RichardCYoung.com » Terrorism

A Family Survival Quintet for You!

Richard C. Young — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:00:01 +0000

OK then, for those of you as concerned as Debbie and I are, here is the second in my list of inexpensive, easy-to-order personal survival items. I have owned all for a while, and I will add to my holdings of each in 2012:

(1) Henry U.S. Survival .22 rifle and a large quantity of CCI Stinger 22LR copper-plated 32 grain hollow point varmint ammo. This inexpensive, light (2.5 lbs.), accurate rifle packs up in a waterproof plastic stock and can be assembled and ready to fire in under a minute. Very cool. I love mine and am going to stock up with more for gifts and backup support.

(2) Boxes of Superfood Slam bars by PROBAR LLC. These whole food organic bars, loaded with Omega 3s, provide 380 calories per bar. Order these in bulk on your one-click Amazon account.

(3) My #2 water gathering/storage solution is WaterBrick, manufactured by Custom-Pak (bought through Amazon). You can transport water in lightweight fashion and stack the Bricks for easy storing.

(4) Perfect Food Raw Green Super Food. These organic capsules from Garden of Life are loaded with 34 nutrient-dense RAW greens, sprouts, and veggies. Debbie and I take these daily. You’ll feel as though you’ve been grazing on your lawn. Talk about Green and Chlorophyll. Once again Amazon can fill your order with a single click.

(5) New Chapter whole-food organic multivitamins (Amazon.com). These great multis offer stress, immune and cardio support and are manufactured with cultured whole-foods.

Remember, there is never any risk in being prepared! When the emergency finally hits, how do you explain to your loved ones why you failed to follow Dick Young’s emergency preparation advice?

Sandia’s self-guided bullet prototype can hit target a mile away

The Editors — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:00:43 +0000

Take two Sandia National Laboratories engineers who are hunters, get them talking about the sport and it shouldn’t be surprising when the conversation leads to a patented design for a self-guided bullet that could help war fighters. (Click here for a video showing the prototype’s flight.)

Sandia researchers Red Jones and Brian Kast and their colleagues have invented a dart-like, self-guided bullet for small-caliber, smooth-bore firearms that could hit laser-designated targets at distances of more than a mile (about 2,000 meters).

“We have a very promising technology to guide small projectiles that could be fully developed inexpensively and rapidly,” Jones said.

Sandia is seeking a private company partner to complete testing of the prototype and bring a guided bullet to the marketplace.

Researchers have had initial success testing the design in computer simulations and in field tests of prototypes, built from commercially available parts, Jones said.

While engineering issues remain, “we’re confident in our science base and we’re confident the engineering-technology base is there to solve the problems,” he said.

Sandia’s design for the four-inch-long bullet includes an optical sensor in the nose to detect a laser beam on a target. The sensor sends information to guidance and control electronics that use an algorithm in an eight-bit central processing unit to command electromagnetic actuators. These actuators steer tiny fins that guide the bullet to the target.

Most bullets shot from rifles, which have grooves, or rifling, that cause them to spin so they fly straight, like a long football pass. To enable a bullet to turn in flight toward a target and to simplify the design, the spin had to go, Jones said.

The bullet flies straight due to its aerodynamically stable design, which consists of a center of gravity that sits forward in the projectile and tiny fins that enable it to fly without spin, just as a dart does, he said.

Computer aerodynamic modeling shows the design would result in dramatic improvements in accuracy, Jones said. Computer simulations showed an unguided bullet under real-world conditions could miss a target more than a half mile away (1,000 meters away) by 9.8 yards (9 meters), but a guided bullet would get within 8 inches (0.2 meters), according to the patent.

Plastic sabots provide a gas seal in the cartridge and protect the delicate fins until they drop off after the bullet emerges from the firearm’s barrel.

The prototype does not require a device found in guided missiles called an inertial measuring unit, which would have added substantially to its cost. Instead, the researchers found that the bullet’s relatively small size when compared to guided missiles “is helping us all around. It’s kind of a fortuitous thing that none of us saw when we started,” Jones said.

