Latest news with #GeneralAtomics
CBS News
20 hours ago
- Health
- CBS News
Waste destruction system in Lake Elmo aims to remove PFAS from water
How new technology at Lake Elmo is aiming to remove PFAS from water How new technology at Lake Elmo is aiming to remove PFAS from water How new technology at Lake Elmo is aiming to remove PFAS from water Efforts are underway in Lake Elmo to remove dangerous PFAS chemicals from the environment. Friday morning, technology was unveiled that's focused on destroying PFAS. "Here in Lake Elmo, we are the epicenter of PFAS. We don't want to be," said John Holtz, a Lake Elmo councilmember. Lake Elmo is a community that's been dealing with PFAS for years. They are dangerous and potentially cancer-causing chemicals once created by 3M, that have found their way into drinking water. It's why the city is welcoming this waste destruction system. "We, in essence, have behind me today a large pressure cooker, a little bit more complicated though, that destroys any kind of hazardous, organic waste," said Gary Hopper of General Atomics. General Atomics and Bay West are companies who partnered to create this demonstration. It's called a Perses system, and it uses chemistry to destroy contaminants. "You take water, and you mix all these dangerous organics in it. Then what happens is you pressurize it and go to high temperature and the reaction kinetics are so violent they just rip apart the molecules," said John Follin of General Atomics. Designers said that it's not just PFAS the system destroys, but it also eliminates a number of other dangerous chemicals. When everything is removed, salt water is left behind. The Lake Elmo demonstration is temporary, but it is something that could eventually become permanent. Fifteen million dollars in funding came from the Department of Defense, which is responsible for environmental cleanups. The goal is to eliminate PFAS now, for families and future generations. "We are in this together. We are one team making sure our constituents have safe drinking water," said DFL Rep. Betty McCollum. "It is a nationwide challenge that affects us, in our states and municipalities," said John Glabach, Bay West CEO. Rep. McCollum said they've secured $600 million nationwide to address PFAS on military bases and in communities. The funding is for research, detection, public outreach and PFAS destruction, like what's currently happening in Lake Elmo.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Hybrid-Electric GHOST Strike-Recon Drone In The Works For USAF
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has awarded General Atomics a contract for work on what is described as a 'hybrid-electric propulsion ducted fan next-generation intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance/strike unmanned aerial system,' or GHOST. A propulsion system of this kind can offer a very high degree of efficiency, which can translate to significant unrefueled range, as well as being very quiet. General Atomics has publicly touted work in this area in the past, tied in part to its Gambit modular drone family, which it has said could lead to a design capable of staying aloft for up to 60 hours, at least. The Pentagon included AFRL's GHOST award to General Atomics, a cost-plus-fixed-fee deal valued at $99,292,613, in its daily contracting notice today. The full entry reads: 'General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. Poway, California, was awarded a $99,292,613 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for hybrid-electric propulsion ducted fan next-generation intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance/strike unmanned aerial systems (GHOST). This contract provides for the advancement of the hybrid-electric ducted fan next-generation intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance/strike unmanned aerial systems to provide capabilities across a spectrum of contested environments. Work will be performed at Poway, California, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 26, 2028. This contract was a sole source acquisition. Fiscal 2024 research, development, test and appropriations funds in the amount of $26,867,479 are being obligated at time of award. The Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA2931-25-C-B035).' Additional details about the GHOST effort, including what plans there might be now to operationalize what the program produces, are scant. TWZ has reached out to AFRL for more information. 'For more than 30 years, General Atomics has advanced unmanned aerial systems in ways never before achieved and often poorly replicated,' C. Mark Brinkley, a spokesperson for General Atomics, told TWZ when asked for more details. 'Satcom [satellite communications] control? Did it. Kinetic strike? That was us. Automatic takeoff and landing? That, too. Unmanned jets? We're building our third.' General Atomics' third jet-powered drone, at least that it has publicly acknowledged, is the YFQ-42A under development now as part of the U.S. Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program. It is derived from the experimental XQ-67A drone produced for AFRL's once-secretive Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS) program. There is also the company's stealthy Avenger uncrewed aircraft. 'We've been promising something impressive related to hybrid-electric propulsion, and now I can't talk about it anymore,' he added. 'That's how it goes with these things. Contrary to what you see on the news, the revolution won't be televised.' In general, hybrid-electric propulsion systems offer improved fuel economy and other benefits by combining fuel-powered engines and electric motors. The system can be paired with batteries of various capacities to achieve its desired performance. Using ducted fans can offer additional performance and other benefits. Hybrid-electric configurations can also help reduce infrared and acoustic signatures on top of other low-observable (stealthy) design features. As noted, General Atomics has been very open in the past about its work on hybrid-electric propulsion involving ducted fans for future stealthy long-endurance drones. 