Archive for the ‘Life Extension’ Category

WASHINGTON The Army will reduce its Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) buy in the fiscal 2021 budget and cancel procurement of specific precision-guided rockets in order to fund modernization priorities, according to Maj. Gen. Paul Chamberlain, the Armys budget director.

Through a second round of night court an effort to find and shift funding from programs that dont align with the Armys modernization priorities or the National Defense Strategy the service found an additional $2.4 billion to move from lower priority programs.

And the Army found a total of $13.5 billion across the five-year budget plan in savings, with $7.2 billion of that coming from a legacy system review.

Chamberlain said the JLTV procurement would be reduced in FY21. The reductions wont affect the Armys overall procurement requirement but will extend the process to buy the vehicles out by additional years.

According to Pentagon budget documents, the Army is requesting $894.4 million in FY21 for 1,920 JLTVs of various configurations as well as 1,334 JLTV-T companion trailers.

The number of JLTVs under contract totals 10,760. The services forecasted quantities total across the five-year budget plan is 8,829 vehicles. If funding levels remain consistent with the [FY21] funding profile, the Army anticipates reaching the [Acquisition Program Objective] in FY41, the service said in a statement providing clarity to the newly released budget documents.

The Army cut its procurement of the JLTV in its FY20 budget request by 863 vehicles as well. The service procured 3,393 vehicles in FY19 in low-rate initial production, but only planned to buy 2,530 vehicles in FY20. The Army originally planned in its FY19 request to buy 3,035 vehicles in FY20.

The service also struggled to reach full-rate production due to several changes to the vehicle. The Army originally planned to make an FRP decision in December 2018 but didnt reach the milestone until May 2019.

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Defense Secretary Mark Esper, while serving as Army secretary in the spring of 2019, said that the vehicle was designed and procured in the context of Afghanistan and Iraq, and hence was just not as relevant anymore when applied to the fresh NDS guiding Army investment.

We are certainly cutting the total number," Esper said of the vehicles, at the time.

The Army is also canceling the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKS) procurement, which are guided rockets, Chamberlain said.

And the Army is also canceling the High Mobility Engineer Excavator and research and development of tactical electric power, he added.

The service is also planning to reduce the service life extension program for the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and some mortar procurement, Chamberlain said.

The Army is planning to replace ATACMS with its new Precision Strike Missile (PrSM). Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are competing to build the new missile for the Army.

As far as the bigger programs that saw reductions or cancellations last year in order to find funding for top priorities, the Army is not walking back on those decisions.

For example, the service is still continuing to upgrade Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles in advance of procuring its replacement, the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle, which is currently in a tactical pause. But its not adding back cuts it made to upgrades to pay for OMFV, despite its unclear future.

And the Army is still not planning on funding any CH-47F Block II Chinook cargo helicopters for the active force, which it cut last year, despite Congress injecting funds in FY20 to jump start advanced procurement for aircraft for the active force.

Chamberlain said the service is still planning to fund the development and procurement of the Block II variant for Army Special Operations.

The Army plans to revisit its decision to cut the CH-47F Block II procurement for conventional forces in FY23, according to a service statement. The options include buying the Block II variant for the active component or recapitalizing the Block I variant, the statement details.

Original post:
Army sacrifices JLTV and guided rockets to pay for Army modernization in FY21 - DefenseNews.com

Maintenance team attends to Minuteman III

A significant portion of Americas nuclear deterrent force currently relies on intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that were fielded over forty years ago. This mission, which represents the bedrock of U.S. security, demands modern technology. The time for a replacement is now.

Since the dawn of the nuclear age, nuclear deterrence has been an enduring tenet of U.S. defense strategy.It is fundamental to checking threats from Russia and China who possess sufficient numbers of nuclear weapons to pose an existential threat to the U.S. The U.S. nuclear triadcomprised of air, sea, and ground launched nuclear weapons, each with unique characteristics and advantages that collectively compensate for the disadvantages of the othersremains the cornerstone of effective U.S. nuclear deterrence. Yet, over the past three decades, every leg of the U.S. triad has been allowed to age, if not atrophy.

The LGM-30 Minuteman III, is the ICBM land leg of the U.S. nuclear triadand is complemented by theTridentsubmarine-launched ballistic missile(SLBM), and nuclear weapons carried by long-range bombers. The first Minuteman was developed in the late 1950s and the current Minuteman III entered service with the Air Force in the 1970s.Originally intended for a service life of just a decade, the Air Force invested in a series of service life extension programs (SLEPs) through the 1990s and early 2000s in order to maintain the Minuteman III force through 2030. The deferment of a new ICBM system meant that any replacement would likely be fielded at thenear endof the Minutemans existing service life.

Russia and China, meanwhile, developed and deployed a wide variety of new ICBMsto include rail and road mobile variants. Russias newest ICBM, theRS-28 Sarmat, was publicly unveiled by Russian President Putinin 2018. China has developed several long-range ICBMs, most notably theDF-31and theDF-41 capable ofcarrying 10 independently targetable nuclear warheads. China has also recently tested an SLBMsignaling their intent to deploy a full-fledged triad themselves.

While the number of nuclear weapons Russia and the U.S. possesses is determined in part by arms control agreements, there are only bilateral treaties between the U.S. and Russia. China was not a party to any of the Cold War era arms control agreements and is not a party to any similar treaty today.

In 2014, the Air Force determined that a new ICBM system would be required to maintain effective U.S. nuclear deterrence and assurance beyond 2030. This was largely due to concerns about flexibility of the missile system as new threats emerged over time and ever escalating maintenance costs on the aging Minuteman III system. The Air Force then ran a series of competitions among industry leaders to design and produce this new system. In the end, after three years of competition, only one contractor submitted a bid. This fact affords the Air Force an opportunity to accelerate the new ICBM program now called the ground based strategic deterrent (GBSD). The Air Forces original acquisition schedule anticipated the need to review multiple 1000+ page proposals. Now that this is unnecessary given the single bid, the Air Force is in a position to accelerate the GBSD acquisition process because it can avoid the multitude of time-consuming elements of the source selection process required when there is more than one bidder. This acceleration would provide some slack in the program schedule and meet U.S. Strategic Commands imperative to go fast.

It is not uncommon for the Defense Department to receive only one bid on major programs: the global positioning satellite (GPS) III, Presidential helicopter, armored multi-purpose vehicle, and the optionally manned fighting vehicle are just some of the solicitations that received a single bid. There are regulations for the government to follow in these situations that yield transparency and insight into the bidders pricing.

One of the challenges of this program is the strict schedule. Through age and attrition, the size of the Minuteman III missile force will dwindle dramatically after 2030. That means the program must meet its critical milestones on timelike first flight and full functional test. Time is of the essence to design, develop, and test all the sub-systems that need to be integrated for first flight. Every month that the engineers spend focused on this program is an investment in risk reduction and schedule certainty.

While no one could have predicted the dynamics in the aerospace industry landscape when this program was first authorized, a series of unusual circumstances have gifted the Air Force the opportunity to accelerate the GBSD program. Deploying our new ICBM leg of the triad ahead of schedule and with considerable savings would be a big win for all Americans.

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The Opportunity Exists To Move Faster On Nuclear Modernization - Forbes

In Palo Alto in the heart of Silicon Valley, hedge fund manager Joon Yun is doing a back-of-the-envelope calculation. According to US social security data, he says, the probability of a 25-year-old dying before their 26th birthday is 0.1%. If we could keep that risk constant throughout life instead of it rising due to age-related disease, the average person would statistically speaking live 1,000 years. Yun finds the prospect tantalising and even believable. Late last year he launched a $1m prize challenging scientists to hack the code of life and push human lifespan past its apparent maximum of about 120 years (the longest known/confirmed lifespan was 122 years).

Yun believes it is possible to solve ageing and get people to live, healthily, more or less indefinitely. His Palo Alto Longevity Prize, which 15 scientific teams have so far entered, will be awarded in the first instance for restoring vitality and extending lifespan in mice by 50%. But Yun has deep pockets and expects to put up more money for progressively greater feats. He says this is a moral rather than personal quest. Our lives and society are troubled by growing numbers of loved ones lost to age-related disease and suffering extended periods of decrepitude, which is costing economies. Yun has an impressive list of nearly 50 advisers, including scientists from some of Americas top universities.

Yuns quest a modern version of the age old dream of tapping the fountain of youth is emblematic of the current enthusiasm to disrupt death sweeping Silicon Valley. Billionaires and companies are bullish about what they can achieve. In September 2013 Google announced the creation of Calico, short for the California Life Company. Its mission is to reverse engineer the biology that controls lifespan and devise interventions that enable people to lead longer and healthier lives. Though much mystery surrounds the new biotech company, it seems to be looking in part to develop age-defying drugs. In April 2014 it recruited Cynthia Kenyon, a scientist acclaimed for work that included genetically engineering roundworms to live up to six times longer than normal, and who has spoken of dreaming of applying her discoveries to people. Calico has the money to do almost anything it wants, says Tom Johnson, an earlier pioneer of the field now at the University of Colorado who was the first to find a genetic effect on longevity in a worm.

In March 2014, pioneering American biologist and technologist Craig Venter along with the tech entrepreneur founder of the X Prize Foundation, Peter Diamandis announced a new company called Human Longevity Inc. It isnt aimed at developing anti-ageing drugs or competing with Calico, says Venter. But it plans to create a giant database of 1 million human genome sequences by 2020, including from supercentenarians. Venter says that data should shed important new light on what makes for a longer, healthier life, and expects others working on life extension to use his database. Our approach can help Calico immensely and if their approach is successful it can help me live longer, explains Venter. We hope to be the reference centre at the middle of everything.

In an office not far from Googles headquarters in Mountain View, with a beard reaching almost to his navel, Aubrey de Grey is enjoying the new buzz about defeating ageing. For more than a decade, he has been on a crusade to inspire the world to embark on a scientific quest to eliminate ageing and extend healthy lifespan indefinitely (he is on the Palo Alto Longevity Prize board). It is a difficult job because he considers the world to be in a pro-ageing trance, happy to accept that ageing is unavoidable, when the reality is that its simply a medical problem that science can solve. Just as a vintage car can be kept in good condition indefinitely with periodic preventative maintenance, so there is no reason why, in principle, the same cant be true of the human body, thinks de Grey. We are, after all, biological machines, he says.

His claims about the possibilities (he has said the first person who will live to 1,000 years is probably already alive), and some unconventional and unproven ideas about the science behind ageing, have long made de Grey unpopular with mainstream academics studying ageing. But the appearance of Calico and others suggests the world might be coming around to his side, he says. There is an increasing number of people realising that the concept of anti-ageing medicine that actually works is going to be the biggest industry that ever existed by some huge margin and that it just might be foreseeable.

Since 2009, de Grey has been chief scientific officer at his own charity, the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (Sens) Research Foundation. Including an annual contribution (about $600,000 a year) from Peter Thiel, a billionaire Silicon Valley venture capitalist, and money from his own inheritance, he funds about $5m of research annually. Some is done in-house, the rest sponsored at outside institutions. (Even his critics say he funds some good science.)

De Grey isnt the only one who sees a new flowering of anti-ageing research. Radical life extension isnt consigned to the realm of cranks and science fiction writers any more, says David Masci, a researcher at the Pew Research Centre, who recently wrote a report on the topic looking at the scientific and ethical dimensions of radical life extension. Serious people are doing research in this area and serious thinkers are thinking about this .

Although funding pledges have been low compared to early hopes, billionaires not just from the technology industry have long supported research into the biology of ageing. Yet it has mostly been aimed at extending healthspan, the years in which you are free of frailty or disease, rather than lifespan, although an obvious effect is that it would also be extended (healthy people after all live longer).

If a consequence of increasing health is that life is extended, thats a good thing, but the most important part is keeping people healthy as long as possible, says Kevin Lee, a director of the Ellison Medical Foundation, founded in 1997 by tech billionaire Larry Ellison, and which has been the fields largest private funder, spending $45m annually. (The Paul F Glenn Foundation for Medical Research is another.) Whereas much biomedical research concentrates on trying to cure individual diseases, say cancer, scientists in this small field hunt something larger. They investigate the details of the ageing process with a view to finding ways to prevent it at its root, thereby fending off the whole slew of diseases that come along with ageing. Life expectancy has risen in developed countries from about 47 in 1900 to about 80 today, largely due to advances in curing childhood diseases. But those longer lives come with their share of misery. Age-related chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, stroke and Alzheimers are more prevalent than ever.

The standard medical approach curing one disease at a time only makes that worse, says Jay Olshansky, a sociologist at the University of Chicago School of Public Health who runs a project called the Longevity Dividend Initiative, which makes the case for funding ageing research to increase healthspan on health and economic grounds. I would like to see a cure for heart disease or cancer, he says. But it would lead to a dramatic escalation in the prevalence of Alzheimers disease.

By tackling ageing at the root they could be dealt with as one, reducing frailty and disability by lowering all age-related disease risks simultaneously, says Olshansky. Evidence is now building that this bolder, age-delaying approach could work. Scientists have already successfully intervened in ageing in a variety of animal species and researchers say there is reason to believe it could be achieved in people. We have really turned a corner, says Brian Kennedy, director of the Buck Institute for Research on Ageing, adding that five years ago the scientific consensus was that ageing research was interesting but unlikely to lead to anything practical. Were now at the point where its easy to extend the lifespan of a mouse. Thats not the question any more, its can we do this in humans? And I dont see any reason why we cant, says David Sinclair, a researcher based at Harvard.

Reason for optimism comes after several different approaches have yielded promising results. Some existing drugs, such as the diabetes drug metformin, have serendipitously turned out to display age-defying effects, for example. Several drugs are in development that mimic the mechanisms that cause lab animals fed carefully calorie-restricted diets to live longer. Others copy the effects of genes that occur in long-lived people. One drug already in clinical trials is rapamycin, which is normally used to aid organ transplants and treat rare cancers. It has been shown to extend the life of mice by 25%, the greatest achieved so far with a drug, and protect them against diseases of ageing including cancer and neurodegeneration.

A recent clinical trial by Novartis, in healthy elderly volunteers in Australia and New Zealand, found a variant of the drug enhanced their response to flu vaccine by 20% our immunity to flu being something that declines with old age.

[This was] the first [trial] to take a drug suspected to slow ageing, and examine whether it slows or reverses a property of ageing in older, healthy individuals, says Kennedy. Other drugs set to be tested in humans are compounds inspired by resveratrol, a compound found in red wine. Some scientists believe it is behind the French paradox that French people have a low incidence of heart disease despite eating comparatively rich diets.

In 2003, Sinclair published evidence that high doses of resveratrol extend the healthy lives of yeast cells. After Sirtris, a company co-founded by Sinclair, showed that resveratrol-inspired compounds had favourable effects in mice, it was bought by drug giant GlaxoSmithKline for $720m in 2008. Although development has proved more complicated than first thought, GSK is planning a large clinical trial this year, says Sinclair. He is now working on another drug that has a different way of activating the same pathway.

One of the more unusual approaches being tested is using blood from the young to reinvigorate the old. The idea was borne out in experiments which showed blood plasma from young mice restored mental capabilities of old mice. A human trial under way is testing whether Alzhemiers patients who receive blood transfusions from young people experience a similar effect. Tony Wyss-Coray, a researcher at Stanford leading the work, says that if it works he hopes to isolate factors in the blood that drive the effect and then try to make a drug that does a similar thing. (Since publishing his work in mice, many healthy, very rich people have contacted Wyss-Coray wondering if it might help them live longer.)

James Kirkland, a researcher who studies ageing at the Mayo Clinic, says he knows of about 20 drugs now more than six of which had been written up in scientific journals that extended the lifespan or healthspan of mice. The aim is to begin tests in humans, but clinical studies of ageing are difficult because of the length of our lives, though there are ways around this such as testing the drugs against single conditions in elderly patients and looking for signs of improvements in other conditions at the same time. Quite what the first drug will be, and what it will do, is unclear. Ideally, you might take a single pill that would delay ageing in every part of your body. But Kennedy notes that in mice treated with rapamycin, some age-related effects, such as cataracts, dont slow down. I dont know any one drug is going to do everything, he says. As to when you might begin treatment, Kennedy imagines that in future you could start treatment sometime between the age of 40 and 50 because it keeps you healthy 10 years longer.

With treatments at such an early stage, guesses as to when they might arrive or how far they will stretch human longevity can only be that. Many researchers refuse to speculate. But Kirkland says the informal ambition in his field is to increase healthspan by two to three years in the next decade or more. (The EU has an official goal of adding two years to healthspan by 2020). Beyond that, what effects these drugs might have on extending our healthy lives is even harder to predict. A recent report by UK Human Longevity Panel, a body of scientists convened by insurer Legal and General, based on interviews with leading figures in the field, said: There was disagreement about how far the maximum lifespan could increase, with some experts believing that there was a maximum threshold that could not be stretched much more than the current 120 years or so, and others believing that there was no limit.

Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute for Ageing Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, is one of the pessimists. Based on the biology that we know today, somewhere between 100 and 120 there is a roof in play and I challenge if we can get beyond it. Venter is one of the optimists. I dont see any absolute biological limit on human age, he says, arguing that cellular immortality in effect running the clock backwards should be possible. We can expect biological processes to eventually get rid of years. Whether this will happen this century or not, I cant tell you. Such ideas are just speculation for now. But John Troyer, who studies death and technology at the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath, says we need to take them seriously. You want to think about it now before you are in the middle of an enormous mess.

What happens if we all live to 100, 110, 120 or beyond? Society will start to look very different. People working and living longer might make it more difficult for a new generation to get into the labour force or find houses, says Troyer. And, with ageing delayed, how many children are we talking about as being a normal family? There is a very strong likelihood there would be an impact on things like family structures. A 2003 American presidents Council on Bioethics report looked at some of these issues suggesting there may be repercussions for individual psychology, too.

One of the virtues of mortality it pointed out is that it may instill a desire to make each day count. Would knowing you had longer to live decrease your willingness to make the most of life? De Grey acknowledges potential practical challenges but cheerily says society would adapt, for example by having fewer children, and with people able to decide when to end their lives. There are pressing questions too about who would benefit if and when these interventions become available. Will it just be the super rich or will market incentives who wouldnt want it? push costs down and make treatment affordable?

Will Britains NHS or health insurers in other countries pay for drugs that extend peoples lives? The medical cost of caring for people in their twilight years would fall if they remained healthier longer, but delayed ageing will also mean more people draw pensions and state benefits. But advocates say these challenges dont negate the moral imperative. If the period of healthy life can be extended, then doing so is the humanitarian thing to do, says Nick Bostrom, director of Oxfords Future of Humanity Institute. There seems to be no moral argument not to, he says. Troyer agrees but asks whether living longer does necessarily mean you will be healthier what does healthy or healthier mean in this context? he asks.

The far future aside, there are challenges for the new tech entrants. Calico may get too side-tracked by basic research, worries de Grey; Venters approach may take years to bear fruit because of issues about data gathering, thinks Barzilai; while the money on offer from the Palo Alto prize is a paltry sum for the demanded outcome and potential societal impact, says Johnson. Still, history reminds us, even if they dont succeed, we may still benefit.

Aviator Charles Lindbergh tried to cheat death by devising ways to replace human organs with machines. He didnt succeed, but one of his contraptions did develop into the heart-lung machine so crucial for open-heart surgery. In the quest to defeat ageing, even the fruits of failure may be bountiful.

Why might tech zillionaires choose to fund life extension research? Three reasons reckons Patrick McCray, a historian of modern technology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. First, if you had that much money wouldnt you want to live longer to enjoy it? Then there is money to be made in them there hills. But last, and what he thinks is the heart of the matter, is ideology. If your business and social world is oriented around the premise of disruptive technologies, what could be more disruptive than slowing down or defeating ageing? Coupled to this is the idea that if you have made your billions in an industrial sector that is based on precise careful control of 0s and 1s, why not imagine you could extend this to the control of atoms and molecules?, he says.

Peter Thiel, 47, PayPal co-founder and Facebooks first investor, recently told Bloomberg Television he took human growth hormone (HGH) as part of his regime to reach 120 (there is no evidence it works and it can even cause harm). He also follows a Paleo diet, doesnt eat sugar, drinks red wine and runs regularly. He has given more than $6m to Aubrey de Greys Sens Foundation, dedicated to extending the human lifespan. In a recent interview he identified three main ways to approach death. You can accept it, you can deny it or you can fight it. I think our society is dominated by people who are into denial or acceptance, and I prefer to fight it.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin, 41, is known for his love of special projects like Google Glass and CEO Larry Page has credited him for helping bring its new biotech company Calico to fruition. Were tackling ageing, one of lifes greatest mysteries, says the website of the research and development company launched in 2013 and which in September 2014 joined with biopharmaceutical firm AbbVie to pour up to $1.5bn into a research facility focused on fighting age-related diseases. An extra reason for Brins interest may be that he discovered in 2008 he carries a genetic mutation that gives him a greater likelihood of developing Parkinsons disease. Bryns wife is co-founder of personal genomics company 23andMe.

Larry Ellison, co-founder of computer company Oracle, told his biographer Mark Wilson. How can a person be there and then just vanish, just not be there? Ellison, 70, created the the Ellison Medical Foundation in 1997 to support ageing research and has spent more than $335m in the area, though it announced in 2013 that it would no longer fund further grants in the area. Ellison remains tight lipped about why, but there are reports that, with the emergence of Calico, he felt that hed done his bit.

A lot of people spend their last decade of their lives in pain and misery combating disease, says Craig Venter, San Diego based pioneering biologist and billionaire entrepreneur who raced to sequence the human genome. I think it is possible to begin to do more about that than we are doing. Venter, 68, announced his new company, Human Longevity, to promote healthy ageing using advances in genomics and stem cell therapies in March 2014. Would Venter like to beat death? I am not sure our brains and our psychologies are ready for immortality, he says. [But] if I can count on living to 100 without major debilitating diseases I would accept that Faustian bargain right now.

A digital copy of your brain turned into a low-cost, lifelike avatar, which doesnt age. Thats the vision of Dmitry Itskov, a thirtysomething Russian multi-millionaire internet mogul who founded an online media company New Media Stars. His 2045 Initiative, so-called for the year he hopes to complete it, aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individuals personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. Though not from Silicon Valley himself, his ideas draw on those of Ray Kurzweil, a prominent futurist, who is director of engineering at Google. Kurzweil has predicted that scientists will one day find a way to download human consciousness, no longer necessitating the need for our bodies.

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Live forever: Scientists say theyll extend life well ...

Q: Can the life of standard carbon fiber composite SCBA cylinders be extended past 15 years?

A: Yes. In 2017 the US Department of Transportation (DOT) approved Life Extension for carbon fiber composite SCBA cylinders beyond 15 years by issuing DOT Special Permit 16320. Here is a link to the DOT/PHMSA's announcement of regarding SCBA cylinder life extension: PHMSA's New Cylinder Special Permit Announcement

In DOT-CFFC, the DOT document that controls the design and manufacture of composite SCBA cylinders, life extension is allowed. To extend the life to 30 years from original manufacture date, the DOT must verify that the cylinders processed for life extension can operate safely for the extended lifetime. According to SP-16320, the only DOT accepted method to prove that the cylinders safely meet this high standard is Digital Waves LEx life extension process, which is based primarily on Modal Acoustic Emission (MAE) testing technology. The only company certified by the DOT to use LEx today is the company that invented the technology Digital Wave Corporation (www.digitalwavecorp.com). Dalmatian Fire Equipment (www.dalmatianfire.com) is the exclusive distributor of the LExTM technology.

Q: How does the LEx process work?

A:First, Modal Acoustic Emission (MAE) testing uses non-destructive vibration technology to find and analyze microscopic flaws in the carbon-fiber SCBA cylinder. Second, the aluminum liner is reconditioned to repair those flaws, and extend its life.

Q: Is the special permit number of the cylinder changed when the cylinder is qualified for 30 year life?

A: No. The manufacturers special permit number, part number and label are not modified in any way, and the cylinder meets all 42 CFR Part 84 requirements. As with hydrostatic testing, a RIN sticker is permanently affixed to the cylinder with the re-qualifier's RIN and the SP number under which the testing was performed, as required in section 7.(h) in special permit 16320. The special permit can be found at: https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/approvals-and-permits/hazmat/file-serve/offer/SP16320.pdf/offerserver/SP16320.