As the bullet flies through the air, it pitches and yaws at a set rate based on its mass and size. In larger guided missiles, the rate of flight-path corrections is relatively slow, so each correction needs to be very precise because fewer corrections are possible during flight. But “the natural body frequency of this bullet is about 30 hertz, so we can make corrections 30 times per second. That means we can overcorrect, so we don’t have to be as precise each time,” Jones said.

Testing has shown the electromagnetic actuator performs well and the bullet can reach speeds of 2,400 feet per second, or Mach 2.1, using commercially available gunpowder. The researchers are confident it could reach standard military speeds using customized gunpowder.

And a nighttime field test, in which a tiny light-emitting diode, or LED, was attached to the bullet showed the battery and electronics can survive flight, Jones said.

Researchers also filmed high-speed video of the bullet radically pitching as it exited the barrel. The bullet pitches less as it flies down range, a phenomenon known to long-range firearms experts as “going to sleep.” Because the bullet’s motions settle the longer it is in flight, accuracy improves at longer ranges, Jones said.

“Nobody had ever seen that, but we’ve got high-speed video photography that shows that it’s true,” he said.

Potential customers for the bullet include the military, law enforcement and recreational shooters.

In addition to Jones and Kast, Sandia researchers who helped develop the technology are: engineer Brandon R. Rohrer, aerodynamics expert Marc W. Kniskern, mechanical designer Scott E. Rose, firearms expert James W. Woods and Ronald W. Greene, a guidance, control and simulation engineer.

Source: Sandia National Laboratories

U.S. Survival AR-7

VIDEO: Henry U.S. Survival AR-7

The Editors — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:30:24 +0000

I own one and so should you. Read why by clicking here.–Dick

Skylark I-LE

The Editors — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:00:15 +0000

Based on the operationally-proven Skylark® I system currently used by many coalition partners, the LE version increases the system’s operational range to 15 km and the endurance to approximately 3 hours. The system also features a unique gyroscopicstabilized gimbaled payload optimally integrated with algorithms derived from larger Hermes® 450 UAS to enable auto-tracking of dynamic targets; an impressive capability for a hand-launched UAS.

The Skylark® I-LE combines the characteristics normally reserved for larger unmanned aerial systems within the form-factor of a man-portable system. Skylark® I-LE: setting the standard.

Skylark I-LE is a product-offering of UAS Dynamics, LLC, with offices in Charlotte, NC, Fort Worth, TX, and Fort Mill, SC, is a joint venture between General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), and Elbit Systems of America, LLC, wholly owned by Elbit Systems, Ltd., (NASDAQ: ESLT). UAS Dynamics focuses on meeting the expanding and evolving needs of the U.S. Department of Defense and other U.S. government agencies to provide state-of-the-art unmanned aerial systems for the full spectrum of operational requirements.

• Track moving targets
• Gimbled stabilized sensor
• ‘Fly-By-Camera’ operation
• Endurance: 3 hours
• Range: 15 kilometers
• Air vehicle weight: 12.1 pounds
• Silent electric-drive propulsion – inaudible at 500 feet
• No unique recovery equipment required; runway independent
• Rucksack portable

Source: Elbit Systems

Chaos at the Big Box Supermarkets in Emergency Conditions

Richard C. Young — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:22:04 +0000

How would your family be set on the food front with your big box supermarket closed? I would give the subject your immediate attention because a day after EMP attack or related national disaster, your big box outlet would likely be out of food and overrun. And if it is still operating for a few days, it would most likely be on a cash-and-carry basis with charge cards useless and ATMs down. First on your simple preparation list is a nice supply of cash. The Report of the Commission to Assess Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack devotes an entire chapter to Food Infrastructure. I sure do not like what I read and doubt you would. Supermarkets today stock only enough food to supply local populations for 1 to 3 days. That’s days not weeks, and my guess is that the jig would be up in less than 24 hours, with only well-armed cash holders in the game for even that long. I live on an island and have ridden out many the hurricane. Trust me, the minute the electricity blinks off, conditions begin to deteriorate at warp speed. In the event of an EMP attack, transportation and distribution is shown to be the weakest link in the food infrastructure chain. The same condition is true for all natural disasters, including hurricanes.

