Shanghai JNCX launches the first unit of Type 055 DDG

    Type 055 destroyer  launches yesterday in the JNCX shipyard

Report have 113MW total power, is pretty insane (if accurate, a bit unbelievable),
If true this pretty much confirms that the 055 is using integrated electric propulsion. The ship doesn't require that much power for propulsion and conventional systems considering the heavier (15,000t) Zumwalt produces 78MW and has a similar top speed (33.5 knots).
The Zumwalt also produces 58 MW of reserve power while moving at 20 knots, meaning the ship requires 20 MW to move at 20 knots. The BAE 32 MJ rail gun requires 25 MW of power to sustain fire at 10 rounds per minute thus giving DDG 1000 the ability to accommodate 2 rail guns but the Zumwalt cannot sustain fire of even one rail gun @10 rounds/min or other energy weapons when travelling at full speed, there isn't enough power to be distributed.

http://thediplomat.com/2016/03/u-s-may-field-railgun-on-zumwalt-destroyer/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun

Zumwalt DDG1000

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_electric_propulsion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Zumwalt

If we assume 055 requires similar power as Zumwalt to cruise at 20 knots (20MW) then it will have >90MW in reserve power @20 knots. Where is all that energy going to? If the power figure for 055 is accurate then it is most definitely designed to field rail guns and direct energy weapons and other energy thirsty platforms. If not 055 then its successor variants will.

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Type 055 destroyer video:  https://youtu.be/O0Rsbu6i3ww

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Flying car? MIT’s new drone can fly, drive & communicate with other drones



A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a drone prototype that can autonomously shift from flying to driving. The innovation comes with high hopes for the long-awaited flying cars of the future. 
 
By adding a driving platform to the bottom of a quadcopter drone, researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) announced on Monday they have developed a prototype that can autonomously switch between flying over obstacles to driving through tight spaces that normal drones could not get through.

“The ability to both fly and drive is useful in environments with a lot of barriers, since you can fly over ground obstacles and drive under overhead obstacles,” said Brandon Araki, lead author on the paper, according to the press release from MIT. “Normal drones can't maneuver on the ground at all. A drone with wheels is much more mobile while having only a slight reduction in flying time.”

While flying limits a drone’s battery life, driving is much more energy efficient. In their simulations, CSAIL was able to fly their drones for nearly 300 feet or drive them on a flat surface for 826 feet before the batteries ran out.
After attaching the two small motors with wheels to the bottom of drones, the team reduced the drone’s maximum flying distance by 14 percent. However, since driving takes less battery life, the drones ended up being even more efficient.

The new drones were based on Araki’s previous work developing the “flying monkey” robot, which was able to fly, crawl and grasp objects. However, there was no way to make the drone travel autonomously.



In a new paper, Araki and a team of researchers at CSAIL developed "path-planning" algorithms to ensure that the drones avoid colliding into each other or any other obstacles. The drones were tested in a system that controlled the motions of eight drones flying and driving through a miniature town.
In their tests, researchers gave each of the drones a starting position and a goal position. Their scaled version of a town was complete with roads, buildings, no-fly zones and other obstacles.

Flying car? MIT’s new drone can fly, drive & communicate with other drones on its own

The multi-robot path planning system allowed the drones to communicate with each other and chose when to switch between flying and driving in order to optimize battery life, speed and efficiency.
The researchers were also able to restrict the drones from flying over certain areas, creating flight corridors that could become highways in the sky in the future. In the paper, the researchers said they envision a time when “flying taxis” could choose when to fly or drive based on how much a customer is willing to pay.

CSAIL Director Daniela Rus said that creating flying cars did not involve simply “[putting] wings on cars,” rather it took years of research in giving flying drones the ability to drive.
“As we begin to develop planning and control algorithms for flying cars, we are encouraged by the possibility of creating robots with these capabilities at small scale,” Rus said, according to the press release from MIT. “While there are obviously still big challenges to scaling up to vehicles that could actually transport humans, we are inspired by the potential of a future in which flying cars could offer us fast, traffic-free transportation.”


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£3bn aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth finally set for sea trials

The Royal Navy's largest ever warship HMS Queen Elizabeth © Wikipedia

Touted as the solution to Britain’s fading global power, the £3 billion HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier is set to leave port for the first time to undertake sea trials.
The 65,000 ton vessel, which will be the UK’s first aircraft carrier since the HMS Ark Royal was scrapped in 2010, is due to leave the shipyard at Rosyth, Scotland, on Monday.


