Search Results for: "Auto+Hit"
Military vehicles on display at the Detroit auto show?
Relevance Score: 3.499 2010-01-11 21:30:00
The North American International Auto Show sports all kind of vehicles -- from the road-hoggiest SUVs to the teeny-tiny-tinniest subcompacts. But you wouldn't expect military vehicles to turn up in the displays. This is the military vehicle that will be displayed at the North American International CAPTIONBy U.S. ArmyBut tomorrow, for the media preview, there will be a big green heavy-duty Army unit that you wouldn't think would live up to its name: the Clandestine Extended Range Vehicle (CERV). If that baby rolls into your neighborhood, as pictured at right, it's hard to imagine anything clandestine about it. The vehicle comes from the Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) in Warren. Mich. It is meant to showcase Michigan's growing defense industry, which will receive more than $14 billion in federal funds next year. Besides the CERV, the center also wants to bring attention to that spider-like sand-colored vehicle, the Autonomous Platform Demonstrator (APD). Looking at them you wouldn't guess, but the Army has a huge interest in hybrids and other fuel-saving technologies that it hopes to bring to the fighting force.
Scientists Refine Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Vehicle Power Plants
Relevance Score: 2.225 2009-07-27 20:33:31
Hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs) can be an important part of the solution to America's energy crisis, says Dr. Andrew Goudy of Delaware State University. He is leading a research team striving to solve a key technical FCV puzzle. The Chairperson of Delaware State's Chemistry Department explains that hydrogen FCVs are powered by electric motors that derive energy from on-board fuel cells. The fuel cells convert pure hydrogen and oxygen into electricity. The research at Delaware State University is pursuing lightweight materials to store hydrogen and release it, under control, as it is expended. Dr. Goudy defines several challenges: 1. A car must be able to store enough hydrogen to travel 300 miles, the approximate equivalent of a tank of gasoline. 2. The car must be able to refuel with hydrogen quickly. Some hydrogen storage materials may take up to 30 minutes to recharge, and few drivers are going to stand at the pump of a fuel station for a half-hour. 3. The hydrogen storage unit must be sufficiently compact and lightweight to be practical. One promising hydrogen-storage material is the complex hydride LiBH4. Its enthalpy, or thermodynamic properties, however, means that it requires high temperatures to release hydrogen. Dr. Goudy is seeking ways to destabilize this material so that it will release hydrogen at a practical temperature. "Although just one of many scientific and engineering challenges, this one lies at the heart of the process," says Dr. Goudy. "If you cannot store, release, and restore hydrogen with an ease and efficiency comparable to gasoline, you cannot have a practical hydrogen fuel cell vehicle." Progress On Hydrogen FCVS By Global Auto Makers Scientific and engineering progress has enabled Toyota to make the 350-mile drive from Osaka to Tokyo, expending only 70 percent of the fuel supply of an FCV, reports MSNBC. "Toyota Motors...is planning on releasing a fuel-cell car by 2015 in its attempt to retain its lead in the global race for green cars," says Masatami Takimoto, a vice president with the company. Honda's FCX Clarity was chosen by 59 world jurors as 2009 World Green Car. Its only emission is water, and its fuel efficiency is three times that of a conventional auto and double that of a gasoline-powered hybrid, the car maker says. Volkswagen also is committed to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times, and General Motors could be selling hydrogen FCVs in the thousands by 2012, according to a blog of Motor Trend magazine. In the midst of these plans and predictions, Dr. Goudy and his team in the Delaware State University labs, and scientists and engineers like them worldwide, work out all the kinks.
