DDG-1000 ZUMWALT CLASS PAGE jeffhead.com

LAST UPDATE: October 30, 2013      Designation: DDG
Length: 600 ft
Beam: 80 ft
Draft: 28 ft
Displacement: 14,500 tons
Propulsion: All-electric Drive with (IPS), 2 Rolls-Royce MT30 Gas Turbines 36MW, 2 shafts
Speed: 30 knots
Crew: 142
Airwing: 2 SH-60 or 1 MH-60R, & 3 MQ-8 VTUAVs
Armament:
- 80 x PVLS (Std, ESSM, Tomahawk, VLASROC)
- 2 × 155mm Advanced Gun Systems
- 2 × Mk 110 57 mm gun CIWS
- 4 × 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns
Ships in class: 3 building

DDG-1000 Zumwalt
DDG-1001 Michael Monsoor
DDG-1002 Lyndon B. Johnson

DDG-1000, U.S.S. Zumwalt was launched on October 28, 2013, without fanfare. She will be christened in the Spring of 2013 and is expected to be commissioned in 2015. Her construction began in 2009 and her keel laying was conducted November 17, 2011. With modular construction, what used to be the intial major milestone of construction, now occurs later in the process, this case when the ship was 60% complete.
The Zumwalt-class destroyer (DDG-1000) represents next-generation multi-mission destroyer technology for the US NAvy that is tailored for land attack and littoral dominance, combined with a strong anti-surface and anti-air capability. DDG 1000 will provide forward presence and deterrence, and operate as an integral part of joint and combined expeditionary forces. The program was previously known as the DD-21, and then the "DD(X)". They will take the place of the Iowa class battleships in filling the congressional mandate for naval fire support, though the requirement was reduced to allow them to fill this role.
USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) is to be the lead ship of the Zumwalt class and the first ship to be named for Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, who progressed to become the youngest Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) in American history. Elmo Russell Zumwalt, Jr. (29 November 1920 – 2 January 2000) was an American naval officer and the youngest man to serve as Chief of Naval Operations. As an admiral and later the 19th Chief of Naval Operations, Zumwalt played a major role in U.S. Military history, especially during the Vietnam War. A highly-decorated war veteran, Admiral Zumwalt reformed Naval personnel policies in an effort to improve enlisted life and ease racial tensions. After he retired from a 32-year Navy career, he launched an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate.
The second in class, DDG-1001, the USS Michael Monsoor, began construction in 2010 and its keel laying occurred in 2012. USS Monsoor, DDG-1001, will be launched in 2014, and commissioned in 2016. On April 16 2012, it was announced that the third Zumwalt-class destroyer, designated DDG-1002, will be named the USS Lyndon B. Johnson after the nation's 36th president. The USS Lyndon B. Johnson's construction started on April 4, 2012, the launch will be in 2016, and delivery is expected to the Navy in 2018.
The hull classification beginning with DDG-1000 departs from the guided missile destroyer sequence that goes up to DDG-112 (the last of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers), and continues in the previous "gun destroyer" sequence left off with the last of the Spruance-class destroyers.
The DDG-1000 is planned to feature all of the following:
- Significantly reduced radar profile.
- Integrated power system for propulsion & weapons.
- Total ship computing environment for LAN.
- Automated fire-fighting & rupture isolation.
- Significntly reduced crew & operations expense.
- Wave-piercing tumblehome hull.
- Advanced Gun System (AGS) w/155mm guns.
- Peripheral Vertical Launch System (PVLS).
Originally, the Navy had hoped to build 32 of these destroyers. That number was later reduced to 24, then to 7, and finally to just three vessels. This was due to the high cost of new and experimental technologies to be incorporated in the destroyer, and because the US NAvy decided for the time being to extend the Arliegh Burke destroyer construction. On 23 November 2005, the Defense Acquisition Board approved a plan for simultaneous construction of the first two DDG-1000 ships at Northrop’s Ingalls yard in Pascagoula, MS and General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works in Bath, ME. The Navy now expects each ship to cost over $3 billion dollars. The 2010 budget established that three DDG-1000 ships will be produced.
Many of the ship's features were developed under the DD21 program ("21st Century Destroyer"), which was originally designed around the Vertical Gun for Advanced Ships. In 2001, Congress cut the DD-21 program by half as part of the SC21 program. To save it, the acquisition program was renamed as DD(X) and reworked. Later, the program was again renamed to the DDG-1000 program which is the final name.
On 31 July 2008, U.S. Navy acquisition officials informed Congress that the service needed to purchase more Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, and no longer saw the need for multiple, next-generation DDG-1000 class. AT that time, it was suggested that only the two destroyers would be built. The Navy said the world threat picture had changed such that it made more sense to build at least eight more Burkes, rather than DDG-1000s. Many Congressional members were incredulous that the Navy could have conducted such a sweeping re-evaluation of the world threat picture in just a few weeks, after spending some 13 years and $10 billion on the surface ship program known as DD-21, then DD(X) and finally, DDG-1000. Subsequently chief of naval operations Gary Roughead cited the need to provide area air defense and specific new threats such as ballistic missiles and the possession of anti-ship missiles by groups such as Hezbollah.
On 19 August, 2008 Secretary Winter was reported as saying that a third Zumwalt would be built at Bath Iron Works, citing concerns about maintaining shipbuilding capacity. House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha said on 23 September 2008 that he had agreed to partial funding of the third DDG-1000 in the 2009 Defense authorization bill.
On 6 April 2009, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that DoD's proposed 2010 budget will end the DDG-1000 program at a maximum of three ships. Also in April, the Pentagon awarded a fixed-price contract with General Dynamics to build the three destroyers, replacing a cost-plus-fee contract that had been awarded to Northrop Grumman. All three destroyers will be built in Maine at Bath Iron works though sub-assemly work will occur at various other locations. The first and second destroyers are expected to cost around $3.5 billion and the third somewhat less than that.
DDG-1001 will be named for Master-at-Arms 2nd Class (SEAL) Michael Monsoor, the second SEAL to receive the Medal of Honor in the Global War on Terror (GWOT).
In order to reach the goals for the requirements intended for this vessel, the following 10 technologies will be incorporated:

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1) The Advanced Gun System (ADG) - To achieve an increased rate of fire and improved lethality while reducing operational crew headcount, the Zumwalt-class destroyer will employ the Advanced Gun System (AGS). A battery of two 155mm AGSs, firing-rocket assisted Long-Range Land Attack Projectiles (LRLAP) will provide precision strikes and volume fire at a range of up to 83 nautical miles. This system is equivalent to twelve 155mm howitzers and will see a three fold improvement in naval surface fire coverage when compared to current capabilities

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2) Dual Band Radar (DBR) - The Zumwalt had intended to use a Dual Band Radar (DBR) to integrate integrates S-band and X-band radar capabilities in a single system. This would deliver true multi function performance, simultaneously supporting self-defense/anti-air warfare, situational awareness, land attack, naval gunfire support, surface search, navigation and air traffic control. However, that has now been scaled back. The Zumwalt will hit the water, having shifted to a single X-band SPY-3 MFR radar from Raytheon on launch, with an S band functionality mode programmed in. The new SPY-3 radar for the Zumwalts will be fully AEGIS compatible.

This leaves the true DPR (dual band radar) SPY-3 (Raytheon X band)/ SPY-4 (Lockheed Martin S band) solution for the Ford Class carriers. Another dual band radar which is a little less powerful than the DBR, called the Advanced Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) is currntly being developed for the Flight III Burkes.

The AMDR will have a direct tie to and integration into AEGIS, as can be imagined for any new Burke.

Depending on it power and scalability, it is possible that once developed, a scaled AMDR could then retrofitted to the three Zumwalts, but that is not a sure thing. It is possible that the powervul SPY-3 X band radar with S band functionality will suffice for the Zumwalts

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3) Autonomic Fire Suppression System (AFSS) - An advanced automated damage-control system combines sensors, cameras and automated firefighting capabilities to ensure that the Zumwalt has the fastest possible response time to life- and ship-threatening events. This system improves survivability in both peacetime and wartime while reducing the number of crewmembers needed for damage control.

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4) Integrated Composite Deckhouse and Apertures (IDHA) - Constructed of rugged, lightweight composites, the angular deckhouse increases stealth by minimizing radar reflectance. The surfaces of the Zumwalt’s deckhouse incorporate all radar apertures and communication antennas, eliminating high-profile masts and rotating antennas.

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5) Integrated Power System (IPS) - The Zumwalt Destroyer is often called an all-electric ship. The efficient, quiet and economical design of the IPS generates all the energy needed for propulsion, electronics, combat, environmental and other ship systems.

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6) Integrated Undersea Warfare (IUSW) - The IUSW incorporates two types of sonar arrays in one automated system. The high frequency sonar provides in-stride mine avoidance capabilities, while the medium frequency sonar optimizes anti-submarine and torpedo defense operations. The use of sophisticated target algorithms better enables the Zumwalt Destroyer to engage enemy submarines and, at the same time, minimize crew headcount requirements. The sonar that will be required to achieve this goal includes the following: Sonar - A dual-band sonar controlled by a highly automated computer system will be used to detect mines and submarines. The arrangemtn will be optimized for littoral Anti-submarine warfare and will include:.
- A hull-mounted mid-frequency sonar (AN/SQS-60)
- A hull-mounted high-frequency sonar (AN/SQS-61)
- A multi-function towed array sonar and handling system (AN/SQR-20)

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7) MK57 Vertical Launch System (VLS) - The advanced MK57 Vertical Launching System can accommodate both existing and future missiles for land attack, anti-ship, anti-submarine and anti-air warfare. Its modular electronic architecture allows the Zumwalt Destroyer faster, more economical migration to new missile systems by minimizing the need to requalify the launcher for every new missile

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8) Peripheral Vertical Launch System (PVLS) - A system of armored compartments located around the periphery of the Zumwalt. Each PVLS compartment contains and protects one MK57 Vertical Launching System. This design makes launchers and missiles resistant to battle damage while safely isolating them from crew and equipment spaces

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9) Total Ship Computing Environment (TSCE) - The TSCE is the first large-scale implementation of the U.S. Navy’s Open Architecture strategy. Designed to bind all Zumwalt systems together, the TSCE creates a shipboard enterprise network allowing seamless integration of all on-board systems. It also gives the Navy increased ability to use standardized software and commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware on a fleet-wide basis.

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10) Wave Piercing Tumblehome Hull - The tumblehome (inward sloping) hull minimizes the Zumwalt-class destroyer’s radar cross section for enhanced stealth and survivability. Driven by a quiet and efficient all-electric propulsion system, the hull design optimizes speed, maneuverability and stability while minimizing engine noise and infrared signatures.

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Stealth - Despite being 40% larger than an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer the radar signature will be more akin to a fishing boat and sound levels compared to the Los Angeles-class submarine. The tumblehome hull will reduce radar return and the composite material deckhouse also will have a low radar return. Water sleeting along the sides, along with passive cool air induction in the mack reduces thermal emissions. Propulsion - The was orinally planning to use a Permanent Magnet Motor (PMM) within the hull. Due to early difficulties with this technology, the decision was made to use the backup proposal of an Advanced Induction Motors (AIM). AIM technology has a heavier motor, requires more space, requires a "separate controller" to meet noise requirements, and produces less voltage than the originally planned PMM Integrated Power System. But, the AIM is a superior technology to current gas turbines and will be available and workable in the schedule of the DDG-1000.




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ARTIST'S DEPICTIONS

Why Making Neutral Antimatter is Such A Big Deal!

