Right now, testing is being done using DynaSpeak, developed by SRI International and Adacel Systems. Using a microphone attached to the inside of a pilot's flight mask, the speech recognition is said to be so good that any pilot should be able to sit down and start using it without much calibration. Simple commands would allow the pilot to access information he would otherwise be able to by looking at his panels, which would then pop up on his helmet display. The software doesn't appear to allow for flight control, though — "land" probably wouldn't do much.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Fighter jets with DynaSpeak speech recognition: "Yeehaw!"
Right now, testing is being done using DynaSpeak, developed by SRI International and Adacel Systems. Using a microphone attached to the inside of a pilot's flight mask, the speech recognition is said to be so good that any pilot should be able to sit down and start using it without much calibration. Simple commands would allow the pilot to access information he would otherwise be able to by looking at his panels, which would then pop up on his helmet display. The software doesn't appear to allow for flight control, though — "land" probably wouldn't do much.
Looks like a pen, but it's a Bluetooth-transmitting camcorder
It's also equipped with motion activation, silently beginning its recording as soon as it detects the slightest move. If you don't want to transmit its signal, it can store its quarter-frame (320x240 pixels) 30 frame-per-second video footage on a microSD card that's the size of a baby's fingernail. Nobody's talking about price yet, but it will probably be coming soon to a spy shop (or bedroom) near you.
Sarcos exoskeleton: sooo close to being a cyborg
The idea of soldiers waging war from inside of performance-enhancing exoskeletons is often dreamed about in science fiction — from the pages of Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers to classic cartoons such as Exosquad. Now it looks like Sarcos, a robotics developer from Utah, is taking the concept one whirring, mechanized step further. When strapped in, a soldier is able to perform a variety of strength and endurance intensive actions without feeling much of the fatigue, as the frame mimics their movements and supplements them. Lifting several hundred pounds is a piece of cake, and the exoskeleton is agile enough to scale stairs and different grades of inclination.
Hopefully the final model won't have an unwieldy umbilical cord keeping the soldiers tethered to the spot. Sarcos has been working on its exoskeleton for six years and it says it will probably need another five before they get it to where it needs to be. Click on through to see the thing in action.
Corner Shot keeps your face out of harms way in urban warfare
Man, don't you totally hate it when you're in a firefight and you lean around a corner to aim and totally catch a bullet in the melon? It's the worst! Well, if I had a Corner Shot instead of a regular old assault rifle, my melon would still be intact and this post would be much better. Alas, it's not!
The Corner Shot is a gun that can bend around corners to fire without needing your head out there. That's because it has a built-in screen that shows you what it's aiming at. So you sat under cover while only part of the gun is exposed. Of course, if both you and your adversary have one of these, neither of you will be all that successful, but I guess the whole idea is predicated on you being the good guy with the better technology taking out the bad guy with the cheaper technology. Mission accomplished!
The Navy shows off its insane magnetic railgun of the future
Holy crap. The Navy just tested out its insane new 10 megajoule railgun, and it's clearly the future of death-delivery systems. Rather than using gunpowder like most guns, this thing powers projectiles via magnetic waves, allowing you to launch stuff at enormous speeds.
Just take a look at the image above! It shows the first demonstration of this crazy magnetic railgun, which fired a shell at 5,600 miles per hour using 10 megajoules of energy. And that's just the beginning. When this thing is done, it'll be firing shots at over 13,000 miles per hour. Oh, and it'll be accurate enough to hit a 5 meter target from 200 nautical miles away while shooting at 10 shots per minute. Even though it won't be ready until 2020 to 2025, I'm going to start getting on the Navy's good side now.
Gun washing machine ensures your militia looks spic and span
Boy howdy, I sure hate cleaning my many guns, don't you? What with all the small parts, who wants to spend all that time cleaning when you could be out shooting at stuff? That's what guns are for, after all: shooting at stuff!
