Military

July 20, 2005 The US Army order an extra 106 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) Block 1A Quick Reaction Unitary missiles earlier this week, significantly upgrading its surface-to-surface missile arsenal. At US$745,000 each, they aren’t cheap, but the recently upgrade guidance, control and fuze system on these missiles is very special – they can take out a target (5.7MB video) with surgical accuracy at a range of 300 kilometres while almost completely eliminating collateral damage. ATACMS is the only long-range tactical surface-to-surface missile ever fired in combat by the U.S. Army. The ATACMS Block IA Unitary is a derivative of the ATACMS Block IA tactical ballistic missile, with the M74 submunitions replaced by a monolithic 500-pound warhead. This warhead reduces collateral damage likelihood and makes it particularly suitable to attack hardened targets such as fortifications and bunkers. When used in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, it destroyed or rendered inoperable every target it engaged. The new model with improved guidance is capable of flying over obstacles, such as mountains or tall buildings in a built-up area, then diving vertically to more accurately engage its high-payoff, time-sensitive targets.  Read More

July 16, 2005 On this day sixty years ago, the world entered the nuclear age with the first nuclear explosion in the famous top secret test named “Trinity” by Robert Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer had an avid interest in Sanskrit literature and the reference was to the divine Hindu trinity of Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Preserver), and Shiva (the Destroyer). The detonation took place at 5:29:45 local time on July 16, 1945, when “the Gadget" (code-named as such during its development) exploded (pictured). Upon witnessing the explosion, which proved the theoretical predictions and calamitous effects of the new weapon, Oppenheimer recited the following passage from the Bhagavad-Gita: “If the radiance of a thousand suns, Were to burst at once into the sky, That would be like the splendor of the Mighty One ... I am become Death, The shatterer of Worlds.” The US$2 billion Manhattan project began six years earlier when Albert Einstein wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt telling him of Nazi Germany’s efforts to build an atomic bomb. The project culminated within a month of this test after the only two uses of nuclear weapons in history. Three weeks later (August 6) a uranium bomb was dropped on Hiroshima instantaneously killing 66,000 people. On August 9, 1945, a Plutonium bomb fell on Nagasaki instantly killing 40,000. Japan offered to surrender on August 10, 1945.  Read More

July 15, 2005 Our recent story on the World's toughest bus which has been used to defeat many ambushes in Iraq caused a lot of reader response, so we thought it might be worth noting the United States Army’s US$500 million purchase of an additional 724 Armoured Security Vehicles (ASV) to protect troops in Iraq. The ASV is a 4X4 wheeled armoured vehicle that provides crew protection against medium calibre armour-piercing machine gun fire, large artillery projectile fragments, and land mines. The advanced exceedingly lightweight ceramic armour allows the vehicle to be able to "roll-on/roll-off" C-130 military transport aircraft. ASV’s off-road performance includes the capability to ford water depths of five feet, climb gradients of 60 percent, and overcome obstacles 2 feet high. Unlike many other vehicles, the ASV enables the crew to load, reload and clear gun jams under full armour protection. Special run-flat tires with central tire inflation offer the crew added mobility when under fire. When faced with nuclear, biological and chemical threats, ASV’s gas particulate air filtration system, used in tandem with a ventilated facepiece, offers additional protection.  Read More

July 9, 2005 They may not be real but that isn’t expected stop two of the best known concept weapons in history from fetching in excess of US$50,000 when Beverly Hills auctioneer Profiles in History auctions treasures from the archive of filmmaker Gary Kurtz on July 29. Kurtz was the producer of Star Wars and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and among the lots to go under the hammer will be original, screen-used props such as Luke Skywalker’s hero light saber, Luke's X-Wing flight suit, Darth Vader’s hero light saber and a Stormtrooper blaster. Star wars fans will need the force with them on the day of the auction as bidding is expected to be fierce with Luke’s light saber and flight suit expected to fetch as much as US$80,000 each.  Read More

July 6, 2005 The PAC-3 Missile has received one of the US National Defense Industrial Association's (NDIA) Gold Medal Award for industrial development and manufacturing, one of the Association's highest honours. The "hit-to-kill" PAC-3 Missile is the world's most capable air and missile defense interceptor. It uses the kinetic energy of "hit-to-kill" intercept to defeat ballistic missiles carrying weapons of mass destruction, advanced cruise missiles and aircraft. The PAC-3 Missile, the world's first operationally deployed missile employing hit-to-kill technology, made its combat debut with U.S. Army forces in Iraq in 2003. Sales of the missile to non-US Patriot users commenced this year, with orders from The Netherlands and Japan.  Read More

June 28, 2005 Technology continues to add ever increasing, capabilities, firepower and situational awareness to the modern warfighter. Indeed, the ability for soldiers on the ground, at sea and in the air to share information in real time has been the goal for all fighting forces around the world and will soon be a reality thanks to next-generation signal intelligence and data link products shown at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI's) Unmanned Systems North America 2005 Conference in Baltimore, Maryland today. The products build on Cubic's field-proven data link technologies, which transmit real-time data, video and other sensor information from airborne systems to ground-based and shipboard platforms.  Read More

June 18, 2005 “Route Irish” is the local name for the heavily travelled, and highly dangerous road between the secure Green Zone in Baghdad and Baghdad International Airport. There have been so many ambushes and IED explosions on that route that all U.S. State Department personnel were forbidden from travelling the route by road last December (2004) and must use helicopters instead. If you don’t have a helicopter at your disposal in Baghdad, as nearly all Military and civilian contractor personnel don’t, there’s really only one certain option if you wish to remain alive and that’s to travel in one of the heavily armoured Rhino Runner buses. Without a shadow of doubt, the Rhino Runner is the toughest bus on the planet – when the human value of the cargo is V.I.P. and above, it is the military’s vehicle of choice to provide safe ground transportation. Regular users of the vehicle in Baghdad include U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, General Dick Myers, Saddam Hussein and all other V.I.P. prisoners. The stories surrounding the massive attacks that Rhino Runners have withstood border on the preposterous.  Read More

June 16, 2005 The mundane duties of routine patrolling and perimeter control take on new and dangerous meaning in a war zone, as has been found in Iraq, so it’s not entirely unexpected to see the US Air Force Research Laboratory experimenting with how unmanned detection, challenge and response systems might integrate robotics into the day-to-day security forces mission. “These systems are not intended to replace human interaction,” said Kevin Hodges, AFRL robotics program manager. “They remain under human control at all times and are designed to help our Airmen by keeping them out of harm’s way. Our focus is saving lives.”  Read More

June 1, 2005 The network centric battlefield moved a step closer this week with the first live-fire testing of the Quick Reaction Unitary (QRU) Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) using a network centric integrated High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launcher. If it sounds complex, that’s because it is, but the big idea is to save time when a time-critical target is identified in the battle space. The test went like this: an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) identified a Time Sensitive Target (TST), relaying the information to the proper system node in order to generate a "call-for-fire" message to a Battle Command Cell (BCC) prototype. The BCC prototype provides embedded battle command capabilities, including command and control, situational awareness and direct sensor feeds of target imagery. The UAV provided geographic location data to the BCC, which then ordered a fire mission for an ATACMS QRU off the network-integrated HIMARS launcher, significantly reducing the time to hit the target. The test proved that in those defining moments when seconds matter, a directly networked HIMARS firing ATACMS in the command and control structure will prove to be a considerable force multiplier.  Read More