Tag Archive for: Jet

Jet stream will get faster as climate change continues, study finds

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Jet stream will get faster as climate change continues, study finds
Jet streams circulate around the world. A new study finds fast jet stream winds (those in dark red) will get even faster over time as climate change accelerates. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

A new study in Nature Climate Change takes one of the first deep dives into how climate change will affect the fastest jet streams—the powerful, narrow winds in the upper atmosphere that steer much of the Earth’s weather systems and are connected to outbreaks of severe weather.

The research, by UChicago Prof. Tiffany Shaw and National Center for Atmospheric Research scientist Osamu Miyawaki, suggests that as the world warms, the fastest upper-level jet stream winds will get faster and faster—by about 2% for every degree Celsius the world warms. Furthermore, the fastest winds will speed up 2.5 times faster than the average wind.

“Based on these results and our current understanding, we expect record-breaking winds,” said Shaw, “and it’s likely that they will feed into decreased flight times, increased clear-air turbulence and a potential increase in severe weather occurrence.”

Wind, weather and warming

Partly prompted by recent news reports of speed-record-breaking flights over the Atlantic, Shaw and Miyawaki began to investigate and realized there had been very little exploration of how the very fastest jet stream winds would respond to climate change.

To fill this gap, they combined climate change models with what we know about the physics of jet streams.

Jet streams usually move from west to east around the globe in the upper atmosphere, about six miles (10 kilometers) above us. We know that jet streams strongly influence the weather we experience on the ground—especially air temperature, winds and weather patterns, and storms. They also influence the occurrence of severe storms, tornadoes, hail and severe wind.

Jet streams form because of the contrast between the cold, dense air at the poles and the warm, light air in the tropics, in combination with the rotation of the Earth. (This was first shown in…

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Kratos, Oklahoma Elected Officials Celebrate Completion of 100th MQM-178 Firejet High-Performance Jet Drone System at Oklahoma City Aircraft Manufacturing Facility

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SAN DIEGO, April 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: KTOS), a Technology Company in the Defense, National Security and Global Markets and an industry-leading provider of high-performance, jet-powered unmanned aerial systems, joined by Oklahoma Secretary of Military and Veterans Affairs John Nash, Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Representative Tom Cole (R-OK-4), and Representative Stephanie Bice (R-OK-5), today celebrated the 100th MQM-178 Firejet high-performance jet powered target drone aircraft produced at the Kratos Unmanned aircraft manufacturing facility in Oklahoma City.

Kratos MQM-178 Firejet on Launcher is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2e145536-3598-438a-95f7-ce0daec7d453

With primary customers including the United States Air Force, Navy, and Army, as well as foreign ally militaries, the Kratos Unmanned Systems Division opened this manufacturing facility in November 2018 to accommodate the existing and increasing demand for its newest line of high performance, jet-powered unmanned aerial tactical drone and target drone systems.

Today, the Kratos Unmanned Oklahoma City aircraft manufacturing facility is fully operational with two major drone aircraft systems in rate production, plus prototype production of a third system. The Kratos Unmanned Oklahoma City aircraft manufacturing facility is home to the MQM-178 Firejet, which first rolled off the production line in Oklahoma in April 2019 and is produced in high quantities monthly/annually today, in both a target and tactical system configuration. The XQ-58A Valkyrie, a high-performance tactical UAV capable of long-range flights at high-subsonic speeds, currently under contract with multiple Department of Defense customers, is also produced at the Kratos Oklahoma manufacturing facility. Kratos is also in prototype production of an additional, high performance tactical drone system at the Oklahoma facility.

Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie Ready for Flight is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/86419ba2-a560-4328-8b8b-b2087abe3c18

Including production at the Oklahoma City facility, Kratos today manufactures approximately 150…

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Five vengeful ways US could hit back after Russia fighter jet downs Reaper drone

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RUSSIA and the US are facing a crisis after a Russian fighter jet brought down a US reaper drone.

The incident over the Black Sea marks the first time since the height of the Cold War that an American aircraft has been brought down by the Russians.

And the US has warned it could escalate into war as fears of miscalculation are now looming over Putin’s bloody war in Ukraine.

The drone was taken down while flying over the Black Sea near Russian occupied Crimea – close to the current frontline.

US officials said the Russian Su-27 jet struck the propeller of the MQ-9 Reaper drone resulting in it crash landing in the sea and its loss.

Prior to the collision, which happened at 7am local time, two Su-27s had “dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9” in a “reckless” and “unprofessional” manner.

Horrified US military personnel in Germany watched a live feed from the drone as the Russian jets repeatedly flew around it, dumping fuel to damage cameras and sensors, reported New York Times.

Senior US officials have been worried for months that some sort of incident over the Black Sea could lead to a miscommunication and confrontation.

And predictably, the Russians denied everything – instead claiming the Reaper crashed due to a mistake by the pilot.

But what are the options for the US should they wish to respond to the Russians?

MISSILE STRIKES

The most direct form of retaliation – and of course the most dangerous – would be a direct attack on Russian targets.

It was a course of action contemplated by Donald Trump back in 2019 when the Iranians shot down a US surveillance drone with a missile.

The president had reportedly initially approved attacks on a handful of Iranian targets, like radar and missile batteries.

But despite saying the US has been “cocked and loaded” to attack he called off the strike with 10 minutes to spare after being told that the airstrike might kill as many as 150 people.

But unlike the Iranian incident, the US appear to be chalking up this drone drama to reckless accident rather than a deliberate aggressive action.

So this lowers the chances of Washington taking military action in response.

Also – any attack on the Russian military risks the…

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U.S. Warns of Imminent Russian Invasion of Ukraine With Tanks, Jet Fighters, Cyberattacks

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President Biden said Friday he is convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine and that he expects an attack in the coming days, with targets including the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

U.S. officials said a Russian attack could involve a broad combination of jet fighters, tanks, ballistic missiles and cyberattacks, with the ultimate intention of rendering Ukraine’s leadership powerless.

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