Well, it appears that NASA has created an robotic nose to sniff the air in the space station.
It’s called the ENose, but as all Futurama fans, yours truly included, know, it should be called the Smell-O-Scope.
Category: technology
Russians Looking to Buy Israeli Drones
I can understand why they might want the sysytms, but I figure that the likelihood of the US allowing the tech transfer involved to actually allow drone sales to the Russians is about as likely as Sarah Palin doing a PhD dissertation on Claude Levi-Strauss’s theory of structuralism.
NG Announces Plug-In Tactical Laser
The good folks at Northrop Grumman Space Technology have announced a 15kW solid state laser module.
It’s a rack mount, though at 15 kW, your backplane on your rack better have some heavy duty busbars.
Still, the fact that what appears to be a fieldable electrically powered laser is available for military deployment, though it is unclear as to how soon this would actually hit series production, seems to be an important development.
Certainly, it is a step up from the expensive and messy chemical lasers that we are seeing in places like Boeing’s airborne laser, which would appear to need an environmental impact statement each time that it fires.
Northrop Grumman Announces the FIRESTRIKE™ Laser, World’s First Weaponized Solid-State Laser for U.S. Military Services:
‘This is a rugged electric laser with power levels, beam quality and runtime suitable for offensive and defensive military utility. Also available is a newly designed laser current source assembly (LCSA), which is compact, and specifically developed to precisely meet FIRESTRIKE(tm)’s power needs. Combined with advanced electro optical and/or infrared sensors, the FIRESTRIKE(tm) laser can provide self-defense, precision strike and enhanced situational awareness capabilities.’
Interesting Note on Stealth Aircraft
In this Aviation Week article on research into more making electronic systems on aircraft more efficient: (paid subscription required)
Goals of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Integrated Vehicle Energy Technology (Invent) program include extending range and endurance 10-15%, increasing power and thermal capacity by 10-30%, overcoming cooling challenges in low-observable platforms, and reducing life-cycle costs.
Because the stealthy F-22 and F-35 dump their heat into the fuel, they are “flying Thermos bottles,” says Steven Iden, AFRL’s Invent program manager. The heat loads in the F-35 are up to five times what they are in the F-16, he says, and could increase by another factor of four in a future laser-armed fighter
…The Invent power and thermal management system will extract, store and reuse electrical power and adaptively use the heat sinks available, including fuel, low-observable ram air, and heat exchangers in the engine fan duct and the “third stream” provided by the Advent engine. This is a third flowpath introduced on Advent to vary the bypass ratio.
….
In the F-35, regenerative energy from the power-by-wire flight-control actuators is dumped into heavy resistor banks, which produces heat. For Invent, AFRL is looking to develop an “electrical accumulator” that would store the energy and use it to meet peak power demands from the systems, similar to a hydraulic accumulator.
(emphasis mine)
On further thought, this is not surprising, as a cooling scoop for external air is typically a non-stealthy feature, though the degree of the problem surprises me.
It restricts time spent on the ground at idle, and increases the unusable fuel in the tanks, as it has to be used for component cooling .
Henry Cohen of Production Radio Rentals, This One is For You
I’ve posted occasionally on the FCC’s rules process on white space, space between channels that is currently unused, or more accurately unallocated.
A number of people, including me, feel that if this bandwidth should be made available to unlicensed users, much in the same way that Wi-Fi is, because it promises better bandwidth, greater penetration, and better range.
The complicating factor is that it has been used, largely almost completely illegally by the wireless microphone industry.
As a result, I’ve attracted the attention of the above mentioned gentleman, who deals in said microphones, and we had a bit of discussion on the matter.
He mentioned that, “There are no handheld military RF communication devices that do what he [Telco Expert Harold Feld, who is a friend] claims.” (emphasis mine)
By what he claims, he means using “sense and avoid” to avoid interfering with other devices sharing the spectrum.
I find his argument complete bullsh^%, because I have personal knowledge of vehicle mounted communications systems in various stages of test and deployment, JTRS comes to mind because I had to package components when I worked a military contract, but he was insisting on “hand held.”
