America Makes -principal asociación público-privada norteamericana para el desarrollo de la fabricación aditiva- ha celebrado su evento anual Technical Review & Exchange (TRX) del 18 al 19 de octubre en la University of Alabama in Huntsville.
El evento brindó a los asistentes la oportunidad de compartir contenido a un nivel profundo y conocer los proyectos actuales que están ayudando a avanzar en el desarrollo de la manufactura aditiva. Entre los ponentes estuvieron importantes figuras del AFRL, la MDA y la NASA.
la University of Alabama in Huntsville está considerada como el principal centro de fabricación del Pentágono en el estado de Alabama, y por ello no fue de extrañar que asistiesen varios funcionarios gubernamentales de alto nivel para debatir sobre los desafíos del ejército para adoptar la fabricación aditiva, aportando algunas presentaciones muy interesantes acerca de ciertas aplicaciones, tales como:
Fabricación aditiva de boquillas Mach
Fabricación aditiva para enfriadores de aceite híbridos
Fabricación aditiva de componentes para motores de cohetes
En esta edición del TRX los organizadores optaron por un formato más conversacional y flexible que en ediciones anteriores, lo cual permitió a los asistentes interactuar de manera más fluida con los presentadores.
The Biden administration says two North Korean missile launches in recent weeks were test firings of a powerful new long-range ICBM, and warned that a full-range test could soon follow.
The tests were of a missile reportedly larger than an ICBM North Korea launched in 2017 that was assessed to be capable of reaching the United States.
American missile defence and reconnaissance forces in the Pacific have been placed in a state of “enhanced readiness” in preparation for a full-range test, a senior administration official said.
The official outlined the US intelligence assessment of the recent launches on the condition of anonymity: “The purpose of these tests, which did not demonstrate ICBM range, was likely to evaluate this new system before conducting a test at full range in the future, potentially disguised as a space launch,” said Pentagon press secretary John Kirby in a statement.
North Korea has claimed the March 4 and February 26 launches were merely to test cameras to be installed on a future spy satellite. Multiple UN Security Council resolutions prohibit North Korea from firing ICBMs, and the US will announce a new round of sanctions meant to make it more difficult for the country to access technology needed for its weapons programmes, the official said.
The 2017 launch was part of a series of tests that prompted then-president Donald Trump to threaten North Korea’s leaders with “fire and fury” and brought the two countries to the brink of more serious conflict.
The new missile was first revealed to the public in 2020 during celebrations marking the 75th birthday of North Korea’s Communist Party in Pyongyang.
With a forced aircraft carrier in port and nuclear missile crews hit by Covid-19, the United States are now facing the possibility of a large-scale opportunistic attack, taking advantage of the drop in defenses on all fronts: According to Hans Kristensen, a nuclear weapons expert at the Federation of American Scientists, all US nuclear facilities except one have been affected by the virus.
Fortunately, the Pentagon has been completely proactive in establishing a "bubble" system in early March, creating two separate operational teams for submarines and nuclear missile silos. However, it is worth considering to what extent these measures should have been adopted previously, considering that on Thursday 9 the Newsweek magazine published a map showing that cases of coronavirus had appeared in 150 military bases.
In addition to what was reported by Newsweek, it is known that four aircraft carriers have also been reached, among which the aircraft carrier USS Roosevelt stands out, forced to dock in Guam for a long period due to an outbreak that has affected 416 of the 4.800 on board . The other three aircraft carriers affected have been USS Reagan, docked in Japan, and USSs Vinson and Nimitz, both under maintenance in Washington state.
Perhaps the United States have done the big mistake in being so transparent, because nature shows us time after time that wolves get emboldened as more weakness they perceive in their prey. ¿Will China take advantage to expand its military presence further into the Pacific? ¿Will Russia fail to take advantage of this golden opportunity to strengthen its military presence in the Arctic? Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, North Korea... ¿Will all of them fail to seize this opportunity to deliver the great blow to their eternal and hated enemies? ¿Or perhaps are all of them just waiting for the best moment to deliver the great blow, when the United States will show its maximum level of weakness? I prefer not imagine it. In that case, May God mercy all of us. Good afternoon, and good luck.