Posted by Ethan on November 22, 2010

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“Surely something is wanting in our conception of the universe. We know positive and negative electricity, north and south magnetism, and why not some extra terrestrial matter related to terrestrial matter, as the source is to the sink. … Worlds may have formed of this stuff, with element and compounds possessing identical properties with out own, indistinguishable from them until they are brought into each other’s vicinity. … Astronomy, the oldest and most juvenile of the sciences, may still have some surprises in store. Many anti-matter be commended to its care! … Do dreams ever come true?”
-Sir Arthur Schuster, 1898, 34 years before the discovery of antimatter

Antimatter is some of the most wonderful stuff in the Universe. All of the normal matter on Earth — that you’re used to — is made up of atoms, which in turn are made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, like so.
But every particle that exists, whether it’s a fundamental particle (like a quark, electron, or photon) or a composite particle (like a neutron or proton), also has an antiparticle!
So what is an antiparticle?
In many ways, antiparticles are the same as regular particles. Same mass, same magnitude of charge, same magnitude of spin, and if you’re an unstable particle, you’ve got the same lifetime, too.
But there are a few very important differences! They have the opposite sign of charge, for instance. If a particle is positively charged (like a proton), its antiparticle (the antiproton) will be negatively charged. Neutrinos and antineutrinos, as another example, always have helicities (or spins, or intrinsic angular momentum, depending on your naming convention) opposite to one another. But the biggest one comes if you allow a particle to meet with its own antiparticle.

Image credit: CSIRO; Australia's version of the NSF.

When a particle collides with its own antiparticle, they annihilate, and turn into pure energy via Einstein’s famous E = mc², typically creating two ultra-high-energy photons.
It’s worth asking the question, what’s truly remarkable about this antimatter?
Sure, Tom Hanks can prevent you from blowing up the Vatican with it. But as a physicist, I can tell you with 100% certainty that antimatter, for us, is the most efficient source of energy in the Universe.
Let me explain, and let me start at the beginning. When you want to do something, it takes energy.
Whether you want to power a car, launch a rocket ship, or go for a walk, it takes energy to do it. Where does that energy come from? Well, regardless of whether you’re a car, a rocket, or a human being, this is the source of your energy.
That’s right, the plain old atom. The electrons orbiting your atoms store chemical energy. When the electron winds up in a lower energy configuration, it releases energy, and this is how everything from rocket fuel to TNT to the Krebs cycle to burning magnesium works: powered by atomic and molecular bonds.
Chemical energy — the kind that works by atomic transitions — is horrifically inefficient, however. If I bring about a million pounds of rocket fuel on board a ship, even if I have the best rocket fuel ever created, I can only turn about one pound of that fuel into energy, and I’m left with 999,999 pounds of waste. Yet, so far, this is the best we’ve been able to do as a fuel source, and this is currently how we power our rockets and spacecrafts.
But if we ever want to reach another star system, we’re going to have to do better. You already know of a better source of energy, you need look no further than this guy.
The Sun! That’s right, the Sun, rather than use chemical energy, relies on nuclear energy! Nuclear fusion, which fuses lighter elements into heavier ones (like the Sun), and nuclear fission, which splits apart heavy, unstable elements into lighter, more stable ones (like nuclear bombs or power plants), both are far more efficient than any form of atomic energy.
How much more efficient? If I had a million pounds of hydrogen, and I fused the entire million pounds into helium, how much would turn into energy, and how much would turn into (helium) waste? I’d get about 7,000 pounds worth of energy (which, by E=mc², is a lot, but I’d still get 993,000 pounds of waste. 0.7% efficiency isn’t so great, all things considered.
But that’s where antimatter comes in. When we dream of interstellar spaceflight, we dream of a perfect fuel source. And if I brought a million pounds of fuel on board — 500,000 pounds of hydrogen and 500,000 pounds of antihydrogen — I’d get perfect efficiency: 1,000,000 pounds worth of energy and no waste.
(Yes, it takes much, much more than a million pounds of energy to make 500,000 pounds of antihydrogen, but that’s not the point.)
And that’s why creating and trapping neutral anti-hydrogen is such a big deal!
Sure, we’re a long way away from making half-a-million pounds of it, but this is the lightest, most stable form of antimatter we can make. And in principle, we can store an arbitrarily large amount of it for as long as we want.
This, no doubt, is the fuel of the long-term future. And while it’s way too early to start thinking about large, practical amounts of it anytime soon, this is the start of something that’s sure to be very, very big!
So if someone asks you what the big deal about antimatter is, you know what to tell them. Most. Efficient. Fuel source. Ever. In principle. And we just successfully stored it for the first time. So don’t be afraid to dream big; I know it’s what I’ll be doing!

Physicist Discovers How to Teleport Energy

Emerging Technology From the arXiv

February 3, 2010

First, they teleported photons, then atoms and ions. Now one physicist has worked out how to do it with energy, a technique that has profound implications for the future of physics.