Well, Mr. Cohen, I have your handheld right here. It’s not just a handheld, they’ve got the system on a chip:
Researchers here are developing new, handheld, wireless radios fitted with a single processor chip that is embedded with algorithms for compressing as many as 5 simultaneous, stealthy conversations into the same time and frequency slot and then, on arrival, untangling them.
Equally importantly, while in transit messages and data packages are seemingly hopelessly mixed – to the point of sounding like static. The chance of intercepting even the digital gibberish is unlikely since foes or potential adversaries don’t have the receiver technology to sort through such high levels of interferences.
….
They also are working to discover what’s necessary and what’s not, allowing them to take computing short cuts and use new techniques to increase performance and efficiency. Such advances in signal processing have allowed researchers to reduce the amount of “overhead” or needless digital instruction in the protocol that is not voice traffic. “Protocol overhead” as part of the total message has decreased to 20% from 50%. That is a key strategy for freeing room for more transmissions. Phase three is to conclude in June with demonstration of up to a 20-radio network. By the end of 2010, researchers expect to have completed design and implementation of a full-waveform protocol and hardware for a brick-size radio.
It’s from the minds of DARPA, and it’s here, it’s real, and it’s on a chip, and here is a video: (4:24)
Over the Horizon Radars and Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles
You will find a very good analysis here, both of the general technology, and what has been deployed around the world.
Short version: The technology is generally available, the questions is whether or not it has been assembled into a weapons system.
I highly recommend this.
Passive Air to Air Attacks
Well, here is an interesting nugget buried in an an otherwise run of the mill article on how an upgrade to an AESA radar will boost the Rafale’s export sales prospect
Meanwhile, the Rafale’s ability to shoot down an enemy aircraft using only passive detection was demonstrated for the first time in October, says Chaltiel. Two aircraft flew ‘several miles apart’, the first using electronic support measures to monitor the target and communicate its track via Link 16 datalink to the second Rafale.
The second aircraft also passively tracked the target using its infrared search and track system and was able to achieve a lock-on by sending ‘a few pulses’ from its laser rangefinder. The enemy aircraft was then ‘shot down’ using an MBDA ‘Mica-type’ air-to-air missile with an active seeker that became effective at a range of around 18km (10nm), says Chaltiel.
Youtube Vids of Talk on Su-30MKI at Red Flag
It was a talk given by a Colonel Fornof, the Director of the Requirements and Testing office at Nellis AFB and an F-15 pilot.
There is nothing here that is particularly sensitive, though it is very interesting.
The bullet points, or at least the ones that surprised me:
- The pilots in the Su-30MKI’s did not use thrust vectoring well, so when they used it, they got hosed.
- The French showed up, after having changed aircraft, from the Mirage 2000 to the Rafale, and were there for the electronic signals. They were sucking up radar data from that IAF, and did not tend to engage much.
- The Indians had real concerns with foreign object damage with their aircraft, which surprises me, as the USSR designed its aircraft for austere basing, though it might have been because the engines had to go back to Russia if there was any damage…Something that the Indians might want to discuss with the manufacturer.
- That for both the Su-30MKI and the F-22, if they go into post stall maneuvering with thrust vectoring, it provides an opportunity, which seems to give an answer about thinks like the Cobra maneuver: They are flight show BS, at least most of the time.
- That the IAF’s upgraded MiG-21s are formidable aircraft, not bad for a roughly 50 year old design.
- His admission that he does not think that the F-22 carries enough missiles
Links here, here, here, and here, and the videos are below.
Part 1
Part 2
A compare/contrast airshow demonstrations Su-30 vs F-22
F-35 Exceeds Mach 1
The F-35, aircraft AA-1, exceed Mach 1 on a flight yesterday.
Specifically, it hit Mach 1.05 for 8 minutes carrying 2 AMRAAMS and 2 JDAMS, which is the first for the program, unless you count the demonstration flight in 2001 for the STOVL demonstrator.
Still, given that AA-1 rolled out in 2006, one has to wonder what took so bloody long.
M14 Pr0n
Well, it looks like the M-14 battle rifle is having a bit of a renaissance.
It appears that various US Army and Marines are looking at a “designated marksmen,” a sort of sniper-lite, and they are looking at an M14 as their weapon.