Merlin Mk2 helicopters had a look at HMS Queen Elizabeth

Eleven tugs will be needed to maneuver the vessel, which is as long as three football fields.
She will have to squeeze into the estuary through the narrow exit from her dock.
Once free, she will wait for low tide and have her tallest masts and antennae stripped down to pass under the Forth bridges, before making her way to the open sea under her own power.
Despite the upcoming trials, the carrier is not expected to be ready for action for several years.
A sister carrier, the HMS Prince Of Wales, is also under construction.
“I think there are very few capabilities, by any country, that are as symbolic as a carrier strike capability,” the Queen Elizabeth’s commander, Captain Jerry Kydd, told the BBC.
“Submarines you can’t see, but these are very visible symbols of power and power projection,” he said.
Despite such high praise, the carrier project has been battered by waves of criticism, with one senior military figure anonymously telling the Guardian in 2015 that the program was a toxic “combination of naval vanity and pork-barrel politics.”











The source said that by developing carriers the UK was “moving in the direction absolutely contrary to strategic developments of our time,” seeing how current wars are fought with drones and special forces.
There are also concerns over whether there will be enough American-made F-35 fighters to equip both ships, as a parallel project to purchase the US jets has seen years of delays.
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Taiwan will attempt to fire missile from MALE UAV next year




Taiwan will attempt to fire a Hellfire-class missile from its medium-altitude long-endurance UAV (MALE UAV) next year.















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The Jackal 2 in 360° | British Army









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iXblue: Exploring the future of navigation



















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Abandoned City In Burma Is Six Times The Size Of NYC, And It’s Pure Mystery



Ghost cities are not only seen in apocalypse movies.
They do exist and we can rarely get a glimpse of the ultimate silence in these places. Naypyidaw is one of them. Strangely, this ghost city became Burma’s capital a decade ago when the government announced it’s moving the capital from Rongoon for no obvious reason. Six times larger than the size of NYC,  it barely has any population.

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Burma is a country in Southeast Asia and has one of the strictest military regimes on the planet. It is therefore often compared to North Korea for its dictatorship. Naypyidaw, as its capital is housing one of the strictest military regimes in existence. Tourists are not allowed to enter the country.
You are not the only one who does not know about it. Even people in Burma have no idea about its existence, although it cost billions to build.

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It was supposed to house millions of people, but now the metropolis is basically vacant. The only population in the city are the government workers you can see on the streets.

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The Guardian visited this ghost town in the beginning of 2017 it earlier this year. This is how they described it: “an eerie picture of post-apocalypse suburban America; like a David Lynch film on location in North Korea.”

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Can you believe the whole city has wifi? It is built in the middle of a jungle, and there are only a few people there, and no restaurant or hotels function. Well, at least someone is using the wifi.

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The streets are huge, build to meet the every-day traffic jam. However, they are completely abandoned, as there are barely any vehicles.

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There are rumors that Burma actually contacted technicians from North Korea to build underground tunnels underneath the deserted city. Surprisingly, Naypyidaw’s history is basically a mystery. No one knows when construction began, or exactly who built it. Doesn’t it make a good script for a movie?

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Although it’s official that the population is 1 million, the photographs are telling another story. The only pedestrians are street cleaners, not knowing who they are cleaning for.
And in case you wondered what these few people feel like, travel writer Robert Reid has the answer. He went to Burma several years ago to seek out privately run services for Lonely Planet’s Myanmar (Burma) guide. He also made a stop in Naypyidaw where he spoke to locals. They anonymously revealed they felt like they were living in a video game.

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The Rafale Solo Display at the Paris Air Show









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Russia Armata tank will outmatch the Abrams in active armor and triple range missiles



Russian will start operational evaluation of the most advanced Armata tank starting in 2019 and they will have laser guided missiles with 3 times the range of the newest American tank.
The T-14 Armata is equipped with an unmanned turret and all the crew is located at the front of the hull. The new unmanned remote turret of Armata T-14 would be equipped with a new generation of 125mm 2A82-1M smoothbore gun with an automatic loader and 32 rounds ready to use.

The main gun can fire also new laser-guided missile with a range from 7 to 12 km. The T-14 Armata carries a total of 45 rounds. According to some Russian sources, the T-14 Armata could be armed in the future with a new 152mm cannon.
Russia’s Armata tank will outmatch the Abrams and all current western tanks with better active armor and triple range anti-tank missiles.

