Tesla Motors - well on the way

Tesla Motors chief gives his New Year message and it is GOOD ... (BTW co-founder Martin Eberhard no longer has any active role at Tesla Motors)

“The electric vehicle revolution is critically important to the world, and is way overdue.”

"Our goal is to begin full series production of the Roadster in Spring of 2008, albeit with a few components, such as the transmission, that will need to be upgraded at a later date. The transmissions in these early cars will be reliable and safe, though they will not yet meet the original performance spec for acceleration. The upgrade that we will provide at a later date will be free of charge to our existing customers."


"Tesla is also hard at work on model 2, the mid-size luxury sports sedan, which will be unveiled in the first half of next year. While the Roadster will be produced in quantities of one to two thousand per year, we are targeting over 10,000 units per year for the sedan and a price substantially lower than that of the Roadster. Looking at the longer term, Model 3 will be even lower cost and aim for an order of magnitude greater volume than model 2."

"Over time, there will be many models, as the long term plan is to build Tesla into one of the great car companies of the 21st century. Tesla is set on a path of independent growth, with an IPO somewhere along the way. There are no plans or even discussions to sell the company.

The overarching Tesla Motors goal remains unchanged from the day that I first funded Tesla (see the Secret Tesla Master Plan), which is to do everything possible to increase the number of electric miles driven. This is why Tesla is in discussions with several major car companies about providing them with a full electric drivetrain, which includes the battery, power electronics, motor, system management software, and even (groan) the transmission."

Read more and look at the site - 2 cents a mile for sports motoring

See also AutoBlogGREEN all posts on Tesla Motors

V22- Osprey or Albatross ?

AP report that Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told reporters that the investigations into the crashes of three Army and one private helicopters since Jan. 20 are incomplete but "it does appear they were all the result of some kind of anti-Iraqi ground fire that did bring those helicopters down."

Those with a long memory will recall that Lord Patel wrote on May 6th 2006 " Osprey the Death Wish Machine - soon for combat ?"


The Philadelphia Enquirer had just reported

...a Pentagon panel today endorsed the V-22 Osprey and recommended moving toward full production of the aircraft.

The ruling by the Defense Acquisition Board could mean billions of dollars in contract work for the two companies involved in its production - Providence, R.I.-based Textron and Chicago-based Boeing Co. The company will build at least 458 of the V-22 aircraft for the Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy.

The V22 Osprey Tilt/rotor /helicopter is a massive beast - 12,300 horse power , 4 times the power (and 3 times the weight) as the battle proven and familiar twin rotor Vietnam era Chinook CH-46, and guzzles 3 times the fuel. Most of this widow maker is made in plants in Texas and Pennsylvania but 43 states share in it's manufacture and factories share the work in 276 Congressional Districts.

At that time (May 2006) we were repeatedly informed that, the Marines will deploy V-22s in Iraq later in the year , after 25 years, the spending of US$18Bn and the loss of 30 lives in testing.

"The Osprey can deliver Marines to battle more safely, bring them reinforcements over greater distances in greater numbers, and evacuate wounded more quickly. That all equates to lives saved, as we continue to prosecute the global war on terrorism."
Dr. Donald C. Winter Secretary of the Navy, Jan. 2006 Boeing Website

Well, 9 months later and there is no news of their arrival in theatre - and it appears precious little prospect that this US$68 Mn a pop man lifter and shifter is about to darken the skies over Baghdead. Apparently production is underway for 50 for USAF, 48 modified versions for the US navy and the Marine Corps want 360 to replace their aged Chinook CH-46's and CH -53's ... but it cannot lift an up - armoured Humvee (HMMWV)

William Bender of The Delco Times and Dave Montgomery McClatchy Newspapers both report on the Centre For Defense Informatithat has gone unremarked in the major US news media.

It is now 18 years after the first flight (It was promised for use in Bosnia in 1995, Afghanistan in 2002, and Iraq in 2003, and Gaillard points out that - The V-22 does not work and faces operational, aerodynamic and survivability challenges that will prove insurmountable, and lethal in combat.

Gaillard focuses on three major issues:

1) Absence of defensive armament
2) Constraints of the difficult-to-repair composite skinned cargo compartment for the 24 combat-loaded Marines inside
3) The critical and fundamental aerodynamic dilemma the V-22 faces when it attempts to descend vertically into a landing zone against enemy fire. This combination of blade stall and vortex ring state(VRS) -- a rotor downwash condition was stated to be the major factor that contributed to the April 2000 crash that killed 19 Marines - so far in testing there have been 30 fatalities.