“Innovation” and “force modernization” are the Pentagon buzzwords of the day: Strategies are being developed across the Department of Defense enterprise, with these concepts as the foundational pillars. But oddly enough considering the defense budget of the United States compared to the defense budget of Russia or China, for the first time in decades the United States military apparatus does not possess a clear advantage on the world stage.
¿Causes? The flattening of the technological landscape and emergence of strongly modernized adversaries like Russia and China. Both causes requires that the U.S. innovate to remain dominant not only in technological progress but also in the ability to field systems more rapidly than their peer adversaries.
¿Solutions? Of course, there are not magical solutions, but the undersecretary for research and engineering, Michael Griffin, and other DoD leaders, believe that, in many ways, the Additive Manufacturing could boost the solution. They emphasize this approach in the fiscal 2019 budget request: $90 billion in R&D with increases concentrated in rapid prototyping for testing activities.
For the Pentagon, the Additive Manufacturing can serve as a foundational tool to accelerate new weapons development and provide innovative solutions to win the wars of the XXI Century. Bearing this in mind, industry partners, military operators, and members of the science and technology communities should certainly take notice: DoD leaders are increasingly placing their bets on Additive Manufacturing and they are thinking on using it not only for rapid prototyping in the early stages of development, but also for manufacturing of end-use parts.
When Iran attempted to launch a cruise missile from a “midget” submarine earlier this week, Pentagon officials saw more evidence of North Korean influence in the Islamic Republic – with intelligence reports saying the submarine was based on a Pyongyang design, the same type that sank a South Korean warship in 2010.
According to U.S. defense officials, Iran was attempting to launch a Jask-2 cruise missile underwater for the first time, but the launch failed. Nonproliferation experts have long suspected North Korea and Iran are sharing expertise when it comes to their rogue missile programs: “The very first missiles we saw in Iran were simply copies of North Korean missiles,” said Jeffrey Lewis, a missile proliferation expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. “Over the years, we've seen photographs of North Korean and Iranian officials in each other's countries, and we've seen all kinds of common hardware.”
When Iran tested a ballistic missile in late January, the Pentagon said it was based on a North Korean design. Last summer, Iran conducted another missile launch similar to a North Korean Musudan, the most advanced missile Pyongyang has successful tested to date. Defense analysts say North Korea's Taepodong missile looks almost identical to Iran's Shahab: “In the past, we would see things in North Korea and they would show up in Iran. In some recent years, we've seen some small things appear in Iran first and then show up in North Korea and so that raises the question of whether trade -- which started off as North Korea to Iran -- has started to reverse,” Lewis added.
Iran’s attempted cruise missile launch from the midget submarine in the Strait of Hormuz was believed to be one of the first times Iran has attempted such a feat. In 2015, North Korea successfully launched a missile from a submarine for the first time, and officials believe Tehran is not far behind. During testimony last week, Adm. Harry Harris, the head of American forces in the Pacific, warned the United States has no land-based short- or medium-range missiles because it is a signatory to the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces, or INF, treaty signed in 1987 between Russia and the United States. But Iran and North Korea are under no such constraints: "We are being taken to the cleaners by countries that are not signatories to the INF,” Harris told the House Armed Services Committee late last month.
Perhaps most worrisome for the United States is that Iran attempted this latest missile launch from a midget sub Tuesday in the narrow and crowded Strait of Hormuz, where much of the world's oil passes each day. Over a year ago, Iran fired off a number of unguided rockets near the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier as she passed through the Strait of Hormuz in late December 2015. The U.S. Navy called the incident “highly provocative” at the time and said the American aircraft carrier was only 1,500 yards away from the Iranian rockets.