In 1993, Charlie Bennett at IBM’s Watson Research Center in New York State and a few pals showed how to transmit quantum information from one point in space to another without traversing the intervening space.
The technique relies on the strange quantum phenomenon called entanglement, in which two particles share the same existence. This deep connection means that a measurement on one particle immediately influences the other, even though they are light-years apart. Bennett and company worked out how to exploit this to send information. (The influence between the particles may be immediate, but the process does not violate relativity because some informatiom has to be sent classically at the speed of light.) They called the technique teleportation.
That’s not really an overstatement of its potential. Since quantum particles are indistinguishable but for the information they carry, there is no need to transmit them themselves. A much simpler idea is to send the information they contain instead and ensure that there is a ready supply of particles at the other end to take on their identity. Since then, physicists have used these ideas to actually teleport photons, atoms, and ions. And it’s not too hard to imagine that molecules and perhaps even viruses could be teleported in the not-too-distant future.
But Masahiro Hotta at Tohoku University in Japan has come up with a much more exotic idea. Why not use the same quantum principles to teleport energy?
Today, building on a number of papers published in the last year, Hotta outlines his idea and its implications. The process of teleportation involves making a measurement on each one an entangled pair of particles. He points out that the measurement on the first particle injects quantum energy into the system. He then shows that by carefully choosing the measurement to do on the second particle, it is possible to extract the original energy.
All this is possible because there are always quantum fluctuations in the energy of any particle. The teleportation process allows you to inject quantum energy at one point in the universe and then exploit quantum energy fluctuations to extract it from another point. Of course, the energy of the system as whole is unchanged.
He gives the example of a string of entangled ions oscillating back and forth in an electric field trap, a bit like Newton’s balls. Measuring the state of the first ion injects energy into the system in the form of a phonon, a quantum of oscillation. Hotta says that performing the right kind of measurement on the last ion extracts this energy. Since this can be done at the speed of light (in principle), the phonon doesn’t travel across the intermediate ions so there is no heating of these ions. The energy has been transmitted without traveling across the intervening space. That’s teleportation.
Just how we might exploit the ability to teleport energy isn’t clear yet. Post your suggestions in the comments section if you have any.
But the really exciting stuff is the implications this has for the foundations of physics. Hotta says that his approach gives physicists a way of exploring the relationship between quantum information and quantum energy for the first time.
There is a growing sense that the properties of the universe are best described not by the laws that govern matter but by the laws that govern information. This appears to be true for the quantum world, is certainly true for special relativity, and is currently being explored for general relativity. Having a way to handle energy on the same footing may help to draw these diverse strands together.
Interesting stuff. There’s no telling where this kind of thinking might lead.
Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1002.0200: Energy-Entanglement Relation for Quantum Energy Teleportation

http://www.technologyreview.com/

Vacuum to Antimatter-Rocket Interstellar Explorer System (VARIES): A Proposed Program for an Interstellar Rendezvous and Return Architecture

July 17, 2012

Vacuum to Antimatter-Rocket Interstellar Explorer System (VARIES): A Proposed Program for an Interstellar Rendezvous and Return Architecture (9 pages)

H/T to Discovery Space News (Ian O'Neill) Using Lasers and Antimatter to Trek to the Stars.

While interstellar mission have been explored in the literature, one mission architecture has not received much attention, namely the interstellar rendezvous and return mission that could be accomplished on timescales comparable with a working scientist’s career. Such a mission would involve an initial boost phase followed by a coasting phase to the target system. Next would be the deceleration and rendezvous phase, which would be followed by a period of scientific data gathering. Finally, there would be a second boost phase, aimed at returning the spacecraft back to the solar system, and subsequent coasting and deceleration phases upon return to our solar system. Such a mission would represent a precursor to a future manned interstellar mission; which in principle could safely return any astronauts back to Earth.

In this paper a novel architecture is proposed that would allow for an unmanned interstellar rendezvous and return mission. The approach utilized for the Vacuum to Antimatter-Rocket Interstellar Explorer System (VARIES) would lead to system components and mission approaches that could be utilized for autonomous operation of other deep-space probes. Engineering solutions for such a mission will have a significant impact on future exploration and sample return missions for the outer planets. This paper introduces the general concept, with a mostly qualitative analysis. However, a full research program is introduced, and as this program progresses, more quantitative papers will be released.

VARIES Mk 1 design based on discussions of critical systems with project artist. Solar panels extract energy from the target star and power either quantum batteries or ultra powerful capacitors. These, in turn, power a laser which generates Schwinger antiparticle pairs from the vacuum, which are then stored for propulsion. (Adrian Mann)



This paper does not intend to be a blueprint to the VARIES concept, it is important to scope the realism of the concept. The goal of this research program is to construct a spacecraft architecture with the unique capability to create antiproton fuel from the vacuum of space itself, utilizing the phenomenon of Schwinger pair creation using intense electromagnetic fields. The mission architecture would be optimized for an interstellar rendezvous and return mission, which would lay the foundation for future manned missions by demonstrating the ability to return a spacecraft safely to our solar system after having visited a distant target solar system.

Recent experimental advances have raised hope that lasers may soon achieve field intensities on the order of the critical field intensity.

Recent research indicates that the Schwinger pair creation mechanism can be catalysed by introducing a strong amplification mechanism for pair production by a tunnel barrier suppression, while fully preserving the characteristics of the mechanism. This dynamically assisted mechanism suggests the possibility of significantly enhancing the pair creation rate.

There is confidence within the scientific community that, within the next decade, laser field intensities will reach the critical field intensity necessary for pair creation from the vacuum.

Magnetic Nozel

Pions formed from the annihilation of the protons and antiprotons will have to be directed for thrust, and so propulsion systems that need to be studied will include magnetic nozzles, which will, essentially, be high temperature superconducting magnets. The magnetic nozzle consists of a monoloop superconductor coil at a temperature of 100K. Previous modelling using this geometry has been performed for the VISTA study. Monte-Carlo modelling of the protonantiproton reaction has been used to determine the effective Isp of an antimatter rocket. These studies indicate that there is an imperfect reflection of the charged pions, with some particle travelling upstream of the nozzle due to the limited capabilities of the magnet to reflect the ions downstream for thrust. Clearly, perfection of the reflective properties of the magnet will be of value for increased specific impulse, and this should be investigated further.

The solar panel area required to generate 10 kg of antiprotons, over a period of 1 year, at a distance of 1 AU from the target star, with an energy conversion efficiency of only 0.01 is 2,088 square kilometers. This corresponds to a panel of side 45.7 km.

It would seem that getting closer than 1AU would be worthwhile.

There is a solar probe mission that is looking to get closer to the sun and get 250 times more sunlight per area. This would mean 16 times less size in height and width. About 3 km on a side panels.

Antimatter Storage

Howe and Smith, as part of a NASA Phase I study, investigated two possible high density antimatter storage concepts: first, the possible reduction of the antimatter annihilation at the walls of the antiprotons stored as non-neutral plasmas so as to increase the storage capacity, and second, storing antihydrogen as a neutral gas to achieve higher storage densities. They conclude that “Both of these concepts could enable systems with ultrahigh energy density to be developed. Proof of concept experiments have been designed and may be completed within the next few years.”

