Official B-21 Rendering

Wuhan Virus Update

By the time this gets published, China will probably have over 3,000 confirmed cases and over 80 deaths.  15 cities are in quarantine.  China has started suspending at least some of intercity travel services.  Hong Kong has started selectively blocking mainlanders from entering the territory.

China has started testing an HIV drug to see if it will work to combat the disease.

5 million people left Wuhan before the lockdown.

The US has 5 cases.  One of them is in Maricopa County, AZ.  Arizona is a noted location for the elderly to move to and the virus preferentially kills the elderly.  This could get exciting.

Several countries the world over now infections.  France and Africa (Gabon) appear to have their first cases.  It does not, yet, seem to be spreading within those countries.

The US and France are evacuating their citizens from Wuhan.  The Americans are being shipped to San Francisco.

The disease is infectious during the incubation period.  The incubation period is averaging 10 days, some as long as 14 days, some as short as 1.  The interesting case is the woman from Chicago: she was in Wuhan a month ago and came down with the symptoms only this last few days.  She may be an outlier or was in contact with someone with the virus more recently than her trip and has not been identified.  There are reports some people never seem to develop symptoms, but are carriers.

NY Times has fairly good updates.

Images Emerge of China's new Capsule

Terminator Times #68

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones):

The US government has banned the procurement and use of Chinese made UAVs.

DARPA's X-61A Gremlins made a first flight.  However, the prototype crashed when the recovery parachute failed to deploy.  DARPA is moving onto aerial recovery.

A USAF MQ-9 Reaper was ferried itself to Holloman AFB instead of being shipped and assembled.

A drone strike by the USAF killed an Iranian QUDS Force commander.  Israel claims the strike happened  due to an intercepted communication.   That has been cast in doubt.

The USAFA and Sierra Nevada designed and built the 5GAT 5th gen target drone.  It might be useable as a Loyal Wingman.

The USAF's X-58A Valkyrie flew its 4th test.  It expanded its flight envelope.

The US Coast Guard will outfit all its national security cutters with ScanEagles by end of year.

Brazil will operate ScanEagles from its naval ships.

British efforts to deploy its first swarming drone squadron have been delayed.

In Cambodia, a Chinese made drone crashed.  It's a bit of a mystery as to who owns it.

China is expanding its use of small UAVs.

China's CASC is expanding its UAV production.

China's army may be using the Harwar’s Zhanfu H16-V12 UAV.

China flew the world's first 3 engine large fixed wing drone.

A Houthi attack using missiles and drones killed more than 100.

Indonesia unveiled its Black Eagle MALE UAV.

The Philippines air force has its first Hermes 900 enter service.

Russia is pursuing a quad tilt-rotor drone for its navy.

The Russian Altius - U UAV will have sat communications.

A Turkish made Karayel UAV was shot down over Yemen.

Turkey TEI is delivering indigenous UAV engines.

Bell's V-280 being tested for the US Army's Blackhawk replacement program can now fly autonomously.

Boeing has partnered with Tactical Robotics.

General Atomics will demo the Gray Eagle UAV as a ballistic missile spotter.

Leonardo's Falco Xplorer has taken flight.

Robotic Research unveiled a UAV/UGV hybrid.

Telephonics claims to have won the competition for the MUX UAV's AEW sensor.

Unmanned Ground Vehicles (Bolos and Ogres and Terminators, oh my!):

The US Army selected Qinitiq for the RCV-L and Textron (Howe & Howe) for the RCV-M.

The French army has received its first NERVA LG UGVs.

Unmanned Surface Vehicles (Ro-boats):

The US Navy thinks getting USVs into the line is more important than whether they count as part of the battle force.  However, the USVs won't count towards the 355 ship fleet.

There is a debate suggesting the robo ships are really years away.

The US Navy is working to teach USVs to talk to one another.

A Sea Hunter USV will exercise with a carrier battle group.

Northrop tested the AQS-24B on the CUSV outfitted for MCM.

Textron thinks the CUSV will be great for USMC logistics.

Textron's CUSV is ready for production.

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (robo subs):

The US Navy will start searching for a new medium class UUV.

L3Harris has providing IVER4 UUVs for the US Navy.

META:

China and America talking past each other on "AI" breeds distrust.

Could killer robots reduce collateral damage?

The US Army is looking at welding automation for its next gen combat vehicles.