That's why I'm definitely going to order one of these Heavy Duty Long Gun & Handgun Systems. It's essentially a dishwasher for your guns, providing you with a quick and easy way to get the boring stuff finished and get back to the shooting at stuff that we all love so very much. The best part: you can clean up to 10 handguns or 4 long guns at the same time. Now when your militia gets together you can all have the cleanest guns around, which is half the battle, as I understand it
US Army orders bat-shaped miniature spy plane
The US Army has a vision: combat bats. So it's commissioned several American universities to work on inventing one. The University of Michigan received $10 million from the Army to establish The Center for Objective Microelectronics and Biomimetic Advanced Technology, otherwise known as COM-BAT.
The machine that the Army's looking for will measure six inches and weigh one quarter of a pound. And it certainly has more in common with a bat than airplane: we don't know of any planes that can gather data from sounds and smells. Like all bats, "the bat," as it's called, will rely on a sophisticated echolocation system. The bat will be used on reconnaissance missions and should be able to send information back to soldiers in real time.
Will this thing really be useful? It seems about as crazy to us as this invisible radio that the Army's interested in. On the other hand, the developments that researchers make on their way to "the bat,"— for example tiny, light and long lasting batteries that can be recharged by vibration, solar, and wind power— could be useful to all of us. After researchers complete the bat, we foresee the Army commissioning "the hummingbird," followed closely by "the mosquito."
US Army orders bat-shaped miniature spy plane
The US Army has a vision: combat bats. So it's commissioned several American universities to work on inventing one. The University of Michigan received $10 million from the Army to establish The Center for Objective Microelectronics and Biomimetic Advanced Technology, otherwise known as COM-BAT.
The machine that the Army's looking for will measure six inches and weigh one quarter of a pound. And it certainly has more in common with a bat than airplane: we don't know of any planes that can gather data from sounds and smells. Like all bats, "the bat," as it's called, will rely on a sophisticated echolocation system. The bat will be used on reconnaissance missions and should be able to send information back to soldiers in real time.
Will this thing really be useful? It seems about as crazy to us as this invisible radio that the Army's interested in. On the other hand, the developments that researchers make on their way to "the bat,"— for example tiny, light and long lasting batteries that can be recharged by vibration, solar, and wind power— could be useful to all of us. After researchers complete the bat, we foresee the Army commissioning "the hummingbird," followed closely by "the mosquito."
Transcend StoreJet 25 mobile hard drive is battlefield tough
You can beat this Transcend StoreJet 25 mobile hard drive to hell and it’ll still work. The 5.3-inch-tall drive is said to be able to survive the U.S. military's notorious MIL-STD-810F Transit Drop test, which means it can be dropped 26 times onto 2-inch plywood from a height of 36 inches and keep on working. That’s one tough hard drive, and it looks pretty good, too. The $177 drive holds 256GB of your data, and it’s powered by a USB port, no AC adapter needed.
This sounds impressive, but we have news for you: hard drives might be tougher than you think. Most can survive a 50g shock while they're operating, according to experts we talked to. On the other hand, tell that to the 500GB Western Digital "My DVR Expander" eSATA drive hooked up to our TiVo that we merely moved a few inches last weekend and ruined forever. More like "My DVR Exploder." Make this StoreJet in a 1TB model, Transcend, and our TiVo will have a new companion.
China keeps promise to control weather during the Olympics
China's office of weather modification is gearing up to keep the sky clear during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. How will they do it? With planes, rockets and artillery.
The weather will be closely monitored with aerial surveillance and radar, and the reconnaissance will all be processed by an IBM p575 supercomputer. The computer will be responsible for keeping track of roughly 17,000 square miles around the stadium. Any invading clouds will come under fire from a pair of aircraft and twenty artillery and rocket positions, all using ammunition designed to spray silver iodide and dry ice. This will cause the clouds to lose their lunch and downpour somewhere that isn't over the games. If the attack fails and a cloud does make it through, it'll then be bombarded with chemicals that'll shrink the droplet size so the cloud won't be able to disgorge itself until it passes the stadium.
