Microwaves could defuse bombs from afar

THE next weapon in the US army's arsenal could be a laser-guided microwave blaster designed to destroy explosives.
The weapon, called the Multimode Directed Energy Armament System, uses a high-power laser to ionise the air, creating a plasma channel that acts as a waveguide for the stream of microwaves. The device could destroy the electronic fuse of an explosive device or missile, such as a roadside bomb, or immobilise a vehicle by disabling its ignition system.

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Pentagon seeks military role for space tourism technology

As commercial spaceflight draws closer to reality, the US Department of Defense is officially interested.

The National Security Space Office (NSSO) has invited companies such as Armadillo Aerospace, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and Xcor to a conference from 24-26 February in San Antonio, Texas to discuss how suborbital technology could be applied to military needs.

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Air-Mechanized Fighting Vehicle

An example of how the vehicle will be most commonly be utilized is as follows: one to four vehicles (depending on variant and transport size) will be loaded onto a transport with 0-8 men in each vehicle (depending on variant) and flown into a potential war zone. Once over the battlefield, the vehicles will be ejected from the rear of the transport and will utilize their aerodynamic bodies and a deployable Para foil to precisely land at predetermined landing zones. Or in the case of standoff variants, it will utilize its control surfaces ounce released to silently glide into the war zone and will land softly utilizing retro rockets. If carrying troops, they will then immediately dismount and operate on foot while the vehicle becomes an unmanned ground vehicle and provides supporting fire and long range ground mobility when needed. As the design progresses and lifting and propulsion systems are integrated, the vehicle will fly itself into a war zone. Upon landing wings or rotors would fold towards the body so that they will not be damaged or hinder the movement of the vehicle on the ground. If carrying troops, the troops would dismount and be supported by the vehicle. When redeployment becomes necessary they will board the vehicle and fly to the next landing zone.

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What Weapons Want: Q&A With DARPA's Microsystems Master, Greg Kovacs

In 2008, Tony Tether, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), tapped Stanford M.D. and electrical engineer Gregory T.A. Kovacs to lead DARPA’s Microsystems Technology Office (MTO). The MTO funds engineering in five general areas: electronics, photonics, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), computer architectures, and algorithms. But as Kovacs has repeatedly said, the role of DARPA is more about integrating these units into interdisciplinary projects. Take, for example, the Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (HI-MEMS) program. Researchers funded under that program are tasked with the creation of moths or other insects that have electronic controls and energy-harvesting devices implanted inside them, making them self-powered remote-controlled spies.

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Portable E-Bomb to Be Tested

15 April 2009—This week at an arsenal in Huntsville, Ala., defense researchers are testing a new high-power microwave (HPM) bomb—one that creates an electromagnetic pulse capable of disabling electronics, vehicles, guided missiles, and communications while leaving people and structures unharmed. The tests mark the first time such a device has been shrunk to dimensions that could make it portable enough to fit in a missile or carried in a Humvee or unmanned aerial vehicle.

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New book teaches U.S. Army how to face 21st century challenges

WASHINGTON, April 22 (UPI) -- Don Vandergriff has published another book, which is good news for all who care about the future of the U.S. Army. "Manning the Future Legions of the United States: Finding and Developing Tomorrow's Centurions" brings together many strands of Army reform to create a comprehensive and intelligent reform program.
The book begins by describing the four generations of modern war, which together establish the context in which we can see both where the U.S. Army is -- in the second generation -- and what it needs to prepare to fight fourth-generation war.

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Flexible, Printable Supercapacitor Built

22 April 2009—The field of printable electronics has taken off in recent years, with researchers touting prototype wearable sensors, smart packaging labels, and even solar cells made with printing technology. However, little advancement has been made in developing printable, flexible energy-storage devices, such as supercapacitors and batteries.
Now researchers from Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles, have built a flexible supercapacitor out of printable carbon nanotubes and polymer gel electrolyte. Their results were detailed this month in Nano Letters.

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Bugbots, Pentagon's Hi-Tech Insects

A $37 million U.S. Army research program to develop mechanical crawling, jumping and flying bugs for intelligence gathering, electronic jamming and data manipulation against enemies


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