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Unmanned Underwater Vehicle to operate from the torpedo tubes of U.S. Navy Submarines
By Mike Hanlon
April 6, 2006 We’ve all held our breath in the movies as the submarine with the good guys in it slides between the mines, touching a chain here and there to heighten the drama. In the future, that scenario will need to be rewritten as it’s likely that an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) will be fired from the torpedo tubes well in advance of a minefield and scope out exactly where the mines are. Make that the not-too-distant future because Boeing is already into a second round of at-sea tests of its Long-term Mine Reconnaissance System (LMRS). The LMRS is a 20-foot UUV designed to be launched, torpedo-style, from Los Angeles- and Virginia-class submarines and can survey the murky waters ahead for up to 60 hours. Originally planned for use in detecting tethered and bottom mines, the vehicle is designed to gather data and, upon completion, to home and dock to the submarine's 60-foot robotic arm for recovery back through the torpedo launch tube, enabling operators to retrieve data collected and prepare the vehicle for another launch. The vehicle's intelligence gathering capabilities have been sequentially tested and validated. Read More
Rolls-Royce at the helm of Royal Navy flagship
By Mike Hanlon
March 27, 2006 It seems logical that prestige automotive designers should be the go-to-guys when you wish to create an ambience of luxury – they’ve been doing it for a long time and it’s the key difference that enables a few extra zeros to be added to the price. We saw it recently when BMW Group Designworks was used by Airbus to design a luxury aircraft interior and now we’ve seen Rolls-Royce Motor Cars employed to make a special captain’s chair for HMS Illustrious – the flagship of the Royal Navy. The chair, which is appropriately finished in the finest navy blue leather with sea shell-coloured piping, was handcrafted by Rolls-Royce engineers and craftspeople at the company’s world headquarters in Goodwood. It is based on the front seat originally designed for the best-selling Rolls-Royce Phantom and has been specially adapted for its sea-faring role. The chair was officially presented by Rolls-Royce chairman, Ian Robertson, and a group of Rolls-Royce staff to Captain Bob Cooling and his crew in Portsmouth yesterday, as part of the ship’s refurbishment. Read More
Weaponised, man-transportable Micro UAVs
By Mike Hanlon
March 14, 2006) Military conflict over the millennia has been defined largely by the technologies available – the spear, the sword, the horse, gunpowder, rifles, cannons, motorised transport, tanks, the anti-tank and anti-personnel mine, aircraft, rockets and so on. One of the coming capabilities capable of offering a massive advantage in warfare involves robots, sometimes guided and sometimes autonomous that walk, carry, roll, swim and fly. The first UAVs were used to improve situational awaereness and this has quickly evolved – now all but the smallest UAVs have been armed and found to be very effective at delivering precision firepower. The Tactical Aerospace Group (TAG) is about to reveal a new class of weaponised UAV that will be particularly useful for brigade level and down. Initially designed with the ability to be transported through a jungle environment for use in drug interdiction, the TAG UAVs can accompany spec-op teams, be carried over severe terrain and can be fitted with recoilless firearms, new technologies such as Metal Storm and up to 70mm rockets/missiles adapted from existing shoulder launched weapons. Read More
Declassified covert military surveillance system to protect international borders
By Mike Hanlon
February 25, 2006 Picture an intruder stepping stealthily across an international borderline. Now shift to a U.S. Command and Control center several miles away where a computer system is alerting a security officer to the intruder's movement, having detected the slight sound of a footstep and zeroed in on the intruder's exact location. The security officer dispatches a UAV to monitor from the air, ground forces to intercept on the ground, and the intruder is stopped. The detection, classification, location, and tracking system is a recently de-classified covert surveillance and intelligence gathering system, which is now in full-scale development as a result of a licensing agreement between the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), Newport, R.I., which invented the sensor technology, and GCS Research of Missoula, Mont., which is further developing and commercializing it. Read More
New low-cost system updates guided weapons with target info after firing
By Mike Hanlon
January 22, 2006 A significant milestone in guided weapons technology has just been achieved by QinetiQ with the successful demonstration of the first UK air-to-ground weapons to receive updated target coordinates information post-release. Late last month the RAF's Fast Jet and Weapons Operational Evaluation Unit, participating in the trial, released two separate Enhanced Paveway 2 (EPW2) weapons from a Tornado GR4 aircraft. Released at an altitude and angle calculated to provide a time of flight of between 30 and 60 seconds, each weapon was twice updated in-flight with new target coordinates, which the weapons received and to which they successfully steered. Weapon terminal guidance was within that expected of GPS accuracy on the day. Though the U.S military was the first with a sophisticated in-flight missile re-targeting technology, the QinetiQ system is expected to have a much lower cost. Read More
