“Every country is reducing defense budget but no country has reduced the F-35” he said, explaining also that one of the most appealing features of the program for international partners is the involvement of local companies, which supply components, systems and know-how, well before a single aircraft is purchased.

Moreover, the F-35 has recently collected some important achievement, making Burbage and the rest of the company optimistic about the future of the entire program.

First came in December 2011 the selection of the JSF as the Japan Air Self Defense Force (JASDF) next gengeration aircraft, following the F-X competitive bid process that saw the Lockheed plane win on both the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Boeing F-18 Super Hornet.

Then the F-35B STOVL (Short Take Off Vertical Landing) was removed from probation one year ahead of schedule. Finally, the F-35C (Carrier Variant) was fixed with a new tailhook system that will be tested beginning next April, making arrested landing on aircraft carriers possible after the series of failed tests.

Last year was particularly important for the revolutionary plane. It flew about 20% more than expected, performed sea trials taking off and landing (vertically) from USS Wasp and “had no issues on the ship”, Burbage said, in spite of the alleged noise and heating problems.

Dealing with the series of issues highlighted by the JSF Concurrency Quick Look Review and other official and unofficial reports leaked at the end of last year, Burbage explains: “we are currently 20% into the test program. Today’s issues are not going to affect customers that will receive the aircraft years later, when the problem is fixed.”

In the last few days, Burbage and its entourage have met the Italian Minister of Defense Di Paola and the top Italian Air Force and Navy officers. Talks were satisfactory and Lockheed is quite confident that in spite of the financial crisis and raising criticism at political level, Italy will keep the commitment as Level 2 partner (worth 2 Billion USD already invested) in the program, which calls for total U.S. purchases of 2,443 F-35s in both A, B and C versions for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, and envisages 697 planes for other partners (UK, Italy, Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Turkey).

Japan aside, the F-35 has export chances also in South Korea, that is the only non-partner country Lockheed Martin is in talks for a possible JSF sale. Should the F-35 be selected in South Korea, the number of planes procured by Security Cooperative Participants (Singapore and Israel)  and foreign customers (including Japan) will exceed the number of F-35s ordered by partners.

Since there’s no commitment yet nor any value was set, no reduction or cut in the amount of aircraft can be foreseen. Italy is not buying 131 planes. The initial requirement was for 69 F-35A and 62 F-35B (40 for the Air Force and 22 for the Navy), but Italy will buy the plane in batches: 4 planes, then 5 planes and so on. Therefore, Italy will have some F-35s, some of them will be STOVL ones to equip the Cavour aircraft carrier.

Eventually, in the U.S. the F-35 survived the Pentagon budget cuts: the US will continue buying F-35s, but will slow its purchase of the stealth fighter planes.

Indeed, it’s a very good period for the Joint Strike Fighter.

It doesn’t take long looking on the chinese defense forums and websites to see the odd snippet of information, although there is a lot of miss information out there also, of which some could be started by the Chinese government to hide what they are really up to.

The common theme does seem to favour an engine set up similar to the F-35B which in itself wasn’t a new design. Take a look at the Russian Yak 141 and you will see the lift fan at the front and the swivelling jet nozzel at the rear. There is even talk that the engine will be a modified version of what is planned to go into the well documented J-20 when it reaches production. Is this definite? of course not, it doesn’t even appear to be off the drawing board yet and probably will remain so for quite a while (if not indefinately).

Above image of a Russian Yak-141: Chinese Internet

So what will the fabled J-18 Snowy Owl look like if it were to take to the skies?

Well, many analysts favour the canted twin vertical stabilisers high wing design in a similar vein to the F-35 with some sort of lift fan at the front just behind the cockpit. It’s interesting to note that the Yak141 had two lift fans one behind the other and it’s suspected that the J-18 would be the same. The big question is: would it sport one or two engines at the rear?  The rendering below seems to favour two engines both with the swivelling nozzels and a smooth low RCS (Radar Cross Section) fuselage internal weapons bays and other stealthy features.

Above render source: Tiexue.net

Assuming for a moment the aircraft is real and it’s near to flight testing how would China use it?

It has been widely reported that China’s first Aircraft Carrier has been under going sea trials. Again it has been widely reported that China has a navalised version of the J-15, itself  a copy of the Sukhoi SU-30, which is real and is flying so it is hard to see the need unless there is some sort of unknown plan to build smaller carriers in the vein of the USS Wasp to provide maritime support of amphibious forces.

