Orbit 17 +++ Space and beyond
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Aircraft
Not Just Drones: Militants Can Snoop on Most U.S. Warplanes (Updated)
Dec 19th
Tapping into drones’ video feeds was just the start. The U.S. military’s primary system for bringing overhead surveillance down to soldiers and Marines on the ground is also vulnerable to electronic interception, multiple military sources tell Danger Room. That means militants have the ability to see through the eyes of all kinds of combat aircraft — from traditional fighters and bombers to unmanned spy planes. The problem is in the process of being addressed. But for now, an enormous security breach is even larger than previously thought.
The military initially developed the Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receiver, or ROVER, in 2002. The idea was let troops on the ground download footage from Predator drones and AC-130 gunships as it was being taken. Since then, nearly every airplane in the American fleet — from F-16 and F/A-18 fighters to A-10 attack planes to Harrier jump jets to B-1B bombers has been outfitted with equipment that lets them transmit to ROVERs. Thousands of ROVER terminals have been distributed to troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
But those early units were “fielded so fast that it was done with an unencrypted signal. It could be both intercepted (e.g. hacked into) and jammed,” e-mails an Air Force officer with knowledge of the program. In a presentation last month before a conference of the Army Aviation Association of America, a military official noted that the current ROVER terminal “receives only unencrypted L, C, S, Ku [satellite] bands.”
So the same security breach that allowed insurgent to use satellite dishes and $26 software to intercept drone feeds can be used the tap into the video transmissions of any plane.
Boeing 787: ‘Green’ aircraft takes to the skies
Dec 18th
More than two years later than originally planned, Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner has taken to the skies for its maiden test flight.
The aircraft is constructed in large part of plastics, making it lighter, quieter and greener, the company said.
The plane – powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines – took off from a runway in Washington State.
Pilots Michael Carriker and Randall Neville kept the Dreamliner in the air for around three hours before landing at Seattle’s Boeing Field.
They took the aircraft to an altitude of 15,000 feet and an air speed of 180 knots, or about 207 miles per hou
Gulfstream G250 Completes First Test Flight
Dec 13th
Gulfstream G250 First flight
A little over two months after its rollout, the Gulfstream G250 completed its first flight today. The 3:21 hour flight took off from Ben Gurion International Airport at 8:16 a.m. local time.
Pilots used the flight to test the G250’s flight-handling qualities and characteristics, and performed initial checks of several aircraft systems. The large-cabin,
mid-range aircraft flew up to 32,000 feet, achieving a maximum speed of 253 knots.
Chief test pilot Ronen Shapira called the flight “extremely smooth with no issues.” IAI’s Flight Telemetry System allowed flight-test engineers on the ground to monitor the G250 aircraft systems in real time during the flight, as well as record the data from the first flight test point.
Three years late, ‘the Grizzly’ military transport plane finally takes to the skies
Dec 13th
We have lift-off: The A400 Airbus finally gets into the sky, and the design specifications that make it so special Credit: AFP/Getty
Heading into the blue three years late, Airbus’s troubled A400M ‘flying truck’ military transport plane lifts off for its maiden flight.
The plane took off from Seville, in Spain, yesterday, with the flags of nine countries emblazoned on its side – the seven Nato nations plus Malaysia, which has ordered several planes, and South Africa, which recently pulled out of its order.
Britain has ordered up to 20 of the planes but the project has been dogged by delays and cost-overuns.
Flydubai on fast track: sixth aircraft arrives on schedule
Dec 11th
Boeing 737-800NG
Flydubai took delivery of its sixth aircraft in a little over six months today, rounding off a remarkable opening period for Dubai’s first low cost airline.
The newest Boeing 737-800NG will begin service with the inaugural Bahrain flight on Sunday, December 13 and will also operate the new Kathmandu route starting on December 15 – flydubai’s tenth and eleventh destinations. flydubai’s next aircraft is due in March 2010.
The aircraft is the sixth one to be delivered on schedule and is part of the historic US$4 billion order for 50 aircraft that flydubai placed with Boeing at the Farnborough Airshow in July last year.
The 737-800NG aircraft comes from a Boeing family that is officially the most commercially successful model designed. There are 1,250 Boeing 737s in the air at any moment in time, with one taking off every 4.6 seconds. Its reliability, safety and fuel efficiency make the aircraft ideal for flydubai, which passes on the savings gained in lower maintenance and fuel costs to its customers.
The flydubai Boeing NG 737-800 has a capacity of 189 economy passengers and can cruise at an altitude of between 35,000 and 41,000 feet.
Virgin Galactic Prepares to Unveil Space Liner
Dec 11th
Sir Richard Branson and Burt Rutan in VMS Eve, the craft that will carry SpaceShipTwo into sub-orbital space
Virgin Galactic readies for Monday’s unveiling of SpaceShipTwo — the first-class space tourist’s wonder machine at the core of the space tourism firm’s suborbital fleet.
The scene is spacecraft manufacturer Scaled Composites at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. No doubt, there’s plenty of pomp and circumstance that’s due this debut — although specific aspects about the rocket plane’s rollout remain under wraps.
SpaceShipTwo is a carbon composite cousin in construction and design to SpaceShipOne — the privately financed, single-piloted spacecraft that bagged the $10 million Ansari X Prize purse by flying back-to-back treks to suborbital space in 2004.
Flight of the Osprey: the controversial aircraft’s debut in Afghanistan
Dec 7th
Crew members refuel a V-22 Osprey before night recon mission in Iraq
A collective exhale could have likely been heard this morning shortly after two MV-22 Osprey aircrafts cut through the predawn darkness and dropped U.S. troops into a valley in southern Afghanistan. Mission accomplished for the sleek silvery plane that possesses the unique dual capability of hovering like a helicopter and flying like a fixed-wing plane.
Reason being is that there were likely a countless number of Boeing-Bell senior management, Defense Department officials, Marine brass, and Boeing-Bell design engineers waiting to hear with bated breath how the Osprey had performed in its debut offensive combat mission on Friday, considering it took 20 years to finally make a battle-ready and deployable model.
Nitrobanh lists The top ten fastest aircraft, very quick indeed.
Dec 7th
The XB-70A was built by Los Angeles division of North American Aviation for the U.S Air Force.
They are the emperors of the sky – watching over us with some of the deadliest arsenal tucked right under their bellies. Their awesome power never fails to make us wonder if they weren’t unreal. They can soar up there much faster than the roars of their engines. They are some of the ultimate man-made machines, and heck, they sure can fly !!!
Lets have a look at some of mankind’s most incredible innovations – The 10 fastest aircrafts that grace the sky!!