VIDEO: Raytheon Demo-Flies Powered JSOW

VIDEO: Raytheon Demo-Flies Powered JSOW: "Raytheon announced today it conducted the first free-flight test of its powered Joint Stand-Off Weapon - Extended Range (JSOW-ER) on Oct. 1. The weapon used was a JSOW modified to show an engine could be installed within the outer mould line of the basic 'truck'.

Video: Raytheon

The missile flew more than 260 miles after release from a US Navy F/A-18 over the Pacific Missile Test Range at Pt Mugu. Raytheons threshold range target was 150 miles, and its objective was 250 miles. A production JSOW-ER would have a range of 300 miles.

The demonstrator vehicle was powered by the Hamilton Sundstrand TJ150 turbojet planned for the JSOW-ER - the same engine used in Raytheons Miniature Air-Launched Decoy for the US Air Force - but with its BLU-111 warhead hollowed out to form the fuel tank. A production JSOW-ER would have a tank installed behind a smaller warhead.

JSOW-ER is not a program of record, and would be a follow-on to  the unpowered, datalink-equipped JSOW C-1 now in development for the Navy - but it will be a candidate in the upcoming analysis of alternatives for an anti-surface warfare weapon to replace Harpoon. This is to begin in January and is expected to run for 18-24 months"

(Via Ares.)

Marine Helicopter & Coast Guard C-130 colllide

SAN DIEGO - The Coast Guard and Navy are responding to a mid-air collision between a Department of Defense helicopter and a Coast Guard airplane 15 miles east of San Clemente Island, Calif., Thursday evening. As many as nine people are believed to missing from the crash.

At 7:10 p.m. the Navy reported to the Coast Guard that they observed what appeared to be a mid-air collision in the vicinity of San Clemente Island.

The Coast Guard responded by sending three Coast Guard cutters, and diverting an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter to the area to search for survivors. The Navy sent four vessels and multiple helicopters to aid in the search.

The Coast Guard and Navy are actively searching for survivors at this time.

The Coast Guard plane was a C-130, a long-range surveillance and transport, fixed-wing aircraft that is used to perform a wide variety of missions. There were seven people aboard the plane.

The helicopter was an AH-1 Cobra, similar to the AH-1W Super Cobra, the helicopter that crashed near Alpine in May taking the lives of two Marine Corps pilots.


The AH-1 Cobra helicopter was part of the 3rd Marine Air Wing Light Attack Squadron. There were two pilots aboard the helicopter.

San Clemente Island, the southernmost of the eight Channel Islands, is 68 miles west of San Diego.

Northwest Pilots Were On Their Personal Laptops

NY TIMES:

The pilots of the Northwest Airlines flight that flew far past the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport last week told investigators that they had been distracted from their duties by a discussion of a new computerized crew-scheduling system that the airline was introducing.

“Both said they lost track of time,” said an interim report released Monday afternoon by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Pilots put in “bids” for routes or work shifts by computer, and both men took out their personal computers in the cockpit, a violation of company policy, the safety board said. The first officer was more familiar with the new system and was explaining it to the captain, the report said.

Both were highly experienced pilots. Capt. Timothy B. Cheney, 53, of Gig Harbor, Wash., was hired in 1985 and had 20,000 hours of experience, about half of it in A-320s, the kind of plane the crew was flying last Wednesday, between San Diego and Minneapolis. First Officer Richard I. Cole, 54, of Salem, Ore., was hired in 1997 and had about 11,000 hours of experience.

“Neither pilot was aware of the airplane’s position until a flight attendant called about five minutes before they were scheduled to land and asked what was their estimated time of arrival,” the interim report said. By that time, they were still at 37,000 feet and more than 100 miles beyond their destination.

There is no procedure for flight attendants to check on pilots during flight. Before the airplane hijackings on Sept. 11, 2001, flight attendants casually entered the cockpit as a plane was cruising, but since the terrorist attacks, cockpit doors have been reinforced and are locked during flights.

In separate interviews totaling more than five hours, Mr. Cheney and Mr. Cole told investigators they had not been napping or arguing during the flight. The cockpit voice recorder captured only the last 30 minutes of conversation, some of it on the ground after landing, but investigators said they would try to use the flight data recorder, which captured the entire flight, including use of radios, to determine the type of crew activity.

