|
NOTICE TO MEMBERS HOLDING BANK OF AMERICA AFFINITY CREDIT
CARD ACCOUNTS
The Association and
the Bank of America
(BoA) have operated
for fifteen years under an agreement that provided
dividends to ANA for those ANA
members holding and using BoA Preferred, Gold and Platinum
credit cards issued as a part of that sponsorship
agreement. The Bank of
America has notified us they will not continue that agreement. It
will be terminated on 31 January 2009, after which ANA will
no longer receive any
dividends for card use.
ANA IN ACTION
San Diego
Squadron Visits Coast Guard Sector San Diego
 On
a sun-splashed Wednesday, November 18th John and Nancy,
Jack and John Bushong, and Lee Baush, joined by LCDR
Stephen Polk and CDR Mike Stoll from North Island, paid a
second visit to what used to be known as the Coast Guard
Station San Diego.
Click on
http://www.johnfry.com/pages/ANASD.html to see the
photos.
REMEMBER – USCG
Aviators are Naval Aviators, too!!
DESERT HAWKS #60
The
Desert Hawks of Tucson report they are alive and well –
and even have a new polo shirt design for their
members. Contact Ken Hollett
khollett@cox.net for details.
SPECIAL ARTICLES
We have a collection of informative articles on our web
site at
http://www.anahq.org/articles/index.htm
CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS GUIDANCE
The 2008-2009
Chairman’s guidance is posted as
CJCS Guidance for 2008-2009 on our web site at
http://www.anahq.org/articles/CJCSGuidancefor2008-2009.pdf
as a .pdf file
CNO
GUIDANCE FOR 2009
is posted as
2009 CNO Guidance on our web site at
http://www.anahq.org/articles/CNO_Guidance2009nov08.pdf
F-35 Goes Supersonic:
In its first
demonstration of supersonic flight, the Lockheed Martin
F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter flew Nov. 13
at
Mach 1.05 or about 680 mph—and carried the weight of a
full internal weapons load, according to a Nov. 14
company
release. "The F-35
transitioned from subsonic to
supersonic just as our engineers and our computer
modeling had predicted," said Jon Beesley, Lockheed's
chief
F-35 test pilot, commenting, too, on its
retention of "precise handling qualities" at that high
speed. Beesley flew the conventional takeoff and
landing
F-35 AA-1 from Lockheed's Fort Worth, Tex.,
production facility, climbing to 30,000 feet and
accelerating to Mach 1.05 over a rural area in north
Texas for a period of eight minutes and four
transitions through the sound barrier, stated the
release. Future testing will take the aircraft to its
top
speed of Mach 1.6 with a full weapons load. Beesley
noted that it was significant that the F-35 had
achieved its first supersonic flight with a full load.
A
product of... Navy
Office of Information
www.navy.mil
November 17, 2008
Navy
Mayport Environmental Impact Statement – Preferred
Alternative
"The fact of the matter
is that we've seen changes in the world, we've seen a level
of globalization that has never been seen before. Our
approach to operating around the world needed to reflect
those realities."
– Adm. Gary Roughead,
Chief of Naval Operations
Naval Station Mayport preferred alternative selected
After completing a two-year Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS) and assessing 13 alternatives, the Navy announced its
preferred alternative to homeport a
single nuclear-powered
aircraft carrier (CVN) at Naval Station (NAVSTA) Mayport in
Florida. The purpose of the Navy’s proposed action is to
ensure effective
support of Fleet operational requirements
through efficient use of waterfront and shore side
facilities at NAVSTA Mayport. These facilities are
adequately
supported for training and operations along the
East Coast as required by the Fleet Response Plan.
•
Homeporting a CVN at NAVSTA Mayport reduces risks to fleet
resources in the event of a natural disaster, manmade
calamity, or attack by foreign nations
or terrorists. This
includes risks to aircraft carriers, industrial support
facilities, and the people that operate and maintain these
crucial assets. The net result is
increased operational
readiness.
•
This preferred alternative, known as alternative #4, also
involves dredging, infrastructure and wharf improvements,
and construction of CVN nuclear
propulsion plant
maintenance facilities. No specific aircraft carrier has
been identified for homeporting in Mayport. No aircraft
carrier will be homeported in
Mayport prior to completion
of required nuclear maintenance facilities. Military
construction projects are not anticipated to be completed
prior to 2014.
•
The EIS also assessed constructing operational facilities
and infrastructure associated with homeporting additional
ships at NAVSTA Mayport. The EIS
evaluated resources in the
Mayport area that may be affected by the proposed action,
such as air and water quality, biological resources (such
as marine
mammals and threatened and endangered species),
land use, cultural resources, and socioeconomics. The EIS
also accounts for cumulative impacts from
other activities
in the Mayport area.
•
The EIS process included two opportunities for the public
to provide input into the Navy’s decision making process.
The goal was to consistently inform the
public and
interested stakeholders of the options and issues involved.
Ultimately 127 individuals and organizations submitted 275
comments that were
considered by the Navy in selecting the
Preferred Alternative.
Key Messages
Facts
& Figures
|
•
Use of Mayport
helps preserve adequate distribution of homeport
locations and ports to reduce the risks to Fleet
resources in the event of natural disaster, manmade
calamity or attack on a Navy port.
