deployed small ships" without having to deploy aircraft carriers or large, fixed land bases.

The $93.1 million contract was awarded to defense contractor Northrop Grumman on December 24 as part of DARPA's Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node program, which aims to enable drones to operate from smaller ships, according to a Pentagon press release.

Fixed-wing unmanned aircraft require bases and large aircraft carriers, which in turn require "substantial financial, diplomatic and security commitments," DARPA noted. The U.S. Navy lists 10 conventional aircraft carriers in the U.S. fleet.

Drones have become critical to the military's effort to combat terrorist activity globally and, in theory, this new technology would allow surveillance flights and drone strikes to be launched globally from the hundreds of existing "small-deck naval maritime vessels," which include guided-missile destroyers and littoral combat ships, according to Northrup Grumman.

The new seaborne drone system would combine vertical takeoff and landing with the ability to fly long distances like fix-winged drones and provide "highly flexible, robust and affordable unmanned intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and strike capability," said Ralph Starace, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems' director of advanced design.

The future of warfare.

[Rockin Robbins]

And in a side light, the FAA has just required me to register the radio control airplanes I've flown for 30 years as "drones." Because Congress specifically in their 2012 FAA Act forbade the FAA from making any new laws regarding model airplanes, our Christmas present was that they unilaterally redefined what we've flown without incident for 80 years.

Now we're registered drone pilots, brothers to registered sex offenders, treated equally by our nanny government. Part of their justification was a collision between a drone and airliner two years ago: a US military drone the size of a Cessna 172, not a toy quadcopter! Of course when they cite the incident they don't mention the particulars and blithely pretend that a 2 lb toy is equal to a thousand pound military drone in hazard to others.

My model airplanes never were and never will be drones, but I'm registered on threat of a $27,000 fine for violation. Registered drone offender FA377YHFNC. Oh joy.

Happy New Year!

[Aktungbby]

Grumman F6F-5K Hellcat drones are launched from the port catapult of the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Boxer (CV-21) during the Korean War in August 1952. The F6F-5Ks were used as guided "missiles" and were guided by Douglas AD-2D Skyraider drone control planes, but the attacks produced only meagre results. Note the 407 kg (1.000 lb) bomb underneath the Hellcats. SEP 1952 USS Boxer returns to Hunters Point Shipyard after the drone operation <This one caused a few problems: https://www.warhistoryonline.com/military-vehicle-news/two-jet-fighters-sent-up-to-shoot-down-a-wwii-warbird-in-1956-blasted-208-rockets-at-it-it-survived.html

[Sailor Steve]

And the US turned B-17s into drones.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Aphrodite

http://www.military.com/video/guided.../3235721522001

The last one is mislabeled a B-29, but it's still a B-17.

[Aktungbby]

From a very young age, Kennedy was groomed by his father and predicted to be the first Roman Catholic Irish-American President of the United States. When he was born, his grandfather John F. Fitzgerald (1863–1950), then Mayor of Boston, told the news, "This child is the future President of the nation." He often boasted that he would be president even without help from his father(US Ambassador to England). He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1940. Kennedy planned to run for Massachusetts's 11th congressional district in 1946

^ indeed. One probably changed the course of history; JFK became the president instead of his ambitious older brother 'Joe' Kennedy Jr. "As planned, Kennedy and Willy remained aboard as the BQ-8 completed its first remote-controlled turn at 2,000 feet near the North Sea coast. Kennedy and Willy removed the safety pin, arming the explosive package, and Kennedy radioed the agreed code Spade Flush, his last known words. Two minutes later (and well before the planned crew bailout, near RAF Manston), the Torpex explosive detonated prematurely and destroyed the Liberator, killing Kennedy and Willy instantly." [wiki] <Last photograph of Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. on day of flight, August 12. 1944

[Mr Quatro]

Speaking of drones:http://www.popsci.com/pentagon-agree...ot-quite-medal

PENTAGON AGREES TO RECOGNIZE DRONE PILOTS WITH A DECORATION

According to Military Times, “The Pentagon has firmly rejected the idea of giving drone pilots and cyber warriors their own medal, and instead will offer a new "R" device to pin on existing noncombat medals.” That should help with recognition, while not alienating veteran’s groups. It might also help a little with drone pilot retention, a major Air Force problem going back years.

The new pin may be good for morale, but it’s hardly the only way the Air Force plans to keep pilots.

A recent change opened up piloting Global Hawk drones to enlisted servicemembers, not just officers, and paired it with a bonus as high as $125,000 for drone pilots that sign up for another five years.

Where do I sign up?