The Commission report makes clear that an EMP attack could potentially disrupt or collapse the food infrastructure over a large region encompassing many cities for a protracted period of weeks or months or even longer. Getting the message here? At the least figure out where you hit first to stock up, how you would get there, how you would pay, and how you would transport a large amount of food home. Don’t forget, most forms of transportation will be useless, as electrical systems will be instantly knocked out. Your car or truck will not start. Still with me here? There may be a tendency to brush off my warnings, but please remember, the preceding is 100% in line with the picture painted by the EMP commission.

Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)

The Editors — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:00:46 +0000

Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) is a key element of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS). THAAD will provide rapidly deployable ground-based missile defense components that deepen, extend and complement the BMDS to any Combatant Commander to defeat ballistic missiles of all types and ranges while in all phases of flight.

THAAD’s combination of high-altitude, long-range capability and hit-to-kill lethality enables it to effectively negate the effects of weapons of mass destruction at intercept ranges well beyond the defended area. These attributes, along with THAAD’s unique endo (in the atmosphere) and exo (out of the atmosphere) atmospheric capability, enlarge the battle space to allow multiple intercept opportunities in both the late-midcourse and terminal phases of ballistic missile trajectories. THAAD can accept cues from Aegis, satellites and other external sensors to further extend the battle space and defended area coverage. THAAD will operate in concert with the lower-tier Patriot/PAC-3 system to provide increased levels of effectiveness.

THAAD is a rapid response weapon system that can be deployed quickly to protect critical assets worldwide. The THAAD element consists of five major components: missiles; launchers; radars; fire control; and THAAD-specific support equipment. All components have been successfully integrated, tested and demonstrated during the first program phase that concluded in 2000.

The THAAD Development Program flight testing began in November 2005 with a successful launch. Flight testing continues at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) through 2006. Operations are then scheduled to transition to the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) in Kauai, Hawaii to conduct flight testing through early 2009. The THAAD government-industry team continues to focus on mission success and delivering, testing and integrating hardware and software components that ensure the highest level of quality, reliability, producibility and affordability.

Industry team members:
Lockheed Martin
Raytheon
BAE Systems
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
Aerojet
Honeywell

Recent News: Lockheed Martin Receives $1.96 Billion THAAD Production Contract For The United Arab Emirates December 30, 2011
• THAAD Weapon System Achieves Intercept of Two Targets at Pacific Missile Range Facility – October 5th, 2011
• Lockheed Martin Awarded $789.8 Million THAAD Production Contract March 30th, 2011

World Economy at Risk: Iran Threatens to Close the Strait of Hormuz

The Editors — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:00:35 +0000

The war drums are beating over Iran’s recent threat to close the Strait of Hormuz. There has been plenty of speculation in the media about whether or not Iran could even do it.The answer, according to Sabahat Khan, an analyst at the Institute for Near East & Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA), is that Iran is more than capable of closing the strait, but that it might not be able to do so for a long period of time.

Khan wrote in 2010 that Iran could block the strait with a minimum of 300 mines, and that the Islamic Republic owns between 2,000 to 5,000 mines according to various estimates. Marine mines are an inexpensive way for Iran to gain control of the strait. Khan writes that a $1,500 Iranian mine caused the USS Samuel B. Roberts $96 million worth of damage at the end of the Tanker War. That’s a great return on cheap technology for Iran.

Iran would need a minimum three hour uninterrupted block of time to mine the strait. Khan believes Iran would lay the mines using submarines. Stopping these subs from deploying mines would be a critical part of any attempt to keep the strait clear. Khan writes that clearing mines can take up to 200 times as long as laying them. But he goes on to say that critical shipping lanes could be opened in weeks.

Click to enlarge.

Free passage through the strait is vital for the world economy, which is dependent on the 17 million barrels of oil that exit it every day. That’s around 35% of the world’s seaborne oil trade. Khan writes that 90% of the Arab Gulf States’ oil exports cross the strait. Iraq and Saudi Arabia could ease the pain caused by a Persian Gulf blockage by utilizing idled pipeline capacity running to the Mediterranean Sea and Turkey. For the smaller Gulf States, the pain would be more severe. The UAE is the world’s third largest oil exporter, with Kuwait fifth and Qatar fifteenth. Neither these countries, nor the world, can afford a stoppage of oil exports from the Persian Gulf.