• Full use of
Mayport will preserve its capabilities as a Fleet
Concentration Area, which supports U.S. based naval
surge capability.
• Effective
utilization of Mayport helps the Fleet to optimize
access to naval training ranges and operating areas
by retaining surface ship homeport locations within
six hours of local operating areas.
|
•
The Navy
assessed 13 alternatives, including a ‘no action’
alternative in selecting the preferred alternative.
• Naval Station
Mayport covers 3,409 acres. In 2006, it was the
homeport for 22 ships, six helicopter squadrons,
and approximately 16,010 sailors and civilians,
making it the third largest naval facility in the
continental U.S.
• A Notice of
Availability for the Final EIS will be published in
the Federal Register Nov. 21.
|
Tuesday
November 18, 2008
At Their New Home:
Training for the Air Force's Combat Systems Officers
will be moving to NAS Pensacola, Fla., from Randolph
AFB, Tex., in fall 2010 and when it does, CSOs should
have a new training facility in place. Navy and Air
Force officials broke ground earlier this year on the
project which includes construction of a multi-aircraft
hangar and navigator training school classrooms. The
Air Force plans to activate the 479th Flying Training
Group in fall 2009 to handle CSO training at Pensacola.
The new hangar will accommodate 11 different aircraft
to be used in training CSOs and weapon systems
officers. And, the new facility will include six new
flight simulators, a step up from the older simulators
in use at Randolph now.
Navy
Explaining Decisions On TACAIR, Other Acquisitions To Next
Admin
(DEFENSE DAILY 18 NOV 08) ... Emelie
Rutherford
Navy Secretary Donald Winter said
yesterday he will not recommend specific approaches for
President-elect Barack Obama's administration to
take on
weapons programs, but will explain the service's decisions
on systems such as the F/A-18 Hornet and F-35 Joint Strike
Fighter.
"Part of what I've been trying to do
there is not so much to argue for specific approaches, but
to--more, I think, importantly--make sure that the next
administration understands what we've done and why; What
are the issues as we see them; What are the priorities as
we have seen them; And
why we have made certain decisions.
So that they understand the 'why's' there, not just the
specific facts and figures," Winter said when asked if he
has crafted prioritized recommendations on acquisition
programs for the Obama team.
"I think that the more that we can do to
help them understand the rationale, I think the better off
they'll be positioned to be able to take on those
issues
with whatever priorities and agendas that they have in the
administration, and deal with the matters in a timely
manner," said the Navy
secretary, who is nearly certain to
leave his post when Obama's Pentagon team is instituted
after the Jan. 20 inauguration. Winter spoke yesterday
afternoon before the Center for Strategic and International
Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.
Asked about concerns that the Navy does
not have enough Boeing [BA]-built F/A-18 Hornets before
Lockheed Martin's [LMT] F-35 debuts-- an
issue raised
yesterday by analyst Loren Thompson--Winter replied:
"That's a matter that's still being
evaluated as we go through the (Hornet)
service-life-extension evaluation, and we still haven't
completed that."
"That's really a major item to factor
into what needs to be done there, in terms of TACAIR
assets,...plus we're watching progress on the F-35
program,
both in terms obviously of the carrier variant and the STOVL," the Navy secretary said.
"These are the indicators that I want to
take a look at, and those are the indicators that I will
suggest to the next administration that they look at as
they evaluate their use," he added.
Thomspon, chief operating officer of the
Lexington Institute, argued in an issue brief released
yesterday that "the Navy has a problem" maintaining
its
fighter fleet until the F-35 becomes available, because its
Cold War inventory of F/A-18 Hornets is showing its age and
the stresses put upon it.
He said the Navy and Marine Corps should
buy more Super Hornets on a multiyear production contract,
in order to be prepared for a major conflict
in the next
two decades.
The F-35 is expected to begin replacing
Marine Corps Hornets in 2012 and Navy Hornets in 2015. But
Thompson said by 2015 the sea services--
in an optimistic
scenario--will be suffering a shortage of more than 100
fighters on carrier decks.
"If plans to extend the service
life of Hornets from 6,000 flight hours to 10,000 hours
don't work out, the shortfall will be greater,"
Thompson added. "If F-35 joins the fleet
later than expected, or is bought at a slower rate than
planned, the shortfall will be greater still. And if all of
these problems occur in an environment where there is
attrition due to combat, the Navy could be short well over
200 fighters."
Obama has thus been "silent on fighter modernization --
the one category of aircraft where air power and sea
power intersect," Thompson said.
Report
To Clarify Strike Fighter Gap Options
Roughead To Be Briefed On F/A-18 Service Life Extension
This Week
(INSIDE
THE NAVY 17 NOV 08) ... Dan Taylor
NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, MD
-- F/A-18 Hornet program
officials will brief the chief of naval operations this
week on exactly how
much it will cost to extend the service
lives of legacy Hornets to 10,000 hours in order to help
mitigate the projected strike fighter gap anticipated in
2017, Capt. Mark Darrah, the program manager, told Inside
the Navy.
