The Joint Strike Fighter’s (JSF) short-takeoff-vertical-landing (Stovl) technology involves some of the most highly automated, integrated control of flight and propulsion ever attempted, using 14 effectors (control surfaces, propulsion systems and nozzles) controlled by stick, throttle and rudder pedals. The goal is simple, intuitive control (stick forward, trees get bigger) and far better safety than the Harrier. The plan is for a series of “build-down” tests reaching successively lower speeds, culminating in a vertical landing at the U.S.
Reviewed by Paul McLeary Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century By P.W. singer Penguin Group (USA), 2009 400 pp., $29.95
The navies of Japan and South Korea will join the People’s Liberation Army Navy of China by the end of March in the fight against piracy off Somalia (DTI February, p. 16). The three navies seek to raise their national prestige, showcase the utility of investments in their blue-water fleets and practice sustained operations in a relatively benign environment with a justified cause.
The U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) program has an unmanned ground vehicle in the works for combat brigades—the Multifunctional Utility/Logistics and Equipment vehicle, or Mule, in development here by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. Work on the Mule hasn’t stopped Lockheed from developing another, smaller robot vehicle on its own initiative, the Squad Mission Support System (SMSS), for use by an Army or Marine Corps infantry squad or special forces team.
Weather conditions can be deciding factors in flight plans. When it comes to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), bad weather may curtail or scrub missions. Even rain or clouds can damage propellers and blind optical sensors. Scientists at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) are developing software for an Aviation Weather Routing Tool (AWRT) that tells UAV operators where to reroute their aircraft to avoid bad weather.
When the French armed forces need equipment in a hurry to fulfill an urgent operational requirement, as is often the case in Afghanistan, they invoke a special “crash program” procedure. The defense ministry spent €104.4 million ($138 million) on such requirements in 2008, and it expects them to cost €100-200 million this year.
Israel’s battle with Hamas has produced one new wrinkle. As shells fell on Gaza last month, the U.S. Army Military District of Washington’s web site died. For days officials tried to get the hacked and vandalized site back online. It had been defaced with an image of an Arab youth throwing a rock at an Israeli tank and taken down.
Italy’s Cosmo-SkyMed constellation of radar satellites is delivering impressive performance and will soon have more capabilities. Three of four satellites are in orbit, transmitting up to 1,350 images daily, and the fourth is slated for launch in 2010 on a Boeing Delta II. Cosmo means Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean Basin Observation. The birds are tasked with monitoring, surveillance and mapping for the military (Italy and France) and government, commercial and academic users (Italy, France and Argentina).
India has become a major consumer, producer and developer of advanced technology. With indigenous defense programs coming to fruition, partnerships with key global contractors, a clever use of offsets (DTI October 2007, p. 22) and billions of dollars slated for procurement, India and its leading scientific agency, the Defense Research & Development Organization (DRDO), are becoming world-class players in the development and application of advanced technology.
REVIEWED BY pat Toensmeier the shadow factory: the ultra-secret nsa from 9/11 to the eavesdropping on america BY james bamford Doubleday, 2008 416 pp., $27.95
BAE Systems is developing an acoustic hostile-fire indicator (HFI) to alert low-flying airplanes and helicopters of small-arms fire. In a telephone press conference Jan. 19, Program Manager Bill Ashe said the device uses noise-reduction and data-location algorithms as well as sensors within an aircraft to detect small-arms fire and give a pilot time to take evasive action. The device will be low-cost, easily installed and of little impact to the warfighter, Ashe said.
Biofuels get a lot of attention for their potential as sustainable replacements for fossil fuels in many applications, including aviation. Now comes word that it may be possible to launch some rockets with pure—or B100—biodiesel. Flometrics Inc. of Carlsbad, Calif., tested a RocketDyne LR-101 engine with a vegetable-based B100 fuel and compared the results to RP-1 kerosene rocket fuel from the U.S. Air Force. The tests showed that after a 6-sec. engine burn, the B100 fuel’s performance was near that of the RP-1.
Israel Aerospace Industries-Elta unveiled a new variant of its Conformal Airborne Early Warning (CAEW) aircraft late in 2008. It reflects the fact that AEW aircraft are now platforms that serve as hubs on a networked battlefield.
The U.S. Navy announced on Jan. 14 plans to move the homeport of one of four nuclear aircraft carriers (CVNs) in Norfolk, Va., to Mayport, Fla. The move will not happen before 2014, and the carrier won’t be selected until 2013. Norfolk is homeport to the Eisenhower, Roosevelt, Truman and Bush. The move would disperse Atlantic Fleet CVNs and reduce their vulnerability to attack or natural disaster without compromising transit time for training and deployment. Mayport has no CVNs but was homeport to the Kennedy (see photo) prior to its decommissioning.
The history of Pentagon procurement initiatives is littered with bad ideas that got worse, good ideas gone bad and great ideas that muscled their way through the system to justify their cost and prove their worth. Overall, the takeaway from decades of procurement ups and downs is that if a project seems too good to be true—the Coast Guard’s Deepwater program comes to mind (DTI November 2007, p. 16)—it probably is.
Ask people about how the M4 carbine—the weapon of choice for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps—stacks up against other weapons and you’ll get different answers. U.S. Army program managers will say that the M4, despite problems identified by critics, is a great weapon. Those outside the service speak more freely and are more critical.
A total production rate several times higher than that of recent fighters and a modern design and manufacturing line mean the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) will offer more capability for less money than competitors, program officials maintain. Decisions to be taken by the Obama administration, in light of numbers to be released in the next few weeks, will influence to what extent that plan becomes reality.
South Korea will start building the first of six 3,100-ton FFX-I frigates this year, a project that will move its defense industry up the value chain from shipbuilding to system integration. The FFX-I, also called the Ulsan-I class, will be the first major South Korean warship with locally developed sensors and combat system. Together with the 570-ton PKX fast-attack craft, the first of which entered service in December, the FFX-I and follow-on FFX-II/III frigates will form the backbone of South Korea’s three regional fleets.
The fighting in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’s rocket attacks on southern Israel, has as its main goal destruction of the infrastructure and leadership of the terror group and its ability to threaten Israel. Behind the campaign, however, is another objective that is vital to the security of Israel, and to countries such as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia: preventing Iran from extending its influence throughout the Middle East.
Golf pro Greg Norman is nicknamed the “Great White Shark,” a moniker that’s not incongruous to researchers at the University of Alabama. A team led by Amy Lang, assistant professor of engineering, found that some sharks have enamel scales 200 microns (0.007 in.) long across parts of their skin. When bristled they reduce drag and increase swimming speed to upward of 60 mph. for some sharks. Lang and her team developed similar scales 2 cm. (0.78 in.) long (see photo) and set them at 90-deg. angles on artificial skin.
India’s Defense Avionics Research Establishment (DARE) is upgrading the avionics of Indian Air Force (IAF) MiG-27s. The upgrade transforms the aircraft into potent weapon-delivery platforms with user-friendly cockpits. The project, initiated in 2002 between DARE, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (which modified the prototype) and the IAF, is entirely indigenous. The avionics are built around the modular Core Avionics Computer developed by DARE and used in the IAF’s Jaguar and Su-30MKI aircraft.
