Slitherine

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ORIGINAL: VFA41_Lion

Sounds like a stealth strike fighter to me.

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http://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/1858075/eighteenth-century-style-copper-bottomed-warships-may-be

Eighteenth century-style 'copper-bottomed' warships may be the future of China's navy

New bacteria-fighting solution could save navy billions of yuan and lead to stronger, faster ships

A ground-breaking new innovation in steel production by Chinese scientists may help the country's future warships and submarines move fast and last longer than their foreign counterparts.

The new technology could also save hundreds of billions of yuan in damage and corrosion that stainless steel typically underwent when exposed to seawater, according to researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Metal Research in Shenyang, Liaoning province.

Though still undergoing testing, the special material can be applied to critical components such as joints and shafts, where the traditional practice of coating with anti-corrosion materials is difficult or impossible, thus significantly increasing the performance and durability of a vessel, the scientists said.

At present, bacteria are far more dangerous to Chinese warships than enemy navies.

One strain, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, is found throughout the world's oceans and has a special predilection for steel. Even duplex stainless steel, one of the hardest and most corrosion resistant materials used in the industry, can lose up to 40 millimetres per year to the merciless chewing of the bacteria.

The weight and drag caused by bacteria living on the surface of ships can also affect speed and manoeuvrability, the researchers said. They estimated that more than a third of fuel consumed by Chinese ships was wasted compensating for extra drag caused by bio-corrosion.

While the People's Liberation Army Navy does not disclose data on how serious the problem is to its fleets, the US spends upwards of US$23 billion on the issue every year.

In 2011, the USS Independence aircraft carrier was returned to dry-dock after less than a year in service due to severe corrosion found on steel components around its engines.

For its new material, the Chinese team, led by professor Yang Ke, reached back into history.

The British royal navy once covered the bottoms of its wooden ships with copper to prevent hulls from rotting, a crucial technology that helped the UK achieve maritime dominance in the late 18th century.

But as ships began to be built from metal, copper was forsaken due to the weight it would add to already heavy iron or steel hulls, as well as concerns over cost and durability.

Yang's team sought to combine copper with the widely used duplex stainless steel. The effort took more than a decade, but they were eventually able to find the right formulation to maximise copper's anti-bacterial effects without sacrificing the steel's strength.

To test the new material, the scientists cultured P. aeruginosa on it. The copper-steel amalgam killed nearly 97 per cent of the bacteria in a week, preventing corrosion and "effectively eradicating the biofilm", according to the team's paper in the journal Biofouling.

The new material could be a breakthrough in helping China become a new sea power, said Huang Weiping, a marine engineering professor with the Ocean University of China who was not involved in the research.

"Most protective coatings need to be re-applied every few years. For underwater projects, repeated coatings cannot be applied because it is impossible to do the job in water," he said.

The new steel has to be cheap for it to be widely adopted. Similar germ killing products have been developed for medical use but would be far too expensive for use in ship making.

Even using the material on only a few sensitive components could increase a ship's performance and durability dramatically, however.

"The life span of a ship or building is not determined by the strongest parts, but the weakest," Huang said.

But "the material must be tested in a real environment. The result in practice may not turn out as good as in the lab.

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ORIGINAL: Dysta
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In 2011, the USS Independence aircraft carrier was returned to dry-dock after less than a year in service due to severe corrosion found on steel components around its engines.
...

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USAF seeks ‘interim’ CHAMP, longer-range air-to-air missiles

16 SEPTEMBER, 2015 BY: JAMES DREW WASHINGTON DC

The US Air Force plans to introduce Boeing and Raytheon’s “CHAMP” high-power-microwave emitting cruise missile into the combat force on board the 1990s conventional air-launched cruise missile as an “interim capability” while the technology transitions to Lockheed Martin’s JASSM-ER.

Air Combat Command chief Gen Hawk Carlisle says the computer-killing capability, which knocks out electronic equipment with bursts of high-frequency electromagnetic energy, is a “great capability” that will be fielded in small numbers initially with US Global Strike Command – the air force’s nuclear combat force.

“We’ve talked about the transition of that capability for Global Strike Command, but that will probably be small numbers because what we really want to do is get CHAMP into next-generation missiles, so JASSM-ER,” Carlisle said at an Air Force Association event in Washington.

“[Global Strike commander Gen Robin Rand] and I are talking about how to transition some number, an interim capability that’s on the current [CALCM] system and then how do we move to even an improved capability into the next generation air-to-surface cruise missiles we’re producing today.”

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Air Force Research Laboratory/Boeing
The weapon has been in development with the Air Force Research Laboratory since 2009 and was successfully demonstrated at a test range in Utah in 2012. The technology has been deemed ready for development and fielding, and is already being improved and adapted to new platforms such as the JASSM-ER and possibly even reusable unmanned aircraft.

AFRL has been pursuing the Counter-electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP) as a niche capability that is difficult and expensive to harden against.

In terms of air superiority weapons, Carlisle says the development of next-generation air-to-air missiles is also “an exceptionally high priority”.

Raytheon’s AMRAAM is the current go-to Western weapon for beyond-visual-range air combat, but new long-range missiles being fielded by Russia and China are a significant concern to the Pentagon.

Carlisle says outmatching the Chinese PL-15 air-to-air missile in particular is an “exceedingly high priority”.

“The PL-15 and the range of that missile, we’ve got to be able to out-stick that missile,” he says.

