Category Archives: Air Force

News related to the United States Air Force

Air Force, Boeing, tech

Update- C-130 AMP is "targeted for cancellation"

Even as Boeing has completed development on the C-130 Avionics Mondernization Program, the Air Force — which cancelled the Milestone C approval meeting this summer — is apparently angling to cancel the program.  C-130 AMP would upgrade C-130 cargo planes with “glass cockpit” control systems. But it has been beset with cost overruns and a halving of the number of aircraft it would have been installed in.

“Air Force officials have proposed to end the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program, a multibillion-dollar program aimed at updating the cockpit of older C-130 aircraft, according to a Bloomberg.com report.”

via Report: C-130 modernization program proposed for cancellation – Breaking News – Macon.

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Air Force, Boeing, weapons systems

Boeing successfully tests flying “death ray” on ground target

Boeing_ATL_01_540x359Boeing announced on Sept. 1 that it had successfully “defeated a ground target from the air” with  the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) aircraft, a C-130 equipped with a high-energy chemical laser.  The test potentially ushers in the era of collateral-damage-free “surgical” attacks on  enemy targets in urban areas.

The concept: a “Star Wars” version of the Vietnam-era C-130 gunship, with a gimbaled laser weapon that can be directed against individual vehicles, buildings, or other small targets.  In this case, the target was a parked vehicle.

From Boeing’s press release:

“During the test, the C-130H aircraft took off from Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., and fired its high-power chemical laser through its beam control system while flying over White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The beam control system acquired the ground target — an unoccupied stationary vehicle — and guided the laser beam to the target, as directed by ATL’s battle management system. The laser beam’s energy defeated the vehicle.”

via Boeing: Boeing Advanced Tactical Laser Defeats Ground Target in Flight Test.

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