Sunday, April 26, 2009
The US Navy’s Dual Band Radars
The US Navy’s newest light cruiser and aircraft carrier designs offer a wide array of new technologies. One is the Dual-Band Radar (DBR) system, which can be scaled up or down for installation in the new DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class “destroyers”, and the CVN-21 Gerald R. Ford Class aircraft carriers.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Alternatives to a space weapons treaty
Today, no accepted definition of a space weapon exists. Case in point: Recently, Space.com quoted a senior Pentagon official as saying, "There are no space weapons programs being funded by the U.S. Air Force." This statement was immediately criticized by many within the space arms control community as hypocritical and false. They cited the ongoing development of ground-based missile defense assets as evidence, along with dual-use space programs such as XSS-11 and MiTex and doctrinal statements of the importance of "space dominance."
Some experts consider a space weapon to be an object or device in orbit that is used to strike targets on the ground. Others consider a space weapon to be an object or device that can strike other targets in space. Still others consider a space weapon to be anything that can attack, degrade, or destroy satellites--whether from space, the ground, or air. These diverse definitions have frozen the international arms control debate over space weapons for decades.
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Some experts consider a space weapon to be an object or device in orbit that is used to strike targets on the ground. Others consider a space weapon to be an object or device that can strike other targets in space. Still others consider a space weapon to be anything that can attack, degrade, or destroy satellites--whether from space, the ground, or air. These diverse definitions have frozen the international arms control debate over space weapons for decades.
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Sounding the Nuclear Alarm
The U.S. will not have a credible arsenal unless Washington acts soon to replace aging warheads.
Gen. Chilton pulls out a prop to illustrate his point: a glass bulb about two inches high. "This is a component of a V-61" nuclear warhead, he says. It was in "one of our gravity weapons" -- a weapon from the 1950s and '60s that is still in the U.S. arsenal. He pauses to look around the Journal's conference table. "I remember what these things were for. I bet you don't. It's a vacuum tube. My father used to take these out of the television set in the 1950s and '60s down to the local supermarket to test them and replace them."
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Gen. Chilton pulls out a prop to illustrate his point: a glass bulb about two inches high. "This is a component of a V-61" nuclear warhead, he says. It was in "one of our gravity weapons" -- a weapon from the 1950s and '60s that is still in the U.S. arsenal. He pauses to look around the Journal's conference table. "I remember what these things were for. I bet you don't. It's a vacuum tube. My father used to take these out of the television set in the 1950s and '60s down to the local supermarket to test them and replace them."
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Lockheed Martin Provides U.S. Strategic Command With Enhanced Mission Planning Capability
Collaborative Mission Planning Tool Delivered
Omaha, Neb., April 23rd, 2009 -- Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has enhanced the U.S. Strategic Command’s ability to plan operations that support their critical mission areas, which include strategic deterrence, space and cyberspace. The delivery of the portal-based Integrated Strategic Planning and Analysis Network (ISPAN) Collaborative Information Environment (CIE), gives commanders a faster moving decision environment and an accelerated operations tempo, providing parallel - not sequential - planning and decision making capabilities.
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Omaha, Neb., April 23rd, 2009 -- Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has enhanced the U.S. Strategic Command’s ability to plan operations that support their critical mission areas, which include strategic deterrence, space and cyberspace. The delivery of the portal-based Integrated Strategic Planning and Analysis Network (ISPAN) Collaborative Information Environment (CIE), gives commanders a faster moving decision environment and an accelerated operations tempo, providing parallel - not sequential - planning and decision making capabilities.
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Boeing Airborne Laser Team Begins Weapon System Flight Tests
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., April 24, 2009 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA], industry teammates and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency have begun Airborne Laser (ABL) flight tests with the entire weapon system integrated aboard the ABL aircraft.
ABL, a heavily modified Boeing 747-400F aircraft, completed its functional check flight April 21 from Edwards Air Force Base with the beam control/fire control system and the high-energy laser onboard, confirming the aircraft is airworthy, ready for more airborne tests, and on track for its missile-intercept demonstration this year.
