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The Trump Effect

lolliblog:

Donald Trump currently leads the GOP presidential pack by a lot. It was mind-boggling to me that a man who sounds like a xenophobic Krusty the clown with dementia should hold this position. Then I heard a political strategist who said something that made me understand why this makes perfect sense.
He said that many Americans- Republicans in particular- have become increasingly disgruntled. Generally speaking, they don’t like the way things are going, but lack the capacity and/or inclination to ponder the reasons and frame logical solutions, so they lash out. Anyone who has ever seen a toddler throw a temper tantrum knows that frustration spawns irrational, incoherent rage, and Trump is the perfect spokesperson for that.
My son Micah tells me not to worry about Trump’s popularity, but I do. I can’t help it. It freaks me out to see ignorance triumphantly riding a groundswell of so much anger. No nation in the history of the world has ever elevated itself from a platform of willful ignorance, mistrust, and spluttering vilification.
I know he’s a long shot, but the fact that he’s a shot at all makes me uneasy. We are doomed, unless cooler, uncombed-over heads prevail.

It’s okay Laura… Trump is going nowhere. Republicans know to hope to win the election they must win Florida. There is only one candidate who can do that: Jeb. Until next November (I mean 2016 November!) relax, it’s all theater not substance.

any comments on Cecil the Lion?

The shooting? A collared, park lion - even if ordered destroyed (after all parks are open-air zoos) should NOT be shot this way. Fund raising, desperately short of operating funds, makes for some poor decisions.

Do Mary and Heep make an appearance, or even better, get married, in The Berlin Package??

Haha - well, they are married but only Heep gets involved.

Controversy Flares Over F-35 Air Combat ReportCourtesy of:...