Somewhere, the guy who thought it'd be brilliant to print up 2008 Beijing Olympic Games umbrellas is having a downpour of his own.
Screw perfume, buy her a Chanel rocket launcher
We already showed you how to stay fashionable in urban combat situations. Along the same lines, Peter Gronquist has jazzed up retired rifles, chainsaws, machine guns and artillery shells and slapped big names on them: Louis Vuitton, Coach, Gucci — probably not the brands you think of when you imagine a rocket launcher or an electric chair. There's even a Pac-Man grenade.
Dubbed "The Revolution will be Fabulous," Gronquist's show opened last night at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles. The pieces ranged from anywhere from a few hundred bucks to several thousand and several, such as the Louis Vuitton chainsaw, have sold.
Check out the gallery below for more fabulous weaponry.
Navy launches U.S.S. Independence, first of new class of weapons-bristling speedster trimarans
We’ve been hearing rumblings about the U.S. Navy’s triple-hulled ships, but here’s one that was launched last month, the U.S.S Independence. Built by General Dynamics, it’s called a “littoral combat ship” (LCS), and the trimaran can move huge weapons around faster than any ship in the Navy. Ironic that with all that high tech built in, the ship reminds us of the Merrimac ironclad from Civil War days.
Littoral means close to shore, and that’s where these fleet-hulled babies will operate, tailor-made for launching helicopters and armored vehicles, sweeping mines and firing all manner of torpedoes, missiles and machine guns.
These ships were designed to be relatively inexpensive — this one’s a bargain at $208 million — and the navy plans to build 55 of them. This trimaran is the first of the new fire-breathing breed, ready to scoot out of dry dock at a rumored 60 knots. It's like a speedy and heavily-armedaircraft carrier for helicopters.
$445 Sensear SP1 Electronic Ear Plugs offer military-grade protection
The Sensear SP1 Electronic Ear Plugs work a lot like your ordinary noise-canceling headphones, merged with a hearing aid. The 'phones are designed for professionals who work in dangerous environments — on a carrier's flight deck or at a construction site, for instance — so vocal communication and alarm bells still have to get through.
The SP1s accomplish this feat by dampening damaging sounds instead of turning them off. After all, some sounds, such as a screeching forklift, may save your life if you hear them. The external microphones on the unit also pick up voices and amplifies them, so people don't have to shout as much. The casing is a bright, obvious orange box — another tip to the fact that it's designed for hazardous areas. Still, you could pick up your own pair for a low, low price of only $445.
Check out another shot of the Sensear SP1 Electronic Ear Plug.
Innovative Spider landmine has six deadly legs, offers non-lethal options
The XM-7 Spider is a powerful landmine that addresses a lot of problems with self-detonating, static landmines. Since it's guided by an operator, every Spider has a known location — no terrible surprises for friendlies here. Once it's in position, the Spider deploys six trip mines, one for every 60º and corresponding with each of the Spider's six detonation canisters. The canisters can be loaded fragmentation explosive charges or non-lethal gases, depending on the situation.
The XM-7 Spider also won't cause any future woes. If the mine is left on its own for too long, it deactivates. It won't even blow up if one of its wires are tripped; it has to be detonated by a human operator who is alerted when someone is in range. It does has a self-detonating "battle override mode" which violates the Mine Ban Treaty, though the United States, as well as other global powers, did not sign that treaty.
Iran missile Photoshop job lampooned worldwide
You probably saw this propaganda photo from Iran last week, showing a quartet of dangerous-looking missiles simultaneously launching in a test exercise. It became immediately obvious to anyone with half a brain that the shot was Photoshopped, with an additional missile added for extra punch. Now Photoshop artists from around the Internet respond with some artwork of their own. Here’s our favorite:
Check out the gallery below for more.
New gun tech lets you decide how fast the bullet will travel
The problem with shooting a gun at someone is that you just can't control how fast the bullet is going. More than likely, it's going very fast and will seriously hurt or kill them. But geez, you didn't want that! You just wanted to kind of hurt them a little to teach them a lesson. Don't worry, my violent friend, science is working on a solution for you.
