Post by SA Dr. John Clark on Jul 14, 2011 17:39:43 GMT -5
I'm assuming that we're looking at about a 2005-2007 time setting for storyline, recent enough to have all the stuff we know today but comfortably back far enough that the tragedies of "100" and "Lauren" are yet to come. (And in the wake of "100," Clark will blame himself for Haley's death because he failed to locate Foyet and call him out for a "Duel of the Reapers"; how he will fit into the Doyle story-arc is a question that can't be answered until 7x1 airs--did Clark set out to avenge Prentiss, or did she survive and go "deep black" because of having his help?)
Anyway, because of his DARPA connections Clark gets a lot of "15 Minutes Into The Future" or "Tomorrow's Tech Today", and in light of that I thought it might help to explain some of those technologies, what they are and their real-world status.
Artificial Intelligence: Not yet achieved, but most of the features shon on 1982's KITT are rapidly hitting the market today (KARR being modeled after another AI Trans Am from Knight Rider).
Adaptive Camouflage "Cloaking Device": Does not yet exist, but theoretically possible and the object of much high-level R&D; best illustration is the Astom Martin "Vanish" in Die Another Day. How it works: the object to be cloaked's entire skin is covered in tiny cameras and displays; what the cameras see on one side, the displays on the other project.
Advanced Optics: The Heads Up Displays on Clark's eyeglass lenses are a miniaturized version of the "monocle HUDs" on the helmets worn by AH-64 Apache aircrew. The camera that lets others see what he sees is Off The Shelf technology, and has already been seen used on CM by at least one UNSUB.
Blackout's Origins: I have a friend who rebuilt the last surviving SBD Dauntless dive-bomber from the Battle of Midway for National Museum of Naval Aviation, and his assessment was that "two wrecks into one airframe" was plausible. A lot of his improvements are from the CH-53K program, which Sikorsky is still building the first aircraft of as I type.
Clark's Bulletproof Suits: Are commercially available, but insanely expensive.
Clark's "Toys": The man is a master scavenger. Most of the aircraft and other military systems he gets are because contacts at DARPA call him and offer "We're about to scrap [fill in the blank], if you can use it say the word and it's yours," which is exactly how he acquired the two wrecks that became merged into Blackout.
Laser Countermeasures: Already exist, Northrop Grumman developed and commercially offered a system called Nemesis back around 2004. Blackout's LCM sytem is basically two Nemesis units that have been miniaturized, and have been redesigned to both add laser-designator capability and to add enough power to destroy an incoming missile rather than just decoy it away or burn out its guidance system.
Military aircraft designations: a sequential designation, the _th desing accepted for a given mission. Reset in the '60s when Army/USAF and Navy systems were merged and restarted from "1"; this is why a B-1 is newer than a B-52 or an F-22 newer than an F-104. Last letter in the prefix is design mission, all helicopters start there with an "H". Next letter before that is conversions, secondary mission or more detail: "CH-53" = 53rd accepted Helicopter design, Cargo mission; "MH-53" = same, adapted to Special Missions. The "N" in NF-104 and NMH-53 indicates a Non-reconvertible testbed; the modifications are so extensive they cannot be undone; unlike say a JB-52G which was used to test different engines and once the old engines went back on the J designator came off.
NF-104: A real-world aircraft, redesign of a 1960s fighter for astronaut training. Only one was ever built--and it was destroyed in a failed attempt by Chuck Yeager to earn astronaut wings that almost killed him. Clark's NF-104 has the advantage of 40 years' better technology in rocket motors, jet engines and avionics over General Yeager's, and it also has a second seat that the original did not. Clark's is a former West German Luftwaffe aircraft salvaged from the scrap-heap, similar to the one used to portray Yeager's in The Right Stuff.
NMH-53X Advanced Rotorcraft Technologies Testbed: An aircraft that does not exist, but easily could. All of the pieces the basic airframe was built from are real-world hardware, and the only structural differences between the two- and three-engine members of the H-53 family are in the tailboom, the rotor and the top "engine/powertrain hump". (I'm actually building a model of Blackout as written, and I'm cheating by just grafting an MH-53 nose onto a CH-53E, as the basic cabins are almost bolt-for-bolt identical aside from a little stronger frame inside the -E for its heavier load.
Phase Cancellation: Already exists in an audio form, fitted to some military helicopters and a very few high-end cars. Both Blackout and KARR use this for audio, and Blackout has a radar-cancellation system as well. How it works: basic physics, with frequencies and wavelengths. When you have a signal going one way, and you broadcast an identical signal 180 degrees out of phase, your signal's crests cancel the other's troughs and vice versa, and it's like there is no signal. Requires a lot of computing power to analyze signals and compute timing fast enough to cancel.
The Clark/Blackout Relationship: Pilots get attached to their aircraft. C/B isn't in this category, but it's said among pilots that your first plane is like your first lover in that both always have a small but special spot in your heart, and I can attest from experience despite my brief Command Pilot time being with a parked B-52 in a museum that it is true.
The Pizza Rack: Real MH-53J and -M Pave Lows carry their computers and navigation gear in a rack behind the cockpit, so named for its appearance--while Blackout's have been moved elsewhere, there are still plenty of avionics in the rack and his "Pizza Rack" still gets hot enough to pull double-duty as a pizza-warmer.
Weapon Mounted Sensors with PDA Interface: a personal geekout I've actually been doing some R&D on myself.
