A flawless radome is vital to the integrity of aircraft communications. If the assembly, usually fabricated of polymer composite several centimeters (1 cm is 0.4 in.) thick, retains defects such as air bubbles, water droplets or contaminants during manufacture, cracks may develop that degrade moisture resistance, affecting signal integrity. At last month's Control exposition in Stuttgart, Germany, the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques of Kaiserslauten, Germany, displayed a prototype testing system that detects such flaws.
General Bertrand Ract-Madoux French Army Chief of Staff Age: 59 Birthplace: Saumur, France Education: Graduate of the Saint-Cyr academy for army officers; and alumnus of the Institut des Hauts Etudes de Defense National and the Centre des Hautes Etudes Militaires war college.
Finland has selected the Israeli-built Aeronautics Defense Systems Orbiter-2 mini-UAV system to be used in support of tactical ground forces. The acquisition of 55 systems is expected to be worth about $29.5 million. The Orbiter has already been exported to several customers, including Poland. The electrically powered, 3-meter-span flying-wing aircraft counts a maximum takeoff weight below 10 kg (22 lb.), is designed to stay aloft for up to 4 hr. and has a range of 30-80 km (19-50 mi.) at a ceiling up to 18,000 ft.
If special operations are the “point of the spear” in war, combat engineers are the ridges of the blade, eliminating hazards and obstacles for advancing infantry. The Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) combat engineering corps has added a number of technologies to facilitate this mission. Among those recently revealed by the IDF is a Puma armored personnel carrier (APC) that has been modified for mine-clearing operations. The Puma (see photo), which uses the chassis of a British Centurion tank, carries 20 missiles armed with thermobaric (i.e., fuel-air) explosives.
After almost two decades in the making, NATO has finally awarded a contract to field an Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) system. The alliance has signed a $1.7 billion contract to acquire five Northrop Grumman Global Hawk Block 40s to address an operational shortfall first identified during the 1991 Persian Gulf war and validated during last year's Libya air campaign. An initial operational capability is due to be reached in 2016. The deal was signed during the meeting of NATO members' heads of government summit in Chicago last month.
The roar of jets being launched from aircraft carriers may be iconic, but the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) is looking for ways of reducing the noise generated by tactical aircraft, to protect the hearing of sailors involved with flight-deck operations. ONR's ongoing Jet Noise Reduction project, jointly funded by NASA, recently awarded more than $4 million in grants to six universities and two companies for development of noise-reduction technologies, as well as measurement and prediction tools and noise-source models.
UAVs do not fly in commercial airspace or over populated areas for good reasons: They have no sense-and-avoidance systems to prevent mid-air collisions, and there is no way to make safe emergency landings a regular event. “In most cases they just drop,” says Luis Alvarez of the Australian Research Center for Aerospace Automation. Researchers there and at partner Queensland University of Technology are developing onboard systems to address these problems.
UAVs do not fly in commercial airspace or over populated areas for good reasons: They have no sense-and-avoidance systems to prevent mid-air collisions, and there is no way to make safe emergency landings a regular event. “In most cases they just drop,” says Luis Alvarez of the Australian Research Center for Aerospace Automation. Researchers there and at partner Queensland University of Technology are developing onboard systems to address these problems.
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The Pentagon could release performance specifications as soon as this summer for a new vertical-lift aircraft that will be developed in the Joint Multirole (JMR) program. The program, led by the Army, is a consortium of all the services and industry, and has received input from sources such as U.S. Special Operations Command, NASA and the defense secretary. Two demonstrators have been developed and initial wind tunnel tests and other studies completed. Army Maj. Gen.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) was seeking a partner for its project to find a faster, cheaper way to design and build military ground vehicles when the Pentagon dropped a bomb on the Marine Corps last year.
May was the cruelest month yet for the U.S. Air Force's F-22 Raptor, given the Lockheed Martin fighter's persistent problems with its oxygen-delivery system. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta placed restrictions on Raptor operations on May 15—including a noteworthy deployment to the United Arab Emirates—and ordered the Air Force to rush into place an automatic back-up system. The first retrofit is due in December, and starting in January, 10 aircraft will be retrofitted per month.
A flawless radome is vital to the integrity of aircraft communications. If the assembly, usually fabricated of polymer composite several centimeters (1 cm is 0.4 in.) thick, retains defects such as air bubbles, water droplets or contaminants during manufacture, cracks may develop that degrade moisture resistance, affecting signal integrity. At last month's Control exposition in Stuttgart, Germany, the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques of Kaiserslauten, Germany, displayed a prototype testing system that detects such flaws.
Laser Detect Systems Ltd. (LDS), an Israeli company, is launching two laser-based scanners that reportedly detect all types of explosives, including liquids, in seconds. The LDS 5500D (see photo) is a tabletop device that uses a patented laser spectroscopy system and algorithms to detect explosives accurately and rapidly, the company says. The unit detects materials in liquid, powder or gel form, in sealed glass or plastic containers, or diluted with substances designed to mask their presence. It also detects explosive residue.
As work proceeds on the first of the Royal Navy's two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, authorities at what will be their home port, HMNB Portsmouth, England, have approved a design for the Portsmouth Approach Channel, the body of water through which the 65,000-tonne (71,630-ton) ships will transit. The carriers will be the largest vessels ever docked at Portsmouth. As a result, based on a design developed by BMT Isis Ltd., the Royal Navy will dredge a new approach that is 30 ft. deeper than the current one. The draft of both ships is 36 ft.
