"We came in peace for all mankind."
-Neil Armstrong, July 21, 1969
In his 1966 Hugo-winner The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, sci-fi author Robert Heinlein created a compelling image: a moon-based catapult for transporting mineral resources down to earth being instead used as a weapon, flinging kinetic-energy laden rocks down the gravity well at a domineering home planet.
...the narrator and Professor La Paz, a revolutionary hero and leader, travel to Earth to negotiate independence for Luna, but are rebuffed. They return to the moon, and utilise its position at the top of the Earth's gravity well to drop masses of rock onto targets on all the main land-masses below them.
Fortunately, it's only fiction; such a thing couldn't happen today. Particularly since there is a UN treaty, ratified by 98 countries and signed by an additional 27, whose language ensures that space is reserved exclusively for peaceful purposes.
Right?
To read more of this content at Newsvine, click here.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Canada to Double Defence Spending
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper plans to more than double defense spending over the next two decades to about C$30 billion ($30 billion) a year to increase troops and replace aging equipment.
Canada, benefiting from record prices for commodities, is raising automatic defense spending increases by an annual 2 percent in 2011, from the current pace of 1.5 percent.
``We've built in an escalating budget framework to allow us to replace over the next 20 years the full range of national defense equipment, to rebuild the personnel of the forces,'' Harper told reporters today in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Six of the military's core fleets, including destroyers, frigates, maritime patrol aircraft, fixed-wing and rescue aircraft, fighter aircraft and land combat vehicles, will need to be replaced over the next 20 years, Harper said. That's in addition to new and upgraded equipment purchases already announced, according to the prime minister.
To view more of this content at Bloomberg.com, click here.
Canada, benefiting from record prices for commodities, is raising automatic defense spending increases by an annual 2 percent in 2011, from the current pace of 1.5 percent.
``We've built in an escalating budget framework to allow us to replace over the next 20 years the full range of national defense equipment, to rebuild the personnel of the forces,'' Harper told reporters today in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Six of the military's core fleets, including destroyers, frigates, maritime patrol aircraft, fixed-wing and rescue aircraft, fighter aircraft and land combat vehicles, will need to be replaced over the next 20 years, Harper said. That's in addition to new and upgraded equipment purchases already announced, according to the prime minister.
To view more of this content at Bloomberg.com, click here.
Anti-Stress Dolls Cheer Deployed Troops
A South Carolina grandmother has become a sensation among stressed-out U.S. military men and women around the globe by sending the most incongruous of gifts: pliable, google-eye dolls.
Not that soldiers, Marines and airmen are doing much cuddling with her hand-stitched, foot-tall playthings. Carol Davis' "Dang-it-Dolls" are built to take punishment from homesick, frustrated troops and her work is getting rave reviews.
"The legs are shaped so you can grasp onto them," Air Force Staff Sgt. Rachel Staub wrote in a recent e-mail recalling her homesick days based in the United Arab Emirates. "It returned with me to the States with an eyeball missing and the stitching around the legs loose with some of the stuffing coming out."
To read more of this content at WTOP News, click here.
Not that soldiers, Marines and airmen are doing much cuddling with her hand-stitched, foot-tall playthings. Carol Davis' "Dang-it-Dolls" are built to take punishment from homesick, frustrated troops and her work is getting rave reviews.
"The legs are shaped so you can grasp onto them," Air Force Staff Sgt. Rachel Staub wrote in a recent e-mail recalling her homesick days based in the United Arab Emirates. "It returned with me to the States with an eyeball missing and the stitching around the legs loose with some of the stuffing coming out."
To read more of this content at WTOP News, click here.
EADS Opening Sourcing Office in India
EADS is opening a sourcing office in India, a part of its commitment to invest $600m in various projects in the country. The office will be based in New Delhi and Bangalore, it said. "Since our first procurement marketing initiatives in India two years ago, the importance of India as a sourcing destination has increased in the field of aerospace and defence," Hans Mundt, chief procurement officer for EADS said in a statement.
EADS is also expanding its engineering centre in Bangalore and will have an integrated technology park in the city by 2010. The EADS investments are a part of the offset for an order of 43 Airbus aircraft by state carrier Indian [IA.UL] in 2006. EADS expects the various projects will generate revenue of $1bn. (Source: Reuters)
Original content from Battlespace.
