Military

NASA’s “instant” Wireless Video Surveillance System

By Mike Hanlon

23:34 March 20, 2008 PDT

March 21, 2008 NASA Dryden Flight Research Center now protects several of its unique aircraft at a satellite facility with an interesting high-tech wireless video surveillance system. Given 60 days to design, procure and deploy a security system from scratch, the security department turned to AgileMesh, a provider of rapidly deployable video surveillance, and Firetide, a developer of wireless mesh and access networks. Read More

Demonstration milestone for Solid State Laser program

By Kyle Sherer

17:25 March 17, 2008 PDT

March 18, 2008 Military laser systems are approaching battlefield readiness with Northrop Grumman having successfully demonstrated the performance of a laser chain, a key component of the Joint High-Powered Solid State Laser. Read More

Green light for Northrop Grumman Airborne Laser Mine Detection System

By Noel McKeegan

23:13 March 11, 2008 PDT

March 12, 2008 A Northrop Grumman system designed to protect ships by using lasers to detect mines in the ocean has been given the go-ahead by the U.S. Navy for low-rate initial production. The US$25 million will see three Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS) produced with expectations that 25 units will be manufactured over the next five years. Read More

Boeing demonstrates biological detection UAV

By Noel McKeegan

16:35 March 10, 2008 PDT

March 11, 2008 Increasingly sophisticated Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are already playing a key role in reconnaissance and combat missions around the globe by offering a versatile platform which removes the human operator from the line-of-fire. Now the effectiveness of these systems has been demonstrated in one of the most sinister scenarios of modern warfare - biological threat. Boeing, in conjunction with the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has successfully shown that a modified version of its ScanEagle UAV can intercept, detect and fly through simulated biological plumes or clouds to collect airborne agents in a series of land and sea tests conducted between November 2007 to the end of January 2008. Read More

Laser modules installed on Airborne Laser prototype aircraft

By Kyle Sherer

22:01 February 28, 2008 PST

February 29, 2008 In another milestone for the US Missile Defense Agency’s Airborne Laser project, the six laser modules that comprise the core of the system have been successfully installed by Northrop Grumman. Read More

Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod gets two-way video data link

By Kyle Sherer

22:37 February 24, 2008 PST

Lockheed Martin has integrated a prototype two-way video data link into the Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod, providing it with roughly twice the data range of any other fielded targeting pod. The VDL, which provides forward deployed troops with the Sniper ATP’s real-time full resolution streaming video, was successfully demonstrated at the US Air Force Sniper user’s conference. Read More

Lockheed Martin awarded $194 million for production of Army Tactical Missile System

By Kyle Sherer

17:44 February 11, 2008 PST

February 12, 2008 The US Army has given Lockheed Martin $194 million for the production of the Army Tactical Missile System, which it expects to complete by the second quarter of 2010. The contract includes the ATACMS Quick Reaction Unitary and the Block IA Missiles. Read More

QinetiQ tests new MAN military trucks through tropical, desert and Arctic conditions

By Kyle Sherer

14:52 January 23, 2008 PST

January 24, 2008 QinetiQ has put 12 types of MAN military logistic trucks through simulated hell and back as part of an 18-month evaluation contract. Over three separate six week phases, the 12 models of the new supply vehicles destined for the U.K. Ministry of Defense have been subjected to temperatures ranging from 49°C to -46°C, through dry, hot, wet and humid conditions that simulated desert, tropical and Arctic environments. Read More

USB to synchronous cable gives tactical radios IP data capabilities

By Noel McKeegan

04:23 January 17, 2008 PST

January 17, 2008 Enhancing critical battlefield communications by building on equipment already in operation, the Sealevel Systems ACC-188 USB Synchronous Interface Adapter enables tactical radios currently used by the US Armed Forces to interface to PCs and transmit IP based data. Read More

Aegis Open Architecture green lighted by U.S. Navy

By Kyle Sherer

16:02 January 13, 2008 PST

January 14, 2008 Lockheed Martin recently received final approval from the U.S. Navy to proceed with the integration and shipboard installation of the world’s first, fully-open architecture Aegis weapon system for a major surface warship. Aegis Open Architecture is a weapon system that can absorb frequent technology refreshes and upgrades in capabilities, both from new development and separate third party products. Read More

First succesful Japanese test for the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System

By Kyle Sherer

18:39 December 18, 2007 PST

December 19, 2007 The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System has been successfully tested for the 12th time in an exercise that marks the first occasion the system has been used by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. A Japanese Kongo destroyer launched a Standard Missile-3 Block IA missile, which engaged and destroyed a medium-range ballistic missile target fired from the U.S Navy’s Pacific Missile Range facility in Hawaii at a height of 60 miles above the Pacific ocean. Read More

QinetiQ awarded contract for Watchkeeper UAV evaluation

By Kyle Sherer

18:03 December 11, 2007 PST

December 12, 2007 QinetiQ has been awarded a five million pound contract by the UK Ministry of Defense to conduct a series of airborne tests and evaluations for the 800 million pound Watchkeeper UAV programme. The tests will be held over the next 18 months at ParcAberporth and the adjoining MOD Aberporth air range, and pre-flight activity environmental and electromagnetic compatibility testing will be held at QinetiQ operated facilities at MOD Boscombe Down. Read More