Basically, they are looking at using match grade barrels, a new gas piston system, a fiberglass inline stock, and provisions for a scope.
I’ve not had any personal experience with the M1/M14, though I once talked to an old soldier who hated it, he thought that the M1 was a better weapon, soldiers always hate the new weapon, but I just don’t think that the numbers work all that well.
An M16 weighs about 7 pounds +1 pound per 30 round clip, and the M14 weighs around 11 pounds with a 20 round clip, so weight clearly swings in favor of the M16.
Furthermore, the idea of retaining full auto on a match grade barrel is counter-productive. Once you go full auto the first time, it’s no longer match grade.
Marines are already achieving head shots with scopes with M16s at relatively long range, so I’m not sure how much an advantage one gets with this system.
I think the additional burden in terms of weight, and different ammunition, may not be worth it, and that taking an M16, or other 5.56mm rifle with a scope may be a better solution in most cases, see the United States Army Squad Designated Marksman Rifle, a modified M16, by way of example.
First A380 Super Jumbo With Standard Production Wiring Flies
As many of you are aware, the Airbus A380 has a number of setbacks and delays on the way to production, primarily having to do with problems with wiring.
Basically, the wiring guys and the structures guys had problems interfacing with each other, and so EADS had to implement a new production standard, “Wave 2”, for the ramp up to full production.
What they have been shipping has had much more in the way of touch labor than they would have liked, and so has been much slower and more expensive.
Well, Airbus has now flown its first A380 constructed using their “Wave 2” production standard, which clears the way for full rate production.
(the picture is of a Wave-1 aircraft)
RAF Gets Jiggy on Turboprop Primary Trainer
The RAF is looking for a trainer to replace its Shorts Tucano, which is rather long in the truth, and if the attached pictures are accurate, the designers seem to have a fixation on bizarre variations of the BAE Hawk trainer,the first basically being a hawk with a turboprop dropped in, and the second being a Hawk on acid.
More on the Spam Factory Shut Down
I’ve been thinking about the case of MyColo Corp., which got shut down, and about 2/3 of all spam stopped.
Think about this: one server farm, operated by one bad actor, was, at least in the short term, responsible for the majority of the spam on the internet.
In the world of internet spam, phishing, and other bits of the dark side, a remarkably small number of people, possibly fewer in number than the fingers on Rahm Emanuel’s hand, are responsible for most of it.
This problem is thus more manageable than I would have thought.
Japan Eying a Larger Stealth Aircraft Project
I mean a physically larger aircraft than the F-5 sized ATD-X that I have written about before.
I had theorized that this was an attempt to pressure the US Congress to change the law forbidding exports of the F-22, but now It now appears that they are considering a stealth aircraft in the that is significantly larger. (paid subscription required)
They are talking about two engines in the 22,000 lb thrust range, which appears to put the new aircraft in the Superbug and Typhoon size range, though if it is a strike fighter, it could be larger still, as attack aircraft generally have lower thrust to weight.
It’s clear from the pictures above, that the Japanese are very serious about stealth, which is about attention to detail.
It’s clear that Japan’s immediate need, replacement of its F-4EJ, will not be filled by any such aircraft, the need is too immediate.
The leading candidates for an F-4 are the F/A-18 E/F, Typhoon, and Rafale.
If it weren’t so damn slow, I’d bet on the Japanese buying the Superbug, but I have no clue as to where they are going on this.
Son of Hyper-X Approaches Flight Ready Status
The X-43A was a rather crude demonstrator, relying on a large, heavy copper heat sink and burning hydrogen, but the X-51a is much more advance, and much more viable technologymuch lighter, and being actively cooled by its own hydrocarbon fuel, and the flight ready SJX61-2 scramjet has finished ground test
It will start on ethylene, and than sustain thrust with JP-7, the fuel used by the SR-71, and should have a powered endurance in the 300 second range, following launch at 50,000 feet by a B-52 and a boost to supersonic speed by a booster derived from the ATACMS missile.
I think that if this transitions to anything in the near term, it would be some sort of missile, and if they can get 300s thrust at mach 5 or so, you would be looking at a total range on the order of 600+km.
One of the things that would change is that you would see a lot less metal, and a lot more composite.