So what is the solution Iranian aggression in the Strait of Hormuz? Lieutenant Commander Colin Karl Boynton wrote about the possible scenario for the Naval War College in 2009. LCDR Boynton said that the Strait of Hormuz is ideal for the type of sea denial operations Iran is contemplating, and that the U.S. Navy would be best served by not allowing its blue water ships to be caught in the shallows and narrows of the Strait area. Recently the USS John C. Stennis steamed out of the Persian Gulf to deeper waters. Coincidence? Doubtful.

Iran would love nothing more than to draw the U.S. fleet into the Strait of Hormuz in order to whack away at American power with anti-ship missiles from land, and its fleet of thousands of fast-boats deployed at island bases throughout the Persian Gulf. As you can see on the accompanying map, Iran has amassed its military assets around the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint. LCDR Boynton writes that the American forces should remember the military maxim, “never fight how your opponent wants you to fight.”

The biggest question regarding an Iranian closure of the strait is, why do it at all. According to Khan, 87% of Iran’s imports and 99% of its exports are seaborne. LCDR Boynton points out that 40% of Iran’s daily gasoline needs are imported through the strait. If the strait were closed, Iran’s economy would likely come to a grinding halt. And with it, the country’s ability to wage the war resulting from its actions. The better bet on Iran’s motivation is that Iranian leadership is bluffing up the price of oil to counter international sanctions that have done serious damage to the regime. The resulting profits from high oil prices are more likely to be used for the continued suppression of Iran’s population than on fighting a war with the U.S. and the Gulf States.

Video: A Threat Assessment in the Strait of Hormuz

The Editors — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:00:59 +0000

Membrane Optical Imager for Real-Time Exploitation (MOIRE)

The Editors — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:00:02 +0000

“Contrary to Hollywood’s ideas, today’s spy satellites that orbit the Earth at fast speeds and relatively lower altitudes can only snap photos for the U.S. military and intelligence agencies. Taking live video of a single location would require satellites to hover by matching the Earth’s rotation in geosynchronous orbit about 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) high — but creating and launching a space telescope with the huge optics arrays capable of seeing ground details from such high orbit has proven difficult.

If all goes well, U.S. military commanders and intelligence agents may someday get live streaming video and up-to-date images of battlefields or trouble spots around the world. Such capability could complement the swarms of cheap drones providing battlefield surveillance today, and might even spare the U.S. embarrassment from losing spy drones over Iran or other countries.” -Innovation News Daily

To meet national security requirements around the world, it would be optimal to have real-time images and video of any place on earth at any time—a capability that doesn’t currently exist. Today, aircraft are used for some imagery requirements. Because of the huge quantity of aircraft needed, and because aircraft do not fly high enough to see into denied territories, spacecraft are also used for imagery requirements.

Spacecraft, however, face different challenges in providing persistent coverage. The size (aperture) of the optics needed, and the limitations of producing and launching extremely large precision glass optics means it is infeasible to place such a system in geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO), approximately 36,000 kilometers high, where it could provide persistent coverage.

MOIRE is a GEO-based system that uses a lightweight membrane optic etched with a diffractive pattern. The diffractive pattern is used to focus light on a sensor. The MOIRE program seeks to enable the technologies required for these very large optics for space platforms. The program aims to demonstrate the manufacturability of large membranes (up to 20 meters), large structures to hold the optics flat, and also demonstrate the secondary optical elements needed to turn a diffraction-based optic into a wide bandwidth imaging device.

Source: DARPA

Recent News: Ball Aerospace Completes Preliminary Design Review for MOIRE - December 12, 2011

Predator C Avenger

Richard C. Young — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 13:00:31 +0000

A new, reduced-signature, unmanned aircraft-the long-rumored, 20-hr.-endurance, pure-jet Predator C Avenger-has emerged from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ workshops after a 3½-year gestation period paced by massive growth in UAV production and the use of unmanned designs in combat.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh5Y0Xjp4QI

The UAV’s undeniably stealthed-up exterior offers several clues about how the aircraft could be employed.

A weapons bay allows internal carriage of 500-lb. bombs with GBU-38 JDAM tail kit and laser guidance. Given the aircraft’s 41-ft. length (which will expand by at least 2 ft. in the second test aircraft), the weapons bay appears to be 10 ft. long.

