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CH-47Fs take off (click to view full) DII FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record; this FOCUS Article covers the CH-47F/MH-47G Chinook helicopter programs, in the USA and abroad. These helicopters’ distinctive “flying banana” twin-rotor design stems from the brilliant work of aviation pioneer Frank Piasecki. It gives Chinooks the ability to adjust their positioning very precisely, while carrying a large airframe whose load capacity has made it the world’s most popular heavy-lift helicopter. The USA expects to be operating Chinooks in their heavy-lift role past 2030. The CH-47F looks similar to earlier models, but offers a wide range of improvements in almost every aspect of design and performance. While the related HH-47’s $10-15 billion CSAR-X program win was terminated, delivery orders continue for CH-47Fs and for MH-47G Special Forces configuration helicopters. International orders or formal requests have also come in from Australia, Britain, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the UAE, with India and other countries expected to follow. The New Chinooks: CH-47F, MH-47G, HH-47 CH-47F Family: Initial Improvements CH-47D Chinooks (click to view full) These new aircraft are part of the U.S. Army Cargo Helicopter Modernization Program, but they are based on a […]

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Summary and Key Points: In a recent public speech, Donald Trump mentioned the "F-32" while discussing U.S. military aircraft. Although there is no such aircraft as the F-32, it seems he was likely referring to the F-22 Raptor.

-The confusion might stem from the existence of the Boeing X-32, which competed against the Lockheed Martin X-35 in the Joint Strike Fighter competition.

-The X-32, now being restored for display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, was part of the competition that ultimately led to the F-35 Lightning II. The mix-up highlights the complexity and occasional confusion surrounding military aircraft designation systems.

What Did Donald Trump Mean By F-32? Probably Not the X-32, but he Wasn't Completely Wrong

Former President Donald Trump was on the stump on Wednesday and while talking about national security, stated that the United States military has some of the most advanced hardware in the world. He mentioned the F-16 and F-35 –referencing of course the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon and Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning. But then the GOP presidential nominee added the F-32, an aircraft that doesn't exist (and before you say X-32, I'll get to that).

In fairness, it was an off-the-cuff remark by Trump, who has become infamous for off-the-cuff remarks. President Joe Biden and former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama were no strangers to similar verbal gaffes, so perhaps Trump should be forgiven.

He almost certainly meant to say F-22, as in the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor air superiority fighter

Yet, soon after Trump made the remarks, he received a fair share of mockery – with Sarah Sicard who previously contributed to the Military Times, Defense News, and Task & Purpose stating on X, "Ah yes, the F-32­so stealthy that there's no record it exists."

Not So Fast – Let's Talk About the X-32

Here is where this story gets a little more confusing because there actually was an X-32 – which is the aircraft that lost the Joint Strike Fighter competition to the Lockheed Martin X-35. Trump's supporters on social media were quick to respond to those calling out the former president to clarify that point.

Now we shouldn't expect Trump to know much about the X-32, as he's not shown himself to be a huge aviation buff – but it should be noted that just days before Trump made his comment about the F-16, F-35, and F-32, The National Interest's own Brent M. Eastwood wrote a piece that noted how the "Boeing X-32 competed against the Lockheed Martin X-35 to become the next Joint Strike Fighter but ultimately lost."

As Eastwood added, Boeing developed two prototypes – which were used to showcase the aircraft's speed, weapon capacity, and vertical take-off/landing capabilities.

Moreover, this reporter reported back in December of last year that one of those prototypes is now undergoing restoration at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB), Dayton, Ohio.

The museum received the aircraft in 2005, and it could be put on public display sometime next year—a welcome addition to its already impressive aircraft collection. The X-32A is expected to be placed in the Maj. Gen. Albert Boyd and Maj. Gen. Fred Ascani Research and Development Gallery, which is home to such unique aircraft as the sole surviving North American XB-70A Valkyrie, one of the two existing Avro Canada VZ-9AV Avrocars, and the second prototype Lockheed YF-12A Mach 3 interceptor.

The Messed-Up Number System

So was Trump discussing the X-32 when he said F-32 – no, he likely wasn't. As noted, he probably meant F-22. But it is easy for those who aren't huge aviation buffs to keep this straight. It is made confusing by the fact that designation and number system began anew in the 1960s under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara who was frustrated by the different systems employed by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force.

That resulted in further confusion largely until the arrival of the "teen series" in the 1970s – but clearly we've skipped more than a few numbers along the way.

AerospaceWeb.org tried – in vain – to get to the bottom of this jump from F-22 to F-35. While there was the Northrop YF-23 Black Widow II that competed against the YF-22, and there is speculation the JSF was to have been the F-24, the best answer is that some of the numbers "could have been the title of a design study." 

So in conclusion: There isn't an F-32, although there was an X-32. And the number systems didn't just confuse Secretary McNamara six decades ago, they confuse us today.

