Raytheon sells its first 'pain ray,' and the less lethal arms race begins

The military isn’t about to deploy its pain ray to the battlefield. But someone in the commercial sector is about to one. The sale is mentioned ina presentation by Raytheon, who built the microwave weapon for the Defense Department.

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Fail-safe field communications nearly ready

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is close to deploying a program that has been in the works for five years and aims to give troops in the field network communications that won’t fail regardless of the operating environment.

DARPA is completing the third and final phase of the Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) program, with every expectation that the technology will quickly become a necessity for military communications.

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New UAV sensors could leave enemy no place to hide

Despite the increase in unmanned airborne surveillance, this rapidly expanding resource is limited when it comes to battlefield focus. It can zero in on just one target at a time, making it tough for unmanned aerial vehicle users when there are numerous, fast-moving targets in the area.

That will start to change in the spring 2010, when the Air Force starts introducing a new sensor that allows a number of different users to simultaneously view an area from 12 separate angles.

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Nissan Unveils Contactless Charging System for EVs

Nissan has announced plans to develop a contactless charging system for its next generation electric vehicle Leaf, which is expected to be out in 2010.

This was demonstrated on the “Hyper Mini,” Nissan’s electric vehicle launched in 2000, with the contactless charging system.

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Flight Test of B-52 with Combat Network Communications Upgrade

Boeing [NYSE: BA] on Aug. 5 delivered to the U.S. Air Force a B-52 Stratofortress upgraded with Combat Network Communications Technology (CONECT), a modification that equips the B-52 with 21st century situational awareness and mission flexibility. The upgraded systems will be tested and verified during flight tests at Edwards Air Force Base.

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First U.S. "Power Tower" Lights Up California

In southern California's Antelope Valley, 24,000 silver-bright mirrors have been positioned to reflect light on two 50-meter-tall towers. And at 11:08 A.M. local time Wednesday, this concentrated light heated steam in those towers to turn a turbine—the first "power towers" in the U.S. to convert the sun's heat into electricity for commercial use.

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Small-Scale Quantum Processor Gets Its Act Together

A new experimental processor combines many of the attributes needed for practical quantum computing, but a full-scale implementation of the powerful technology remains far off on the horizon.

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Gadgets That Let You Walk on Water

Humans can float, swim and dive, but they can't walk on water—our bodies are just too dense. Despite this, a few gimmicky contraptions claim to give men the ability to walk on water (or at least skip across it).

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Researchers produce tunable, small-volume light storage device by stretching optical fiber

Physicists at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Germany) say they are the first to produce a single, monolithic microresonator device that combines long storage time, small volume, and tunability to arbitrary optical frequencies. The lack of such a light-storage device has prevented many important light-based applications, they note.

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New Weapon System Boosts Soldiers’ Safety

s U.S. forces fight insurgents in the southern and eastern regions of Afghanistan, officials are working to protect them with new technology, equipment and vehicles.

One of the newest tools in their arsenal is the common remotely operated weapon station II, known as CROWS II, which enables soldiers to acquire and engage targets from the safety of their armored vehicle.

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US Marine Corps Employing Dogs to Detect IEDs

The US Marine Corps is buying dogs that can detect improvised explosive devices (IEDs) for deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan. The USMC Regional Contracting Office National Capitol Region in Quantico, VA awarded an $8.7 million firm-fixed price contract to K2 Solutions in Southern Pines, NC for the purchase of 112 trained and certified IED detector dogs. The contract also covers maintaining a pool of 247 dogs as well as training for the dogs and handlers.

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