USAF slammed for pranging Predators on manual
Relevance Score: 2.118 2009-07-14 22:22:58
A senior Pentagon official has delivered a stinging attack on the US Air Force, saying that its philosophy of using fully qualified human pilots to handle unmanned aircraft at all times has resulted in unnecessary, expensive crashes. By contrast, US Army drones with auto-landing equipment and cheaply-trained operators have an enviable record. The comments were made by John Young, outgoing acquisition chief at the Defense Department. Young's remarks are reported differently by various media, and were followed up with corrections by his staff, so it's hard to be sure how many of what classes of aircraft he said had crashed or not crashed. What's clear is that in Young's view the Air Force deliberately insisted on not having auto-landing in their well-known Predator drones, and that this has been unnecessarily costly. "The Air Force built a budget that didn’t include putting auto-land capability in their Predators, despite the fact that we’ve lost a third of the Predators we’ve ever bought, and a significant fraction of the losses are attributable either to the ground control station or the pilot’s operation of that ground control station, or the pilot’s operation of the vehicle," he said, according to Stars and Stripes. It's well known that Air Force Predators and Reapers must be handled at all times in flight by a fully-qualified human pilot, a commissioned officer and gentleman/woman who has learned his or her trade in normal manned aircraft. During landing and takeoff, this pilot officer will be in a control station at the runway, so as to reduce latency: but for most of a mission the aircraft is handled over satcomms from bases in the USA. The US Army has a differing philosophy: it's "Sky Warrior" variant of the Predator is intended to land itself automatically, and the present-day Shadow has such kit already. Army drones are controlled by noncomissioned tech specialists who, while fully trained and qualified for their job, have no airborne stick time in regular aircraft. They are always in theatre with the rest of the troops. A US Army sergeant, qualified to fly both the Warrior and the Shadow and with operational experience in Iraq, recently told the Reg: Officers and Warrant Officers have a college degree as per their job requirements. NCOs and Enlisted Soldiers are not required to have a degree to join the military and tend to be seen as little more than trained monkeys ... The US Air Force considers itself to be the only branch qualified to fly aircraft. They have been trying to take the UAS program away from the Army as a matter of principle ... Previous training in crewed aircraft is irrelevant to UAS training ... I am insulted by much of the 'Oh, you fly an X-box' mentality which I constantly have to battle. Sergeant pilots? "You may not be surprised to hear that the Air Force is resisting this" The Army philosophy is mostly applied on weaponless drones, but this is beginning to change as Warrior begins to reach the field. A US Army Warrior, indeed, recently delivered a deadly airstrike while under the command of a (relatively) low-ranking staff sergeant, rather than the officer or warrant-officer who would have been flying had it been a manned aircraft. The application of massive lethal force by non-officers is routine in the ground forces, of course - sergeants routinely command tanks, direct artillery etc - but it certainly seems to ruffle a few feathers in the air arms. Pilots often seem to feel that unmanned aircraft are a bad idea, but if they are to happen anyway they'll still have an officer pilot who's been to flight school and flown normal planes, by god. It seems that this attitude is being challenged, however. Army drones with auto-land have lost "an insignificant fraction" of their fleets, as opposed to the conventionally remote-piloted jobs, according to Mr Young. "I have mandated in acquisition decision memorandums that the Air Force move as fast as possible to an auto-land capability ... It will not surprise you that the Air Force is resisting this,” he added, according to DoD Buzz. That certainly isn't surprising: the USAF may be hoping that they can quietly bin that order after Mr Young is gone. They're probably wrong, though. President Obama has confirmed Young's boss, Robert Gates, in post as Defense Secretary: and Gates is scarcely the most airforce-friendly SecDef the United States have ever had, despite having briefly been a USAF officer himself (non-aircrew, though) back in the 1960s. Gates famously sacked both the civilian and uniformed heads of the air force last year, following various clashes - including a huge row over foot-dragging by the USAF in building up its unmanned fleet. Gates seems likely to see to it that Young's reforms are pushed through in his absence, and a little bit more of the officer-class flyboys' raison d'etre will be chipped away. ® Bootnote The handful of British Reapers, Blighty's only armed drones, is operated by an RAF squadron drawing personnel from all three services using pilots already qualified on manned aircraft: your correspondent isn't aware of any non-officer ever handling one. One should note, however, that British Army manned helicopter pilots are frequently noncommissioned: some are as low as Corporal in rank on qualifying. This contrasts sharply with the US and the other British services, where almost all manned-aircraft pilots are commissioned and none are below the status of Warrant Officer (there are special direct-entry warrant ranks used by US Army pilots, fitting between sergeant-majors and commissioned officers in status). At least in theory, a British noncommissioned pilot could wind up flying an armed British Reaper - which makes sense as he is already allowed to fly a heavily beweaponed Apache attack chopper. The British Army also has unarmed Hermes 450 surveillance drones leased in on an hourly rate and operated by a mixture of civilian contractors and artillery noncoms. In future an enhanced version, Watchkeeper, will become part of the Royal Artillery. As one might expect, the gunners do not wish to take business away from their big guns and rocket launchers (and do not relish the prospect of a turf grab from the RAF), so Watchkeeper will also be unarmed.
Daimler receives $40M from federal government
Relevance Score: 1.661 2010-01-11 21:21:50
Portland-based Daimler Trucks North America received nearly $40 million from the U.S. Department of Energy on Monday to develop energy efficiency technologies for heavy-duty trucks. Daimler received the largest single slice of the $187 million in federal grants announced Monday, all of which was given to auto industry manufacturers to develop fuel-efficient engines and other technologies for trucks and passenger vehicles by 2015. A news release from the Department of Energy said Daimler’s share will be used to work on engine downsizing, electrification of auxiliary systems like oil and water pumps, waste heat recovery, improved aerodynamics and hybridization. U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu is also expected to address the media along with Gov. Ted Kulongoski during a noon conference call Monday. Among the reasons for keeping the plant open was a $377 million contract from the U.S. Army to make 1,780 military trucks. The grants awarded Monday includes $100 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and covers up to half of the cost of each project, bringing the total public-private investment for the projects to $375 million. A majority of the federal grants, $115 million, went to three manufacturers in the long-haul truck industry. Alongside Daimler were Columbus, Ind.-based engine-maker Cummins Inc. and Fort Wayne, Ind.-based truck- and trailer-maker Navistar Inc. The remaining $71 million went to manufacturers in the passenger vehicle market with a goal of improving the fuel economy of engines by 25 to 40 percent in the next five years. Recipients include Cummins, the Chrysler Group LLC, Delphi Automotive Systems LLC, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., and The Bosch Group.
In A New Audio Interview at SmallCapVoice.com, Keith Field, Chairman of the Mundus Group, Inc., Provides a Significant Progress Report
Relevance Score: 1.585 2010-01-14 11:46:30
SmallCapVoice.com is a recognized corporate investor relations firm, with clients nationwide, known for its ability to help emerging growth companies build a following among retail and institutional investors. SmallCapVoice.com utilizes its stock newsletter to feature its daily stock picks, audio interviews, as well as its clients' financial news releases. SmallCapVoice.com also offers individual investors all the tools they need to make informed decisions about the stocks they are interested in. Tools like stock charts, stock alerts, and investor fact sheets can assist with investing in stocks that are traded on the OTC BB and Pink Sheets. To learn more about SmallCapVoice.com and their services. The Mundus Group, Inc. (MNDP) is an advanced aerospace technology consortium providing patented Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) technology for experimental aircraft and Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV) since 1990 through its fully owned VTOL division, Roadable Aircraft International (RAI). From US Navy co-developed UAVs for aerial observation and environmental testing to advanced VTOL aerospace technology for civilian and military uses, Mundus Group, Inc. is developing revolutionary products with global potential for change that offers economic protection and growth opportunities for investors. Mundus is at the cutting edge of jet turbine-ducted fan technology and fuses state of the art design, engineering and a prototyping facility with computer assisted auto flight technologies, Remote Controlled (RC) and composite technologies industry segments.
Technology Keeps Deployed Military, Families Connected.
Relevance Score: 1.544 2009-11-23 16:44:03
The age of Internet and satellite communications has made it easier for military families to stay in touch with their loved ones overseas. But it hasn't made the worry and waiting any easier. So both the military and the private sector have tried to ease the burdens a bit. The local Cheyenne Family YMCA, for example, will take the kids off a deployed service member's spouse, just to give her or him a little break. "I can tailor it to the needs," informed Tiernan McIlwaine, director of the Cheyenne YMCA's Learning Center. The families fit right in. "Military families are integrated into the programs we already have," informed Phil McGovern, chief executive officer of the Cheyenne Family YMCA. The Air Force has declared 2010 as the "Year of the Air Force Family." Bob Frohnapfel of F.E. Warren Air Force Base Airman and Family Readiness Center said the military has always offered family assistance. The declaration of the year of the family puts new emphasis and the ramping up of a variety of programs and services. Debbie Russell, supervises the Family Assistance Centers for the Wyoming National Guard, said that any kind of service you can think of is available, even if a spouse needs the oil changed in the family auto. The Wyoming National Guard has created six regional Family Assistance Centers or FACs around Wyoming to assist with problems that may arise while service members are mobilized. The centers support all branches of the military, along with civilian contractors, retirees and others as designated by the Department of Defense and the Wyoming National Guard, Russell added. The centers provide information, referrals and assistance. They can help with identification cards and Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERs), TRICARE, the military's medical program, dental issues, legal problems, financial issues, referral of Employer Support to Guard and Reserve (ESGR) issues and just about any other type of problem that might arise. All of these services are a phone call or a couple of mouse clicks away. Where to go for assistance.
Ready for action: Prescott SWAT refurbishes armored military vehicle
Relevance Score: 1.359 2009-07-18 13:31:20
The Prescott Police Department has joined the trend to acquire surplus armored military vehicles for its Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Unit. The good news for the community is that the department didn't have to pay for it; the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department donated the vehicle to Prescott in 2008. All that the department's SWAT team members and hostage negotiators had to do was fix it up. Two local businesses - Costo and Downtown Auto Body and Paint - helped with some of that, department spokesman Lt. Andy Reinhardt said. The department officially unveiled the fully refurbished 1981 vehicle, known in the military as a "Peacekeeper," this past week, although it already has appeared at public events. The SWAT Unit will use the Peacekeeper during high-risk operations, Reinhardt said. Those operations include serving high-risk arrest warrants, dealing with barricaded suspects, hostage rescues, counter-terrorism, dignitary protection and engaging heavily armed criminals, he added. The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office and Prescott Valley police already have their own armored military vehicles, Reinhardt said. Prescott Police Chief Randy Oaks, who lived and worked in the Las Vegas area before coming here, learned that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department had surplused the vehicle. Oaks asked the sheriff there to transfer it to Prescott. The Las Vegas police originally received the vehicle from the U.S. Navy. The Peacekeeper has a Cadillac chassis and a Chrysler engine. "It's not the kind of thing we expect to need often, but when the time comes, it will be ready to save lives," Oaks said. "The price was right, too. We had this on our list of capital projects, but didn't expect to see the funding any time soon. The vehicle was acquired free of charge; we just had to go to Las Vegas to pick it up, then make repairs." Reinhardt said he was unsure how much the Peacekeeper is worth, but an online website for a company selling refurbished Peacekeepers listed them in the $60,000 to $70,000 range. As far as gas mileage and maintenance costs go, "We haven't had it long enough to determine that," Reinhardt said. Asked how often the department anticipates using the Peacekeeper, Reinhardt said it would go out every time the SWAT team goes out. In 2008, the SWAT Unit went out four times, he added, and so far this year it has deployed three times. Although the Peacekeeper might not be needed every time the SWAT Unit deploys, it's better to have it on hand, Reinhardt said. "You wouldn't want to get there and find out that a piece of equipment is needed that you didn't bring with you," he said. The Prescott SWAT Unit had been using an oversize van to transport team members in, Reinhardt said, but when the Prescott jail closed, the department had to convert the van into a caged transport to take prisoners to the jail in Camp Verde. The only other van the department had wasn't big enough to hold the entire SWAT Unit.
'WALL-E' robot grunt obeys military hand signals
Relevance Score: 1.325 2009-03-12 15:03:33
Vid American robo-profs have developed control software which will allow the droid ground-troops of tomorrow to be controlled by their fleshy comrades using standard military hand signals. You know in the movies, where the soldiers are creeping about on patrol and they raise a hand to halt the column or get it moving again? Now you can do that with war robots. Boffins at Brown University, who developed the new person-following 'ware, demo the concept in this video: Thus far, the robotrooper tech can recognise such standard hand/arm signals as "follow," "halt," "wait" and - of course - "door breach". It would seem only a matter of time until more advanced concepts like "root out cowering meatsacks" or "terminate the first born male child in every family" can be conveyed. The boffins at Brown see their technology as being generally applicable to all robotics, perhaps one day delivering the long-awaited robot butler and so stealing a march on the rival brain-chipped monkey industry. The military flavour comes from the fact that the research was funded in part by military agencies including the Office of Naval Research and our old friends at DARPA - where they probably already open doors by having small robotic tanks drive through them, just for fun. The robot in the vid is merely a puny PackBot for now, fitted with a CSEM Swiss Ranger depth-imaging camera ("picture the head on the robot in the film Wall-E"). The PackBot comes from famed auto-vacuum company iRobot, which also offers a much arse-kickinger model - the quadbike-sized Warrior X700. The Warrior has been sold to the US Army, and has on occasion been fitted with a "Metal Storm" four-barrelled grenade launcher able to ripple off 16 40mm warheads in a trice. The company which makes the Metal Storm grenade-gasm gun has already tried it out with trendy thermobaric "bunker buster" rounds, able to collapse buildings or cavern roofs. The US military is known to be working on 40mm cartridges able to blow open inches-thick doors locked with deadbolts which "should completely remove the door, or at a minimum break off half of the door".