The
service is facing a shortfall of 125 aircraft -- 69 in the
Navy and 56 in the Marine Corps -- between when aging
legacy F/A-18A-D Hornets start
leaving service and the
follow-on aircraft, the Joint Strike Fighter, enters
service. One way to bridge the gap is to extend the service
lives of
Hornets, which were originally intended to last
6,000 hours, and are now slated to be extended to 8,000 or
even 10,000 hours. Darrah’s program
has drafted a report
that will be out-briefed to CNO Adm. Gary Roughead Nov. 18
which will enable him to make an informed decision on how
to
proceed, the captain said Nov. 12 in an interview at his
office here.
“What
we did over the past three months is we looked at those
areas and we decided and determined, ‘What do we need to do
to those areas to
get them to 10,000 hours?’” he said.
“That process identified for us a cost. We’re still in the
process of getting that cost number under control and
understanding what it means. That will be out-briefed to
the CNO.
“Once
we’re done with that, [and Roughead] says, ‘I understand,’
then we’ll be able to talk about what it might mean in
terms of the budget,” he
added.
Darrah
noted that with unlimited money and no schedule
constraints, he could extend all the aircraft to 10,000
hours, but the CNO will have to decide
based on his report
how many aircraft it is worth it to extend, and then budget
the money for it.
“We
have to be fiscally responsible and understand what makes
sense,” he said. “We need to figure out, ‘How many do we
really need?’ And that’s
still to be determined.”
The
report to the CNO should help clarify what to do about the
strike fighter gap, but it could be months before there is
major movement on the issue
because of the White House
transition.
“We
will learn a lot over the next several months, [but] I
would be surprised . . . if anything dramatic happened in
the next year in terms of our budgets
or decisions on
programs of record,” Darrah said. “[President-elect Barack
Obama] has got to get an inauguration done. So the F-18
program is on
the list I’m sure, but it’s not at the very
top.”
He
added that he does not see anything major happening on the
issue for the next six months.
The
program is also getting an early jump on extending the
service lives of the younger F/A-18E/F Super Hornets,
Darrah noted. The aircraft, which
is also supposed to fly
for 6,000 hours, could be extended to 9,000 hours, he said.
The
program is applying lessons learned from the legacy Hornet
extension effort to the Super Hornet effort.
Starting earlier and focusing on all parts of the aircraft
instead of just the airframe makes it more likely that an
extension program would be
successful, the captain said.
“It
allows us to do things sooner -- that keeps problems that
could get bigger from getting bigger,” he said. “You can
save money and you can extend
life.”
Extending the service lives of current aircraft is one of
three options for the Navy in dealing with the strike
fighter shortfall. A second option, which
has gained
support with some lawmakers, is buying more F/A-18E/F Super
Hornets.
In the
fiscal year 2009 defense appropriations bill, Congress
called the projection of a 69-aircraft shortfall for the
Navy the “most optimistic scenario,”
and urged the service
to budget for a third multi-year Super Hornet buy beginning
in FY-10. Congress also stated that “cost reduction
measures
which will yield future savings for this program
should be explored.”
Darrah
said that buying more aircraft is probably inevitable if
the Navy wants to eliminate the gap.
“We, at
this point, understand we have to buy more strike
fighters,” he said. “[Congress] wants us to prepare for
that. It makes sense -- it’s prudent.
If there is a
decision to do that second option . . . we’ll prepare
leadership to do that.”
A third
option is accelerating the ramp-up of Joint Strike Fighter
buys, a more difficult prospect. Navy leadership has been
focused on simply
keeping the aircraft from falling behind.
Earlier this month, the JSF program office told ITN that,
due to funding cuts, there likely would be a delay in
the
initial operational capability of the Navy’s carrier variant
of the JSF. Any delay in JSF puts a great deal of pressure
on the F/A-18 program,
Darrah noted.
“Obviously, if there is a delay in JSF of any kind, it
affects us,” he said. “It’s more pressure. It means those
first two variables get a lot more attention.
If JSF
slides, we’ll do the analysis and tell [Navy leadership]
what it means.”
U.S.
Navy Needs More Super Hornets For Air Superiority
(UNITED
PRESS INTERNATIONAL 25 NOV 08) ...
Loren B. Thompson
ARLINGTON, Va., -- During the recent U.S. presidential
campaign, Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama stressed in
his principal defense
position paper the need to preserve
the U.S. military's "unparalleled air power" and capacity
for "power projection at sea."
Obama
cited a few of the programs he was inclined to support,
such as the C-17 cargo plane and the Littoral Combat Ship,
but he was silent on
combat fighter modernization -- the
one category of aircraft where air power and sea power
intersect.
Perhaps he felt no need to state the obvious: The future of
America's fighter fleet is the F-35 Lightning II, also
known as the Joint Strike Fighter. The
F-35 was created by
the Clinton administration to provide a low-cost, highly
survivable fighter for three of America's military services
and at least
eight overseas allies.
The
price tag for building 3,000 aircraft looks huge -- about
$300 billion over 30 years -- but any alternative approach
that can meet the diverse
needs of so many different users
is likely to cost much more. With Cold War fighters aging
fast, the F-35 must be kept on track.