The solution will be a gun that controls how fast it fires bullets. Want to blast through a wall? OK, crank it up to full power. Want to just give someone a really bad bruise? OK, turn it down a bunch. Want to scare the crap out of someone by aiming a gun at them and firing a bullet that falls to the ground at their feet? Kind of a jerk move, but that's possible too.
It's all based on the technology behind toy rockets, of all things, and it works "by mixing a liquid or gaseous fuel with air in a combustion chamber behind the bullet. This determines the explosive capability of the propellant and consequently the velocity of the bullet as it leaves the gun." Cool.
Coal burning produces carbon dioxide? Not on DARPA's watch
Our Air Force has a couple different sources of fuel for its jets, one of them being a blend derived from coal. Problem is, both the process used to turn coal into fuel and burning said fuel in flight results in a lot of carbon dioxide. So, what if it just… didn't? Normally that'd come off as a stupid and naive question. To DARPA, it's a proposal.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is accepting proposals (due on the 24th of this month, if you happen to have one lying around) on how to turn coal into jet fuel with absolutely zero carbon dioxide emissions. The agency also wants to do it at half the cost. Sounds crazy, but DARPA's got $4.5 million to funnel into the research.
Navy's 'Batman' boat can take on all comers
The Navy has a new boat in its arsenal, and it's not afraid of drug runners or pirates. The new boat, called the Stiletto and dubbed the Batman Boat by enthusiasts, is an 80-foot, 60-ton, $6 million experimental ship that can tool around in extremely shallow waters at up to 60 knots. How well does it work? Listen to this badass story:
In the early days of August, a suspected drug-running boat zoomed through the Straits of Florida, trying to outrun her American pursuers. The drug boat zigged and zagged near reefs and sandbars at 42 knots, and skimmed over water as little as five feet deep. Ordinarily, that would have been enough shake off any Coast Guard cutter or Navy frigate chasing her -- those vessels can't be in such shallow water. But this pursuer kept coming, and coming. Finally, after two hours, the drug boat ran out of gas. During their interrogations, the drug-running suspects said it was like being chased by a UFO.Seriously, how sweet is that? Look out, drug runners: the Batman Boat is out there, and it'll get you in the darkest of nights.
AK-47 bullet ice cubes show off your potentially violent side
Just because you serve killer drinks using ice cubes that look exactly like AK-47 machine gun bullets doesn't mean you're a violent person. But we don't recommend serving cocktails with these very special ice cubes on a first date, either. The poor gal might get the wrong idea.
She might appreciate all the trouble you went to, though, filling up the AK Ice Tray that resembles an AK-47 magazine, then carefully placing its other half atop that water so the ice can expand accordingly, resulting in those perfect ammunition replicas. No, you don't worship guns and ammo, you just think these ice cubes are cool. Literally.
Spock to U.S. Air Force: 'Set PHaSR to stun'
One British company already plans to fight against evil robots
The threat of a serious robot uprising is ever-present. Well, in books and movies and all of that, anyway. But one British company will help you not only detect and monitor robotic threats, but destroy them, too. Hmm.
Called the WAR (or Weapons Against Robots) Defence Company, the company's got a bunch of planned armaments to take those evil tin cans down. Everything from "Autonomous Against Autonomous" systems — wait, isn't that just sending one robot after another robot? — biological weaponry, computer viruses and more. In all seriousness (though it's very hard to take WAR's goofy website seriously), armed 'bots are becoming more advanced and more prevalent, but not so much so that the masses need to worry.
Ultracapacitor flashlight uses no batteries and recharges in 90 seconds
Few things are more frustrating than grabbing your flashlight in an emergency, and getting little more than a dim glow because the batteries are dead. Even modern rechargeable LED flashlights need hours to take a full charge, and lose a little running time with each battery cycle.
