Military

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

May 27, 2005 The XM25 Advanced Airburst Weapon System is an entirely new class of weapon that takes the concept of a grenade launcher and adds some smarts, thereby increasing the probability of hit-to-kill performance by up to 500 percent over existing weapons. The advanced design allows the soldier to program the air bursting 25mm round so that it flies to the target and detonates at a precise point in the air. It does not require impact to detonate and is hence capable of defeating an enemy behind a wall, inside a building or in a foxhole.  Read More

May 24, 2005 As computers become more powerful and simulation software becomes more realistic, America's technological leadership will push its military capability far beyond its current dominance to a new level of sophistication. Once regarded as a past-time for nerds and geeks, simulation software is becoming so advanced that it is training a new generation of command to make good decisions in the heat of battle. Lockheed Martin's computer-based Warfighter Simulation program WARSIM was last week selected as one of the US Department of Defense's Top Five Software Projects by a panel of government and industry judges. WARSIM is a computer-based constructive simulation and the Army's next generation command and control training environment.  Read More

May 10, 2005 Parachuting into heavy fog, dense cloud cover, rain or snow may not be everybody’s idea of fun, but it’s much better than clear blue sky when Special Operation Forces wish to covertly insert themselves into unfriendly places. This infiltration technique is called High Altitude High Opening (HAHO) and the only problem is that if there are no visual cues available, you can land a long way from where you’re supposed to be. This can be further exacerbated if there are several parachutists in the group. Accordingly, the Natick Soldier Center’s (NSC) Airdrop Technology Team is currently evaluating three prototype Military Free Fall (MFF) navigation systems to safely and accurately insert forces into hostile environments.  Read More