Author Experience and Expertise: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.

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A top Russian security official refused peace talks with Ukraine until Kyiv is completely defeated on the battlefield.

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- Agenda / Dans les Balkans

Lawmakers are frustrated at the lack of a coherent plan as Biden prepares to leave office.

Au Burundi, la libération de la journaliste Floriane Irangabiye n'a pas redoré le blason du régime. Depuis l'arrivée du président Ndayishimiye il y a 4 ans, la répression contre les membres de la société civile et les journalistes n'a pas baissé d'intensité. C'est ce que rapporte l'ONG Amnesty International, qui parle d'une "implacable répression", d'arrestations et de "procès iniques" contre les voix critiques au Burundi.

While Democratic and Republican politicians have acknowledged the importance of critical minerals, both for America’s current needs and future technology, China’s decision last week to restrict the export of one metal, antimony, underscored the urgent need for policymakers to move beyond campaign-season lip service about “bringing home supply chains” and toward realistic measures that ensure the United States has continued access to resources that directly impact its national security.

A silvery-white, crystalline solid often mined alongside deposits of sulfur or heavy metals like lead, copper, and silver, antimony (chemical symbol, Sb) has been known since Biblical times. It has a wide range of uses, ranging from cosmetics to construction. Nowadays, while about half of the global usage of antimony is for its flame-retardant qualities, an estimated 20 percent is used in the manufacture of photovoltaic glass to improve the performance of solar cells and, increasingly, in next-generation grid-scale liquid-metal electricity storage batteries (LMBs) and more efficient alternatives to current technology rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Moreover, antimony has become strategically important because of its role in sensitive military equipment ranging from night-vision goggles to missiles and as a hardening agent for everything from bullets to tanks and warships.

Like it has done with the value chains for a host of other critical minerals—including restrictions imposed last year on the export of gallium and germanium, elements widely used in the semiconductor industry, as well as its tight grip on rare earth elements—China has steadily consolidated a dominant position in the antimony supply chain. While the U.S. Geological Survey’s most recent data show that China holds less than one-third of the world’s known reserves of antimony, it produced almost half of global production last year (Tajikistan and Russia together produce another 30 percent). Furthermore, irrespective of where the mineral is sourced, Chinese firms control most of the world’s supply of antimony trioxide, the most common form of the processed material.

According to a statement by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce cited by the Chinese Communist Party’s international affairs daily Global Times, the new export restrictions, which take effect September 15, are “to further protect China's national security and interests and fulfill the nation’s international non-proliferation obligations.” Commenting on the new decree, a retired People’s Liberation Army Air Force equipment specialist quoted by the South China Morning Post acknowledged that it was clearly intended to make it harder for the United States to produce arms: “The move is definitely a decision made after careful consideration, and it has a clear purpose—by restricting exports, it will undoubtedly impact the world’s major arms manufacturers, especially the U.S.”

The United States is even more vulnerable to the latest play by Beijing because 82 percent of the 22,000 metric tons used by American industry, civilian and military, in 2023 was imported (the balance was recovered from recycling spent lead-acid batteries). Almost two-thirds of the imported antimony metal and oxides came from China. No antinomy is currently mined in the United States, and the only firm in the entire country to produce primary antimony metal and oxides is the U.S. Antimony Company, which imports feedstock for its smelter in Western Montana. Another company, Perpetua Resources, which has received support from the U.S. Defense Department under Title III of the Defense Production Act as well as recently received a letter of interest from the Export-Import (EXIM) Bank for potential financing, is developing an open-pit gold resource in northern Idaho that will produce antimony as a by-product of the mining operation. Still, commercial production is not expected until 2028—and that assumes that the company successfully runs the gauntlet of environmental activists and the permitting bureaucracy.

Even by then, Beijing will still have additional cards to play. These include the type of manipulation it has engaged in to depress prices and stymie efforts to develop alternative supply chains, as the Wall Street Journal reported last month with respect to rare earth elements (REEs) used in permanent magnets in electric vehicles, wind turbines, and robots. Even the neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), the most highly valued segment of the REE market, is down more than 20 percent since January thanks to Chinese overproduction and what the newspaper described delicately as Beijing being “willing to be a loss leader in parts of the value chain to help downstream ambitions.”

Thus, the only way to tackle this challenge is to take it on realistically, which is to say, comprehensively. U.S. policymakers must not only encourage the development of the critical mineral resource in question where access can be secured from friends—or, at the very least, non-adversarial countries—but also support the development of processing value chains and, ultimately, give them a fighting chance of competing against the Beijing’s market domination by judicious use of offtake agreements.

If U.S. policymakers fail to get real about the stakes, both for America’s current defense needs and for the potential technological applications of antimony and other critical minerals—and do so quickly—what has been an irritant in international trade will prove to be a self-inflicted strategic wound.

