FORT WORTH, Texas — The Bell V-280 Valor recently completed flight demonstrations ahead of schedule of its low-speed agility key performance parameter in the U.S. Army-led Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR TD) program, Bell Helicopter announced.

The V-280 Valor, which the U.S. Marine Corps is monitoring for possible use as well, has demonstrated in flight testing that it has the raw control power in pitch, roll and yaw maneuvers to meet the Army’s Level 1 handling qualities requirements, which is the highest performance standard for agility.

This flight testing validates Bell’s engineering models and development processes to design, build and test an aircraft on an aggressive development schedule that meets Army performance requirements.

“This latest flight milestone proves that the V-280 Valor tilt-rotor delivers first-rate handling for pilots during low-speed maneuvers without sacrificing speed, range or payload that the military needs for multidomain operations,” said Ryan Ehinger, the V-280 program manager at Bell.

For pilots, this achievement provides additional proof that the V-280 will have unprecedented agility on the objective (at the “X”) for operational effectiveness, according to the Bell release. The aircraft’s digital flight controls and performance-driven design increases mission effectiveness by providing a high level of agility, reducing pilot workload and enhancing flight safety.

As the JMR TD period of performance winds down, Bell and Team Valor continue to expand the flight envelope and demonstrate new capabilities to prove the V-280 Valor’s key technologies and reduce the risk for future vertical lift programs.

The latest flight statistics for the V-280 include:
• Forward flight over 300 knots true airspeed.
• More than 110 hours of flight and over 225 rotor-turn hours.
• Greater than 50-degree banked turns.
• 4,500-feet-per-minute rate of climb and sustained flight at an altitude of 11,500 feet.
• Single flight ferry of more than 370 miles.
• Demonstrated Level 1 low-speed agility with fly-by-wire controls.
• In-flight transitions between cruise mode and vertical takeoff and landing.

ARLINGTON, Va. — An AV-8B Harrier II based at Marine Corps Air
Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, crashed May 20 near Cherry Branch, according
to May 20 and May 21 releases from 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing Strategic
Communications. The pilot ejected safely.

The Harrier II pilot was transported to Carolina East Medical
Center in New Bern for evaluation and was released with no injuries, the May 21
release said. There are no reports of civilian casualties or property damage.
Personnel from 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing responded to the scene and assisted
local authorities, who had responded first.

The pilot was assigned to Marine Attack Squadron 542, a unit of
the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. Cherry Point is home of three Marine attack
squadrons and one Marine attack training squadron, all of which fly the Harrier
II.

The
aircraft is cordoned off at the crash site and an emergency reclamation team is
onsite and beginning recovery operations.

The
Marines of VMA-542 “are working closely with the Marines of Aircraft Rescue and
Fire Fighting, Explosive Ordnance Disposal and both military and local
authorities,” the May 21 release said. “The scene has been deemed safe and
secure by all parties involved, but recovery personnel are still implementing
environmental and personal protective measures.”

“I
would like to start by thanking the Craven County sheriff’s office and the
community for their ongoing support,” said Maj. Gen. Karsten Heckl, commanding general
of 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing.

“On
days like this, our dedication to duty is reaffirmed, and we are reminded how
proud we are to call Havelock our home. Thankfully, there were no serious
injuries. The safety of our Marines and the local community is of the utmost
importance to us, and we are extremely grateful that everyone who was involved
is OK.”

The
cause of the incident is still under investigation.

According to one
source, the Marine Corps AV-8B fleet has lost 104 aircraft (36%) of its
aircraft in mishaps over the service life of the jet. An additional 13 were
combat losses — either shot down, destroyed in a ground attack or damaged by
enemy fire and not repaired. The Marine Corps plans to keep the Harrier II in
service until 2028.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — Boeing is in the wrap-up stages of a trade study and architecture
assessment of an upgrade — called Block II — to the Navy’s EA-18G Growler
electronic attack aircraft. The upgrade is an effort to enable the EA-18G to
keep up with the dynamic electronic warfare threats.

“It makes
sense that we would take something that was designed in the ‘90s and now
enhance it to be relevant for decades to come,” said Jennifer Tebo, Boeing’s
director of development for the F/A-18 and EA-18G, speaking to reporters May 7
at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space exposition.