Some western analysts take comfort in the fact that Russia’s economy is terrible and they are currently only making about 120 Armata tanks per year. However, if Russia could dedicate about $12 billion, they probably could afford 2200 Armata tanks. Russia could probably upgrade its thousands of older T-90 tanks with new laser guided missile and the active armor systems for about $1.5 to 3 billion.

Test-fired of T-14 Armata next-generation battle tanks at the Staratel test range in Nizhny Tagil.


 

nextbigfuture

Russia is in talks with India to upgrade nearly 1000 T-90 tanks.
Russia could develop more extensive upgrades for their own older tanks.
The Armata tank is equipped with the Afganit active protection system, which uses a combination of sensors and kinetic energy projectiles to knock down incoming rocket propelled grenades, antitank missiles, and subcaliber projectiles. The tank also features an anti-detection aerosol disperser, a new explosive reactive armor nicknamed “Malachite,” slat armor covering the engine spaces and even an electronic countermine system to prevent antitank mines from detonating.

Those sensors and weapons systems and the laser guided missiles could be placed onto older tanks.
Some Armata innovations would not be transferrable to older tanks. Armata armor is a composite incorporating a new steel alloy known as 44C-SV-W, developed by the JSC Institute of Steel—also known as the NII Stali Institute for Protection—in Moscow. The new steel, made via electroslag melting, is apparently lighter than traditional steel, shaving “hundreds of kilograms” off the vehicle weight.

The USA M1 Abrams’ M256 120-millimeter smoothbore gun has a maximum effective range between 3 km (1.86 miles) and 4 km (2.48 miles).
In military parlance, the Armata could very well “out-stick” the M1 by a factor of three, comfortably destroying American tanks before the latter can get within engagement range.
In real-world war situations, though, there are rarely situations where two objects at ground level are visible to one another at seven and a half miles. Hedges, trees, buildings, elevation changes, and other terrain features all conspire to block visibility at ground level. Outside of the plains of Kansas, the Russian steppes, and the Sinai desert, there are seldom places where two objects are visible at even three or four miles.

Even if an Armata does manage to lock onto an Abrams at extreme ranges, the American tank isn’t helpless. The Abrams’ armor, reinforced with a layer of depleted uranium and now reactive armor, is widely considered the best in the world. Reactive armor is particularly useful against the shaped charge warhead on the Sprinter. Also, the Army is planning to install active protection systems (APS) on the Abrams. An APS upgrade would consist of outward-facing radar antennas scanning for incoming threats in all directions. One detected, APS launches interceptors to and detect and kill incoming rockets and missiles.

The Armata is a new and innovative tank. USA analysts note that many of the Armata’s advanced survivability features are drawn from the Israeli Merkava series.
The Russian seem to have advanced the state-of-the-art in terms of reactive armor and active protection. If the Russian Afghanit active protection system works as advertised, the Armata could prove to be a serious problem for the West if it were ever produced in numbers. However, most Western analysts—government and private sector—are dubious about Russian claims that their APS can defeat kinetic energy rounds.

However, even if the Armata was as dangerous as the British report claims, Russia is not likely to be able to afford the expensive new machine in the huge quantities. Using the British reports own numbers—120 Armata tanks produced per year. nextbigfuture

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Anonymous: NASA Is About to Announce the Discovery of Intelligent Alien Life



Hacking collective Anonymous claims US space agency NASA is about to announce the discovery of intelligent alien life.
“NASA says aliens are coming!” the group wrote on their website.
Anonymous’ claim is based on a number of recent NASA discoveries coupled with comments made by one of the agency’s spokesmen during a congressional hearing titled ‘Advances in the Search for Life,’ in April.

Professor Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, told the hearing that NASA’s recent advances, such as the discovery of hydrogen in Saturn’s moon Enceladus and the Hubble team’s promising results from the oceans of Jupiter’s moon, Europa, are promising signs that we’re closer than ever to discovering evidence of alien life.
“Taking into account all of the different activities and missions that are specifically searching for evidence of alien life, we are on the verge of making one of the most profound, unprecedented, discoveries in history,” said Zurbuchen during the hearing of the committee on American Science, Space and Technology.

In their video on the issue, Anonymous go on to cite several other alien-friendly comments made by astronauts and space exploration enthusiasts in the past, as well as various alien and UFO ‘sightings’ as evidence that “something is going on in the skies above”.






