ANN's Annual Review Of The Year That Was: Military Aviation In 2009

Final Compilations by ANN News Editor, Tom Patton

Military aviation runs the gamut from bigger, faster, and more powerful to smaller, stealthy, and in some cases remotely controlled.  While we all know the role military aviation plays in keeping our country safe and free, it, too, had to deal with budget cuts and a faltering economy. Airbus finally got the A400M off the ground in 2009, but some other programs, like the VH-71, gasped for air under the budget knife. Still others found themselves cut entirely. Here's a sampling of the stories that were military aviation in 2009.

January

• Although recommended by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, a plan to relocate a US Navy Aircraft Carrier from Norfolk NAS in Virginia to Mayport NAS near Jacksonville, FL has drawn criticism from Virginia legislators...
• Pratt & Whitney was awarded a contract from the United States Air Force valued at up to $7 million for long lead material procurement to produce an additional eight F119 engines for the F-22 Raptor...
• "I now know that a factory environment is not the place for me." That was one of the more obvious comments made by former Boeing worker Matthew Montgomery, before a judge sentenced him to 10 months in confinemment for attempting to sabotage a Chinook helicopter on the assembly line in Ridley Park, PA...
• The first Lockheed Martin pilot production VH-71 presidential helicopter to begin the integration and final production process arrived at the company's Owego, NY, facility...

• Industry observers predicted that given other priorities for the incoming Obama administration, any new KC-X bidding process may be put off till 2010 at the soonest...
• Decisions about the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and F-22 Raptor aircraft programs are expected early in President-elect Barack Obama's administration...
• Airbus Military and EADS announced a "new approach" for the oft-delayed A400M military program... telling its partner nations they must join together to "find a way forward" with the trouble-plagued aircraft...
• Lockheed Martin completed the first F-35 Lightning II equipped with mission systems this week, a milestone that will lead to the first avionics testing on board an F-35 aircraft...
• Those hoping for some kind of resolution to the ongoing budgetary fight over such programs as the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter will have to wait a bit longer...
• It's an interesting news day when a company both confirms it was part of a particular program, then subsequently announces it will withdraw from that effort...

February

• The US Navy retired the last Lockheed Martin S-3 Viking from fleet service in ceremonies at Naval Air Station Jacksonville Friday morning, closing out the aircraft's distinguished 35-year Naval career...

• The GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team began testing its first production-configuration F136 engine for the F-35 Lightning II aircraft a month ahead of contract schedule...
• Boeing Company officials announced the receipt of a nearly $3 billion contract from the US Air Force, awarded to build 15 more C-17 Globemaster IIIs...
• President Barack Obama needed to decide whether to proceed on a costly, delay-plagued program to replace the fleet of Marine One presidential helicopters...
• The chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee, Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha, renewed his call for the Pentagon to consider splitting the $35 billion KC-X contract between Boeing and a consortium made up of EADS and Northrop Grumman...
• During a teleconference with reporters , Boeing officials gave new details on a project few were expecting -- plans for a new, long-range bomber for the US Air Force...
• Electronics group Thales ruled out making any additional financial contributions to the troubled A400M program...

March

• The F-35 Lighting II program planned to complete all remaining System Development and Demonstration aircraft, deliver the first production-model F-35s to the armed services and initiate full-scale flight test operations at Edwards Air Force Base, CA and Naval Air Station Patuxent River, MD...
• German procurement officials said they might recommend that country's military abandon support for the A400M...
• Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi often requests high-end military aircraft to shuttle her from Washington, DC to her home in California...
• The Museum of Aviation hosted a traveling exhibit March 31 through May 6 commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Berlin Airlift...

• Major Joseph T. "O.D." Bachmann became the first US Marine Corps pilot to fly the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, logging the flight-test program's 90th mission...

April

• The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced this week the remains of a US airman, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors...
• Saying he would have made the same budget cuts regardless of the state of the economy, Defense Secretary Robert Gates recommended the Pentagon cut all further funding for production of the F-22A Raptor, and halting development of the controversial VH-71 presidential helicopter replacement...
• EADS told Britain Tuesday it is prepared to go forward with the A400M, even if the UK pulls out...
• Legislators from states where F-22 components are made began drumming up support for congressional votes to continue the fighter's production, thus saving thousands of worker's jobs...
• In response to US lawmakers' suggestion that the controversial bidding process on a replacement fleet of aerial refueling tankers be resolved by splitting production between contractors, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company CEO indicated he would likely go along with the idea...
• Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin Company, a number of other industry teammates and the US Missile Defense Agency began Airborne Laser (ABL) flight tests with the entire weapon system integrated aboard the ABL aircraft...
• Boeing's P-8A Poseidon test aircraft T-1 successfully completed its first flight April 25th, taking off from Renton Field at 10:43 a.m. and touching down at Boeing Field in Seattle at 2:14 p.m...