Since
the F-35 appears to be progressing smoothly, the main
question tactical-aircraft planners need to ask themselves
today is how to maintain
fighter fleets until the new plane
becomes available. And there, the U.S. Navy has a problem.
Its
Cold War inventory of F/A-18 Hornets is beginning to
experience all the age-related problems you would expect
from planes that are catapulted
off aircraft carriers on a
daily basis and then must use arresting cables to stop when
they bounce back onto the deck a few hours later. Twenty
years
of absorbing such stresses would wear out any plane.
The
F-35 is expected to begin replacing U.S. Marine Corps
Hornets in 2012 and U.S. Navy Hornets in 2015, but by the
latter year the sea services
will be suffering a shortage
of more than 100 fighters on carrier decks. And that's the
optimistic scenario.
If
plans to extend the service life of Hornets from 6,000
flight hours to 10,000 hours don't work out, the shortfall
will be greater. If the F-35 joins the
American fleet later
than expected, or is bought at a slower rate than planned,
the shortfall will be greater still. And if all of these
problems occur in
an
environment where there is attrition due to combat, the
Navy could be short well over 200 fighters.
The
American sea services could just cross their fingers and
hope nothing much will be demanded of them over the next
two decades. But if a
major conflict arises, they will be
unprepared.
So the
best option the services seem to have is to buy more of the
planes they already operate -- not the Hornet, but the
vastly improved Super
Hornet, 340 of which already have
been built on budget and on schedule.
Although legacy Hornets and the newer Super Hornet both
share the F/A-18 designation, the latter plane is far more
capable. It flies farther, carries
more ordnance, has some
stealth features and is equipped with state-of-the-art
radar.
The
cheapest way to buy more Super Hornets is using a multiyear
production contract, rather than ordering small batches
each year. Under a
multiyear contract, the U.S. government
commits in advance to purchasing aircraft for several
years, in return for which it is charged a lower price
on
each plane. All of the Super Hornets to date have been
bought that way, saving taxpayers more than $1 billion.
A side
benefit is that by committing to a multiyear buy,
it becomes economical to introduce improvements into
the plane that would be too costly
if it were ordered
in small lots. With Super Hornets likely to remain in
the fleet for 25 years, any upgrades that bolster
reliability or maintainability
will pay for themselves.
Navy
Decided Not To Accelerate IOC Of P-8 Poseidon To 2012
- Air Crews To Train Earlier Instead
(INSIDE THE NAVY 17 NOV 08) ... Dan Taylor
NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, MD
-- The Navy has rejected
accelerating the initial operational capability of the P-8A
Poseidon
maritime surveillance aircraft to 2012, and
instead plans to train pilots nine months sooner so the
aircraft will be available to the Navy earlier to
mitigate
groundings of legacy P-3C Orion aircraft, the program
manager said last week.
Navy
officials have suggested on numerous occasions earlier this
year that accelerating the IOC was a strong possibility,
and Vice Adm. David
Venlet, head of Naval Air Systems
Command, told Inside the Navy in May that he expected the
service would be able to “get an [anti-submarine
warfare]
capability manifested in 2012.” However Capt. Mike Moran,
the P-8 and P-3 program manager, told ITN Nov. 12 at his
office here that “we
convinced Navy leadership” not to
accelerate the IOC.
The IOC
will remain scheduled for July 2013, and instead the
service will opt to train air crews so that they are ready
to fly the planes nine months
before that date, a decision
that was made within the last six months, Moran said.
Moving
up IOC a year was seriously considered by the Navy, but
ultimately the service felt it would add too much risk to a
program that was on cost
and on schedule, the captain said.
“We
ultimately decided, ‘Let’s not put at risk changing the P-8
program of record,’” he said. “It’s a good program, it’s
solid, it’s tracking, and anytime
you try to accelerate a
change, that induces risk, and that can do more harm than
good.”
So Navy
leaders reached an alternative: Train air crews sooner so
there will be a “smooth and easy transition,” and so the
first airplanes will be
available to the Navy even before
IOC is reached, he said.
The
move was necessary because of the December, 2007,
groundings of 39 legacy P-3C aircraft -- one-quarter of the
fleet -- due to fatigue
problems in the wings. Since then,
three more have been grounded, and although the service
expects to start returning grounded aircraft back to
the
fleet soon at a rate of about one or two a month, the
aircraft are old and more of them are likely to develop
problems in the future, Moran said.
Training air crews nine months before IOC should go a long
way toward bridging that gap, he noted.
“We
could have air crews trained to fly the airplanes that
would already be on the ramp based on the program of record
and have them available to
execute missions if the Navy
needed them nine months sooner than the July 2013 date,” he
said.
The
move will not involve delivering aircraft earlier, but
simply using the aircraft that will be available at the
time. There is a possibility of buying more
airplanes,
which is still being discussed, the captain said.
When
asked whether early training would be enough to mitigate
the problems in the P-3C fleet, Moran said, “I think that
is the best thing we can do
without increasing risk on the
program.”
The P-8
program expects to be busy in 2009 with fatigue and static
testing to take place and first flight scheduled for late
fourth quarter fiscal year
2009 to early first quarter
FY-10.