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The world's first rope-free elevator


Cable free elevator has been built and it will boost capacity and cut wait times in half.
nextbigfuture

Thyssenkrupp has built the first rope (cable) free elevator. This will enable system like the Star Trek Turbolift which can move up down and side to side.

This is elevator industry’s holy grail. It ends the 160-year reign of the rope-dependent elevator.
MULTI harnesses the power of linear motor technology to move multiple cars in a single shaft both vertically and horizontally!

* magnetic system enables faster elevators to be built
* horizontal movement allows more than one cabin per shaft
* horizontal movement allows more efficient routing where there was no routing flexibility before
* magnetic and ropeless system removes 500 meter height limit for one elevator shaft
* 50% more capacity and half the wait times
* economic benefits to skyscraper owners with less wasted space
“Eventually it could solve the last mile,” Schierenbeck said. “With the horizontal movement of the Multi you can connect buildings, you can connect trains stations with your buildings, you could even have your own cabin waiting for you at your hotel room – all these things which have been a little bit science fiction maybe three, four, five years ago are now possible.”
* Cities could be massively more efficient for movement within multiple buildings.
* Skyscrapers could be taller.
* One up down and side to side network of elevators could for example connect all the casinos on the Vegas strip.
Instead of one elevator cabin per shaft moving up and down, the MULTI offers multiple cabins operating in loop, like a metro system inside a building.

By removing ropes and equipping with linear motors, elevators will be transformed completely – increasing capacity by 50 % and reducing the elevator footprint within a building by half.
In the same way the train slides along a track horizontally, the lift travels both vertically, horizontally and diagonally around a building riding an electromagnetic field, a system known as a linear drive.

“If you can run a 500-tonne train on magnets at 500km/h you should be able to elevate a cabin of 500 kilograms or 1,000 kilograms at a speed of five metres per second,” Schierenbeck said.
The number of buildings over 200 meters has tripled since 2000. More than 180 buildings over 250 meters are currently under construction.



The only visible difference to passengers – and it’s a welcome one – is that the doors open every 15 to 30 seconds, despite having fewer shafts compared to standard elevator systems.
Standard rope and pulley lifts today can only rise to a maximum of around 500 metres. But, skyscrapers are much taller and they are only getting higher. So far, the solution to this has been to build multiple elevators and therefore more shafts but the space required can cost a building up to 40 per cent of highly valuable floor space. “This cannot go on forever,” Schierenbeck said. While the Multi can cost three to five times more than a standard lift system, Schierenbeck claims saving that much space in a central downtown building, for example, is “definitely overcompensating the price of the product.”



nextbigfuture




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New radars displayed at Paris Air Show 2017

    A worker at China Electronics Technology Group Corp sets up a model of the YLC-8B air-defense radar on Wednesday at the 52nd International Paris Air Show at Paris-Le Bourget Airport. Provided To China Daily

 Advanced equipment can detect stealth aircraft, cruise missiles

China has been marketing a number of advanced air defense radars capable of detecting stealth combat aircraft, such as the United States' F-22 and F-35, at the ongoing 52nd International Paris Air Show.

China Electronics Technology Group Corp, one of the major defense contractors of the Chinese military, has models of three large anti-stealth aircraft radars on display at the show, which will run until Sunday at Paris-Le Bourget Airport. It was the first time the State-owned defense giant took part in the show, which is said to be the largest and most influential of its kind in the world.

The three radar types - YLC-8B, SLC-7 and SLC-12 - all developed by the company's Nanjing Research Institute of Electronic Technology in Jiangsu province, integrate the traditional detection method of mechanical scanning with two-dimensional active phased-array technology, making them capable of detecting virtually any aerial target including stealth fighters, unmanned aircraft, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and rockets, according to CETC. The company said the radars can also guide air defense missiles to their targets.

    YLC-8B at Zhuhai 2016

The research institute is the country's largest developer of military surveillance radars. Its products have been sold to more than 20 nations in North Africa, Southeast Asia and western Asia, said Ni Guoxin, deputy director of the institute.

"Exhibits from my institute have the cutting-edge technologies in this field and represent China's overall capability in electronics," he said. "Only a handful of nations, such as the United States, France and Israel, are able to develop such technologies and make advanced radars. It's fair to say we are a leader in this field."

Wang Hongzhe, a senior designer at the institute, said the three radars work on different microwave bands, so if they were all deployed together they would form a massive surveillance network that no stealth aircraft would be able to sneak through.