“The current
thinking on that is that it is a retrofit program,” Tebo said. “There is no
official new-build Growler Block II. We will continue to work with the Navy to
determine what those needs are, how we might incorporate them into a new build.
We’re thinking of a retrofit program that would deliver capability in the 2025 timeframe.
We’ve already starting work in earnest and early this year got initial funding
from the Navy to start moving to the [System Functional Requirements] phase by the
end of this year to deliver that capability on time.”

Tebo said
that the Growler Block II enhancements will include some of the upgrades of the
Super Hornet Block III program, plus “enhanced sensitivity through the
modernization of the sensors on the platform. … It’s about adaptive and
distributive processing, having big computers to process and be able to react
to the threats that are out there today and into the future.”

“It’s also
about enhancing the crew-vehicle interface,” Tebo added. “As the Growler crews
get more and more information into the cockpit, they’re going to need a way to
reduce the workload to be able to digest and use it effectively. All of that is
accomplished through software-defined radios that are enabled through a
flexible and adaptable hardware architecture.”

Tebo said the
infrastructure and the architecture will “allow us to continually evolve
capability as the threat dynamic changes. The life of the Growler is very, very
long. We’re setting this up for the Navy to be able to continue add capability
rapidly to the Growler.

“It’s been a joint
effort and it will evolve as we pin down the requirements,” she said.

She confirmed
that the Next-Generation Jammer and the mid-band and low-band jammers “are
considered part of the future of the Growler and Growler Block II.”

Boeing’s
concept of Block II includes the conformal fuel tanks being included in the
Super Hornet Block III, but “the Navy will have to decide,” she said.

Also to be
decided is whether the Growler will go through a service life-extension
program. The Super Hornet fleet is going through a service-life extension from
6,000 flight hours to 10,000 hours.

“That is to be decided,”
Tebo said. “The Growler has a 7,500-hour service life compared to 6,000-hour
life of the Super Hornet. [The Growler] has not finished its service-life
assessment program yet.”

PITTSBURGH — RE2 Robotics, developer of human-like
robotic manipulator arms, has received $3 million from the Office of Naval Research
to develop a dexterous, underwater robotic hand with tactile feedback, the
company said in a release.

The program, called Strong Tactile mARitime hand for
Feeling, Inspecting, Sensing and Handing (STARFISH), will create an advanced
end-effector for mine countermeasures and explosive ordnance disposal for expeditionary
forces.

Using next-generation tactile sensing technology and a
multifinger, electromechanical design, STARFISH will allow operators to locate,
identify and neutralize hidden and visible explosive threats on land and
underwater. STARFISH-enabled manipulators will be deployed on both ground-base
and underwater robotic system to defeat explosive threats.

“The development of STARFISH takes underwater robotic
technology to the next level by providing operators with the ability to ‘feel’
and sense the environment around them while remaining at a safe distance,” said
Jorgen Pedersen, president and CEO of RE2. “The use of advanced tactile sensing
and intelligent grasping will improve operational performance by removing
operators from dangerous areas and allowing them to quickly and accurately
respond to explosive threats.”

RE2 will work with researchers at UCLA and the University
of Washington to develop the hand, which will use state-of-the-art tactile skin
and sensorized fingertips that are capable of sensing normal and shear forces.
Operators will command the hand using information provided by external sensing,
such as cameras, sonar or LIDAR, which will then be processed with
machine-learning algorithms to assist the operator in manipulating the object.

“Tactile sensing at the end effector can provide a wealth
of information about the environment to a robotic system and its operator,”
said Dr. Andrew Mor, RE2’s principal investigator. “Using a rich network of
sensing, machine learning and assisted manipulation, STARFISH will be able to
perceive and then share its interpretation of the environment with the
operator, allowing naval expeditionary forces to manipulate and control the
robot at human speed.”

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The crew of
Coast Guard Cutter Resolute (WMEC-620) returned home on May 19 following a
60-day patrol in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the Coast Guard 7th District said
in a release.

Upon getting underway, Resolute
patrolled south to the Panama Canal, transiting the 51-mile canal and passing
through three separate locks over the course of 10 hours to reach the Gulf of
Panama and the Pacific Ocean. After reaching the Pacific, Resolute transitioned
to conducting law-enforcement operations in support of the Joint Interagency
Task Force South counter-drug mission under the tactical command of the 11th
Coast Guard District.