The
aircraft will provide an anti-submarine warfare platform
that will be a significant upgrade over the P-3C with its
ability to process much more
data, all the more necessary
today with the proliferation of quiet diesel submarines
worldwide, Moran said.
“P-8
will be a major contributor to the war fight,” he said.
The
program has improved production efficiencies, Moran said,
noting that the aircraft is built on a commercial 737
airliner production line. In the
past, the Navy has had to
pull a largely commercial aircraft off the line and have it
chopped up and rebuilt to resemble a military aircraft.
Most of that
work is now done on the production line,
leaving only mission systems that need to be added to the
aircraft, the captain said.
“What
happens is turnaround time is faster, from 36 to 42 months
down to 24 to 28 months, and right now what we’re seeing is
there’s probably
some savings there for the Navy because
they’re not paying for that manpower,” he said.
The
recent strike by Boeing’s machinist union caused a possible
setback to the aircraft’s production that the program is in
the midst of assessing.
The union ended the strike Nov. 1
after eight weeks.
“We’re
still working the details out,” Moran said. “We’re looking
at, right now, are there methods to get the time we did
lose on those airplanes being
built?”
He said
he expects to know more at the end of this month and
“certainly by the end of the calendar year” what the Navy’s
way forward will be.
“We
presented a couple options up to Navy leadership and
they’re evaluating that as we speak,” he said. “I’m pretty
comfortable that the Boeing
Company has the capacity to get
us back on track, and we’re committed to keeping that first
flight and moving the program forward. But the margin
we
did have that we were building a little ahead of schedule,
we can’t get that back.”
He
added that it is possible there will be some sort of delay
in the aircraft, but “I don’t think it will be that
significant at this point.”
“I think we understand
it,” he said. “If the strike went on longer, it would
be hard to dictate, but I will tell you, being a little
ahead of schedule certainly
aids us in managing that
piece.”
A
product of... Navy
Office of Information
www.navy.mil
November 18, 2008
The
Navy’s Shore Investment Strategy
“I am committed to
finding the ways and means necessary to fully implement the
Shore Investment Strategy because it provides long-term
capabilities essential to Fleet effectiveness.”
–
Adm. Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations
The
Navy Shore Investment Strategy is vital to our Maritime
Strategy. It is a data-driven approach for assessing Shore
Readiness
requirements and targeting future investments to
Fleet priorities (operations, training, and maintenance)
and Quality of Life.
The
importance of Navy Shore Readiness
•
The Navy Shore is essential to Navy warfighting
capabilities. It includes all Navy activities that take
place on, are launched from, or
controlled by land-based
operations.
•
The Navy Shore is Fleet, Fighter, and Family-focused. Shore
capabilities support our Total Force and mission.
The
state of Navy Shore Readiness
• A
“fence-to-fence” review of Shore Installations, coupled
with rigorous models and metrics, has provided the first
comprehensive
assessment of current and future Shore
Readiness requirements.
•
While fiscal imperatives across the Navy currently prevent
full funding of Shore Readiness requirements in the near
term, we are
making smart investments to support the Fleet,
Fighter, and Families:
o
Recurring Maintenance has been funded to Department of
Defense standards to better maintain facilities and protect
investments.
o
Family support services and counselors have been greatly
increased.
o
Pacific Beacon, a Public-Private Partnership Bachelor
Quarters, will open next month in San Diego and will house
1,800 Sailors.
New Bachelor Quarters at Naval Station
Everett and Naval Station Kitsap will house another 1,000
junior Sailors.
Managing Shore Readiness Risks
•
Near-term Shore Readiness is made possible through the
extraordinary efforts of our people.
•
Commander, Navy Installations Command is the “Shore
Integrator” of our Shore capabilities and requirements.
Regional
Commanders operationalize these capabilities.
•
The Shore Investment Strategy will deliver required Shore
Readiness at the lowest life cycle cost.
•
Arresting and reversing our Shore Infrastructure decline
will require the commitment of every senior Navy leader.
The Navy must:
o
Reduce the Shore footprint by eliminating excess.
o
Reduce lifecycle costs through innovative business
practices and energy efficiency.
o
Integrate Shore requirements into all operational planning.
•
The Navy owes our Sailors, their families, and our civilian
workforce world-class facilities and services to enhance
their effectiveness
and to motivate them to “Stay Navy.”
Key
Messages Facts & Figures
•
The
Shore is integral to the Navy Maritime Strategy. It is an
integrated platform for launching Navy maritime warfighting
capabilities.
•
New approaches to Shore Readiness are required; all Navy
leaders will need to make difficult choices.
•
The Navy is making smart investments in support of the
Fleet, Fighter and Families.
•
The
Shore is immense, complex, and operationally diverse. It
consists of:
o
13
regions
o
79
installations
o
Over
109,000 facilities, valued at $155 billion
o
2,200 administrative buildings
o
210
piers
Darrah
‘Comfortable’ Navy Has Handle On Problem
Two
Grounded F/A-18s Fixed; More To Be Repaired In Next Few
Months
(INSIDE
THE NAVY 17 NOV 08) ...
