‘World’s First’ O&M Campaign Using Heavy-Lift Cargo Drones Underway At Dutch Offshore Wind Farm
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Ørsted has deployed heavy-lift cargo drones (HLCDs) for maintenance work at the Borssele 1&2 offshore wind farm in the Netherlands. This is the first time heavy-lift cargo drones are being used in an operational campaign, according to the company which tested the concept in 2023 at its Hornsea One offshore wind farm in the UK.
These are the first two paragraphs.
At the 752 MW Dutch offshore wind farm that has been in operation since 2020, the 70-kilogram drones will transport cargo of up to 100 kilograms from a vessel to all 94 wind turbines. The campaign now underway at Borssele 1&2 is being performed to update some critical evacuation and safety equipment in each of the turbines.
A drone can complete a task that typically takes several hours in minutes, according to Ørsted.
Note.
- The article claims, a lot of time is saved.
- I suspect we’ll be seeing the use of drones for multiple deliveries, a lot more in the future.
I like the concept, where deliveries to a number of sites are made by drone, rather than in a traditional way perhaps by a ship or truck with a crane.
Ørsted ‘First’ To Use Giant Autonomous Drones to Transport Cargo To Wind Turbines
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Ørsted says it is the first offshore wind company in the world to use giant autonomous drones to transport cargo to wind turbines
These three paragraphs outline the use of drones.
The Danish offshore wind giant is testing the drones to transport cargo from vessels to its 1.2 GW Hornsea One project in the UK.
Building on its previous experience using smaller drones in other countries, the company is now trialling the 58-kilogram drones with a wingspan of 2.6 metres to transport cargo of up to 68 kilograms.
The drones are operated from existing crew transfer vessels (CVTs) and service operating vessels (SOVs) which are already on site, said Ørsted.
Using drones appears to save cost and time, reduce risk and even allows the deliveries with the turbine working.
With a payload of 68 kilograms, someone my size could even take a lift.
Offshore Drone Challenge Takes Off
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
German energy company EnBW and its project partner, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), have published the conditions of entry and the specific flight tasks for the Offshore Drone Challenge (ODC) for the first time.
This is the first paragraph.
As part of the Offshore Drone Challenge, drone manufacturers and service providers are invited to demonstrate their technologies for transporting maintenance equipment to offshore wind farms.
It’s an interesting idea and would make a good television program.
But I suspect, that the winner will be a Ukrainian company, as recently, they’ve had a lot of practice delivering cargoes with a high level of precision into confined and difficult places.
UK Company Introduces Robotic Ecosystem For Offshore Wind Farm Inspections
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Marshall Futureworx, the venture building and advanced technologies arm of Marshall of Cambridge, has unveiled plans to provide offshore wind farm inspection services using a resident robotic ecosystem.
These two paragraphs outline the system.
Lilypad is an ecosystem of multiple autonomous BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) which utilise artificial intelligence and navigational sensors to provide dynamic and on-demand offshore inspection services, Marshall Futureworx said.
The UAVs are deployed from dedicated offshore charging stations and monitored by a single remote pilot stationed in an onshore command and control centre. Inspection data and reports are then transmitted back to the wind farm operators, which is said to enable faster, more frequent, reliable, and predictive maintenance scheduling and more effective utilisation of assets.
I can think of lots of uses for a system like this.
Is Volodymyr Zelenskyy Planning A Mosquito Moment?
Just imagine the scene in Berlin on January 30th, 1943, which was the tenth anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s rise to power.
A celebration had been planned with speeches by Goering and Goebbels to the Nazi faithful, which would be broadcast over the radio.
But precisely as Goering started to speak, three RAF Mosquitos arrived over Berlin.
This article on The Smithsonian Magazine, which is entitled When the RAF Buzzed Over Germany to Drown Out Nazi Broadcasts, describes the interruption like this.
When the bombs and the British engines intruded on the broadcast of Goering’s speech, radio engineers cut his feed and scrambled for safety. A bewildered German public instead heard the cacophony of bombers, which was soon replaced on their radios with a crackly recording of marching band music. It was more than an hour before a furious Goering returned to the airwaves.
