Translate

Search This Blog

Friday, August 17, 2012

The Pentagon's hypersonic plane failure at 31 seconds of being launched


I was going to be revolutionary a hypersonic aircraft would travel at five times the speed of sound. A group of engineers from the U.S. Air Force had joined the prototype in a hangar at Edwards Military Base in the Mojave Desert in California. They were going to launch over the Pacific Ocean, which would fly at 5,790 mph. Could he, in short, to travel the journey from Madrid to New York in just under an hour. The dream lasted exactly 15 seconds. On Tuesday, after 15 seconds of flight, the prototype, dubbed X-51A WaveRider, crashed into the ocean, because of mechanical failure of the parties, the control fin. He had been released from Mugunu Point, a promontory under military control in southern California, north of Los Angeles. It was manned. Was expected to fly at least five minutes, which could have traveled 300 kilometers, given the supposed power of their engines. The plane used as a launch military bomber B-52 Stratofortress. Was attached to his right wing. They flew together for 16 seconds. The X-51A WaveRider successfully separated, and the main engine started properly, and then collapsed, because of technical failure of the flap, after 15 seconds alone. Now lies at the bottom of the Pacific. "Unfortunately, a problem with a subsystem caused the termination [of flight] before we could turn on [another driver] Scramjet model," he said in a statement Charlie Brink , director of the research project at the Laboratory of Aera Force Research . "All our information indicated that we had created the conditions for engine start and we hoped to achieve the objectives of our test." This was the third flight of the prototype. The first, in 2010, met its modest goals: a journey of 143 seconds, at 5,600 kilometers per hour.The second trip was more rugged. It happened in 2011. The plane was launched from a height of 1.5 kilometers, also from Point Mugunu. As part of his shuttle, the X-51A Wave Rider fell into the water like a bomb.He was only nine seconds in the air, all falling at breakneck speed. At the Air Force are already limited resources. C available uatro that prototype models , which helped the aerospace company Boeing and engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney rocket Rocketdyne. Three are already on the seafloor. The cost of the program, has revealed the website specializing in military affairs Globalsecurity.org is 140 million dollars (113 million euros). The Pentagon still has not decided whether that fourth plane will fly in the near future. In the prototype Force have worked so Aera as the Agency for Advanced Research Projects of Defense (DARPA, for its acronym in English). The latter is a real hotbed of ideas and prototypes military then find remarkable applications in civilian life. In their offices was designed and created a prototype Internet. For the three injured shoots X-51A WaveRider told the armed forces, also in cooperation with NASA.

Congo: At least 60 dead in illegal mine

At least 60 miners were killed when a mine tunnel collapsed in a remote part of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and local armed groups active cause problems in the rescue efforts, officials said Thursday the country. The accident occurred Monday in the area in the province of Oriental Mampasa . The miners were digging for gold in shafts up to 100 meters depth said provincial chief of the mines. He added that the collapse was caused by a landslide. Hundreds of thousands of people in eastern Congo are working in illegal mines where safety precautions taken are almost nonexistent and accidents are common. The area where the mine has passed into the hands of the local rebel group - known as Mai-Mai-Morgkan hampering rescue efforts. Armed groups in eastern Congo over the use of groups of people in horrific conditions for the illegal mining of tin and gold to help finance their activities, despite international efforts to stop this practice .

Blasts in Iraq kill at least 26 people dead and 94 wounded


One of the bloodiest attacks occurred at noon when a car bomb exploded near the headquarters of the local security forces in Daqouq, in northern Iraq. When police arrived on the scene to assist a roadside bomb exploded, killing seven policemen. Another 35 people were injured. More than a hundred people have died in violence across the country so far this August, in a demonstration that the insurgents led by a group linked to al-Qaeda remains a lethal force that left eight months after U.S. troops in the country. The carnage on Thursday began with a dawn attack on a military housing. Insurgents placed four bombs around his home near the city of Kirkuk, said police commander, Gen. Sarhad Qadir. The officer was unhurt, but his brother died and six other family members were injured. Hours later, a bomb attached to a car exploded near a street of restaurants, and one person died and 15 others were injured, said Qadir. Another car bomb near a police car followed, wounding two policemen and two bystanders. A few hours later, two car bombs exploded simultaneously in a parking lot near a government office complex in the north of the city, injuring four people. Kirkuk is located 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad.