Q: Can my current hydrostatic testing facility extend the life of my standard carbon fiber SCBA cylinder to 30 years?

A: No. Hydrostatic testing is not recognized for life extension.

The DOTs special permit 16320 specifies that cylinder liner remediation and Modal Acoustic Emission testing are both required to extend the life of a standard SCBA cylinder to 30 years.

Q: How long does LEx extend the life of my standard carbon fiber SCBA cylinder?

A: To 30 years from the date of manufacture including MAE requalification each 5 years after life extension.

The LEx process extends the life to 30 years from the original manufacture date. Requalification with a Modal Acoustic Emission (MAE) test is required each five years after life extension. The MAE requalification test requirement is the required periodic inspection for life extended cylinders. Return your cylinder to Dalmatian Fire Equipment or Digital Wave each five years to get the Modal Acoustic Emission test for a modest fee. The MAE requalification test is different from the MAE life extension test.

Q: What if my SCBA cylinder is not yet at its 15 year end of life? Can I life extend it prior to the current 15 year end of life and how long can it be used for?

A: Yes. For example, if you have a SCBA cylinder that was manufactured in 2004 and you life extend it in 2017, it can be used to 30 years from the original manufacture date. This would be 2034. It would require MAE requalification testing every 5 years from life extension date.

Q: My SCBA cylinder was manufactured in 1998. After 15 years in service, I just stored it in my warehouse. It has been there since 2013. Can I life extend it now and how long can it be used for?

A: Yes. For example if you have a SCBA cylinder that was manufactured in 1998 and you life extend it in 2017, it can be used to 30 years from the original manufacture date. This would be 2028. It would require MAE requalification testing every 5 years from the life extension date.

Q: Does it matter if my cylinder was hydrostatically tested during the initial 15 years of life?

A: No, the LEx process is specifically designed to take into account hydrostatic testing that was used for requalification testing.

Hydrostatic testing was the only means to requalify SCBA cylinders prior to Modal Acoustic Emission. If cylinders were not properly dried after hydrostatic testing, the aluminum liner could see corrosion. The LEx process inspects the liner and also remediates liners exposed to water during the initial 15 year life.

Q: If the manufacturers say the cylinders are not in warranty after 15 years, shouldnt they be removed from service?

A: The DOT states that the life of cylinders is longer than originally calculated and they are safe beyond 15 years of life.The design requirements in DOT-CFFC make them the safest high pressure cylinders in the world. To safely extend the life beyond the original equipment manufacturers 15 year specification, the DOT requires: liner remediation, proof that it was done correctly using Modal Acoustic Emission testing; and re-labeling. To keep cylinders in service beyond the original 15 year service life, the DOT requires the checks and balances built into LEx.

Q: Are LExTM cylinders warrantied?

A: Yes, the LExTM cylinders carry a limited warranty for ten (10) years or the life of the cylinder, whichever is shorter for protection against manufacturing defects.

Q: The manufacturers say they have a new 30 year cylinder that I should replace my end of life cylinder with.

A: You already have a 30 year cylinder! You have used it 15 years already. You have another 15 years to go if it has been life extended with LEx. You have 15 years to make the decision of what new cylinder to buy.

Some manufacturers are claiming that they have 30 year cylinders available for sale. This is somewhat of a misleading statement. In actuality they may have a 30 year cylinder available. The DOT has not officially granted approval of 30 years for these cylinders. In the special permit requirements, the manufacturers must supply data at the ten(10) and fifteen (15) year intervals to be granted the 30 years of service life. If you look closely at the fine print on these manufacturers web pages regarding these cylinders you will see that they state up to a 30 year life (Cylinders must undergo additional testing before they are fully approved for 30 years.). What this means is that they still need to perform the testing required to prove to the DOT that they can be used for 30 years. They DO NOT as of yet have this 30 approval. What you do have is the DOT approval to use your current 15 year SCBA cylinder until 30 years from the manufacture date with LEx life extension.

This lack of certainty is explicitly stated in a SCBA manufacturers literature (https://www.scottsafety.com/en/us/DocumentandMedia1/QA_30-Year_Cylinder_HS7221A_EN.pdf)

Q: Why do the manufacturers limit standard carbon SCBA cylinder life to 15 years?

A: This life was based off of stress rupture studies by NASA on Kevlar composite cylinders, and does not apply to carbon fiber pressure cylinders.

Life Extension with Digital Waves MAE technology is new, and its more than just testing. The LEx process has 2 basic parts: First, MAE testing verifies the composite quality by usingnon-destructive vibration technology to find and analyze microscopic flaws in the carbon-fiber SCBA cylinder, second, it remediates the cylinder liner deterioration. Before 2017, the LEx process was not available. Before LEx, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) did not allow use of standard SCBA cylinders beyond 15 years. LEx is a proprietary process, and the manufacturers dont have it. With LEx technology from Digital Wave and Dalmatian Fire Equipment, the US Department of Transportation says life extension is safe up to 30 years.

Q: What are the safety specifications and measures that the DOT used to evaluate LEx?

A: Design Safety Factor of 3.4 minimum, and (for 4500 PSI cylinders) a Design Burst Pressure of 15,300 psi.

The DOT-CFFC document requires cylinders to have a design factor of safety of 3.4. Thus, a cylinder that has an operating pressure of 4500 psi must have a minimum design burst pressure of 15,300 psi. DOT/PHMSA funded research shows that carbon fiber cylinders typically withstand closer to 20,000 psi before bursting, for a factor of safety of closer to 4. The design requirements in DOT-CFFC make them the safest high pressure cylinders in the world, and their operating statistics support this claim. The service to burst pressure ratio also results in fatigue life performance that meets the ISO test requirements of infinite life. For safe life extension, the DOT still requires LExTM .

Q: How did the engineers at Digital Wave Corporation discover the SCBA Life Extension process?

A: The US Navy hired them to see if their cylinders could be used for an extra 15 years.

In 2011 the U.S. Navy had SCBA cylinders coming up on their 15 year life, and they wanted to know if there was a way to use them beyond their life. Digital Wave Corporation was contracted by the Navy to perform testing to provide DOT the needed data for life extension. The work was successful. Digital Wave Corporation proved conclusively that the cylinders met, or exceeded, the operating requirements of brand new cylinders, and received a DOT special permit SP-15720 for life extension of Navy SCBA CFFC and FRP-1 cylinders. In addition they received SP-16343 for life extension of Navy life raft inflation cylinders manufactured to the same DOT-CFFC design requirements.

Q: How long does the aluminum liner of a standard SCBA cylinder last?

A: At least 24,000 refill cycles.

With LEx conditioning, the test cylinders lasted an additional 24,000 refill cycles, which is considered infinite life according to ISO 11119-2, the international standard for the design and manufacture of composite cylinders.

Q: Why do cylinder liners need the reconditioning with the LEx process?

A: To heal the small areas of corrosion caused by hard water exposure of the liner.

After years of use and hydrostatic testing, small amounts of corrosion can occur in an aluminum cylinder liner. The corrosion comes from moisture in improperly dried breathing air, or from improper cylinder drying after the hydrostatic testing required every 5 years. Digital Wave engineers developed a proprietary method that reconditions the aluminum liners, effectively healing the corroded areas.

Q: How do we know that LEx reconditioning really works?

A: Testing shows DOT-CFFC cylinders lasted 24,000 refill cycles after life extension processing.

After the reconditioning of cylinders with highly corroded liners, they were then cycled to developed pressure (e.g., for a 4500 psi operating pressure, this would be a 5192 psi developed pressure) for an additional 24,000 cycles after the 15 year life of the cylinder. At this number of cycles, ISO 11119-2 states that the cylinder has infinite life.

Go To Life Extended Cylinder page

Read the original here:
Life Extension Cylinders FAQ - Dalmatian Fire Equipment

Updated Nov 6, 2019

Your trust is our top concern, so companies can't alter or remove reviews.

"Good benefits, decent pay, good people"(in 12 reviews)

"You are helping people learn to be healthy, free health insurance, good pay"(in 8 reviews)

"Firstly, its a call center and you are expected to be seated a lot (which is well compensated)"(in 11 reviews)

"Aggressive, non-relevant callers, and the unforgiving "chronic callers" exploit this as they learn HA's literally have no defense to this"(in 5 reviews)

Current Employee - Senior Wellness Specialistin Fort Lauderdale, FL

Recommends

Approves of CEO

I have been working at Life Extension full-time for less than a year

Pros

Friendly work environmentgood payexcellent discount and benefitsProducts are effectiveon job training Great learning experienceTons of free food and snackssupportive staff. They acknowledge your medical degree even if your are IMG

Cons

I have seen a lot of negative comments regarding company here, that made me think twice before signing my offer letter, however I dont think any of the cons stated are realistic. Firstly, its a call center and you are expected to be seated a lot (which is well compensated). If everything is being recorded then at the same time they train you for 3 months (paid and well structured training) these recordings are not to keep a check on you but to help you and company protected from false claim that might come up someday (every healthcare org will have things documented. Break time is standard (15 min break x 2 = 8 hour shift) plus lunch break 45 min.

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Current Employee - Wellness Specialistin Las Vegas, NV

Doesn't Recommend

Neutral Outlook

Disapproves of CEO

I have been working at Life Extension full-time for more than 3 years

Pros

decent hourly pay, good benefits package

Cons

High stress environment, no job stability, difficult attendance policy. Company encourages you to work OT no sick time without penalty in pay.

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Current Employee - Wellness Specialistin Fort Lauderdale, FL

Recommends

Positive Outlook

Approves of CEO

I have been working at Life Extension full-time for less than a year

Pros

No prior knowledge necessary.... bonuses based on call scores

Cons

sitting all day.... everything is monitored

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Current Employee - Anonymous Employee

Doesn't Recommend

Negative Outlook

Disapproves of CEO

I have been working at Life Extension full-time for more than 5 years

Pros

The people on the floor are amazing, most of the Sups are great!!

Cons

There has been way to must turnover.

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Former Employee - Wellness Specialistin Las Vegas, NV

Recommends

Neutral Outlook

Approves of CEO

I worked at Life Extension full-time for more than 3 years

Pros

Excellent benefits, overtime, great pay, wonderful learning opportunity, amazing unbeatable discount on their products.

Cons

Repetitive days, graded calls, minimal breaks, very hard to get time off(trades are expected) overtime is expected, no way to move up. Unhealthy copious amounts of sitting.

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Current Employee - BI Developerin Fort Lauderdale, FL

Recommends

Positive Outlook

No opinion of CEO

I have been working at Life Extension full-time for more than a year

Pros

Friendly people, good benefits

Cons

No weekly working from home

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Current Employee - Customer Service Representative

Recommends

Negative Outlook

I have been working at Life Extension full-time for less than a year

Pros

Good benefits, decent pay, good people

Cons

The actual work, tedious, redundant, boring, too much to remember, lack of facilities.

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Former Employee - SEO Specialistin Fort Lauderdale, FL

Doesn't Recommend

Negative Outlook

Disapproves of CEO

I worked at Life Extension full-time for less than a year

Pros

They offer top pay for the appropriate skill and experience. Theres not much else outside being offered more than market rate; its entrapment.

Cons

Company has selective favor among people that hang together and run in clicks, childish in conflict resolution quickly dismissing people. This also a place that puts senior management in positions of power without the necessary experience to handle top talent. This is especially true in the Marketing Department. The way the onboard people and introduce people into work flows is unprofessional to other stake holders. The company would be toxic to any professional with extensive experience long-term. Take this a word of warning before putting your career in a grinder.

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March 22, 2019

Read this article:
Life Extension Reviews | Glassdoor

Trans-Pacific View|Security|Southeast Asia

A reported development provided a window on some of the ongoing functional cooperation between the two countries in spite of wider challenges for bilateral ties.

Last week, details emerged regarding the transfer of aircraft mission systems from the United States and Malaysia. The development spotlighted an aspect of cooperation between the two countries in the defense realm amid wider challenges in the broader bilateral relationship.

As I have observed before in these pages, while the relationship between the United States and Malaysia has seen its share of challenges since the coming to power of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government in a shock election in May 2018, functional cooperation in certain areas has nonetheless continued to take shape. This includes the security side, where the two countries have continued to work on issues such as counterterrorism, human trafficking, and immigration.