Resolute embarked an aviation detachment
from the Coast Guard helicopter interdiction tactical squadron to assist with
counter-drug missions. With the aid of the aviation detachment, Resolute
interdicted seven suspected drug-smuggling vessels, seizing or disrupting over
4,000 kilograms of cocaine, worth an estimated $129 million in street value.
Additionally, Resolute detained 23 suspected narcotics traffickers and ensured
they received proper care and proper disposition to various agencies.

Resolute’s cases ranged from high-speed
interdictions of go-fast vessels to fishing vessels concealing contraband in
hidden compartments. Many of these cases lasted more than 20 consecutive hours
and some required detailed operational planning and partnership with additional
assets, including Canadian navy and Central American coast guard assets.

This patrol was one of Resolute’s most
successful counterdrug patrols in recent years. Resolute disrupted transnational
criminal organizations through the interdiction and apprehension of seven
separate vessels, ensuring more than $130 million of illegal narcotics were
seized prior to making it to the United States.

Resolute is a 210-foot Reliance class
cutter and has a crew of 78. The cutter was commissioned in 1966 and has been
homeported in San Francisco, California, Astoria, Oregon, and now St.
Petersburg. Resolute has a decorated past, including patrols in both the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans, participating in the cleanup of the Exxon Valdez
disaster in Alaska, the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the
search-and-rescue efforts for the El Faro. The ship’s recent patrols have
focused on law-enforcement missions of drug-and-migrant interdiction.

ST. LOUIS —
Boeing has received a one-year contract to continue modernizing the U.S. Navy’s
F/A-18 fleet under the Service Life Modification (SLM) program, the company
said in a May 17 release.

The $164
million contract for fiscal 2019, which also includes a one-year option for
2020, funds the standup of a second SLM line in San Antonio, Texas, complementary
to the line established last year in St. Louis.

“The Service
Life Modification program is making great strides as we’ve already inducted
seven Super Hornets into the program and will deliver the first jet back to the
Navy later this year,” said Dave Sallenbach, the program’s director. “This
program is crucial in helping the Navy with its readiness challenges and will
continue to grow each year with the number of jets we induct.”

The San
Antonio SLM line is scheduled to receive its first Super Hornet in June and a
total of 23 Super Hornets over the course of this contract. The U.S. Navy fleet
consists of more than 550 Super Hornets.

The SLM
program extends the life of existing Super Hornets from 6,000 to 10,000 flight
hours.

In the early
2020s, Boeing is scheduled to begin installing initial updates to the aircraft
that will convert existing Block II Super Hornets to a new Block III
configuration.

The Block III
conversion will include enhanced network capability, longer range with
conformal fuel tanks, an advanced cockpit system, signature improvements and an
enhanced communications system. The updates are expected to keep the F/A-18 in
active service for decades to come.

According to
Vice Adm. Alexandru Mîrşu, chief of the Romanian naval forces staff, efforts to
improve security and stability in the Black Sea region have taken a step back,
thanks to the aggressive activities of the Russian Federation.

The Black Sea
region includes three NATO allies in Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey along with
Russia, Ukraine and Georgia, with access governed by the Montreux Convention of
1936.

After the
Cold War, Mîrşu said the region enjoyed a relatively calm security environment
until the Russians illegally occupied and annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine
in 2014. There had been some successful post-Cold War initiatives adopted by
the Black Sea nations to maintain common security and stability, including the
Black Sea Naval Force (BLACKSEAFOR), Black Sea Harmony and the Confidence and
Security Building Measures (CSBM).

Until 2014, BLACKSEAFOR
proved to be successful in bringing the Black Sea nations to the table and
having operational successes to improve interoperability among those countries,
Mîrşu said. Black Sea Harmony facilitated information-sharing among the
littoral countries and included coast guards and border police as well as
navies. Today, only Romania and Turkey participate. The CSBM was an agreed upon
document that addressed cooperation in the naval field — contacts and invitations
to naval bases, exchange of naval information and annual naval exercises.
However, CSBM is now only a “theoretical paper,” Mîrşu said at the Navy League’s
Sea-Air-Space exposition in National Harbor, Md.

