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www.us-tech.com


Tech-Op-ed August, 2017 SOUNDING OFF


By Walter Salm Editor Emeritus


lient self, happily gabbling away. The occasion for the press junket, sponsored by Litton Industries, was so we could bear witness to the launch of the first of a fleet of new-concept electronically controlled merchant ships. We were on a charter, a brand-new Boeing 707, barely into the jet age,


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and when we hit some turbulence, my friend Les, ever full of interesting fac- toids, said, “You know that even on these big jets, when we hit turbulence, the wings flap up and down.” His words had a transformative effect on me; I had a window seat, and for the rest of the flight, my gaze was firmly fixed on the wings. I wanted to see if he was right and if so, how much they flapped. And then paranoid me, if they flapped enough, would they fall off the plane? They didn’t.


We landed in Mobile, Alabama, and then spent an hour on a charter bus


to Pascagoula, which didn’t have a jetport. It was summertime, and when we deplaned, we discovered first-hand just how unbearable the Gulf Coast heat and humidity could be. How could people live and work in such conditions? We scurried from air-conditioned vehicles to air-conditioned buildings, thankful that all of that refrigerated air was available. Today, Ingalls is still building ships — mostly military, for the U.S. Navy


and Coast Guard, in Pascagoula, and even more in Norfolk, Virginia. Most re- cently, Ingalls released a refurbished and refitted aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), which had come into Norfolk for its 25-year checkup and refurbishing — its scheduled refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH). It took four years, which included extensive updates to the vessel’s electronics, new fuel rods for the ship’s eight nuclear reactors, and most sig- nificantly, outfitting the carrier to accommodate the new F-35 multi-agency fighter/attack plane, making it the only Nimitz-class carrier that can handle the F-35. This refurb job is expected to be good for another 25 years, at which time, the then 50-year-old ship will be retired. It was returned to active duty in the fleet on May 12, 2017. Overlapping the Abraham Lincoln’s sea trials were sea trials for the


spanking-new USS Gerald Ford (CVN-78), a brand new class of carrier. The story on Page 1 of this issue provides details. One of the most salient points is that the United States is the only nation in the world that has more than one aircraft carrier. We currently have 11, and they are all nuclear powered, something else that no other nation has built into their aircraft carriers. U.S. carriers have a totally flat deck; other nations use “ski jump” catapults to give planes a better takeoff angle. Our carriers have to accommodate such a wide variety of aircraft, includ-


ing transport planes and AWACS, that wide, totally flat decks are a must. Al- so, the U.S. Navy sees little need for a ski jump takeoff, since most of our car- riers can produce a very impressive forward speed to aid takeoffs. While top speeds are still a carefully guarded secret, specs for all 11 carriers give a speed “in excess of 30 knots” (34.5 mph). Cost of this new ship was $12.8 billion, and because of all of the new tech-


nology involved, was three years behind schedule. An impressive statistic: be- cause of the higher efficiency of the ship’s automation and new launch sys- tems, it will be able to launch 30 percent more sorties than Nimitz-class car- riers, and it carries approximately 75 combat aircraft of various types. Fasci- nating factoid: the ship was constructed over a four-year period from prefab- ricated modules. You can watch the entire assembly operation on YouTube in a time-lapse video that lasts all of four minutes. The Gerald Ford will ulti- mately replace the USS Enterprise (CVN-65), which was officially decommis- sioned on February 3, 2017, after 55 years of service. The photo on Page 1 shows the carrier with no aircraft parked on its


deck; they aren’t there yet. After it is officially delivered to the U.S. Navy in September, it will put out to sea, still naked, and all of its aircraft will take off — presumably from the Norfolk Naval Air Station, and land on the carrier while it is underway. I would love dearly to see a video of this happening, and maybe I will on YouTube. r


was on my way to Pascagoula, Mississippi, for a ship launching at the Lit- ton-Ingalls shipyard. It was around 1963, and my seat-mate, Les Solomon, the technical editor of Popular Electronics magazine, was his usual ebul-


PUBLISHER’S NOTE


By Jacob Fattal Publisher


Tough Choices for China


number is so high, partly because the U.S. has such a high percentage of em- ployees that perform purely routine tasks, like filling out paperwork. We of- ten think that automation applies most readily to manufacturing. We should be careful not to underestimate its broader impact. If U.S. jobs appear under fire, think about the implications for a country


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like China. After many years of economic dormancy and the last three decades of incredible growth, China is poised to both win big and lose big with automa- tion. For starters, the country now has a middle class larger than the size of the entire U.S. population. These are families that are growing accustomed to a certain amount of disposable income, good jobs and the prospect of advance- ment. China also has one of the most robust manufacturing industries in the world. According to the International Federation of Robotics, China is the largest market for robotics growth, bolstered by the country’s “Made in China 2025” 10-year plan. By 2019, it is expected that 40 percent of all industrial ro- bots will be sold there. China is still considered a developing nation, though its citizens have


bright expectations. On the other hand, a fresh and fragile middle class, and the country’s heavy dependence on manufacturing to keep its economic engine running seem threateningly divisive for its future. How will the country rec- oncile mass displacement of employees with the need for those workers to af- ford the luxuries that automation will allow? As U.S. Tech heads to NEPCON South China, these concerns should be


brought to the fore. Luckily for us, the electronics industry has had a head start in processing the challenges posed by automation, from economical to ethical. Some countries, like Germany, are far ahead in dealing with the hu- manistic concerns of worker displacement, promising to automate without throwing workers into the streets. In the coming months, these issues will continue to be raised. We expect to see them discussed at U.S. trade shows such as SMTA International and The ASSEMBLY Show, and then again across the ocean at Germany’s productronica this November. While the electronics industry in China is booming, the nation as a whole


is at a critical juncture. Industries, such as ours, should lead the way in de- veloping an ethical model for other manufacturers to follow. This is particu- larly important in China, since the country makes up a fifth of the world’s pop- ulation. Which is more important, hu- mans or machines? And are the machines built to serve humans, or ultimately, the other way around? r


utomation is upending the entire job market. Over the next 15 years, nearly 40 percent of all U.S. jobs are vulnerable to machine replace- ment, according to a study by PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers). This


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