• The A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) marked a new development milestone by flying as a receiver aircraft with a C-135 tanker operated by the French Air Force..

May

• The Obama Administration, in the process of spending trillions of dollars for all manner of programs and projects, is trumpeted the 17 Billion dollars it is trying to cut from the Federal Budget...
• The US Air Force reports that when the 147-million-dollar cost of shutting down the production line for the F-22 is spread over the cost of the last four aircraft to be delivered, those last four Raptors will end up costing 196-million dollars each, an increase of about a third over previous F-22s...

• A bill by U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent (PA-15) that requires an assessment of how CAP can support homeland security missions was approved by the House of Representatives...
• The Air Force has made tough choices and some prudent trade-offs to balance the service across the spectrum of capabilities needed for the future, Air Force leaders said...
• Figures from the US Navy suggest that the official cancellation of the VH-71 Presidential Helicopter Program may have been politically expedient, but not necessary smart financially...
• Three KC-767J aerial refueling tankers recently achieved Initial Operational Capability (IOC) and have been placed in an active air wing in the Japan Air Self-Defense Force...

June

• The Navy has announced that it will terminate the VH-71 System Development and Demonstration (SDD) program contract...
• A U.S. Navy aircrew joined the international search for survivors and debris on Tuesday from an Air France aircraft that went missing yesterday off the Brazilian coast...
• The Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA) flew for the first time June 2nd at Palmdale, California. The aircraft is the product of the Air Force Research Laboratory, and Lockheed Martins' "Skunkworks"...
• After successfully protesting the award of a contract for aerial refueling tankers based on an Airbus platform to Northrop Grumman, Boeing is proposing a tanker design using either its 767 or 777 airframes when bids are re-opened...

• By a 31-30 vote, the House Armed Services Committee agreed to keep funding for the embattled F-22 Raptor program...
• Members of the 413th Flight Test Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Fla., and contractor Boeing recently successfully fired the high-power laser aboard the Advanced Tactical Laser aircraft for the first time in flight...
• Rolls-Royce has achieved a significant milestone in the Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology (ADVENT) research program..
• President Obama may be facing his first showdown with a Democratically controlled Congress over money for the F-22 Raptor in the defense authorization bill...
• Northrop Grumman Corporation and the U.S. Air Force unveiled the next-generation of high-flying unmanned aircraft - the RQ-4 Block 40 Global Hawk...

July

• 71-year-old John Reese Roth was sentenced to four years in federal prison for allowing Chinese grad students to see sensitive information on UAV's while working on a research project...
• President Obama is insistent that he will veto the Defense Department Authorization Bill unless Senators remove nearly $2 billion earmarked for the purchase of 7 additional F-22 Raptors...
• In the culmination of many years of collaboration on the part of a dozen nations, Boeing has delivered the first Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) C-17 Globemaster III during a ceremony at its final assembly facility in Long Beach...

• President Obama is not the only one in Washington opposed to two military aviation projects in the Senate Defense Authorization bill currently under consideration in DC...
• The first Airbus A330 aircraft platform slated for the United Kingdom's Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) program arrived ahead of schedule to begin its conversion into a Multi-Role Tanker Transport...
• A joint service panel formed to make an independent assessment of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter development process says the program has fallen 2 years behind...
• With a voice vote , the full Senate approved an amendment to the defense authorization bill that removed funding for development of the F136 alternate engine to the Joint Strike Fighter...
• The U.S. House Of Representatives Thursday passed a Defense Appropriations Bill 400-30 which contains four programs that President Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have said are a waste of taxpayer money...

August

• The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) has positively identified remains recovered in Iraq as those of Captain Michael Scott Speicher...
• The chief of Naval Operations (CNO) welcomed the Navy's first Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35C Lightning II, to the fleet in a ceremony last week...
• The U.S. Air Force announced that Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, has been selected as the permanent location of the 24th Air Force headquarters...