Controversy Flares Over F-35 Air Combat Report
Courtesy of: Aviation Week & Space Technology
Bill Sweetman
Thu, 2015-07-02 04:00
A Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) was outperformed in the type’s first basic fighter maneuvering exercise by a 20-plus-year-old F-16 fighter, according to a leaked Lockheed Martin report prepared by the pilot who flew the mission.
Inferior energy maneuverability (EM), a limited pitch rate and flying qualities that were “not intuitive or favorable” in a major part of the air-combat regime gave the F-16 the tactical advantage and allowed its pilot to get into both missile-launch and gun parameters over the F-35. Another drawback was that the large helmet and F-35 canopy design restricted the pilot’s rearward view.
Lockheed Martin and the JSF Program Office confirm that the document, originally leaked by the War is Boring website, is genuine but says “the interpretation of the scenario results could be misleading.” Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, director of the U.S. Air Force F-35 integration office, says that it is “too soon” to judge the F-35’s maneuverability.
JSF risk reduction and development have been under way since late 1996 and more than $80 billion has been spent.
The test mission in the report was carried out on Jan. 14. It could have been one of those flown from Edwards AFB in California by Lockheed Martin site lead test pilot David “Doc” Nelson and reported by AW&ST in April. At that time, however, the question of which aircraft had the advantage in the engagement was not discussed. The author’s name has been removed from the copy of the report obtained by Aviation Week.
Related Reading
Report: F-35A High Angle of Attack Operational Maneuvers
F-35 Flies Against F-16 In Basic Fighter Maneuvers
The key performance parameters set for the JSF do not call for the aircraft to be superior to the F-16 and F/A-18C/D in air-to-air combat, but they demand comparable performance in terms of sustained and instantaneous g and acceleration. However, Lockheed Martin executives and pilots have stated that when including sensor fusion, stealth and other attributes, the F-35 will be superior in air combat, by margins of 400-600%, to so-called “fourth-generation” fighters (a term coined by Lockheed Martin to denote both older U.S. fighters and current non-U.S designs).
The F-16 that outmaneuvered the F-35 in the January test was an F-16D Block 40, one of the lower-performing versions of the family, delivered between 1987 and 1994. The Block 40 was beefed up to carry more weapons than the preceding Block 30 and incorporated Have Glass radar-cross-section reduction measures, boosting its empty weight, but lacked the higher-performance engines introduced on the Block 50. The F-16 retained its two 370-gal. external fuel tanks during the engagement and was limited to 7g until they were empty.
Lockheed Martin notes that AF-2 is an early development aircraft without stealth coatings, although those are not relevant in within-visual-range (WVR) combat and their absence would make the airplane lighter. It was also not equipped with simulated air training missiles, but neither was the F-16. Lockheed Martin says AF-2 lacked “software that allows the F-35 pilot to turn, aim a weapon with the helmet, and fire at an enemy without having to point the airplane at its target,” but this capability is available in clear daylight on any modern fighter, and was not used by the F-16 in the test. Also, the F-35 cannot exploit this capability in stealth configuration because there is no suitable high-off-boresight air-to-air missile planned for internal carriage on the aircraft.
The report identifies changes to F-35 flight control software that could mitigate some of the problems found in the test. However, none of them can correct the deficit in energy maneuverability, which is defined at any given airspeed by the aircraft’s available thrust, drag and weight and indicates its ability to accelerate, climb or change maneuver state.
The F-35 has higher angle-of-attack (AoA) limits than the F-16, which should normally be an advantage, but a combination of factors, including a limited pitch rate and the inferior EM, made it less useful. It took too long to reach high AoA, and the lack of energy maneuverability meant the F-35 could not quickly re-accelerate into high-speed maneuver states.
The sortie included 17 engagements starting between 18,000 and 22,000 ft. with a 10,000-ft. floor, with starting speeds between 380 and 440 kt. indicated airspeed, the report says. The test was primarily designed to “stress the high AoA control laws during operationally responsive maneuvers utilizing elevated AoAs and aggressive stick/pedal inputs,” the report says. The pilot judged the test as being “extremely effective at providing data that are not achievable with scripted test cards,” it adds.
The first observation in the report is that “the most noticeable characteristic of the F-35A in a visual engagement was its lack of energy maneuverability,” and the pilot notes that the F-35A has a smaller wing than the F-15E, similar weight and 15,000 lb. less thrust.
The “insufficient pitch rate exacerbated the lack of EM” the pilot reported, because energy would bleed off continuously as the pilot tried to get the nose up. The F-35 would have had more shot opportunities in some cases if the pitch rate limit (imposed by control laws rather than aerodynamics) had been more relaxed, the report says. Offensive and defensive gun moves were slow and easily detected and countered, the report says, and the highest g loading was around 6.5g in breaks or on entering a turn, decreasing as the aircraft slowed down. The F-35 airframe is designed for 9g.
High AoA flight allowed “a few offensive opportunities” against the F-16 (which is AoA-limited and roll- and yaw-limited towards its maximum angle of attack). For instance, a long full-rudder input could yaw the F-35 sharply enough to cause the F-16 to cross its nose and get a missile shot, the report says. But this maneuver “required a commitment to lose energy” with the F-35 headed for the floor, and “meant losing the fight unless the bandit made an error.”
The F-35 has a sophisticated flight control system (FCS) that changes the response of the control surfaces to stick and rudder commands as the airplane moves through its flight envelope, with low- and high-AoA regions and a “blended” region between them, at 20-26 deg. This was the area where the aircraft “fought best,” the pilot reported. But it was not easy, because flying qualities “were neither intuitive nor favorable” and “the lateral/directional response was often unpredictable.”
The problem, in the pilot’s view, is the way that the FCS adjusts response according to AoA. In flight test, the pilot aims at a specific AoA and expects a certain response, but in a dynamic flight “attention is focused on the bandit rather than the specific AoA [and] the response was often confusing,” the report says. The pilot was left waiting for a roll rate that did not happen, or expected yaw and got sideslip.
In one case the pilot applied full rudder to no immediate effect, then tried a stick input – just as the rudder kicked in. The pilot added more rudder and got a “fantastic yaw rate” that was promptly quashed (“immediate, abrupt and forceful”) by the anti-spin logic in the FCS.
Both the anti-spin logic and the slow pitch rate meant that the F-35 could not escape a gun attack by the F-16. “No successful guns defense was found,” the report says. For instance, a standard escape maneuver – unload, roll and pull to change the plane of the aircraft’s movement – was bogged down by pitch rate, so “the result was an out-of-plane maneuver that was easy to track.”
The size of the helmet-mounted display system presented a problem. “There were several occasions where the bandit would have been visible, but the helmet prevented getting in a position to see him,” the report says. The “eyebrow” formed by the visor assembly also blocked the tally at times.
Some mitigating measures are advocated in the report, such as relaxing restrictions on AoA onset and pitch rate. Both would let the pilot move more quickly into and out of the higher-AoA regime, where the F-35 has a controllability advantage over the F-16. The pilot also advises expanding the “blended” control regime, avoiding shifts in control laws in a key part of the combat envelope and giving the pilot more yaw authority versus the anti-spin logic.
In the pilot’s view, the F-35’s departure resistance is good enough to allow more latitude. Other aircraft, including the F/A-18 Super Hornet, have benefited from flight control software changes over time, which have allowed pilots to better exploit the aircraft’s strong points and mitigated early problems.
However, the basic energy maneuverability deficiency is more difficult to address, and most contemporary fighters are much less restricted at high AoA than the F-16. (“Drag him into the phone booth” has long been the adversary’s best way to fight the F-16.) “The F-35 goes out against something like a Sukhoi or a Typhoon and they’re going to eat his lunch,” remarks an experienced military pilot. “They have the advantage in turn rate, [specific excess power] and energy bleed rate.”
Pilots who talked to Aviation Week about the leaked report – some but not all of whom work or have worked for other fighter manufacturers – were surprised by the magnitude of the shortfall in energy maneuverability but not by its existence. The limitations of the Block 40 F-16 and the fact that it retained its tanks “should have been a plus for the F-35,” says one, and the engagement altitude – “above mid-range” in terms of within visual range combat – should have favored the F-35 because of its modern, powerful engine.
“People all need to look at what F-35 really is,” another aviator comments. “A stealth A-7 bomb truck, capable of first-night suppression of enemy air defenses, with limited self-escort. It is, as software-configured right now, not a light air-combat-maneuvering-capable platform. This is what we saw with the early F/A-18E/F blocks: millions of lines of code, and in need of constant update. But, in this case, it’s becoming increasingly easier to rewrite the code laws to allow for those changes.”
“Anyone can see that it is not a very agile aircraft,” a third pilot comments, pointing out that changing flight test laws may be more of a problem if – as some operators expect – pilot flying hours are reduced and training is transferred to lower-cost aircraft and simulators.
Part of Lockheed Martin’s response to the release of the report is to downplay the importance of maneuvering combat. “The F-35’s technology is designed to engage, shoot, and kill its enemy from long distances, not necessarily in visual ‘dogfighting’ situations,” the company says. But as one of Aviation Week’s sources says, reliance on deciding the fight beyond visual range may not always be possible in the early stages of a conflict (power projection, show-of-force) or where rules of engagement limit BVR shots. “My belief is that the tactics against the F-35 will be something which we are not used to saying: If you see one — get close.”
________________________________________
Source URL: http://aviationweek.com/defense/controversy-flares-over-f-35-air-combat-report