In July 2016, two days before the anniversary of the nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, the Islamic Republic attempted to launch a new type of ballistic missile using North Korean technology, according to multiple intelligence officials. It was the first time Iran attempted to launch a version of North Korea’s BM-25Musudan ballistic missile, which has a maximum range of nearly 2,500 miles, potentially putting U.S. forces in the Middle East and Israel within reach if the problems are fixed.
In 2012, the Pentagon established the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute in Youngstown, Ohio, and many companies are using 3D printing more regularly in the manufacturing process. This technology, which makes manufacturing more agile and wastes very little material, is already being used aboard the USS Essex, a U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship. In words of Adm. James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,“The crew has printed everything from plastic syringes to oil tank caps, to the silhouettes of planes that are used on the mock-up of the flight deck to keep the flight deck organized”
Actually, the Pentagon is using 3D Printers and 3D Production Systems across the military services for multiple purposes not only in the R&D labs but also in the battlefield: "When needed, an item can be printed from an electronic blueprint or scanning an existing part. Just the U.S. Navy has about 70 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, projects at dozens of sites" Winnefeld said.
Regarding private companies, defense giant Lockheed Martin is using 3D printers to manufacture jigs and fixtures used to build the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: “We use hundreds of 3D-printed tools for F-35 manufacturing, such as bracket locators and drill templates,” Lockheed spokesman Mark Johnson said.
According to intelligence reports, satellite imagery around the nuclear test site beneath Mount Mantap, suggests that North Korean Army is getting ready for a sixth nuclear bomb test on April 25 to coincide with Military Foundation Day. Meanwhile, The Pentagon is considering plans to shoot down any missile fired from North Korea.
North Korea has recently claimed a series of breakthroughs in its push to build a long-range nuclear missile that can strike the American mainland. If the North's claims about the sixth Musudan launch are true, it would pose a threat to the USA military base in Guam, where troops that would be sent to the Korean Peninsula if conflict broke out are based, and also possibly a nuclear threat. It explains in part North Korea's tenacious testing of the Musudan missile. (Read more)
The Pentagon has released a solicitation to identify and develop cost effective Additive Manufacturing materials, processes, and techniques sufficient to prototype and produce future components supporting current and future ICBM programs.
Specific areas to address for maximum future benefit include reducing the cost to manufacture structural parts, reducing the mass or fabrication cost of complex components, or creating an in-house capability for depots and maintenance personnel to manufacture spares on-demand.
Also of interest are concepts for adding extra functionality to existing parts such as printed circuit boards with integrated shielding with the end goal of creating production parts which are inherently hardened without a requirement for additional external shielding to reduce parts count, material, and mass.
Regardless of the material, approach, or component proposed for improvement, the final product must meet or exceed all of the technical specifications of the current component or system i.e. structural loads, operating/survival temperature, radiation shielding, EMI/EMC, vacuum compatibility, launch/flight loads, storage requirements, etc.
La mayor sorpresa que nos ha deparado la lectura del último informe anual del Pentágono sobre el poder militar chino es la afirmación de que ese gigante posee ya la capacidad de armar sus ICBMsDF-5 (CSS-4 Mod 3) con MIRVs.
La noticia aumenta aún más de interés cuando la situamos en el contexto de otros programas chinos de rearme nuclear, tales como el despliegue de varios tipos de misiles balísticos intercontinentales móviles y el desarrollo y despliegue de una nueva clase de submarinos de misiles balísticos lanzados desde el mar.
Esta modernización muy bien podría permanecer en el marco de una estricta estrategia de mera disuasión frente a su vecino y rival hindú, pero otros escenarios menos probables incluyen un hipotético enfrentamiento nuclear con otras naciones, y finalmente con los Estados Unidos.
Naturalmente nadie desea la guerra, pero la posibilidad existe y hay que contemplar todos los escenarios ya que, segun se estima, China cuenta con alrededor de 400 cabezas nucleares capaces de aniquilar a cualesquiera aliados y bases militares de norteamérica en Asia Pacífico e incluso alcanzar objetivos en casi cualquier punto dentro de los Estados Unidos.