Gaillard points out that the first 2 points have not been addressed - unbelievably (because of weight penalties mainly , the craft cannot protect itself with even machine gun fire. The craft also has no personnel crew hoist and few and cramped windows limiting visual control and ability to scan for hazards.

Repair of composites , if possible, is not a battlfield task and requires special tools, chemicals , huge curing ovens etc., because the body is essentially a single monococque construction which cannot simply be replaced , welded, or reinforced or even perforated. There has been no testing for defence against Rocket propelled grenades (RPG's) the weapon of choice of the jihadi street
fighter in Iraq, Afghanistan and maybe even in Syria or Iran.

The essential aerodynamic problems he says have been papered over with software changes and warning systems that V-22 pilots will ignore at the peril of themselves and their human cargo - and also expose the craft at it's most critical part of the flight path - landing and lifting with humans and their cargo.

The restrictions this imposes limits maximum vertical descent speed to 800 feet per minute = 9.1 miles per hour and attempt in the heat of combat to fly / descend faster would instantly result in de-stabilisation, crash and death.

Finally it is reported this twin engined aircraft can operate with a single engine - although this manouevre has so far, not been tested. Also, the Flight Manual says in the case of dual engine failure that the pilot should convert to "autorotation" although a DOD report says clearly that the " V-22 cannot autorotate to a safe landing."

Gaillard concludes of this monumental cock-up and monument to political corruption, boondoggling, fraud, theft and total lack of concern about properly equipping the military with the tools they need for their job - "The V-22 should not be deployed in combat (if not, where ?) ; an alternative , most probably and in - production helicopter , should be selected to replace all V-22's."

He suggests .....

* Augusta Westland's US101 (EH-101), which has three engines, a single rotor and was recently selected as the US Presidential transport helicopter.

* Boeing's CH-47F Chinook, which has two engines, two rotors and carries up to 33 combat-equipped troops.

* Sikorsky's H-92 Superhawk, which has two engines, a single rotor and carries up to 22 combat-equipped troops.

Osprey or Albatross ?

Hariri motorcade struck by missile - supersonic guided bomb ?

Very interesting article "U.N. Investigators Broach Theory that Hariri was Killed by a Missile" by Christopher Bollyn 21 November 2006. Superb pictures and argument.

"The evidence from the crime scene indicated the possibility that an air-launched missile had targeted Hariri's car and left a large crater in the road. "The evidence," I wrote shortly after the murder, "indicates that the Hariri bombing may have been a missile attack from the air."

Which is highly likely - far more so than a truck bomb...and addressed by Lord Patel on November 7th 2005 " Uncle Sam's bomb Farm" when he read about the supersonic launch by Boeing of laser guided "Raptor" supersonic launched JDAM's ... this is a brief extract ...

The Lockheed Martin F/A-22 Raptor, demonstrated in May ’05 the supersonic delivery of JDAM’s in which a Laser guided JDAM was released from a U.S Air Force F-16 flying at 20,000 feet approximately four miles from an unmanned truck moving at 15 miles per hour. A second F-16 trailing the test aircraft targeted the truck with a laser. The inert JDAM tracked the laser to the target and scored a direct hit on the truck.

“Adding the capability of supersonic JDAM provides a substantial increase in bomb range to destroy lethal threats well outside of their engagement envelopes,” he said. “The Raptor is essential to the Global Strike concept, and supersonic JDAM optimizes that capability.” (Courtesy of Air Force Materiel Command News Service)

... a bunch of ragheads can apparently do the same trick with an improvised IED made out of old artillery shells, a mobile phone and some ingenuity.... and at a slightly lower cost.

...of course if you needed a precise hit on a seafront motorcade in Beirut ..

Bush Family launch their own Aircraft Carrier

The famed Irish Tenor Dr. Ronan Tynan - and personal friend of President George H. W. Bush - performed “God Bless America” at the conclusion of the christening ceremony of the nation’s 10th and final Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, George H. W. Bush (CVN 77).

Pic of Dad (AP) with the current President and the next one at the launch ceremony today, which their sister spilt the champagne as Mum watched.

"She is unrelenting, she is unshakable, she is unyielding, she is unstoppable," President Bush told Fox TV, lauding the warship's state-of-the-art design before pausing for a punch line aimed at his mother's well-known steely constitution. "As a matter of fact, she probably should have been named the Barbara Bush."