Dan Taylor
NAVAL
AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, MD -- The Navy has already
fixed two of the 10 F/A-18 Hornets that were grounded after
cracks were
discovered recently in the outer-wing panel
hinges, and the service will work over the next few months
to bring the remaining aircraft back into the
fleet,
according to Capt. Mark Darrah, the F/A-18 program manager.
Naval
Air Systems Command launched an investigation after cracks
in the outer-wing panel outboard aileron hinges were
discovered on five aircraft
in a single squadron, as
officials feared a possible widespread issue. However, NAVAIR determined the problem to be minimal, grounding 10
of
the 636 Hornets and placing flight restrictions on an
additional 20 aircraft.
Darrah
told Inside the Navy here Nov. 12 that he was “comfortable”
now that the service has a handle on the issue, and the
program should be able
to make the repairs to the affected
aircraft.
“We
were anticipating something greater than that --
significantly greater,” he said.
Two
grounded aircraft have been fixed and the remaining eight
will be getting new outer-wing panels. The program will
also address the planes on
restricted status soon.
However, he noted that it is difficult to do repairs to the
aircraft in the field because it requires equipment to do a
precise laser alignment to make
the fixes, which “is not
trivial.”
In the
meantime, the Navy is keeping an eye on the Hornets in the
field, inspecting them at 200-hour intervals. If the
aircraft has cracks, it is
inspected every 25 hours, and
inspections become more and more frequent as the aircraft
ages, Darrah said.
Similar problems are
likely for other aircraft in the future, which is
unavoidable for an aging aircraft, the captain said.
However, the program has a
“robust” database that
tracks the wear and tear on the aircraft, so the Navy
should be able to catch problems before they become
major, he said.
Roughead
Announces Flag Assignments
(NAVY
TIMES 20 NOV 08)
Chief
of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead announced the
following assignments Thursday:
• Rear
Adm. John Goodwin, who is currently serving as commander,
Naval Air Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Norfolk, Va., is
being assigned as
assistant chief of Naval Operations for
Next Generation Enterprise Network System Program,
Washington, D.C
Rear
Admiral John W. Goodwin
Commander, Naval Air Force Atlantic 
A
native of Dublin, Georgia, Rear Admiral John W.
Goodwin graduated from the University of South
Carolina and was commissioned in May of 1975. He
was designated a Naval Aviator in February 1977.
Rear Adm. Goodwin reported to Attack Squadron 66
flying the A-7E Corsair, and completed deployments
as part of Carrier Air Wing 7 and USS Dwight D.
Eisenhower (CVN 69). He then became a flight
instructor, in the TA-4J Skyhawk. In March 1983, he
was assigned to USS Lexington (CVT 16) as
Catapult and Arresting Gear Officer. Rear Adm.
Goodwin reported to the Naval Postgraduate School
where he earned a Masters of Science degree.
Assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 25 flying the
FA-18 Hornet, he completed deployments as part of
Carrier Air Wing 14 and USS Constellation
(CV 64). In June 1990, he reported to the Naval Air
System Command Headquarters, Washington. His first
command was Strike Fighter Squadron 94 in August
1992. He graduated from the Naval War College,
Newport, R.I., in March 1995 with a Masters of Arts
degree.
Following Naval Nuclear Propulsion training, he
served as Executive Officer of USS Carl Vinson (CVN
70) until April 1998. He assumed command of USS
Rainier (AOE 7) in June 1998. Rear Adm. Goodwin
assumed command of the Pre-Commissioning Unit
Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) and became the first
Commanding Officer, USS Ronald Reagan (CVN
76) in July 2003. Rear Adm. Goodwin was promoted to
flag rank and assumed the duties of Deputy Director
- Strategy, Plans and Policy of the U.S. European
Command in Stuttgart, Germany. His most recent
assignment was Commander, Abraham Lincoln
Strike Group.
His decorations include the Defense Superior
Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service
Medal, Air Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, Navy
Achievement Medal, as well as numerous unit
commendations and awards.
• Rear
Adm. Richard O’Hanlon, who is currently serving as deputy
chief of staff, Operational Readiness and Training, U.S.
Fleet Forces Command,
Norfolk, Va., is being assigned as
commander, Naval Air Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Norfolk,
Va.
Rear
Admiral Richard J. O'Hanlon
Deputy Chief of Staff
Operational Readiness and Training
U.S. Fleet Forces Command 
Rear
Admiral Richard J. O’Hanlon, a native of New York
City, is a 1976 graduate of the United States Naval
Academy and was designated a Naval Aviator in
September 1977.
Seagoing assignments include service in Attack
Squadron 46, Carrier Group 3 staff, Strike Fighter
Squadron 132 and USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) as
Executive Officer. Rear Adm. O’Hanlon commanded
Strike Fighter Squadron 37, the fast combat support
ship USS Sacramento (AOE 1) and the nuclear
powered aircraft carrier, USS Theodore Roosevelt
(CVN 71). Under his command, Theodore Roosevelt
completed two combat deployments in support of
Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi
Freedom and was awarded the Battenberg Cup, the
2001 Battle Efficiency pennant, the Flatley Award
for operational excellence, and the Department of
the Navy’s Safety Award. He was also assigned as
Commander, Strike Force Training Atlantic,
responsible for the integrated and advanced
training of the deployable carrier and
expeditionary strike groups in the Atlantic Fleet.