Last week, this aspect of U.S.-Malaysia relations was in the spotlight with suggestions that Malaysia would be receiving aircraft mission systems from the United States. Affendi Buang, the chief of the Royal Malaysia Armed Forces (RMAF), told defense outlet IHS Janes on January 31 that the mission systems on the two aircraft would be provided by the United States via the Pentagons Maritime Security Initiative (MSI) as Malaysia seeks to convert two PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI) CN-325 transports into maritime patrol aircraft (MPAs).

While few additional details were provided by Affendi himself, IHS Janes said the mission suite is likely to include the Merlin maritime surveillance system developed by Oregon-based Integrated Surveillance and Defense, Inc (ISD) including a maritime surveillance radar, an electro-optical sensor turret, and an electronic support measures system which has been installed on three CN-235s, two of which are in service with the Indonesian Navy and the other operated by the Indonesian Air Force.

Though specifics are still unclear, the development would not be without significance. While Malaysia had preserved the option to convert the transports into MPAs when it received the completed delivery back in 2001, it has yet to be exercised thus far and Malaysia currently operated seven CN-235s. The transfer of these mission systems would thus help realize a previously held objective.

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To be sure, the impact of this will be contingent on details that have yet to be revealed thus far. In terms of timelines, Affendi said work to upgrade the two CN-235s is expected to begin later this year, likely at PTDIs facilities in Bandung Java, where the company is carrying out a service-life extension program for the aircraft as part of a maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) contract signed in April 2018. More could also lie ahead: two more platforms could also be converted into MPAs if more funding from MSI is approved.

Nonetheless, the spotlight on this development has highlighted the ongoing collaboration between the United States and Malaysia in the security realm despite the challenges that remain for the relationship. And such manifestations of cooperation will be worth watching to get a full sense of how U.S.-Malaysia defense ties are developing in practice.

Read more:
US-Malaysia Security Cooperation in the Headlines with Aircraft Mission Systems Transfer - The Diplomat

Regarding the new capacity, the three wind farms are located in Sicily, Molise, and Campania and construction will start in 2020, with entry into service expected for 2021. As for the upgrading and useful life extension of the four plants already in operation, the refurbishment works will be carried out between 2020 and 2021 in Molise, Sardinia, Piedmont, and Tuscany.

With this award we confirm our dedication to the growth of renewables in Italy, a key country for our business and for our commitment in the energy transition towards a more sustainable electricity generation model,saidAntonio Cammisecra, CEO of Enel Green Power and director of Global Power Generation."The investments in the development of new renewable capacity will contribute to the decarbonization objectives of the Group and the country, supporting the progressive replacement of fossil sources with those with zero emissions."

Building new capacity and upgrading existing plants in Italy are part of the Enel Group's broader commitment to the growth of renewables and decarbonization, which will involve, over the 2020-2022 period, the development in the country of 700 MW of new renewable capacity and for which EGP has developed a pipeline of around 1.3 GW that can enter into service in the same period.

Read more:
Wind - Enel Green Power Awarded 80 MW in Italy in GSE?s First Auction - Renewable Energy Magazine

OneWeb satellite: Working to produce 15 satellites per week

Paris-based satellite industry specialists Euroconsult, in its latest report (The Space Economy Report), forecasts a spectacular future for the sector. The firms says that todays commercial revenues from manufacturing, launch and ground equipment (the upstream segment) and the downstream elements of operations and services are already worth some $298 billion at 2018 prices and values.

Euroconsult takes a look forward and says that the Upstream portion - worth $8 billion in 2018 - will grow over the following 10 years to 2028 to around $11 billion, while the Downstream segments will expand at some 5% annually to reach an impressive $474 billion by 2028.

Drilling down into the study - and important as the five key industry segments all are - but in 2018 the value of satellite navigation overtook satellite communications as the top commercial revenue sector. This might be hard to imagine, but the value of GPS-based devices is truly huge, and these days includes high-value aircraft navigation as well as the millions of vehicle and maritime GPS devices installed each year.

For example, in February it was announced that satellite operator Eutelsat, despite having a major glitch with its Eutelsat 5 West B satellite (launched in October 2019), was still able to operate its EGNOS device. EGNOS (European Global Satellite Navigation Overlay Service) is added to ordinary GPS systems making them more accurate. One end result is that aircraft can depend on its signals on their final approach to an airport, and then move safely around an airport during fog and bad weather.

Not helping conventional satellite-based TV and communications is the downward pressure on pricing. This is good for the consumer and business end-user but not so appealing to the infrastructure owners. Satellite operators are discovering that their well-established businesses are now being commoditised. The only premium for transponder rentals, for example, is the fact that millions of dishes are pointed towards a particular satellite. Moving them to another operators orbital location would be massively expensive.

Nevertheless, Euroconsult says that the satellite market will experience a radical transformation in the quantity, value and mass of the satellites to be built and launched with a four-fold increase in the number of satellites at a yearly average of 990 satellites to be launched, compared to a yearly average of 230 satellites in the previous decade. This market value will reach $292 billion over the next decade. This reflects a 28 per cent increase over the previous decade which totalled $228 billion in revenues.

This near-explosive rise in value is largely attributed to the boom in orders for smallish but numerous satellites for the mega-constellations from the likes of Elon Musks Starlink system and OneWeb.

Newcomers like OneWeb, SpaceXs Starlink or Amazons Project Kuiper are becoming the largest owners of assets in orbit, challenging the satellite industry in many ways, said Maxime Puteaux, editor-in-chief of this research product and senior consultant at Euroconsult.

These changes are characterized by several factors:

New Low (LEO) and Medium Earth (MEO) orbiting constellations are expected to account for 77% of the projected demand in the next decade driven by broadband projects like SpaceXs Starlink, OneWeb, Amazons Project Kuiper, Telesat LEO and SESs O3b mPOWER.

Starlinks plan: To build and launch up to 42,000 satellites

Source: University College, London

Incumbent Geostationary (GEO) commercial satellite operators, such as SES, Intelsat and Eutelsat are transitioning from a legacy of their established GEO broadcasting business to more data-centric use cases, impacting satellites orders.

Euroconsult says the gradual recovery of contracts will continue, following the low point of just seven new satellite orders in 2017 with demand driven by the first orders of satellites with much more sophisticated fully reconfigurable digital payloads.

DynamicThese new digital satellites are wonderful in that they can reassign spectrum dynamically and thus allow much more flexibility over their 15-20 year lifetimes in orbit.

Euroconsult expects an average of 13 GEO communications/broadcasting orders per year post-2020 based on a replacement scenario that considers the competition of Non-GEO satellite systems and the introduction of life extension services. Demand from global and regional GEO comsat operators will reach a yearly average of $8 billion over the next ten years.

Euroconsults hint that life extension services will be important. Theyre right, and the worlds first space tug or mission extension vehicle was launched in October last year, by Northrop Grumman. MEV-1 has been designed initially to mate with an old satellite (Intelsats I-901) that is very low on fuel and then take over the pointing and positioning of the old satellite.

MEV-1 brings with it a full tank of fuel. This will not be injected into the old satellite but MEV-1 will act as a space buddy (officially a Combined Vehicle Stack:), linking itself to I-901 and then taking over the normal station-keeping duties of the old satellite.

Intelsat 901 carries 72 C-band transponders and also providing Ku-band spot beam coverage for Europe, as well as C-band coverage for much of North America, all of South America, Europe and almost all of Africa.

Rescuing a craft by these means has never been done before and if the experiment succeeds means that lower-cost servicing/rescue craft could be launched and totally revolutionise the economics of satellite replacement.

Euroconsult says that Civil government agencies are projected to be the top drivers of satellite demand, accounting for 40% of the entire market value, ahead of both defense and commercial demand. This is a result of increasing interest in space science, exploration, and Earth observation. On the defense side, a new cycle of orders is beginning with new strategies and replacement satellites needed by the US, China, Russia, Japan, India and Europe.

Added together these new systems are making a dramatic difference as Euroconsult suggests. Elon Musks Starlink system has plans to build and launch up to 42,000 satellites. The first iteration sees 12,000 in place by the mid-2020s and delivering broadband to every part of the planet.

Greg Wylers OneWeb has similar ambitions and is working to produce 15 satellites per week and to start broadband services by the end of this year.

Broadband is seen as crucial in todays world, and while fibre-to-the-home is a reality for some consumers and businesses, satellite is a key component. This growth, forecast by Euroconsult, might even be an understatement.

See the article here:
Satellites: The $500 billion business | Industry Trends - IBC365

Will mankind, who is attempting to travel between systems in the universe, find a precaution to prevent the passengers from traveling on the ship from getting old? Lets discuss a little bit about this issue.

One of humanitys biggest dreams is to travel between star systems in the depths of space. But, as you know, star systems are very far apart, and when compared to the life span of a person, the duration of this journey can make a huge difference.

Thanks to the time dilation when high speeds are reached, someone who goes fast is getting slower than others. Still, even if a spaceship with humans reaches 90% of the speed of light, human life still looks like a grain of sand compared to the duration of that journey.

Is the solution to this situation to put people to sleep?Today, it is not possible to reach the speed of light with its technologies. So scientists have to find a solution to prevent the aging of those who travel on the spaceship. This solution is none other than the sleep solution that we often see in science fiction movies.

There is enough technology available today to create a solution that passivates the human body and prevents aging. A technique called bio-vitrification has been used in organ transplantation for some time. This technology, which has been used for decades, has the opportunity to facilitate space travel in the future.

Biovirtification reduces the aging of human tissue to a minimum by using a liquid that protects it from freezing effect, to almost 0. The liquid used serves to prevent the formation of ice crystals that cause cells to break down.

Although this technique is used in organ transplantation, it has not been tested in humans yet. But some companies, such as the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, offer services that protect the human body so that one day it can bring back dead people. Although these companies have not yet brought back any people, they have returned several simple organisms from death.

Protecting the brain or protecting the body?Some hospitals can also take patients to cool down to extend the time required in emergencies. Although this process is not the same as bioventilation, it is almost similar. As a result, if all known are combined one day, healthy and long-lived individuals may emerge.

So would you like to sail to even more interesting points? The company Alcor, which we just mentioned, offers people two options: First, to cover the whole body with a liquid that protects it from freezing and to protect the whole body; secondly, only protect the brain and brain stem.

So why does a person only want to protect his brain and brain stem? Because if one day manages to fix a harm that ends their life, a new clone body can be created with the use of DNA of a person who died until then. Of course, there is a very long way to go until humanity reaches this point. Although the cloning technology we are talking about is being developed today, humanity may not yet be ready for cloning a human body. By the way, we strongly recommend the 1997 movie Abre Los Ojos

See the original post here:
Will It Be Possible to Sleep People in Space Travel? - Somag News

Since the introduction of Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant in 1984 in South Africa, the prospects of nuclear technology have not had a smooth trajectory. It remains the only nuclear power generation in Africa writes Knox Msebenzi, the managing director of NIASA.

At one stage, around 2007, the countrys power utility Eskom got a go-ahead to have as much as 20,000MW new nuclear installed. The approach adopted by the government was not so much to procure nuclear power plants but to build a capability by localising the industry in an aggressive way.

This is when the Nuclear Industry Association of SouthAfrica (NIASA) was formed. It was envisaged that, like South Korea, SouthAfrica would at worst become a major player in the nuclear supply chain allover the world and at best become an exporter of the technology in its ownright.

This dream was on the brink of materialising with the PebbleBed Modular Reactor (PBMR), when a political decision to terminate the programmewas taken.

The Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) of 2010 2030 made a provision for a reduced amount of nearly 10,000MW, owing mainly to the entrance of renewable energy as a new source of power, largely embraced by the international community riding on the wave of climate change and other environmental considerations of sustainability.

Read moreIRP2019 making hay from coal while the sun shinesIRP, a balancing act for South Africas energy mix

The energy mix debate in South Africa attracted a lot of interest from international and local Non-Governmental and Civic Organisations, whose thrust was to lump nuclear technology with coal as anathema to the environment and, therefore, arguing nuclear technology must be wiped out of the face of the earth.

The environmental argument was augmented with theanti-fossil fuel lobby, cost issues and the linkage to corruption labelledagainst nuclear. A figure of R1 trillion as the cost of nuclear was peddled inthe media until it was taken as fact by the public and some politicians.

There was a rife narrative that basically equated nuclearwith corruption. All in all, the debate was highly politicised with all mannerof people leading the debate as experts on energy when in many instances thereal experts were limited by protocol to enter into it.

The anti-nuclear lobby was thus somewhat successful in waging a protracted campaign to get nuclear thrown out of the IRP and the Draft IRP of 2018 (approved by Cabinet for public comment) reflected only 2,500MW new nuclear by 2030.

The current IRP 2019 states, In the period prior to 2030,the system requirements are largely for incremental capacity addition (modular)and flexible technology.

The 2,500MW initially contemplated in IRP 2018 does not appear as the government is emphasizing the approach of small modular reactors, in keeping with the principle of doing it at a scale and pace that flexibly responds to the economy and associated electricity demand.

It also states that upfront planning with regard to additional nuclear capacity is requisite, given the greater than 10-year lead time, for timely decision making and implementation. In addition to this, the Government has made a decision regarding the design life extension of Koeberg NPP and the expansion of the nuclear power programme into the future.

In view of these considerations, nuclear does not appear in the new additional capacity up to 2030, but the policy is very clear that work must begin forthwith to realise this goal.

NIASA also believes that it would be wise to have a contingency plan to add reliable baseload power should the 2,500MW Inga hydropower be either delayed or does not materialise. Besides, as we decommission coal plants, they should be replaced by another source of reliable dispatchable power.

The Water-Energy Nexus identified in the IRP 2019 offers a huge opportunity for further nuclear expansion. South Africa is endowed with uranium (and other potential nuclear fuels) and conjunctive deployment of small modular reactors in coastal areas for electricity generation and water desalination is a low hanging fruit.

Water is a commodity that, unlike electricity, can easily be stored. All the coastal areas are currently receiving power mainly from Mpumalanga. If nuclear plants are erected in these coastal areas, any plant failures on the remaining coal plants could be mitigated by loadshedding water desalination capacity, without installing any additional transmission capacity.

There are countries with highly populated cities in this world who have never heard about Day Zero like was the case in Cape Town recently and yet some of these places do not get a drop of rain. They use their natural endowments to literally boil seawater and condense the steam into potable water.

Read moreIs Cape Towns Day Zero water threat over?Thyspunt nuclear project, a missed opportunity for water security

In fact, if sufficient capacity is installed, it would bepossible to turn certain areas in the Northern Cape and the Karoo into greenzones, for instance. The Middle East could provide ample and appropriate casestudies for South Africa to emulate.

One of the adjectives commonly used to describe nuclear power plants is that they are inflexible. To some extent that is true because they have been designed that way. If it does not make a difference cost-wise, whether one is running at 30% or 100% capacity, why would one want to reduce the power output, hence they are designed to run flat out.

The French power system, because of its high proportion of nuclear in the energy mix, has nuclear plants with load following capabilities incorporated at the design stage. The expansion of nuclear power generation would provide the necessary bedrock to further develop many other nuclear technologies that are not power related.

Examples that come to mind are nuclear applications in medicine, agriculture and industry. In medicine, the well-known radioisotope manufacturing plant at Pelindaba is a case in point. Nuclear technologies are also used in a variety of applications in disease control and irradiation of fruits and vegetables to give them long shelf life.

A scaling down of the nuclear power programme may have an undesirable negative knock-on effect on other nuclear technologies. As the undisputed industrial leader on the African continent, it is absolutely prudent that we strengthen our civil nuclear capability. Many African countries have either embarked or are about to on some nuclear programme.

It is no secret that they would be looking forward to getting assistance in doing so. This will not be on a charity basis but a business opportunity to export skills and expertise. All our BRICS counterparts are seriously pursuing both nuclear and renewable energy.

NIASA, therefore, believes the future of nuclear is very bright.

Op-Ed by Knox Msebenzi, managing director of the Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa (NIASA).

View original post here:
Op-Ed: Prospects of nuclear power generation in SA's energy mix - ESI Africa

In another sign that the nuclear arms race is heating up, the U.S. is ramping up production of nuclear bomb cores.

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has announced that it plans to increase theproduction of plutonium pits to 80 per year. The grapefruit-sized pits contain the fissile material that give nuclear weapons such tremendous power.

Production will center on the Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at Savannah River site in North Carolina, which would be modified to manufacture at least 50 pits per year, and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, which would generate at least 30, by 2030.

Americas nuclear weapons cores are aging, with some pits dating back to the 1970s, leading to concerns about the reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile.

The U.S. lost its ability to produce pits in large numbers in 1989, when the Rocky Flats Plant near Denver, Colorado, was shut down after the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Environmental Protection Agency investigated environmental violations at the site, noted Physics Today magazine in 2018. Up to 1,200 pits per year had been manufactured there.

Since then, only 30 pits for weapons have been fabricatedall at LANL [Los Alamos National Laboratory], the sole U.S. facility with production capability. Weapons-quality pit production ceased in 2012, when LANL began modernizing its 40-year-old facilities, although several practice pits have since been fabricated. The oldest pits in the stockpilewhich now numbers 3,882, according to DOEs National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)date to 1978.

In its 2018 Nuclear Policy Review, the Trump administration called for 80 new plutonium pits per year. Congress has also allocated large sums, with $4.7 billion alone allocated in FY 2019 for maintenance and life extension of the nuclear stockpile. The NNSA says it is legally mandated to ensure a capacity of at least 80 pits per year.

Though the production of nuclear cores has been an issue for years, a looming U.S.-Russia arms race makes the situation even more sensitive. Russia is fielding a new generation of strategic nuclear weapons, including a hypersonic nuclear-armed glider and an air-launched ballistic missile. The Trump administration has withdrawn from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty with Russia, alleging Russian violations, leading to fears that a new competition will beget the return of nuclear-armed, medium-range ballistic and cruise missiles.

Anti-nuclear groups are furious. Expanded pit production will cost at least $43 billion over the next 30 years, argues the Natural Resources Defense Council and other groups. Yet the Defense Department and NNSA have never explained why expanded plutonium pit production is necessary. More than 15,000 plutonium pits are stored at NNSAs Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas. Independent experts have concluded that plutonium pits have reliable lifetimes of at least 100 years (the average pit age is less than 40 years). Crucially, there is no pit production scheduled to maintain the safety and reliability of the existing nuclear weapons stockpile. Instead, proposed future pit production is for speculative new-design nuclear weapons, but those designs have been canceled.

Introducing a new generation of nuclear weapons could adversely impact national security because newly produced plutonium pits cannot be full-scale tested without violating the global nuclear weapons testing moratorium.

Michael Peck is a contributing writer for the National Interest. He can be found on Twitter and Facebook.

See the article here:
The U.S. is Boosting Production of Nuclear Bomb Cores (For More Nuclear Weapons) - The National Interest Online

]]> Royal Tank Regiment upgraded Challenger 2s. Credits: Elbit Systems UK. Sign-up to the Army Technology newsletter

The upgrade, which delivers an urbanised Challenger 2 variant, was developed by the Royal Tank Regiment to meet soldiers needs and identifies and fills the capability gap between the British Armys forces and adversaries in urban combat.

Supported by Army HQ, project Streetfighter II is aimed at adding modifications to the existing Challenger II Main Battle Tank (MBT) to improve lethality, situational awareness and infantry-tank cooperation of ground forces.

The vehicle was recently trialled at the UKs urban operations facility at Copehill Down Village on Salisbury Plain, where the Streetfighter was put through its paces in an urban combat environment testing a range of upgrades from industry partners.

This year Streetfighter demo built on earlier experience of the project that began in 2018 and saw the upgrades showcased to a range of senior military figures and officials from the Defence Science Technology Laboratory (Dstl).

The Streetfighter II MBT demonstrated by the British Army featured a range of lethality upgrades including heavier, more lethal machine gun systems to provide dismounted infantry better support fire.

The most notable upgrade was one of the two urbanised Challengers being equipped with a Brimstone anti-tank guided missile system designed to neutralise the threat of heavily armoured, highly survivable land platforms at long-range.

The Brimstone, made by MBDA, is designed to destroy fast-moving vehicles alongside tanks and other lighter-armoured vehicles as well as fixed positions like bunkers and can be fired from a range of platforms.

On the situational awareness front, the Streetfighter concept greatly improves the ability of mounted and dismounted personnel to communicate and understand their environment, with communications improved to let personnel on the ground directly communicate with those inside the tank.

The upgraded Challenger features a host of cameras to provide a 360-degree view of the area outside the tank; the original Challenger 2 has a limited field of view and the upgrades mean the commander and gunner can now see everything around them.

The Streetfighter II variant also features a barrel-mounted camera to enable the tank commander and crew to see around corners before they approach them, alerting them and the following personnel in advance of any previously hidden threats.

A major situational awareness upgrade comes in the form of Elbit Systems UKs IronVision platform which uses a heads-up-display (HUD) to provide tank crews with full 360 situational awareness.

The zero-latency system allows the crew to have a full picture of their operating environment despite being under armour by feeding in a picture from outside the tank into the HUD.

Elbit Systems UK CEO Martin Fausset said: It is great to see Elbit Systems UK supporting the UK Armed Forces as they enhance their battlefield protection systems for urban environments. We relish the opportunity to protect our servicemen and women in the field and are pleased to see the IronVision system delivering in this capacity.

IronVision pulls together the feeds from the various cameras outside the MBT and then converts them into a single picture where the tank operator only needs to turn their head to see a different view of outside the vehicle, rather than cycle through cameras on a screen.

Elbits IronVision system. Credits Elbit Systems UK.

On the slightly more low-tech front, the MBT also supports infantry by physically lightening the load on personnel by carrying extra gear from medical equipment to ammunition, and the addition of a storage rack to carry an urban assault kit.

The improved Challenger 2 is also fitted with steps built into the side of the vehicle allowing personnel to mount and dismount the platform more easily. One of the tanks is also fitted with a plough to clear obstructions from the urban environment allowing personnel to continue moving forward and acting as a makeshift stretcher to transport injured personnel out of the combat environment.

It is unclear whether the upgrades made by the Royal Tank Regiment will be employed across the wider fleet of Challenger 2 vehicles. However, in the British Armys wider plans for tanks, the life-extension programme continues to be a priority, in order to continue the service life of the vehicle and maintain the ability of the UK to deploy MBTs into battle.

Current plans for the Challenger 2 life extension programme are slowly drawing to a close after first being tabled in 2013. Any decision on the future of the Challenger 3 will now likely become wrapped up in the planned UK Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) which will look at the needs of the Armed Forces and help guide their future shape.

At Defence IQs International Armoured Vehicles 2020, British Army director capability, Major General Jez Bennett reaffirmed the commitment to the vehicle and outlined the scope of the current life extension programme.

Bennet said: The Challenger 2 programme aims to deliver an enhanced main battle tank, with greater lethality and survivability that will provide precision direct fire and intimate support to the infantry until well into the next decade.

Read the original here:
Streetfighter and the future of the Challenger 2 - Army Technology

Key point:America's F-16 has lasted a long time and has been given many upgrades. However, the F-16 might not be as good against the very best that Beijing and Moscow can throw at it.

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The F-16 fighter was originally conceived as a lightweight fighter for the United States and her NATO allies. In the U.S. Air Force, the Fighting Falcon would comprise the low end of a high-low mix of super-capable F-15s and cheaper, less capable F-16s. Among NATO allies, it would be a frontline fighter to replace aging planes like the F-104 and F-15.

Inevitably, the capable little single-engine fighter was pushed towards a more diverse array of missions. Originally conceived as just carrying short-ranged AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles, it gained the ability to launch the beyond visual range AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-120 AMRAAM. Over time it gradually evolved into a versatile air-to-ground platform with the ability to accomplish close air support, battlefield air interdiction and air defense suppression missions with a variety of precision-guided missiles, including the AGM-65 Maverick missile, AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missile and Joint Directed Attack Munition precision-guided bomb.

A confluence of eventsincluding a series of budget-draining wars in the Middle East for which the F-16 has been good enough and delays in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programhave conspired to keep the F-16 flying much longer than originally intended. Why the F-16 is still in service is fodder for another article, but the bottom line is that it is serving today and is seriously outmatched by a new generation of Russian and Chinese fighters.

