Year: 2008

Denel’s Looking at Radar Guided A-Darter Derivative

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The South African aerospace company Denel is looking at developing a radar guided version of its A-Darter infra-red short range dogfight missile.

This mirrors the work that Denel and Rafael did on missiles, the R-Darter/Derby.

Eventually, Rafael produced an active radar guided variant of their Python missile called the Derby.

The A-Darter is reported to have a 20km range, and replacing the missile seeker with a more aerodynamic radome would improve range, though I would guess that even if the missile were not to grow significantly, having a version with a lower and longer thrust profile could increase range even further.

The Umkhonto shown above is a SAM based on the A-darter technology.

One of the goals of both the Darter and the Umkhonto programs is to have no foreign components subject to foreign government export restrictions.

UK MoD Looking at Creating Own Satellite Reconnaissance Capability

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The British Defence Ministry is looking at fielding its own satellite reconnaissance assets.

Up to now, it has been using either US military assets or civilian assets for its space imaging needs. It looks like Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (currently in the process of being taken over by EADS Astrium) is the most likely candidate for the program with its SSTL-200 (pictured), which currently has a 2.5m resolution, though improvements to sub-meter resolution are thought to be possible.

As always, the problem is funding, with a price tag starting at £100M, which would have to come from elsewhere in the defense (defence) budget, particularly given the budgetary needs caused by the financial meltdown.

While We Are Talking About Republican Incumbents in Trouble

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We can add the contemptible Mitch McConnell to the list.

We have two polls, Mason-Dixon showing McConnell ahead of Lunsford by 45-44, and SurveyUSA having McConnell ahead 49-46:

Those numbers have so encouraged Democrats that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee this week went up with its first TV ad against McConnell — something that even DSCC Chairman Charles Schumer (N.Y.) acknowledged was unthinkable a few weeks ago.

Schumer said Wednesday that Kentucky and Georgia — where GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss is in an unexpectedly tough race — are now on his radar as potential pickups given recent polling.

I’m sure that it doesn’t help McConnell that his wife, Elaine Chao, is Bush’s secretary of labor and hates the working man.

Heh.

Couldn’t happen to a couple of nicer guys.

Economics Update

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Let’s start with the fact that this has been a TEOTWAWKI week.

That being said, we are seeing a huge increase in borrowing from the Fed Discount window, as a part of the Fed’s sh^%pile for cash program.

OTOH, jobless claims did fall a bit, to 475,000 though they were at 7 year highs to begin with, and job creation is lagging.

Also, Oil fell to $82/bbl, the lowest in a year and gasoline is heading down too.

Also, the dollar continues to climb, as is the Yen.

In real estate, we are seeing mall vacancies skyrocket.

A Partial Resolution on the Citi-Wells-Wachovia Menage à Bank

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Well, it appears that Citi has concluded that it will not get Wachovia, though it’s still looking to get some sort of payment for its time and effort.

My guess is that the revalations taht the FDIC was threatening to seize Wachovia if it did not cut a deal with Citi had something to do with their decision to abandon their quest to take over Wachovia:

Early on the morning of Monday, Sept. 29, FDIC officials contacted Wachovia executives and said the bank would not be able to open for business on Monday because of liquidity problems. The FDIC instructed Wachovia to negotiate with Citi, which was the only remaining bidder for Wachovia.

That morning Bob Steel told the company’s board that it had two options: Place Wachovia into bankruptcy or seek a government-assisted deal with Citi and the FDIC. The board voted in favor of seeking a deal.

The deal could be considered coerced, and courts look very dimly on these sorts of shenanigans….Particularly when the competing offer is 7 times more.

Note that even though Wells-Fargo’s offer was much larger, it was still less than 1/10 of what its assets were supposed to be just a year of so back.

Iceland® a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Russia

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Well, it looks as if as bad as the US has been hit, tiny Iceland has been absolutely destroyed by the financial crisis.

Despite regulatory actions intended to shore up Icelandic banks, Icelandic banks have all failed, and they are in talks with the Russians about a €4 billion loan…..For a country with just over 300,000 people….That’s a bit under $20,000 per resident.

It also looks like there may be some action from the IMF, which raises an interesting question, how will Europeans feel when one of their own is told to gut labor protections, reduce union rights, end free health care, and make payments for primary education mandatory?

That is, after all what the IMF demands of dark skinned folks.

Of course, no crisis is complete without one complete pratt making things worse, and (not surprisingly) this role is assumed by British PM Gordon Brown, who is upset that the Icelandic guarantees only apply to domestic account holders, so he, “has used powers granted under anti-terrorism laws to freeze British assets of Landsbanki until the standoff is resolved.”

I think that once the Icelanders find out what the IMF is demanding, and if they are true to form, it will be the complete dismantling of their social safety net, they will run to Russia for their loan, which will come with its own strings, probably a naval base, and possibly an air base.

Put a Fork in Him, Ted “Hulk” Stevens is Done

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Even though the judge excluded some evidence and will notify the jury that the prosecutors were untruthful, I think that he’s done.

He will be convicted.

This because they have “Uncle Ted” on tape saying that they might go to jail for what they had done:

In the three conversations between Mr. Stevens and Mr. Allen played for a federal jury on Monday, Mr. Stevens repeatedly says he believes they did nothing wrong, but also raises the possibility they could go to jail if they are not careful.

“They’re not going to shoot us,” Mr. Stevens reassured Mr. Allen on Oct. 18, 2006. “It’s not Iraq.” At worst, he said, “we might have to pay a fine and serve a little time in jail.”

Mr. Stevens added, “I hope to Christ it never gets to that, but I don’t think it will.”

It doesn’t matter how stupid the prosecution is, Stevens admitted that he was doing something illegal on tape.

It doesn’t matter how many character witnesses there are, and the list includes Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye, and champion dog mushers, and “Hobo Bob.”

The man has been a cancer on good governance for a very long time, and while his exit may not serve the Alaskan people, it will serve the American people.

On Zimbabwe, Mbeki, and South Africa

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First, we have Robert Mugabe’s statement that Thabo Mbeki’s resignation as South Africa’s president is, “devastating”.

While it’s clear that there is a large amount of personal affection between the two leaders, I think that it is also that there is a class issue behind this statement, which I will get to, that has served to protect Robert Mugabe to the disadvantage of the Zimbabwean people.

We now have reports of Mbeki knowingly pressuring the MDC’s Tsvangerai to sign a an ambiguous deal, to the advantage of Mugabe, and now it’s clear that Mugabe’s ZANU-PF is completely disinterested in forming a meaningful unity government.

At the same time, we have elements of the ANC threatening to leave the party, and I think that both of these have to do with the class issues within that part of the world.

When you look at Robert Mugabe, Thabo Mbeki, and head of the splinter MDC Faction Arthur Mutambara are all western educated, and wear clothes made in Saville Row, and they look upon the idea of an African born and educated trade unionist (Morgan Tsvangerai) or strong union sympathiser (Jacob Zuma) with no small amount of alarm and disdain.

At the core of Mbeki’s support for Mugabe was, I think, a sort of noblesse oblige where he does not believe that Tsvangerai, or people “like” has the wherewithal to lead.

Small minded bigotry knows no color, and I hope that Mbeki is feeling bad right now because someone else got the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Dow Fell Below….

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I had this ready yesterday, but I never thought that I would have to use it today.

It’s an obscure Dragonball-Z reference, which has been remixed over 1000 times on Youtube, here’s one video:

BTW, I’m done with Yom Kippur for the next year, but I’m still plowing through my oft-delayed taxes, so posting will be light for a while.