Latest news with #BarnesWallis
Indian Express
27-05-2025
- Science
- Indian Express
The rocket science behind missiles: Newton's laws, neural networks and algos
On a summer day in 1944, residents of London heard a strange buzzing sound overhead—like an outboard motor in the sky — followed by silence. Seconds later, a blast ripped through a block of houses. The age of the modern missile had begun. That sound came from the V-1 flying bomb, a German cruise missile. It wasn't very accurate and could be shot down, but it marked a turning point: the use of guided, long-range, autonomous weapons. Since then, missile technology has grown from noisy buzz bombs to nearly undetectable hypersonic gliders that can maneuver at several times the speed of sound. But behind the scenes, it's all about physics — a complex dance of speed, trajectory, control, and prediction. From ballistics to brains The earliest missiles were just arrows and spears—unguided projectiles. In fact, the word 'missile' comes from the Latin missilis, meaning 'that which may be thrown.' The science behind them is ballistics: the study of how objects move through the air under the influence of gravity and drag. Ballistic missiles still exist today, but modern ones are far from simple. A ballistic missile is one that is powered during only the early phase of its flight. After that, it coasts along a parabolic path—just like a rock thrown into the air, only faster and farther. A typical intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) reaches altitudes of over 1,000 km and speeds of Mach 20 (20 times the speed of sound). Once launched, they are almost impossible to intercept. But pure ballistic paths are predictable — and that's both their strength and their vulnerability. So modern missiles add another ingredient: guidance. Guided missiles and the problem of precision To hit a moving target — a plane, a tank, even a ship — you can't just aim and hope. You need to adjust in real time. That's what guided missiles do. They carry sensors (like radar, infrared, or GPS) and control systems (gyroscopes, fins, internal thrusters) that steer them mid-flight. The problem is harder than it looks. Consider this: you're trying to hit a plane flying at 900 km/h from 40 km away. By the time your missile reaches it, the plane will have moved. So you don't aim at where the target is — you aim at where it will be. This involves solving what's called a 'pursuit curve', a classic problem in mathematics where the pursuer constantly adjusts its path toward the moving target. In the early days, this was done using analog computers. One famous story involves British engineer Barnes Wallis using bicycle chains and gears to model bombing trajectories. Today's missiles use high-speed processors and AI-based prediction, but the challenge remains the same: predicting future motion in a world full of uncertainty. A brief look at rocket science Every missile is, at heart, a rocket. Rocket propulsion follows Newton's Third Law: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Burn fuel and expel gas out the back, and the missile is pushed forward. The real challenge isn't just going fast — it's controlling flight at those speeds. When the Mach number crosses 1, the air surrounding the rocket undergoes a process called shocking, resulting in intense friction and heat. Missiles need special heat shields and materials that won't melt at thousands of degrees Celsius. Their electronics must survive g-forces that would crush a human. Modern missiles push into the realm of the hypersonic — speeds above Mach 5. These include hypersonic glide vehicles, which detach from rockets and surf the upper atmosphere while maneuvering unpredictably. Unlike traditional ballistic missiles, their path is hard to model, making them extremely difficult to intercept. Both China and the U.S. have invested heavily in these next-generation systems. India's DRDO is also testing hypersonic platforms. These weapons don't just travel fast — they're smart, maneuverable, and virtually impossible to defend against with today's technology. What makes hypersonic missiles especially disruptive is not just their speed, but the shrinking response time they impose. A traditional ICBM may give its target 30–40 minutes to react; a hypersonic missile could cut that to under 10. That changes the calculus of deterrence and defense. Even tracking these weapons is a challenge: at such speeds, air friction generates plasma that can block radar signals. As a result, militaries worldwide are racing not only to build hypersonic weapons, but also to develop new space-based sensors and directed-energy countermeasures to stop them. Pigeons and missiles In World War II, American psychologist B.F. Skinner proposed a bizarre idea: use pigeons to guide missiles. He trained the birds to peck at an image of a target projected on a screen inside the missile's nose cone. Their pecking movements would steer the missile toward its goal. Though never deployed, Project Pigeon (and its later version, Project Orcon, for 'organic control') showed the creative lengths to which scientists would go in the early days of missile guidance. Today's systems rely on microprocessors, not pigeons—but the principles remain the same: sense, compute, correct. The science of predicting impact At its core, missile science is about solving a fundamental problem: how do you strike something that's far away, possibly moving, and maybe trying to avoid you? The answer lies in physics, engineering, and increasingly, artificial intelligence. That challenge grows more complex as defenses improve. Missiles must now anticipate evasive maneuvers, adjust mid-course using real-time data, and sift through decoys or electronic jamming. A modern air-to-air missile might make hundreds of tiny course corrections per second, all while enduring intense heat, G-forces, and signal noise. The missile, in effect, becomes a high-speed problem-solver — guided not just by brute force, but by algorithms and sensors that mimic decision-making under pressure. It's a blend of old and new — Newton's laws and neural networks, calculus and code. And while the technologies have evolved dramatically, the underlying science has stayed remarkably consistent. Even the most advanced missiles still obey the same principles as a stone flung from a slingshot. The only difference is that today, the stone flies at Mach 10, thinks for itself, and rarely misses.