EADS is also expanding its engineering centre in Bangalore and will have an integrated technology park in the city by 2010. The EADS investments are a part of the offset for an order of 43 Airbus aircraft by state carrier Indian [IA.UL] in 2006. EADS expects the various projects will generate revenue of $1bn. (Source: Reuters)
Original content from Battlespace.
Technology Opportunities in Defence
Despite a growing trend in the west to 'streamline' and 'right-size' armed forces, defence budgets – although subject to some cuts – remain sizeable, particularly in the technology sector. Both the face of the battlefield and styles of engagement have undergone a rapid evolution over the opening years of the 21st century, creating an environment with an ever-growing demand for innovative solutions and defence departments seem more than ready to pay for it.
"The UK Ministry of Defence funds the second largest programme of R&D after the US."In 2007, according to the US National Science Foundation, some $56bn – accounting for around half of all Federal R&D – was funded by the Pentagon, while the White House proposes increasing the military IT budget to $33.3bn for 2009. In Britain too, a similar pattern emerges. Although the UK's military spending per capita ranks sixth in the world, the Ministry of Defence funds the second largest programme of R&D after the US and has an additional annual budget of more than £6bn to procure military technology.
To read more of this content at Army-Technology.com, click here.
"The UK Ministry of Defence funds the second largest programme of R&D after the US."In 2007, according to the US National Science Foundation, some $56bn – accounting for around half of all Federal R&D – was funded by the Pentagon, while the White House proposes increasing the military IT budget to $33.3bn for 2009. In Britain too, a similar pattern emerges. Although the UK's military spending per capita ranks sixth in the world, the Ministry of Defence funds the second largest programme of R&D after the US and has an additional annual budget of more than £6bn to procure military technology.
To read more of this content at Army-Technology.com, click here.
Some New-ish DARPA Goodies
The Washington Post’s Tom Ricks, best known for his scoops from his contacts at the top of the Pentagon food chain and writing excellent books like Fiasco and Making the Corps, gets tech-y today in a small piece buried in the back pages of the Post.
Seems Ricks has been poking around the DARPA Web site, since he highlights a few technologies that the agency has developed which have started to trickle their way onto the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, including DARPA’s Tactical Ground Reporting System (TIGR), which he describes as a “computerized map” on which soldiers “outline the area where they will operate. Then they watch as icons emerge, showing, in grim detail, the lurking dangers.
By clicking on those, they can bring up not only sites of past hostile action but also photos and background on local leaders -- some to see and others to avoid -- videos of hostile and safe places, and reports from previous patrols… ”
To read more of this content at Aviation Week's ARES blog, click here.
Seems Ricks has been poking around the DARPA Web site, since he highlights a few technologies that the agency has developed which have started to trickle their way onto the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, including DARPA’s Tactical Ground Reporting System (TIGR), which he describes as a “computerized map” on which soldiers “outline the area where they will operate. Then they watch as icons emerge, showing, in grim detail, the lurking dangers.
By clicking on those, they can bring up not only sites of past hostile action but also photos and background on local leaders -- some to see and others to avoid -- videos of hostile and safe places, and reports from previous patrols… ”
To read more of this content at Aviation Week's ARES blog, click here.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Ten Best Never-Used Weapon Systems
Ten Best Never-Used Weapon Systems, From the USSR Ekranoplane to the Puckle Gun
1. Ekranoplan
Dubbed the Caspian Sea Monster, the USSR's top-secret ekranoplan skimmed on a pocket of air just above the water's surface and well below radar. Only a handful were built, and the behemoth never made it out of trials.
2. Marine Corps Space Plane
A few years ago, the Marine Corps proposed Sustain — the Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion project — which would put boots on the ground anywhere in the world within two hours. It made a great PowerPoint presentation.
3. Atomic Airplane
In the 1950s, a rumor spread that the Soviets were working on a nuclear-powered aircraft. Alarmed, the US rushed to finish its own. The hitch: The crew would be exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. One solution offered was to use older pilots.
4. Psychedelics
For years, the US military experimented on its own soldiers with LSD, pot, and 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, hoping to learn how to give foreign armies a bad trip.
5. Sun Gun
The Nazis developed plans to build a space-based reflector that would redirect sunlight into a devastating heat beam. Allied engineers doubted the Germans could do it. They were right.