Since its occupation
and annexation of Crimea, Russia has continued to behave aggressively toward
NATO navies operating in the Black Sea. The Russian Black Sea fleet has grown
its capabilities with new ships and submarines in just the past four years and
has added such new weapons as Kalibr-missile carrying platforms.

Mîrşu said
the 2016 Kerch Strait incident — when the Russian coast guard prevented three
Ukrainian navy vessels from entering the Sea of Azoz and then fired upon and
seized the vessels in international waters — was “an open, aggressive attack
upon the Ukrainian’s navy ships” and “demonstrates that the will of the
Russians is actually to re-establish a new Iron Curtain into the Black Sea. And
not only into the Black Sea but actually in the whole of Europe,” he said.

Last November,
a Russian SU-27 fighter conducted a provocative and unsafe maneuver when it pulled
directly in front of a U.S. Navy EP-3 Aries II plane operating in international
airspace over the Black Sea. The Russian fighter kicked in the afterburner as
it departed, buffeting the U.S. plane.

The Montreux
Convention of 1936 only permits warships from non-Black Sea navies to operate
in the Black Sea for 21 days. NATO’s Standing Maritime Force deploys
periodically to Black Sea, along with allies and partners to demonstrate
cohesion and strength of the alliance and that the Black Sea is an
international sea for the use of all. Several U.S. warships have been in the
Black Sea this year.

“The Romanian
navy joins those ships when they enter the Black Sea to show them that nobody
is alone,” Mîrşu said.

The Romanian navy
has stepped up its game. It has a riverine force patrolling the Danube River,
the longest river in Europe. It is acquiring new corvettes and modernizing its
frigates. Romania has established a quasi-permanent presence at sea to send the
message that they are patrolling the maritime domain so that the sea lines of
communication are open and safe, Mîrşu said.

“We represent
a NATO presence,” Mîrşu said. “Our activity is not provocative and is conducted
in such a way as there could not be any misinterpretation.”

Mîrşu said
the Black Sea remains “the soft underbelly of NATO’s southeastern flank.” The
Russian attitude and posture in the Black Sea remains, and the Russian
Federation has established a “new Iron Curtain” dividing the allies and the
rest.

“Our response
is our permanent presence,” Mîrşu said and that we will remain a reliable
partner to our allies in the Black Sea and on the Danube and wherever we are
needed. The Romanian navy will continue to be credible security provider — not
security consumer — in our area of responsibilities.”

WASHINGTON — Naval
Air Systems Command has awarded a $1.3 billion contract to Sikorsky for 12 U.S.
Marine Corps CH-53K King Stallion helicopters, the command said in a release.

“The
Marine Corps is very appreciative of the efforts by the Navy and our industry
partners to be able to award the LRIP 2/3 contract,” said Lt. Gen. Steven
Rudder, deputy commandant for aviation. “This is a win for the Marine Corps and
will secure the heavy-lift capability we need to meet future operational
requirements and support the National Defense Strategy. I’m very confident in
the success of the CH-53K program and look forward to fielding this critical
capability.”

The Pentagon’s
most powerful helicopter, the King Stallion is a new-build helicopter that will
expand the fleet’s ability to move more material more rapidly throughout the
area of responsibility using proven and mature technologies. The CH-53K is the
only aircraft able to provide the Marines with the heavy-lift capability it needs
to meet future operational requirements for the vertical-lift mission.

“This
contract award reflects close cooperation and risk sharing between the government
and industry teams to deliver critical capabilities to the Marine Corps,”
said James Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development
and acquisition. “Working with our industry partners, the team ensured
that solutions for technical challenges are incorporated into these production
aircraft.”

The CH-53K carries
triple the baseline CH-53E capability, having demonstrated the ability to lift nearly
14 tons at a mission radius of 110 nautical miles. The CH-53K has proven the
ability to lift up to 36,000 pounds via an external cargo hook.

Sikorsky is a Lockheed
Martin company based in Stratford, Connecticut.

The Navy’s current and planned maritime logistical force “is
inadequate” to support the new National Defense Strategy and major military
operations against China or Russia, and failure to correct that deficiency
“could cause the United States to lose a war,” an in-depth study by the Center
for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment warned May 16.

Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer praised the CSBA study and
declare: “We really have to get after it.”

