• BAE develops vehicles for ground war of the future

    A range of technologies could improve the effectiveness and fuel efficiency of current military vehicles, while laying the groundwork for future fighting vehicles; BAE looked at 567 technologies and 244 vehicle concepts, which had to fit only two criteria — the vehicle could weigh no more than 30 tons, and had to carry an equivalent punch to a Challenger 2 tank; the company settled on seven future vehicles

  • General Atomic says its Blitzer rail gun already "tactically relevant"

    Last Friday the U.S. Navy tested a rail gun with muzzle energies of 64 megajoules; the gun aims to deliver a projectile to a target 200 miles away at speeds of up to Mach 7+; not to be outdone, General Atomics has just released information about how, back in September, it tested its own rail gun — dubbed the Blitzer; while the Navy researchers are still preoccupied with the velocity of the projectile and muzzle energy, GA says it is farther along in weaponizing its system, which it describes as already “tactically relevant”

  • DoE report warns of U.S. vulnerability to China's rare-earth supplies

    A U.S. Department of Energy report draws attention to the need to diversify the supply of rare Earth metals needed for clean technology and defense; China currently supplies 97 percent of the world’s rare Earth elements; the largest U.S. producer of rare earths last week announced a $130 million funding deal with Japanese company Sumitomo that promises the financier “substantial quantities of rare-earth products”

  • Grim milestone: Mexican border city hits 3,000 dead in 2010

    The Mexican drug war among the drug cartels — and between the cartels and the government —- continues to escalate as more and more weapons pour into the country; Ciudad Juarez, the homicide capital of the world, saw 1,623 people killed in drug-related violence in 2008; the toll increased to 2,763 deaths in 2009; on Tuesday the tolls reached 3,000 for 2010; also Tuesday: the Mexican navy reported it seized nine go-fast boats and a total of 15 metric tons (16.5 tons) of marijuana during two days of searches in the Gulf of California.; on 13 December; and the lower house of Mexico’s Congress voted 384-2, with 21 abstentions, to rescind the congressional immunity from prosecution of a fellow legislator accused of links to La Familia; La Familia leader Nazario Moreno, nicknamed “The Craziest One,” was killed in battles that lasted two days and spread to key parts of Michoacan state

  • U.S. Navy demonstrates 100-mile hypersonic rail gun test shot

    The latest test by the U.S. Navy of a rail gun saw a trial firing which pushed muzzle energy to a blistering 33 megajoules (MJ); the Navy wants to achieve lab trials at 64 MJ, potentially offering 200 mile range with projectiles striking at Mach 5, before trying to build an actual weapon

  • Mexicans march in support of killed drug kingpin

    Hundreds of people turned out for the march in Apatzingan, the birth place of La Familia cartel leader Nazario Moreno, who was known as “the Craziest One” and reputedly indoctrinated his gang members in pseudo-Christian ideology; the government says Moreno was killed in Apatzingan on Thursday in a shootout with federal police

  • Police robot ends Wisconsin standoff

    Last Friday, a Northrop Grumman police robot was sent to investigate an SUV parked on the shoulder of a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, highway; the robot approached the two potentially dangerous suspects holed up in an SUV, transmitted instructions from a hostage negotiator sitting safely in a nearby truck, and punched out the rear window of the suspects’ stolen car, helping police end the standoff peacefully

  • Mobile apps tackle bad driving with "see something, say something"

    Crowdsourcing comes to traffic management; state governments are increasingly asking drivers to help enforce traffic laws, and there is a growing number of driving apps allowing drivers to report the bad traffic habits of fellow drivers; the app developers say their aim is to bring greater civility and safety to the nation’s roads — but they also plan to sell the information they gather to insurance companies and states’ DMVs

  • Car 54 -- we know where you are

    In “Car 54 Where Are You,” the dispatcher of the 53rd Precinct in the Bronx always tried to locate officers Francis Muldoon and Gunter Toody; that was in the early 1960s; now, 47 years later, Chief Stan Bynum of the Ingleside, Texas, Police Department does not have to wonder where his patrol cars are; he just has to go to his new laptop to visually pinpoint every patrol car at the same time via GPS

  • DSU police helps in development of new law enforcement technology

    Delaware State University police is the primary tester of the Condor Crime Scene Management and Evidence Tracking System, developed by Fairfax, Virginia-based Advanced Response Concepts; a primary feature of the system is an electronic tablet that police can use to write their investigation and evidence collection information

  • Using a GPS database in law enforcement

    A GPS database can be used for a variety of different purposes and is an important part of law enforcement software; primarily, database-driven GPS devices are used for navigation and tracking in the civilian world; other data, however, can be included in devices designed for police officers, detectives, parole officers, and 911 operators

  • Iranian man who blinded love rival sentenced to suffer same fate

    Iranian justice is harsh; a man who blinded his lover’s husband by throwing acid in his face was sentenced to be blinded himself by having acid poured into his own eyes; a woman is hanged for allegedly killing her lover’s wife — she has denied the allegations — and the brother of the killed woman carried out the final stage of the execution by kicking away the stool on which Jahed was standing with the noose around her neck

  • U.S. Army envisions an XM-25 smart gunner in every squad from 2014

    U.S. military unveils XM-25 portable airburst artillery piece plans; the XM-25 shoots special, fat 25 mm projectiles which are more or less a cross between ordinary rifle bullets and 40 mm launched grenades; the XM-25 rounds have an added special feature: an extremely accurate time fuse which is set electronically by the gun’s systems at the moment of firing, permitting them to explode in midair at a precise distance from the muzzle

  • Fully robotic, remotely controlled bomb-disposal hand nears

    Engineers have developed a robotic hand that offers remotely controlled, highly dexterous movements that could lead to a breakthrough in areas such as bomb disposal; the robotic hand can be remotely controlled by a glove worn by an operator connected to a computer; this can then communicate via a wireless connection with the hand offering real time comparable movements