No resulta difícil a día de hoy encontrar frecuentes noticias que indican la existencia de una auténtica guerra fría entre Estados Unidos y China.
Desde luego nadie quiere la guerra, pero no debemos cerrar los ojos tratando de ignorar que China y Corea del Norte desarrollan programas de misiles balísticos capaces de golpear objetivos en todo el territorio continental de los Estados Unidos.
¿Por qué? ¿Para qué? Vamos a dar tan sólo algunos datos, y luego ustedes traten de sacar sus propias conclusiones:
China
En fechas recientes, el diario Want China Times desveló que la segunda potencia económica del mundo posee ya en servicio un submarino nuclear dotado de misiles capaces de golpear objetivos continentales estadounidenses desde las propias costas de China.
Más concretamente, se trata del submarino Tipo 096, que porta misiles balísticos capaces de golpear objetivos ubicados a 11.000 Km de distancia.
Corea del Norte
En fechas recientes, el ministro de defensa de Corea del Sur ha alertado de la posibilidad de que se lleve a cabo un ataque a Estados Unidos desde Corea del Norte: "Es posible que el norte disponga ya de la capacidad necesaria para alcanzar el territorio continental de los Estados Unidos ... La capacidad norcoreana de miniaturizar armas nucleares parece haber alcanzado un significativo nivel."
El pasado mes de Octubre, el comandante de las fuerzas armadas estadounidenses en Corea del Sur, General Curtis Scaparrotti, declaró durante una comparecencia en el Pentágono que el ejército norcoreano podría haber conseguido la capacidad tecnológica necesaria para fabricar una ojiva nuclear miniaturizada, integrarla en un misil de largo alcance, y fabricar una lanzadera móvil para ese misil: "Poseen los contactos adecuados, por lo que no es descartable que hayan conseguido ya la capacidad para miniaturizar una ojiva. Potencialmente poseen la capacidad de lanzar lo que dicen tener, así que yo no puedo como comandante permitirme el lujo de creer que quizás no lo hayan conseguido todavía."
As the Obama administration continues nuclear talks with Iran through November, Tehran’s military forces have continued to build up their cache of advanced weaponry, including drones and sophisticated missiles: A senior Iranian military commander has announced on Wednesday that Tehran is about to unveil new long-range and mid-range missile defense systems like Israel’s Iron Dome or the US Patriot, which can knock out incoming missiles in mid-air.
It is not a surprise for Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon adviser on Iran and Iraq for the George W. Bush administration, who said Iran has made “great strides” in its missile technology, though it is unlikely Tehran could rival the technology employed in Iron Dome. But, when it comes to nuclear weapons, "they are on the verge of becoming the next North Korea", Rubin said.
Funding completion of the fifth and sixth satellites in the SBIRS system, it will also fund completion the associated ground operations and processing updates.
SBIRS is a new U.S. strategic missile warning system that replaced the 1970s Defense Support Program satellites. It includes a mix of satellites in geostationary (GEO) orbit, sensors on other satellites in highly elliptical orbit, and ground hardware and software.
The contract, announced in the Pentagon's daily digest of major contract awards, runs through Sept. 30, 2022, and comes on top of advanced procurement funding awarded to Lockheed in 2012 and 2013 to start buying parts that take a long time to order. The first two GEO satellites started operations in 2013. The third GEO satellite is in testing and the fourth is in final assembly, Lockheed said.
U.S. Air Force Space Command's Space and Missile Systems Center said the contract award saved over $1 billion as a result of a block-buy contracting approach and production and management efficiencies: "We eliminated unnecessary layers of program oversight and contract reporting, restructured our test program and streamlined the production schedules,"Colonel Mike Guetlein, production program manager, said in a statement.
The Hwasong-13, a road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile, is now officially part of North Korea’s arsenal, the departing commander of U.S. Forces Koreaconfirmed last month.
This news comes on the heels of reports—confirmed by satellite imagery— that Iran has constructed launch sites for intercontinental-range missiles. In fact, the Pentagon reported in 2012 that Iran may be able to flight-test an ICBM by 2015, and the British government revealed in 2011 that Iran had conducted tests of missiles capable of delivering a nuclear payload.
Similarly, the Defense Intelligence Agency concludes “with moderate confidence” that North Korea “has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles.” Add it all up, and the product is a gathering threat to the United States and its allies.
In March, Defense SecretaryChuck Hagel announced that in light of renewed North Korean belligerence, including long-range missile testing in violation of international sanctions, the United States will beef up its missile-defense system to protect American cities.
The Defense Intelligence Agency has confirmed it believes Pyongyang has a nuclear weapon small enough to place on a missile. The damage from a missile carrying a nuclear warhead, is unimaginable. The United States already has homeland-defense sites in Alaska and in California; these mainly defend against potential North Korean missiles, which would enter US airspace from the West.
But what about Iran? It continues to develop its missile program and to defiantly move toward a nuclear-weapons capability even in the face of sanctions. And an Iranian long-range missile would enter US airspace from the East. The current missile-defense system provides some protection from missiles headed toward the East Coast, but the country needs another site to give our military more chances and another angle to successfully intercept a missile headed to U.S. from Iran.
New York’s Fort Drum is considered a leading contender for this prestigious responsibility. Its location in relation to where enemy missiles would be headed makes it ideal, which is why the Pentagon selected it as the new site for a data center to help track such missiles. As Sen. Schumer wrote in a letter to the White House: “Should military experts determine that a new system on the East Coast is necessary, workable and cost effective, Fort Drum and Griffiss Air Force Base are uniquely capable for the job. . . A federal investment for missile interceptors in Upstate New York could create thousands of jobs and significant revenue in local communities, just as similar missile-defense systems have in California and Alaska.”
The Pentagon plans to sell $10.8 billion worth of advanced weaponry to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The hardware includes bunker buster bombs and cruise missiles.
The planned deal includes shipping 1,000 GBU-39/B bombs to Saudi Arabia and 5,000 to the UAE, AFP reports. They have air-deployed wings, which allow them to strike targets as far away as 110km. Their warheads can penetrate up to a meter of reinforced concrete.
The planned sale also includes 650 sophisticated Standoff Land Attack Extended Range (SLAM-ER) and 973 Joint Standoff Weapons (JSOW) cruise missiles. The planned deal will be the first time the US delivers the sophisticated gliding bombs and missiles to the region.
The Pentagon said on Friday it had finalized a contract worth nearly $4 billion with Lockheed Martin Corp. to supply additional missile defense equipment to the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
The deal involves Lockheed's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system that is designed to intercept ballistic missiles in midair, according to the the Pentagon's daily digest of major weapons contracts.
The contract reflects growing confidence and demand for the missile defense system, said Riki Ellison, founder of the non-profit Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.
In 2012, Congress demanded the Pentagon come up with recommendations for the location of a third site to base interceptors for the U.S. Ground Based Midcourse (GMD) missile defense system.
Friday 13th September,the Pentagon announced the locations of five candidate sitesfor a possible future deployment of additional GMD interceptors. They are:
Fort Drum, NY
Camp Ethan Allen Training Site, Vermont
Naval Air Station Portsmouth SERE Training Area, Maine
If President Barack Obama orders the strike on Syria that Congress is considering, the U.S. Navy will be at the forefront of an attack that has the unusual objective of degrading Syria’s chemical weapons capabilities without striking at the heart of the program. However, Pentagon planners are now considering to unleash a heavy barrage of missile strikes to be followed swiftly by using Air Force bombers, as well as several US missile destroyers currently patrolling the eastern Mediterranean Sea, to launch cruise missiles and air-to-surface missiles from far out of range of Syrian air defenses.