SLAM:
1. AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack Missile. The heaviest non-nuclear ordnance Blackout can carry when recalled to military service.
2. Search-Locate-Annihilate Mission. Clark's specialty: "hunt the bad guys down and wipe 'em out."
I will continue to elaborate on this as new gear turns up; please don't hesitate to post any questions and I'll do my best to answer them.
Anyway, because of his DARPA connections Clark gets a lot of "15 Minutes Into The Future" or "Tomorrow's Tech Today", and in light of that I thought it might help to explain some of those technologies, what they are and their real-world status.
Artificial Intelligence: Not yet achieved, but most of the features shon on 1982's KITT are rapidly hitting the market today (KARR being modeled after another AI Trans Am from Knight Rider).
Adaptive Camouflage "Cloaking Device": Does not yet exist, but theoretically possible and the object of much high-level R&D; best illustration is the Astom Martin "Vanish" in Die Another Day. How it works: the object to be cloaked's entire skin is covered in tiny cameras and displays; what the cameras see on one side, the displays on the other project.
Advanced Optics: The Heads Up Displays on Clark's eyeglass lenses are a miniaturized version of the "monocle HUDs" on the helmets worn by AH-64 Apache aircrew. The camera that lets others see what he sees is Off The Shelf technology, and has already been seen used on CM by at least one UNSUB.
Blackout's Origins: I have a friend who rebuilt the last surviving SBD Dauntless dive-bomber from the Battle of Midway for National Museum of Naval Aviation, and his assessment was that "two wrecks into one airframe" was plausible. A lot of his improvements are from the CH-53K program, which Sikorsky is still building the first aircraft of as I type.
Clark's Bulletproof Suits: Are commercially available, but insanely expensive.
Clark's "Toys": The man is a master scavenger. Most of the aircraft and other military systems he gets are because contacts at DARPA call him and offer "We're about to scrap [fill in the blank], if you can use it say the word and it's yours," which is exactly how he acquired the two wrecks that became merged into Blackout.
Laser Countermeasures: Already exist, Northrop Grumman developed and commercially offered a system called Nemesis back around 2004. Blackout's LCM sytem is basically two Nemesis units that have been miniaturized, and have been redesigned to both add laser-designator capability and to add enough power to destroy an incoming missile rather than just decoy it away or burn out its guidance system.
Military aircraft designations: a sequential designation, the _th desing accepted for a given mission. Reset in the '60s when Army/USAF and Navy systems were merged and restarted from "1"; this is why a B-1 is newer than a B-52 or an F-22 newer than an F-104. Last letter in the prefix is design mission, all helicopters start there with an "H". Next letter before that is conversions, secondary mission or more detail: "CH-53" = 53rd accepted Helicopter design, Cargo mission; "MH-53" = same, adapted to Special Missions. The "N" in NF-104 and NMH-53 indicates a Non-reconvertible testbed; the modifications are so extensive they cannot be undone; unlike say a JB-52G which was used to test different engines and once the old engines went back on the J designator came off.
NF-104: A real-world aircraft, redesign of a 1960s fighter for astronaut training. Only one was ever built--and it was destroyed in a failed attempt by Chuck Yeager to earn astronaut wings that almost killed him. Clark's NF-104 has the advantage of 40 years' better technology in rocket motors, jet engines and avionics over General Yeager's, and it also has a second seat that the original did not. Clark's is a former West German Luftwaffe aircraft salvaged from the scrap-heap, similar to the one used to portray Yeager's in The Right Stuff.
NMH-53X Advanced Rotorcraft Technologies Testbed: An aircraft that does not exist, but easily could. All of the pieces the basic airframe was built from are real-world hardware, and the only structural differences between the two- and three-engine members of the H-53 family are in the tailboom, the rotor and the top "engine/powertrain hump". (I'm actually building a model of Blackout as written, and I'm cheating by just grafting an MH-53 nose onto a CH-53E, as the basic cabins are almost bolt-for-bolt identical aside from a little stronger frame inside the -E for its heavier load.
Phase Cancellation: Already exists in an audio form, fitted to some military helicopters and a very few high-end cars. Both Blackout and KARR use this for audio, and Blackout has a radar-cancellation system as well. How it works: basic physics, with frequencies and wavelengths. When you have a signal going one way, and you broadcast an identical signal 180 degrees out of phase, your signal's crests cancel the other's troughs and vice versa, and it's like there is no signal. Requires a lot of computing power to analyze signals and compute timing fast enough to cancel.
The Clark/Blackout Relationship: Pilots get attached to their aircraft. C/B isn't in this category, but it's said among pilots that your first plane is like your first lover in that both always have a small but special spot in your heart, and I can attest from experience despite my brief Command Pilot time being with a parked B-52 in a museum that it is true.
The Pizza Rack: Real MH-53J and -M Pave Lows carry their computers and navigation gear in a rack behind the cockpit, so named for its appearance--while Blackout's have been moved elsewhere, there are still plenty of avionics in the rack and his "Pizza Rack" still gets hot enough to pull double-duty as a pizza-warmer.
Weapon Mounted Sensors with PDA Interface: a personal geekout I've actually been doing some R&D on myself.
SLAM:
1. AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack Missile. The heaviest non-nuclear ordnance Blackout can carry when recalled to military service.
2. Search-Locate-Annihilate Mission. Clark's specialty: "hunt the bad guys down and wipe 'em out."
I will continue to elaborate on this as new gear turns up; please don't hesitate to post any questions and I'll do my best to answer them.