First, lets look at one of the most recent and popular versions of the F-16, the Block 50 variant. Block 50 features a AN/APG-68 V(5) radar, F100-PW-229 afterburning turbofan engine, and the AN/ALE-47 threat adaptive countermeasure system. The Block 50 has a maximum sustained speed of Mach 1.89, a range of 360 miles on internal fuel, and a ceiling described as above 50,000 feet. It can carry up to six AIM-9 Sidewinder short-range infrared homing missiles or six AIM-120 AMRAAM beyond-visual-range missiles, or some combination of either.

Despite the F-16s longevity, obsolescence was inevitable. The F-16 will not fare well against a powerful new generation of Russian and Chinese fighters. The Moscows Su-35 Flanker and PAK-FA fighter and the Beijings J-20 stealth fighter, all previously described here, have rendered the Fighting Falcon obsolete.

Although based on an contemporary of the F-16, the original Su-27 Flanker, the Su-35 has been more thoroughly updated than the spunky American fighter. The Su-35 may not be stealthy, but it can detect and engage the F-16 before the F-16 can detect it, and this puts the American plane at a big disadvantage. In a one-on-one fight, the F-16 will probably not even be able to get the Su-35 into dogfighting range, where the smaller fighters legendary maneuverability would come into play.

The new Russian PAK-FA and Chinese J-20 fighters will have similar advantages, except their stealthy design will ultimately mean F-16s wont even detect their adversaries before they realize they are being targeted by beyond-visual-range guided missiles, launched by aircraft that only visible on radar for the brief moment their internal weapons bay doors are open.

What could be done to give the F-16 better odds? The latest variant of the Fighting Falcon, the F-16V, will have the APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) radar, the first AESA radar retrofitted into the platform. SABR has been described as fifth-generation fighter technology, and indeed promises earlier detection, tracking and identification of targets sooner than older radars. The Republic of China Air Forces F-16s will be the first to be brought up to -V standard. The U.S. Air Force is pondering a service life extension program (SLEP) for select aircraft in the F-16C fleet, and the SABR radar is an obvious candidate for inclusion.

Yet improving the F-16s detection ability is only half the problem. While stealth has its disadvantages and countermeasures are inevitable, its also true that, like radar and electronic countermeasures, stealth is now permanently part of the essential feature set of modern combat aircraft. While China and Russia tout new anti-stealth measures, they are also making certain their own new aircraft are as stealthy as possible. That both countries, struggling to catch up with the United States, are still willing spend on stealth is a ringing endorsement of its value.

While SABR will likely improve the F-16s ability to detect fifth-generation fighters such as PAK-FA and the J-20, it will still be easy for enemy aircraft to detect. The F-16s lack of stealth is not something that can be addressed with upgrades to the airframe or an electronics package. The only solution is a new aircraft.

The F-16 still has a great deal of value against smaller, less technologically advanced air forces and air defenses, as well as low- to mid-intensity conflicts such as Libya and Syria. Its also useful as a bomb truck, carrying long-range munitions such as the JASSM cruise missile behind a protective wall of F-22 and F-35 fighters. But thanks to PAK-FA and the J-20, its days as a day-one frontline fighter are over. As the F-35 enters service with the United States and with its NATO and Asian allies, the F-16 begins its long, well-earned flight into the sunset.

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Kyle Mizokami is a defense and national security writer based in San Francisco who has appeared in the Diplomat, Foreign Policy, War is Boring and the Daily Beast. In 2009 he cofounded the defense and security blog Japan Security Watch. You can follow him on Twitter: @KyleMizokami. This first appeared in September 2016.

Image: Reuters.

Link:
How Does the Air Force's F-16 Stack up Against the Best Chinese and Russian Fighters? - The National Interest Online

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Global Blue Agave Market analysis on current and future market trends Up to 2029 - Neptune Pine

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There are lots of sales at Life Extension year-round. Some of them are flash sales or random sales, so its a good idea to stay in touch with the company to ensure that you get notified when they happen. However, potentially the most beloved sale of the year is the Super Sale, which happens every November. You can get huge discounts when you order during the Super Sale, so its a good idea to look out for that sale when you want to make a big purchase.

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50% Off Life Extension Coupons, Promo Codes & Deals 2020 ...

Global Shelf Life Extension Ingredients Market Report 2019 Market Size, Share, Price, Trend and Forecast is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global Shelf Life Extension Ingredients industry.

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The Shelf Life Extension Ingredients Market is segmented into following,

Based on type, Shelf Life Extension Ingredients Market can be segmented in,

Based in function, Shelf Life Extension Ingredients Market can be segmented in,

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Shelf Life Extension Ingredients Market To Exceed Revenues Worth US$ By The End Of 2018 2028 Dagoretti News - Dagoretti News

Chambers and The Fruitery will be revealing an exciting new launch at this years Fruit Logistica, as The Fruitery announces its decision to expand its business to include the supply of fresh fruit and branded medley pots for the foodservice, retail and culinary trade sectors, alongside the original white label offering.

Last year Chambers - which enjoys a strong heritage as a grower whose innovative business model enables customers to access soft fruit direct from the grower resulting in a shelf life extension of two days - became the UKs only specialist fruit grower to launch its own prepared fruit facility, The Fruitery. Created in response to thegrowing demand for a healthy snacking option within the buoyant take home and on the go markets, The Fruitery accesses the same premium fresh fruit grown by Chambers (either in the UK or at one of its partner farms located in countries around the world) to create a range of berry medley pots. The extended shelf life, as well as reduced food miles and 100% traceability and provenance, have proved popular within the foodservice and food retailer sectors, where The Fruitery has previously provided a white label product.

The launch of a branded berry medley offering represents another first for The Fruitery, as it will be the first branded prepared berry product to hit the market, providing consumers with a unique fresh berry medley choice in line with current healthy eating guidance. In addition, the move towards the supply of fresh fruit under The Fruitery brand enables the business to service the needs of the discerning culinary trade who, while acknowledging the benefits of The Fruiterys current catering pack and the extended shelf life, are more interested in buying larger volumes of fruit in a fresh rather than prepared format.

Commenting on The Fruiterys new plans, Commercial Director James Miller says, The Chambers business model is based on four key pillars, growing, packing, importing and prepared, all of this is underpinned by an ongoing commitment to innovation and tracking current and future market opportunities. The Fruitery has been well received within the industry and our advantageous reduced supply chain timeline, 2m investment in the high care facility, BRC accreditation and ability to provide a seamless year-round supply of berries direct from the grower resonates favourably with our customers. We are now keen to pursue wider distribution channels for the product including culinary professionals with whom we have already started a seeding programme via the renowned Westminster Kingsway college in London. We believe that The Fruitery can operate successfully as a proprietary brand, alongside the existing white label business, leveraging the successful supply chain model pioneered by Chambers.

Chambers and The Fruitery will be in Hall 8.2 stand A-03 at Fruit Logistica.

For media information:Carla WesselEmail: Carla@foxredmedia.co.ukTel 01227 700 175

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The Fruitery to expand its business to include supply of fresh fruit and branded medley pots for the foodservice - FreshPlaza.com

It seems few can resist the revenue that can await a cancer treatment.

After over a decade extending the half-life of medicines for J&J, Genentech and other large players, Amunix is pivoting to develop elements of its platform into two approaches to immuno-oncology, one of which is an off-the-shelf alternative to CART treatments. And theyre licensing a portion of the older technology to Roche for $40 million and $1.5 billion in potential milestones.

Roche had been playing around with the tech for a tech assessment for quite a bit of time prior to my joining and they obviously like what they saw, Angie You, Amunixs new CEO, told Endpoints News.

Roche isnt disclosing what drugs it will use on Amunixs old platform, known as XTEN, for, but You said it will be for a very circumscribed indication and a very circumscribed target. It also wont be in oncology. The Swiss giant had toyed with the half-life-extending platform for 4 or 5 years before recently giving Amunix word they wanted to license it, You said.

Amunix will funnel that money into their emerging immuno-oncology approach. They first pivoted over a year ago, bringing in You as a new CEO and Rich Heyman as chairman, and soon rotating out the rest of the C-suite.

That period also saw the biotech license the new immuno-oncology platform to Merck. With a similar approach to the one employed by the recently launched Werewolf Therapeutics, Amunix will try to get the bodys T cells to attack solid tumors without triggering the toxicity T cell engagement has caused in other studies. It takes the polypeptide chains it once used to extend half-lives and combines them with proteases to essentially mask the drugs until they reach the tumor.

Were solving the problem of toxicity, You said.

Amunix limited the Roche deal so it could continue to license its older platform for other targets and indications, You said, part of an effort to continue drawing funds for the immuno-oncology effort.

We wanted to make sure we had other deals to collaborate with big pharma, she said.

Continued here:
Merck-partnered biotech hands Roche its half-life extension tech as it pivots to immuno-oncology - Endpoints News

While we embark on yetanother trip around the sun entering a new decade in 2020, thoughts naturally stray to our own mortality and ways we can improve future days via simple changes in our diet, exercise, and stress levels. But the generic nematode worm might hold clues to extending our Earthly lives far beyond the dreams of our imagination, or the furthest reaches of any insurance company actuary report.

In a new studypublished in the online journalCell Reports, a team ofinternational researchers has discovered methods to increase the lifespan of the lowly C. elegans worm by five times, long after its normal three or four week lifecycle. If these findings were successfully applied to human beings, that person would experiencethe equivalent of blowing out 400 birthday candles on a celebratory cake.That's a big cake, and scientists associated with the startling project see the data as a vital stage in someday seeing it asreality.

By genetically manipulatinginsulin/insulin-likesignaling pathways in molecules insidenematode cells, researchers have built upon previous findings linking two specific pathways the insulin signaling pathway and the target of rapamycin pathway tothe aging process. Scientists then determinedthat changing the insulinpathway doubled a worms longevity, while altering the rapamycin pathway only increasedit 30 percent.

However, in what came as an obvious surprise to the team, when both C. elegans pathways were altered, this boosted their lifespans up to a whopping 500 percent instead of 130 percent.

The synergistic extension is really wild, MDI Biological Laboratory's lead study author Jarod Rollins said in apress release. The effect isnt one plus one equals two, its one plus one equals five. Our findings demonstrate that nothing in nature exists in a vacuum; in order to develop the most effective anti-aging treatments we have to look at longevity networks rather than individual pathways.

Due to the number of shared genes and cellular pathways, C. elegans are perfect for carrying out advanced research on human aging and cutting-edgeexperiments in life extension. And because of their brieflifespans, immediate changes in their aging can be observed more readily. The logical progression of this newfound information would be to apply the resulting knowledge to Mankind in order to greater understand our own mortality and its eventual limitations.

Despite the discovery in C. elegans of cellular pathways that govern aging, it hasnt been clear how these pathways interact, MDI Biological Laboratory President Hermann Haller added. By helping to characterize these interactions, our scientists are paving the way for much-needed therapies to increase healthy lifespan for a rapidly aging population.

Are you prepared to live nearly half a millennium, or satisfiedwith a solid 80 years or soon our spinningBig Blue Marble?

Read more here:
Want to live 400 years? These simple nematode worms might show humans how - SYFY WIRE

As the U.S. Air Force advances its planned B-52 reengining program, Middle River Aerostructure Systems (MRAS) is ready to provide the companys expertise in highly efficient, cost-effective nacelle systems for the operational lifetime extension of this long-range strategic bomber.

MRAS is uniquely positioned as the original equipment manufacturer of key nacelle components for the various engine versions under consideration for B-52 reengining.

Nacelle solutions for the CF34-10A, Passport, PW800 and BR725

For the CF34-10A engine, MRAS developed the fuselage-mounted nacelle system components consisting of the air inlet, fan cowl and thrust reverser that are in service today on the current generation of regional jets. MRAS understands the challenges of packaging short-duct nacelle components in the side-mounted and under-wing configurations, and brings innovative product solutions to support the integration effort.

MRAS has the lead industrial role on the nacelle system for the Passport engines that power Bombardiers Global 7500 business jets, developing and producing the nacelles air inlet and fan cowl.