'We are working on hybrid electric propulsion,' Mike Atwood, then Senior Director, Advanced Programs at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), told Breaking Defense in 2022. 'We believe that GA is going to pioneer a completely new way to propel airborne air-breathing [vehicles]. That will be unveiled in the coming years, but it is a completely disruptive technology. It uses a hybrid electric system where it's basically a Tesla Model S and an RQ-170 got together and you have a fully electric aircraft.' Atwood has since become GA-ASI's Vice President for Advanced Programs. At that time, General Atomics had presented a notional concept for a stealthy flying wing-type drone, referred to as MQ-Next, and pitched as a potential successor to the company's still-popular MQ-9. Two years earlier, the Air Force, the largest known operator of MQ-9s, had announced its desire to stop buying those drones largely over concerns about their vulnerability in future high-end fights, especially one against China in the Pacific. The service has continued to receive additional representatives since then. 'The key to this design is [a] heavy fuel engine, driving very efficient generators and motors. And that way we can get fairly low [fan] speeds, get really good efficiency,' Dave Alexander, GA-ASI's President, also told Breaking Defense in 2022. 'So, this is [a] game changer right here. This is a low-pressure ratio fan, so it's a little tricky and we got to be careful with it. But we believe once we nail this, get the thrust out of it and installed weight, then that'll drive that aircraft [to new lengths.].' Breaking Defense's report added that Alexander had talked about a 60-hour endurance for the MQ-Next concept and described it as particularly well suited for persistent long-range intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions over the hotly contested South China Sea. He also talked about a goal being for the drone to be able to operate from a 3,000-foot-long rough runway in alignment with the Air Force's Agile Combat Employment (ACE) expeditionary and distributed concepts of operations. Last year, Alexander again highlighted General Atomics' work on hybrid-electric propulsion systems utilizing ducted fans in an interview with Aviation Week on the sidelines of the annual Royal International Air Tattoo in the United Kingdom. At that time, he also directly linked these developments to the Gambit family of modular drones, and the Gambit 4 design in particular. General Atomics has presented a variety of very different potential Gambit drones, but they are all designed around a common 'chassis' that includes landing gear, as well as key mission and flight control computer systems. To date, Gambit 4 has been consistently depicted as a stealthy flying wing-type design intended for long-endurance persistent ISR missions that is fully in line with the MQ-Next concept General Atomics had previously shown, as seen in the video below. 'That part of the Gambit series is still out there and we want to make sure we don't lose sight of that,' Alexander said. 'It's very unique.' 'Heavy Fuel Engine 2.0 in development for the MQ-1C Block 25 is not the basis for Gambit 4's hybrid propulsion system, Alexander said,' Aviation Week's report added. 'A different diesel engine with eight cylinders will be developed to generate the power for the electric motors in Gambit 4.' Without knowing more about the work General Atomics is now doing for AFRL as part of GHOST, it is hard to say specifically what kinds of operational tasks the resulting drone might be capable of performing. However, in previous reporting about broadly similar designs, TWZ has highlighted the value that a stealthy, ultra-quiet drone with significant range and endurance could offer for conducting ISR missions, and doing so covertly, in denied areas. The GHOST contract announcement also mentions the potential for the drones to be capable of performing strike missions. The ability to immediately prosecute at least some targets of opportunity would be another major benefit of this kind of uncrewed aircraft. Northrop Grumman subsidiary Scaled Composites is currently working on a different highly efficient and whisper-quiet hybrid-electric flying wing-type drone called the XRQ-73 as part of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program called the Series Hybrid Electric Propulsion AiRcraft Demonstration (SHEPARD). DARPA has been running SHEPARD in cooperation with AFRL, as well as the Office of Naval Research, since 2021. The XRQ-73 design is also a direct outgrowth of the XRQ-72A that Scaled Composites developed for a previous effort called Great Horned Owl (GHO), which the U.S. Intelligence Community's Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) ran from the early 2000s until sometime in the 2010s. AFRL was also involved in GHO. TWZ was the first to report in detail on the XRQ-72A, which featured a hybrid-electric propulsion system with ducted fan propulsors. The U.S. military and U.S. Intelligence Community have a long history of work on ultra-quiet crewed and uncrewed aircraft dating back to the height of the Cold War, and additional relevant developments could well be underway now in the classified realm. It's also worth noting here that the GHOST contract comes amid renewed concerns about the MQ-9's vulnerability even to lower-tier threats following a spate of losses to Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen in the past year or so. With General Atomics now on contract with AFRL for GHOST, it remains to be seen whether more details about that specific effort begin to emerge. Contact the author: joe@
South China Morning Post
24-05-2025
- South China Morning Post
Could next-gen fighter jets and ‘loyal wingmen' help US offset China's numbers?
