PAK-FA is the answer to the F22 Raptor

New Delhi: It is expected that India and Russia will very likely sign a pact to jointly develop an advanced fifth generation fighter aircraft during defence minister AK Antony's visit to Moscow in the coming week. Antony is visiting Moscow to attend the Indo-Russia inter-governmental commission on military technical cooperation.

India and Russia both are looking for a next generation stealth fighter which would adequately match, if not exceed the capabilities of the US Air Force's F22 Raptor, which is already in service, as well as the F35 Joint Strike Fighter, Lightning, being jointly developed by the US and the UK.

The PAK-FA is expected to have advanced stealth features, an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, thrust vectoring for increased manoeuvrability and a supercruise mode to fly at supersonic speed without using afterburners.

According to Russian sources, a prototype of the PAK-FA would make its first flight in early 2009.

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Tags: F-22, joint strike fighter, PAK-FA, india

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RoboBugs

All told, the nation’s fleet of flying robots logged more than 160,000 flight hours last year — a more than fourfold increase since 2003. A recent report by the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College warned that if traffic rules are not clarified soon, the glut of unmanned vehicles “could render military airspace chaotic and potentially dangerous.”

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Tags: robots, roboinsects

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Army speeding up efforts to add more soldiers

WASHINGTON (AP) - Top Army leaders said Tuesday they plan to add 74,000 soldiers to the Army by 2010, two years sooner than originally planned, in order to relieve the strain on forces already stretched by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

Plans are to increase the number of the active duty Army, Army Guard and Army Reserve by 74,000 overall. It would bring the total number of soldiers in the active Army to 547,000.

Originally, the growth was to take place over five years - now it would be done in three.

The increase, Gates said in his memo, will cost $2.63 billion.

Officials have been working to make the Army bigger in order to sustain a long-term commitment in Iraq and Afghanistan without wearing out the troops and alienating their families.

Tags: Army, Gates, Afghanistan

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Army Enlists Anthropology in War Zones

SHABAK VALLEY, Afghanistan — In this isolated Taliban stronghold in eastern Afghanistan, American paratroopers are fielding what they consider a crucial new weapon in counterinsurgency operations here: a soft-spoken civilian anthropologist named Tracy.

This is an example of the can do anything approach now being advocated for winning wars.  It seems to be a correct approach in theory.  In practice, It should be much more difficult since it requires people who have immense skills to implement it.  It also has the downside of teaching part of the military how to develop programs and plans to control a civilian population.. One could  presume that this skill would work well either for or against any group of citizens.  If I know how to control Afganistan, do it would work well in Detroit as well.  Anything or practice that has a powerful impact will be used in war.  Anthropologists who do not understand that  miss the point.

Tags: anthropologist

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IBM's BlueGene L supercomputer simulates half a mouse brain

Efforts to model the human brain (on IBM's Blue Gene, ironically) haven't reached the point of finality just yet, but it looks like the supercomputer has already tackled a smaller, albeit similar task at the University of Nevada. The research team, which collaborated with gurus from the IBM Almaden Research Lab, have ran a "cortical simulator that was as big and as complex as half of a mouse's brain on the BlueGene L," and considering that it took about 8,000 neurons and 6,3000 synapses into consideration without totally crashing, it remains a fairly impressive achievement. Notably, the process was so intensive that it was only ran for ten seconds at a speed "ten times slower than real-time," and while the team is already looking forward to speeding things up and taking the whole mind into account, it was noted that the simulation (expectedly) "lacked some structures seen in an actual brain." Now, if only these guys could figure out how to mimic the brain and offer up external storage to aid our failing memories.

The Singularity is nearer it seems. 

Tags: Blue Gene, mouse brain, supercomputer

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The Great Plains International Trade Corridor

The Great Plains International Trade Corridor is strategically located
to increase economic efficiency by connecting regional trade centers
through the Great Plains from Canada to Mexico.
Ports-to-Plains, Heartland Expressway and Theodore Roosevelt
Expressway, designated United States High Priority Transportation
Corridors, form the infrastructure of growing domestic and international
trade, energy and travel opportunities.
These connections are taking advantage of new opportunities created
by the expanding significance of north/south trade in relation to the
historical east/west patterns. The Great Plains International Conference
is bringing together both the business and government sectors to
increase awareness of the corridor and increase economic activity

The Ports to Plains Trade Corridor reflects the growing need for a north-south axes of communication and commerce for the North American Continent.  Planning for this conduit says a great deal about what some of the movers and shakers of the continent believe will be the future of our culture. 
Tags: The Great Plains International Trade Corridor

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Security Contractors in Iraq

A PROFILE OF CONTRACTORS

Private security firms in Iraq: More than 100, including about 30 domestic companies.

Employees: From 30,000 to 48,000. About 10 per cent come from the US and other Western countries, about 30 per cent from non-Western countries and the rest from Iraq.

Serving: Diplomats, aid workers, journalists, reconstruction workers and others of the estimated 160,000 foreign civilians working in Iraq.

Origin: Most American security contractors come from the US military and are often former special operations forces with specialised skills in intelligence gathering, communications, evasive manoeuvres and small-arms combat operations.

Pay:  Iraqis with basic skills are paid several hundred US dollars a month; highly capable employees from countries such as India and Nepal earn between $US2000 ($2300) and $US3000 a month. Former special operations forces from the US, Britain, Australia and other Western countries can earn as much as $US18,000 a month.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/beware-of-the-protectors/2007/09/21/1189881777362.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap4

Tags: Iraq, Blackwater, Private Security

I find private security forces such as Blackwater one of the most distasteful elements of the Iraqi War.  The fact that they operate completely outside the confines of the law makes their existance even more intolerable.  The money that these firms receive is part of the excessive cost of this war.  Ken Burns said that WWII cost the US 3 trillion dollars in current money.  At that rate, Iraq has cost 25 pct as much.  Where did all the money go? 

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