All of this fumbling with batteries could be history if the Light For Life UC3.400 flashlight from 5.11 Tactical live up to its promise. Instead of batteries, it uses something called an ultracapacitor to hold its charge, providing about 90 minutes of light per charge. But what's most amazing, is that the ultracapacitor will go from dead flat to fully charged in only 90 seconds, and can do this at least 50,000 times. Even if you go through a full charge every day, that works out to about 135 years.
5.11 Tactical is marketing the Light For Life to professional users such as Police and Military forces, not surprising considering the hefty $170 price tag. Deliveries are scheduled to start early next year.
What is the most badass gun from sci-fi movies?
Our friends over at SCI FI Wire have a rundown of the six most kick-ass guns from sci-fi movies. Hellboy's Big Baby features prominently, and the machine pistol from RoboCop is there, too. Funny how you typically have to be a some kind of superpowered demon or a cyborg to have one of these suckers. Personally, we always liked Megatron's fusion cannon (inset) — that's the one from the '80s TV series, not the live-action flick.
Do you have a favorite sci-fi gun? Hit us with it in the comments. And in case you think all of these are just flights of fancy,
Pentagon getting into the flying car circus with Personal Air Vehicle Technology
Flying cars? We love 'em. As they get to be more real with Terrafugia and others gearing up their upcoming craft, the Pentagon and its research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), wants to get in on all the fun. Imagine how convenient a flying Humvee would be would you're protecting the world from evildoers.
The vehicle you see here is the first peek at "Personal Air Vehicle Technology." Considerably smaller than a Humvee — it's about the size of a small private plane — it won't be armed at first. The scout vehicle is said to go 60MPH on land and 150MPH in the air, flying for a couple of hours before it needs to refuel.
There's just a trickle of the Pentagon's nearly unlimited budget going toward the flying cars now, but that could ramp up fast. With all the secret "black ops" going on behind the Defense Department's closed doors, maybe DARPA has some exotic flying-saucer levitating tech to go into this thing. You never know.
Secret high tech employed to prevent presidential assassination
Barack Obama has received more assassination threats than any president-elect in U.S. history. While Obama's Secret Service protection has obviously been flawless thus far, according to some speculative reports, any would-be assailants might be in for some major pain or instant discovery, thanks to some outlandish technology. This must mean that new tank-like presidential limo is just the beginning of the presidential shield of protection.
The methods and gadgets used by the Secret Service are highly classified, but writers and researchers are speculating that one of the secret devices could be a rifle-sized weapon using the military's "active denial system" that beams sound waves directly into an assassin's skull. That's gotta hurt, at least disabling the killer long enough for agents to quickly move the president out of harm's way.
Other reports have the Secret Service using special terahertz scanners that can see through clothing, spotting a concealed weapon from a distance. There's also talk of sophisticated radio jammers that could disable any remote-controlled bombs. Let's hope all this stuff, if it exists, works flawlessly. If not, maybe they could just use a body double for Obama's non-speaking public appearances.
Fighter-jet-inspired motorcycle doesn't skimp — not even on the minigun
The motorcycle nuts at ICON Motorsports make an interesting observation about their Warthog bike, inspired by the USAF's A-10 ground-attack fighter that shares the same nickname: "Obviously the first thing that grabs one's attention is the 800-watt MTX audio system." Well, sure, that's impressive — but I think the minigun mounted to the front of the 'cycle caught my eye first. That, and it's hard to miss that the whole thing is decal'd to the nines with ammunition. But I'm sure that audio system sounds killer, too.
The Warthog does everything it can to look mean and fast, and has a few added, nutty frills, such as an 8-inch LCD screen "to view Full Metal Jacket, Iron Eagle, or Top Gun and the ability to broadcast a view of the victims left in its wake via an integrated rear view camera."
Worried you won't be able to rock a bike like the Warthog? Well, a matching helmet should give you the confidence you need. Check out the gallery below for more of the Icon Warthog, and click through for a video of the bike in action.
