Hasta La Gadget!

The first US-based 787 carrier is inching closer to its Dreamliner service launch. United Airlines celebrated the plane’s rollout today at Boeing’s Everett, Washington factory. The aircraft, which is set to begin international service later this year, received a custom livery, which includes a curved “swoop” — which oddly enough appears to be the focus of design chatter. That may just be because the public has yet to take a peek inside, though we did have an opportunity to hitch a ride on ANA’s variant last year, which has been flying throughout Japan since late 2011. Despite All Nippon’s head start, United’s flavor has garnered much attention domestically, marking a massive milestone in the Dreamliner’s delayed launch. Hit up our source link below for a few more (exterior) views, courtesy of United.

Filed under: Transportation

United 787 Dreamliner emerges from Boeing factory, complete with golden head-to-tail ‘swoop’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 23:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days.

Whether you’ve got your head in the clouds, or your feet firmly locked on terra firma (or is that terrorist firma?) the last seven days in Alt have something for you. We look at a massive aircraft, that could revolutionize air travel as we know it, as well as look back at a real-world project that heralded a significant shift even further up in the sky. There’s the NASA logo that never came to be, and lastly, for those less fond of heights, we hear how a US government department is heading in the other direction — albeit culturally — all in the fight against terror. This is alt-week.

Continue reading Alt-week 7.21.12: Outer space, flying hotels and federal trolls

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Science, Internet

Alt-week 7.21.12: Outer space, flying hotels and federal trolls originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Jul 2012 14:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The AGM-114 Hellfire Missile packs a hell of a punch. However, at over five feet long with a 20-pound warhead, it’s simply too big to fit on many UAVs, and it’s too destructive for military’s new targeted strike policy. So rather than let all those potential missile platforms go to waste, Raytheon just built a smaller bomb. More »

BAE Systems’ ASTRAEA isn’t a new concept — the company’s been playing up its unmanned potential for quite some time now — but it’s all seeming entirely less pie-in-the-sky now that the Farnborough Airshow has kicked off. Typically, UAVs are thought to be smaller, drone-type apparatuses; these things are typically used in military exercises where remote gunfire or reconnaissance is required. Clearly, it’s about time someone asked the obvious: “Why?” Lambert Dopping-Hepenstal, Engineering Director Systems and Strategy, Military Air and Information at BAE and ASTRAEA Program Director recently spoke at the aforesaid event, noting that this particular aircraft could “open up a new market.” He continued: “Current search and rescue aircraft are limited by human endurance, however with a UAV there’s no reason why they can’t stay up for weeks.” Sadly, he also affirmed that there aren’t any plans to ship actual humans up in the air without a pilot onboard, but if you’re rich and mettlesome enough to pull it off yourself… well, be sure to send us the video. Also, Godspeed.

Filed under: Transportation

BAE Systems speaks about unmanned ASTRAEA: no reason it can’t stay in air ‘for weeks’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Jul 2012 01:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We spend hundreds of hours on board a variety of airplanes each year, most often en-route to a trade show or product launch event, but occasionally we have a rare opportunity to hop on board military aircraft, to test out unrelated products, or, even more unusually, to take a seat behind the yoke. Sadly that’s not what we’re doing today — well, not exactly. We are taking a closer look at the F-35 fighter jet at Lockheed Martin’s Fighter Demonstration Center just outside our nation’s capital, but, being in the middle of a corporate complex, there’s no actual Lightning II on hand. We were able to take a simulated ride, however — this isn’t your ordinary 4D sickness-inducing amusement park thrill. The F-35 is by far the most advanced Lockheed jet to date, with updated radar, all-internal weapons, improved tracking systems, 360-degree infrared coverage with a visor readout, and a full-stealth design, not to mention the incredibly capable glass cockpit powered by more than 9.3 million lines of software code, and an overall smoother experience for pilots that could end up spending shifts of 12 hours or longer in flight.

The F-35 has already seen plenty of field time in the US, with more than 500 flights already in 2012, and it’s set to make its way to the UK armed forces next week and the Netherlands later this year, but while the aircraft is quite familiar to the pilots tasked with flying it, the public hasn’t had an opportunity to experience Lockheed’s latest airborne warrior. We flew a simulated mission within a grounded duplicate of the flyable F-35 cockpit, and the capabilities and improvements are quite clear — you definitely don’t want to encounter an F-35 from a previous-generation aircraft. The dual 8 x 10-inch touch-enabled displays combine to give you 8 x 20 inches of real estate, with dedicated modules for the weapons systems, targeting, and navigation easily accessible — you can also move them to different panels depending on your current objective. A pair of joysticks at the left and right side provide direct access, letting you move a cursor to track enemy crafts or ground-based targets as well, and a very slick heads-up-display mounted in the helmet provides infrared mapping and instrument readouts. Overall, it seems to be an incredibly powerful system. Unfortunately, the mock-up on display here isn’t accessible to the public, but you can join us for a behind-the-scenes look just after the break.

Continue reading Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter cockpit demonstrator hands-on (video)

Filed under: Displays, Misc. Gadgets, Transportation

Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter cockpit demonstrator hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 15:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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