BROAD STRATEGIC APPRAISALS HAS COMPLETED FIVE SUCCESSFUL YEARS! THANKS TO ALL FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT

Monday, April 27, 2009

General Atomics unwraps new, Stealth(y) robot war-jet

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General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI), maker of the famous Predator and Reaper unmanned warplanes, has taken the wraps off a new and still more powerful kill-robot - the "Avenger". The company says that first flights have been conducted successfully this month.

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INTEGRATED SENSOR IS STRUCTURE PROGRAM BEGINS

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Palmdale, Calif., to develop the Integrated Sensor Is Structure (ISIS) phase 3 demonstration system. Raytheon Co., El Segundo, Calif., is a key team member.

DARPA’s ISIS program is developing a sensor of unprecedented proportions that is fully integrated into a stratospheric airship. ISIS will revolutionize theater-wide surveillance, tracking and fire-control, and enable engagement of hundreds of time-critical air and ground targets simultaneously in both urban and rural environments.

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Integrated Sensor is Structure (ISIS)

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The goal of the ISIS program is to develop a stratospheric airship based autonomous unmanned sensor with years of persistence in surveillance and tracking of air and ground targets. It will have the capability to track the most advanced cruise missiles at 600 km and dismounted enemy combatants at 300 km.

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Raven Small UAV Demonstrates Persistent Surveillance Capability on a 30 Hour Mission

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Attached to the forward echelons and operated by the troops, Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (SUAV) have become a common element of support to the fighting units, providing a broad range of services to the warfighter, from intelligence gathering and target acquisition to battle damage assessment and force protection. Indispensable as they are, SUAV have one clear drawback – short range and mission endurance. System developers are aiming at extending their mission endurance, by energy saving and use of more efficient power sources. A new concept utilizing multiple SUAVs on a single mission enables a unit to maintain persistent monitoring of a mission area over a long time.

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Tracking Internet Chatter Helps Spot Swine Flu Outbreak

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Tech tools for tracking disease outbreaks have been useful for following the spread of swine flu and one startup even claims to have recognized the severity of the outbreak in Mexico before government public health officials.

Veratect, a Seattle-based biosurveillance startup, claims they alerted the Centers for Disease Control to the situation in Mexico — where health officials suspect swine flu has killed up to 149 people — on April 16, before even the Mexican health authorities declared a problem.

How’d they get ahead of the outbreak? By monitoring and analyzing the flow of social media traffic along with more official reports, the company’s CEO said.

“We started picking up the early indicators of social disruption, whether it shows up on blogs or Twitter,” said Bob Hart, the CEO of Veratect. “We can pick up the first indicators of behavioral changes.”

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Wave of success

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Tests on Aquamarine Power’s Oyster wave energy converter have shown that the device can deliver electricity on a commercial scale after it produced and exported electricity to the grid.


The trials, which began in March and are scheduled to finish by the end of April, took place at the New and Renewable Energy Centre (NaREC), a facility in north-east England that acts as a testing platform for renewable energy technologies.


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The List: 57 Amazing Things You Didn't Know Your Tech Could Do!

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Here are all 57 of the tips and tricks we've pulled together for PCs, laptops, smartphones, cameras, the Web and more.

Here's our guide to the many pieces that make up "57 Amazing Things You Didn't Know Your Tech Could Do."
Following are links to all six stories. In them you'll learn how to do astounding things with PCs and networking; smartphones; digital cameras and photos; Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Search; iPods, iTunes, and other digital music players; and TiVo, Wii, and Xbox 360 controllers.

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Sukhoi confirms SU-35 prototype crash

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Sukhoi has confirmed the company’s third prototype for the Su-35 programme crashed at Komsomolsk-on-Amur during high-speed ground tests.

Test pilot Yevgeni Frolov escaped uninjured after ejecting, a Sukhoi statement says.
A “commission of inquiry” has been launched to investigate the crash, says the company.
Sukhoi recently added the third test prototype to accelerate the flight test schedule. So far, the first two aircraft have completed more than 100 flights.

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Chinese Navy Requires Supercruising Fighter

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A supercruising combat aircraft is a high priority of the Chinese navy, the country’s top admiral says in a revealing official interview that gives strong clues of perceived shortcomings and future directions for the maritime force.

Adm. Wu Shengli also says China must step up work on precision missiles that can overcome enemy defenses, and the nation should move faster in developing large combat surface ships—probably meaning the aircraft carrier program that looks increasingly imminent (AW&ST Jan. 5, p. 22).

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