The air force is currently exploring a range of next-generation weapon concepts as it also pursues a sixth-generation fighter aircraft.

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ORIGINAL: Dysta

This news doesn't give much of info for DB3000 implement yet. We got numerous rumors about the further upgrade of PL-12 (and derivatives for export), PL-21, PL-10 and now PL-15??

The best we can do is just copy & paste the familiar specification of AIM-120D to PL-15, but it's not making any sense since 100km (below 55nm) is still shorter range than AIM-120D. Presuming Carlisle's "we’ve got to be" means they already have superior AMRAAM in their arsenal, so mentioning PL-15 is more likely for phishing some Chinese readers' attention.

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Speaking at a Feb. 12 media roundtable during the conference, Gen. Herbert Carlisle said Air Dominance 2030 supplants talk of a single sixth-generation F-X or F/A-XX to instead focus on multi-domain capabilities. He pointed to air, space and cyber capabilities as well as new munition loadouts.
"With the F-22 and F-35, two fantastic airplanes, air dominance in that [2030] time frame may not solely be an aircraft; it's the family-of-systems discussion," Carlisle said. "Stealth is wonderful, but you need to have more than stealth. Speed and maneuverability, sensor fusion, staying inside the decision OODA loop -- there's a portion of stealth that is hugely important and is part of it, but it's certainly not the only thing."
The general said long-range standoff munitions and even new air-to-air missiles to replace the AIM-120D AMRAAM and AIM-9X Sidewinder would be included in the air superiority discussion.
He said the capabilities being developed by America's potential adversaries, such as the Chinese PL-15 air-to-air missile, are "incredible."
"I believe if we look at this as we have in the past, we can figure out how to change the game and be better at it," Carlisle said, adding that high-powered lasers and microwave weapons are technical areas showing great promise.

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ORIGINAL: Dysta

Ramjet AAM? What it is gonna face with? SR-72? X-37B? HTV? Minuteman?

I might be not searching too hard in Chinese military forums and websites, and also consider the past of "massive rumors" about Chinese ASAT/ABM tests in few years ago to believe it would use Ramjet missile to hit them. But I must admit, both China and US are having lots of missile experiments that we hardly guess what they end up with. Replacing AIM-120 and AIM-9 is expectable, but as soon as think they are already obsolete even before the deployment??

If CMANO really give us PL-15, or whatever the name of AIM-54 in steroid for the US, it will be a severely interesting air combat.

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http://alert5.com/2015/09/20/carlisle-reiterates-on-need-to-counter-the-range-chinese-pl-15-bvraam/

Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Sept. 15, ACC cheif Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle reiterated the threat of the Chinese PL-15 beyond visual range air-to-air missile.

Fast forward the video to the 16:00 mark on his comments on the PL-15.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=955&v=bgooB13PJIg

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While researchers developed various ways of making high frequency laser beams, such as using purified gas or multiple crystals, they all required the device to be set up in a large room with delicate components that are vulnerable to external disturbances such as shaking.

Li's team claim to have solved this problem. They developed a special crystal with lithium and niobium that can convert a normal laser beam into high frequency waves as short as 350 nanometres, or three times faster than the ultrafast system in use today.

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ORIGINAL: Hongjian

Seriously; what I would give to know what Gen. Carlisle knows about that missile...

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The French presidency just announced that Egypt will acquire the two Mistral LHDs originally intended for Russia. "President of the French Republic met with the President Abdel Fattah Al Sissi. They agreed on the principle and terms of the purchase by Egypt of two Mistral class amphibious vessels" according to the official statement of the French presidency.

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ORIGINAL: Dysta

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ORIGINAL: Hongjian

Seriously; what I would give to know what Gen. Carlisle knows about that missile...

Nothing. But that doesn't mean the general is trying to play fool for himself. He surely have reason to raise concern (and attention to increase budget from congress for their next-gen BVRs) about PL-15.

And now I finally have little clue what PL-15 might be:
http://www.popsci.com/chinese-air-to-air-missile-hits-targets-spooks-usaf-general

A 0.2m diameter of kinetic-kill BVR missile ranged between 150-200km in guess estimate, that is no doubt a longer range than AIM-120D, and 2/3 range of the retired Phoenix. However, it can be a totally different animal since it is a kinetic missile, rather than HE warhead used by both AIM-120 and PL-12 series.

The "concern" that general raised isn't just by its estimated superior range, but the absence of explosive warhead makes it both lighter and pack more fuel. The Hard-kill capability already demonstrated since the reported news of HQ-16, which is directly went through the target drone without explode itself.

If such of estimation is true, then you may expect the US is playing the bigger game in return.

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It was reported that 607 Institute has been developing a new active radar homing AAM (dubbed PL-15?) comparable to American AIM-120D and may have evolved from the earlier PL-12C/D design. The missile was seen being tested onboard a J-11B fighter. Compared to PL-12, the missile features stabilizing fins and tailfins with reduced wingspans, suggesting its design is optimized for internal carriage by the 4th generation fighters such as J-20 and FC-31. PL-15 also features an improved guidance system (including duplex datalink and new active/passive dual mode seeker with enhanced ECCM capability). The missile is thought to have a new dual pulse rocket motor in favor of a ramjet engine, giving it not only a longer range (~200km?) but also a relatively small body size. It appears PL-15 has superseded the PL-12 series as the primary LRAAM for the 4th generation stealth fighters. The latest rumor (September 2015) claimed that PL-15 was test-fired successfully from a J-16.