LightSpeed Binoculars allow special forces teams to see, speak and hear
Boy howdy, these LightSpeed Binoculars by Torrey Pines Logic seem to be able to do anything. They act as binoculars, but also as short-range communication devices for sharing information covertly. Using infrared LEDs, two people looking at one another through a pair of LightSpeeds would also be able to talk and swap video data, thanks to embedded USB and Ethernet adapters and receivers. It's no wonder that Torrey Pines Logic enjoys a list of military clients including US and foreign special forces teams as the transmitted information is untappable and tamper-proof.
My favorite part? The company doesn't see its crazy talkie-binoculars as only being useful to those in the military. Leo Volfson, president of Torrey Pines Logic, hope the binoculars will be a boon at airports where ground-based communication can be difficult, or anywhere where a lack of communication systems reliant on cables are cumbersome.
Government rolls out the heavy iron to protect Obama's inauguration ceremony
While Barack Obama takes the oath of office today, the FBI, Secret Service and other federal agencies have rolled out the heavy machinery to protect him and millions of onlookers. Besides formidable machine guns, missiles, secret spy gear and all types of classified, unmentioned weaponry, the FBI will be using trucks and containers commonly seen in Iraq to protect against improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Pictured above are two highlights of the big iron employed by the government, featuring an MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicle that's able to shrug off explosions. And check out that ominous orb, a bomb containment vessel which can cart away explosives, or even detonate them inside itself with no harm done to bystanders. Check out the gallery below for more. Impressive, but it's too bad we need this stuff at all.
T-34 security 'bot shoots a web like Spidey to take down bad guys
From the "Aren't you a little short to be a Terminator?" school of design comes the squat Tmsuk T-34, which, while it won't cut you down at the ankles (nor is it a Soviet tank), packs a powerful net-launching mechanism that wraps opponents in a web like Spider-Man's. It's essentially a remote-controlled car that fires a net, controlled by cellphone with live video feedback (crazy advanced Japanese cellphones, mind you).
The T-34 will cost about $9,000 when it's ready to be marketed to businesses in two years — meanwhile Tmsuk will be working on a home defense version. I don't know how effective it is at incapacitating an opponent, but it sure does look annoying — check out a video of the 'bot in action by clicking Continue.
Spyin' cyborg beetles on the way
Why mess around with flying microbots when you can get perfectly good bugs to do the work? That's what researchers are doing with these cyborg beetles, strapping on six electrodes that might someday turn the lowly insects into eavesdropping, remote-controlled superbugs.
The rhinoceros beetle is a strong little ox, able to carry three grams, which is a sizable percentage of its body weight. Now all these researchers need to do is strap on a microcam, and they'll have a tiny radio-controlled eye in the sky. Look out — before too long, that fly on the wall might have eyes and ears.
Pocket Shark is a pen that doubles as a knife
Sometimes, you just need to stab a dude but you only have a pen on you. If you have the Pocket Shark, no problemo, because the Pocket Shark is a pen designed for two things: writing and stabbing. For only $7 you get this handsome writing implement and also a way to carry a weapon around with you at all times without arousing suspicion. Awesome?
Sweden creates world's first operational stealth warship, the Visby
Stealth bombers are cool and all, but they've been flying for 20 years and are a little old hat. The world hungers for new stealth tech, and Sweden just served up tasty morsel: the world's first operational stealth warship.
Scheduled to put to sea later this year, the Visby class corvette is designed to be electronically undetectable at distances more than 8.1 miles in rough seas and 13.8 miles in calm seas. The ship stays off radar or sonar screens thanks to its non-magnetic plastic/carbon-fiber composite hull, which has the trademark flat surfaces and sharp edges of stealth tech.
On top of that, the Visby uses watejet propulsion — most commonly found in jetskis — instead of propellers. Used as the technological basis of the stealth submarine in The Hunt for Red October, waterjet drives, while less efficient than propeller tech, are much harder to detect, particularly by submarines. No coincidence, then, that the Visby was conceived after several incursions by foreign submarines into Swedish waters in the mid '80s. Not to take anything away from your cool toy, Björn, but those subs are probably long gone.