The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group with one cruiser and three destroyers positioned in the Red Sea can also fire cruise missiles at Syria. The weapon of choice is the Tomahawk cruise missile aboard four Navy destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean. An operation in that range would likely be limited to the cost of launching missiles from U.S. destroyers cruising within range of Syria, according to budget analysts. The Tomahawk missiles aboard the ships, which generally carry dozens of them, cost about $1,1 ... 1,5 million each. The mission is among the most complex the U.S. military has launched in recent history because Syria will have had weeks to shield its most vulnerable targets from a widely anticipated volley of Tomahawk missiles.
As lawmakers continue to discuss the scope and risks of a strike, military planners are fine-tuning a plan to blast dozens of targets that include air defense infrastructure, long-range missiles, rocket depots and airfields, according to defense officials and military analysts. The six air bases the Syrian government is currently using to carry out the bulk of its military operations and its roughly two dozen stationary radars are likely targets of cruise missile strikes, according to military analysts who have studied Syria’s armed forces. Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers last week that the strikes would likely hit Syrian long-range missile and rocket depots because the weapons can be used to protect – and deliver – chemical weapons. The Navy has kept four Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers stationed within firing range of the Syrian coast for several days.
The ships – the USS Ramage, USS Barry, USS Gravely and USS Stout – are loaded with the latest generation of Tomahawk missiles. Tomahawks, which made their debut during the Gulf War in 1991, have been used in several military campaigns, often as the first salvos of protracted engagements. Raytheon, the defense giant that manufactures the missiles, has marketed them as an alternative to drones, which have become the weapon of choice in U.S. stealth counterterrorism attacks. “Unmanned aircraft seem to get all the headlines these days,” the company’s promotional website for Tomahawks says. “But the ship and submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missile – an unmanned aircraft that goes on a one-way trip – is quietly upping its game.”
Unlike earlier versions, today’s Tomahawks, which cost roughly $1,1 ... 1,5 million a piece, can be programmed quickly using GPS technology to strike targets and may be redirected midflight. The missile, which has a 1,000-mile range, can be airborne for up to four hours and deliver a 1,000 pound bomb or a package of 166 “bomblets.” The first would be ideal for a crushing blow to a critical building, while the latter would be effective against a wider area, such as a parking lots with military vehicles or a warehouse that contains weapons.
China’s navy is expected to begin the first sea patrols next year of a new class of strategic missile submarines, highlighting a new and growing missile threat to the U.S. homeland, according to U.S. defense officials.
“We are anticipating that combat patrols of submarines carrying the new JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic missile will begin next year,” said one official familiar with recent intelligence assessments of the Chinese strategic submarine force. China’s strategic missile submarine force currently includes three new Type 094 missile submarines each built with 12 missile launch tubes.
The submarine patrols will include scores of new JL-2 SLBMs (Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles) on the Type 094s. The submarines are also called Jin-class missile boats by the Pentagon. The missile submarine patrols, if carried out in 2014, would be the first time China conducts submarine operations involving nuclear-tipped missiles far from Chinese shores despite having a small missile submarine force since the late 1980s.
The Washington Free Beacon first reported in August that China carried out a rare flight test that month of the JL-2, a missile analysts say will likely be equipped with multiple warheads. Defense officials said the JL-2 poses a “potential first strike” nuclear missile threat to the United States and is one of four new types of long-range missiles in China’s growing strategic nuclear arsenal. The Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Center earlier this month published a report on missile threats that identified the JL-2 a weapon that “will, for the first time, allow Chinese SSBNs to target portions of the United States from operating areas located near the Chinese coast.” SSBN is a military acronym for nuclear missile submarine.
The Pentagon’s most recent annual report on China’s military stated that Beijing’s Navy has placed a high priority on building up submarine forces. In addition to the three Type 094s currently deployed, China will add at least two more of the submarines before deploying a new generation missile submarine dubbed the Type 096, the report stated. It was the first time the Pentagon has revealed the existence of the follow-on strategic missile submarine. “The JIN-class and the JL-2 will give the PLA Navy its first credible sea-based nuclear deterrent,” the Pentagon report said. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert told Congress in May that he was not worried by the Chinese naval buildup, including the new missile submarines, but that it is a development that needs to be watched.