Lockheed Martin successfully tests Warrior Fightability & Training Programme

By Kyle Sherer

17:16 December 6, 2007 PST

December 7, 2007 Lockheed Martin has successfully tested its design for the Warrior Fightability & Lethality Improvement Programme (WFLIP), a new weapons system that uses advanced firing control to allow crews to engage moving targets while traveling. Read More

Active flow control technology allows Boeing to deploy munitions at Mach 2

By Kyle Sherer

18:58 November 27, 2007 PST

November 28, 2007 In a landmark demonstration, Boeing and the U.S. Air Force have used "active flow control" technology to deploy munitions from a weapons bay at twice the speed of sound. The MK-82 Joint Direct Attack Munition Standard Test Vehicle was released from a rocket sled at the High-Speed Test Track at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, representing the first safe release of munitions from a weapons bay at high supersonic speeds. Read More

Boeing achieves milestone in unmanned underwater vehicle recovery

By Noel McKeegan

18:00 November 26, 2007 PST

November 27, 2007 In a first of its kind operation,

Boeing has successfully demonstrated autonomous launch and recovery of a 21" Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) from a submarine. Read More

First-of-its-kind dual missile test intercepts targets in space

By Kyle Sherer

16:39 November 17, 2007 PST

November 18, 2007 Raytheon's Standard Missile-3s have successfully intercepted and destroyed ballistic missiles outside the Earth’s atmosphere, the first time a Navy has ship demonstrated simultaneous engagements against such targets in space. Read More

Lockheed Martin tests guided missile impervious to GPS jamming

By Kyle Sherer

23:03 November 5, 2007 PST

November 6, 2007 Lockheed Martin’s Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) has achieved all its test objectives in Unitary rocket Phase II product qualification test flights at White Sands Missile Range. The tests verified the missile’s ability to perform in a GPS jamming environment at long range – an essential feature for air strikes in close proximity to friendly troops, or with a low collateral damage threshold. Read More

Laser Shot announces Personal Weapon Simulator partnership

By Kyle Sherer

01:03 October 29, 2007 PDT

October 29, 2007 Firearms and training systems specialist Laser Shot Incorporated has collaborated with Bohemia Interactive to deliver a Personal Weapon Simulation version of Virtual Battlespace Two (VBS2) software, which includes precise laser and live-fire hit detection, multiple shooter hit detection, camera field-of-view vehicle attachments and After Action Review integration. Read More

BAE Systems wins contract for Mortar Stowage System

By Darren Quick

20:24 October 17, 2007 PDT

October 18, 2007 BAE Systems has won a US$13.9 million contract to supply its M326 120-mm Mortar Stowage System to the U.S. Army. The hydraulic lift system is designed for loading 300-pound mortar tubes out of humvee trailers - freeing up the 3-4 soldiers normally required for the task and facilitating faster firing and movement of the weapon. Read More

New battlefield robot features “transformer” design

By Kyle Sherer

18:13 October 16, 2007 PDT

October 17, 2007 The manufacturer of the TALON® and SWORDS robot units for military and first response scenarios has introduced a new Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System. Known as MAARS™, the robot trumps its predecessors with a 50%, or 2.5mph, increase in speed, a more powerful M240B Medium Machine Gun, a bigger payload bay, higher torque, enhanced safety features and a modular design that enables the gun turret to be switched with a manipulator arm used in the neutralization of roadside bombs. Read More

Boeing-led test successfully intercepts target missile

By Darren Quick

07:18 October 4, 2007 PDT

October 4, 2007 The Boeing Company, working with industry teammates and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, has successfully completed a missile defense flight test resulting in the intercept of a target warhead to demonstrate the capability and reliability of the nation's only defense against long-range ballistic missiles. Read More

BAE to develop next-generation night-vision goggles

By Emily Clark

23:44 September 24, 2007 PDT

September 25, 2007 U.S. army soldiers will be the recipients of enhanced night vision goggles that use digital imagery to improve mobility and situational awareness under all lighting conditions, overcoming battlefield obscurants that would generally hinder vision. Under development by BAE systems as part of the Enhanced Night Vision Goggle program for the U.S. defense forces the helmet-mounted system will digitally combine video imagery from a low-light-level visible sensor and an uncooled long-wave infrared sensor onto a single color display located in front of the soldier's eye. Read More

Russia tests “Father of All Bombs”

By Loz Blain

23:30 September 17, 2007 PDT

September 18, 2007 Russia has just announced the completion of successful testing of what it dubs the “Father of All Bombs” – four times more powerful than the USA’s comparatively placid “Mother of All Bombs". Both devices are viewed - somewhat dubiously - as “environmentally friendly” alternatives to nuclear devices, as they leave no radioactive fallout. Read More

Integrated tourniquet clothing system aims to save lives on the battlefield

By Gizmag Team

18:42 September 6, 2007 PDT

September 7, 2007 One of the most common causes of preventable deaths in tactical environment is bleeding to death, so any advance in providing assistance as quickly as possible in such situations clearly has the potential to save lives. This is the thinking behind a new range of clothing from Blackhawk that integrates tourniquets into the design which can be immediately accessed by the wearer, their buddy, or a medic to minimize the loss of blood. Read More

Airborne Laser project achieves development milestones

By Shaun McKeegan

01:28 September 5, 2007 PDT

September 5, 2007 Successful testing of an aircraft mounted laser weapon system has been carried out by the US missile defense agency and industry partnership team at Edwards Air Force base in California. The Airborne Laser (ABL) team has demonstrated the ability to point and focus the Lockheed Martin developed Beam control/Fire control system on an airborne target. Read More