The STOVL project is going to be a huge technological exercise and that is going to take time. The J-18 is likely to remain rumours and internet chatter for a long time to come, and in true Mythbusters style, this Myth is busted at least for now.

Richard Clements for TheAviationist.com

Piloted by Lockheed Martin Test Pilot Mark Ward, the aircraft AF-6, launched at 17.05LT and landed after sunset at 18:22 LT. An F-16 chase plane accompanied the Joint Strike Fighter during its first after dark sortie.

Note the green night formation lights, used by combat plane flying in close formation.

In the night between Jan. 24 and 25 a US joint Special Forces team (including the Navy SEALs) team freed two Western workers kidnapped in Somalia on Oct. 25, 2011. They were an American woman, Jessica Buchanan, and a Danish man, Paul Tisted, working for the Danish Demining Group, abducted by armed people near Galkayo, a central Somali town located some 200 miles to the northeast of Mogadishu.

The BBC says U.S. officials have confirmed that the American Special Forces performed the overnight operation which resulted in a shoot-out with 9 Somali pirates killed and five captured. The team was parachuted from a plane (although NBC News, citing American officials, reported that two teams landed in Somalia by helicopter) and remained on the ground for about an hour, from 02.00 to 03.00LT (24.00GMT).

After the rescue team had rescued the hostages, the special forces left the area by helicopter and flew back to Dijibouti base of Camp Lemonnier.

If the news of the SEALs parachuted by C-17s is confirmed, the last raid would sign a big change from the last operation the U.S. Special Forces conducted in Pakistan last May, when they killed Osama Bin Laden. Indeed, during the Operation Neptune’s Spear (known also as “Operation Geronimo”) they not only swooped into the Pakistani airspace with a Stealth Black Hawk helicopter, but they were covered by several assets (including an RQ-170 Sentinel, like the one captured in Iran on Dec. 4) whose role was to conceal the ongoing raid.

Since there was no need to deceive an enemy air defense or surveillance system whereas there was that to avoid the risk of both being “announced” by the noise of helicopters or, even worse, to face other problems with stealth technologies in the wrong hands in a foreign country (as happened too many times in the last year) it is possible that, this time, with the Black Hawk Down accident in their minds, the Special Forces opted to be paradropped by a cargo plane.

Indeed, at least four C-17s belonging to the 437th Airlift Wing from Charleston AFB were reported by UK spotters to be refuelled by four KC-135 tankers launched from RAF Mildenhall sowhere off the European coasts on their way to Dijibouti a couple of days ago.

Actually some (if not all) returned to Ramstein before the raid was lauched, so there’s still the possibility they were  only used to carry the US Special Forces and their equipment to their forward operating base and did not take part in the Somali raid.

However, the ramp at Camp Lemonnier is not so huge to accomodate all the Globemasters and one or more could have remained in Djibouti to support the raid and airdrop the SOF troops using HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) system.

Nevertheless U.S. Navy SEALs as well as the other Special Forces often perform training activities launching from C-17s as the following ANG image shows.

Let’s see if the information is disclosed in the next Pentagon briefing but I would not be surprised to know that they performed a real one over Somalia last night.

Some have argued that the aircraft supporting the raid may have been MC-130s. The Department of Defense did not disclose any detail about the involved aircraft and units, however, three MC-130s were reported to have crossed the Pond the night before the raid.

Whether they were involved in the Somali pirates raid or not, it’s hard to say. What can be said is that the C-17 offers higher speed, range and payload. And could be preferred for HALO drops because it is able to fly at higher altitudes where I think it’s also less noisy than an MC-130.

Richard Clements contributed to this article.

Here’s the explaination: the C-5 belonged to “The Patriot Wing”, the 439th AW (Airlift Wing) from Westover ARB, whose plane’s tails are adorned with the same Patriot’s logo as the NFL franchise. The aircraft, just returned from an airlift mission Afghanistan,  flew over the stadium at the end of a local training sortie.

Another area that Chinese designers have made advances in is that of UAV’s (unmanned aerial vehicles) or UAS (unmanned aerial systems). Rumours started in 2007 when, during the Paris Air show, China displayed the ‘Dark Sword’ concept.

The Dark Sword clearly had a very low RCS (Radar Cross Section) and showed the way Chinese designers were going in their work. It has appeared several times since then, indicating that this might not just be a concept but could be something that becomes reality in the future.