Three DEA agents among dead in Afghanistan chopper crashes

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Fourteen Americans died in two helicopter crashes in Afghanistan on Monday, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said: 10 in one incident and four in the other.

Three Drug Enforcement Administration special agents were among the dead, according to the DEA, which did not identify them.
The agents were first DEA agents to be killed in Afghanistan.

"Like all those who give their lives in service to America, they were doing their duty, and they were doing this nation proud," President Obama said at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida.

"Now, it is our duty, as a nation, to keep their memory alive in our hearts and to carry on their work, to take care of their families, to keep our country safe," Obama said.

It was the largest number of Americans killed in Afghanistan in a single day in more than four years, according to CNN records.
The NATO force ruled out enemy fire in the crash that killed four Americans and said enemy action was not thought to be the cause of the other.

A helicopter went down in the west of the country after a raid on suspected drug traffickers. Seven U.S. service members and three U.S. civilians were killed, according to an ISAF statement. Fourteen Afghan service members, 11 U.S. service members and one U.S. civilian were injured in the crash.

Monday's crash marked the second-deadliest incident in the agency's 36-year history, according to entries on the DEA's Web site.

The deadliest incident for the DEA occurred August 27, 1994, when a plane carrying five special agents crashed in the Peruvian Andes during a reconnaissance mission, according to the DEA's Web site.

One of Monday's helicopter crashes occurred after the helicopter was returning from a raid on a compound, ISAF said.

The joint international security force killed more than a dozen enemy fighters while searching the compound, ISAF said. The site was thought to harbor insurgents tied to narcotics trafficking in western Afghanistan.

The militants were killed in a firefight when insurgents confronted the joint force.
As the force was leaving, a helicopter "went down due to unconfirmed reasons," ISAF said. A recovery operation was launched.

DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart said the crash occurred as the agents and seven U.S. service members were returning "from a completed, joint counternarcotics mission."

"DEA is an extremely tight family, and the death of these three brave agents is a devastating loss for us," she said in a written statement.
Attorney General Eric Holder said the circumstances of the crash were under investigation.

"I want to express my deepest condolences to the families of these heroic agents," Holder said in a written statement.

"During this difficult time, the families of these agents are foremost in our thoughts and prayers."

In Monday's other deadly crash, four U.S. service members were killed when two helicopters apparently collided in the air in southern Afghanistan. Two other NATO service members were injured.


"The incident is currently being investigated, but it is confirmed that hostile fire was not involved," ISAF said.

"Each and every death is a tremendous loss for the family and friends of each service member and civilian. Our grief is compounded when we have such a significant loss on one day," Col. Wayne Shanks, an ISAF spokesman, said in a written statement.

ISAF is not announcing the names of the dead or which branch of the service they were in, pending the notification of their relatives.

The DEA has had a presence in Afghanistan for four years. The agency said Monday that it is increasing its presence in Kabul to up to about 50 agents.

Death Toll Rises in Baghdad Bombings

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- The death toll from twin car bombings in Baghdad climbed to 160, with hundreds more wounded in the deadliest attack in the capital in more than two years, the Interior Ministry said Monday.

At least 540 people were wounded in Sunday's attacks.
One of the bombs exploded outside Baghdad's governorate building, the other outside the justice ministry. The bombs detonated in quick succession about 10:30 a.m., officials said.

Among the wounded were three American security contractors, the U.S. Embassy said, declining to provide further details. The area struck is close to the heavily guarded "green zone," which houses the embassy.

The blasts sparked questions about Iraq's security and national elections planned for January.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who visited the scene shortly after the explosions, said holding the elections as scheduled would send a strong message to the attackers.

"The cowardly attack ... should not affect the determination of the Iraqi people from continuing their battle against the deposed regime and the gangs of criminal Baath party, and the terrorist al Qaeda organization,'" al-Maliki said in a statement.

U.S. President Barack Obama called the attacks an attempt to derail progress in Iraq, and pledged to work closely with the country as it prepares for elections. Obama spoke with the prime minister and President Jalal Talabani to express his condolences and reiterate U.S. support.

In August, more than 100 people were killed in a series of bombings that led to tightened security in Baghdad. Blast walls were installed across the city and checkpoints added.

Two years earlier, three truck bombings had killed hundreds in Qahtaniya, in northern Iraq. Sunday's attacks were the deadliest on Iraqi civilians since the blasts in August 2007.
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