Aircraft Systems

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com April 25, 2011 Thankfully, there would seem to be no end to the Star Trek future-technology legacy. DefenseReview (DR) recently published a short article on Blucher Systems’ Ghost and Spectralflage anti-thermal/IR multispectral combat camouflage tech/hardware for infantry soldiers (Ghost) and combat vehicles (Spectrralflage), respectively. Well, an Israeli company called ELTICS Ltd. is …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com March 19, 2011 DefenseReview (DR) recently came across a DefenseTech article titled J-20 vs. F-35, One Analyst’s Perspective. The following paragraph caught our attention: It’s kind of fun to watch the world fixate on this one item (#7). Then again, I still enjoy air shows, too. Pugachev’s Cobra maneuver, for example. Drives …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com March 11, 2011 DefenseReview (DR) readers may remember a story we published back in February 2010 on the Russian PAK FA Sukhoi T-50 low-observable stealth fighter aircraft that’s essentially Russia’s developmental version of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. Well, the program has developed since then into the more fleshed-out Sukhoi/HAL FGFA (Fifth …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com November 28, 2010 Speaking of HELLFIRE missiles, Lockheed Martin is reportedly looking to land a big U.S. military contract with the Joint-Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM). JAGM, essentially the next logical step from the AGM-114R multi–purpose HELLFIRE II missile, features three (3) guidance/seeker modes: precision-strike semi-active laser (SAL), as on HELLFIRE II, passive fire-and-forget …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com November 28, 2010 This one’s been coming for awhile. According to reports in multiple publications, it would appear that China is quickly closing the UAS/UAV (Unmanned Aircraft System/Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) gap currently enjoyed by the United States and Israel. More than 25 different Chinese UAS/UAV designs (and up to 40-50) were recently on …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com All photos contained in this article were taken by DefenseReview.com, and are copyrighted. DefenseReview.com owns the copyright on these photos. The photos were shot with Canon PowerShot S90 10-megapixel digital camera (still camera with video capability). August 13, 2010 Anyone who’s been reading DefenseReview (DR) for any length of time knows that …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com July 12, 2010 Anyone remember the movie Stealth (2005)? It was a huge bomb at the box office, but it did feature some interesting fictional future aircraft tech, including the “Extreme Deep Invader (EDI)” an autonomous high-speed, low-observable jet-powered unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) with artificial intelligence (via a quantum computer pilot …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com April 7, 2010 Updated 4/09/10 Looks like nuclear weapons aren’t the only thing the Iranian government is after. Apparently, they’ve also got a penchant for speedboats, specifically high-tech, very expensive speedboats. Multiple news sources are reporting that the Iranians have surreptitiously acquired a “James Bond-style” fast mover called the Bladerunner 51 / Bradstone …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com March 15, 2010 Human Events is reporting that the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) fighter/attack aircraft’s per-unit cost has skyrocketed to $112 million, and The New York Times is reporting that the F-35 JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) fighter/attack aircraft has ballooned in cost from 60-90 percent in real …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com February 1, 2010 Updated on 2/20/10 On March 29 of last year (2009), DefenseReview published a story stating that we disagreed with the cancellation of the F-22 Raptor program, and calling for at least 1,000 Raptors, total, to be built and fielded. This is because we knew that advanced Russian and Chinese …