At the end of 2011 photos started emerging from China of a new Stealth UCAV/UAV dubbed the “Wind Blade” that features a blended wing design with long slim wings with “Sharklets” and an engine intake at the front and above the wing-like body. The overall design would lean towards a high altitude surveillance platform and  going by reports it was designed by students from the Shenyang University which happens to be connected to one of China’s largest aircraft producers. Although the aircraft in the photo is a scale model it’s not clear how old the photo is, so it could be conceivable that there is now a full-scale version.

China does have several non stealthy UAVs too.

There is the SOAR Dragon which looks very similar to the Global Hawk although it has swept wings and the tail plane joins with the main wing and from the photo’s below appears to have  radar absorbing paint. What is interesting in these photo’s is that the aircraft is in an advanced state of completion and looks to be being painted.

All images source: Chinese Internet

There are videos of a hybrid Predator – Global Hawk look-alike doing fast taxis down an unknown runway. The drone seems to be in an advanced state of testing meaning this could now be in a flyable position.

Analysts are divided as to where Chinese scientists are with UAV development. Based on the designs that are being displayed, the designers could have mastered stealthy shapes and the complexities of controlling the UAV. There are even reports that the Chinese are testing small-scale UAV’s for automated carrier landings.

Where most analysts agree is that China does not have the infrastructure to have a UAV reach outside of Chinese airspace and even within Chinese borders the signals are unreliable.

Maybe some of the radio/satellite link equipment, as well as  internal memories, circuitry, lenses,  and sensors contained in the RQ-170 Sentinel captured by Iran could be somehow helpful cause they can be evaluated, tested and copied. And, maybe, improved.

China is still a fair few years away from having a true global UAV reach which will require a lot of space systems investment to be able to achieve this. However there is one thing for sure, it will happen at some point in the future.

Richard Clements for TheAviationist.com

As the following image seems to suggest, the most advanced 5th generation combat plane, integrating the best stealth technologies, full sensor fusion and a futuristic X-ray-like capable helmet, flies on JP-4 fuel, a dangerous kind of propellant, quick to ignite and explode, that was largely used from 1951 to 1996, when it was phased out and replaced by the safer, kerosene-based, JP-8.

Image: Lockeed Martin (highlight mine)

As explained in the website of Air BP (“the specialised aviation division of BP, providing fuels, lubricants & services to our customers in over 50 countries worldwide”):

although JP-8 has replaced JP-4 in most every case, the potential need for JP-4 under emergency situations necessitates maintaining this grade in specifications MIL-DTL-5624 and Defence Standard 91-88.

However, unless the JP-4 was/is used for testing purposes, it is quite strange that while some combat planes are beginning to perform test flights on eco-friendly biofuel or synthetic fuel, the F-35 is flying on a type of jet propellant presumed to be phased-out or used only in emergency situations.

Unless, the F-35′s glass cockpit symbology, so “user friendly” to remind some early flight simulator games, was not only designed for a “videogame freak” as test pilots said during the webminar, but also by someone who used to play with arcade games with some simulation elements (as F/A-18 Interceptor or F-19 Stealth Fighter) in the  ’90s, when the JP-4 was still in use :)

It was at this point it all became clear what was indeed going on.

The one taking place was a dry run for the Olympic games and the circles in the sky were indeed the contrails of a RAF E-3D AWACS flying racetrack patterns along with a Sentinel R1 aircraft (one of those saved from cuts after performing extremely well during the recent Air War in Libya) and, according to rumours, even a USAF E-8 Joint Stars.

The AWACS were positioned to give total coverage of the southern part of the UK: along with other surveillance assets, nothing would have escaped their gaze.

A practice scramble of a pair of Typhoons out of RAF Northolt on the evening of Saturday Jan. 21 at around 8.30pm LT, was used to give pilots the opportunity to give a first look to the surroundings they will find themselves in for the duration of the Olympic games. The pair of Typhoons had originated from their home base at RAF Coningsby where they returned once their taskings were complete.

It certainly looks like the London Olympics organisers are taking no risks with security. The London sites are already on lock down with the casual observers being questioned if they look out of place, on top of the widely reported facts that the London sites will have SAM sites dotted around the area and some 13,000 UK military personnel involved.

There were also media reports of the Royal Marines and UK Police taking part in an exercise in the river Thames (London) last week. Although still unconfirmed, Army Lynx helicopters operating out of RAF Northolt, were reported to have attended the drills.

Thanks to the London Evening Standard it also emerged that the British Ministry of Defense were to lease several helicopters from the US Department of Defense for use in confined spaces. The paper coined the term “Killer Eggs” due to their egg-like appeareance but these ‘little birds’ are based on the Hughes 500 defender and are used extensively by US special forces. This obviously has not been confirmed as of writing.