Picture Pr0n below:
SJX61-2 Engine in Hypersonic Wind Tunnel
Titanium nozzle for SJX61-2
The fuel tank is integral to the structure.
A New VTOL UCAV Concept
I present to you the Aurora Flight Sciences Excalibur VTOL UCAV, a 40% proof of concept version, which seems to be almost as much prop as wing, paid for by DARPA.
The twist in this design is that the lift fans are driven by electric motors:
For VTOL mode, the Excalibur’s turbine engine tilts vertically and provides about 70% of the thrust, says program manager Heather Brendle. Battery-powered lift fans in the nose and wing tips provide pitch and roll control by differential rotational speed, and yaw control via vanes that deflect fan thrust. For cruise, the engine tilts horizontally, the tip fans retract into the wing, a sliding door covers the nose fan and the aircraft rolls onto its back.
The Excalibur is designed as a close-air-support UCAV. The notional 21-ft.-span full-size vehicle is designed around a 500-lb. weapons capacity—enough to carry four Hellfire missiles. This aircraft would have a VTOL takeoff weight of 4,000 lb. and useful load of 1,000 lb., increasing to 4,800 lb. and 1,900 lb., respectively, with short takeoff and vertical landing. Maximum speed would be 300 kt. at sea level, increasing to 460 kt. at 30,000 ft.; loiter speed would be 90 kt.
Aurora’s subscale, 10-ft.-span, proof-of-principle (POP) aircraft weighs in at 720 lb., with a 100-lb. useful load and 280-kt. sea-level speed. The engine is a Williams F415 turbofan from the Tactical Tomahawk cruise missile. Each common lift-fan unit is powered by four lithium polymer batteries packaged with the electric motor. The motor’s fast response allows use of a fixed-pitch fan, says Brendle.
Someone seriously thinking outside of the box here.
Got to Use the 3d Printer at Work
Well, I got to use the 3d printer for the first time at work.
Nothing major, just some wells for some tubes to sit in to see if we can adapt a device to a different configuration.
It’s king of neat. The machine puts out 2 resins, one is water soluble, and is used to create the initial base on the plate where the other permanent resin, PE I believe, is extruded from the print head in very fine lines.
I’m making something about the size of about a sandwich, and it takes 13 hours to make it.
Unfortunately, the capabilities of a cell phone camera and camcorder do not really capture enough detail to show this as it appears in person.
It’s wicked cool to watch.
Video below:
F.C.C. Approves Unlicensed Use of White Space
Basically unused over the air TV channels, and the technology has been shown to be feasible, so the F.C.C. voted unanimously to approve the change.
Basically, it means that anyone who makes a device that works properly, basically senses and avoids around the spectrum, can use it.
Things like device certification and the specific regulations still have to be devised though.
This is good news, as the old TV channels give significant advances relative to WiFi in range, penetration, and bandwith.
The broadcasters oppose this, because, quoting a friend in the biz:
1) NIMBY.
2) Bad precedent for broadcasters. They have made everybody believe they OWN this spectrum. Now they don’t.
3) [David] Rehr, who assumed control of the NAB in 2005 after Eddie Fritz retired, has not managed to get a single major policy win. After losing badly on XM-Sirius, he desperately needs a win to avoid getting the boot.
The wireless microphone industry opposes this too, but for a different reason, they already use the spectrum illegally and don’t want a change.
I’ve worked on installations of mission critical military equipment, though, in deference to the some comments that I got, it was not hand held, it was vehicle mounted.
Oto Melara Unveils Guided Gun System
The ubiquitious, at least in Italian defense procurement, Oto Melara showed a 76mm rapid fire guided gun system at Euronavale.
It’s intended to be used for, among other things, anti-ship missile defense, using a beam riding sub munition for point defense.
Dassault Looks at Rafale as Satellite Launcher
This is actually fairly well trodden ground, with an F-15 launching an anti-satellite weapon in the 1980s, and concepts using a MiG-31 to launch microsats in the past few years.
What looks like fuel tanks under the wings are actually solid rocket boosters, which is a bit of a change from earlier configurations.
While the F-15 did successfully intercept a satellite (that was still putting out good scientific data…oops), nothing has come of this otherwise.