Hours later, three more Mosquitos, gave Goebbels a similar treatment.
Wikipedia gives this quote from Goering about the Mosquito.
In 1940 I could at least fly as far as Glasgow in most of my aircraft, but not now! It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito. I turn green and yellow with envy. The British, who can afford aluminium better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building, and they give it a speed which they have now increased yet again. What do you make of that? There is nothing the British do not have. They have the geniuses and we have the nincompoops. After the war is over I’m going to buy a British radio set – then at least I’ll own something that has always worked.
He was lecturing a group of German aircraft manufacturers.
It has been reported that Vlad the Mad is planning a spectacular parade on Victory Day, which is May 9th, 2022.
I can imagine that Ukrainian planners are working on ways to interrupt any speeches.
A drone spraying blue and yellow paint would be intensely funny and totally within the expertise of high-quality special forces.
It’s Time We Used Cyber Dark Arts To Foil Putin
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times, which was written by Edward Lucas.
This is the first paragraph.
Breaking the Kremlin’s grip on the Russian people is the greatest national security priority of our lives. We cannot (or rather, will not) fight the Russian invaders in Ukraine. But we can fight inside Russia, using disruption and subversion to disable the war machine, ideally to the point that the country becomes ungovernable.
He suggests the following.
- Russian speakers could sow doubt about the regime’s lies and brutalities.
- Use the Russian diaspora to contact friends and relatives back home.
- Build and unleash a psychological warfare arsenal against Putin’s cocktail of crimes, lies and secrecy.
- Send condolences to family members for their losses in the war.
- Prepare Nuremberg for war crimes trials.
- Highlight the friendly treatment that Ukrainians give Russian deserters.
- Use wit as a weapon.
Edward Lucas then talks about the antics of Sefton Delmer in World War II. Wikipeda says this about him.
During the war, he led a black propaganda campaign against Hitler by radio from England. It was so successful that Delmer was named in the Nazis’ Black Book for immediate arrest after their planned invasion of Britain.
I suspect he was very good at his job. Two of his weapons were.
Aspidistra, which was a 500 kW radio station.
A daily “grey” German-language newspaper titled Nachrichten für die Truppe (“News for the Troops”). These leaflets were delivered by the USAF.
Edward Lucas says that we should all read Delmer’s autobiography, which is called Black Boomerang, which is now out of print and difficult to find.
Wikipedia gives this explanation of Black Boomerang.
When fighting entered Germany itself, black propaganda was used to create an impression of an anti-Nazi resistance movement.
At the end of the war in Europe, Delmer advised his colleagues not to publicise the work they had been involved in, lest unrepentant Nazis claim (as had been the case after the First World War), that they had been defeated by unconscionable methods, rather than on the battlefield. Consequently, former Nazis were able to claim, without contradiction, that they had assisted the fictitious resistance movement; Delmer described this unintended consequence as a “black boomerang”
Edward Lucas suggests reprinting Black Boomerang.
If someone has a good clear copy, I could possibly arrange it.
Demoralising The Russians
Edward Lucas believes, we can use similar techniques to Delmer to attack the Russians.
But instead of using a massive radio, he proposes using the Internet and its various messaging apps.
I suspect with a bit of arm-twisting Facebook, Twitter, Google, Microsoft et al, could produce a very good list of Russian Internet users.
It might be against the law, but who cares? It’s a war out there, we’re not using the information to physically hurt anybody or steal anything of value.
News For The Troops
I believe we can go one better than Sefton Delmer.
We are dealing with Russians invading and occupying Ukrainian territory, where many of the inhabitants can certainly read Russian.
So could we develop a truthful leaflet, that is delivered across Ukraine to both Russian Troops and the Ukrainian population?
Delivery would be primarily by the Internet, but why not deliver it by drone?
Delivery from say 5000 feet would distribute the leaflets over a wide area.
Could We Go Candy Bombing?
Gail Halvorsen, who died recently was known as the Candy Bomber.
This is the introduction to his Wikipedia entry.