Richard Clements for TheAviationist.com

Related articles

• Typhoon fighter planes to be deployed during London 2012 Olympics (mirror.co.uk)
• London Olympics security to be boosted by 13,500 troops (guardian.co.uk)

The photograph is  interesting because it shows an aircraft about to catch the wire on a land base and it is taken from a position that gives a clear view of the distance between the Main Landing Gear and the arrestor hook on the Hornet: 18.9 ft.

As explained in a post dealing with the difficulties of the F-35C to get aboard U.S. aircraft carriers, although the current JSF Carrier’s variant tailhook design was based on that of the Hornet, the F-18 geometry places the tailhook at a distance where the cable, after being trampled by the wheels, has enough time to respond and flex back to its original position, making cable catch “easy”.

Tailhook landings by land-based aircraft are used in emergency situations to arrest a plane experiencing a failure that could imply a braking malfunction.

“We need to make sure we are on the cutting edge” said Panetta when describing the Pentagon’s next generation war fighting technology which is to include the F-35 program.

The sigh of relief must have been palpable from the offices of Lockheed Martin after several tough dark years in which it looked in all probability that the STOVL (Short take off vertical landing) version was going to be scrapped after technical issue after technical issue along with massive cost over runs put the version at risk. The F-35B is a monumentally complex aircraft due to its remit of being stealthy and being able to operate from the back of a ship or from rough airstrips, but as Panetta himself stated that the F-35 was “absolutely vital to maintaining our air superiority,” but cautioned that it was important “to get this right.”

After hearing Panetta’s announcement Gen. James F. Amos, the Marine Corps commandant, made a statement in which he stated ““I welcome the secretary of defense’s announcement removing the F-35B Lightning II from ‘probation’ and granting it full status commensurate with the other two variants of the Joint Strike Fighter,” General Amos said. “I continue to be encouraged by the strong and steady progress that the F-35B team has made over the past year.”

With the survival of the STOVL variant the USMC can keep up with their plan to equip with a fixed wing aircraft their LHA (Landing Helicopter Assault) and LHD (Landing Helicopter Dock) to support a MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) in regional crisis. Moreover, the F-35B is expected to replace also the service’s F/A-18s to cover the full spectrum of modern warfare scenarios with their own resources.

Other program partners may have welcome the news that the F-35B was lifted from probation. Among them, the Italian Navy that needs the STOVL variant for the Cavour aircraft carrier. According to the original plan, 20 are supposed to be delivered to the Marina Militare as Harrier replacement, whereas the Italian Air Force was interested in some B planes to replace the AMX light bomber.

However, the initial plan will have to be revised as a consequence of the Defense budget review that the new Monti technocratic cabinet is about to lauch. Even if some political forces are urging the new Defense Minister Di Paola to quit the program and to renounce to the planned 131 examples, a cut is a more plausible hypothesis.

Although the final outcome of the Defense budget review is unpredictable a likely scenario sees the Italian Air Force receiving about 80 F-35s (A and B variants) and the Navy 20 F-35B STOVL (Short Take Off Vertical Landing) combat planes.

Anyway, it now looks like Lockheed Martin has finally turned a corner with regards to this very challenging project. As The Aviationist has already reported the other day following the Lockheed Martin F-35 webminar, the arrestor hook issue suffered by the ‘C’ variant was a minor problem and has been fixed and LM is awaiting the opportunity to test the new design out.

Historically the F-35 isn’t on its own with teething problems, the S-3 Viking springs to mind with its ejector seat issues for rear cabin aircrew that went on to a long and distinguished Naval career, the F-35 Lightning II will follow in its footsteps.

Written with The Aviationist’s Editor David Cenciotti

Related articles

• F-35 targeted in potential military cuts. If Italy quits, will the stealth plane ever be affordable? (theaviationist.com)
• Joint Strike Fighter Test Report Shows Heightened Problems with F-35B and Risks of Excessive Concurrency (pogoblog.typepad.com)
• KC-130J: a tactical gas station in the sky. Serving fighters, bombers, choppers. And maybe even F-35s sometime in the future. (theaviationist.com)

The U.S. aerial bombing campaign over Libya was just two days old last March when F-15 pilot Maj. Kenneth Harney and Capt. Tyler Stark got their mission – conduct airstrikes against Moammar Gadhafi’s forces near Benghazi.

