Airshow - new technology...
We went down to the 2008 Singapore Airshow yesterday as Ms Clover has 2 free passes for it and we decided to go @ the height of the day - mid noon when they have the spectacular aerial display lined up one after another.
It is quite interesting to see the new F16d fighter perform some really complicated manoevuers and even slow vertical forward thrust without stalling at that kind of attitude, a true display of excellent control from the pilot alternating the thrusters and main burners. Ms Clover was quite enthralled at the high speed movements which the fighter jet can perform while I wonder how much G force does the pilot have to endure while doing a hard 90 degrees turn at so short of a straight flight path.
I even bumped into my youngest brother who was there with the aircraft engineering company where he is interning at.
I find the aerial display of the airbus 380 flying gracefully to the music of Pachebel's Canon in D rather cheesy & amusing but it is really quite a sight to see the jumbo jet manoeuvre with such ease in the air.
After the aerial displays, we walked around the static displays outside and it was quite the same as the displays in 2006 where I was tasked by a aerial engineering magazine to cover some of the product presentations, but this year, with the expanded area like in Changi Exhibition, they managed to bring in the C130 Hercules and more F16 varient fighters from US.
The heat of the day was getting into us so we escaped into the indoor display area where I was really amazed at the new technologies offered up by ST Kinetics. The new modular aspect of the SAR21 which can be configured for various kind of missions and roles is a very exciting prospect to the Army... One weapon that can be fitted with so many possibilities greatly enhances the survivabilty and combat effectiveness in our soldiers.
Hopefully during my ICTs to follow I will get to see some of these new weapons in use during faux exercises :)
(blogged entirely on the iPhone)
It is quite interesting to see the new F16d fighter perform some really complicated manoevuers and even slow vertical forward thrust without stalling at that kind of attitude, a true display of excellent control from the pilot alternating the thrusters and main burners. Ms Clover was quite enthralled at the high speed movements which the fighter jet can perform while I wonder how much G force does the pilot have to endure while doing a hard 90 degrees turn at so short of a straight flight path.
I even bumped into my youngest brother who was there with the aircraft engineering company where he is interning at.
I find the aerial display of the airbus 380 flying gracefully to the music of Pachebel's Canon in D rather cheesy & amusing but it is really quite a sight to see the jumbo jet manoeuvre with such ease in the air.
After the aerial displays, we walked around the static displays outside and it was quite the same as the displays in 2006 where I was tasked by a aerial engineering magazine to cover some of the product presentations, but this year, with the expanded area like in Changi Exhibition, they managed to bring in the C130 Hercules and more F16 varient fighters from US.
The heat of the day was getting into us so we escaped into the indoor display area where I was really amazed at the new technologies offered up by ST Kinetics. The new modular aspect of the SAR21 which can be configured for various kind of missions and roles is a very exciting prospect to the Army... One weapon that can be fitted with so many possibilities greatly enhances the survivabilty and combat effectiveness in our soldiers.
Hopefully during my ICTs to follow I will get to see some of these new weapons in use during faux exercises :)
(blogged entirely on the iPhone)