Ambassador J. Peter Pham, a Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council and a Senior Advisor at the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy, is a former U.S. Special Envoy for the Sahel and Great Lakes Regions of Africa.

Image: Kevin Cupp / Shutterstock.com.

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L’article Traversées Alger – Marseille/Alicante : Algérie Ferries annonce plusieurs changements de programme est apparu en premier sur .

The Uncommitted Movement is putting pressure on Kamala Harris in key swing states, including Michigan.

Summary and Key Points You Need to Know on the Biggest Submarine Ever: The Dmitry Donskoy (TK-208), the world's largest nuclear-powered submarine and the last of the Russian Navy's Typhoon-class, was decommissioned in February 2023 after nearly 40 years in service.

-Originally laid down in 1976 and commissioned in 1984, the submarine was a formidable force during the Cold War, capable of carrying 20 RSM-52 SLBMs with multiple warheads.

-Despite previous plans to keep the vessel in service until 2026, it was retired and will await disposal.

-The decommissioning marks the end of the era for the Typhoon-class, the largest submarines ever built.

Farewell to the Typhoon-Class: Dmitry Donskoy Submarine Decommissioned

The world's largest nuclear-powered submarine, Dmitry Donskoy (TK-208) has been decommissioned, the Kremlin announced back in February of last year.

The Russian Navy's Project 941 Akula-class (NATO reporting name Typhoon) heavy nuclear ballistic submarine was laid down in June 1976 and commissioned in 1984. After almost 40 years in service, she has finally been retired.

"The Dmitry Donskoy submarine cruiser has been decommissioned from the Russian Navy. It will await utilization at a naval base in Severodvinsk together with two other units of this project," Vladimir Maltsev, the head of the Russian Movement for Navy Support, told the Russian state media outlet Tass.

Initially designated the TK-208, she was the lead vessel of the Soviet third-generation Akula-class (Russian for "Shark"), and after a 12-year overhaul and refit that began in 1990, she reentered service in 2002 as the Dmitry Donskoy, named after the Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Donskoy (1359–1389), the reputed founder of Moscow.

It is worth repeating the boat is more commonly known as the Typhoon-class or by its NATO designation. 

This is a change of course for Moscow, which had previously stated that the submarine would remain in service until at least 2026.

Typhoon-Class: Project 941 Boats

The Sevmash Shipyard built six of a planned seven Project 941 submarines - or what the West calls the Typhoon-class - for the Russian Navy, and all of the boats were operational with the Northern Fleet. Though the oldest of the submarines, Dmitriy Donskoy was the last of the class to remain in service.

The TK-202, TK-12 – later renamed the Simbirsk – and T-13 were withdrawn from active service between 1996 and 2009, and scrapped with the financial support of the United States. Two other boats: the TK-17/Arkhangelsk and TK-20/Severstal remained in service until they were decommissioned circa 2013.

A seventh boat, TK-210, was laid down but scrapped before completion.

Typhoon: Large and Powerful

With a displacement of 48,000 tons, a length of 175 meters (nearly 600 feet), a 23-meter beam, and a 12-meter draught, the Typhoon-class were the largest submarines ever built.

Developed with multiple pressure hulls, including five inner hulls situated inside a superstructure of two parallel main hulls, the Typhoon-class was also wider than any other submarine ever built.

Each contained nineteen compartments, including a strengthened module, which housed the main control room as well as an electronic equipment compartment above the main hulls and behind the missile launch tubes. It even was reported that there was a sauna on board as well as a small swimming pool for the crew. The sheer size of the submarines was likely welcomed by the approximately 160 sailors who called the submarine home on voyages lasting 120 days or longer, oftentimes without surfacing for months at a time.

The Typhoon-class subs were designed to counter the United States Navy's Ohio-class subs, which were capable of carrying up to 192 100-kiloton nuclear warheads. By contrast, the Soviet Typhoons could carry a primary cache of 20 RSM-52 SLBMs (submarine-launched ballistic missiles), each of which contained up to 10 MIRV (multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle) warheads.

The submarines were powered by OK-650 pressurized-water nuclear reactors, two 50,000 horsepower steam turbines, and four 3,200 KW turbogenerators and this provides the boat with the ability to sail at a speed of up to 22.2 knots on the surface and 27 knots whilst submerged.

The boats of the Typhoon-class could reportedly operate at depths as great as 400 meters and travel at speeds in excess of 27 knots. The class was designed with an advanced stern fin with a horizontal hydroplane fitted after the boat’s screws, while the nose horizontal hydroplanes in the bow section were designed to be retractable into the hull.

The retirement of Dmitry Donskoy ends the saga of the largest submarines ever built. RIP, Typhoon-class. 

Author Experience and Expertise

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.

All Images are Creative Commons. 

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