Features of the Passport nacelle air inlet include an innovative anti-ice system that uses a directed flow nozzle concept; and a 360-degree, single-piece extended inner barrel incorporating advanced acoustic protection for lower engine noise levels. This nacelles fan cowl was designed for simplicity and has an overall length of 103 inches, which allows improved access for on-aircraft maintenance while lowering the system weight.

MRAS solutions offered for the Passport also can be easily adjusted to fit other long-duct engine options for B-52 reengining, such as the Pratt & Whitney PW800 and the Rolls-Royce BR725.

MRAS state-of-the-art manufacturing resources

The MRAS production site at Middle River, Maryland (on the Chesapeake Bay near Baltimore) is among the most modern of its type, with the companys multi-million-dollar investments in automation bringing the full advantages of outstanding manufacturing quality, improved cycle times and cost savings, along with the ability to rapidly introduce and increase production capacity.

In offering complete solutions for the development, production and support of aircraft nacelles and aerostructures in both metallic and composite materials, MRAS state-of-the-art production resources include automated fabrication; along with robotic assembly, painting and finishing all of which are linked via a strict adherence to the digital thread from engineering concept to the factory floor.

One of the recent additions at Middle River is a computer-controlled robotic assembly cell. Its multi-axis robot uses the nacelle components actual engineering model for high accuracy during the assembly actions, which include drilling, countersinking and the installation of fasteners.

Complete program expertise at Middle River from concept to delivery

Contributing to MRAS role as a low-risk solution provider for B-52 reengining is the companys unique end-to-end program expertise, from development, design, integration and testing to flight test support and certification all centered in the companys 1.7-million sq. ft. facility at Middle River.

This under one roof capability covers a full scope of design and analysis toolsets to develop weight- and cost-optimized designs, as well as focusing on lean principles and continuous improvement to realize and industrialize products to the most stringent demands. It also enables MRAS assembly group to work in close coordination with the companys designers ensuring optimum producibility for structures and parts.

At Middle River, MRAS maintains a rapid prototyping capability, combining virtual and physical protypes as well as 3D printing to optimize development cycle time and support the earliest possible transition to flight test operations.

MRAS specialties and competencies include bird strike, lightning strike, impact testing and analysis correlation; digital product assemblies and kinematic simulations; computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and thermal management analyses; aero acoustics, mechanical and static fatigue analyses; definition and validation of anti-icing and fire protection; along with in-depth mechanical testing.

A proven aviation heritage at Middle River spanning nine decades

All of MRAS current capabilities builds on the companys 90-year history of supporting military and civilian aircraft programs, with its propulsion-related industrial activities including a key role in the U.S. Air Force C-5M Super Galaxy reengining performing the design and certification for the CF6-80C2 powerplants thrust reverser.

In addition, MRAS manufactured the translating cowl thrust reverser for the C-5 Galaxys original TF39 engines, and it designed and produced the exhaust nozzle for C-130J Hercules airlifters.

Another program that highlighted MRAS experience in military aircraft modification and service life extension was the production of aerostructures for the P-3 Orions Aircraft Service Life Extension Program (ASLEP) and Mid-Life Upgrade (MLU). Performed from 1995 to 2019, this involved replacing fatigue-critical structural components on the P-3 maritime patrol aircraft with new enhanced-design corrosion-resistant elements thereby extending the airframe life to 15,000 flying hours and adding decades of service. MRAS delivered 90-plus shipsets that primarily involved horizontal stabilizer assemblies and leading-edge assemblies, along with 24 longeron welded assemblies.

The companys heritage traces its roots to aviation pioneer Glenn Martin, with more than 10,000 aircraft built at the Middle River production site that ranged from B-26 Marauder bombers, P5M naval flying boats and multi-role B-57 Night Intruders to Pan American Airways iconic M-130 China Clipper and the Martin 404 airliner.

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MRAS is Uniquely Positioned to Offer Cost-Effective, Low-Risk Nacelle Solutions for the Reengining of USAF B-52 Bombers - AviationPros.com

- SHP656 program utilized Xenetic's PolyXen platform technology to conjugate polysialic acid to therapeutic blood-clotting factors - Phase 1/2 study demonstrated SHP656's efficacy and pharmacokinetic data commensurate with the profile of an extended half-life rFVIII product

FRAMINGHAM, MA / ACCESSWIRE / January 14, 2020 / Xenetic Biosciences, Inc. (XBIO) ("Xenetic" or the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical company focused on advancing XCART, a personalized chimeric antigen receptor T cell ("CAR T") platform technology engineered to target patient-specific tumor neoantigens, announced today that data from the completed Phase 1/2 clinical study of SHP656 ("PSA-recombinant Factor VIII", "PSA-rFVIII") sponsored by its license partner Takeda Pharmaceuticals Company Limited ("Takeda") has been published in the journal Haemophilia1.

The results from this single-dose study indicate that polysialylation of rFVIII confers a half-life extension similar to that of approved extended half-life products that use either PEG or Fc fusion technology and was not associated with any treatment-emergent adverse events.

The Phase 1/2 clinical study was conducted by Baxalta US Inc, a Takeda company, to evaluate SHP656, which was being developed as a long-acting therapeutic for the treatment of hemophilia A utilizing Xenetic's PolyXen technology to conjugate polysialic acid to therapeutic blood-clotting factors.

Jeffrey Eisenberg, Chief Executive Officer of Xenetic, commented, "We are pleased that this study published in the peer-reviewed journal Haemophilia has demonstrated that our PolyXen platform successfully extended the circulating half-life of rFVIII with no treatment-related adverse events."

Data from SHP656 was also published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences2 in an article titled, "Polysialic Acid-Mediated Activity Measurement of Polysialylated Recombinant Coagulation Factor VIII," and in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics3 in an article titled, "Evaluation of Factor VIII Polysialylation: Identification of a Longer-Acting Experimental Therapy in Mice and Monkeys."

PolyXen is Xenetic's patent-protected platform technology for creating next-generation protein or peptide therapeutics, by prolonging a drug's circulating half-life and potentially improving other pharmacological properties.

With the Phase 1/2 study completed in May 2017, SHP656 is no longer part of an active development program.

Takeda currently has one active development program underway utilizing the PolyXen platform technology, under an Exclusive License Agreement with Xenetic in the field of coagulation disorders. In addition, in October 2017 Xenetic granted rights to Takeda to grant a nonexclusive sublicense to certain patents related to PolyXen to a third party, and Xenetic receives royalties under that arrangement in the near term.

About Xenetic Biosciences

Xenetic Biosciences, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on progressing XCART, a personalized CAR T platform technology engineered to target patient-specific tumor neoantigens. The Company is initially advancing cell-based therapeutics targeting the unique B-cell receptor on the surface of an individual patient's malignant tumor cells for the treatment of B-cell lymphomas. XCART has the potential to fuel a robust pipeline of therapeutic assets targeting high-value oncology indications.

Additionally, Xenetic is leveraging PolyXen, its proprietary drug delivery platform, by partnering with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. PolyXen has demonstrated its ability to improve the half-life and other pharmacological properties of next-generation biologic drugs. The Company has an exclusive license agreement with Takeda Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. in the field of coagulation disorders and receives royalty payments under this agreement.

For more information, please visit the Company's website at http://www.xeneticbio.com and connect on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release other than statements of historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements can be identified by words such as "expects," "plans," "projects," "will," "may," "anticipates," "believes," "should," "intends," "estimates," and other words of similar meaning, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the Company's plans to initially apply the XCART technology to advance cell-based therapeutics by targeting the unique B-cell receptor on the surface of an individual patient's malignant tumor cells for the treatment of B-cell lymphomas; the Company's expectations that XCART has the potential to fuel a robust pipeline of therapeutic assets targeting high-value oncology indications; and the Company's expectations regarding potential royalties resulting from the sublicense with Takeda commencing in the near term. Any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on current expectations, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause our actual activities or results to differ materially from the activities and results anticipated in forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such plans, estimates or expectations include, among others, (1) unexpected costs, charges or expenses resulting from the acquisition of the CAR T technology; (2) uncertainty of the expected financial performance of the Company following completion of the acquisition of the CAR T technology; (3) failure to realize the anticipated potential of the XCART technology; (4) the ability of the Company to implement its business strategy; and (5) other risk factors as detailed from time to time in the Company's reports filed with the SEC, including its annual report on Form 10-K, periodic quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, periodic current reports on Form 8-K and other documents filed with the SEC. The foregoing list of important factors is not exclusive. In addition, forward-looking statements may also be adversely affected by general market factors, competitive product development, product availability, federal and state regulations and legislation, the regulatory process for new product candidates and indications, manufacturing issues that may arise, patent positions and litigation, among other factors. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date the statements were made, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

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Xenetic Biosciences, Inc. Announces Publication of Data from Partner's Phase 1/2 Study Evaluating Program Leveraging Polyxen(R) Platform Technology -...

In its latest analysis of satellite manufacturing and launch services, Satellites to be Built and Launched by 2028, Euroconsult projects that the satellite market will experience a radical transformation in the quantity, value and mass of the satellites to be built and launched with a four-fold increase in the number of satellites at a yearly average of 990 satellites to be launched, compared to a yearly average of 230 satellites in the previous decade.

The market will reach $292 billion over the next decade. This reflects a 28 percent increase over the previous decade which totalled $228 billion in revenues.

"Newcomers like Oneweb, SpaceX's Starlink or Amazon's Project Kuiper are becoming the largest owners of assets in orbit, challenging the satellite industry in many ways" said Maxime Puteaux, Editor-in-Chief of this research product and Senior Consultant at Euroconsult.

These changes are characterized by several factors:

+ LEO and MEO constellations are expected to account for 77 percent of the projected demand in the next decade driven by broadband projects like SpaceX's Starlink, Oneweb, Amazon's Project Kuiper, Telesat LEO and SES's O3b mPOWER.

+ Incumbent GEO comsat commercial satellite operators are transitioning from a legacy of GEO comsat broadcasting business to more data-centric use cases, impacting satellites orders. The gradual recovery of contracts will continue, following the low point of seven awards in 2017 with demand driven by the first orders of satellites with fully reconfigurable digital payload.

+ Euroconsult expects an average of 13 GEO comsat orders per year post-2020 based on a replacement scenario that considers the competition of NGSO satellite systems and the introduction of life extension services. Demand from global and regional GEO comsat operators will reach a yearly average of $8 billion over the next ten years.

+ Civil government agencies are projected to be the top drivers of satellite demand, accounting for 40 percent of the entire market value, ahead of both defense and commercial demand. This is a result of increasing interest in space science, exploration, and Earth observation. On the defense side, a new cycle of orders is beginning with new strategies and replacement satellites needed by the U.S., China, Russia, Japan, India and Europe.

Satellites to be Built and Launched by 2028 is a research product based on in-depth analysis of satellite applications and missions, satellite operators and users, technology advances, and the impact of these factors on the manufacturing and launch industry.

It includes a database of all satellites, regardless of mass, that were launched from 2009 to 2019, as well as satellites currently under construction, and those forecast to launch by 2028. It also provides detailed status and maturity assessments of 55 commercial constellations of five satellites or more and discusses the business cases for the four mega-constellations and their differing vertical integration strategies.

In its analysis, Euroconsult reviews strategic issues and trends for four categories of satellite operators, six types of orbit, six regions of the world, and seven distinct satellite application categories.

It provides quantitative analysis of satellite numbers, mass, and cost with forecasts based on qualitative top-down and bottom-up assessments. With separate sections for both the manufacturing and launch industries, the research covers strategic issues, industry structure, financial performance, innovation and more for each and includes detailed profiles of ten manufacturers and four launch service providers.

"While accurate projections can be challenging in an era of uncertainty, Euroconsult stands behind its numbers as the most realistic and reliable in the industry" said Maxime Puteaux. "This is the 22nd edition of our research on satellites to be built and launched and, in preparation, we compared past forecasts to the actual numbers. We confirmed that our depth of experience and comprehensive insight into the industry resulted in highly credible estimates."

Euroconsult compared the number of GEO and non-GEO satellites launched from 2009 to 2018 to its forecast for that period. It showed that, in 2009, the company predicted 11 percent more non-GEO satellites than actually launched, and it underestimated the number of GEOs by only three percent. The 2010 edition was the first report since 2000 to underestimate the non-GEO segment and subsequent editions corrected earlier over-estimates.