Presidential super-luxo copter project on the rocks?
When John McCain quizzed President Obama about the spiraling costs of his upcoming presidential uber-copter, otherwise known as the "21st Century Oval Office in the sky," Obama said the current Marine One "seems perfectly adequate to me. Of course, I've never had a helicopter before — maybe I've been deprived and I didn't know it."
He then ordered his defense secretary to do a thorough review of the $11.2 billion project. Too bad the Lockheed Martin VH-71 helicopter project is already so far underway — an entire 176,000 square-foot facility for the project was built and prototypes have already been competed — that it would be more wasteful to cancel than continue. The first five aircraft are scheduled for delivery in 2010.
If the entire fleet of 28 choppers does get built, the new Marine One will be the fanciest presidential copter yet, complete with plush carpeting, a bathroom, kitchen, untold luxuries and bristling with so much top-secret security and navigation gear that if we even gave you a hint at what's in there, some government spook would probably make us disappear.
He then ordered his defense secretary to do a thorough review of the $11.2 billion project. Too bad the Lockheed Martin VH-71 helicopter project is already so far underway — an entire 176,000 square-foot facility for the project was built and prototypes have already been competed — that it would be more wasteful to cancel than continue. The first five aircraft are scheduled for delivery in 2010.
If the entire fleet of 28 choppers does get built, the new Marine One will be the fanciest presidential copter yet, complete with plush carpeting, a bathroom, kitchen, untold luxuries and bristling with so much top-secret security and navigation gear that if we even gave you a hint at what's in there, some government spook would probably make us disappear.
Top secret Navy vessel to be scrapped — unless you want it
I guess the Navy is too good for Ebay. Instead, the US aquatic fighting force is trying to find a new home for its top secret stealth ship, the Sea Shadow, and the barge that housed it and kept it safe from satellite detection. For the past two years the Navy hasn't had any luck, and will scrap the ships if no one wants them.
Both are relics from the Cold War. The Sea Shadow was designed escape detection on the water much like a stealth fighter would evade radar detection in flight. The accompanying barge, the Hughes, is the world's only "fully submersible dry dock," and would let the Sea Shadow come and go out of its 76-feet-wide, 72-feet-high door.
One man, Frank Lennon from Providence, Rhode Island, is interested in adding the vessels to the Soviet sub he's got, which was recently sunk by a storm and then raised again by Navy divers. The only problem is that the Navy wants to give both vessels away as part of a package, and the cost to maintain the ships is enormous — usually much more than a privately-run niche exhibit can rake in. Hopefully Mr. Lennon can find a way to accommodate the vessels — or convince the Navy to help — or else the odd history of both vessels will lack the presence of either
Weaponized lasers move from sci-fi to reality
The military just took one huge step toward making a laser weapon a functional reality. Northrop Grumman just announced a successful test of a 100-kilowatt laser, considered battlefield strength.
This solid-state laser is not as powerful as a chemical laser, but it can be powered by a jet or tank engine, and is much smaller. Unlike the lasers we're used to, this one will have a beam that's invisible. Bummer.
Unfortunately, it's still a few years and $100 million away from being used in the field. The problem is reducing the size, weight and cost of the laser guns. Dr. Brian Strickland, manager of the Army's Joint High Power Solid State Laser program said, "The next step would be to take the laser from the laboratory to the field and begin shooting down missiles with it." He also said that they want to get the cost down. "We want to have a laser that costs $15 to $20 million." Don't we all?
This solid-state laser is not as powerful as a chemical laser, but it can be powered by a jet or tank engine, and is much smaller. Unlike the lasers we're used to, this one will have a beam that's invisible. Bummer.
Unfortunately, it's still a few years and $100 million away from being used in the field. The problem is reducing the size, weight and cost of the laser guns. Dr. Brian Strickland, manager of the Army's Joint High Power Solid State Laser program said, "The next step would be to take the laser from the laboratory to the field and begin shooting down missiles with it." He also said that they want to get the cost down. "We want to have a laser that costs $15 to $20 million." Don't we all?