America's next-generation fighter jets and their 'loyal wingmen' drones could counter China's fleet size advantage and widen the operational range for a potential conflict in the Indo-Pacific, according to analysts. Advertisement But they also say that China is catching up in this area of military technology, and the gap is 'narrowing'. General David Allvin, chief of staff of the US Air Force, posted a photo of the YFQ-42A unmanned combat aerial vehicle on social media on Monday in the 'world's first look' at the UCAV. The drone is part of the air force's collaborative combat aircraft programme, or CCA, which Allvin said would 'prove not only cost-effective, but truly lethal'. 'No doubts these uncrewed fighters will put our adversaries on notice!' he wrote. US Air Force Chief of Staff General David Allvin (centre) said CCA would 'prove not only cost-effective, but truly lethal'. Photo: AFP The UCAV is being developed by General Atomics and is one of two designs in the first phase of the CCA programme, which aims to develop drones to augment crewed fighter aircraft in air-to-air missions. The US Air Force said earlier this month that it had begun ground testing of the two initial CCA designs, unveiling images of Anduril's YFQ-44A – the other drone being developed under the programme. Their propulsion systems, avionics, autonomy integration and ground control interfaces are being put to the test to see how they perform, inform future design decisions and prepare for flight testing later this year. If that goes to plan, production is expected to take place in 2026 along with development of the second phase designs. Advertisement Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst and managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, said the first two designs were 'primarily for relatively simple strike missions, or for basic air-to-air missile carriage'.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Both Air Force CCAs now in ground testing, expected to fly this summer
General Atomics announced Monday that ground testing of its YFQ-42A began earlier this month, and the collaborative combat aircraft is expected to have its first flight this summer. In a statement, General Atomics said their CCA's ground testing began May 7. 'The YFQ-42A is an exciting next step for our company,' David Alexander, president of General Atomics Aeronautics Systems, said in a statement. 'It reflects many years of partnership with the U.S. Air Force of advancing unmanned combat aviation for the United States and its allies around the world, and we're excited to begin ground testing and move to first flight.' The announcement follows the Air Force's revelation May 1 that Anduril Industries' CCA, the YFQ-44A, had also started its ground testing. Anduril also expects its CCA to start flight tests this summer. CCAs are uncrewed, semi-autonomous drones that will fly alongside aircraft like the F-35 and F-47, also known as Next Generation Air Dominance. Their purpose is to expand the reach of the Air Force's limited fleet of crewed fighters and conduct missions, such as strike operations, reconnaissance, electronic warfare and to serve as decoys. The Air Force chose General Atomics and Anduril to design, build and test the first iteration of CCAs in April 2024. General Atomics' YFQ-42A is derived from its XQ-67 Off-Board Sensing Station drone, which the Air Force Research Laboratory flew in 2024 to test a 'platform sharing' construction concept. That drone was built on a chassis that could be used as a foundation for multiple drones, which the company and AFRL said could allow drones to be built en masse and more cheaply. Anduril's YFQ-44A was previously called Fury, and the company uses its Lattice operating system for its autonomous capabilities. The service posted a graphic last week that said these first CCAs would have a combat radius of more than 700 nautical miles and stealth comparable to the F-35's. The Air Force wants to have at least 1,000 CCAs. The Air Force also plans to locate its first CCA aircraft readiness unit — which will keep them in a 'fly-ready status' for rapid deployment — at Beale Air Force Base in California. Because CCAs would not need to be flown regularly to keep pilots trained, the Air Force expects the drones would only be flown a minimal amount of times. That means Beale's unit would likely need fewer support airmen than crewed aircraft require, such as maintainers, the service said. But both Anduril's and General Atomics' CCAs may not end up being in the Air Force's fleet. The service plans to choose next year which of those CCAs to move into production and start to develop the next 'increment' of the drones.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Our First Look At The YFQ-42 ‘Fighter Drone' Collaborative Combat Aircraft
We now have our first actual look at General Atomics' YFQ-42A 'fighter drone' prototype. The YFQ-42A, as well as Anduril's YFQ-44A, are being developed under the first phase, or Increment 1, of the U.S. Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, and both designs are expected to make their maiden flights later this year. Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force Gen. David Allvin shared the picture of the YFQ-42A seen at the top of this story on social media today. The Air Force had announced the start of ground testing of both Increment 1 CCA designs on May 1, at which time the first images of a Anduril's YFQ-44A were also released. 'THE WORLD's FIRST LOOK AT OUR NEW YFQ-42A!' Allvin wrote in an accompanying post on X. 'As the @DeptofDefense matches threats to capabilities under @SecDef's [Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's] leadership, Collaborative Combat Aircraft will prove not only cost-effective, but truly lethal…No doubts these uncrewed fighters will put our adversaries on notice!' THE WORLD's FIRST LOOK AT OUR NEW YFQ-42A! As the @DeptofDefense matches threats to capabilities under @SecDef's leadership, Collaborative Combat Aircraft will prove not only cost-effective, but truly lethal…No doubts these uncrewed fighters will put our adversaries on notice! — General David Allvin (@OfficialCSAF) May 19, 2025 'The YFQ-42A is an exciting next step for our company,' David Alexander, President of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., said in a separate statement. 'It reflects many years of partnership with the U.S. Air Force of advancing unmanned combat aviation for the United States and its allies around the world, and we're excited to begin ground testing and move to first flight.' What can be seen in the head-on view of the YFQ-42A we have now is largely in line with renderings and physical models that General Atomics has shown in the past. The design has some low-observable (stealthy) features and shares some broad similarities with past company designs like the Avenger. It is also notably less slender than Anduril's YFQ-44A, which could offer advantages and disadvantages. General Atomics has also previously confirmed that its CCA design is derived from the experimental XQ-67A drone originally developed for the Air Force's once-secretive Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS) program. A core aspect of OBSS was a so-called 'genus/species' concept, involving a core 'genus' set of components from which multiple 'species' of differently configured drones could be crafted, lessons from which the Air Force has said are being incorporated broadly into the CCA program. General Atomics has been further proving that concept out via its Gambit family of drones, which all feature a common 'chassis' that incorporates landing gear, as well as key mission and flight control computer systems. The XQ-67A has been flying for more than a year now, offering General Atomics a valuable risk reduction asset for its CCA work, as well. Though partially obscured by the flight-test data probe, there is a notably different colored section on the bottom of the front of the nose with what looks to be a grill and an additional feature of some kind above it, the purpose of which is not immediately clear. Past renderings of the General Atomics CCA design have shown a trapezoidal window in the same general location, a feature typically associated with forward-facing electro-optical and/or infrared sensor systems. As TWZ has noted in the past, the position under the nose could be a likely location for an infrared search and track (IRST) sensor. IRSTs can spot stealthy targets and offer other benefits, and would align with the air-to-air combat role that is expected to be the main focus of the Increment 1 CCAs, at least initially. General Atomics has been separately using its stealthy Avenger drones to demonstrate potential air-to-air combat capabilities, including while equipped with podded IRST systems. Anduril's YFQ-44A also notably has what appears to be a forward-facing camera system prominently on top of its nose, which could, at least, be used to provide visual inputs for control and additional situational awareness during initial testing. General Atomics' YFQ-42A prototype could have a broadly similar system installed in its nose. What may be the doors for the YFQ-42A's ventral payload bay are also visible, along with the drone's tricycle landing gear. 'I think CCA can actually be, in some cases, a mobility aircraft,' Mike Atwood, vice president for Advanced Programs at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), had said during a panel discussion at the Air & Space Forces Association's (AFA) 2025 Warfare Symposium in March. 'One of the reasons that GA chose to have an internal weapons bay was for carrying not just missiles and kinetics, but to do that logistics.' 'We showed up at these World War II leftover airfields. And we quickly realized these airfields are in really bad shape, really bad shape, and we started to really appreciate runway distance,' Atwood had also said at AFA's annual Warfare Symposium. 'It's hard to make a fast-moving aircraft use a lot less runway. And so what we realized is we needed a trailing-arm landing gear.' A trailing-arm landing gear arrangement helps ease the impact of landing, which in turn can help reduce wear and tear, something that is especially beneficial for operations from short and potentially rough fields. It can also similarly help with rough field takeoffs. The Air Force said that the Increment 1 CCAs are the first aircraft, crewed or uncrewed, to be developed from the ground up to align with its Agile Combat Employment (ACE) concepts of operations. ACE centers heavily on short-notice and otherwise irregular deployments, including to far-flung locations with limited infrastructure. You can read more about how the Air Force's CCA vision aligns with ACE here. As it stands now, the Air Force is still looking to acquire 1,000 CCAs, if not more, across a series of iterative development cycles. Service officials have previously said that between 100 and 150 Increment 1 CCAs could be acquired, but it remains unclear whether that fleet with consist of YFQ-42As, YFQ-44As, or a mix of both types. 'A competitive Increment 1 production decision is expected in fiscal year 2026,' which begins on October 1, 2025, the Air Force had said as part of the announcement about the start of ground testing at the beginning of the month. The Air Force is now in the process of finalizing requirements for Increment 2 of CCA, which are expected to be significantly different from those for Increment 1. In March, Air Force Maj. Gen. Joseph D. Kunkel, director of Force Design, Integration, and Wargaming and deputy chief of staff for Air Force Futures, indicated that the second phase of the program could call for designs that are both less complex and cheaper. More details are likely to continue to emerge about the Increment 1 CCA designs, as well as other plans for the program, as the YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A progress through ground testing toward their first flights. Contact the author: joe@
