Regular Light Bulbs Made Super-Efficient with Ultra-Fast Laser

An ultra-powerful laser can turn regular incandescent light bulbs into power-sippers, say optics researchers at the University of Rochester. The process could make a light as bright as a 100-watt bulb consume less electricity than a 60-watt bulb while remaining far cheaper and radiating a more pleasant light than a fluorescent bulb can.

The laser process creates a unique array of nano- and micro-scale structures on the surface of a regular tungsten filament—the tiny wire inside a light bulb—and theses structures make the tungsten become far more effective at radiating light.

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Raytheon-IMI GPS-Guided Mortar Rounds Demo Capability During Tests

A new type of 120 mm precision-guided mortar round hit eight out of nine target areas during a recent U.S. Army-Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) cooperative research and development agreement demonstration.

The rounds made by an Israel Military Industries-Raytheon team hit short- and long-range targets, demonstrating greater range than current unguided 120 mm high-explosive mortar rounds in the U.S. Army's inventory.

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Argon ST to Upgrade Navy Surface Ship Torpedo Defense Program

Argon ST, Inc., a leading systems engineering, development and services company providing full-service C5ISR (command, control, communications, computers, combat systems, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) systems and services to a wide range of defense and intelligence customers, today announced that it has received a $6.2 million award for engineering development in support of the U.S. Navy's Surface Ship Torpedo Defense (SSTD) program.

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LM To Develop USAF's Next-Gen Long-Range Radar

The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin [NYSE:LMT] a fixed-price contract for nearly $25 million to develop a prototype for the next-generation 3-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar (3DELRR). Lockheed Martin was one of two industry teams placed under contract for the technical development of this new land-based radar.

The Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base leads the acquisition for the new radar. The Air Force plans to replace its entire TPS-75 long-range radar inventory with the 3DELRR, which will detect, identify, track and report aircraft and missiles. Following a 20-month Technical Development Phase, the Air Force has said it intends to competitively award one contract for system development in the 2011 timeframe.

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Infrared Fuses Can Send Secret Messages

By combining cutting-edge chemistry with the ancient concept of signaling flares, researchers have made an information-dense fuse that transmits complicated messages as it burns.

The so-called “infofuse” is made from dots of lithium, rubidium and cesium laid on a line of fast-burning nitrocellulose. Different combinations of the metals produce different intensities and wavelengths of light, from visible to infrared. These characteristics can be precisely controlled, allowing the fuses to convey a form of chemical Morse code.

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U.S. Military Turns to Twitter for Afghan Hard News

"What are you doing?" For the U.S. military in Afghanistan, the answer to the latest social networking craze seems to be: "Killing Taliban."

U.S. commanders launched their "social networking strategy" for Afghanistan Tuesday, using the hugely popular website Twitter to release information about some of their operations (http://twitter.com/usfora)

Among their first postings about insurgents killed and detained, the military tweeted on Tuesday: "Afghan & coalition forces killed six militants in Paktika Province overnight during a (sic) operation to capture a Taliban commander."

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In-depth communication

Raytheon has developed a technology that makes it possible to communicate with a submerged submarine at classified speeds and depths in real time.

The defence technology specialist demonstrated the new technology, called Deep Siren Tactical Paging (DSTP), for the UK's Royal Navy at an at-sea trial.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) reported that the Deep Siren system demonstrated ‘the first step toward a transformational capability that will change the way we operate submarines in the future’.

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Ground control

A highly controllable rocket system with the ability to manoeuvre planetary landers on future space missions has been demonstrated by US engineers.

Project partners Advanced Technology Associates (ATA) and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) have developed a proposed solid-fuel propellant system designed to offer the precision control needed to land NASA's Mars Science Laboratory.

Minneapolis-based ATK is working with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to develop propellants for a low-cost lightweight solid-propellant control system that could be used in payload descent and spacecraft cruise phases for planetary exploration missions.

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Segway inventor builds shoe-controlled bionic arm

Famous inventor Dean Kamen has developed a revolutionary new bionic arm for use by US troops injured in combat. The arm, now in beta testing, is manipulated from a foot-operated control panel inside one of the user's shoes and employs a vibrating feedback mechanism.

unique feature of the advanced arm is its control system, which works almost like a foot-operated joystick. An array of sensors embedded in a shoe allows users to maneuver the arm by putting pressure on different parts of the foot. The current version uses wires to relay the signals to the arm, but future versions will be wireless.

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Stolen Laptop can be Recovered by Data Backup Service

You can recover lost data by using a data backup program but it is also possible to get a stolen laptop back. A man who has recovered his stolen laptop after seeing photos the thief took of himself with the built-in camera via his Internet-based data backup program.

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Largest laser lights Livermore

The world’s largest and most energetic laser system was just dedicated on Friday, May 29, 2009, at the U.S. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The mission of the National Ignition Facility is to better national security, provide breakthroughs in astrophysics, and create fusion energy.

The news release “Dedication of world’s largest laser marks the dawn of a new era” from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) states that the new laser-based inertial confinement fusion research device is called the National Ignition Facility (NIF) laser system.

