• Technological developments pose threat, offer hope

    U.S. defense official says advancements in science and technology offer terrorists new opportunities — “Though they aim to undo centuries’ worth of progress, they are not at all reluctant to take full advantage of that progress” — and the only way to cope is by encouraging science and technology education and innovation in countries faced with terrorist threats: “America’s future, and the future of our partners, does depend on it”

  • Powerset's search raises $12.5 million

    A developer of natural-language search engine raises $12.5 million from VCs and angels; the company said its search engine will incorporate a deeper linguistic component than existing search engines so that a user’s intent correlates more accurately with search results

  • North Carolina launches news defense and security incubator

    Located in Fayetteville, the Defense and Security Technology Accelerator will be home to as many as fifteen growing companies; North Carolina is the latest to see the value in supporting young homeland security firms

  • Getting closer to undestadning the mysteries of fusion energy

    University of Nevada researchers found the microscopic effects that cause inefficiencies limiting the conversion of electrical energy required for implosion energy; the key to their discovery: The realization that mass transport during implosion could be improved if one could understand the dynamics on a shorter time scale

  • Airborne chemical laser is here

    This is more than twenty years after Ronald Reagan’s March 1983 Star War speech, but his vision of building an effective defense against ballistic missiles is a step — more accurately, a small baby step — closer; Boeing and partners demonstrates an airborne chemical laser, an important ingredient in any such defense

  • New composite materials promise of efficiency and ruggedness

    Cast metal matrix composites, or MMCs, can be used to make more economical cars; car engines which consume less energy and can keep running on low oil; lead-free plumbing fixtures; tanks that are light enough to be airlifted; and buildings, including bomb shelters, which are more blast-proof and fire-resistant

  • U.S. military to spend $3 billion on mobile WiMAX

    The mobile version of WiMAX (802.16e) is of great interest to first responders, law enforcement, and other public safety organizations; the technology has not yet been formally ratified, but in South Korea a local version, called WiBro, is already commercially available, and the U.S. military is about to sign a $3 billion contract to buy it so it could incorporate it in its command and control communication system

  • Praise for the Global Security Challenge London event

    The Global Security Challenge conference was held in London last Thursday, and document and assset authentication specialist Ingenia Technology won the first prize; one participant observed: “This conference demonstrated how you can catalyze the innovation cycle by bringing together technologists and business leaders and cut through many of the bureaucratic hurdles that hinder more effective R&D in the security arena”

  • U.S. Navy, DHS seek proposal for laser weapons

    U.S. defense and homeland security agencies want information on building a laser weapon capable of thwarting a demanding range of threats, among them ” Jet Skis, small-boat swarm attacks, rockets, mortars, artillery rounds, shoulder-fired missiles, electro-optic sensors, and soft, unmanned aerial vehicles,” and more

  • The robots are coming, the robots are coming

    DARPA’s Urban Challenge competition aims to promote the development of robotic cars (or “autonomous vehicle technology”) to be used in urban warfare, law enforcement, and first response; winners receive up to $1 million to develop their ideas; nearly 90 competitors have signed up

  • Now you see it, now you don’t

    Blue Devils researchers develop a cloak which makes objects invisible to microwave beams; the cloak is based on a new design theory developed by Sir John Pendry of Imperial College London, and these principles may ultimately lead to the production of cloaks which confer invisibility within the visible frequency range

  • Researchers develop portable lab on a chip to identify WMD contamination

    Soldiers and first responders are exposed to chemical and biological threats, so there is a need to develop a quick and accurate technology to identify dangerous exposure — a technology, moreover, which can be carried easily into the field or the urban disaster area to perform on-the-spot contamination checks; researchers affiliated with MIT have developed such a technology

  • Laser powered by recycled fuel tested

    Here is a useful idea which would go a long way toward solving the logistical problems associated with operating laser weapons in the field: Use hydrogen peroxide and chlorine regenerated from waste products from prior laser operations

  • EST to test zNose technology in Iraq

    After testing in a simulated Iraqi village, the explosives detection system is ready to be used for checkpoint inspections and for “interrogating buildings” for bomb materials; wartime appplication just one for this versatile technology

  • Raytheon shipping microwave nonlethal weapon systems

    Militaries and law enforcement units have been intrigued by non-lethal weapons — weapons occupying the territory between shoot and shout — for more than four decades, but with few exceptions (taser guns, stun grenades) these weapons have not been widely deployed; Raytheon hopes that its microwave-based Silent Guardian will prove to be the exception