Sunday, February 07, 2010

Early warning




1980 film "The Final Countdown" DVD:

01:17:33


E-2 Hawkeye in-flight radio transmission: Enemy fleet bears 042 degrees.

USS Nimitz crewman: Captain, they bear 042 degrees, range 182 miles, course 180, speed 12.

Captain Yelland: Very well. Keep me advised.










http://www.history.navy.mil/planes/e2.htm

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER

805 Kidder Breese SE, WASHINGTON NAVY YARD

WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

E-2C HAWKEYE

Wing span: 81 feet

Length: 58 feet

Height: 18 feet

Weight: empty: 37,678 pounds

maximum take-off: 51,569 pounds

Speed: maximum: 374 mph

cruise: 311 mph

Ceiling: 30,800 feet

Range: 200 nautical-mile radius with six hours on station

ferry range: 1,525 nautical miles

Power plant: two Allison T56-A-422 turboprop engines

Crew: five, including equipment operators

Contractor: Grumman Aerospace

Standard Aircraft Characteristics Chart for an E-2C (includes 3-view drawings)(download in Adobe's .pdf)

The E-2A Hawkeye was designed with one primary mission in mind: patrolling the approaches to the fleet to detect impending attack by hostile aircraft, missiles or sea forces. In addition to this AEW function, the E-2A provided strike and traffic control, area surveillance, search and rescue guidance, navigational assistance and communications relay services.

Capable of all-weather carrier operations, the Hawkeye has great flexibility in assignments owing to its sophisticated electronics equipment. Its Airborne Tactical Data System (ATDS), consisting of an auto-detection radar, airborne computers, and a memory and data link system, is tied to the Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS), located at fleet headquarters, which gives an overall picture of the tactical situation.

One interesting feature of the E-2 is its 24-foot revolving radar dish. The dish rotates at six rpm and can be retracted two feet to facilitate stowage aboard a carrier. The lift produced by the radar dish when the plane is in flight is sufficient to offset its own weight.

The first Hawkeyes went to sea aboard USS Kitty Hawk (CVA 63) with VAW-11 in 1966. Since that time, they have become a regular part of the fleet's defensive and offensive forces.

The five-man crew consists of two pilots and three equipment operators. They can monitor a large number of aircraft at any given time, directing strike aircraft to assigned targets, in fair weather or foul, while maintaining a watch for hostile forces within the long range of their radar. Working as a team, the Hawkeyes surround the fleet with an early warning ring capable of directing air defenses against any enemy.

The E-2 Hawkeye has been improved since the first E-2A flew in 1961. Follow-on models include the E-2B and E-2C with advanced radar, improved computer systems, and expanded surveillance and command control capability.

The current model operating in the Fleet, the E-2C, is equipped with radar capable of detecting targets anywhere within a three-million-cubic-mile surveillance envelope while simultaneously monitoring maritime traffic. Each E-2C also can maintain all-weather patrols, track, automatically and simultaneously, more than 600 targets, and control more than 40 airborne intercepts.










http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity

Infinity

Infinity (symbolically represented by ∞) is a concept in mathematics and philosophy that refers to a quantity without bound or end. People have developed various ideas throughout history about the nature of infinity. In mathematics, infinity is defined in the context of set theory. The word comes from the Latin infinitas or "unboundedness."

In mathematics, "infinity" is often used in contexts where it is treated as if it were a number (i.e., it counts or measures things: "an infinite number of terms") but it is not the same sort of number as the real numbers. The German mathematician Georg Cantor formalized many ideas related to infinity and infinite sets during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He also discovered that there are different "kinds" or "measures" of infinity, a concept called cardinality. For example, the set of integers is countably infinite. However, the set of real numbers is uncountably infinite.










http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(ship)

Battlestar Galactica (ship)

The Battlestar Galactica is a space battleship in the original and re-imagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica.

The Twelve Colonies of Man in the original television series built a number of Battlestars during their thousand-year war with the Cylons


One of the first twelve Battlestars built, Galactica represents the Colonial planet Caprica.