[Read also: Operation Odyssey Dawn explained (Day 4)]

Capt Stark was on his first combat mission and said to Starr “There’s obviously a little bit of nerves in the back of the stomach – it’s kind of like you’re going out for that big football or basketball game and you’re like, wow, this is it. This is the big leagues and I’m going to be flying in combat tonight.”

Harney and Stark took off from their temporary forward operating base at Aviano (Italy) and headed south out over the Med towards Libya and into the Benghazi area, they soon found targets and after releasing their final weapon of the sortie, they turned for Italy when, suddenly, Harney lost control of the Eagle which he described ”very much like if you were driving you’re car down the road and you hit a patch of ice and your car starts spinning. That’s exactly what our aircraft at that point was doing.”

Capt. Stark sat in the back described his thoughts at that point as “This is really happening?”

The aircraft falling Stark made his May Day calls and both pilots ejected which was described as s”carey but a life or death decision” once the survival instincts kick in the lever is pulled and the pilots are out of the aircraft.

The two men got separated once under the parachute and landed in different locations neither knowing if they had landed amongst Ghadaffi’s forces they had only moments ago been bombing,  Harney described his feelings once on the ground “I was scared. There’s no doubt in my mind that I was terrified”.

He spent the next several hours hiding trying not to be found by hostile forces whilst trying to contact friendly forces on his radio that is part of the survival kit all pilots take into combat. Harney was lucky and made contact, an Osprey from USS Kearsarge touched down to rescue the pilot, Harney ran towards the aircraft hands raised high so that the Marines knew he posed no threat. After being bundled into the Osprey rather unceremoniously the Osprey dusted off and returned with Harney back to the carrier.

Stark however was not so lucky, he found himself in a field with two vehicles heading to wards his location, shining lights in his hiding place, with little or no chance of escape, stark heard a voice in English saying: “American come out – we are here to help.” Stark described his actions as so ”I get up and put my hands up and start walking to the voice” he said. “Once I get there, my impression is, OK you have to assume that they are the bad guys.” He was driven to a near by building still not knowing if the forces were friendly or not.

Stark was taken into the building and found himself in front of a half circle of local people, he described his thoughts at that moment as  ”Either this is where the beatings are going to start or this is where I am going to get a lot of help. Fortunately I walked into the room and got a round of applause.”

He was safe, due to the stress and shear terror of the previous hour or so Stark couldn’t remember the number to call for help and with cell phones available the only number he could think of was that of his parents “So I called him up, spoke with my dad and said, ‘Hey, I need you to make a call for me.’” the Libyan people sheltered Stark until an Italian boat arrived to pick him up and take him back to safety.

This article raises a few questions of what could have happened to the Eagle. From photos released by media outlets soon after the jet crashed it was obvious there was little or no forward movement of the aircraft and appeared to have landed vertically. This is what made analysts think it was in a flat spin as the crew bailed out and was at some good altitude as they had time to send a may day call and spend time under the chute.

Also what becomes apparent is there is no damage to the jet nozzles at the rear therefore eliminating damage from a MANPAD missile or a heat seeking missile. A radar guided missile however wouldn’t strike the aircraft necessarily at the rear, and the photo’s from the Guardian article above reminded of the crashed hulks of the Mig 29’s shot down during the Balkan conflict during the 90’s victims of AMRAAM’s.

According to the investigation report the Eagle was lost when the pilot performed a manoeuvre outside of the aircrafts flight envelope (whilst unbalanced) which sent it into an un-recoverable spin (during a jinking manover after weapons release).

Above images: Richard Clements

The crews from Lakenheath regularly undertake intense training in very difficult terrain and certainly handle this beast of a jet with the highest degree of skill. Hence, the issue over Libya must have been catastrophic. And the tension inside the cockpit much higher than in a normal training flight, increasing the risk of pilot error.

Richard Clements for TheAviationist.com

Related articles

• Top military aviation stories of 2011: drones up and downs, stealth projects exposed and Libya’s 7-month-long war. (theaviationist.com)
• Osprey: a widowmaker? (rt.com)
• Osprey Down: Marines Shift Story on Controversial Warplane’s Safety Record (wired.com)

The nEUROn, whose shape reminds that of the American X-47B,  is the first stealth combat drone developed in Europe and was rolled out after five years of design, development, and static testing. The first engine tests will be carried out in the next weeks, while the maiden flight is expected to be conducted in mid 2012. Following the first flight a testing campaign in France, Sweden and Italy will begin to evaluate the handling of the drone, its stealthiness, its capability to drop PGM (Precision Guided Munitions) through the internal weapon bay, as well as the integration in a C4i environment (command, communication control, computer and intelligence).