More recently, breakthroughs within the ALPHA project at CERN have demonstrated the confinement of antihydrogen for 1000 seconds, further adding to the feasibility of antimatter storage

Areas of Further Research

• The Schwinger pair creation mechanism
• Catalyzation of the pair mechanism for enhanced antimatter production rates
• The utilization of solar energy in the target solar system for pair creation
• System requirements for generating sufficiently powerful electric fields to initiate the Schwinger mechanism, and the associated mass of the driver system
• Selection and optimization of a high density antimatter storage system
• The evaluation of energy storage options, including quantum batteries
• Investigation into the possible utility of inflatable solar panel structures
• Investigation into the possible utility of the Oberth twoburn manoeuvre to increase Δv both for escape from our solar system, and the target solar system
• Communications
• Thermal load balancing
• Shielding from interstellar dust collisions
• Integration of an antimatter primary propulsion system




 

IRS' Lois Lerner gave confidential Tea Party tax info to FEC, violating law

By PAUL BEDARD | OCTOBER 31, 2013 AT 10:49 AM

Former IRS official Lois Lerner. AP Photo

The Internal Revenue Service shared highly confidential tax information of several Tea Party groups in the IRS scandal with the Federal Election Commission, a clear violation of federal law, according to newly obtained emails.
The public watchdog group Judicial Watch told Secrets Thursday that it was former scandal boss Lois Lerner who shared the information on groups including the American Future Fund and the American Issues Project.
The emails obtained by Judicial Watch show that the IRS, which was considering the tax status of the groups, gave the FEC the tax returns of the groups, including income, expenditures and staff pay. The emails also revealed the exact wording of the prying political questions the IRS wanted the groups to reveal, such as their goals and the requests for brochures and ads.

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The information, sent via email, to the FEC came in response to the organization’s questions about whether the IRS had granted tax-exempt status to the Tea Party groups. It is unclear how the information the IRS sent was going to help the FEC, since the IRS hadn’t determined the tax status of the groups yet.
The emails were produced to Judicial Watch last week by the FEC in response to an Aug. 9, 2013, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
The email chain began Feb. 3, 2009, when the FEC made it’s request to Lerner.
She emailed back 10 minutes later, and said: “I have sent your email out to some of my staff. Will get back to you as soon as I have heard from them.”
According to Judicial Watch, the materials “from the IRS’ files sent from Lerner to the FEC containing detailed, confidential information about the organizations. These include annual tax returns (Forms 990) and request for exempt recognition forms (Form 1024), Articles of Organization and other corporate documents, and correspondence between the nonprofit organizations and the IRS. Under Section 6013 of the Internal Revenue Code, it is a felony for an IRS official to disclose either ‘return information or ‘taxpayer return information,’ even to another government agency.”
Lerner, who was head of the unit deciding tax exempt status, quit in the scandal.
“These extensive emails and other materials provide a disturbing window into the activities of two out-of-control federal agencies: the IRS and FEC,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “And there is the very real question as to whether these documents evidence a crime.”
Paul Bedard, The Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com.

 http://washingtonexaminer.com/

Boeing Unveils Its Jumbo Killer

By Julie Johnsson October 10, 2013

Photograph by Ralph Orlowski/Bloomberg

Lufthansa announce ordering 59 wide-body Boeing Co. 777-9X aircraft in Frankfurt, Germany, on Sept. 19, 2013

(Corrects the units of thrust in the 11th paragraph and in the embedded graphic)

Boeing (BA) forever changed aviation in 1970 when it introduced its 747 jumbo jet, whose size and range revolutionized flying and became a cultural icon in the process. It’s since gone on to log orders for more than 1,500 of the humpbacked behemoth’s various models. But now the world’s No. 1 maker of commercial aircraft is poised to offer a model that may kill off its best-known creation.

Betting it can capture the operating economies of a huge plane in a smaller one, Boeing is undertaking a radical makeover of its smaller 777 jet that will be ready to take flight by decade’s end. The new 777X model will boast the biggest engines ever put on a plane, a record wingspan that can be shortened by having the tips fold up after landing, and lower operating costs. Cramming all this cost-saving technology into a smaller plane that operates with two engines—rather than the four needed by jumbos—could herald an end to the race to build ever-larger jets that’s driven much of modern aircraft design.
The 777X will be the first twin-engine jet able to ply long-haul routes with payloads comparable to the larger jumbos. That’s likely to accelerate airlines’ shift away from mammoth, four-engine fuel-guzzlers such as Boeing’s latest 747-8 and Airbus’s (EADSY) double-decker A380. “My assumption is the 747 is dead, or will be dead in a year or two,” says Adam Pilarski, senior vice president at aerospace consultant Avitas. Like the 747 four decades ago, he says, the 777X is aimed at a market segment where it lacks a direct rival and “may have a very good run.”

STORY: Why Boeing Is Buying Up Older 747s

The first model, the 777-9X, will be able to fly as far as 8,000 nautical miles with more than 400 passengers while burning 20 percent less fuel than the current 777, now the world’s biggest twin-engine jet. A second variant, carrying about 350 people, will follow and push the range past 9,400 nautical miles—far enough for a New York-Singapore nonstop flight. Experts expect airlines to approve. “It’s just very difficult to stop the compelling, strong economics of the big, long-range twin airplanes,” says John Plueger, president of Los Angeles-based jet lessor Air Lease (AL).

Even though Boeing’s board has yet to grant final approval for the plane’s launch, Boeing already has grabbed an $11 billion order from Lufthansa (LHA:GR) for 34 of the jets. Peter Arment, an analyst at Sterne, Agee & Leach, predicts the tally may reach “well over 100 orders” worth more than $34 billion at list prices after the plane’s expected unveiling at the Dubai Airshow in mid-November.
By rolling out an aircraft that will eliminate the need for a megajumbo at many airlines, Boeing may cannibalize sales ofits own 467-passenger 747-8, whose $356.9 million list price makes it the aircraft manufacturer’s most expensive model. George Ferguson, a senior analyst with Bloomberg Industries, says Boeing has little choice but to take that risk, since Airbus in 2014 is set to begin deliveries of its new midsize A350 widebody, which will compete head to head with the current 777. Explains Pilarski, a former executive at McDonnell Douglas, which Boeing bought in 1997: “If they continue with the status quo, the 777 will begin losing market share.”