Gail Seymour Halvorsen (October 10, 1920 – February 16, 2022) was a senior officer and command pilot in the United States Air Force. He is best known as the “Berlin Candy Bomber” or “Uncle Wiggly Wings” and gained fame for dropping candy to German children during the Berlin Airlift from 1948 to 1949.
I think, his actions could be copied in Ukraine.
Consider.
- The Ukrainian people are starving in the occupied territories.
- The Russian soldiers aren’t doing much better.
- These days, we can supply nutrition bars instead of sweets.
- Automated drones could deliver them safely from 5000 feet.
- They could be flown on behalf of the Red Cross from over the border in Hungary, Moldova, Poland and Slovakia.
Organised properly, the Russians would have a problem.
- If they let the drones through, the siege will be broken in a small way.
- If they shoot them down, their soldiers won’t get the smallest snack and the Russians will be attacking the Red Cross.
We might lose a lot of drones, but eventually we’ll get the nutrition through, each wrapped in a large dollop of propaganda.
‘Game-Changing’ Drones Helping Ukraine In Battle For The Skies
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the introductory paragraph.
The Ukrainian military has been using “Punisher” stealth drones that can target fuel storage, ammunition supplies and electronic warfare stations up to 30 miles behind enemy lines.
Some other points from the article.
- They are a Ukrainian-built drone with a 7.5 foot wingspan an electric propulsion.
- They are from a company called UA-Dynamics.
- They have completed sixty successful mission.
- They can fly for hours at 1,300ft
This paragraph describes a mission.
He said the drone, which can carry 3kg of explosives, needs the co-ordinates of its target and then carries out its mission automatically. Onboard cameras record the impact of the blast to check the accuracy of the mission.
It can also work in combination with a reconnaissance drone.
Could this be the reason the Russians have held back the convoy?
It may not be a big enough warhead to knock out a tank, but it would do a lot of damage to a supply truck or a tanker full of diesel.
There is also this paragraph, which describes a dog-fight between Russian and Ukranian fighters.
The Ukrainian military said today that a “fierce air battle” took place overnight in the Kyiv region between a pair of MiG-29 fighters and a pair of Russian Su-35s. Both Russian jets were destroyed and one MiG-29 survived.
Note.
- The Mig-29 first flew in 1977.
- Mig-29s are a very common fighter aircraft.
- Ukraine inherited hundreds of Mig-29s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
- The USAF has a few Mig-29s
The Su-35 first flew in 1988.
In addition to the Russians, they are flown by China and Egypt.
This is a paragraph from the Wikipedia entry for the Mig-29.
On 29 May 2020, Ukrainian MiG-29s took part in the Bomber Task Force in Europe with American B-1B bombers for the first time in the Black Sea region. In September 2020, B-52 bombers from the 5th Bomb Wing conducted vital integration training with Ukrainian MiG-29s and Su-27s inside Ukraine’s airspace.
Have the Ukrainian pilots been doing some combat training?
Delivery Drone Flies Medical Supplies To Britain’s Isle of Wight
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Reuters.
This is the introductory paragraph.
A new drone service will reduce delivery times for urgent medical supplies to a hospital on the Isle of Wight, which lies about 8 kilometres off the south coast of England.
In some ways the most remarkable thing about this project, was that the drone was developed by Southampton University to deliver medical supplies in remote parts of Africa.
- It is twin-engined.
- It has a range of 100 km.
- It can carry a 100 kg payload.
- It can take off and land on short grass runways.
More details can be found on this page of the Southampton University web site.
This is a video of the first delivery.
Company Hopes To Use Railways To Develop Drone Delivery Corridors
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Railway Gazette.
The first two paragraphs explain the idea.
SkyRights Holdings is seeking to partner with Class I railways to make their alignments available for use by drone delivery companies and for ‘urban air mobility’ applications.
The company said the airspace above railways offers ‘a unique solution to address the safety, electric charging infrastructure and liability management challenges when compared to flying delivery drones over populated areas.’
I think this could be very feasible.
The Anonymous Widower 