Bin Laden purportedly issues new statement

Bin Laden purportedly issues new statement: "Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden purportedly issued another statement Wednesday, saying U.S. policy in Pakistan has generated 'new seeds of hatred and revenge against America.'

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(Via CNN.com.)

Chunk of crashed Air France jet found

Chunk of crashed Air France jet found: "Searchers found a 23-foot-long piece of the crashed Air France jet in a new debris field about 56 miles south of an earlier discovery, the Brazilian Air Force said today. A huge oil slick also was spotted. Eleven aircraft and five ships are searching the area. No survivors are expected, officials have said.

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(Via CNN.com.)

Skunk Works Flies Plastic Plane

Skunk Works Flies Plastic Plane: "

It looks like a Dornier 328JET. It was a Dornier 328JET - but not all of it still is. Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works has just flown the Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA), built for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. The aircraft made its first flight on Tuesday from Palmdale's Plant 42.

Photo: Lockheed Martin

You have to look closely to see that the ACCA has a new fuselage, from the flightdeck aft, and a new vertical tail. The cockpit, wing and engines are straight from the original jet. The new wider fuselage, which includes a rear loading ramp, and raised tail are totally new.

ACCA is'designed to demonstrate'that large carbonfiber composite structures,'produced using'out-of-autoclave'processing, can dramatically reduce the cost of building a transport aircraft. It is part of technology work at AFRL to pave the way for the Air Force's next tactical airlifter, wherever than might happen.

A previous Ares blog including descriptions of the structural technology and pictures of ACCA in build.

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(Via Ares.)

The KillerBee in Paris

The KillerBee in Paris: "

I'll be interviewing Raytheon on June 16 in Paris about the KillerBee unmanned aerial vehicle. The company has a big unmanned systems brief scheduled that morning and then I hope to bring you some photos of the mock-up that will be on site as well as a one-on-one with program leads. Here's a promotional film the company released on a possible scenario for the UAV:

Northrop Grumman acquired the KillerBee line of UAVs from Swift Engineering this spring, renaming it the Bat. Swift has already teamed with Raytheon to offer the KillerBee for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps' Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (STUAS)/Tier II program. Northrop Grumman licensed Raytheon to offer the Bat for STUAS and other programs.

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(Via Ares.)