Related LinksEuroconsult GroupThe latest information about the Commercial Satellite Industry

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Euroconsult forecasts satellite demand to experience a four-fold increase over the next 10 years - Space Daily

Last month, this publication was introduced to Apeel Sciences a Gates Foundation-backed company responsible foran innovative plant-derived solution that reportedly slows down the rate of water loss and oxidation in perishable foods. Fin Slater caught up with Michelle Masek,Communications Advisor atApeel Sciencesto discuss scalability, single-use plastics, and the future of food packaging.

Could you give us an introduction to the Apeel product?

Apeel is a plant-derived solution that doubles to triples the shelf life of many types of fresh produce reducing reliance on refrigeration, plastic packaging, and controlled atmosphere throughout the supply chain. Made of materials found in every bite of fruit, Apeel creates an exceptionally thin, edible peel on the outside of produce, creating an optimal microclimate inside fruits and vegetables that slows the rate of water loss and oxidation the primary causes of spoilage. Apeel Sciences is fighting the global food waste crisis by using natures tools to extend the freshness of produce, prevent waste and promote more sustainable practices. Apeel is FDA GRAS, approved for USDA Certified Organic and conventional produce, and in 2019 gained regulatory approval by the European Commission.

For suppliers and retailers, Apeel is the only postharvest solution that creates an optimal microclimate inside every fruit or vegetable, maintaining quality, extending shelf life, and transportability with reduced reliance on refrigeration and controlled atmosphere.

What was the R&D process that lead up to the creation of the product?

While working on his Ph.D. in Materials, Apeel Sciences founder and CEO, James Rogers, will tell you he spent a few years watching paint dry in an effort to develop an energy-harvesting solar paint that would help democratize clean energy.

One day, while driving through lush farmland on his way home to Santa Barbara from the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, he heard a story on the radio about global hunger and wondered how can so many people be hungry if were able to grow such an abundance of food?

It turns out that there isnt an issue with growing the food we needthe culprit is spoilage. James wondered if a barrier could be created for food that would slow down the rate of spoilage and discovered that the materials needed already exist in every bite of food we eat. The result was a breakthrough application of materials science to food preservation, and Apeel Sciences was born.

Apeel Sciences was founded in 2012 with a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a product to reduce post-harvest food loss in developing countries. Today, Apeel Sciences has developed products for multiple USDA Organic Certified and conventional produce categories, and the company works with partners ranging from smallholder farmers and local organic growers to the worlds largest food brands to make better quality fruits and vegetables available for all.

Apeel is made of plant-derived materials lipids and glycerolipids that exist in the peels, seeds, and pulp of all the fruits and vegetables we already eat. When creating Apeel, we specifically target these materials.

Key factors that determine the shelf life of produce, such as water loss and ripening rates, are governed by their surface properties, including native wax composition, wax crystal density and size, roughness, and porosity. We consider all of these factors when we optimize a formulation for a particular category of produce, where molecularly, we adjust the combination of lipids in the formulation to be best suited to a given produce surface to maintain shelf-life.

What applications/demand does the product seek to meet?

Food waste in Europe has reached a staggering 88 million tonnes annually, with associated costs estimated at 143 billion euros. By using Apeel as a solution for extending produce shelf life and helping reduce food waste, U.S. retailers have been able to sell Apeel-treated avocados at no additional charge to the shopper or member.

In trials, weve seen a doubling to tripling of shelf-life across many dozens of types of fruits and vegetables. The length of shelf life extension depends on the type of produce, its age, and the conditions it is subject to along the supply chain, among other factors.

What makes Apeel technologically innovative/interesting?

Nature is our greatest teacher, and we have successfully proven that we can use these learnings to improve and prolong the quality of produce while reducing waste. From strawberries to peppers, every fruit and vegetable has a protective peel or skin that nature uses to keep it fresh. By enhancing this with a little extra peel, Apeel can double to triple the shelf life of many types of fresh produce, which promotes more sustainable growing practices and less food waste from farm to retail shelf to home.

In addition to food waste reduction, Apeels technology has the ability to reduce single-use plastic waste in the produce industry. In fall 2019, Apeel announced a partnership with world-renowned supplier Houwelings Group, providing them access to Apeels plant-derived technology to replace the single-use plastic wraps on its English cucumbers while still maintaining the vegetables shelf life. This partnership is expected to reduce plastic waste from reaching our landfills by over 60,000 pounds per year.

How does this product fit into the sustainable future of the packaging industry?

Apeel's technology is enabling the shift to more sustainable solutions a priority for everyone across the food supply chain. Fruits and vegetables already have packaging in the form of skins and peels, and Apeel is drawing on what nature already creates in order to help the industry increase the sustainability of its offerings. By extending the shelf life of produce, transformations and savings at every stage of the supply chain can occur. One recent example of this is Apeel Asparagus a vegetable which currently depends heavily on air freight for transport. Apeel reduces reliance on air freight by maintaining quality for longer, opening up the possibilities of arrivals by sea resulting in approximately 1/10 of the cost of transport and 1/8 the GHG emissions when compared to air.

What are your expectations for the future of the product?

Coming off of the heels of our European expansion, we hope to be a global company, servicing many more countries around the world. In the U.S., Apeel avocado retail programs have demonstrated a 50% reduction in retail waste on average and were eager to make these food waste reduction benefits a reality for suppliers and retailers around the world. We are excited about continuing to unlock the potential of plant-derived technology to help solve some of the biggest challenges we are facing right now in the area of food waste and its impact on climate change.

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Using "nature's tools" to fight the global food waste crisis - Packaging Europe

Key point:The new paint is supposed to be radar-absorbent.

A Texas Air National Guard fighter squadron flying F-16s is one of the first units to paint its planes in a new, radar-absorbing paint scheme. The paint signals the Air Forces reluctant decision to keep old F-16s flying through the 2020s, at least.

The Air National Guards paint facility in Sioux City, Iowa in mid-December 2019 rolled out a Block 30 F-16C with the new version the Have Glass paint jobs. The F-16C, a Block 30 model, belongs to the 149th Fighter Wing flying out of Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.

The new, single-color paint scheme is a recent departure from the older two-tone gray paint scheme normally associated with F-16s that belong to the United States Air Force, the Pentagon stated.

Most American F-16s for decades have worn a mostly light-gray paint scheme. Since around 2012, however, the Air Force under the Have Glass V initiative slowly has been applying a new, single-tone, dark-gray livery to some F-16s

The new ferromagnetic paint, which can absorb radar energy, first appeared on some of the roughly 200 F-16s the Air Force assigns to the dangerous suppression-of-enemy-air-defenses, or SEAD, mission. SEAD squadrons reside in Minnesota, South Carolina, Germany and Japan.

The Texas Air National Guard F-16 apparently is the first Block 30 F-16 to receive a variant of the Have Glass V paint. Where previous Have Glass V paint jobs included a lighter-tone radar radome, the current scheme covers both the radome and the rest of the plane in the same, dark tone.

No paint can compensate for a plane's shape. In particular, the shapes of its wings, engine inlet and engine nozzle. Square shapes, right angles and perpendicular planes such as engine turbines strongly reflect radar waves.

Even with Have Glass, the F-16 on average has a 1.2-square-meter radar cross-section, according to Globalsecurity, while the F-22 and F-35 boast RCSs smaller than .005 square meters.

So the Have Glass V F-16s arent stealth fighters. But they are stealthier than are F-16s with older paint schemes. Since Have Glass V undoubtedly is expensive, the Air Force logically prioritized repainting planes in units flying the dangerous SEAD mission.

Its noteworthy that Block 30 F-16s, which first appeared in 1986, also are getting Have Glass V treatment. The roughly 300 Block 30s are some of the oldest fighters in the Air Force inventory, and strictly fly with Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve units.

The Air Force for years struggled to define a replacement plan for the Block 30 F-16s, which on average have accumulated more than 7,000 flight hours. The F-35 eventually could replace the Block 30s. But with F-35 production rates fall far below projections, even under the best of circumstances it could take a decade or more to replace all the Block 30s.

The 149th Fighter Wing is one of several Air National Guard units that for years has lobbied the Air Force to bump it higher in the list for new F-35s. But the flying branch so far has tapped Guard wings in Vermont, Wisconsin and Alabama to get F-35s, leaving a couple dozen other units in limbo for the time being.

Conceding that it cannot acquire F-35s fast enough, the Air Force now plans to conduct a service-life extension on more than 800 of its roughly 900 F-16s, apparently skipping over only the oldest Block 25 models that entered service in the early 1980s.

The life-extension could help the Block 30s fly for a few years longer. Some Block 30s also are receiving new electronically-scanned-array radars to replace their old analogue units. Stealther paint also helps the aging F-16s stay relevant.

The U.S. Air Force isnt the only air arm to apply radar-absorbing paint to otherwise non-stealthy fighters. The Chinese air force in early 2019 also began applying ferromagnetic paint to its roughly 50 J-16s fighters.

The J-16 is an upgraded version of the older J-11 fighter that China copied from the Russian Su-27.

David Axe serves as Defense Editor of the National Interest. He is theauthor of the graphic novelsWar Fix,War Is BoringandMachete Squad. This first appeared earlier in 2019.

Image: Reuters.

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The Aging F-16 Just Got a Stealth Paint Job - The National Interest Online

Oil giant BP (LON:BP) sprung a surprise on Tuesday (January 7) by announcing the sale of some of its iconic North Sea assets to Premier Oil (LON:PMO), one of the U.K.'s most indebted oil and gas companies.

The deal worth 474 million ($625 million) will see a package of North Sea assets, including the Andrew platform and BP's controlling stake in five surrounding fields, as well as its minority stake in the Shell-operated Shearwater field, transferred to Premier Oil.

The five fields - Andrew, Arundel, Cyrus, Farragon and Kinnoull - all produce via the Andrew platform, which is about 140 miles (225km) north east of Aberdeen, and has been run by BP since 1994, coming onstream in 1996. The oil giant's minority stake in the Shell-operated Shearwater field stands at 27.5%.

The Andrew platform and BP's controlling stake in five surrounding fields, as well as its minority ... [+] stake in the Shell-operated Shearwater field will be sold to Premier Oil.

BP said the move was aimed at "reshaping" its North Sea asset portfolio under an ongoing 7.6 billion divestment program.

The sale marks a continuing trend of North Sea divestments by BP. In 2017, it sold its interests in the Bruce, Keith and Rhum fields to Serica Energy for 300 million. Earlier that year, the oil giant also sold its Forties Pipeline System (FPS) to Ineos in 250 million deal. The 235-mile pipeline system, which links 85 North Sea oil and gas assets belonging to 21 companies, was first opened in 1975.

BP is by no means alone in divesting mature North Sea assets. Rival Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSB) sold half of its U.K. production base to private equity-backed Chrysaor the same year as BP sold the FPS, and other majors such as Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) have also divested from the region.

Ariel Flores, North Sea regional president at BP, said: "BP has been reshaping its portfolio in the North Sea to focus on core growth areas. As a result of this focus, we have also now decided to divest our Andrew and Shearwater interests, believing them to be a better strategic fit for another owner.

"We are confident that Premier Oil, already a significant operator in the North Sea, is the right owner of these assets as they seek to maximize their value and extend their life."

The midcap buyer of BP's assets is one of the most indebted oil companies in the U.K. with a debt pile of 1.5 billion. But Premier Oil said it would be paying for the assets via combination of existing cash, an acquisition bridging facility of 228 million and a fresh equity raise of 380 million.

Tony Durrant, Chief Executive of Premier Oil, said: "These acquisitions are in line with our stated strategy of acquiring cash generative assets in the UK North Sea.

"We look forward to realizing the significant long-term potential of the Andrew and Shearwater assets through production optimization, incremental developments and field life extension projects."

A total of 69 BP staff working on the divested assets are expected to move to Premier Oil. Following announcement of the divestment, as of 12:07 GMT on Tuesday, BP's shares were trading down 0.93% or 4.70p in London at 499.40p, while Premier Oil's were up 16.81% or 17.05p at 118.71p.

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BP Agrees To $625 Million Sale Of North Sea Assets With One Of U.K.s Most Indebted Oil Companies - Forbes