Locator: 48725TEXAS.
Boston: ICE raid. Will be updated elsewhere. Strange. Limited reporting.
Ft Worth: new helicopter. See below. The Blackhawk program was headquartered / built in Stratford, CT. The new US Army helicopter to be manufactured by Bell in Ft Worth. Texas: hitting on all cylinders.
Berkeley: new DOE supercomputer -- Nvidia and Dell. Updated elsewhere.
Moscow: Microsoft unit declares bankruptcy. A most bizarre story.
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US Army Helicopter
New:
Valor, the MV-75 helicopter, officially known as the Bell V-280 Valor, is
being developed and manufactured by Bell Textron, an American aerospace
company headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.
Bell Textron is a subsidiary
of Textron Inc. and operates manufacturing facilities in Fort Worth and
Amarillo, Texas, where military rotorcraft are produced.
The MV-75 is a tiltrotor aircraft designed to replace the UH-60 Black
Hawk helicopter in the U.S. Army's fleet. It combines vertical takeoff
and landing capabilities with the speed and range of a fixed-wing
aircraft.
The aircraft is powered by two Rolls-Royce turboshaft engines
and is intended for various missions, including air assault, medical
evacuation, and combat search and rescue.
The MV-75 is part of the U.S. Army's Future Vertical Lift modernization
program, with initial flight tests planned for 2026 and full deployment
expected by 2030.
The 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell,
Kentucky, is set to be the first unit to receive the aircraft.
From ChatGPT: $70 billion over the course of the lifetime of this program.
Old:
The Black Hawk helicopter, formally known as the Sikorsky UH-60 Black
Hawk, was and is manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft, a division of
Lockheed Martin since 2015.
Originally, Sikorsky Aircraft was an
independent company based in Stratford, Connecticut, which is where the
primary manufacturing of the Black Hawk has historically taken place.
Key Manufacturing Details:
Primary Manufacturing Location:
Stratford, Connecticut (Sikorsky Aircraft headquarters and main
production plant)
Additional Assembly Locations:
West Palm Beach, Florida:
Some assembly and flight test
operations.
Collaborative international partners have produced variants or
parts under license, such as in Poland (PZL Mielec) and Turkey (TAI).
The UH-60 first entered service in 1979 and remains one of the most
widely used utility helicopters in the world.
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Personal Electricity Bill
Our monthly utility bill arrived today. We only have electricity, no natural gas.
Up
until about two years ago, I worked very, very hard at conserving
electricity. No longer. About a year and a half ago, except for drying clothes at
peak energy demand in the summer, I no longer care about our use of
electricity. As a wag, I suppose, our monthly electricity bills have
increased about 10%. An average "shoulder" month (spring, autumn) probably
went from around $85 to $95?
This past month, April/May was a very nice month. The
average temperature this past month was 82°F. Last year, same month,
the average temperature was 84°F.
Our daily use remained about the same, m/m and y/y: average daily usage, kWh, 18 - 19 kWh.
Last year, 2024: $89.95. So, no increase y/y. Wow.
Most recent bill:
