V-22 Osprey Aircraft - Great Aviation disaster?
The V22 Osprey's role is as a Heavy Airmobile Asault Aircraft, as such it will in time replace the aging fleet of Army CH47 Chinooks and the Marine CH53 Sea Stallions. It is completely and utterly impractical the assault troops being carried in any of these aircraft to wear parachutes. Additionally, no American helicopter or Tilt Rotor Aircraft has ever been fitted with ejector seats. It has been discussed over the years, however no such modification has been made. The Russian made Ka-50 and Ka-52 are the only helicopters known to have such an air crew survival system. As far as I know the USMC has two operational squadrons deployed as of 17 September 2007. The Air Force, Army, Marines and Navy are all slated to have V22 at some point in the future...
Did Airbus copy from Russian designs?
No or perhaps maybe. It must be added though that aerospace design is fad driven and everyone copies from everyone else if something new has enough merit to be worth the risk of copying. Patent infringement has always been a big issue in aerospace systems. Airbus are world pioneers in fly by wire hardware and software. You may be aware of the Mach Two plus Mig-25 and Mig-31 which are 1960s technology still able to hold their own on the frontline with retro stealth refits and as far as I know still the fastest fighters in the world. Western mythology had it that the ill fated Concordski SST was a copy of the Concord which turned out to be a case of merely a similarly shaped solution to an identical problem . Likewise the Western media claimed the IL-62 was a copy of the VC-10 . The IL-62 was a completely different Russian design of an intercontinental airliner with merely a similar appearance. The Russian aerospace manufacturers have the wherewithal to be world leaders however for reasons best known to themselves the spares and support have lost out big time to Boeing and Airbus and other Western companies. Another major issue with Russian commercial products is fuel efficiency a crucial design parameter which make their products uncompetitive with the Western competition. Industrial Espionage in aerospace is massive. Everyone does it and dutifully denies doing so.
Does Russia now have military technology superior to the United States?
New Russian armored platforms look very good. The question will be can they be produced reliably. New PAK FA fighter is not ready for prime time yet but will be excellent if they can afford it it. SAMS are clea ly of superior quality and US is behind the curve due to air dominance for thirty years.
How agile are US military aircraft compared to Russia’s military Aircraft?
There is no short answer to it. While I am neither a pilot nor an aerodynamic specialist, I know (due to my passion for avionics) a fair share of insights - others could for sure fill the blanks…Agility isn’t agility. It is not like a power stat, which is absolute. In aviation even V-max (maximum speed) is variable, because there are a lot of variables to regard (payload weight, payload aerodynamics, altitude, etc). You have got e.g. angle of attack, you have got maximum g’s an aircraft can take, you have got minimum sub-sonic turn rate, minimum supersonic turn rate and so on.If you compare aircraft versus aircraft, one can have a superior angle of attack, while the other have got a much tighter subsonic turn-rate (this example is taken from F-18 vs. F-16). Which one you could call more agile? There is no real answer.There is more: Thrust Vectoring is a rather new technology (deployed the first time in the F-22 Raptor - but the US made a lot of research in the 1980’s) - which nowadays a lot of Russian jets are using - but the US went again away from it. TV can manipulate the vector (direction) of the jet exhaust, and hence can ensure incredible flight maneuvers. However it adds a lot of complexity (more maintenance and prone to error) and weight (especially the Russian systems are far more complex as the F-22 TV system). However while it makes maneuvers possible, which has been before impossible for a fixed aircraft before, it also isn’t at all as effective as the original hopes suggested: an aircraft which uses TV might turn into another aircraft and brings it into a very preferable position for a shoot down - however the airplane will loose as much momentum (bleeding energy), which makes it a prime target for all other combatants.Also: systems like DAS (advanced helmet cueing systems) and sensor fusion, make extreme agility totally obsolete (originally you needed to turn into the enemy, to lock and shoot missiles or cannons - now you don’t need to do this anymore - and even further, the last real dog fight happened more than 40 years ago).In airshows, the Russian jets are just fantastic to look at - much more exciting as any American aircraft. But fighter jets are war machines…So keeping TV out of the equation Russian jets are not more agile than American jets. They might be in one discipline, while the American jet is in another. This having said, the F-16 seems to be one of the most agile jets of the world (and I am not even a fan of the Viper!).
What are some important events of the year 1956?
January January 1 - End of Anglo-Egyptian Condominium in Sudan. January 16 - President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine. January 26 - 1956 Winter Olympic Games open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. January 26 - The United Kingdom bans heroin. Confirmation needed January 25-January 26 - Finnish troops reoccupy Porkkala after Soviet troops vacate its military base. Civilians can return February 4. [edit] February February 22 - Elvis Presley enters the United States music charts for the first time, with "Heartbreak Hotel." February 23 - Nikita Khrushchev attacks the veneration of Joseph Stalin as a "cult of personality." [edit] March March 1 - the International Air Transport Association finalizes a draft of the Radiotelephony spelling alphabet for the International Civil Aviation Organization. March 2 - Morocco declares its independence from France. March 9 - British deport Archbishop Makarios from Cyprus to Seychelles. March 13 - Elvis Presley releases his first Gold Album titled Elvis Presley. March 15 - The Broadway musical My Fair Lady opens in New York City. March 19 - At age 48, Dutch boxer Bep van Klaveren contests his last match in Rotterdam. March 20 - Tunisia gains independence from France. March 23 - Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic. [edit] April April 7 - Spain relinquishes its protectorate in Morocco. April 9 - Habib Bourgiba is elected prime minister of Tunisia. Confirmation needed April 14 - Videotape is first demonstrated at the 1956 NARTB (now NAB) convention in Chicago, Illinois by Ampex. It was the demonstation of the first practical and commercially successful videotape format known as 2" Quadruplex. April 17 - Queen Elizabeth II inaugurated Chew Valley Lake. April 19 - British diver Lionel Crabb dives into the Portsmouth harbor to investigate visiting Soviet cruiser and vanishes. April 19 - Actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco. [edit] May
Chuck Yeager was a great pilot, but lack of formal education was his downfall?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071011/sc_afp/usspaceaviationhistory_071011080106 Little known to Chuck at the time, he was selected for this flight because of all the potential pilots. he was the one deemed "expendable" by the Govt. He also had a very bad attitude about engineers(which he was not, and thus not selected to be an astronaut), and had a cowboy mentality not unlike someone living in the Whitehouse. And that stuff he mentions about opening up Space? The Germans were doing that stuff a LONG time before he came into the picture... He was a member of the Rogers Commission investigating the cause of Space Shuttle Challenger...he showed up for the press conference, and 6 months later signed off on stuff of which he did no work or knowledge of.