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Google Waves Goodbye to E-Mail, Welcomes Real-Time Communication

Google has set out to rewire the e-mail inbox with a new product called Wave.

Wave is a web-based application that marries multiple forms of communication and collaboration, including chat, mail and wikis, into a unified interface. Everything inside Wave happens in real time: You can even see a comment being made as the person is typing it, character-by-character.

Google Wave, which was demonstrated Thursday at the Google I/O developer conference taking place here, is now live as a private developer preview. Conference attendees can start playing with it now, and Google has its eye on a public beta launch within a few months.

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Sweat = Threat? Army Looks at ‘Abnormal Perspiration’ as Sign of ‘Harmful Intent’

If you walk weird, make funny faces, or sweat a little too much — watch out, when you walk into an airport. The U.S. military wants to use those irregularities as “indicators” of “possibly suspicious and harmful intent.”

The Army recently asked for proposals for a new suite of biometric sensors that will hunt for bad-minded people by examining their “expressions, gait, and pose” from afar. The “Image Analysis for Personnel Intent” project is also supposed to spot would-be evil-doers through their “abnormal perspiration and changes in body temperature.” (Note to would-be Osamas: Don’t send the sweaty guy to hijack the plane.)

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Virus detector

Researchers at University of Twente spin-out Ostendum have developed a prototype of a new system that can detect within minutes if an individual is infected with a virus.

The researchers claim that not only does the system carry out measurements many times faster than standard techniques, it is also portable, so it can be used anywhere.

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The State of the Art of Nuclear Fusion: It's Not Easy

Of all the futuristic technologies scientists have sworn would change our lives forever, none is more promising, and more elusive, than fusion power. After decades of tangential research, false starts and downright hoaxes, the two most advanced fusion projects at present are America's National Ignition Facility (NIF) and the multinationally funded International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).

Both projects use different technology and have different goals, and, as of this week, different trajectories. Today, scientists and politicians will officially dedicate NIF, signaling the beginning of full-scale work on the project. Conversely, the seven nations funding ITER announced this week that they would be scaling back the project's size and lengthening the timetable for activation.

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Meet Ember, the Littlest Warbot

iRobot's multipurpose PackBot has helped lead the way among war-bots, disabling improvised explosives and carrying out recon missions for snipers. But soon paperback-sized robots such as the Ember prototype could join their larger cousins on the battlefield.

Ember's strength rests with numbers and disposability -- one soldier could theoretically carry around several of the bots and place them to create a networked mobile swarm. Each robot might carry several radios and sensors that make up a small part of the larger wireless network envisioned in the Army's now-gutted Future Combat Systems.

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New US command to focus on cyber battlefield

he US military is moving ahead with plans to create its first "cyber command" designed to bolster America's potential to wage digital warfare as well as defend against mounting cyber threats, officials said on Friday.

After President Barack Obama announced Friday his plans to overhaul cyber security policy, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was expected to soon formally propose the new cyber command that will be overseen by a four-star officer, Pentagon officials told AFP.

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$30M to Raytheon for SLAMRAAM Long-Lead Production

Raytheon announced that its Surface Launched Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (SLAMRAAM) program has received U.S. Army approval for a long-lead acquisition, not to exceed $30 million, for purchases leading to low rate initial production.

The SLAMRAAM is the Army’s future short-range air defense weapon.

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Up to $707M to Honeywell for Maritime Prepositioning Support

Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc. in Jacksonville, FL won a $14.5 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract with a cost-plus-award-fee pricing arrangement for logistics services for the Maritime Prepositioning Ships Program, the Marine Corps Prepositioning Program-Norway, and for operational logistics support to engaged Marine Corps and Department of Defense operating forces. This contract includes 9 one-year options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of the contract to $707 million.

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First Acoustic Superlens

Over the past few years, researchers have developed several materials that bend light in ways that appear to violate the laws of physics, creating so-called superlenses, for ultra-high-resolution optical imaging, as well as invisibility cloaks. Now researchers have demonstrated that the same kind of images and cloaking devices could be made with sound instead of light. Using the first acoustic metamaterial ever produced, the researchers were able to focus ultrasound waves. This represents a significant step toward creating high-resolution ultrasound images and cloaking devices capable of hiding ships from sonar.

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Bye-bye Kindle, E-reader Screens Coming for Netbooks

Netbook makers will soon play a larger role in the e-reader market if start-up Pixel Qi has anything to say about it.

The company, founded by former One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) CTO Mary Lou Jepsen, will show off engineering samples of its first screen product at Computex Taipei 2009 next week, and IDG News Service was able to catch a first look on Friday.

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Avoid sinking feeling with bulletproof lifejacket

Here's a must-have accessory for any soiree off Somalia, the ArmourFloat personal flotation device.

Not only does the Armour Float Ballistic Vest keep even an unconscious wearer afloat, but its new lightweight, hard-plate armor is designed to defeat most assault rifle threats--with no negative effect on the vest's buoyancy, according to Armour of America, a division of Arotech Corporation.

