Aerospace Minute by David

On 30-September, David talked about a new radar system being developed by Russia. According to this week's Aviation Week and Space Technology, Russia is developing a radar capable of detecting modern stealth aircraft. The system consists of a 30m truck mounted VHF antenna, and multiple L and S band modules. The 1m-2m wavelength transmission from the VHF antenna is supposedly capable of detecting like-sized control surfaces on aircraft, and the shorter wavelength antennas can be used to pinpoint the target after it has been identified. There is no way to verify the effectiveness of the system.

Aerospace Minute by David

On 23-September, David talked about the new light attack jet proposed by Cessna Aircraft. The jet is designed for the Intelligence Reconnoissance Surveillance / Strike (IRS/S) mission. It carries a crew of two, top speed of 450 knots, with an empty weight of 11,800 lbs and a max take-off of 21,250 lbs. The aircraft is twin-engined, random seating, and has large twin vertical stabilizers in a V configuration. There are no government contracts; the program is a Cessna initiative similar to what Northrop did with the F-5: build it and and see who is interested. The interesting thing is Cessna sees a market for this as an alternative to unmanned drones. At $3,000/hr, operational costs are less than many UAV systems.  The source for this information was the September issue of Flying Magazine.

Aerospace Minute by David

On 16-September, David talked about the recent sea trials with the F-35B. According to Aviation Week, the aircraft recently went through night crosswind vertical landing trials. Also discussed were highlights of the aircraft's fly-by-wire flight controls, and the system was contrasted with the AV-8 Harrier's mechanical systems.

Presentation: September 2013

This month's AE presenter: David
Date of presentation: 09-September 2013
Subject: The Yeager Award
Description: This presentation discussed the reasons behind the Yeager award (and, by extension, the AEPSM), how it relates to the other two primary missions of CAP, and an overview of the book Aerospace: The Journey of Flight and the information required to achieve the award.

Download Introduction: Yeager Award (PDF, 33KB)