MAROKO133 Hot ai: US F-35 jets closer to getting high-speed missiles built for stealth gro

📌 MAROKO133 Eksklusif ai: US F-35 jets closer to getting high-speed missiles built

Northrop Grumman and the US Air Force have completed a major flight test of the Stand-In Attack Weapon, or SiAW, marking a step forward in the service’s effort to field a new air-to-ground missile designed for modern high-threat environments.

The recent test involved releasing the weapon from an F-16 fighter jet to assess safe separation, aerodynamics, and flight behavior. 

Although the Air Force plans to deploy the missile primarily on fifth-generation platforms such as the F-35, validating separation on the F-16 provides engineers with data needed to model performance across multiple aircraft.

Testing a new missile with an F-16

Program officials described the test as a critical milestone that demonstrates the missile’s design maturity and brings the Air Force closer to fielding a new strike capability tailored for contested airspace.

“The separation test of SiAW from the F-16 is intended to provide the United States Air Force validation of the weapon’s safe separation characteristics and also generate invaluable data for optimizing its performance,” said Col. Gary E. Roos, senior materiel leader for the Adaptive Weapons Division at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center. 

“The results can reinforce SiAW’s ability to provide a critical advantage to warfighters in the face of evolving threats.”

Chuck Johnson, Northrop Grumman’s vice president for advanced weapons, said the successful test highlights the team’s progress toward delivering a new precision-strike option to front-line units.

“This milestone is a key step forward for the SiAW program,” Johnson said. “With the insights from the separation test, we will continue missile development and ultimately deliver a critical capability to the warfighter. Our work ensures the US Air Force will have a highly survivable precision strike weapon that will meet current and future mission needs.”

High-speed missile

The SiAW missile is being designed to attack rapidly relocatable, high-value targets inside heavily defended territory. 

The weapon is intended to help pilots penetrate anti-access/area-denial networks, layers of air defenses, sensors, and command nodes that near-peer adversaries use to restrict US air operations.

Although some reports have described SiAW as a hypersonic system, Northrop Grumman has not confirmed its speed. 

The company has said, however, that the missile is being engineered to strike time-sensitive threats under highly challenging conditions.

SiAW incorporates digital engineering tools and a Weapon Open System Architecture, enabling the Air Force and industry partners to upgrade subsystems more quickly than in traditional missile programs. 

Engineers say this approach will help the service adapt to fast-changing battlefield requirements and extend the weapon’s relevance over time.

F-35 integration

The program is currently in Phase 2 of development, part of a Middle Tier Acquisition pathway meant to accelerate the fielding of new capabilities. The Air Force is targeting an initial operational capability as early as 2026.

Phase 2 is divided into two major increments. Phase 2.1 will culminate in a guided flight test of the weapon. Phase 2.2 calls for three additional flight tests and the delivery of prototype missiles and test assets that the Air Force can retain for further evaluation.

Northrop Grumman plans to integrate SiAW onto the F-35 once developmental testing progresses, giving the stealth fighter a new strike option against mobile missile launchers, jammers, command posts, and other high-priority targets.

The missile program forms part of Northrop Grumman’s broader advanced-weapons portfolio, which includes armaments, missiles, interceptors, and electronic systems. 

The company says SiAW will contribute to a layered strike capability designed to counter sophisticated threats from near-peer competitors.

The Air Force sees SiAW as a key component of its future arsenal, intended to operate in contested environments where rapid engagement, precision, and survivability are essential. 

With separation testing now complete, engineers will shift to more advanced flight evaluations as the missile moves toward operational readiness.

🔗 Sumber: interestingengineering.com

📌 MAROKO133 Eksklusif ai: Mysterious Interstellar Object Now Approaching Earth Har

For months now, astronomers have been closely watching the mysterious interstellar object 3I/ATLAS as it rips through the solar system at a breakneck velocity.

And before it finally leaves us for good, the object — which is broadly believed to be a comet, in spite of other theories that we’ll get to in a minute — is expected to make its closest approach to Earth in just over a week from now, coming within just 167 million miles. While that’s still roughly 1.5 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun, nearby spacecraft are already making the most out of the opportunity.

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured images of the unusual visitor on November 30 when it was just 178 million miles away, follow-up observations after the telescope spotted the object back in July. Using its Wide Field Camera 3 instrument, Hubble revealed 3I/ATLAS’ coma, the fuzzy atmosphere of ice and dust surrounding its nucleus, in the form of an ominous blue glow.

“3I/ATLAS will pass closest to Earth on December 19, 2025,” explained Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, who has long championed the far-fetched theory that the object may be an alien spacecraft, on his blog. “Fortunately, this date coincides with a new Moon when the view of the sky will not be contaminated by moonlight, making it an ideal observing night for Earth-based telescopes.”

“My hope,” he added, “is that we will gain new insights into the nature of 3I/ATLAS at that time thanks to data from hundreds of observatories, including the Hubble and Webb space telescopes.”

Even after its closest pass to Earth, astronomers will continue observing the unusual visitor.

“Observations are expected to continue for several more months as 3I/ATLAS heads out of the solar system,” NASA noted on its website.

Separate observations by the European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft last month also revealed surprising amounts of activity as it was being heated up by the Sun, losing mass in the form of sublimating ices.

ESA scientists are expecting most of the data collected by its spacecraft’s scientific instruments to arrive in late February.

Besides making its closest approach to Earth, 3I/ATLAS is also expected to pass by Jupiter in the spring of next year, yet another tantalizing opportunity to examine only the third interstellar object cruising through our solar system ever to be identified in history using NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), a network of ground-based telescopes.

Another intriguing theory: that objects like 3I/ATLAS may have once brought life to Earth billions of years ago, a theory known as “panspermia.”

Recent observations by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile found significant amounts of both gaseous methanol and hydrogen cyanide, important precursors for the formation of life.

Scientists also suggest it may have come from a different planetary system that’s much older than our own, a tantalizing possibility that “gives me goosebumps to think about, frankly,” as NASA lead scientist for solar system small bodies Tom Statler told reporters during a briefing last month.

More on 3I/ATLAS: 3I/ATLAS Is Carrying Ingredients for Life, NASA Finds

The post Mysterious Interstellar Object Now Approaching Earth appeared first on Futurism.

🔗 Sumber: futurism.com