Although the nEUROn is only a full-scale technology demonstrator for an UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle) and will not be produced in series, it is the first step of the six partecipating countries towards the advanced technologies used in future stealthy combat ‘bots.

The UCAV developed from the nEUROn will feature capabilities, payloads and ranges, similar to to those of the manned combat planes and will be much more advanced than the current “Predator-class” Unmanned Aerial Systems, that in the MQ-1 and 9 (Predator A and Reaper) variants have been intensely involved in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Libya.

All images via Alenia Aermacchi

Related articles

• Killer Drones Get Stealthy (wired.com)
• Iran seizes a U.S. Stealth Drone by taking over controls. Maybe… And what about that Predator virus? (theaviationist.com)
• New Satellite Images Reveal A Secret Drone Testing US Drone Base In Nevada (tarpon.wordpress.com)

Included in the “F-35 from the Cockpit” webminar held on Jan. 18, the screenshot gives an idea of the Joint Strike Fighter glass cockpit featuring full touch screen, HOTAS, voice activated commands, system monitoring with all information displayed on a “portal” that make the most advanced (and expensive) 5th generation aircraft ever built, “amazingly easy to fly” as F-35 Test Pilot Bill Gigliotti said during the webminar.

As I witnessed some years ago in the F-35 Cockpit Demonstrator, the combat flight simulator-like symbology, combined with a Helmet Mounted Display with the 360° view of the battlespace, that correlates images coming from a set of cameras mounted on the jet’s outer surfaces, giving the pilot the ability to see in all directions, through any surface, as if it was equipped with x-ray vision, gives the pilot the opportunity to fulfil every kind of mission with the so-called Total Situational Awareness.

During the webminar, that featured also by F-35 Chief Test Pilot Alan (Al) Norman as speaker, Lockheed affirmed they are sure the F-35C will be able to land on a carrier since they are waiting the new testing campaign to validate it.

On a question about the dogfighting capabilities of the F-35 in relation to a Sukhoi Su-37: “they are years behind us.”

In the meanwhile LM has released on Flickr the first night flying pictures of the F-35.

Above images: courtesy Lockheed Martin

In an interview with the Fars News Agency, Rear Adm. Farhad Amiri said that Iran’s ordinary submarines, covered with coatings that make them stealth, since “do not allow sound to travel through them and do not reflect waves sent by sonar systems”, could by the worst threat U.S. aircraft carriers will have to face next time they cross the Strait of Hormuz.

Since they American flattops can’t track them, Iranian submarines have acquired the ability to hide at the proper depth and “when the submarine lies on the sea bed, it can easily target an aircraft carrier that is passing nearby,” Amiri said.

Being one of the most powerful tools in the hands of the U.S., aircraft carriers are one of the most ambitious targets of any anti-American country. That’s why they are also some of the most heavily defended assets which does not travel alone (as done by the Chinese trainer Varyag) but alongside a Strike Group (once known as Battle Group) including ships, supporting vessels and a nuclear submarine, whose task is, among the others, to defend the flattops from underwater attacks.

So, although I’m unable to determine whether the threat posed by the Iranian subs is real or not (actually unable to say whether the subs are really stealth because they don’t even exist…), I would still bet on the Carrier Strike Group. Especially considering the usual claims made by the regime in the last years.

According to Mehr News agency, in a couple of month Iran plans to launch new 500-ton submarine Fateh (Conqueror) submarine, whereas Iranian researchers have built a new 3-kg smart remote-control sub, with a submerged speed of 19 kts, capable to carry out surveillance missions for…one meter (I hope there was a problem with the translation otherwise this would remind me of the surveillance drone that resembled a radio-controlled scale model more than a modern drone).

For instance, some reported that the empty ship weighted as 110 Boeing B747s (which version?) while others said that the luxury cruise ship was slightly shorter than USS Nimitz (958ft/292 mt of the Concordia vs 1,092 ft/333 mt of the CVN-68).

In 2008, while visiting the Italian aircraft carrier Cavour, I had the opportunity to take some photographs of the Costa Concordia docked at Civitavecchia harbor next to the warship. Although they were taken from a certain distance the pictures below give an idea of the size of the cruise ship in relation to the size of the Italian Navy flagship (800ft/244 m) destined to be equipped with the F-35Bs (provided they will be able to survive the cuts of the Defense budget review).