Addressing the CSBA forum that released the study, Spencer said:
“It is key that we focus on this now. Over the past two decades, our naval
logistical enterprises have performed admirably in an environment of truly
expanded responsibility and resources that were constrained. But the world has
changed. The National Defense Strategy (NDS) recognized that and we have to
stay ahead of it.”

The 120-page CSBA report said that although the NDS said
“resilient and agile logistics” was one of the eight capabilities that had to
be strengthened to prepare for the return to great power competition, the
Navy’s latest 30-year shipbuilding plan reduced the funding for maritime
logistical forces and “further reduces the logistical forces as a proportion of
the fleet.” It also noted that “decades of downsizing and consolidation” have
left the maritime logistics forces “brittle” and contributed to the decline of
the U.S. shipbuilding industry and the Merchant Marine,” which is expected to
carry the bulk of military material and equipment for an overseas contingency.

“Failing to remedy this situation, when adversaries have U.S.
logistics networks in their crosshairs could cause the United States to lose a
war and fail its allies and partners in their hour of need. An unsupported
force may quickly become a defeated one,” the report warned.

The report spelled out in detail the shortfalls in the size of the
Navy logistical support fleet of oilers, supply and repair ships that would be
necessary to support and sustain combat formations in a conflict in the western
Pacific, and the even greater deficiencies in the Military Sealift Command’s
and Maritime Administration’s fleets of aged ships that are approaching or
already past a normal service life.

It also highlighted the risks that China’s vastly expanded Navy
and commercial fleet and its ability to interdict U.S. naval forces and forward
support stations would pose to the ability to project and sustain power in a
major conflict.

The report proposed major increases in the numbers and types of
logistical ships, dramatic changes in operational formations and concepts of
resupplying deployed Navy and Marine Corps forces. It estimated the cost of
buying the additional and different ships and capabilities at $47.8 billion
over 30 years, which it said would be $1.6 billion a years above what the Navy
plans to spend on its maritime logistics capabilities.

Spencer noted that the weakness of the Navy’s maritime logistics
was brought up by members of Congress during a visit to Capitol Hill the day
before. He said a member of the Senate Armed Service Committee who was
particularly strong on the issue told him the Navy was not funding what was
needed. “And I said, ‘you’re exactly right, and we have to get after this’.”

 He promised that the
audience was going to hear him and the new chief of naval operations “talking
about the battle. And it’s not steaming to the battle. Our first battle is
getting off the pier. And we have to start addressing this in earnest.”

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The Navy is installing a co-axial 7.62 mm machine gun on the mounts of
its Mk38 chain gun systems, a Northrop Grumman official said.

The Mk52 7.62
mm is gas-operated and uses recoil to eject spent cartridges and advance to the
next round. A misfired round is safely ejected forward of the barrel as well, Jarrod
Krull, communications manager for Northrop Grumman Armament Systems, said in an
interview with Seapower.

The Mk38 Mod
2 gun mount includes an 25mm M242 Bushmaster rapid-fire cannon that fires an
explosive round. The mount is automatic, gyro-stabilized and remotely operated,
but retains the optional manual firing of the Mk38 Mod 1. The system has day
and night sensors and a laser rangefinder.

The Mk52 7.62
mm is designed as a defense against small boats, aircraft and unmanned aerial
vehicles for most U.S. surface warships and as a general-purpose gun for the
Cyclone-class coastal patrol ships and Mk VI patrol boats.

Krull said
the addition of the co-axial Mk52 machine gun gives the gunner another
“right-sized” option for countering a small target, such as pirates or
terrorists on jet skis.

The Mk52 is
very durable, reliable and accurate,” according to a Navy briefing slide.

Northrop
Grumman is installing the Mk52 guns in the Mk38 under an indefinite
delivery/indefinite quantity contract.

The company
also is offering the Navy another upgrade of the Mk38 by switching out the M242
Bushmaster cannon for a larger caliber weapon, the Mk44 30mm cannon, the same
gun used as a close-in weapon on the San Antonio-class amphibious transport
dock ship, the littoral combat ship’s surface warfare module and the
Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyer. Another option is the stretch version
of the Mk44, which would allow use of programmable ammunition, such has
air-burst ammunition.

Krull said
the Mk38 could even be up-gunned to a 40mm cannon.