• Texas drought forces military to change training

    A particularly severe drought in Texas has forced the military to change the way it trains its soldiers due to the risk of starting fires; law enforcement agencies would benefit from taking note of additional safety measures put into place

  • General Dynamics to integrate CBRN device in Army radios

    General Dynamics C4 Systems announced last week that it will work with U.S. Army researchers to install wireless-networking chips on radios that can also detect the presence of dangerous chemicals on the battlefield

  • Body wearable antennas for soldiers, first responders

    Body Wearable Antennas (BWAs) allow soldiers to communicate with their colleagues on the front line without the need for conventional radio whip-antennas which can be cumbersome and conspicuous; NWS can also be incorporate into the suits of fire-fighters for use during search and rescue, for police patrol team members to have the GPS locations of their colleagues, and in other hazardous industries such as mining, oil, and gas

  • Flying video camera will protect soldiers

    Engineers have developed the U.K.’s first lightweight outdoor flying video camera which can fit in a soldier’s backpack; the UAV is designed to help spot hidden dangers and feed the real-time footage to goggles worn by the operator

  • BAE Systems shows invisibility cloak-wrapped vehicle

    BAE Systems has tested an invisibility cloak that allows a vehicle to blend into its surroundings; sheets of hexagonal “pixels,” which can change temperature very rapidly, allow vehicles — even moving tanks — to match their surroundings, thus making them invisible

  • Michigan could dodge defense cuts

    With Congress seeking to make potential cuts in defense spending and contractors bracing for reductions across the country, Michigan’s $385 billion defense industrial base remains optimistic as it could get by unscathed; key lawmakers say the types of services that Michigan’s defense industry provides could keep it from becoming the target of the newly formed Joint Selection Committee on Deficit Reduction

  • Israeli military develops new doctrine for dealing with civil unrest

    The Israeli military is preparing for massive demonstrations by Palestinians in the West Bank and along Israel’s borders with neighboring Arab states — demonstrations which will follow the 20 September debate in the UN about whether to recognize Palestine as a state; Israeli snipers will be equipped with new laser finders so they can shoot at the feet of demonstrators, and the military has acquire a variety of non-lethal systems to help disperse unruly crowds

  • Antenna-equipped garments here

    To make communications devices more reliable, researchers are working on incorporating radio antennas directly into clothing, using plastic film and metallic thread; the new antenna design has a range four times larger than that of a conventional antenna worn on the body — one that is used by American soldiers today

  • Micro Unmanned Ground Vehicle helps soldiers, first responders

    Weighing just over ten pounds, Dragon Runner 10 (DR10) is small enough to carry in an assault pack and rugged enough to throw into buildings and hostile environments; the DR10 has multiple sensor and payload options, and thus is suitable for reconnaissance and surveillance missions to support small military units, patrols, and first responder teams

  • Autonomous multi-target, multi-user tracking capability

    An autonomous multi-sensor motion-tracking and interrogation system reduces the workload for analysts by automatically finding moving objects, then presenting high-resolution images of those objects with no human input

  • Pakistan likely let China examine U.S. stealth helo

    U.S. intelligence officials believe that Pakistan’s intelligence service allowed Chinese military engineers to examine the wreckage of a new stealth helicopter used in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden; the helicopter was damaged in the assault on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan in May and Navy SEALs were forced to leave it behind

  • Day of "solar" soldiers nears

    Researches develop wearable light-weight solar panels which will allow soldiers to generate power in the field and reduce the need for batteries for their electronic devices; they will also establish a power supply that keeps electronic devices operational throughout the duration of missions

  • Marines deploy bomb-sniffing dog alternative

    When bomb-sniffing dogs at Camp Lejeune, the Marine base in North Carolina, are unavailable, military police turn to Fido; the Fido XT Explosives Detector is a handheld device that is capable of sniffing out explosives or residuals in vehicles

  • New material dramatically increases explosive force of weapons

    A revolutionary material that will replace steel in warhead casings will bring added lethality and increase the likelihood of a hit on an enemy target; by combining several metals with standard manufacturing techniques, High-Density Reactive Material (HDRM) has the potential dramatically to increase the explosive impact of most weapons with little or no compromise in strength or design

  • Statistics helps calculate uncertainty of aging U.S. nukes

    How do you test a not-so-young nuclear stockpile for the effects of age when you cannot detonate any for the sake of finding out? The U.S. government has not conducted live nuclear tests since the early 1990s, but a BYU scientist offers solid answers — based on statistical analysis and without setting off any weapons