Seems like everything we build is suffering from OBOGS problems.
Now it's the F-35 https://www.rt.com/usa/392002-f35-luke-grounded-indefinitely/all models of the F/A-18 are experiencing problems too, even the E/F
And still no fix for the T-45C DAVIS: T-45C STUDENT PILOTS MUST RETURN TO THE AIR NO LATER THAN DECEMBER
T-45C Goshawk student pilots must return to the air no later than December or the service will have "problems" with the number of fighter pilots in the fleet, according to a service official.
Student pilots in T-45C squadrons have been grounded for the past two months following numerous reports of physiological episodes.
"This system has worked fine for 20-plus years," Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, deputy commandant for aviation told reporters June 7. "We are actively looking for alternatives to make sure pilot production gets going in the United States Marine Corps."
Naval Air Systems Command chief Vice Adm. Paul Grosklags said
June 7 during a House Armed Services tactical air and land subcommittee hearing the Navy may use Air Force trainers but is hesitant because those jets cannot land on an aircraft carrier. The service has not had an official discussion with the Air Force on using its trainers.
The service is also looking at what syllabus items it can push to the next stage of training once the pilots get to their fleet squadrons, he said.
"One of the challenges is determining what their next fleet aircraft is as they're going through the training syllabus," Grosklags said. "We'd have to make those decisions before they completed their normal syllabus."
The Navy declined to comment on when student pilots need to be flying before it would impact its fleet squadrons. "As you know, the Navy has focused significant manpower and resources on this problem and we expect to begin training our students before it would lead to any significant personnel problems," service spokeswoman Cmdr. Jeannie Groenveld wrote in a June 8 statement to Inside the Navy. "I hope to be able to provide you more insight in the coming weeks as the results of the comprehensive PE review are released as we come closer to determining the timeline we will be back to training in the T-45s." -- Lee Hudson
And then there's China............................PENTAGON REPORT: CHINA SHARPENS FOCUS ON MILITARY INNOVATION
China continues to pursue a robust military modernization agenda intended to bolster its global influence as it remains engaged in territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas, according to an annual report released June 6 by the Defense Department.
China's officially disclosed military budget for 2016 was $144.3 billion, though DOD reports that total Chinese military spending exceeded $180 billion during that period.
"However, it is difficult to estimate actual military expenses, largely due to China's poor accounting transparency," the report states.
Still, the Chinese military budget in 2016 continued more than two decades of annual defense spending increases.
"Analysis of data from 2007 through 2016 indicates China's official military budget grew at an average of 8.5 percent per year in inflation-adjusted terms over that period," the report states, adding: "China has the ability to support defense spending growth for the foreseeable future."
Meanwhile, the Chinese established the Science and Technology Commission to act as a "high-level defense research body," according to the report. The Chinese military also emphasized the importance of dual-use technologies and civil-military integration.
"China's military modernization is targeting capabilities with the potential to degrade core U.S. military-technological advantages," the DOD report states.
Much like previous reports have stated, the Chinese in 2016 continued efforts to acquire key U.S. defense technologies by means of espionage.
"China is actively pursuing an intensive campaign to obtain foreign technology through imports, foreign direct investment, industrial and cyberespionage, and establishment of foreign R&D centers," the report states. "Several cases emerged in 2016 of China using its intelligence services, and employing other illicit approaches that violate U.S. laws and export controls, to obtain national security and export-restricted technologies."
The Chinese government also adopted a five-year spending plan in 2016 that, among other things, established several focus areas for research, development and innovation that have defense implications including aerospace engines; quantum communications and computing; innovative electronics and software; automation and robotics; special materials and applications; nanotechnology; neuroscience, neural research, and artificial intelligence; and deep space exploration and on-orbit servicing and maintenance systems, according to the report.
"Other areas where China is concentrating significant R&D resources include nuclear fusion, hypersonic technology, and the deployment and 'hardening' of an expanding constellation of multi-purpose satellites," the report states. "China's drive to expand civil-military integration and international economic activity supports these goals."
China continues to develop a strategic bomber that is expected to have a nuclear mission and military officials said in 2016 that they planned to "produce an advanced long-range strategic bomber." The aircraft's deployment would provide China with its first-ever "credible nuclear 'triad,'" the report states.
The Chinese navy, using its aircraft carrier, conducted its second-ever carrier task group integration training event in the South China Sea in December 2016.
"When fully operational, [the carrier] will be less capable than the U.S. Navy's NIMITZ-class carriers in projecting power," the report states. "Its smaller size limits the number of aircraft it can embark and the ski-jump configuration limits aircraft fuel and ordnance loads."
The Pentagon reports China's first domestically designed and produced aircraft carrier will "probably" be launched and reach initial operational capability by 2020.
China also displayed a variety of armed unmanned aerial vehicles in 2016.
"The CH-5 is China's most heavily armed UAV to date, with the capacity to carry 16 air-to-surface munitions," the report states. "In the last two years, the PLA has also unveiled an armed intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) UAV (Gongji 1) and has deployed UAVs to the South China Sea."
China's space and counter-space capabilities, meanwhile, continue to "mature rapidly," according to DOD.
"The [People's Liberation Army] is acquiring a range of technologies to improve China's counterspace capabilities," the report states. "In addition to the research and possible development of directed-energy weapons and satellite jammers, China is also developing anti-satellite capabilities and probably has made progress on the anti-satellite missile system that it tested in July 2014."
China is also employing more sophisticated satellite operations and "probably" is testing dual-use commercial technologies that could be employed in counterspace missions, according to the report.
The report notes China began construction of a military base in Djibouti that could be completed within the next year.
"China likely will seek to establish additional military bases in countries with which it has longstanding, friendly relationships," the report states.
Additionally, preparation for a potential conflict with Taiwan with the possibility of U.S. intervention "continues to play a prominent role in China's military modernization program," according to the report.
"The United States will continue to monitor China's military modernization, and it will continue to adapt its forces, posture, investments, and operational concepts to ensure the United States retains the ability to defend the homeland, deter aggression, protect our allies and partners, and preserve regional peace, prosperity, and freedom," the report states. -- Tony Bertuca
Cheers
Hoss