I just found out that you and your wife have been together since you were 13. that is adorable! Like something straight out of a Disney movie :)

Yup.

did your father speak Italian? Do you speak German and French like your mother?

French, yes, forbidden to learn German when a child, so limited to some conversational. Dad spoke several languages, Italian among them.

Corporate ConspiraciesThere...

                                     Corporate Conspiracies
There is Constitutional law regulating fair inter-state (ie national) trade in the USA. Sadly, there is no international law regulating fair trade. Individual countries enter into joint pacts to behave fairly and then immediately seek to bend the rules knowing there is no effective world court to upbraid them into behaving fairly. This is particularly true with companies doing trade internationally.

OPEC is a perfect example. There sit representatives from oil producing countries regulating the price of, supply of, and political leverage of oil. Other prime examples are the airlines, giant food companies, car industry, steel manufacturers, etc. Want proof? None of these companies meet on US soil in annual conferences. Why? Because, if they did, either the Sherman Antitrust Act or even the Rico criminal statute could be levied against them.

I remember meeting with Jeff Krindler, VP at PanAm, in 1987 when he explained, openly, he had just come back from Bermuda where the IATA airlines had their annual price-fixing meeting, sorting out routes, and dividing up the airplane slots at Kennedy and other airports. What, you honestly thought the airline industry was open, fair, and competitive? Believe their statement that they reach pricing in open and fair competition if you like, but then you would be helping them build their effective monopoly – a monopoly I would remind readers comes on the back of huge military spending (your tax dollar) to develop the technology, planes and airspace. What technology you ask? Well, how about the Internet and connectivity (as seen this last week as United experienced a computer glitch). That’s US taxpayers’ infrastructure their business is built on, all the while they collude in secret, gobble up smaller airlines, all to allow them to control the effective monopoly of air travel.

There once was an American president and his successor, Teddy Roosevelt and Wm. H. Taft, who believed that the disparity of wealth in America was dangerous and bred revolution. Teddy put the blame on that disparity of wealth on the colluding by corporations to price-fix and manipulate the so-called free enterprise system. Roosevelt and then Taft invoked the Sherman Antitrust Act over and over, breaking up these cabals of crooked wealthiest Americans.

They didn’t raise taxes to soak the rich, they didn’t destroy industries to allow smaller industries to fill the gap. What they did was stop the price-fixing, stop the wage fixing, what they did was bring the Sherman Antitrust Act into play, allowing the Supreme Court to approve the definition under Constitutional law, and break up first the oil giant Standard Oil and then went after American Tobacco and, in a legacy of their action almost a century later, Bell Telephone and Microsoft.