Solid-State Laser to be developed by the military
By Mike Hanlon
January 22, 2006 The United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command has set in motion the third phase of the Joint High Power Solid-State Laser (JHPSSL) program – a 36-month, US$56.68 million program to develop "military-grade," solid-state laser technology that is expected to pave the way for the U.S. military to incorporate high-energy laser systems across all services, including ships, manned and unmanned aircraft, and ground vehicles. This image shows Northrop Grumman Corporation's concept of an Future Combat Systems-class Army ground-combat armoured vehicle with a solid-state laser that would be used to defeat incoming threats like mortars and rockets. Read More
The next-generation missile warning system
By Mike Hanlon
November 26, 2005 The team developing the United States's next-generation missile warning system has completed preparations to enable the payload for the first Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) geosynchronous orbit (GEO) satellite to begin engineering thermal vacuum testing. The SBIRS GEO payload consists of a scanning sensor and a staring sensor, with sensor pointing achieved by the spacecraft's Pointing Control Assembly (PCA). The scanning sensor is designed for continuous observation and surveillance of traditional intercontinental ballistic missile threats, while the staring sensor is designed to detect very low signature, short-burn-duration theatre missiles. The staring sensor recently completed its flight-acceptance test. One of the most significant program milestones, thermal vacuum testing verifies the payload functionality and performance in a vacuum environment, where the payload is stressed at temperature extremes greater than those expected during on-orbit operations. The baseline ambient functional tests as well as radiometric tests will be repeated in this "test-it-like-it-flies" environment with the infrared sensors at their cryogenic operating temperatures. Read More
US Navy orders Trimaran Littoral Combat Ship
By Mike Hanlon
The US Navy has announced the award of a construction contract for the Austal designed General Dynamics Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) project. The US $223 million contract for the first of two planned “Flight 0” vessels follows a similar order for the single-hulled Lockheed Martin LCS last December. The two LCS ships will be evaluated and the contracts allow for up to two of each of the two designs to be constructed prior to a decision on how many of each will be ordered, with a fleet of between 50 and 100 LCSs expected to be required over the next 30 years. The General Dynamics LCS is a far different ship to the Lockheed Martin LCS with the secret to its remarkable speed and agility being the aluminium trimaran hull. The LCSs will be the most advanced high speed military craft in the world and are intended to operate in coastal areas globally. As a key part of the US Navy fleet, they will be highly manoeuvrable and configurable to support mine detection / elimination, anti-submarine and surface warfare. The trimaran hull form permits the ship to carry a large capacity of weapons packages with space to land two helicopters. Read More
U.S. Army invests US$22 million in next-generation thermal weapon sights
By Mike Hanlon
October 16, 2005 All objects emit infrared energy or heat, and this energy can be viewed with an infrared lens designed to create a thermogram, or picture, of the environment, regardless the amount of light. Although objects in a scene can be the same temperature, they often appear to be different temperatures, due to the way they emit infrared energy. Variations in the energy that objects emit create a detailed temperature map of a scene that easily can be interpreted by the viewer. Accordingly, it’s not surprising that the U.S. Army is investing US$22 million with thermal imaging specialists DRS technologies to produce next-generation Medium Weapon Thermal Weapon Sights (TWS II) for U.S. Marine Corps applications. Read More
Successful Compact Kinetic Energy Missile Test
By Mike Hanlon
September 21, 2005 Lockheed Martin has successfully conducted a sled test of its Compact Kinetic Energy Missile (CKEM) recently at the High Speed Test Track at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. The test evaluated penetration data and the lethality mechanism of the CKEM missiles' design. Test objectives were achieved. The missile was accelerated by test track rocket motors to a velocity representing a long-range mission, and was tested against an armored tank turret. A second lethality test is scheduled for later this year, and will be against an up-armored tank. Lockheed Martin is co-funding the tests with the U.S. Army Aviation Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) in Huntsville, AL. Read More
NightConqueror Thermal Imager to Be Installed on U.S. Navy's Fastest Ship
By Mike Hanlon
September 14, 2005 Thermal imaging goes way beyond infrared imaging in most situations and it's not surprising that the US Navy will be using advanced thermal imaging in its next generation of warship. The fastest ship in the US Navy is the Sea Fighter FSF-1, which can operate at speeds greater than 50 knots and has a range of approximately 4,000 nautical miles. The Sea Fighter is currently being fitted with an advanced NightConqueror thermal imager. The produces unmatched high-resolution thermal imagery for 24-hour observation in degraded weather conditions (smoke and obscurants). Sea Fighter, previously known as Littoral Surface Craft Experimental or "X-Craft," will be used to evaluate the hydrodynamic performance, structural behavior, mission flexibility and propulsion system efficiency of high-speed vessels. Sea Fighter will also serve as a test bed for developmental mission packages and as a risk reduction experimental vessel for the Littoral Combat Ship and Deepwater Program concepts of operation development at sea. Read More
The Walrus: the US Army contemplates building an aircraft the size of a football field
By Mike Hanlon
September 6, 2005 Moving an elephant atom by atom costs a lot more than moving the elephant in one pre-assembled lump. And that is what the US Army’s Project Walrus is about – putting together an entire action unit of war machinery, with all the wiring and plumbing preinstalled, and placing it in the most strategic place. Whilst this would completely rewrite the way that war is conducted, the Walrus - a massive lozenge-shaped blimp the size of a football field capable of transporting 500 tons at a time - could offer solutions to myriad peacetime problems, opening land-locked countries to trade, enabling heavy construction materials to be delivered into urban centres with minimum disruption, freeing our highways of high volume, heavy loads, offering a more robust and agile air transportation network capable of absorbing disruptions due to weather or attack. Indeed, business logistics could again be completely rethought and streamlined because many physical transportation limits would no longer apply once a fleet of commercial walruses became available. The walrus does not require an airstrip and can land on water or on open ground. Read More
US Navy unveils Advanced Electric Stealth Ship Demonstrator
By Mike Hanlon
August 27, 2005 The US Navy christened its Advanced Electric Ship Demonstrator (AESD) this week, naming the futuristic ship SEA JET and showing it to the media for the first time. The 133-foot vessel will serve as a model representing a destroyer-size surface ship and will be launched on Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho, where it will be used for test and demonstration of various technologies. An underwater discharge waterjet from Rolls-Royce Naval Marine called AWJ-21, will be among the first technologies tested. It allows vessels to operate in shallow water with increased maneuverability and stealth. Read More
Small Diameter Bomb likely to become one of the most successful weapons development programs ever
By Mike Hanlon
August 27, 2005 The US Air Force’s Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) is designed to help the airforce fly fewer sorties and hit more targets and looks likely to become one of the most successful weapons development programs ever. Essentially, the idea is to reduce the size of the bomb so planes can carry more of them and with final testing finishing this week and proving devastatingly accurate, the SDB will now begin operational service deployed on the F-15E Strike Eagle in early 2006. The all-weather SDB weapon system includes four bombs and is compatible with every U.S. fighter and bomber aircraft. It has a standoff range of 60 nautical miles. At 71 inches long, this 250-pound class weapon quadruples the number of weapons every aircraft can carry. Read More
Australian Army scores Bulls-Eye with first Hellfire II launched from a Eurocopter Tiger ARH
By Mike Hanlon
August 11, 2005 The Australian Army scored a first when it performed the first successful firing of a HELLFIRE II missile from Australia's Eurocopter Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopter (ARH), at the Woomera test range in Australia's southern desert earlier this week. The Tiger is the first non-U.S. platform to integrate the HELLFIRE II missile. The missile was equipped with an inert warhead and was launched in the lock-on-before-launch mode by a Eurocopter test pilot, targeting a simulated armored personnel carrier (APC) target six kilometers downrange. The target was designated by the launching ARH helicopter. The missile struck dead center, leaving a gaping hole in the target. The Hellfire II comes in four models: the high-explosive anti-tank missile, the blast fragmentation missile, the millimeter-wave radar Longbow missile and the thermobaric Hellfire missile. Watch the videos inside to understand the differences between each lethal variant. Read More
The Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) Block 1A Quick Reaction Unitary Missile gets even more accurate
By Mike Hanlon
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
The Loitering Attack Missile
By Mike Hanlon