'WALL-E' robot grunt obeys military hand signals
Relevance Score: 1.325 2009-03-12 15:03:33
Vid American robo-profs have developed control software which will allow the droid ground-troops of tomorrow to be controlled by their fleshy comrades using standard military hand signals. You know in the movies, where the soldiers are creeping about on patrol and they raise a hand to halt the column or get it moving again? Now you can do that with war robots. Boffins at Brown University, who developed the new person-following 'ware, demo the concept in this video: Thus far, the robotrooper tech can recognise such standard hand/arm signals as "follow," "halt," "wait" and - of course - "door breach". It would seem only a matter of time until more advanced concepts like "root out cowering meatsacks" or "terminate the first born male child in every family" can be conveyed. The boffins at Brown see their technology as being generally applicable to all robotics, perhaps one day delivering the long-awaited robot butler and so stealing a march on the rival brain-chipped monkey industry. The military flavour comes from the fact that the research was funded in part by military agencies including the Office of Naval Research and our old friends at DARPA - where they probably already open doors by having small robotic tanks drive through them, just for fun. The robot in the vid is merely a puny PackBot for now, fitted with a CSEM Swiss Ranger depth-imaging camera ("picture the head on the robot in the film Wall-E"). The PackBot comes from famed auto-vacuum company iRobot, which also offers a much arse-kickinger model - the quadbike-sized Warrior X700. The Warrior has been sold to the US Army, and has on occasion been fitted with a "Metal Storm" four-barrelled grenade launcher able to ripple off 16 40mm warheads in a trice. The company which makes the Metal Storm grenade-gasm gun has already tried it out with trendy thermobaric "bunker buster" rounds, able to collapse buildings or cavern roofs. The US military is known to be working on 40mm cartridges able to blow open inches-thick doors locked with deadbolts which "should completely remove the door, or at a minimum break off half of the door".
AFS Design - Eurocopter EC-505 Tiger Shown To The Public.
Relevance Score: 1.134 2009-07-13 21:28:39
AFS-design delivered a excellent rendition of the Eurocopter EC-505 Tiger. In 1984 the German and French governments issued a requirement for an advanced multi-role battlefield helicopter. A joint venture consisting of MBB and Aerospatiale was subsequently chosen as the preferred supplier. Due to high costs, the program was canceled in 1986, but was relaunched during 1987. Subsequently, in November 1989, Eurocopter received a contract to build 5 prototypes. Three were to be unarmed test beds and the other two armed prototypes: one for the German anti-tank variant and the other for the French escort helicopter variant. The first prototype first flew in April 1991. When Aerospatiale and MBB, among others, merged in 1992 to form the Eurocopter Group, the Tiger program was transferred as well. Serial production of the Tiger began in March 2002 and the first flight of the first production Tiger HAP for the French Army took place in March 2003. The delivery of the first of the eighty helicopters ordered by the French took place in September 2003. At the end of 2003 deliveries began of the 80 UHT version combat support helicopters ordered by Germany to the Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement. In December 2001 Eurocopter was awarded the contract for the Australian Army's "Air 87 Requirement", which was for 22 helicopters of the Tiger ARH (Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter) version. The first Tiger ARH was planned to enter service in 2004. Some local assembly and production will also take place. The Eurocopter EC-505 Tiger AFS-design product features the following: • New Model of authentic Eurocopter EC-505 Tiger - EADS support • 17 different visual models covering the Germany Bundeswehr (name: 74+07), France Army, (name: F-ZKDB), Australia Army (name: A 38 - 008) and the Tigerpaint of the tradeshow and airshow ILA - Berlin. • 3 different weapons loads model variations • A mask 1 for repainter - make your own model of Eurocopter EC-505 Tiger • New Sound of real Eurocopter EC-505 Tiger with authentic start engine sound • Tandem seat version: 2 Panels of weopensofficier and pilot • Panel is complete and full in function with AFS-design - XML gauges: gps_500, Bendix-King Radio Xpndr, Altimeter, Vertical Speed, RPM Indicator, Fuel, Oil, Temperature, Pitch Trim, Clock, Flaps, Libelle, Airspeedkn, Fuelpump, Lightnavigation, Lightstrobe, Intercom, starter lock, Compass, Attitude and many other gauges... • High detail textures with realistic effects, reflective areas, specular shine and accurate external lighting. • A complete 3D virtual cockpit featuring animated control surfaces, custom gauges, night lighting, high textures, fully interactive and more... • Detailed and easy to fly flight model with auto-trim • New animations feature in external model and virtuall cockpit are: 2 Cockpits for pilots and weoponsofficier, detailed rotorsystem, detailed landing gear, rolling wheels, steerable nosegear, canopy, pilot ladder, strobe and navigation lights, folding wings, realistic rotor effect on full power, brake parachute AND virtual cockpit and many more...