"They are fourth-generation air surveillance radars - the latest and most advanced of their kind. Compared with the third-generation models, they have stronger capabilities and larger fields of detection and can detect more types of targets, even some low-orbiting satellites," he said.

Moreover, all of these radars are mounted on ground vehicles, which enables them to be deployed in a rapid, flexible manner, Wang said.

During the Zhuhai AirShow China 2016, Chinese defense industry has unveiled new air-defense radar YLC-8B able to detect stealth fighter aircraft. With stealth aircraft like the American F-22 and F-35 poised to dominate modern aerial combat, countermeasures are emerging.
YLC-8B at Zhuhai. Integrate the traditional detection method of mechanical scanning with advanced phased array technology, so is capable of detecting aerial targets including stealth aircraft

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The five largest stealth aircraft projects in the world over the next ten years


The United States was naive to believe that the emergence of joint attack fighter planes would reduce opportunities for other fighters, but the fact is that more and more competitors,
F-35 become dominant global demand for military aircraft farther and farther.

But in recent years, countries around the world have renewed interest in fighter aircraft substitutes, many of which may not be able to invest in the five generation of American warplanes.

According to AvascentAnalytics data, the total number of ongoing or potential competition fighter models, bombers and attack aircraft, a total of 54.
There are 21 competitors with only a certain strength, including 7 in Asia, 4 in the Americas, 8 in Europe, 2 in the Middle East and North africa.
Overall, the total value of the aircraft development projects in these areas between 2011 and 2027 was $106 billion 700 million.



Still mysterious American air force future bomber
Details of the American air force long-range strike bomber (known as the B 21 bomber) are few and far between, but there is no doubt that the next ten years will have huge amounts of money to invest in the program.

In October 2015, the air force awarded Northrop Grumman B-21 contract design. Most of the details of the plan are confidential, rarely disclosed details, but should progress more smoothly, Northrop recently quietly reached a milepost, end of the preliminary design review.

Japan outlook for future technology
More interesting work has taken place in Japan, where they are struggling to cope with China's fifth generation fighter aircraft and other advanced platforms in the region.



"Earlier, F-2's programs were expensive, and they didn't get very good airplanes, but they did help technology innovation in the business sector," says Avascent, a market analyst at AaronLin.

"The government has recognized the commercial value of the project and is now hoping that ATD-X (once X-2 is handed over to the government as MHI) serves as the fifth generation of technology platforms". The 2018 milestone is to determine whether Japan will acquire its fifth generation fighter through full domestic development, joint development with foreign partners or foreign "off the shelf" platforms.

Of course, Japan's sixth generation fighter is another independent project, and is still in the conceptual stage. The sixth generation plan will draw some lessons from the fifth generation program, but, like other countries, Japan is still trying to figure out what defines the details of a sixth generation fighter.
In accordance with Japan's defense ministry 2010 project document, the concept of the sixth generation aircraft requires all the technology until about 2030-2050 years.


The five largest projects in the field are listed below :
US Air force long-range strike bomber


Northrop Grumman won the October 2015 B-21 development contract.
The company beat Boeing, Lockheed martin.
Planned investment (2011 through 2027): $45 billion 300 million
Number of deliveries (2011 through 2027): 6

Japan Air Force future multi purpose fighter aircraft


By 2030s, up to 100 new aircraft will be launched into the Japanese air force self defense force, and the Japanese defense ministry is expected to sign the contract in the summer of 2018.
Planned investment (2011 through 2027): $17 billion 900 million
Planned inputs (2011 through 2027): 42

South Korean Air Force KF-X fighter


The plan aims to start replacing 2020 of the existing fleet, but delays have occurred. Indonesia is a partner in the program, which will share results and cost 20%.
Planned investment (2011 through 2027): $8 billion 400 million
Number of deliveries (2011 through 2027): 20

India air force future multi purpose fighter aircraft


India plans to replace about 100 medium range air superiority fighters MIG-21 and MIG-25, which have long served as aviation units, and have made some achievements intermittently, but they are still working hard.
Planned investment (2011 through 2027): $7 billion 500 million
Number of deliveries (2011 through 2027): 60

Vietnam Air Force combat aircraft


In the past, Vietnam purchased a large number of Russian made aircraft, and in the early 20s of this century, Russia may consider procurement of the fifth generation of PAK-FA fighters, or procurement Su -35S to improve air combat capability.
Planned investment (2011 through 2027): $6 billion 400 million
Number of deliveries (2011 through 2027): 33




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