Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Hmm next war?
The Obama administration is seeking a go-ahead from Congress to sell up to $60 billion worth of sophisticated warplanes to Saudi Arabia and could add another $30 billion worth of naval arms in a deal designed to counter the rise of Iran as a regional power.The deal would apparently represent the largest single U.S. arms sale ever approved. It would allow Saudi Arabia, the most militarily advanced of the Arab Gulf states and one of the richest countries in the world, to buy top-line U.S.-made helicopters and fighter jets with ranges that would span the Middle East and beyond.Unlike some previous sales to Saudi Arabia, this one is not expected to be derailed by opposition in Congress or from U.S. backers of Israel, who have worried in the past about blunting Israel’s military edge over its Arab neighbors.
That’s more than half of the regular DoD procurement budget in 2010 and a number equal to the entire defense budget of the UK for this year (adjusted roughly to USD).
Iran is now seen by Israel, the Gulf Arab states and the West as a significant and unpredictable threat that has changed the old calculus of the region’s balance of power.The U.S. is realigning its defense policies in the Gulf as Iran improves the range and accuracy of missiles and other weapons that could threaten Israel or U.S. allies in Europe. Besides the Saudi deal, the U.S. has pending or proposed arms sales to Kuwait, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, and has repositioned some U.S. forces and military assets around the Gulf.
And the Pentagon is hinting the reason is to build a bulwark against Iran? Come on. If Iran strikes Saudi in any kind of conflict, it isn’t going to be by flying ragged out F-14s or second hand MiG-29s on a cross-country Kamikaze mission. It’s going to be from a suicide vest in a royal palace or a car bomb of Prince Bandar’s motorcade.
They’re going to need MRAPs not Apaches.
One wonders why the Saudis need the high-end, major-theater-war gear. Is it prestige? A bulwark against Israel? Something fun for the princes and their buddies to fly to Dubai in?
Or maybe it’s a nice pick-me-up for a defense industry that’s about to take a hit to the gut from a departing Gates.
Defense.org
Space Launch
Is firing a rocket from the ground straight up into space the right way to do things?
It sure was in the 1950s and ‘60s and it persists today. But it’s still expensive, fraught with technical risk and dwindling into obsolescence.
There could be an alternative on the horizon, however, that incorporates the concepts of railguns, scram jets and kinetic launching into an innovative, reusable space launch system for unmanned cargo.
An early proposal has emerged that calls for a wedge-shaped aircraft with scramjets to be launched horizontally on an electrified track or gas-powered sled. The aircraft would fly up to Mach 10, using the scramjets and wings to lift it to the upper reaches of the atmosphere where a small payload canister or capsule similar to a rocket’s second stage would fire off the back of the aircraft and into orbit. The aircraft would come back and land on a runway by the launch site.
Engineers say this isn’t so far fetched. The technologies for accelerating a vehicle on a horizontal plane are there, the scramjet is within reach and the science behind the slingshot payload is sound.
“All of these are technology components that have already been developed or studied,” Starr said. “We’re just proposing to mature these technologies to a useful level, well past the level they’ve already been taken.”
The 10-year program is scheduled to begin with drone launches, culminating in small satellite payloads. Engineers say there is certainly the potential for manned payloads “after unmanned launches rack up successes.”
BREAK BREAK: And it looks as if the Air Force may be looking in a similar reusable, slingshot method but with a vertical launch.
(Gouge: CF)
– Christian
Read more: http://defensetech.org/#ixzz10G1oXumH
Defense.org
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
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