Defense Tech (Free subscription) | yesterday
Our colleague Colin Clark, editor of DoD Buzz, is attending the 26th Army Science Conference in Orlando this week. He'll be updating the Buzz with his stories but the Army has gone all "Web 2.0" on us and is live streaming some of the presentations and panels. Below is a video that was shown this morning to attendees. It looks like only two of the talks are archived on the official live cast site,...
Defense Tech (Free subscription) | yesterday
Boeing announced today another successful test shoot of its Airborne Laser prototype. This time technicians fired the laser using its tracking and control system to guide the beam through the nose-mounted turret at a simulated missile target. Of course, this was all done on the ground. It won't be until next year that the system will engage a missile target while both are in flight. But the news reminds...
Defense Tech (Free subscription) | yesterday
Our friends over at Soldier Systems blog have been tracking an interesting story about whether the Russian army has copied a Finnish camo pattern...or whether the Russian soldier photographed wearing the curiously similar fatigues might have been going off the reservation a bit. It's not very often that you run across articles in the NY Times on Soldier System topics, but the Russian Interior Ministry's...
RealClearPolitics (Free subscription) | 11/30/2008
WASHINGTON -- Absent some last-minute fireworks, President Bush will leave office with a kind of double-failure on Iran: Administration hard-liners haven't checked Tehran's drive to acquire nuclear weapons technology, and moderates haven't engaged Iran in negotiation and dialogue. The strategic balance between the two countries is the opposite of what Bush had hoped to accomplish: Iran is stronger...
Defense Tech (Free subscription) | 11/28/2008
The rapid advancement of cyber attacks and the emergence of cyber warfare have caught government and military leaders around the world off guard. Decision making in time requiring defensive measures or military crisis is guided by doctrine and rules of engagement, but in the case of cyber attacks and cyber warfare they do not currently exist. The complexities and unique characteristics of cyber warfare...
Defense Tech (Free subscription) | 11/26/2008
A cool vid for a pre-Thanksgiving (for our U.S. readers) day... (Gouge: militaryphotos.net) -- Christian...
Defense Tech (Free subscription) | 11/26/2008
Obama might have made his decision, but did he consult Defense Tech readers first? Who SHOULD be the next SecDef? ( surveys)...
Defense Tech (Free subscription) | 11/25/2008
Jack Tapper: Gates a "Done Deal" Sources tell ABC News that Defense Secretary Robert Gates will be staying on in the top Pentagon job, for at least the first year of the Obama administration. "It is a done deal," a source close to the process tells ABC News. Gates, while a registered independent, has served numerous Republican administrations. President George W. Bush nominated Gates to replace the...
Defense Tech (Free subscription) | 11/25/2008
For a jauntier and updated version of some of my F-22 coverage, you can tune into my latest podcast. I did the interview with Addison Schonland, president and founder of Innovation Analysis Group, a consulting firm based in San Diego. We spoke about the Pentagon's out-maneuvering Congress on the F-22 funding and John Young's subsequent comments slamming the Raptor's availability, maintenance and costs....
Defense Tech (Free subscription) | 11/25/2008
BAE Mobility & Protection Systems' Advanced Design Group has been pumping out some innovative load carrying solutions. In addition to recently capturing USSOCOM's armor carrier contract with the RBAV, the ECLiPSE line is beginning to hit the market. So what's next for BAE? Poised to become a true leader in the Soldier Systems market, BAE has been working with new materials and there will be a few surprises...
1913 Intel (Free subscription) | 11/25/2008
Years ago Pakistan, China and Russia sold Tehran atomic weapons technology. In the late 1980s, Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan’s chief nuclear proliferator, sold Tehran uranium enrichment centrifuges, the blueprints for a Chinese nuclear bomb, and a package of nuclear technologies, including assistance for casting uranium metal and for working with polonium and beryllium, metals [...]
Defense Tech (Free subscription) | 11/25/2008
When the US military began taking massive casaulties to IEDs in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, the ever-and-always technologically minded DoD looked to procure the latest hot-topic (and expensive) anti-mine toys. The Air Force insisted that their sleek fighter jets could be used in a mine-detection role, while the Army and Marines ordered thousands of new MRAPs for mine detection, convoy duty, and...
Defense Tech (Free subscription) | 11/24/2008
From the headlines at Military.com: If only we could be a fly on the wall when our enemies are plotting to attack us. Better yet, what if that fly could record voices, transmit video and even fire tiny weapons? That kind of James Bond-style fantasy is actually on the drawing board. U.S. military engineers are trying to design flying robots disguised as insects that could one day spy on enemies and...
Defense Tech (Free subscription) | 11/24/2008
Blackwater USA, the private security and training company, has shut down a large part of its manufacturing subdivision after losing the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program and facing dwindling demand for its "Grizzly" Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle. Reports had previously indicated that Blackwater would lay off its JLTV workers, some of whom were lured to the Moyock, N.C.-based company from...
Defense Tech (Free subscription) | 11/24/2008
The answer is simple: Submarines cannot fly, but seaplanes can submerge -- if you build them properly. That's what the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is seeking to develop. A recent Request for Proposal (RFP) from DARPA calls for a submersible aircraft [that] would combine the key capabilities of three different platforms: (1) the speed and range of an aircraft; (2) the loiter capabilities...