To read about the next five at Wired Magazine, click here.
1. Ekranoplan
Dubbed the Caspian Sea Monster, the USSR's top-secret ekranoplan skimmed on a pocket of air just above the water's surface and well below radar. Only a handful were built, and the behemoth never made it out of trials.
2. Marine Corps Space Plane
A few years ago, the Marine Corps proposed Sustain — the Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion project — which would put boots on the ground anywhere in the world within two hours. It made a great PowerPoint presentation.
3. Atomic Airplane
In the 1950s, a rumor spread that the Soviets were working on a nuclear-powered aircraft. Alarmed, the US rushed to finish its own. The hitch: The crew would be exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. One solution offered was to use older pilots.
4. Psychedelics
For years, the US military experimented on its own soldiers with LSD, pot, and 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, hoping to learn how to give foreign armies a bad trip.
5. Sun Gun
The Nazis developed plans to build a space-based reflector that would redirect sunlight into a devastating heat beam. Allied engineers doubted the Germans could do it. They were right.
To read about the next five at Wired Magazine, click here.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Future of Military Technology is the Size of a Molecule
Nanoscale materials and components, including some of the tiniest products ever manufactured, have already found their way into communications systems and weapons being used in the war in Iraq. But the role of nanotechnology is still so limited that the Iraq war will more likely be remembered as the last to be fought without its benefits than the first that fully deployed it.
''Most of the materials that would really make a difference are still in the research stage,'' said James Ellenbogen, a nanotechnology analyst for the MITRE Corporation, a leading consultant company for the Defense Department.
To read more of this content at the New York Times, click here.
''Most of the materials that would really make a difference are still in the research stage,'' said James Ellenbogen, a nanotechnology analyst for the MITRE Corporation, a leading consultant company for the Defense Department.
To read more of this content at the New York Times, click here.
Sea Life Being Investigated as Potential Source of New Armour Material
Marine snails, sea urchins, and other animals from the sea are teaching researchers in UC Riverside's Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering how to make the world a better place. Consider, for example, the possibilities of designing a lightweight armor that would protect U.S. soldiers in Iraq from Improvised Explosive Devices. Or, what flexible ceramics might offer industry. Or, how everyone could benefit from new ways of producing and storing energy.
Nature holds these secrets and the answers to the questions that Prof. David Kisailus's research group is learning how to ask. "My hope," Kisailus said, "is that we can truly learn from these organisms how to design, optimize, and synthesize engineering materials that display properties that we as engineers can only dream of."
To read more of this content at Space War's MilTech site, click here.
Nature holds these secrets and the answers to the questions that Prof. David Kisailus's research group is learning how to ask. "My hope," Kisailus said, "is that we can truly learn from these organisms how to design, optimize, and synthesize engineering materials that display properties that we as engineers can only dream of."
To read more of this content at Space War's MilTech site, click here.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Dude, Never Mind Flying Cars, Where's My Flying Humvee?
Editor's Note: The following pair of articles appeared recently on the Social News site Newsvine, prompting Threat Centre personnel to wonder, if we can make a prototype flying car, why can't we make a flying humvee? That would be a novel way of dealing with the IED threat in Iraq.
Is Your Flying Car Just Around the Corner? Part 1: Back to the Retro Future.
Is Your Flying Car Just Around the Corner? Part 2: Gernsback's Revenge.
Is Your Flying Car Just Around the Corner? Part 1: Back to the Retro Future.
Is Your Flying Car Just Around the Corner? Part 2: Gernsback's Revenge.
Successful Test Flight for India's Lakshya Microlight UAV
BALASORE: DEFENCE scientists test-flown an advanced version of pilotless target aircraft (PTA) - Lakshya- from the Chandipur defence base, 15 km from here, on Wednesday.
The indigenously developed microlight unmanned air vehicle (UAV) was flown from the integrated test range (ITR) at about 12 noon.
Defence sources said Lakshya’s trial was undertaken with an improved engine and other sub-systems to check the viability of the improved version of the engine and its duration enhancement. The engine and sub-systems have been developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bangalore, a wing of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the sources informed.
To read more of this content at NewIndPress.Com, click here.
The indigenously developed microlight unmanned air vehicle (UAV) was flown from the integrated test range (ITR) at about 12 noon.