July 13, 2005 Meet the Loitering Attack Missile (LAM) – or perhaps that should be, hope you never meet it. The LAM is an integral part of the Army's Future Combat Systems and when it goes into service, the 60-inch, 120-pound missile will make life very unpredictable for enemies of the United States. The LAM will be an expendable, loitering hunter-killer, equipped with laser radar seeker and autonomous target recognition – among several very high tech features of the missile is its micro turbojet engine capable of loitering 30 minutes at ranges of 70 kilometres. In addition to its lethal capabilities, the LAM will provide commanders with additional target location and identification capabilities and has two-way data links for retasking in flight and down-linking battlefield images. In summary, the LAM loiters for 30 minutes, identifying battlefield targets and towards the end of its 30 minute mission, or when a priority target appears, it can break off its search and attack the target or any other target under the direction of its commanders. Read More
PAC-3 Missile Receives NDIA Gold Medal For Exemplary Performance
By Mike Hanlon
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
The toughest bus on the planet
By Mike Hanlon
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
XM25 Prototypes in testing – 500% lethality increase over existing weapon systems
By Mike Hanlon
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
U.S. Navy Completes Initial Testing Of Lockheed Martin Naval Gun
By Mike Hanlon
May 4, 2005 The U.S. Navy has completed initial testing of Lockheed Martin's Millennium Gun as part of its effort to validate and qualify new naval cannon technology for fleet self protection. The gun's capabilities -- including its high rate of fire and air-bursting Advanced Hit Efficiency And Destruction (AHEAD) ammunition – were recently evaluated during two weeks of testing. The Millennium Gun is a multi-mission, close-in weapon system capable of engaging multiple fast-attack surface craft and near-shore land targets in littoral and riverine waters, as well as defending against anti-ship missiles and aircraft. Creating a "wall of lead," the Millennium Gun fires 35-mm ammunition, including the AHEAD round, at 1,000 rounds per minute. Each AHEAD dispenses 152 subprojectiles that form a cone-shaped pattern to destroy a target's control surfaces, seeker and other vital components as it moves through this lethal cloud. Read More
Germany approves Medium Extended Air Defence System program
By Mike Hanlon
April 21, 2005 MEADS International (MI) announced that Germany has approved entry into the Design and Development (D&D) phase for the tri-national Medium Extended Air Defence System (MEADS). MEADS is a mobile air defence system designed to replace Patriot systems in the United States, Patriot and HAWK systems in Germany, and Nike Hercules systems in Italy. It also meets the requirements of a "capabilities oriented" air defence concept in Germany and the United States. MEADS incorporates the proven hit-to-kill PAC-3 missile in a system that includes surveillance and fire control sensors, battle management/communication centres, and high firepower launchers. The system will combine superior battlefield protection with unprecedented flexibility, allowing it to protect maneuver forces and to provide homeland defence against tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and aircraft. Read More
US Army deploys first Fuel Cell truck
By Mike Hanlon
April 5, 2005 General Motors and the U.S. Army yesterday announced they are partnering to introduce the world's first fuel cell-powered truck into U.S. military service. The U.S. Army took delivery of the crew cab pickup at the GM research facility outside of Rochester, NY, where the vehicle's two fuel cell power modules were made. Marking the occasion was Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was instrumental in securing the funds in the 2005 Department of Defense appropriations on behalf of GM's experimental truck. Read More
Joint Common Missile demonstrates ability to penetrate and destroy urban targets
By Mike Hanlon
March 16, 2005 Lockheed Martin successfully tested its Joint Common Missile (JCM) multi-target warhead and fuze in a series of warhead penetration tests at the Redstone Technical Test Center in Alabama. The series of four tests was designed to assess the missile's ability to penetrate and destroy Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) targets. The tests included detonation of the precursor warhead, penetration of a brick-over-block wall, and emergence of the intact warhead in an interior space, where in a tactical scenario the warhead would be detonated. Read More
America's Army game approaches five million downloads
By Mike Hanlon
February 25, 2005 The statistics for the "America's Army: Operations" computer game are surreal. Launched on July 4, 2002, the game was downloaded by more than a million people in the first fortnight and the total number of registered on-line players is now approaching five million, making it one of the five most popular on-line PC action games because of its absolute authenticity. It aught to be authentic - it was developed by the US Army and at a development cost of just US$7.5 million, it might just be the most effective on-line advertising spend in history to this point in time ... and now there's a sequel. Read More
Freedom Glen
- November 25, 2009 @ 02:47 UTC
