标题: AeroVironment [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 12-10-2011 10:45 标题: AeroVironment Brad Stone, Flight of the Warbots; How a save-the-earth maker of solar-powered aircraft became the world's most prolific manufacturer of military drones. Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Dec 12, 2011 (cover date) http://www.businessweek.com/maga ... channel_top+stories
("a small Los Angeles-area company called AeroVironment [] produces 85 percent of the unmanned aerial systems used by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Defense Dept")
My comment:
(a) Please read only web page 1 as well as the first paragraph of web page 2.
(b) I always wondered how come the enemy did not notice the UAV (at least the sound of engine buzz, if not the sight). A paragraph in web page 3 of the report supplies the answer.
"Soldiers returning from battle zones describe using small UAVs to probe enemy positions and ensure convoy routes are clear. U.S. Army Major Noma C. Martini, who commanded a brigade near Mosul, Iraq, says his company flew Raven-Bs at extremely low altitudes to deter insurgent attacks. 'The enemy was probing us constantly,' he says. 'If they could see and hear our Ravens, they knew we had the ability to take action on them.'
(2) The MiG-21 Curse Continues. Strategy Page, Dec 9, 2011 http://strategypage.com/htmw/htatrit/articles/20111209.aspx
("fears that all the Russian made engines in these aircraft might have a common problem. These fears are not new. The MiG-27 and Cold War era Russian warplanes in general, do not age well.")
Note: For the "qat" tree, see khat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khat
(native to tropical East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula; fresh leaves contain the active ingredient cathinone)