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2005-09-16 Home Front: Tech

WARPLANES: Global Hawk Survives Engine Failure with Smart Software

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Posted by DanNY 2005-09-16 08:40|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 The fighter pilot of the future:

Posted by Graviter Gluns1970 2005-09-16 09:06|| 2005-09-16 09:06|| Front Page Top

#2 You gotta admit, this stuff is cool.

Posted by Mike 2005-09-16 09:37|| 2005-09-16 09:37|| Front Page Top

#3 I was privy to some discussions about this, and there was (and still is) a "Navy" lobby that says: if you are going to fly aircraft far over areas where you cannot land it, and you do not want to lose the aircraft and everything aboard it, then you need multiple engines.

If we are going to be putting "satellite grade" sensor packages in thses things, then we need to make damn sure we get them back. GH and Preds need a new design using 2 smaller, lighter engines. Per airframe it will likely cost a bit more for acquisition, but in the long run it will save more than that in lost airframes and sensor payloads.

That being said, the programming done to get the software right for these things is incredible.

soapbox

This worries me every time I hear about progrmaming jobs going to India - less CS jobs = less CS people, and eventually the well will run dry. Its already started to happen with the number of computer science grads dropping. And its a direct result of American companies outsourcing or H1B'ing the jbos to keep the pay low.

Who is going to write this stuff 20 years from now? Will we be screwed as a nation? Stop H1B and outsorucing now - fund/subsidise Computer Science as a strategic commodity: we need chip designers, systems engineers, and programmers because they are vital to our defense - and to the engine that powers our defense: our economy.

/soapbox

Posted by Oldspook 2005-09-16 10:48|| 2005-09-16 10:48|| Front Page Top

#4 OS, It was my understanding that the camera suite on GH would not survive a crash so it wouldn't give away mush if someone found it. It's not fragile, but after a crash there wouldn't be much to put together and build your own GH.

Posted by Cyber Sarge">Cyber Sarge 2005-09-16 10:57|| 2005-09-16 10:57|| Front Page Top

#5 i posted a comment about a week ago as too why anyone would wanna steal russian tech,,, this is why

Posted by Uninetle Hupating2229 2005-09-16 11:38|| 2005-09-16 11:38|| Front Page Top

#6 OS:
I thought the JSF finally defeated the "2 engines" lobby? Or was it just a temporary tactical retreat?

Posted by Jackal">Jackal 2005-09-16 12:22|| home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html]">[home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html] 2005-09-16 12:22|| Front Page Top

#7 less CS jobs = less CS people, and eventually the well will run dry. Its already started to happen with the number of computer science grads dropping. And its a direct result of American companies outsourcing or H1B'ing the jbos to keep the pay low.

Who is going to write this stuff 20 years from now? Will we be screwed as a nation? Stop H1B and outsorucing now - fund/subsidise Computer Science as a strategic commodity: we need chip designers, systems engineers, and programmers because they are vital to our defense - and to the engine that powers our defense: our economy

It's a concern, but consider the other places where software design is being done, often in sophisticated ways. On the one end are the EEs / Computer Engineering people. At the other end are the Information Science (not 'systems') people doing - in some cases - Ai / expert systems / data mining work.

I worry too, but there are some rays of hope.

Posted by rkb 2005-09-16 12:57|| 2005-09-16 12:57|| Front Page Top

#8 rbk - I need some of that hope. I don't see it.

Posted by 3dc 2005-09-16 13:34|| 2005-09-16 13:34|| Front Page Top

#9 Old Spook - Who is going to write this stuff 20 years from now? Will we be screwed as a nation? Stop H1B and outsorucing now - fund/subsidise Computer Science as a strategic commodity: we need chip designers, systems engineers, and programmers because they are vital to our defense - and to the engine that powers our defense: our economy. -

Bravo, Old Spook! How refreshing to see that someone actually appreciates this. Outsourcing of high-tech jobs is a recipe for national defense suicide. Both sides of the aisle are so busy grubbing for money of any stripe and source that this critical issue goes entirely ignored by America's lawmakers.

These are the jobs of the future. There won't be many others that pay as well, are so mentally rewarding, or sustain our nation's security and economy nearly as much. Permitting these skills to flow overseas is tantamount to treason. How sad that the morons in Washington (most of whom don't even understand how a personal computer operates) nonetheless are granted the ability to doom our careers and national security through this hemorrhage of vital talent.

Posted by The Z Man 2005-09-16 16:18|| 2005-09-16 16:18|| Front Page Top

#10 It's just stupid nowadays to build aircraft with one engine.

I have a friend who flew the no-fly zone in southern Iraq for a couple tours. F-16 pilot. He told me that it was a miracle that they didn't lose anybody during the YEARS that they flew that mission (which apparently caused a redesign of the Air Force Org chart as well).

F-16s have one engine. One of the nicknames for them is "lawn dart", because when they lose that engine, they go right into the ground.

Yea, it's a unmanned drone, but you would think that somebody would have learned some lessons somewhere, sometime ...

Posted by Mizzou Mafia 2005-09-16 22:22|| 2005-09-16 22:22|| Front Page Top

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