HAGATNA, Guam – A B-2 stealth bomber crashed Saturday at an air base on Guam, but both pilots ejected safely and were in good condition, the Air Force said.p class=”textBodyBlack”span id=”byLine”/spanIt was the first crash of a B-2 bomber, said Capt. Sheila Johnston, a spokeswoman for Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia./pp class=”textBodyBlack”span id=”byLine”/spanThick, black smoke could be seen billowing from the wreckage at Andersen Air Force Base,./p

p class=”first”Two U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter planes collided in midair on Wednesday over the Gulf of Mexico near Panama City, Florida, during a training mission, officials said./ppThe U.S. Coast Guard recovered one pilot and a second was reported missing after the one-seat F-15C Eagles crashed at 4:21 p.m. EST (2121 GMT) about 50 miles (80 km) south of Tyndall Air Force Base./ppThe recovered pilot’s condition was not immediately known./ppThe planes were from the Air Force’s 33rd Fighter Wing based at Eglin Air Force Base, near Fort Walton Beach, Florida./ppSource: a href=”http://in.news.yahoo.com/reuters_ids_new/20080221/r_t_rtrs_wl_us/twl-two-f-15s-collide-in-midair-near-flo-d4a870c.html”Yahoo! News/abr //p

Boeing is touting an even newer version of its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet that, paired with an advanced sixth-generation fighter in the works at the company, would give customers what Boeing deems a better package of capabilities than Lockheed Martin’s combination of the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.br /br /The idea is that customers could buy 4.5 generation Super Hornets (perhaps 4.75 generation with the planned extra forward stealth and extra range of Block 3 aircraft) and then switch to a new, sixth generation faster than if they bought the fifth generation Joint Strike Fighter. To be available circa 2024, the sixth generation aircraft would feature a combat radius of more than 1,000 miles and stealth against a much wider spectrum of radars.br /br /”The [Navy] C-version of the F-35 doesn’t buy you a lot that the Super Hornet doesn’t provide,” says Bob Gower, Boeing’s vice president for F/A-18 and EA-18G programs. “Our strategy is to create a compelling reason for the services to go to the next [sixth] generation platform. How do you bridge F/A-18E/F to get us there? We want to convince customers to stay with [Super Hornet] a few years longer — by adding advanced capabilities and lowering price — so that they can get to the sixth generation faster. If you go to JSF first, it’s going to be a long time.”br /br /Another part of Boeing’s argument is that the “Navy is comfortable with the Super Hornet against the highest [enemy] threat through 2024, with the [improved] capabilities we have in the flight plan,” Gower says. “The ability to counter the threat gets you to about the point that [Boeing's] sixth generation is available.”br /br /It’s part of Boeing’s counterattack on Lockheed Martin’s claim that the decreasing price of the F-22, which is now at $140 million each, will make it so attractive that Australia may reconsider its buy — already being paid for — of 24 two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornets. Until Australia’s recent change in government, a number of U.S. officials said the government was considering a second lot of 24 Super Hornets and a six-plane squadron of EA-18G Growlers.br /br /Boeing makes the argument that a sliding in-service date for the JSF is worrying both the Australians and the U.S. military.br /br /”The U.S. Air Force and Navy are now talking a lot more about where they need to go with sixth generation to get beyond JSF,” Gower says. “It could be unmanned, but I think you will see a combination of missions — some manned, some unmanned.”br /br /For Boeing, the real discriminators are going to be extended range (1,000-1,500 miles), a small radar signature against low-frequency radars, expanded awareness through connections with the network, and the ability to carry a number of bombs internally.br /br /Source: a href=”http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/6THG013008.xmlamp;channel=defense”Aviation Week/a

Japan’s plans to build a stealth fighter demonstrator have been set back after funding for the project was cut in the fiscal year 2008 defence budget. The Mitsubishi ATD-X project has been allocated ¥7 billion ($66 million) of the ¥49.9 billion requested by the Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI).br /br /The plan to build and fly a small stealth demonstrator was approved in 2007 after the USA made it clear it would not release the Lockheed Martin F-22 for export to Japan to meet its F-X fighter requirement. FY2008 funding will allow design and technology work to continue, but construction of the demonstrator has been postponed.br /br /Similar in size to the Saab Gripen, the ATD-X will be powered by a pair of IHI XF5 afterburning, thrust-vectoring engines derived from the XF7 turbofan powering Japan’s Kawasaki XP-1 maritime patrol aircraft, now in flight testing.br /br /Japan’s FY2008 defence budget cuts funding for aviation-related projects by 2% to ¥215 billion, and includes the purchase of just 26 aircraft – 17 for the navy, six for the army and only three for the air force.br /br /The navy gets the first four P-1 patrol aircraft and three Kawaski/AgustaWestland MCH-101 mine-countermeasures helicopters, but a single ShinMaywa US-2 search-and-rescue amphibian and two Mitsubishi/Sikorsky SH-60K helicopters have been cut.br /br /The army gets two Kawaski OH-1 scout helicopters, but funding for a single Fuji/Boeing AH-64D attack helicopter was cut. Funds are provided for the first TH-X training helicopter, but a choice between the AgustaWestland AW109 and Eurocopter EC135 – expected at the end of 2008 – has not been made.br /br /span style=”font-weight: bold;”Source:/span a href=”http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/02/01/221236/japan-cuts-back-funds-for-atd-x-steath-demonstrator.html”Flight Global/abr /br /span style=”font-weight: bold;”Related topic:/span a href=”http://dailylark.blogspot.com/2008/01/mitsubishi-atd-x-shinshin-japanese.html”Mitsubishi ATD-X ShinShin a Japanese Stealth Fighter/a

div class=”story-para”Of the $515.4 billion the Bush administration is requesting for its final budget go-around, the U.S. Air Force expects to get a total of $143.9 billion in 2009, including $11.9 billion for space programs./div div class=”story-para”That’s up 6.9 percent from the $134.6 billion that Congress granted the air service for the current fiscal year, an increase Air Force officials said will largely go to cover the ever-increasing cost of fuel. /div div class=”story-para”At first glance, the Air Force request is more notable for what it does not include than for what it does. There is no funding to continue Boeing’s C-17 line, which could become a sore point between the Pentagon and Congress. /div div class=”story-para”Also absent from the request is funding for the development of a second engine for the Joint Strike Fighter program, another item Congress has long insisted should be included in the Pentagon’s budget plans./div div class=”story-para”There is also no financial resolution to the debate over the number of F-22 Raptors the Air Force needs. The request includes the already agreed-upon 20 planes included in the last round of multiyear procurement. But the request includes neither the additional aircraft the service insists it needs, nor funding to shut down the Lockheed Martin Raptor operation in Georgia./div div class=”story-para”While the overall budget request includes a $70 billion “emergency allowance” to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Air Force officials have said they have not yet been told how those funds will break down for the individual services. /div