Robots and Aircrafts I

Lately, robots and sleath fighter aircrafts have been attracting my intellect, thereby making me aware of the developments in their respective fields. Owing to the magnitude of each, I will be posting 2 separate posts pertaining to each. Presently, as aircrafts are hovering around in my cerebral region, I will discuss them.

A 103 years after the Wright brothers made their first "controlled, powered, heavier-than-air" flight, aircrafts have evolved phenomenally in power, design and agility. Defense aircrafts such as the F/A - 22 Raptor and the B-2 Spirit are touted as the dramatic leap forward in technology, considering the mesmerizing features they sport, I will agree hands down. F/A - 22 Raptor, the aricraft envisioned as the ultimate air superiority fighter, is equipped for ground attack, electronics attack and signals intelligence. According to a National Geographic interview, Raptor is so fast that it will pass over the adversary aircraft even before it appears on the radar. In the interview, the army test pilot refers to it as "the mighty duck", the concept behind it being that a normal flying duck will get shot easily by the hunter, but this particular duck is so fast that it will get away before the hunter can even lock his aim on it. The B-2 Spirit aircraft is equally evolutionary.

In the commercial airplane industry, Boeing and Airbus are the largest aircraft manufacturers, with revenues of $52.4 billion and $34.4 billion respectively. Boeing has 49% of orders for civil aircrafts and it is also the second largest defense contractor. Another interesting air-wonder is the Tilt Rotor aircraft that is capable of vertical take-offs. It has the speed of a normal turboprep airplane and uses rotating propellors for lift and propulsion. Due to a shady history of the Tilt Rotor aircraft, it is under experimentation and is not commercially used.

National Geographic (December, 2003) has a stack of defense and commercial aircrafts' photographs. The close-up shots of the F/A - 22 and B-2 are particularly nice.

- AG.