Samsung fuel cell battery to hit battlefields next year
Samsung's been toying around with fuel cell batteries for about three years, but now it means business. Rolling out first to the military, this ethanol-powered fuel cell is set to power military paraphernalia next year. But it's not going to run laptops for a month as originally promised.
This DMFC (Direct Methanol Fuel Cell) design uses methanol to create hydrogen for the fuel cell reaction, powering a laptop for 72 hours. Now all they need to do is get the weight down, because these hotshots top the scales at a hefty 7.7 lb — but still maybe light enough
Smart bullets to make snipers even more lethal
Those three Navy SEAL snipers who ended the hostage crisis on the high seas yesterday are amazing. Picking off two pirates who briefly poked their heads out of a small covered lifeboat, and simultaneously shooting a third pirate through the boat's tiny window? At dusk using night vision? From a heaving, tilting and rolling ship, aiming at pirates who were also on a bobbing boat? Seems impossible.
Even more remarkable feats will be possible when they get their new laser-guided bullets, capable of changing course in mid-air. Called EXACTO (EXtreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance), the $22 million smart bullet tech senses air currents and moving targets, adjusting a bullet's flight so it can stay exactly on course. Darpa, inventors of GPS and lots more, says this gee-whiz technology will "provide a dramatic new capability to the U.S. military."
Not cool enough? The Darpa researchers are also working on smart bullets guided by frickin' lasers and aimed by scopes that use heat haze to amplify vision from distances of over a mile away. That makes the snipers completely invisible to their targets — they'll never know what hit them. Just don't point that thing at me, seaman.
Dutch 'Canna Chopper' sniffs out cannabis fields from the air
Like a drug-hunting K9 with wings, the "Canna Chopper" is the Dutch police force's latest addition to its weed-fighting arsenal (which must be impressive, considering that it's adding a high-tech miniature helicopter). The unmanned craft is loaded with odor and video detection instruments so that it can identify fields of hemp from the air, and then call in backup to make the bust.
On its maiden voyage it managed to locate a cannabis farm and officers arrested seven growers and recovered several kilos of the outlawed weed. Now all it needs is a gun attached to its underside and it could make its own arrests.
According to the Dutch Daily News, only 10% of cannabis grown in farms in the Netherlands is sold legally in the country, with the rest being smuggled away and sold in illegal foreign markets.
Trek Aerospace flying exoskeleton looks naked without laser cannons, missile launchers
Trek Aerospace's Springtail exoskeleton will come in handy once we're invaded by similarly equipped aliens, just like in Exosquad. The "exoskeleton flying vehicle" is described by the company as a "single operator power lift vehicle." It flies using a pair of five-bladed, counter-rotating rotors with ducts that can tilt to pitch and yaw, and vanes are mounted below the rotors to control direction. It can liftoff carrying over 350 pounds, travel for almost 200 miles, operate for over two hours and cruise at 100 miles per hour.
So what's the Springtail good for? Right now, it's more of a demonstration of Trek Aerospace's hardware, though the company foresees it filling roles "that encompass crop dusting, search and rescue, emergency response, transportation, and delivering cargo." And, of course, fighting aliens and helping secret agents travel about.
XM-25 rifle shoots tiny laser-targeted smart bombs
Let's hope this XM-25 rifle with its smart bullets doesn't find its way into enemy hands. The system is clever enough to detonate its exploding 25mm bullets within 3 feet of their targets, picking off unfortunate foes with uncanny accuracy, even when they're hiding behind obstacles.
After calculating the target's distance with a laser rangefinder, this lethal weapon sends a radio signal to a chip inside the bullet. That brilliant projectile can precisely measure the distance it's traveled, exploding at precisely the right distance for maximum killage. Ouch.
The U.S. military will begin field testing this crazy tech this year, with the goal of rolling it out on battlefields everywhere in a couple of years. Let's just hope U.S. troops won't need to be on battlefields then.
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