The weapons bay doors can be removed to allow installation of a semi-submerged, wide-area surveillance pod, says Tom Cassidy, president, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ Aircraft Systems Group. Cassidy has earned a unique reputation by using company funds to develop what he believes the military needs rather than chasing Pentagon requirements that shift with disheartening regularity to produce cost increases and production delays. The result is a family of Gnat and Predator designs that are used by all the services and intelligence agencies.

The Predator C, like the B-variants, is designed to carry about 3,000 lb. of weapons and sensors. In a non-stealthy environment, weapons could also be attached externally on the fuselage and wings. For an additional 2 hr. of flying time, fuel tanks can be installed in the weapons bay. Normal fuel storage is split 50/50 between the wings and fuselage.

The Avenger’s electrical power is expected, at least initially, to be less than the 45 kva. available on Predator B variants. A long, featureless underside provides a low-distortion design for carriage of a wide-area surveillance sensor such as an all-weather, active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. The wide-area surveillance system-to be provided by the Air Force-has yet to be defined. However, it would be carried by a specialized all-reconnaissance version of the Avenger. A Lynx SAR is likely carried in the lower part of the nose. Absent from the prototype is the EO/IR sensor turret used by the Predator family. A retractable installation may have been developed.

The vertically-oriented V-tail both deflects radar and shields the 4,800-lb. thrust Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PW545B engine exhaust’s infrared signature. Predator C has two all-flying tail surfaces with two servos each for flight-control redundancy. The humpbacked design of the engine compartment offers room enough for a serpentine exhaust that eliminates radar observation of the engine. Pratt & Whitney has been developing an S-shaped exhaust that offers protection from radar observation and cooling to reduce the IR signature. The engine is expected to provide an airspeed of at least 400 kt., but Cassidy says envelope expansion tests may produce speeds “considerably greater” than that. Its operational altitude is up to 60,000 ft.

The Avenger’s 17-deg. swept wing (66-ft. span) and tail edges are all parallel in plan view with one or the other leading edges. It is the same shaping discipline used on classic stealth designs like the B-22 and B-2. The cranked trailing edge provides the aerodynamic and structural benefits of a tapered wing and helps shield the engine inlet from radar. Canted upper and power body sides meet at a sharp chine line, continuous from nose to tail, thereby avoiding the radar cross-section hot spot caused by a curved side.

The thickness and curvature of the inboard wing are noteworthy, pointing to an effort to achieve laminar flow over as much of the wing as possible. The prototype carries tufts over the left wing/body junction that allow engineers to visualize airflow in that area.

General Atomics Aeronautical’s parent company includes a division that produces materials for controlling radar, optical and infrared signatures. Adjacent to the company’s Rancho Bernardo, Calif., facility are the world’s largest indoor radar cross section testing ranges. Likely challenges would have included building a “bandpass” radome for the satcom antenna above the nose. It must be transparent at the Ku-band used by most airborne satcoms, but opaque at lower frequencies used by fighter and missile radars. Again, that capability mimics the F-22 and F-35.

Source: Aviation Week

Specifications:
Avenger was designed and developed with the intent of making an unmanned aircraft system that was more survivable in higher threat environments and to provide the U.S. Air Force and other potential customers with an expanded quick-response armed reconnaissance capability. The aircraft will have higher operational and transit speeds than current Predator-series aircraft, resulting in fast response and rapid repositioning for improved mission flexibility and survivability. Wide-area surveillance, armed reconnaissance, border surveillance, time-sensitive strike, and quick response capability missions for use against conventional and asymmetric threats (e.g., terrorists, pirates) are among its key missions.

Wingspan: 66 ft (foldable wings)
Fuselage: 41 ft
Altitude: 60,000 ft
Endurance: 20+ hr
Payload: Internal - 800 lb (363 kg)
External - 3,000 lb (1361 kg)
Air Speed: 400 KT (460 MPH

Predator C Fact Sheet

Recent News: Air Force buys an Avenger, its biggest and fastest armed drone - December 31, 2011

• GA-ASI Completes Key Wind Tunnel Test on Sea Avenger UAS Model - February 15, 2011

RichardCYoung.com » Terrorism

A Family Survival Quintet for You!

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