This Underwriters Laboratory-certified PFD is approved by the US Coast Guard, and the Coasties use it as well, according to AoA.

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Sharp develops five-color display

The "Multi-Primary-Color Technology" adds cyan and yellow to the usual red, green, and blue colors that make up an on-screen image.

Cyan and yellow (along with magenta and black) are two of the colors used in standard four-color printing as seen in magazines and newspapers.

According to Sharp, adding these to colors to the display expands the range of colors the it can reproduce (its "color gamut") to more than 99 percent of "real" surface colors.

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QinetiQ Readies Aberporth UAV Centre for Watchkeeper

A key milestone in the GBP899m MOD project to develop the Watchkeeper Unmanned Air System has been reached on schedule. QinetiQ, working closely with other stakeholders, has delivered the necessary infrastructure and facilities at ParcAberporth, Ceredigion, South Wales, as part of its ongoing pound5m support contract - which means the Watchkeeper trials programme can commence here in the Autumn.

QinetiQ has established secure office accommodation plus enhanced other aspects of technical support and facilities at the existing UAV 'Centre of Excellence', originally created by the then Welsh Development Agency on the site of the former RAF Aberporth. Other key stakeholders in the Watchkeeper programme include the MOD's Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) Unmanned Air Systems Project Team, the Welsh Assembly Government, West Wales Airport and Thales, as the prime contractor.

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Raytheon Team to Demo GSE Tactical Awareness

The U.S. Army recently selected Raytheon Company's Ground Soldier Ensemble (GSE) team solution to demonstrate networked tactical situational awareness and communications capabilities for the dismounted warfighter.

The U.S. Army's TACOM Contracting Center awarded Raytheon $11.8 million to provide a GSE technology demonstration. The contract calls for early prototype testing in 2009 and refined systems delivery and testing in 2010.

"Raytheon's GSE will provide decisive tactical awareness to the infantry brigade combat team soldier through real-time display of networked battlefield information. In essence, GSE can make a fully networked theater of operations possible by finally linking the most important element, the dismounted soldier," said Glynn Raymer, vice president, Raytheon Network Centric Systems Combat Systems.

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Northrop To Test-fly Army Fire Scout Soon

Northrop Grumman may be hoping to convince the U.S. Army to field its Fire Scout vertical takeoff unmanned aerial vehicle earlier than scheduled by test-flying the unmanned helicopter in Yuma, Ariz., in June.

The Fire Scout, called an XM157 Class IV UAV by the Army, is part of the land service’s embattled Future Combat Systems (FCS) program. The Army does not plan to test fly the XM157 until 2011 under the official FCS timeline. But Northrop Grumman, whose Fire Scout is already being test-flown for the Navy, is taking its company-owned aircraft, called the White Tail, to Yuma next month for tests of its own.

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Selex Award Rugged Tablet Contract To Blazepoint

The ndura RUGGED® tablet, which was selected for its military pedigree and proven rugged design, is being adopted as the heart of a mobile target acquisition system.

Blazepoint, who design and manufacture a range of rugged mobile computers and rugged printers, was asked to supply a rugged handheld device with the advantages of low power consumption, high performance computing power and the ability to add customised user interfaces and I/O ports.

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Boeing Team Rebuilds B-1 'Backbone' for US Air Force

A U.S. Air Force B-1B bomber returned to flight last week after a team led by The Boeing Company replaced its catastrophically damaged upper-center boron longeron – the aircraft's "backbone."

The B-1, Swift Justice, was damaged during a routine training mission in December 2007. An engine-bleed air duct rupture triggered a temperature warning light, forcing the crew to land the aircraft at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D.

Replacing the upper-center boron longeron, which is essential for stability in flight, is not a simple task because the part is unique to each aircraft, with no spares available.

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Green Promise Seen in Switch to LED Lighting

To change the bulbs in the 60-foot-high ceiling lights of Buckingham Palace’s grand stairwell, workers had to erect scaffolding and cover precious portraits of royal forebears.

So when a lighting designer two years ago proposed installing light emitting diodes or LEDs, an emerging lighting technology, the royal family readily assented. The new lights, the designer said, would last more than 22 years and enormously reduce energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions — a big plus for Prince Charles, an ardent environmentalist. Since then, the palace has installed the lighting in chandeliers and on the exterior, where illuminating the entire facade uses less electricity than running an electric teakettle.

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F-22 Raptor Program: Will we learn from it?

While Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ decision to halt production of the costly Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor low-observable/stealth fighter aircraft is perhaps not the best long-term strategic decision he could have made, it’s certainly understandable. Given the U.S. government’s–and thus DoD’s–current money crunch vs. the program’s high cost and lack of current combat-utility in Iraq and “Stan” (Afghanistan), cutting the Raptor program’s reported $3.5 billion per year cost certainly has some logic to it. Some programs simply have to go, and we might as well start with the expensive ones that don’t have any seeming immediate tactical or strategic utility for the two wars we’re currently fighting, right? Let’s face it, air superiority is not exactly an issue right now in either theater. We’ve got the air, and we don’t need F-22s to maintain it.

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