March 3, 2024 | International, Aerospace
Thailand’s Air Force unveils new wish list, eyeing new jets and drones
Counter-drone systems and new fighter jets are also among the most pressing concerns.
December 7, 2020 | International, Naval
Norfolk Naval Shipyard can go ahead with power and steam plant, state air quality regulators say
By DAVE RESS
DAILY PRESS |
DEC 04, 2020 AT 5:14 PM
Norfolk Naval Shipyard can proceed with plans to build a plant to supply the steam and most of the electricity it uses, the State Air Pollution Control Board ruled.
The board found that the new facility would not boost pollutants — including sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide — above air-quality standards.
Its staff analyses also found increased emissions of those chemicals would not be significant, although the board staff did note that increases in very small particulate matter would be significant.
The shipyard wants to install two natural gas-powered turbines, each capable of generating 7 megawatts of electricity, as well as a boilers, heat-recovery generators and one 2.4 megwatt steam turbine.
The $30 million project would allow the yard to generate its own steam, instead of purchasing it from the nearby Wheelabrator plant. The plant also would supply most of the electricity the yard now receives from Dominion Energy.
James Boyd, president of the Portsmouth branch of the NAACP, said the project would add pollutants to the already bad air, raising serious environmental justice concerns.
In a letter to the board, he also said forecasts of emissions miscalculated totals, by reporting pollutant totals from one gas turbine and one burner from the steam generator, instead of calculating the total of all the turbines were operating.
University of Richmond geography professor Mary Finley-Brook noted that the shipyard is a Superfund site, which means its neighbors are more vulnerable to harm from emissions.
Finley-Brook said the assessment of impact on community health was inadequate.
A study for the board by two Massachusetts-based PhD toxicologists said air currently is safe and new plant would not change that, while board staff said air quality in the area had improved over the past 20 years.
Chesapeake Bay Foundation executive director Peggy Sanner said she is disappointed that the board did not require monitoring and reporting of actual emissions from the plant, once it is operating, in 2022.
“There are serious environmental justice concerns around building a new fossil fuel plant in this predominantly African-American community, which is overwhelmed by health risks from industrial pollution, she said, adding " Portsmouth residents already live near high concentrations of toxic waste at the nine Superfund sites within a 15-mile radius.”
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July 6, 2020 | International, Aerospace
GE Gets Contract for First Batch of F-15EX Engines
July 1, 2020 | By John A. Tirpak General Electric received a $101.4 million contract for the first batch of engines to power the F-15EX fighter being acquired by the Air Force, according to a June 30 notice from the Pentagon. The sole-source contract buys and installs F110-GE-129s plus spares, but USAF didn't specify how many engines are being acquired in the action. The engines are to be delivered by Nov. 30, 2022. This first batch of F-15EX engines is being procured sole-source because of “an unusual and compelling urgency acquisition,” according to the announcement. The GE engine is the only one certified for the F-15Q, which the F-15EX is based, and competition was waived on this batch in order to expedite testing of the F-15EX. Subsequent buys of F-15EX engines, however, will be open to competition, the Air Force said in May. In February, Pratt & Whitney—now part of Raytheon Technologies—protested an early decision to just buy the F110 powerplant for the whole F-15EX fleet, and the Air Force in March dropped its plan to use the GE engine exclusively. The service will need up to 461 new engines to power as many as 144 F-15EX fighters. Pratt is planning to offer its F100-229 engine, but would have to certify the engine for the “Advanced F-15” at its own cost. The Air Force said testing can take place “concurrently” with production. No obstacles are seen to integration of the Pratt engine. The company noted it is the “exclusive propulsion system for USAF's entire fleet of operational F-15s.” The service wants up to six competed engines to be delivered per month, with the first deliveries in 2023. https://www.airforcemag.com/ge-gets-contract-for-first-batch-of-f-15ex-engines
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January 9, 2020 | International, C4ISR
Here are the network technologies the Army wants for 2023
By: Mark Pomerleau The Army is outlining specific technology areas that it wants industry to explore for its tactical network capabilities. The Army's incremental “capability set” build seeks to add capabilities to the network every two years beginning in 2021. Technologies in this area should enhance network capacity, resiliency and convergence solutions that are available for demonstration and experimentation. The Army issued a call for white papers to the C5 Consortium Jan. 6 for technology areas it wants to insert into the 2023 tactical network, according to an Army release. This follows a briefing to industry in Austin, Texas, in November when the Army provided what it thinks its vision is for capabilities in that build. Specific technology areas outlined by the Army include: Managed multi-orbit (Low Earth Orbit/Medium Earth Orbit/Geostationary Equatorial Orbit) satellite Communications services for forces — the Army is interested in managed services to mitigate bandwidth challenges associated with increased terminals for communications services where existing services are lacking. C4ISR/electronic warfare modular open suite of standards (CMOSS) compliant satellite communications modem, next generation blue force tracking and radio waveforms — the Army wants open source standards to converge hardware on a common platform. Non-propriety open suite of consolidated tools for unified network operations — the Army is looking for a smaller suite of tools to assist in planning, installation, managing, fault detection, communication restoral, analysis, security and data collection of the network. Segregation of data by identity access and management enabling multi-level security with mission partners — the Army wants an unclassified software solution in the prototype phase that can be used in the Mission Partner Environment, a network used by the military and coalition partners, that will include a reliable, protected and configurable network. Hardened network transport and reduced electronic signature for command post and mounted formations — the Army is interested in mitigating vulnerabilities that impact command post survivability and network resiliency by developing countermeasures within the electromagnetic spectrum. Optimizing compute, storage and applications on a distributed computing architecture to automate data tagging, synchronization, containerize services and efficiency of compute resources — the Army is looking for a common data fabric to reduce stovepipes, enable automation and improve data context for decision-makers. The Army will evaluated the technical solutions submitted and select contractors to participate in a no-cost technology demonstration, which could lead to a prototype supporting experimentation, the release said. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/2020/01/08/here-are-the-technologies-the-army-wants-for-2023/