STORY: Airbus Lands a Punch on Boeing With First Japan Deal

The 777 is the top-selling plane in Boeing’s lineup. Able to carry as many as 350 people, it lists for $320.2 million for the largest model, although discounts are common on all planes for launch customers and those ordering in bulk. The catalog price of the 777X, expected to be about $340 million based on Lufthansa’s order, hasn’t been made public.
Most airlines’ interest in jumbos cooled years ago. Boeing has won only 40 orders for the passenger version of the 747-8, which entered service in 2012, and has received none so far in 2013. Instead, Boeing has drawn far more excitement from customers over its much smaller (210 seats to 330 seats), super-efficient 787 Dreamliner. Still, Randy Tinseth, Boeing’s vice president for marketing, insists the 747 remains critical to the company’s goal of offering a range of products to satisfy demand for planes with 200 to 500 seats. “We’re bringing the 777X to the market eyes wide-open with how it will fit in the family,” he says. “We’re confident the 747-8 will be a great airplane to complement what we’re doing there.”

Airbus, a latecomer to the jumbo market with the A380’s 2007 arrival, defends its jet as being in “a totally different size and comfort category than the 777X,” says Senior Vice President Chris Emerson. Typically configured with seating in the low 400s to the low 500s, the A380 has amassed 259 orders, although none in 2013.

Boeing’s newest 777 will borrow the swept carbon-fiber wing developed for the 787 Dreamliner, expanding to a span of 233 feet, the largest ever on a Boeing commercial jet, according to Aspire Aviation, a Hong Kong-based consultant.
With the broader wing, the 777X will need 15 percent less thrust from its new General Electric (GE) engines than required on the current 777-300ER, even though the new plane will have 50 more seats. Each engine will produce 102,000 pounds of thrust, giving a 777X about as much propulsive power as five of Boeing’s pioneering four-engine 707s from the 1950s.
The biggest design breakthrough features relatively simple technology: a hydraulic actuator to fold the hinged wingtips after the jet lands. That will let the 777X dodge rules limiting jumbos to airports with specially widened taxiways and gates. Operating costs will be lower, since the wider wings would otherwise cause the planes “to take up two whole gates, and you’d have to pay for that proportionally,” says Hubert Horan, a former airline executive who’s now a Phoenix-based consultant.
Plueger says the 777-9X clearly heralds the end of the line for less-efficient, out-of-production versions of the 747, such as the jets that Lufthansa is replacing. “We see the 9X as an airplane that will finally serve the role of eliminating all of the remaining 747-400s out there,” he says.

 http://www.businessweek.com/

F-35 fighter jet: Why orders are up worldwide

F-35 fighter jet orders are picking up. Lockheed Martin expects more F-35 stealth fighter jet orders from Norway, Britain and Turkey by year end. South Korea is also interested. Singapore placed an order for a dozen F-35 jets in February.

By Andrea Shalal-Esa, Reuters / September 25, 2013 

Washington

• 

An F-35A Lightning II aircraft flies above the compass rose at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. in 2011. South Korea says it now prefers this jet over the Boeing F-15 Silent Eagle.

REUTERS/Paul Weatherman/Lockheed Martin/US Air Force/Handout via Reuters/Files

• In Pictures F-15 fighter jet
• In Pictures US military muscle

Lockheed Martin Corp , nearing completion of its 100th F-35 fighter jet, anticipates dozens of international orders or commitments for the new radar-evading warplane in coming months, according to U.S. government officials and industry executives.

The F-35 program got a boost on Tuesday when the South Korean government rejected a bid by Boeing Co to build 60 F-15SE warplanes, saying it needed a more advanced "fifth-generation" fighter.

It could take up to a year before South Korea completes the next round of its fighter competition, but Lockheed has set its sights on additional orders from Norway, Britain and Turkey before year's end. Experts said the phrasing of South Korea's statement indicated
Boeing had a slim chance of landing a deal.
And Singapore may announce an initial order of one dozen F-35 jets or more at the Singapore air show in February.

Military officials from the United States and eight other countries that helped fund development of the F-35 will meet in Istanbul this week to review progress on the fighter jet that will replace the popular F-16 and a dozen other warplanes now in use around the world, according to a Pentagon spokeswoman.
Moves by Russia and China to develop their own stealthy "fifth-generation" fighter jets have accelerated in recent years, underpinning demand for the F-35. The Pentagon's chief arms buyer this month described the F-35 as the top U.S. conventional weapons program.
Military experts use the term "fifth-generation" to refer to airplanes that have stealthy coatings and other features that make them largely invisible to enemy radars.
Lockheed is building three variants of the F-35 for the U.S. military, and the eight partner countries: Britain, Canada, Australia, Norway, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey and Denmark. Israel and Japan have also placed orders.
The company will complete building its 100th F-35 fighter plane next week.
The $392 billion F-35 program, the Pentagon's most expensive, has had a number of positive developments over the past year. The F-35 has traveled a long, rocky road that had triggered concerns it could suffer the same "death spiral" that ultimately slashed orders for Lockheed's F-22 fighter from 750 to 187.
Last week, the U.S. Air Force general who runs the F-35 program, said he no longer feared that outcome, given the strong commitment of the U.S. military services and foreign countries.
Air Force Lieutenant General Chris Bogdan said the F-35 was making slow but steady progress on lowering production costs, completing flight tests and resolving technical problems.
FOREIGN ORDERS FIRMING UP
After years of political wrangling, the Netherlands last week became the seventh foreign country to make a firm commitment to buy F-35s, joining Britain, Australia, Italy, Norway, Israel and Japan.
Norway is expected to order six more jets in December, its fourth order for the new warplane, according to one source familiar with the F-35 program.
Britain, which has spent $2 billion to help develop the F-35, will decide next month whether to proceed with the purchase of 14 additional B-model F-35s, which can take off from shorter runways and land like a helicopter.
The UK deal alone would be worth about $1.5 billion, according to a source familiar with the UK program.
The U.S. Marine Corps plans to start using the F-35B version of the new jet, the same one Britain plans to buy, in combat starting in mid-2015, while the U.S. Air Force has moved up plans to start using the conventional takeoff A-model to 2016.
In December or January, Turkey's Defense Industry Executive Committee is expected to approve an initial order of two jets out of the 100 F-35s it plans to buy over time to replace its aging fleet of F-4 Phantoms and early F-16s, according to a second source close to the program.
Japan, which is building a $1 billion final assembly and checkout facility for the F-35, plans to order four more F-35s in the fiscal year starting April 2014 as part of its overall order of 42 F-35 fighter jets to replace its F-4 fighters, according to budget documents.
Japan's Defence Ministry has requested 162.7 billion yen ($1.65 billion) to pay for four F-35s, provide aid to domestic manufacturers building F-35-related production lines, and related training equipment.
Japanese military officials were also considering moves to replace their older F-15 fighter jets, which would likely translate into significant additional F-35 orders in coming years, according to one source who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Meanwhile, Singapore was moving closer to formalizing plans for an initial order of F-35s, according to U.S. and industry officials, who say an announcement about a dozen or more jets could come at the Singapore air show in February.
Belgium, one of the original NATO partners to buy the F-16, is also considering buying the F-35, Reuters reported last week. although no decision was expected until late 2014 or early 2015.