• Naval Air Systems Command fuels team is gearing up for biofuels flight tests in an F/A-18 Super Hornet at Patuxent River, Md...
• The Airborne Laser's (ABL) megawatt-class Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) was successfully fired in flight Tuesday. The test, "First Light in Flight," validates the High Energy Laser's (HEL) ability to fire in an airborne environment...

September

• Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn, Air Force Secretary Michael B. Donley and Ashton B. Carter, defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, briefed the Pentagon press on the latest draft RFP to replace the Air Force's aging KC-135R tanker fleet...
• The White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) strongly objecting to the Senate version of the FY2010 Defense Authorization Bill...
• United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates visited Lockheed Martin's final assembly operation for the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter, conveying optimism for the program's future and emphasizing the F-35's importance to global security...
• Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC) achieved a significant milestone by receiving FAA certification of its T-6B military trainer aircraft...

• A Dover aircrew flying a C-5M Super Galaxy, named The Spirit of Normandy, unofficially set 41 world records in a single flight, taking off from the base before dawn Sept. 13...

October

• Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems sector vice president and general manager for the Advanced Technology and Programs Division Paul K. Meyer said the Air Force has given his company's information to Boeing, but has not made Boeing's information available to Northrop Grumman...
• Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center officials stood up Det. 1 at Edwards Air Force Base, California to lead the operational test and evaluation of the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter...
• The $636.3 billion fiscal 2010 military appropriations bill approved by the U.S. Senate does not include funding for the F136 alternate engine...
• Coast Guard searchers found wreckage they believe is from the U.S. Air Force F-16 which went down following a mid-air collision...
• Revised Pentagon estimates are that the F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter will cost billions more than originally anticipated, and require more time to build, though prime contractor Lockheed Martin disputes those findings...

• President Barack Obama signed the fiscal 2010 National Defense Authorization Act during a ceremony at the White House...
• Coast Guard and Navy assets searched for survivors following the mid-air collision of a Coast Guard C-130 and a Marine Corps AH-1W Super Cobra off San Clemente Island...

November

• The commander of the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, was relieved of command due to loss of confidence in his ability to command...
• Two members of Congress have written a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates asking him to confirm or deny discussions with Embraer about the purchase of 100 Super Tucano Light Attack Aircraft from the Brazilian manufacturer...
• Senator John McCain (R-AZ) sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates with a series of questions about the criteria that will be used to determine a replacement for the Air Force's aging fleet of KC-135 tankers...
• The first Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) stealth fighter arrived at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland
• Boeing has demonstrated the ability of mobile laser weapon systems to perform a unique mission: track and destroy ...
• Airbus Military achieved a key milestone in the A400M military airlifter program, when all four Europrop International (EPI) TP400 turboprops on the aircraft were run simultaneously for the first time...
• QinetiQ's Zephyr High-Altitude Long-Endurance unmanned aerial system (HALE UAS) program recently resumed flight testing and payload evaluations in Yuma, Arizona...
• The 58,000 citizen volunteers of the Civil Air Patrol marked CAP's 68th anniversary on December 1st...

• The Airbus Military A400M airlifter has moved under its own power for the first time as the aircraft began its program of taxi tests...
• The first of 62 Wildcat helicopters which have been ordered for the Royal Navy and Army was successfully undertaken its first test flight at AgustaWestland's Yeovil plant in Somerset...

December

• Northrop Grumman sent a letter to the Department of Defense saying they intend to pull out of the KC-X tanker competition because the DoD has not substantially changed the Request for Proposals (RFP) on the project...
• Pentagon officials are working to halt spiraling costs in the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter aircraft program, while ensuring competition for a new refueling tanker remains fair to all contenders...
• The first Airbus Military A400M military airlifter landed back in Seville, Spain at 1402 local time (1302 UTC) after completing a successful maiden flight lasting 3h 47min...

• Sikorsky Military Systems and Elbit Systems have successfully completed the Armed Black Hawk (ABH) demonstrator program, proof-of concept for the development Battlehawk helicopter.
• The U. S. House of Representatives passed an FY2010 defense appropriations bill Wednesday which includes $100 million to allow Lockheed Martin to continue developing the technology for a new presidential helicopter fleet...

 FMI: There You Have It -- ANN's 2009 Year In Military Aviation: What Did YOU Think Of It ALL?