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Tech-Op-ed August, 2014
SOUNDING OFF
By Walter Salm Editor
Saving the World, One Lunch at a Time
T
he talk in the room turned to the “Lake Effect” and to school snow days, and one new newspaper editor commented how the kids must love those snow days. It was in Cleveland, Ohio, and a school official finally said,
“We try to never close the schools; if we do, a lot of kids won’t eat.” This quote appears on the editorial page of the August National Geographic which is running a special multi-part series about the world’s food supply. The quote stuck with me because so many American children today de-
pend on free school lunch programs, programs which are endangered every time Washington decides to cut back on funding for social programs, or to up- grade some weapons system or other. A shortage of money is always a recur- ring theme in our nation’s capitol, and whoever gets their favorite programs slashed is always a source of frustration and anger. Yes, we need to keep our weapons systems up to date, but we also need to feed our hungry kids, or there may not be anyone around to operate those new, up-to-date weapons down the road. It’s the old argument of guns vs. butter. While the Defense Department budget is not the biggest slice of Wash-
ington’s pie, it runs closely behind Social Security and Medicare, and we know how crucial those programs are. And DoD’s budget is due to be cut back again, even with the rise in world tensions, and with many trouble spots erupting or ready to do so. So it is with great delight that we are running our front page story this
month about the Textron AirLand Scorpion aircraft — a budget-priced multi- tasked fighter plane for the 21st Century. It’s not supersonic, but is very nim- ble and can carry a fair amount of ordnance under its wings and in its inter- nal payload area. It also doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. The most amazing part of the story is that the Textron Airland joint ven-
ture pumped its own money into developing and building this aircraft; there was no government money involved, and in fact there were no orders at all on the table. Total development time was just 23 months from conceptualization to the first test flight. Unheard of! Industry analysts estimate that develop- ment and building of the one prototype cost the joint venture about $100 mil- lion, and that they can manufacture the plane to sell for about $20 million per copy. The plane was flown to Europe for a recent round of air shows where it aroused a great deal of interest, and possibly even caught the attention of the U.S. Government, which was not represented at any of those air shows. The much-vaunted, and very expensive F-35 had been grounded because of some unexplained aircraft fires. And this after how many billions of dollars were spent on the development of a still imperfect and unfinished warplane? Is the DoD going to keep throwing money at the F-35? And if so how much more? Flight time operating costs are another factor — something not dis-
cussed too much when it comes to military hardware — but these costs are significant. The A-10 Warthog, which we love dearly, costs about $9,000 an hour to fly. The F-16, still the best all-around military aircraft in DoD’s arse- nal, costs $15,000 an hour to fly. The Scorpion costs less than $3,000, actual- ly closer to $2,500 an hour to fly. This is Free Enterprise at work. The Scor- pion has no “F” designation because the Federal Government didn’t order it, and it was built mainly from off-the-shelf parts. It’s powered by a pair of Hon- eywell engines that were already on that shelf. The body and frame are made of the same composites that had been developed by Textron for its corporate jets.
Remember the F-22 Raptor? That was supposed to be the ultimate war-
plane for the 21st Century. It was sweet, fast, stealthy, and reportedly un- matched by anything from any other nation. It was also the most costly war- plane in the
U.S.arsenal. So it just fizzled, quietly swept under the rug some- where, so the money could be spent on the F-35. The last F-22 was built in 2011, after just 195 of them had been built. Production was halted to make room in the budget for the F-35, DoD’s newest sweetheart. And now it’s grounded. For how long? Then along comes Scorpion, and yes, it’s got some sting in its tail. It can
do a lot of the jobs originally envisioned for the F-35 — certrainly not all of them, but the ones it can’t do can be handed over to the F-16 and the A-10. We still have a lot of them kicking around, and they’re already paid for. And maybe some of the money saved could be sent off to Cleveland to buy some much-needed school lunches. For tomorrow’s military pilots. r
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
By Jacob Fattal Publisher
Our Global Promise T
he electronics manufacturing industry is worldwide in nature, and U.S. Tech has followed it over the years, becoming as global as the industry itself. Today, our reach is more global than ever. We attend and provide
product previews for such overseas shows as Nepcon South China (this issue — see page 62) and our October issue’s coverage for electonica in Munich. We don’t just pay lip service to these overseas endeavors; we are commit-
ted to them, attending and taking thousands of extra copies of our print edi- tion with us to distribute there. Ours is currently the largest print edition of any high technology trade publication, with some of our editions very fat in- deed; our record setter was last year’s February issue with 136 pages of glossy tabloid, which went to the IPC/APEX Expo in San Diego as well as Electron- ics West/MD&M in Anaheim. This issue is targeted for bonus distribution at Nepcon South China in
Shenzhen, a gathering place for manufacturing companies from around the world, where people come to both exhibit and to look, and spread information about their newest findings. In September, the emphasis will be on PCBs and Test, with bonus distribution at domestic shows: Autotest in St. Louis, SMTAI in Rosemont (Chicago), and IMAPS in San Diego. Our October issue this year will focus on components because of our participation in electronica in Mu- nich.
We are already looking ahead to 2015 and a very special collection of
trade shows. IPC/APEX will move back to San Diego for one year, running February 24-26 before going back to Las Vegas in 2016, this time to the Las Vegas Convention Center. IPC/APEX is obviously heading for the Big Time. And U.S. Tech will be there, bring- ing you, our readers the latest and most breathtaking technology breakthroughs. r
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