SpaceX had a Successful in-flight abort test for the Dragon V2

55% of the World's Population Live in Cities

That proportion has continued to rise steadily, reaching 55% as of 2018. It's climbed faster in China, up from 48% to 59% — meaning an additional 180 million people are living in Chinese cities. 

China now has 130 cities of at least 1 million people, more than the U.S. (45), European Union (36) and South America (46) combined.

link.

One Quarter of all Pigs in the World Died of Swine Flu...in China

Swine fever devastated China’s stock because with unsound governance, even sound regulations have perverse effects.

On a recent visit to my hometown by the Yangtze River in eastern China, relatives welcomed me, as ever, with a feast: steamed perch and hairy crab, deep-fried river shrimp — and braised pork. My 84-year-old father made sure to serve pork, even though it was now twice as expensive as the year before. This time, he didn’t get the meat from my brother, who until this fall had been the village’s largest pork producer: All 150 pigs on my brother’s farm had either died or been culled because of African swine fever.

link.

Gangs are spreading swine flu by drone to attempt to extort farmers into selling their stock for well below market prices.  So there is that, too.

New Chinese Respiratory Virus Outbreak Update

China will step up efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays as a rise in confirmed cases fanned fears the virus could spread to other countries.

...

Wuhan’s health authority confirmed earlier on Sunday 17 more cases of the virus in the city, bringing the total number of known patients there to 62.

link.

Japan has confirmed its first case of infection from a newly-identified coronavirus that has killed one person and infected at least 40 more in China, as well as prompting a travel alert from the U.S. State Department.

link.

An outbreak of a new coronavirus in China has spread to more cities, Chinese authorities said on Monday, as the number of patients tripled and a third person died, stoking concerns about the containment of the virus.

link.

Nature states the new virus needs China to cooperate internationally.

Science notes folks are alarmed.

Russian Mercenaries in Libya are not Working for the Russian Government says Pinocchio Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin, asked on Saturday whether mercenaries known as the Wagner Group, were fighting in Libya, said that if there are Russians in Libya, they are not representing the Russian state, nor are they paid by the state.

link.

Flight Ops on the CV17 Shandong

China has a new Respiratory Virus Outbreak...and it's not SARS

Chinese health authorities have not been able to identify a mysterious strain of pneumonia that has infected dozens of people and put the rest of Asia on alert -- although they have ruled out a return of the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus.

A total of 59 cases of unknown viral pneumonia have been reported in the city of Wuhan, central China, with seven patients in critical condition, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said in a statement on Sunday. All patients are being treated in quarantine and no deaths have been reported.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), symptoms of the pneumonia are mainly fever, with a number of patients having difficulty breathing, and chest radiographs showing invasive lesions of both lungs.

link.

China Tested its First Solar Sail Demonstrator

The Shenyang Institute of Automation (SIA) announced on Thursday that China's first solar sail, SIASAIL-I, has successfully verified a number of key technologies in orbit, a big breakthrough in China's solar sail development.

The solar sail developed by the institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences based in Northeast China's Liaoning province is a spacecraft powered by the reflected light pressure of the sun on the spacecraft's membrane. Because it does not consume additional chemical fuel, a solar sail is considered to be the one and only spacecraft that may reach outside the solar system. It can be applied to a wide range of fields, including asteroid exploration, geomagnetic storm monitoring, solar polar exploration and space debris removal.

link.

Terminator Times #67

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones):

A USAF Reaper overflew the Aviation Nation gathering.

The USMC's MUX UAV is now a EW asset and is being shaped by integration with naval aviation.

The US Navy needs unmanned ISR, tankers for its carriers to counter Russia and China.

The US Navy needs to replace its ScanEagles to fight China.

The US Navy has bought 3 more MQ-4C Tritons.

The Brazilians detail their ScanEagle acquisition.

France gave Lockheed a contract to support its Reapers.

NATO finally got its Global Hawk.

Russia's Forpost-R will have two Russians sensors on it.

Russia is looking to deploy its UAVs in Kyrgyzstan.  

South Korea's first RQ-4B Global Hawk finally arrived.

The Spanish Air Force received its first Predators.

Tunisia is buying AeroVironment's UAVs.

Turkey's gun toting quad copters get profiled again.

Unmanned Ground Vehicles (Bolos, and Ogres and Terminators, oh my):

Russia unveiled its updated Marker UGV.

META:

The US Navy is looking to slash its total manned ships in favor of pushing its unmanned capabilities.

Reentry Pictures from the Boeing CST-100 Starliner at White Sands

A friend sent these to me.  Sadly, I couldn't be in NM to watch.