The Cosmos 2441 was launched on July 26, (Paid Subscription Required) and according to this report, it has improved optics taken from the Araks spy sat, and it’s mated to a Resurs DK1 designed to operate at lower altitude, which would improve resolution, currently estimated at around 300mm
Basically, the modifications are to the engines, structure, and avionics:
Not clear on the need for the engine upgrade, as the two existing 1,900shp T701D engines already put out more horsepower than the upgraded transmission could handle.
India is developing a beyond visual range air to air missile called the Astra (Paid Subscription Required).
Considering the record of the Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO), my daughter, now 11, will be out of college before they get to final testing.
The missile looks rather similar to the French Super 530 missile, which the Indian Air Force operates, or at least did operate, though at 160kg, it’s about 60% of the weight of the Super 530, which clocks in at 275 kilos.
Verified Identity Pass, Inc., which operates the “Clear” program lost 33,000 customers’ records when an unencrypted laptop was stolen.
While it was recovered a week later, what happened to the data is unclear.
Among the data was:
Which one could describe as an “identity theft kit” for 33,000 people, and since the program also collects the following:
It could have been much worse.
Security expert Bruce Schneier analyzes this sort of “trusted traveler” program, and finds it wanting from a security standpoint:
I think of Clear as a $100 service that tells terrorists if the F.B.I. is on to them or not. Why in the world would we provide terrorists with this ability?
Only $100,000.00, and it’s supposed to have about an hour’s endurance (see also here).
It sounds a lot like a lawn mower, and based on the video (see below) I think that the flight controls are not ready for prime time.
Additionally, it probably needs some refinement….It has a 200 hp engine, as compared to the 178 hp engine used in the original Bell Model 47, (The chopper you see carrying wounded in the opening credits for the M*A*S*H TV series), so my guess is that there is a some aerodynamic refinement that could be done, in addition to getting weight out of the system.
Still, it comes with its own ballistic recovery parachute, a must for the ham-handed pilot.
Hmmm….It looks like Cirrus is developing a dingle engine business jet, the SJ50, that looks an awful lot like the Eclipse 400 (previous posts here) that I discussed a couple of months ago.
It’s pretty clearly a form following function thing, rather than any outright copying. There are relatively few configuration options for a single engine very light jet that the marketplace will accept.
Interestingly enough, it appears that Cirrus will sell it with a recovery chute, as it does on its piston engine models, which will be a challenge, given the higher speeds and energy involved.
First, Diamond International expects to certify its D-Jet and start deliveries some time in Q2 2009.
Seeing as how their engine supplier is not Thielert or some other new entrant, it’s a Williams FJ-33-4A-19 turbofan, I would expect them to be on schedule.
Honestly, I think that the single engine VLJ is likely to be a winner in the VLJ sweepstakes, because the operating costs will be lower.
In the two jet VLG category, the Adam A700 has been rescued from bankruptcy, albeit absent the “Adam” name, as AAI, who purchased the company out of receivership, thinks that there is some bad market mojo there.
It appears to be among the most spacious of the VLJs, which may, or may not, be a function of its twin boom design.
Finally, Piper has flown it’s VLJ Piperjet, which is another of the single engine VLJs, though it’s somewhat larger then the D-Jet, the Eclipse 400, and Cirrus Jet.
It appears larger than its single engine competitors, but it just doesn’t look right. Something just looks wrong about the aircraft, but then again, so did the F-4 Phantom.
Stephen Trimble is reporting that the Pentagon is concerned that its current generation of EW gear will not be able to cope with later models of Russian SAMs.
The S-300 and S-400 systems (SA-12, 20, 21, 23) have the potential even the existing ALQ-99, which is carried by dedicated jammers, the EA6B Prowler and F/A-18G Growler.
I’m not sure how much this is Pentagon budget sucking, and how much is real needs myself.
He also posted a neat Youtube (it’s about an hour long) on the history of electronic warfare in the Silicon Valley:
Emirates airlines is planning a super luxurious first class for their A-380 super-jumbos.
It includes having a shower available to first class passengers which is kind of neat, but EU regulators refused to allow them to recycle water for the shower, so now they have to carry an additional 500kg of water for the showers.
It turns out that they do allow recycling in private jets, but for a passenger airline, they were not quite ready.
BTW, I think that this bathroom is neat. If I were to walk into it, upon leaving, I would have to say, “No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.’
It’s got a wicked evil mastermind feel to it.
SMA light aircraft engines sent a rep to Oshkosh to sing the praises of their new engine.
What makes it different is that it’s designed to operate at 2,200 rpm, which means no reduction gearing between the engine and the prop, so the engine has a 2,000 hour TBO, and they expect to push it out to 3K hours, as compared to the gearbox on the Thielert, for example, that needed to be rebuilt/replaced every 300 hours.
It’s turbocharged, and rated at 230hp for five minutes and 200hp continuous up to 10,000 feet.
It displaces 5 liters, which is larger than the 2.0 liter Thielert obviously, but my guess is that the swept volume (rpm x displacement) are probably pretty similar.
