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Flexible electronics to make night vision more accurate, easier to use
For soldiers and first responders, having accurate, high-resolution imaging capabilities may mean the difference between success and failure; electrical and computer engineers set out to make night vision more accurate and easier for soldiers, pilots, and first responders to use
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Flexible electronics to make night vision more accurate, easier to use
For soldiers and first responders, having accurate, high-resolution imaging capabilities may mean the difference between success and failure; electrical and computer engineers set out to make night vision more accurate and easier for soldiers, pilots, and first responders to use
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Comparing boost-phase to non-boost-phase ballistic missile defense
An expert panel set forth to provide an assessment of the feasibility, practicality, and affordability of U.S. boost-phase missile defense compared with that of the U.S. non-boost missile defense when countering short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missile threats
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Four-legged robotic mule now voice-controlled
DARPA researchers demonstrated new advances in the Legged Squad Support System (LS3) four-legged robot’s control, stability, and maneuverability, including “Leader Follow” decision making, enhanced roll recovery, exact foot placement over rough terrain, the ability to maneuver in an urban environment, and verbal command capability
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Maintaining robust communications in congested and contested environments
Radios are used for a wide range of tasks, from the most mundane to the most critical of communications, from garage door openers to military operations’ as the use of wireless technology proliferates, radios and communication devices often compete with, interfere with, and disrupt the operations of other devices; a new DARPA challenge is looking for innovative approaches that ensure robust communications in such congested and contested environments
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U.S. Defense Secretary signs order to deploy anti-missile units in Turkey
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta on Friday signed an official deployment order to send 400 American military personnel as well as two Patriot air defense units to Turkey as the cross-border tensions between Turkey and Syria have increased
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Deployable RF data backbone which matches fiber optic capacity
DARPA envisions 100-Gigabit per second RF communications link between airborne and ground assets; the goal is for the data link to achieve a range greater than 200 kilometers between airborne assets and a range greater than 100 kilometers between an airborne asset (at 60,000 feet) and the ground
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High Russian official: Assad losing the ground war
The Assad regime does not have many friends left, and yesterday one of them admitted that Assad was losing the war; Mikhail Bogdanov, the deputy foreign minister of Russia, said the regime faced possible defeat to the rebels, adding with unusual frankness for a diplomat: “One must look facts in the face”
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U.S. Navy scientists honored for significant portfolio of newly patented discoveries and inventions
U.S. Navy scientists and engineers in 2012 once again had the world’s most significant government portfolio of newly patented discoveries and inventions, according to a November report published by the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
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Climate change, water shortage play only secondary role in causing conflict – at least so far
Intelligence services and militaries around the world have been talking about, and preparing for, the danger of “water wars” and about climate change as a threat to national security; the results of an EU-funded research project, however, found that such discourses oversimplify a complex reality; climate and water resource changes are important, but play only a secondary role — at least for the time being — in the causation of conflict and insecurity compared to political, economic, and social factors
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Top U.S., Canadian officials meet to discuss quickening pace of Arctic changes
One manifestation of global warming is the accelerating pace of Arctic ice-cap melting; the U.S. Navy Arctic Roadmap, authored by the Navy’s Task Force Climate Change, notes that, “Because the Arctic is primarily a maritime environment, the Navy must consider the changing Arctic in developing future policy, strategy, force structure and investment”; top U.S. and Canadian officials meet to discuss the implications of the rapidly melting arctic ice
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Syria military launches Scud missiles at rebels
Facing growing political isolation, deteriorating economic conditions, and military setbacks, the Assad regime is escalating the level of violence in its war against the opposition; the three latest weapons the regime used in its effort to hold off the rebels: Scud missiles, cluster bombs, and incendiary munitions; yesterday, Pakistan became the 69th country to close its embassy in Damascus
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A new tool supports humanitarian demining
Landmines and other abandoned explosive ordnance are part of sad legacy of many conflicts; these devices can remain active during decades threating humans in the affected areas and depriving them of their lands and resources; today, a huge part of these tasks of humanitarian demining are still conducted by using hand-held detectors, particularly, metal detectors, though other detectors are being introduced gradually
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Terahertz waves for explosives detection
The chips generate and radiate high-frequency electromagnetic waves, called terahertz (THz) waves, which fall into a largely untapped region of the electromagnetic spectrum — between microwaves and far-infrared radiation — and which can penetrate a host of materials without the ionizing damage of X-rays; when incorporated into handheld devices, the new microchips could enable a broad range of applications in fields ranging from homeland security to wireless communications to health care, and even touchless gaming
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Syrian rebels trained in handling, securing chemical weapons
The United States and some of its European have issues contracts to defense contractors to train Syrian rebels on how to identify, handle, and secure chemical weapons stockpiles in Syria; some of the training is done in Jordan, but some of the contractors are already inside Syria, where they, and U.S. intelligence operatives, are working closely with friendly rebel groups to monitor Syria’s chemical weapons production and storage sites
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More headlines
The long view
Tantalizing Method to Study Cyberdeterrence
Tantalus is unlike most war games because it is experimental instead of experiential — the immersive game differs by overlapping scientific rigor and quantitative assessment methods with the experimental sciences, and experimental war gaming provides insightful data for real-world cyberattacks.
Testing Cutting-Edge Counter-Drone Technology
Drones have many positive applications, bad actors can use them for nefarious purposes. Two recent field demonstrations brought government, academia, and industry together to evaluate innovative counter-unmanned aircraft systems.
European Arms Imports Nearly Double, U.S. and French Exports Rise, and Russian Exports Fall Sharply
States in Europe almost doubled their imports of major arms (+94 per cent) between 2014–18 and 2019–23. The United States increased its arms exports by 17 per cent between 2014–18 and 2019–23, while Russia’s arms exports halved. Russia was for the first time the third largest arms exporter, falling just behind France.
How Climate Change Will Affect Conflict and U.S. Military Operations
“People talk about climate change as a threat multiplier,” said Karen Sudkamp, an associate director of the Infrastructure, Immigration, and Security Operations Program within the RAND Homeland Security Research Division. “But at what point do we need to start talking about the threat multiplier actually becoming a significant threat all its own?”
The Tech Apocalypse Panic is Driven by AI Boosters, Military Tacticians, and Movies
From popular films like a War Games or The Terminator to a U.S. State Department-commissioned report on the security risk of weaponized AI, there has been a tremendous amount of hand wringing and nervousness about how so-called artificial intelligence might end up destroying the world. There is one easy way to avoid a lot of this and prevent a self-inflicted doomsday: don’t give computers the capability to launch devastating weapons.