Whoever the next president is, he or she will face one great challenge that people like Elizabeth Warren and even some Republicans are openly talking about: the disparity between the wealthy and the majority of poorer Americans. What the next president will have to contend with is the power of money over the laws of the land. The Sherman Antitrust Act is the perfect weapon to make free enterprise open and fair once again. The cabal of Wall Street cannot be beaten by raising taxes because they are better, smarter, than the Feds at hiding real wealth (note Apple has, for example, $158 billion in overseas banks, in cash) and maintaining the leverage that money affords. However, if you remove their ability to collude, to manipulate control on the exchanges, and to price fix in overseas secret meetings, then they can be brought back into compliance with the American ethic of fair play.

This is not about who has the money, you or them, this is about, as Teddy Roosevelt said, “The great corporations… are the creatures of the State, and the State not only has the right to control them, but it is duty bound to control them wherever the need of such control is shown.” I’d say most airlines flying from NY to LA with prices that are within 2% of each other is pretty clear evidence.

Mid-Summer Interesting Developments

With the news focused on terrorism, financial woes, employment, unemployment, the military, and so on, much of the most interesting news seems to go unheralded. Just for the fun of it, here in mid-summer, here are a few interesting developments you may not have heard about.
Those teeny tiny particles called genes are making the rounds in all branches of medicine. Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that affects the lungs, pancreas, liver, kidneys and guts. I won’t go into the mucky stuff that is caused by the disease, but it can be fatal and is most certainly life-debilitating. Now, for the first time, 130 patients in a trial have been treated with gene therapy. Gene therapy is basically taking blood out from the body, turning the correct little gene switches back on, and putting the patient’s blood back in. The “on” genes go to work repairing damage caused by their previous slack job at tackling the disease. Of the 130 patients, all showed improvement or stabilizing of the illness. This has been done with cancers as well, sometimes working too well, dissolving tumors so fast the body’s clean-up crew of liver and kidneys cannot cope causing other toxic issues. But all in all, the body’s ability to repair itself seems to be the great new medical adventure – perhaps making all those “fake” faith healing techniques more interesting. If you can turn on disease-fighting genes from outside the body, why can’t the body effect a miracle cure by using the mind to order them to turn on?
Speaking of small, at Texas A&M they have glued microchips with video cameras to the backs of cockroaches and connected electrodes, turning them into mini-robots. What for? Well, imagine there was a part of a nuclear reactor you wanted to inspect but the radiation as to high for a human. Send in the cockroaches! I am not clowning around. The uses, for tight spaces, pipe inspection, dangerous environments when a cockroach might seem dispensable – not a bad use of technology. Of course, Entomology Professor Vinson saying the cockroaches are not hurt and that he was not aware of them experiencing any pain seems a little disingenuous.
For bigger stuff, I’ll skip over self-driving cars, robots, pilotless planes and the like. All those are extensions of technology that is decades old and in development. What’s really, incredibly, new are shape-shifting wings. NASA and the AF have been flying a modified Gulfstream jet with a portion of the wing – the trailing edge – being made of flexible design. Why? So instead of a break in the wing on take-off and landing, the “flaps” command simply bends part of the wing down, keeping the wing smooth and without those gaps you see looking out the window when the plane is landing. Okay, what they are after is a 12% saving in fuel during takeoff and landing (the two times the plane uses almost half of the fuel on board). All that’s cool enough, but it doesn’t end there.
In wind tunnel testing at DARPA and the AF are prototypes of a new sleek plane that allows the whole wing to conform to the speed required. At slow speed the wing has a thicker cross-section, allowing for more lift. When the speed increases, the wing elongates and has a much thinner cross-section. Result? Safer handling at slow speeds, 50% efficiency at higher speeds. Of course, DARPA and the AF are testing for fighters, but their partner Boeing are already working on plane designs that can carry passengers, giant shape-shifting delta wing planes, with a cabin 20 seats across.
Oh, and one more big deal: next week New Horizons, the spacecraft launched years ago, will flyby Pluto and its 5 moons on July 14. The path of the craft will be behind the large moon, Charon that goes around Pluto in under a week, clearing a path of any debris, so New Horizons should be safe in its shadow. Oh, and how cool is this flight? Imagine flying 3 billion miles and hitting a target path 60 miles in radius and within 100 seconds of arrival planning. Oh, and try doing that with messages to the craft taking 268 minutes (4 hours and 28 minutes). Talking about a huge task controlling a craft doing 30,000 miles per hour.