Blast from the past 1979: US Air Force sponsors First Strike, depicting a catastrophic Soviet surprise attack on America's strategic forces. Reagan defense build-up ensues...
Comments
@RLTM
re: "Extraction purposes as well?"
it can be used for resupply (1kg within a 5000km radius), but i don't think there's room for human payload. retractable landing gear and the sensor payload highlight a distinct lack of benches.
the FORESTER array is pretty hefty; last i heard the prototype weighed in at 600lbs unmounted. obviously there's post-development bulk to trim but it's still a 6m airfoil housing a UHF aperture plus hardware to mount, stabilize, and rotate independent on the rotor.
when you add up all the fuel it sips while breaking endurance records without pause, 6500lbs gross seems like less and less...
"recovery of high-value assets" is part of the design's repertoire but i don't think troop extraction falls under that umbrella.
some more scale:
about half of the little bird's gross is payload, right? hummingbird is a meter and change longer than that airframe with twice that distance added to rotor diameter, lighter construction (carbon fiber) with less engine (but much more power/weight thanks to low drag along the length of the flexing rotors), more avionics/native sensors to support autonomy and yet payload+fuel is 6 to 7 tenths of the gross weight.
Posted by: unmannedanimal at November 12, 2008 07:49 PM
Wow. The Hummingbird is almost twice the gross weight of the Little Bird.
6,500 lbs vs. 3,500 lbs.
Extraction purposes as well?
Posted by: RTLM at November 12, 2008 12:37 AM
Yes bdwilcox and XML, the US is in danger of obliteration as its military spending only equals that of the rest of the world. Better start lobbying Congress to raise taxes!
Posted by: Adam at November 11, 2008 06:01 PM
Please don't make every comment section about politics. It does get kind of tiring after a while.
I remember there was about 3 weeks in high school civics class to nuclear war and some of policies in case of such an event, and there was a project where the class broke into groups and role played as the president and his cabinet during a practice nuke war.
Posted by: Hibbidyhai at November 11, 2008 10:31 AM
#XML
Spot on. Where sheep graze, wolves gather.
Posted by: bdwilcox at November 10, 2008 09:05 PM
#bdwilcox
"Obama promised not to modernize our nuclear forces and to unilaterally disarm."
"God help us."
Policy of the weak, i.e. idealism, political correctness, and a dangerous path that will hurt US national security, and Obama will become unpatriotic, and viewed as weak amongst the enemy.
Posted by: XML at November 10, 2008 08:13 PM
After watching the video, all I can say is that it's a good thing Obama promised not to modernize our nuclear forces and to unilaterally disarm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8TWPchxgio
God help us.
Posted by: bdwilcox at November 10, 2008 07:37 PM
The vid reminds me of the movie...
"The Day After (Attack Segment)"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VG2aJyIFrA
and then there's...
"War. War Never Changes."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AihKA_AgMok
"Civil Defense Authority PSA on Fallout"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgA0WdtpFlg
"Bush Vs. Zombies" 8O)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoXgRtDysLY
Posted by: Camp at November 10, 2008 06:55 PM
glad the Hummingbird is out in the field. excellent example of a UAV that bursts through the envelope of its more conventional peers. its potent combination of loiter time, service ceiling and sensor payload is record-breaking.
perhaps more importantly, the level of autonomy that this platform utilizes is a key innovation which will enable a persistent sensing revolution.
kudos to Frontier and Boeing for paving the way.
Posted by: unmannedanimal at November 10, 2008 05:35 PM
@RLTM
re: "Extraction purposes as well?"
it can be used for resupply (1kg within a 5000km radius), but i don't think there's room for human payload. retractable landing gear and the sensor payload highlight a distinct lack of benches.
the FORESTER array is pretty hefty; last i heard the prototype weighed in at 600lbs unmounted. obviously there's post-development bulk to trim but it's still a 6m airfoil housing a UHF aperture plus hardware to mount, stabilize, and rotate independent on the rotor.
when you add up all the fuel it sips while breaking endurance records without pause, 6500lbs gross seems like less and less...
"recovery of high-value assets" is part of the design's repertoire but i don't think troop extraction falls under that umbrella.
some more scale:
about half of the little bird's gross is payload, right? hummingbird is a meter and change longer than that airframe with twice that distance added to rotor diameter, lighter construction (carbon fiber) with less engine (but much more power/weight thanks to low drag along the length of the flexing rotors), more avionics/native sensors to support autonomy and yet payload+fuel is 6 to 7 tenths of the gross weight.
Posted by: unmannedanimal at November 12, 2008 07:49 PM