Seriously neat tech, it uses tiny embedded wires to measure deformation, basically strain gauges, but they are small and light enough that they can be part of an aircraft’s basic equipment.
It’s the Europrop International TP400-D6 engine again.
The full-authority digital engine control (FADEC) software is still being developed, and they have had issues with water ingestion tests and some indications of problems with the gearbox.
Nice to know that it’s not just the US that has bloated and delayed defense procurement.
Well, first, and least important is the appearance on Wikileaks of a document on the fast track process which seems to imply that the fast track approval of the Microsoft® OOXML document standard was improper.
Someone with more knowledge than me needs to check it out though, it’s only 2 pages.
Of more note, is that Microsoft® will natively support ODF in Office. The head of Griffin Brown, the organization nominally in charge of maintaining the ODF standard thinks that this will relegate OOXML to second place status, but I’m more inclined to believe that this is an attempt to “embrace and extend” (damage) ODF to the maximum degree possible.
The police come across a 16 year old boy lying on the street, having fallen from an overpass, and having a broken foot and broken back, and it appears that the officers Tasered him 19 times because he ignored their requests to get up, so they tortured him.
And then we have the second death in as many months in the Charlotte jail from Taser Abuse. In the first case, they tasered someone for 37 seconds…but that cop is still on the force.
This won’t change unless/until Tasers are classified as lethal weapons.
Well it now appears that the Taser murder investigation is heading toward a grand jury (background here).
I do not expect an indictment. This is a dead black man, and the ex-cop who Tasered him 9 times after he was in handcuffs, Scott Nugent, has little to fear from a Louisiana jury.
Even if it goes to trial, you can expect Taser International to supply tens of thousands of dollars in expert testimony to the defendant saying that a Taser can’t kill, because they know what happens if they get tagged with one death.
At this level of development, allowing non-pilot technicians to fly drones is a good idea.
Of course, the other services are already doing this, and the former head of the UAV program had his blue clad ass canned over not supplying enough coverage, which probably has a lot to do with it.
RR is starting to look at the future of air transport propulsion, and it has everything on the table right now, including increasing maintenance to reduce fuel burn, which is as close to heresy as you can find in commercial aviation.
Time on wing has been king for a very long time. It’s one of the things that allowed early jet liners to beat their piston, and to a lesser degree turboprop (gearbox maintenance), competitors: that the could stay in service, and flying for a very long time.
It’s an interesting testament to the changes wrought by the increasing oil price spike, and it convinces me that open-rotor propulsion will make it to commercial use this time around.
They intend to make the automated cargo vehicle a manned space capsule in the next 12 years.
The ESA is already working on the Advanced Return Vehicle (ARV), which add a 1.5 tonne return capability to the existing Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), and the manned vehicle would be similar to the ARV, though it would likely have a smaller propulsion section, as it would not be expected to boost the space station orbit.
the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has contracted with Defense Research Associates to create an electrically powered micro-UAVv that recharges using magnetic induction while sitting on a power line. (Paid Subscription Required)
It weigh 6 lbs, and has a wingspan of 4 feet.
They are saying that it would take two and half years to integrate P&W’s geared turbofan into the A320.
The end date would depend on when they started, and at this point, a stumbling block would be that P&W is not releasing maintenance costs specifics.
When one considers the fact that what killed Thielert was the frequency of maintenance, and that the primary concern over the GTF is maintenance, so I would not expect any effort to integrate the engine until Pratt & Whitney either gives some guarantees, or there is some data on the wing in commercial service.
Former Police Officer Scott Nugent tasered Baron “Scooter” Pikes NINE TIMES after he WAS ALREADY HANDCUFFED, and may face criminal charges, though I doubt it: It’s Winnfield, Louisiana, only 45 miles from Jena, and the victim was black:
Williams, who ruled Pikes’ death a homicide in June after extensive study, said Nugent fired his Taser at Pikes six times in less than three minutes — shots recorded by a computer chip in the weapon’s handle. Then officers put Pikes in the back of a cruiser and drove him to their police station — where Nugent fired a seventh shot, directly against Pikes’ chest.
“After he was given that drive stun to the chest, he was pulled out of the car onto the concrete, ” Williams told CNN. “He was electroshocked two more times, which two officers noted that he had no neuromuscular response to those last two 50,000-volt electroshocks.”
Williams said he had two nationally known forensic pathologists, including former New York city medical examiner Michael Baden, review the case before issuing his conclusions. He said it’s possible Nugent was shocking a dead man the last two times he pulled the trigger.
“This fellow was talking in the back seat of the car prior to shot number seven,” he said. “From that point on, it becomes questionable [if Pikes was still alive].”
Curry said Pikes told officers he suffered from asthma and had been using PCP and crack cocaine. But Williams said he found no sign of drug use in the autopsy, and no record of asthma in Pikes’ medical history.
In the year since Winnfield police received Tasers, officers have used them 14 times, according to police records — with 12 of the instances involving black suspects. Ten of the 14 incidents involved Nugent, who has no public disciplinary record.
(emphasis mine)
Taser, International is claiming that they couldn’t have caused his death….Yeah, sure….whatever.
Nothing to see here….It’s just a n*****…move along.