This thing was proposed from the outset, but I have no idea what happened to it. Now finally they’ve got it going, and they’re claiming the new nozzles add 7% thrust and reduce fuel consumption by 5%.
VIDEO: Eurojet proposes thrust-vectoring upgrade for Typhoon.
NATO is looking towards the citizens of the alliance to contribute to a new understanding of NATO’s role and methodology. The new strategic concept is yet to be written and comments posted on their forum are fed to a panel of experts, who will have a hand in writing the new concept.
NATO’s Strategic Concept – Forum.
A sad sad day indeed – pilots who will never fly in an actual plane, just remotely control a drone, that they will likely never see either.
AF Class of 2009: Pilots Who Won’t Fly.
Apparently the USSR actually went and built a doomsday machine – something that would launch command missles which would transmit coordinates to other ICBMs in the event that the Soviet Union was destroyed. The system, called ‘Perimiter’ and known as ‘Dead Hand’ basically ran through some checks and then delegated launch authority to whoever it could reach.
The Soviets kept this a secret as their principle use for the system was not deterrence towards the US, but to calm hotheads in the Soviet military and to stop them from throwing up independant first strikes when the going got stressy, as the hotheads knew that if the USSR went down, they’d get their revenge.
Inside the Apocalyptic Soviet Doomsday Machine.
The Dutch ministry of defence has apparently known since 2005 that the budget reserved for the JSF buy (to replace the KLu F-16 fleet) was in nowhere near enough for the planned 85 F-35s they needed. The Dutch MOD has answered parliamentary questions about this with the statement that they expected a budget increase and that this is why they’ve never mentioned the budget shortfall.
So basically the Dutch MOD and KLu have been supporting a fighter buy they knew they couldn’t afford and have been throwing sand in the eyes of the parliament and are now scrambling to cover their arse.
Kamervragen betreffende budgettekorten voor vervanging van F-16 | Ministerie van Defensie.
PICTURES: EADS flies Barracuda UAV demonstrator in Goose Bay.
And continuing on with the US military madness, the alternate Rolls Royce power source for the F-35 is to stop receiving funding from. This is a huge slap in the face to the UK.
US Senate axes F-35 alternate engine -23/07/2009-Washington DC-Flightglobal.com.
The US has just gone and done something I really can’t see the point of besides politics: they’ve gone and chopped their air dominance fighter after a production run of under 200 aircraft.
Instead they want to lay their eggs in the F-35 JSF basket – which performs poorly against the current Australian F-18s and will be chewed up by mostly anything the Soviets have as well as the Eurofighter, Gripen and Rafale. Does the US really want their air cover to be provided by the next generation F-16: a poor man’s jack of all trades but master of none? Yes, right now there aren’t many threats against the F-15C and F-18E/F but the Su-30s will spread through the world, and they do eat these aircraft for breakfast. Without a counter like the F-22 you can’t own the air space. Without air space, your military options are severely limited.
Obama: More F-22s an inexcusable waste – The DEW Line.
“The report says the JSF is: “‘Double inferior’ relative to modern Russian/Chinese fighter designs in visual range combat.” And has “Inferior acceleration, inferior climb, inferior sustained turn capability.”
It concludes that the JSF: “Can’t turn, can’t climb, can’t run.”
and dogfighting it is:
“like clubbing baby seals”
I’ve been saying it enough – JSF is a dud!
Earlier I’ve Boeing is threatening to quit the second bid, as they say they need 6 months to prepare their bid! If they don’t get that time, which the USAF isn’t really willing to give them due to the urgency of the project, Boeing is threatening to pull out of the race entirely, which will delay the bidding program by at least a year and the acquisition by quite some more of that. Way to pout, Boeing.
and probably more. Where are the SWFLs*?
Anyway, this is all high on the Office of Naval Research’s list
*Sharks With Frickin’ Lasers – duh.
Foliage Penetrating Synthetic Aperture Radar
Lockheed Martin has developed a radar that strips away foliage and allows you to track targets under the treetops.
the dual-band FOPEN system uses low-frequency radio waves to achieve high-resolution penetration of concealed areas –– natural ones like leaves or wood, or man-made camouflage –– with relatively low loss in signal strength at ranges of up to 60 km
