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Testing continues on an electromagnetic weapon that could hurl a 40-pound projectile hundreds of miles from Navy ships offshore towards, well: Everything (Video at the link) - “As you can see, it represents a significant increase in range,” Roger Ellis, the Office of Naval Research’s electromagnetic railgun program manager, said in a conference call [...]  That’s the verdict of the DoD’s director of Operational Test and Evaluation: Michael Gilmore wrote in the report that the three versions of the aircraft in 2011 matched or exceeded the program’s restructured plan for tests designed to evaluate flying qualities. The jet in 2010 met most test goals after falling behind in 2009. [...] A little linguistic license, perhaps? The Finnish authorities have impounded an Isle of Man-flagged ship bound for China with undeclared missiles and explosives, officials say. Police are questioning the crew of the MS Thor Liberty after what were described as 69 Patriot anti-missile missiles were found aboard. Interior Minister Paivi Rasanen said the missiles [...] Courtesy of occasional reader Kirk, LMCO’s promo video of the F-35B’s sea trials aboard Wasp. Could be a pretty nice piece of kit, if they can iron out the kinks. Which yes, I do realize that statement is tautological. That nozzle comes alarmingly close to the flight deck on rotation, [...] More on Russia’s T-50 fifth gen fighter from Defense Tech – with video! Pretty nifty new tool in the ruck: The tube-launched Switchblade drone, made by Monrovia, California-based Aerovironment Inc., was secretly sent to Afghanistan for the first time last year. “Under a dozen” were fired, said Army Deputy Product Director William Nichols. “It’s been used in Afghanistan by military personnel” and “shown to be effective,” Nichols [...] The F-35B VSTOL variant made its first landing aboard ship yesterday, right on schedule. Not exactly an elegant bugger with all that clabber hanging in the breeze, but 5th Gen has finally made it to sea. Quoting the press release: F-35B Completes Successful Initial Shipboard Vertical Landing Aboard USS WASP By Joint Strike [...] Pretty cool video, launch to impact. Poor old conex box. DARPA is preparing to launch its second Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle from Vandenberg today: DARPA’s Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) program is a multiyear research and development effort to increase the technical knowledge base and advance critical technologies to make long-duration hypersonic flight a reality. Data from the program informs policy, acquisition, and [...] The Economist takes a dismal view of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program: The latest cost estimates from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), published in May to coincide with a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the F-35 programme, were shocking. The average price of each plane in “then-year” dollars had risen from $69m in 2001 [...] |
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