Taiwan's Land Missile + Inside the F-35

choi

(1) Wendell Minnick, Taiwan Working On New ‘Cloud Peak’ Missile. Defense News, Jan 18, 2013
http://www.defensenews.com/artic ... d-Peak-8217-Missile
(Compared with Hsiung Feng 2E land-attack cruise missile (LACM) system with a range of 600km, the Cloud Peak (Yunfeng), outfitted with a ramjet engine capable of speeds of Mach 3 or higher, is a high-altitude surface-to-surface missile that does not leave the atmosphere, whose production is scheduled to begin in 2014)

Quote: "When asked if Taipei was concerned the US would object to the new missiles because they violate the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) — which limits missile payloads to 500 kilograms and ranges of no more than 300 kilometers — the government source replied, 'This is a 1,000 percent violation of the MTCR, and I don’t care what the [expletive] Americans think.'

My comment:
(a) Usually I ignore things that is under development, which may or may not materialize. But missile(s) with a longer range than HF-2E was known to be tested in the Chen administration. So, with production year of 2014, likely the new missile is quite mature. But to reach 2000km, I thought it would take ballistic missile, which enters an orbit.
(b)
(i) ramjet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramjet

Read the introduction only.
(ii) Ranjet Parts. In Ramjet Propulsion, of Guided Tours of the BGA [for Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics], Glenn Research Center, NASA, undated.
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/rampart.html
(c) Missile Technology Control Regime
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_Technology_Control_Regime
(an informal and voluntary partnership [among] 34 countries; established in 1987)

Taiwan is not a member.


(2)  Jonathan Glancey, Inside the F-35, the World's Most fFuturistic Fighter Jet. An aviation fantasy from the realms of Star Wars, the F-35 is the most sophisticated, expensive and controversial jet fighter ever produced. Jonathan Glancey takes its flight simulator for a spin. Daily Telegraph, Jan 17, 2013.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ ... ic-fighter-jet.html

Quote:

"Through it [augmented-reality helmet is packed with hi-tech gadgetry], I can see 360 degrees all around the airplane.

"it [F-35] is the easiest aircraft any of them has ever flown: pilots are free to manage the weaponry while the F-35, more or less, flies itself. * * * unlike most aircraft, the F-35 performs all necessary safety checks automatically and extremely quickly. The instrument panel is a glass screen measuring 20x8in. As with an iPad, you touch it to bring up the information you need. Pilots can also talk to the aircraft; it talks back.  

"At the moment, no one is fully certain that Britain will hang on to its new F-35-equipped aircraft carriers – HMS Queen Elizabeth II and HMS Prince of Wales – currently under construction, nor whether future orders for F-35s may be cancelled in favour of pilotless drones.


My comment: This report is lengthy, there is no need to read the rest, except viewing photos.
(a) fritillary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Fritillary
(or Passion Butterfly, Agraulis vanillae)
(b) windhover (n): "British: KESTREL"

Common Kestrel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Kestrel
(Falco tinnunculus; section 2.1 Food and feeding: When hunting, the Common Kestrel characteristically hovers about 10–20 m (c.30–70 ft) above the ground, searching for prey, either by flying into the wind or by soaring using ridge lift)

(c) The report mentions "talks lyrically."
(i) lyrical = lyric (adj)
(ii) lyric (adj):
"1a : suitable for singing to the lyre or for being set to music and sung  * * *
2a : expressing direct usually intense personal emotion especially in a manner suggestive of song <lyric poetry>
b : EXUBERANT, RHAPSODIC"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lyric
  
(d) Hawker Hunter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Hunter
(1956-early 1990S; a fighter aircraft made by Hawker Siddeley of UK)
(e) The report states, "Not only will the F-35B land itself, but it will also hover at the touch of a button. Where hovering a Harrier is not unlike spinning plates on a pole on the tip of your nose while riding a trick bicycle on a circus high-wire – and no mistakes are affordable – the F-35 stops in the air, just like that, the pilot’s hands off the controls."

The "plate" in "spinning plates on a pole" is a dish. nd the latter is done, eg, in a circus.

(f) The report says, "My simulated flight may have been a little all-over-the-sky, yet given a couple of hours I’m sure I could be a Top Gun, ready to climb into the cockpit of the real thing,"

I can not find a definition of all-over-the-sky.

(g) The report avers, "Along with the US, Britain is the only 'level one partner’. We’ve stumped up $2 billion to date, or four per cent of the costs."

stump up (sth):
"phrasal verb UK INFORMAL   to pay an amount or type of money for something, especially unwillingly"
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/stump-up-sth
(h)
* Commodore 64
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64
(introduced in 1982 by Commodore International)

The report compares the old PC with the tablet control in an F-35.
* MoD = Ministry of Defense