Unmanned Helicopter 2.0 + PLA Marine+ 1 Penny for US Carrier

choi

(1)
(a) Fire Scout 2 Takes Off. Strategy Page, Nov 2, 2013.
http://strategypage.com/htmw/htnavai/articles/20131102.aspx

Quote:

"MQ-8C made its first flight on October 31st. The MQ-8C was created by having the mechanical and software components (that make a manned helicopter into a UAV) from its existing MQ-8B Fire Scout installed in the larger Bell 407 helicopter. As a result the 1.4 ton MQ-8B Fire Scout becomes the 2.7 ton MQ-8C. * * * MQ-8C will be ready so quickly because it is using a lot of the MQ-8B technology.

"Note that the standard manned helicopter for ships is the ten ton SH-60 Seahawk.

"The 1.4 ton MQ-8B is based on the 1.5 ton Schweitzer 330 manned helicopter.

Note:
(a) Bell 407
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_407
(1996-present; civil utility helicopter)
(b) Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_SH-60_Seahawk
(1984-present)
(c) Sikorsky S-300
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_S-300
(formerly Schweizer 300; 1964-present; light utility helicopter)

* Schweizer Aircraft
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schweizer_Aircraft
(located in Horseheads, New York; was incorporated in 1939 by three Schweizer brothers; acquired by Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation ofStratford, Connecticut, in 2004)

(d) "The US Navy is also spending $33.3 million to have the RDR-1700 maritime-surveillance radar installed on nine of its MQ-8B Fire Scout helicopter UAVs. The contract stipulates that the work be completed by the end of 2013, as the navy wants to use this new capability as soon as possible. The 32 kg (71 pound) RDR-1700 operates in a 360 degree mount underneath the helicopter. This is a SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) system that shows objects on the water in a photorealistic way. The max range of this SAR is 80 kilometers, although for the most detailed resolution max range is 25 kilometers. SAR can see through clouds and even sand storms (which sometimes blow out over coastal waters). The RDR-1700 can also be used over land for terrain mapping or for weather detection. The software enables the radar to track up to twenty surface or aerial objects at a time. The RDR-1700 would be operated from the ship it took off from and provide longer range search and reconnaissance capability at night and in bad weather."

(i) The acronym in RDR-1700--a product of Telephonics Corp (located in Farmingdale, NY)--stands for "radar detector rejection."
(ii) Synthetic Aperture Radar. Radartutorial.edu, undated
http://www.radartutorial.eu/20.airborne/ab07.en.html

Quote:

"The SAR works similar of a phased array, but contrary of a large number of the parallel antenna elements of a phased array, SAR uses one antenna in time-multiplex. The different geometric positions of the antenna elements are result of the moving[, mostly airborne or spaceborne] platform

"As a target (like a ship) first enters the radar beam, the backscattered echoes from each transmitted pulse begin to be recorded. As the platform continues to move forward, all echoes from the target for each pulse are recorded during the entire time that the target is within the beam. The point at which the target leaves the view of the radar beam some time later, determines the length of the simulated or synthesized antenna.

(iii) synthetic aperture radar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_aperture_radar

Quote: "What is thus synthesized [from the flight path] is a set of signals equivalent to what could have been received simultaneously by such an actual large-aperture (in one dimension) phased array. The SAR simulates (rather than synthesizes) that long one-dimensional phased array. Although the term in the title of this article has thus been incorrectly derived, it is now firmly established by half a century of usage.

(e) For video, see
US Navy Releases Video of Its Unmanned Fire Scout Helicopter Taking Its First Successful Test Flight. Daily Mail, Nov 1, 2013.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ ... ul-test-flight.html
(f) Navy's New Fire Scout Unmanned Helicopter Takes its First Flight, US Navy, Nov 1, 2013 (Story Number: NNS131101-01).
http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=77403

choi

(2) Chinese Marines Catching Up. Strategy Page, Oct 30, 2013
http://strategypage.com/htmw/htamph/articles/20131030.aspx

Quote:

"Currently the Chinese marines are a small force. The actual 'marines' are 12,000 infantry. There also two army divisions trained to undertake amphibious operations and who regularly train with the marines. This [army] is not, in a Western sense, a 'marine corps' * * * Until the 1980s, the Chinese didn't have a marine corps, only army units that were trained to conduct amphibious operations.

"Interestingly, the Chinese marines are not stationed where they could be used for an invasion of Taiwan but in the south, where they can grab disputed islands in the South China Sea. * * * The Chinese marines are trained and equipped for raiding, not for large scale landings against a defended shore. The latter task is apparently left to army divisions that have been drilled on how to get on, and off, amphibious ships. While the Chinese marines might play a part in a Taiwan invasion, their full time job appears to be in the South China Sea, where the Chinese stand ready to grab more islands, if the economic advantages seem high enough.

choi

(3) Old Aircraft Carrier Sold For A Penny. Strategy Page, Oct 28, 2013
http://strategypage.com/htmw/htmurph/articles/20131028.aspx
("The 81,000 ton Forrestal, which entered service in 1955, was the first of the modern 'super carriers' * * * the best deal the navy could get was to give the decommissioned carrier away. That only worked because the Forrestal was not nuclear powered. For the nuclear powered carriers coming up for decommissioning, it is very expensive to safely take apart and remove the nuclear propulsion system and that will cost the navy a lot of money and headaches")

Note:
(a) USS Forrestal (CV-59)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Forrestal_(CV-59)
(1955-1993; named after former Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal[, the first ever Secretary of Defense: 1947-1949] and was the lead ship of her class of aircraft carriers)

was conventionally-powered.
(b) USS Enterprise (CVN-65)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(CVN-65)
(1962-2012; world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the eighth United States naval vessel to bear the name; lead ship of its class)
(c) United States naval reactors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_naval_reactors
("The US Navy had nine nuclear-powered cruisers with such reactors also, but they have since been decommissioned")
(d) United States Secretary of Defense
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_Defense
(section 1 History)

choi

(4) China Plugs The P-3 Gap. Strategy Page, Oct 28, 2013
http://strategypage.com/htmw/htnavai/articles/20131028.aspx
("Over the last three years China has been testing the Y-8GX6 (also known as the Gaoxin-6), its answer to the American P-3C maritime patrol and anti-submarine aircraft. Both aircraft are similar in shape and equipment. Until the Y-8GX6 can be seen in action, it's difficult to say how close the two aircraft are in capability")