Laser technology creates new forms of metal and enhances aircraft performance

Dr. Chunlei Guo and his team of researchers for the project discovered a way to transform a shinypiece of metal into one that is pitch black, not by paint, but by using incredibly intense bursts of laser light. The black metal created, absorbs all radiation that shines upon it.

"With the creation of the black metal, an entirely new class of material becomes available to us, which may open up a whole new horizon for various applications," said Guo.

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'Cloak of Illusion' Tech Could Disguise Objects

A cloak of illusion, or a material that disguises one object as another, is being developed by scientists in Hong Kong.

"The metamaterial can turn the appearance of one object into that of another," said CT Chan, a scientist at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and coauthor of a paper that recently appeared in the journal Physical Review Letters.

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IronKey launches USB drive for militaries

California-based IronKey has launched its new Flash drive technology to support military and government markets with tamper-resistant information security.

IronKey has released its S200 Flash drive that is designed with cryptochip and anti-malware technologies to secure sensitive government or military data.

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Taser Tests New Tri-Fire X3 On Their Own Employees

Beyond the very general details of the X3, Taser is still keeping mum with the specifics on how it works, confirming only that the X3 fires equal or less voltage than their current model, the X26, which can unload 50,000 volts at its peak. Taser claims the actual shock delivered to the body is in the range of 400-1,200 volts. The X3 also includes a feature that reports back on whether the shock delivered was "good, partial or no connection."

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Discovery of new optical forces has implications for optical signal processing, telecom

Belgian researchers--at the University of Ghent (Ghent) and the nanoelectronics research center IMEC (Leuven)--have demonstrated repulsive and attractive nanophotonic forces that depend on the spatial distribution of the light used. These fundamental research results could have major consequences for telecommunications and optical signal processing .

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Physicists Find Way To Control Individual Bits In Quantum Computers

Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have overcome a hurdle in quantum computer development, having devised a viable way to manipulate a single "bit" in a quantum processor without disturbing the information stored in its neighbors. The approach, which makes novel use of polarized light to create "effective" magnetic fields, could bring the long-sought computers a step closer to reality.

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Internet pioneers warn of VoIP wiretap danger

U.S. government efforts to require most voice-over-IP providers to permit law enforcement agencies to wiretap phone calls could introduce new security problems to the Internet, a group of Internet security experts said today.

A Federal Communications Commission rule requiring providers to allow wiretapping by May 2007 would either require a massive re-engineering of the Internet or introduce broad cybersecurity risks, said authors of a new study released by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), an IT vendor trade group.

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Reaper Eyed As Missile Defense Sensor

The Pentagon could begin to integrate unmanned aerial vehicles suitable to track ballistic missiles early in flight into the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) layered system within two years, says agency director U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly.

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Lockheed Martin to Develop Concept for New U.S. Navy Air and Missile Defense Radar

The U.S. Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] a $10 million firm-fixed-price contract to perform concept studies for the Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR), a scalable solid-state radar suite for future surface combatants.

Comprised of an S-Band radar, an X-Band radar and a Radar Suite Controller (RSC), AMDR is intended to significantly enhance a ship’s defensive capability against advanced anti-ship and ballistic missile threats. Lockheed Martin was one of three industry teams to receive AMDR contracts, which will focus on the S-Band radar and RSC during this six-month concept studies phase. The Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C., leads the procurement for AMDR.

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First Advanced SatComms Production Terminals Complete Testing

Raytheon and the U.S. Army recently completed successful testing of the first Advanced Extremely High Frequency, or AEHF, satellite communications production terminals.

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Flight test OK'd for new Aegis missiles

An advanced component of the U.S. missile defense system has been cleared for flight testing beginning next year.

The Raytheon Co., which has headquarters in Waltham, Mass., had design work carried out at the company's Missile System facilities in Tucson.

The Standard Missile-3 Block IB program recently completed a critical design review, which will allow for flight tests in 2010 with eventual deployment in Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense systems by the U.S. Department of Defense's Missile Defense Agency, the company said in a release.

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$32.7M to General Atomics for DDG-51 Propulsion System Prototype

General Atomics in San Diego, CA won a $32.7 million not-to-exceed, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for development of a prototype hybrid electric drive (HED) system on DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Class destroyers. Under the contract, General Atomics intends to demonstrate the capability for significant fuel savings by incorporating advanced electric machine technology.

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