 

A Chip In The Head: Brain Implants Will Be Connecting People To The Internet By The Year 2020

Michael Snyder
The American Dream
October 30, 2013
Would you like to surf the Internet, make a phone call or send a text message using only your brain?  Would you like to “download” the content of a 500 page book into your memory in less than a second?  Would you like to have extremely advanced nanobots constantly crawling around in your body monitoring it for disease?  Would you like to be able to instantly access the collective knowledge base of humanity wherever you are? 

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

All of that may sound like science fiction, but these are technologies that some of the most powerful high tech firms in the world actually believe are achievable by the year 2020.  However, with all of the potential “benefits” that such technology could bring, there is also the potential for great tyranny.  Just think about it.  What do you think that the governments of the world could do if almost everyone had a mind reading brain implant that was connected to the Internet?  Could those implants be used to control and manipulate us?  Those are frightening things to consider.
For now, most of the scientists that are working on brain implant technology do not seem to be too worried about those kinds of concerns.  Instead, they are pressing ahead into realms that were once considered to be impossible.
Right now, there are approximately 100,000 people around the world that have implants in their brains.  Most of those are for medical reasons.
But this is just the beginning.  According to the Boston Globe, the U.S. government plans “to spend more than $70 million over five years to jump to the next level of brain implants”.
This new project is being called the Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies (SUBNETS), and the goal is to be able to monitor the “mental health” of soldiers and veterans.  The following is how a recent CNET article described SUBNETS…

SUBNETS is inspired by Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), a surgical treatment that involves implanting a brain pacemaker in the patient’s skull to interfere with brain activity to help with symptoms of diseases like epilepsy and Parkinson’s. DARPA’s device will be similar, but rather than targeting one specific symptom, it will be able to monitor and analyse data in real time and issue a specific intervention according to brain activity.

This kind of technology is being developed by the private sector as well.  In fact, according to Scientific American scientists are becoming increasingly excited about how brain implants can be used to “reboot” the brains of people with depression…

Psychological depression is more than an emotional state. Good evidence for that comes from emerging new uses for a  technology already widely prescribed for Parkinson’s patients. The more neurologists and surgeons learn about the aptly named deep brain stimulation, the more they are convinced that the currents from the technology’s implanted electrodes can literally reboot brain circuits involved with the mood disorder.

Would you like to have your brain “rebooted” by a chip inside your head?
And of course this is how brain implants will be marketed to the public at first.  They will be sold as something that has great “health benefits”.  For example, one firm has developed a brain implant that can detect and treat epileptic seizures…

The NeuroPace RNS is the first implant to listen to brain waves and autonomously decide when to apply a therapy to prevent an epileptic seizure. It was developed by a company with a staff of less than 90 people, only about 30 on the core electronic, mechanical, and software engineering teams.

A different team of researchers has discovered that it can stimulate the repair of brain tissue in rats using brain implants…

Stroke and Parkinson’s Disease patients may benefit from a controversial experiment that implanted microchips into lab rats. Scientists say the tests produced effective results in brain damage research.
Rats showed motor function in formerly damaged gray matter after a neural microchip was implanted under the rat’s skull and electrodes were transferred to the rat’s brain. Without the microchip, rats with damaged brain tissue did not have motor function. Both strokes and Parkinson’s can cause permanent neurological damage to brain tissue, so this scientific research brings hope.

Most of us won’t need brain implants for medical reasons though.
So how will they be marketed to the rest of us?
Well, what if you were told that they could give you “super powers”?
Would you want a brain implant then?
The following is a short excerpt from a recent Scientific American article…

Our world is determined by the limits of our five senses. We can’t hear pitches that are too high or low, nor can we see ultraviolet or infrared light—even though these phenomena are not fundamentally different from the sounds and sights that our ears and eyes can detect. But what if it were possible to widen our sensory boundaries beyond the physical limitations of our anatomy? In a study published recently inNature Communications, scientists used brain implants to teach rats to “see” infrared light, which they usually find invisible. The implications are tremendous: if the brain is so flexible it can learn to process novel sensory signals, people could one day feel touch through prosthetic limbs, see heat via infrared light or even develop a sixth sense for magnetic north.

And some very prominent Internet firms simply take it for granted that most of us will eventually have brain implants that connect us directly to the Internet…

Google has a plan. Eventually it wants to get into your brain. “When you think about something and don’t really know much about it, you will automatically get information,” Google CEO Larry Page said in Steven Levy’s book, “In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works and Shapes Our Lives.” “Eventually you’ll have an implant, where if you think about a fact, it will just tell you the answer.”