Rear Adm. O’Hanlon has served ashore at the Naval
Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Md., conducting
developmental and engineering test projects on the
A-7 and the FA-18. He was also assigned as the
Executive Assistant to the Chief of Legislative
Affairs, Washington, and as Chief of Staff to
Commander, Naval Air Force, U. S. Atlantic Fleet.
Joint experience includes a tour as Director,
Standing Joint Forces Headquarters, U.S. Joint
Forces Command where he was charged with the
development of this joint command and control
capability and supporting the regional combatant commanders in the establishment of a SJFHQ. In
September 2007 he reported to his current
assignment as Director, Readiness and Training on
the staff of Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command.
He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot
School and completed the nuclear power training
program in 1995.
Rear Adm. O’Hanlon has flown over 4,000 flight
hours in 30 different military aircraft and has
logged over 900 carrier-arrested landings. He is
the recipient of the Defense Superior Service
Medal, four Legions of Merit, two Bronze Stars,
three Meritorious Service Medals, three Navy
Commendation Medals as well as numerous unit
commendations and awards.
• Rear
Adm. (lower half) Mark Fox, who is currently serving as
commander, Carrier Strike Group 10, Norfolk, Va., has been
selected for the rank of
rear admiral and is being assigned
as commander, Naval Strike and Warfare Center, Fallon, Nev.
Rear
Admiral Mark I. Fox
Commander, Carrier Strike Group 10 
A
native of Abilene, Texas, Rear Admiral Mark I. Fox
was commissioned in June 1978 upon graduation from
the U.S. Naval Academy and was designated a Naval
aviator in March 1980.
During his career, Fox has deployed from both
coasts in six fleet tours, flying the A-7E Corsair
II and FA-18 Hornet in over 100 combat and
contingency missions off the coasts of Lebanon and
Libya, and over the Balkans and Iraq. Combat
highlights include scoring the first Navy MiG kill
of Operation Desert Storm prior to dropping
his bombs on an airfield in western Iraq on Jan.
17, 1991, and leading the opening "Shock and Awe"
strike of Operation Iraqi Freedom on March
21, 2003. Fox's command and executive leadership
assignments include service as deputy assistant to
the president and director, White House Military
Office, responsible for overseeing all military
support to the President; service as Communications
Division Chief and spokesman for the Multi-National
Force – Iraq (MNF-I) in Baghdad; Commander of
Carrier Air Wing 2 aboard USS Constellation
(CV-64); commodore of the Strike Fighter Wing, U.S.
Pacific Fleet in Lemoore, Calif.; service as the
first commanding officer of Strike Fighter Squadron
122 (the Navy's first FA-18E/F Super Hornet
squadron) and commanding officer of Strike Fighter
Squadron 81.
Shore tours include duty as an A-7E Corsair II
instructor pilot in Attack Squadron 174; a tour as
the light attack/strike fighter junior officer
detailer in the Naval Military Personnel Command;
assignment as aide and flag lieutenant for
Commander, Naval Air Forces, U.S. Atlantic Fleet,
the assistant chief of Naval Operations (Air
Warfare - OP-05); joint duty as the maritime plans
officer at Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers
Europe (SHAPE) in Casteau, Belgium; service as the
joint strike and aviation programs liaison officer
in the Navy's Office of Legislative Affairs in
Washington, and duty as the deputy director of the
White House Military Office.
Fox has logged over 4,700 flight hours and 1,330
arrested landings on 14 different aircraft
carriers. Military awards include the Defense
Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of
Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross with Combat 'V'
and Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster.
He has completed executive education programs at
the Naval War College, National Defense University,
Army War College, Harvard University and UNC Chapel
Hill.
• Rear
Adm. (lower half) David Dunaway, who is serving as
commander, Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapon Division, China
Lake, Calif., is being
assigned as commander, Operational
Test and Evaluation Force, Norfolk, Va.
Rear
Admiral David A. Dunaway
Commander, Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division
Assistant Commander for Test and Evaluation, Naval Air
Systems Command 
Rear
Admiral David Dunaway was born in El Paso, Texas.
He received his wings in April 1984 and
subsequently served as a Selectively Retained
Graduate flight instructor in Meridian, Miss. After
completing FA-18 initial training, he served in
Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 151, aboard the USS
Midway in Yokosuka, Japan from 1986-1989,
when he was selected for the U.S. Naval Test Pilot
School Class 96, Patuxent River, Md.
Rear Adm. Dunaway’s test assignments include: Air
Development Squadron (VX) 5 as the A-12 operational
test director; F/A-18 branch head (during this
tour, he was selected as an Aerospace Engineering
Duty Officer); F/A-18 Weapon System Support
Activity as the deputy for Test and Evaluation;
and, VX-9 as the F/A-18E/F operational test
director. In this position, Rear Adm. Dunaway flew
more than 200 developmental test missions and was
selected as the Test Pilot of the Year.