Telegraph
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Home Office pays police force £2m to monitor asylum camp with no migrants
The Home Office has paid a police force £2 million to monitor a camp for asylum seekers despite no migrants ever being held there. Documents released by the Home Office show it paid Lincolnshire Police £1,936,531 to protect and oversee policing of RAF Scampton, which was once the Dambusters squadron's wartime air base. The camp was developed by the Tories to house migrants but never used. Labour decided to abandon the scheme, which had already cost £60 million to prepare, because the final £122 million cost by the end of its use in 2027 was deemed to not be value for money. However, in a note published on its website, the Home Office has revealed the net policing costs were £1.8 million for 2023-24 and an additional £136,531 for the year afterwards. This comes on top of £1,014,457 for the policing of the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland Port, Dorset, which has also now been shut down, and RAF Wethersfield in Essex, which has received about 700 migrants. A National Audit Office report found housing migrants on the Bibby barge and the two former RAF bases would cost the taxpayer £46 million more than if they had remained in hotels. The money for Lincolnshire is understood to have paid for the force to oversee security of the site and deploy officers where necessary. However, this would have meant that front-line police were diverted from fighting crime. It comes after Lincolnshire Police drew up plans to cut 200 officers from its 1,200-strong force, as well as a further 200 police staff to cover a £14 million funding gap. It also cancelled a new intake of officers for March. The Dambusters' 617 squadron was formed at RAF Scampton. It was from there that 19 Lancaster bombers departed for the raid in 1943 to destroy three dams in the Ruhr Valley in Germany's industrial heartlands with 'bouncing bombs' designed by the renowned engineer Barnes Wallis. Rishi Sunak's government envisaged turning it into a camp for 2,000 asylum seekers despite opposition from local politicians, the council, and historians. Forty historians – including Sir Antony Beevor, Sir Max Hastings and Dan Snow – wrote to the Home Office, describing plans to use the site as an asylum camp as an act of ' cultural desecration'. However, in September, Labour announced it was abandoning the plan and handing it over to West Lindsey council, which has £300 million plans to turn the base and its historic runway into a aviation and aerospace hub and national heritage site. On Friday, the High Court found that Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, acted unlawfully in accommodating three victims of trafficking and torture at RAF Wethersfield because of the effect the conditions had on their mental health. A Home Office spokesman said: 'This Government inherited an asylum system under exceptional strain, but we are determined to cut the unacceptably high costs of asylum accommodation to the British taxpayer, which is why we ended the use of the costly Scampton and Bibby Stockholm sites. 'We also remain committed to ending the use of hotels over time, and continue to explore a range of options to deliver better value for money to the taxpayer. 'Where asylum accommodation continues to be required, protecting the safety and security of the local community, the staff and those staying in that accommodation remains of paramount importance, and the Home Office has worked closely to that end over a number of years with local forces across the country, especially those with large sites in their areas.'
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Home Office pays police force £2m to monitor asylum camp with no migrants
The Home Office has paid a police force £2 million to monitor a major camp for asylum seekers despite no migrants ever being held there. Documents released by the Home Office show it paid Lincolnshire Police £1,936,531 to protect and oversee policing of RAF Scampton, which was once the Dambusters squadron's wartime air base. The camp was developed by the Tories to house migrants but never used. Labour decided to abandon the scheme, which had already cost £60 million to prepare, because the final £122 million cost by the end of its use in 2027 was deemed to not be value for money. However, in a note quietly published on its website, the Home Office has revealed the net policing costs were £1.8 million for 2023/24 and an additional £136,531 for the year afterwards. This comes on top of £1,014,457 for the policing of the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland Port, Dorset, which has also now been shut down, and RAF Wethersfield in Essex, which has received about 700 migrants. A National Audit Office report found housing migrants on the Bibby barge and the two former RAF bases would cost the taxpayer £46 million more than if they had remained in hotels. The money for Lincolnshire is understood to have paid for the force to oversee security of the site and deploy officers where necessary. However, this would have meant that front-line police were diverted from fighting crime. It comes after Lincolnshire Police drew up plans to cut 200 officers from its 1,200-strong force, as well as a further 200 police staff to cover a £14 million funding gap. It also cancelled a new intake of officers for March. The Dambusters' 617 squadron was formed at RAF Scampton. It was from there that 19 Lancaster bombers departed for the raid in 1943 to destroy three dams in the Ruhr valley in Germany's industrial heartlands with 'bouncing bombs' designed by the renowned engineer Barnes Wallis. Rishi Sunak's government envisaged turning it into a camp for 2,000 asylum seekers despite opposition from local politicians, the council, and historians. Forty historians – including Sir Antony Beevor, Sir Max Hastings and Dan Snow – wrote to the Home Office, describing plans to use the historic site as an asylum camp as an act of 'cultural desecration'. However, in September, Labour announced it was abandoning the plan and handing it over to West Lindsey council which has £300 million plans to turn the base and its historic runway into an operational aviation and aerospace hub and national heritage site. On Friday, the High Court found that Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, acted unlawfully in accommodating three victims of trafficking and torture at RAF Wethersfield because of the effect the conditions had on their mental health. A Home Office spokesman said: 'This Government inherited an asylum system under exceptional strain, but we are determined to cut the unacceptably high costs of asylum accommodation to the British taxpayer, which is why we ended the use of the costly Scampton and Bibby Stockholm sites. 'We also remain committed to ending the use of hotels over time, and continue to explore a range of options to deliver better value for money to the taxpayer. 'Where asylum accommodation continues to be required, protecting the safety and security of the local community, the staff and those staying in that accommodation remains of paramount importance, and the Home Office has worked closely to that end over a number of years with local forces across the country, especially those with large sites in their areas.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