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ABL, a heavily modified Boeing 747-400F aircraft, completed its functional check flight April 21 from Edwards Air Force Base with the beam control/fire control system and the high-energy laser onboard, confirming the aircraft is airworthy, ready for more airborne tests, and on track for its missile-intercept demonstration this year.
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Fly like a Fly
The common housefly executes exquisitely precise and complex aerobatics with less computational might than an electric toaster.
The common housefly is an extremely maneuverable flyer, the best of any species, insect or otherwise. What's more, its flight control commands originate from only a few hundred neurons in its brain, far less computational might than you'd find in your toaster.
yet the fly can outmaneuver any human-built craft at low speeds. Buzzing annoyingly across a room, a housefly reaches speeds of up to 10 kilometers per hour at twice the acceleration of gravity. When turning, it is even more impressive: the fly can execute six full turns per second, reaching its top angular speed in just two-hundredths of a second. It can fly straight up, down, or backward, and somersault to land upside down on a ceiling. If it hits a window or a wall sideways, which it often does, the fly will lose lift and begin to fall. But its wings keep beating, and within a few microseconds, the fly recovers its lift and can move off in the opposite direction.
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The common housefly is an extremely maneuverable flyer, the best of any species, insect or otherwise. What's more, its flight control commands originate from only a few hundred neurons in its brain, far less computational might than you'd find in your toaster.
yet the fly can outmaneuver any human-built craft at low speeds. Buzzing annoyingly across a room, a housefly reaches speeds of up to 10 kilometers per hour at twice the acceleration of gravity. When turning, it is even more impressive: the fly can execute six full turns per second, reaching its top angular speed in just two-hundredths of a second. It can fly straight up, down, or backward, and somersault to land upside down on a ceiling. If it hits a window or a wall sideways, which it often does, the fly will lose lift and begin to fall. But its wings keep beating, and within a few microseconds, the fly recovers its lift and can move off in the opposite direction.
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A Match Made in Packets - Coming soon: cellular handsets that can use a Wi-Fi network
Wi-Fi married to a cellphone would surely be a union made in heaven—a wedding of cellular's ubiquity to the high data rates of local-area networking. It would minimize expensive cellular minutes, replacing them with free or cheap Wi-Fi time. Often, too, it would yield a higher-quality call, because cellular coverage is usually weakest where Wi-Fi excels—inside homes, stores, and offices. Walking inside while in the middle of a cellphone conversation, you wouldn't even notice as your handset switched seamlessly to Wi-Fi; and when you went back out, it would revert to the mobile network just as unobtrusively.
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Quirks of RFID Memory Make for Cheap Security Scheme
18 March 2009—Radio frequency identification (RFID) chips are everywhere today: in credit cards, driver’s licenses, and passports, and stuck to pallets of inventory for big retailers like Wal-Mart. Yet some RFID tags—especially the smallest and cheapest—still have no means to prevent them from yielding up their data to any passerby with an RFID reader.
However, a soon-to-be-published report from a team of American computer scientists proposes a new RFID security measure that works by using the memory circuits already in many RFID chips.
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However, a soon-to-be-published report from a team of American computer scientists proposes a new RFID security measure that works by using the memory circuits already in many RFID chips.
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Blades Have The Edge - Superslim machines are fomenting a quiet revolution in the server room
Blades, for most information technology departments, offer huge improvements over conventional, rack-mounted units. This compact, slim computer (hence the name "blade") is typically based on the same Intel or AMD processors and Windows or Linux operating systems as most other servers, but it consumes a lot less power and takes up a lot less room.
Blades fit into enclosures that hold several units, usually vertically and side by side, like books on a shelf. To replace a bad blade, a technician need only pop it out of its enclosure and put in a new one. And blades are equipped with management programs that let staff easily set them up for specific applications or arrange them in special configurations.
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Blades fit into enclosures that hold several units, usually vertically and side by side, like books on a shelf. To replace a bad blade, a technician need only pop it out of its enclosure and put in a new one. And blades are equipped with management programs that let staff easily set them up for specific applications or arrange them in special configurations.