His program management assignments include: PMA-265
as the F/A-18 Radar IPT lead for the APG-79 Active
Electronically Scanned Array radar, for which he
and his team received the 2003 Aviation Week and
Space Technology Laureate Award in developing this
state-of-the art radar; PMA-201 as the program
manager for the Precision Strike Weapons program
office, for which the Joint Standoff Weapon program
received the David Packard Award for innovative
business practices; and, most recently, as the
Deputy Program Executive Officer, Air
Anti-Submarine Warfare, Assault and Special Mission
Programs.
Rear Adm. Dunaway is currently the Commander of the
Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division China
Lake and Point Mugu, Calif., and the Naval Air
Systems Command Deputy for Test and Evaluation.
Rear Adm. Dunaway is a Class of ‘82 graduate of the
U.S. Naval Academy and holds a Bachelor of Science
in Mechanical Engineering, an Master of Science in
Aviation Systems Management from the University of
Tennessee and an Master of Science in Aerospace
Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School. His
personal decorations include the Legion of Merit,
Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Commendation Medal
and the Navy Achievement Medal. He has accrued more
than 2,900 flight hours and 290 arrested carrier
landings.
Navy
Wants Patrol Planes In Hawaii, Florida, Wash
(SEATTLE TIMES 21 NOV 08)
HONOLULU — The Navy wants to base 18 of its new P-8A
maritime patrol planes at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in
Kaneohe Bay.
They
would replace aging P-3C Orion planes the Navy is phasing
out. The P-8As are modified versions of Boeing's 737-
800
next-generation commercial planes.
Kaneohe would have three P-8A squadrons by 2019.
The
Navy made the announcement on Friday by releasing the final
version of an environmental impact statement.
The
report also calls for basing five P-8A squadrons at Naval
Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., and four squadrons at Naval
Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash.
The Navy says Kaneohe's
wetlands, air quality and floodplains would not be
affected by the new aircraft.
Navy
Report Outlines Future For NAS Jax
(NEWS 4
JAX 21 NOV 08)
The
Navy's final environmental impact study on the introduction
of the P-8A multi-mission maritime aircraft -- the planes
that will eventually replace the P-3 squadrons --
recommends NAS Jacksonville as the "preferred alternative"
to receive
five squadrons of the planes by 2019.
The new
P-8s will require less maintenance and P-3s and there will
be six planes per squadron, down from eight in the
P-3
squadrons.
There
are currently five squadrons of P-3s stationed at NAS Jax.
Current plans are for 27 more P-3s to be transferred to
NAS Jax from NAS Brunswick Maine next year.
The
Navy said that beginning in 2011, the P-3s at NAS Jax will
begin to be reduced, with one squadron being transferred
to
the West Coast.
The
Navy's study called NAS Jax a "critical piece" of the U.S.
Fleet Forces Command and will be the only maritime patrol
hub on the East Coast.
Capt.
Jack Scorby, commanding officer of NAS Jax, said he was
very happy with the Navy's recommendations.
"The P-8/MMA is a very
sophisticated, state-of-the-art aircraft that will
better serve the Navy's operational needs and it will
give NAS Jax the opportunity to take patrol and
reconnaissance into the future," Scorby told Channel 4.
Hornet Celebrates 30th Anniversary of First Flight
Release Date: 11/22/2008 8:13:00 PM
From
Program Executive Office Tactical Aircraft Public Affairs
PATUXENT RIVER, Md. (NNS)
-- The F/A-18 Hornet community celebrated the 30th
anniversary of the legacy aircraft's first flight Nov.
18.
The Hornet, introduced as a multimission aircraft, was
designed to replace the Navy's F-4 Phantom and A-7
Corsair II in each of their respective
fighter and
attack roles.
"Throughout its 30 years of service in the fleet, it
has demonstrated its capability and maintainability,"
said Capt. Mark Darrah, F/A-18 and EA-18G
(PMA-265)
program manager.
Darrah noted that the Hornet has proven its
multimission capability. He recounted that on the first
day of Operation Desert Storm, two Hornets shot
down an
enemy fighter jet and continued on to destroy their
assigned target. During the Kosovo War, Marine F/A-18Ds
were used during the
rescues of downed U.S. Air Force
pilots.
Currently, 636 Legacy Hornets are part of 62 active,
Reserve, training and research, development, test and
evaluation squadrons within the Navy
and Marine Corps
fleet. Seven international business partners also fly
the Hornet.
The entire F/A-18 family of aircraft, including the
Hornet, Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler, commemorated
the accumulation of seven million flight
hours in July.
"The Super Hornet and Growlers, built on the platform
of the Hornet, are destined to continue the 30-year
F/A-18 achievement in the future," said
Darrah.
4 P-8
Squadrons To Be Based At Whidbey Island
(ASSOCIATED PRESS 25 NOV 08)
WHIDBEY ISLAND NAVAL AIR STATION, Wash. — The Navy plans to
base 24 new surveillance and anti-submarine planes at the
Whidbey Island
Naval Air Station.
The
P-8A Poseidon planes will replace aging P-3 Orion
turboprops.
The
Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports the Poseidon is a
military version of the Boeing 737, scheduled to be
introduced in 2012. Along with
surveillance equipment it
carries anti-submarine missiles and depth charges.
In
addition to four P-8A Poseidon squadrons at NAS Whidbey,
the Navy will base five squadrons at Jacksonville, Fla.,
and three squadrons in
Hawaii. |