Eleven killed in the crash of a military helicopter in Afghanistan


The Fall of a Black Hawk helicopter in the province of Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold, ended Thursday with 11 victims, including seven U.S. soldiers, which is the worst air indidente for U.S. troops in Afghanistan so far this year . The Taliban guerrillas claimed responsibility for the attack, something that several spokesmen NATO command in that country have questioned, saying only that they have opened an investigation into the incident. As confirmed by a spokesman for the International Security Force in Afghanistan from NATO, Brigadier General Gunter Katz, among the dead were seven American soldiers, three members of the National Security Force in Afghanistan and an interpreter, civil. In April the other Black Hawk accident had resulted in the deaths of four U.S. soldiers in another stronghold of the insurgency in Helmand province. "No one has survived," a spokesman said Thursday the guerrila Taliban, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, the Associated Press, making sure the helicopter crash was due to an attack by insurgents. The Black Hawk UH-60 model, fell in the district of Shah Wali Kot, north of the province, as confirmed by local authorities to NATO forces. They could not clarify whether the fall was accidental or work of an attack. In August last year, and Taliban guerrillas shot down a U.S. helicopter Chinhook , killing 30 U.S. soldiers (including 20 Navy SEALS, the elite team that wiped out Osama bin Laden), seven Afghans and an interpreter. That attack came under the start of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, within which will withdraw 30,000 troops this year. It is expected that U.S. troops have left the country before the end of 2014. The accident occurred Thursday less than a week later that killed six U.S. soldiers were killed by soldiers in Afghanistan in several separate incidents, a series of attacks that highlighted the extent of insurgent infiltration between the national security forces that country. The military helicopter accidents are not uncommon in Afghanistan.Many times problems are caused by technical or human error. In other, less attacks by the insurgents, who often use surface to air missiles.Particularly vulnerable to these attacks are Chinhook helicopters, a model of tandem rotors the U.S. military began using in 1962. In March, a Turkish helicopter crashed into a house on the outskirts of Kabul, the Afghan capital, in an accident that killed 12 Turkish soldiers and two civilians. That was the worst incident against Turkish troops in the 11 years of a military operation to that country providing more than 1,800 soldiers

After sale, the Arsenal fans burning shirt Van Persie

Before long the fans of Arsenal against the manifest output Van Persie to Manchester United, the last official Wednesday. Not satisfied with the negotiation, many fans of the Gunners have posted photos of shirts Dutchman, who is unable to defend another club in England, torn or burned. In addition to burning and ripping the shirt from Van Persie, some fans also innovated and launched a booklet explaining how to get the name of the Dutch shirt, leaving only the number 10. The idea is patterned after that of the red and black did when Ronaldinho left Flamengo.coach Alex Ferguson of Manchester United, on the other hand, celebrated the hiring and said the Dutchman can make a great team with Rooney. "It's great have a player with the qualities of Van Persie coming to our team. I am very pleased. They (Rooney and Van Persie) are two fantastic strikers. It's great to have them with us, "said Alex Ferguson to the station" BBC ".Coach also revealed that, for him, Van Persie could debut as early as next Monday, against Everton, the first round of the Premier League. Despite having impaired the image to go to a rival team, the Gunners Van Persie will leave as one of biggest idols in recent years on the pitch. Especially after the first exit from the French Thierry Henry to Barcelona - later, the French striker's New York RB again defended the club on loan. Last season, the Dutch finished as the league leading scorer with 30 goals, in addition to seven who scored in other competitions, also adding 13 assists in 48 games in total. Hired in May 2004 with the Feyenoord for £ 2.5 million (current $ 8 million), Van Persie scored 132 goals in 277 matches with the shirt of the Gunners. At Arsenal, he won the Super Cup England FA Cup in 2004 and 2005, its last collective title.

They attack a military base in Pakistan, 10 dead, including nine attackers


A group of heavily armed fighters on Thursday attacked a base of the Pakistan Air Force, in an episode that left 10 dead and raised fears about the safety of nuclear weapons in the country. Nine Taliban killed a member of the security forces before being killed. One of the assailants committed suicide. The assault was claimed by the Movement of Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the main Islamist rebel group in this country and allied with al-Qaida. A security officer was killed and one aircraft was damaged in the attack, which began before dawn in the Air Force base in which Minhas and attackers showed their ability to enter a high security military installation. A core leader denied he had attacked nuclear weapons facilities, but the assault revives the questions in several Western countries about the dangers of the Pakistani nuclear weapons falling into the hands of extremist groups. According to the Pakistan Air Force, the nine attackers dressed in military uniform but armed with rocket-propelled grenades and suicide vests attacked the base and the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, where they are assembled and Mirage fighter aircraft JF-17. The air base, located in the town of Kamra, in the Punjab, had been attacked twice. "Eight infidels were killed inside the air base and a unfaithful committed suicide by blowing up his explosive vest outside the perimeter of the base, where he was hiding," said Air Force in a statement. The note also said that the fighting spread "over two hours." More than 10 hours after the assault, the Air Force spokesman, Tariq Mahmood, confirmed that the base was "completely safe". Witnesses said the attackers came from the back of the base, taking advantage of the holiest night of the Muslim month of Ramadan. An official told AFP that he saw flames. "There was an announcement over the megaphone to the soldiers not to move from the barracks and we were forbidden to go to the place where I saw the fire," he said. Special forces and police rushed to the area of ​​the attack. Mahmood said the soldier also died, the base commander was wounded in the shoulder.Other attacks on Pakistani military bases balances previously left much higher casualties. In May 2011, an attack on an air base in Karachi, claimed by the Taliban, lasted 17 hours until it was controlled, embarrassing the armed forces of Pakistan just three months after the death of Osama Bin Laden. Thursday's attack was the second in weeks with victims and relatively close to the capital. On July 9, gunmen killed seven soldiers who were camping near a river less than 160 kilometers from Islamabad. Pakistan declared a state of alert since Tuesday, Independence Day and also for the Muslim festival of Eid, which should start the weekend. On Tuesday, the army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, delivered a speech on Independence Day in which he stated that the war on terror "is our own war, and a just war." "No state can tolerate a parallel system of government and militias," he said, to call the nation to remain united and firm against the risks of a "civil war situation." Kamra base had been attacked in October 2009 when a suicide bomber killed six civilians and two Air Force officials. Earlier, in December 2007, five children, children of base employees were injured after a suicide bomber crashed a car bombing of a school bus.