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Bright idea for nanosensors
The transmission of light can be affected by the suspension of metal particles in a clear medium, an effect that has been used for centuries in making red stained glass using gold dust. Researchers are now exploiting this property to construct nanosensors that could be used to detect explosives or toxins, or identify infections.
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Chiral palladium
A research team led by Gadi Rothenberg, professor of heterogeneous catalysis and sustainable chemistry at the University of Amsterdam, has made the first ever chiral palladium metal.
Metals are not chiral because they have neither. However, Prof Rothenberg and Dr Laura Duran Pachon managed to imprint palladium metal crystals with a chiral organic template. The entire template was then removed, leaving a chiral cavity in the palladium metal.
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Metals are not chiral because they have neither. However, Prof Rothenberg and Dr Laura Duran Pachon managed to imprint palladium metal crystals with a chiral organic template. The entire template was then removed, leaving a chiral cavity in the palladium metal.
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USAF chief says "light strike" fighter could be needed
The US Air Force's top officer said today that a "light strike" platform optimized for the irregular warfare mission could be added to the service's inventory of manned fighters.
Such an aircraft could serve both as a basic trainer for the USAF and "partner" air forces, and as an attack platform in operations against terrorists and insurgents, said Gen Norton Schwartz, USAF chief of staff.
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Such an aircraft could serve both as a basic trainer for the USAF and "partner" air forces, and as an attack platform in operations against terrorists and insurgents, said Gen Norton Schwartz, USAF chief of staff.
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A Laser Phalanx?
According to Peppe, a Laser Phalanx solution would offer an effective range about 3 times that of the existing M61A1 20mm gun, along with lower life-cycle costs.
A laser-based Phalanx system certainly sounds interesting. Nevertheless, there are a number of hurdles to cross and tests to pass before it can be considered a true advance over the current set of slug-throwing “last chance” systems out there.
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A laser-based Phalanx system certainly sounds interesting. Nevertheless, there are a number of hurdles to cross and tests to pass before it can be considered a true advance over the current set of slug-throwing “last chance” systems out there.
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Thursday, April 23, 2009
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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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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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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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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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
More At
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Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Invisibility cloak
Engineers working at Waltham, Massachusetts-based Fractal Antenna claim to have developed a device based on metamaterials that acts like an invisibility cloak for microwave radiation.
Built from belts of circuit boards festooned with fractal resonators, the device effectively 'slips' the microwaves around the cloaked object so the object is effectively invisible.
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Built from belts of circuit boards festooned with fractal resonators, the device effectively 'slips' the microwaves around the cloaked object so the object is effectively invisible.
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Plasma thruster
A ‘plasma thruster’ will be developed for launch into space within the next four years, as part of a prototype satellite.
It will be the first time in seven years that a piece of Australian hardware will be sent into space and the first time a satellite with a plasma engine will be tested.
It is to be developed as a result of a three-way collaboration between the SP3 Group, EADS-Astrium and the University of Surrey that was formally established in March this year.
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It will be the first time in seven years that a piece of Australian hardware will be sent into space and the first time a satellite with a plasma engine will be tested.
It is to be developed as a result of a three-way collaboration between the SP3 Group, EADS-Astrium and the University of Surrey that was formally established in March this year.
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Raytheon wins $19 million contract from USA for detection of land mines and tunnels.
Raytheon Company has received a $19 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for development and demonstration of technology to detect and locate buried land mines and tunnels. n Raytheon's plan, a laser radar vibration sensor, or ladar vibrometer, would reveal hidden targets by measuring ground-surface vibrations and use electronic instructions for calculation and processing known as algorithms to interpret the information. The technology demonstrator would integrate the vibrometer with acoustic and seismic sources for field-testing on a moving vehicle.
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Lockheed Martin Wins Role On U.S. Army Battle Command System Management Contract
Company to Develop Capabilities that Enable Fused, Real-Time Pictures of the Battlespace
Tinton Falls, N.J., April 22nd, 2009 -- Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] is one of six companies selected by the U.S. Army to compete for future task orders across the Battle Command Family of Products, an indefinite-delivery-indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract. Lockheed Martin will compete for task orders within the contract ceiling of $777M. All task orders must be initiated within the contract’s five-year period of performance.