At this point you might be thinking that this will never happen because getting a brain implant is a very complicated and expensive procedure.



Well, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal, that is not actually true.  In fact, the typical procedure is very quick and often only requires just an overnight stay in the hospital…

Neural implants, also called brain implants, are medical devices designed to be placed under the skull, on the surface of the brain. Often as small as an aspirin, implants use thin metal electrodes to “listen” to brain activity and in some cases to stimulate activity in the brain. Attuned to the activity between neurons, a neural implant can essentially “listen” to your brain activity and then “talk” directly to your brain.
If that prospect makes you queasy, you may be surprised to learn that the installation of a neural implant is relatively simple and fast. Under anesthesia, an incision is made in the scalp, a hole is drilled in the skull, and the device is placed on the surface of the brain. Diagnostic communication with the device can take place wirelessly. When it is not an outpatient procedure, patients typically require only an overnight stay at the hospital.

In the future, the minds of most people could potentially be connected to the Internet 24 hours a day.  Imagine sending an email or answering your phone by just thinking about it.  According to the New York Times, this is where we are eventually heading…

Soon, we might interact with our smartphones and computers simply by using our minds. In a couple of years, we could be turning on the lights at home just by thinking about it, or sending an e-mail from our smartphone without even pulling the device from our pocket. Farther into the future, your robot assistant will appear by your side with a glass of lemonade simply because it knows you are thirsty.
Researchers in Samsung’s Emerging Technology Lab are testing tablets that can be controlled by your brain, using a cap that resembles a ski hat studded with monitoring electrodes, the MIT Technology Review, the science and technology journal of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, reported this month.
The technology, often called a brain computer interface, was conceived to enable people with paralysis and other disabilities to interact with computers or control robotic arms, all by simply thinking about such actions. Before long, these technologies could well be in consumer electronics, too.

So how far away is such technology?
According to a Computer World UK article, Intel believes that they will have Internet-connected brain implants in people’s heads by the year 2020…

By the year 2020, you won’t need a keyboard and mouse to control your computer, say Intel researchers. Instead, users will open documents and surf the web using nothing more than their brain waves.
Scientists at Intel’s research lab in Pittsburgh are working to find ways to read and harness human brain waves so they can be used to operate computers, television sets and cell phones. The brain waves would be harnessed with Intel-developed sensors implanted in people’s brains.
The scientists say the plan is not a scene from a sci-fi movie, Big Brother won’t be planting chips in your brain against your will. Researchers expect that consumers will want the freedom they will gain by using the implant.

And that would only be the tip of the iceberg.  Futurist Ray Kurzweil is actually convinced that we will all eventually have hordes of nanobots running around our bodies monitoring our health and looking for disease…

‘Bridge two (is) the biotechnology revolution, where we can reprogram biology away from disease.
‘And that is not the end-all either.
‘Bridge three is to go beyond biology, to the nanotechnology revolution.
‘At that point we can have little robots, sometimes called nanobots, that augment your immune system.
‘We can create an immune system that recognizes all disease, and if a new disease emerged, it could be reprogrammed to deal with new pathogens.’
Such robots, according to Kurzweil, will help fight diseases, improve health and allow people to remain active for longer.

Are you ready for this kind of a future?
These technologies are being developed right now, and they will be enthusiastically adopted by a large segment of the general public.
At some point in the future, having a brain implant may be as common as it is to use a smart phone today.
And of course the mainstream media will be telling all of us how wonderful it is to have a brain implant.  If you doubt this, just check out the following NBC News report where we are all told that we can expect to have microchip implants by the year 2017…

 http://www.infowars.com/

Forbes: White House Predicted in 2010 That 93 Million Would Lose Their Health Plans Under ObamaCare

By Noel Sheppard | October 31, 2013 | 10:20

To counter accusations that the President lied when he repeatedly told Americans they can keep their health insurance plans if they liked them, the administration has claimed that he was referring to the millions of people covered by their employers.
An article from Forbes Thursday thoroughly refutes this claiming that Obama officials back in 2010 predicted that 93 million Americans would have their plans cancelled as a result of ObamaCare including a vast amount of those with employer-sponsored plans:

If you read the Affordable Care Act when it was passed, you knew that it was dishonest for President Obama to claim that “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan,” as he did—and continues to do—on countless occasions. And we now know that the administration knew this all along. It turns out that in an obscure report buried in a June 2010 edition of the Federal Register, administration officials predicted massive disruption of the private insurance market. [...]
[T]he administration’s commentary in the Federal Register did not only refer to the individual market, but also the market for employer-sponsored health insurance.
Section 1251 of the Affordable Care Act contains what’s called a “grandfather” provision that, in theory, allows people to keep their existing plans if they like them. But subsequent regulations from the Obama administration interpreted that provision so narrowly as to prevent most plans from gaining this protection.
“The Departments’ mid-range estimate is that 66 percent of small employer plans and 45 percent of large employer plans will relinquish their grandfather status by the end of 2013,” wrote the administration on page 34552. All in all, more than half of employer-sponsored plans will lose their “grandfather status” and get canceled. According to the Congressional Budget Office, 156 million Americans—more than half the population—was covered by employer-sponsored insurance in 2013.

As we found out from Lisa Myers' report Monday, the administration predicted that between 47 and 60 percent of individually-purchased policies would be cancelled under ObamaCare.
Forbes did the math to calculate a total:

51 percent of the employer-based market plus 53.5 percent of the non-group market (the middle of the administration’s range) amounts to 93 million Americans.

What this means is that not only did Obama lie when he repeatedly told Americans that they can keep their plans if they like them, he also lied in Boston on Wednesday when he said he was referring to the majority of Americans coverered by their employers.
Will media report this?
Stay tuned?
(HT Twitchy)

About the Author

Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Click here to follow Noel Sheppard on Twitter.

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