The Battle Command Family of Products IDIQ contract vehicle will be used by the Army to obtain command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) services, products and solutions for the next five years. The Battle Command IDIQ development contract is managed by Project Manager Battle Command, based in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.
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Tinton Falls, N.J., April 22nd, 2009 -- Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] is one of six companies selected by the U.S. Army to compete for future task orders across the Battle Command Family of Products, an indefinite-delivery-indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract. Lockheed Martin will compete for task orders within the contract ceiling of $777M. All task orders must be initiated within the contract’s five-year period of performance.
The Battle Command Family of Products IDIQ contract vehicle will be used by the Army to obtain command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) services, products and solutions for the next five years. The Battle Command IDIQ development contract is managed by Project Manager Battle Command, based in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.
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Redefining Warfare's Electromagnetic Spectrum
In the electronic context, information warfare comprises two major branches – radiation warfare (RW) and data warfare (DW)." that are like yin and yang.
DW essentially involves obtaining control over opponents' processing, analysis and decision-making infrastructure in order to make it act in your interests rather than theirs. DW can range from infecting computers via well-known techniques such as internet-borne viruses, to inserting disinformation into a radio data stream through highly classified techniques with specialised equipment.
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DW essentially involves obtaining control over opponents' processing, analysis and decision-making infrastructure in order to make it act in your interests rather than theirs. DW can range from infecting computers via well-known techniques such as internet-borne viruses, to inserting disinformation into a radio data stream through highly classified techniques with specialised equipment.
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Army Speeds Testing of Robotic Systems
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., April 20, 2009) -- The U.S. Army has traditionally acquired weapon systems through a process that can take several years, but the ongoing fight in Afghanistan and Iraq has shortened the time frame considerably.Robotic systems that can save lives on the battlefield are getting into Soldiers' hands more rapidly than ever before, and the Army Developmental Test Command is transforming its business practices to support that effort.
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AEDC celebrating hypersonic engine first firing
4/15/2009 - ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. -- Officials at the U.S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) are heralding a successful first freejet test on a dual mode, combined ram/scramjet hypersonic engine in the center's Aerodynamic and Propulsion Test Unit (APTU), a major milestone on two fronts.
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Metal Storm Completes 3GL Endurance Test
Metal Storm completed an endurance firing test launching 200 of its 40mm STORM40 ammunitions using its 3GL grenade launcher. Following the successful test, the company expects to begin production of the 3GL in 2010.
According to Dr Lee Finniear, CEO of Metal Storm Ltd., this feature provides users a critical advantage in an opening of an engagement; "in the first few seconds a squad equipped with 3GLs can unleash three times the number of 40mm grenades on the enemy. Whether in a planned attack, or in response to an ambush by the enemy, this firepower can be the decisive element in winning the firefight and saving our soldiers lives.” Finniear said.
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According to Dr Lee Finniear, CEO of Metal Storm Ltd., this feature provides users a critical advantage in an opening of an engagement; "in the first few seconds a squad equipped with 3GLs can unleash three times the number of 40mm grenades on the enemy. Whether in a planned attack, or in response to an ambush by the enemy, this firepower can be the decisive element in winning the firefight and saving our soldiers lives.” Finniear said.
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TenCate's Add-On Armour Offers Soldiers Greater Protection
Danish engineers have developed a new add-on armour solution that effectively defeats explosive-formed projectiles generated from roadside bombs that often kill soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The armour is called Armourtex BM and designed for mounting on the outside of armoured vehicles, where it effectively protects the vehicle interior, which typically holds up to 10 soldiers. Moreover, the material has another indisputable advantage: It weighs much less than the steel plates that are the traditional form of armour protection.
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The armour is called Armourtex BM and designed for mounting on the outside of armoured vehicles, where it effectively protects the vehicle interior, which typically holds up to 10 soldiers. Moreover, the material has another indisputable advantage: It weighs much less than the steel plates that are the traditional form of armour protection.
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