Defence sources said Lakshya’s trial was undertaken with an improved engine and other sub-systems to check the viability of the improved version of the engine and its duration enhancement. The engine and sub-systems have been developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bangalore, a wing of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the sources informed.
To read more of this content at NewIndPress.Com, click here.
Anjani to Supply Lightweight Dyneema Panels for Mine Protection Vehicles
Anjani Technoplast Press Release
New Delhi – Anjani Technoplast of Noida, India, recently won a keenly contested $4.6 million global tender from Ordnance Factory Medak, India, for the supply of lightweight dyneema panels for mine protection vehicles. The dyneema panels have to be supplied before the end of September this year.
With a large number of high-capacity presses and water-jet cutting machines for accurate profile cutting, Anjani is one of the few companies in the world which can execute a project of this size within the timeframe given by Ordnance Factory Medak. Anjani is proud to be a part of this prestigious development project.
Anjani is a leading manufacturer of ballistic protection products and has been actively engaged with various defence organisations in India in developing personal and vehicle armouring solutions for Indian paramilitary, police and defence forces.
For more information on this company:
Anjani Technoplast - Bulletproof Vests, Bulletproof Helmets, Composite Panels, Hard Armour Panels and Bomb Blankets
New Delhi – Anjani Technoplast of Noida, India, recently won a keenly contested $4.6 million global tender from Ordnance Factory Medak, India, for the supply of lightweight dyneema panels for mine protection vehicles. The dyneema panels have to be supplied before the end of September this year.
With a large number of high-capacity presses and water-jet cutting machines for accurate profile cutting, Anjani is one of the few companies in the world which can execute a project of this size within the timeframe given by Ordnance Factory Medak. Anjani is proud to be a part of this prestigious development project.
Anjani is a leading manufacturer of ballistic protection products and has been actively engaged with various defence organisations in India in developing personal and vehicle armouring solutions for Indian paramilitary, police and defence forces.
For more information on this company:
Anjani Technoplast - Bulletproof Vests, Bulletproof Helmets, Composite Panels, Hard Armour Panels and Bomb Blankets
Raytheon Brings 'Iron Man' Suit to Life
"Raytheon is bringing 'Iron Man' to life, according to EETimes. 'The movie opens in theaters worldwide today, but the real "iron man" has already been under construction at Raytheon Company (Salt Lake City, Utah) since 2000. Raytheon's Exoskeleton project is the brainchild of project leader Stephen Jacobsen and is being funded by the U.S. Army. The project, according to the company, permits soldiers to don an Exoskeleton suit that amplifies their strength — enabling them to lift 200-pound payloads without tiring.'"
To read similar content at Slashdot, click here.
Editor's Note: for additional reading, check out Wired's Danger Room article, "How to: Build Your Own Iron Man Armor"
To read similar content at Slashdot, click here.
Editor's Note: for additional reading, check out Wired's Danger Room article, "How to: Build Your Own Iron Man Armor"
India's BEML Opens Office in China
New Delhi, May 1: Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML), a defence PSU under the ministry of defence (MoD), has broken new ground by opening an overseas office in Shanghai, China.
BEML, which initially was engaged with earth-moving equipment for construction projects, is also now engaged in rail and metro projects, technological services, contract mining and trading of company products. The office, meant to strengthen BEML’s mining equipment manufacturing operations, was opened on Wednesday in the presence of the Indian Consul General in China.
"By opening up its China office, Bharat Earth Movers Ltd would be sourcing critical components and machinery parts required for the manufacturing of its mining and constructions equipments as also for the manufacture of wagons and railcoaches, taking best advantage of the position of China as the low-cost centre for global outsourcing of engineering parts and aggregates," BEML stated.
To read more of this content at Bengal's Howrah News Service, click here.
BEML, which initially was engaged with earth-moving equipment for construction projects, is also now engaged in rail and metro projects, technological services, contract mining and trading of company products. The office, meant to strengthen BEML’s mining equipment manufacturing operations, was opened on Wednesday in the presence of the Indian Consul General in China.
"By opening up its China office, Bharat Earth Movers Ltd would be sourcing critical components and machinery parts required for the manufacturing of its mining and constructions equipments as also for the manufacture of wagons and railcoaches, taking best advantage of the position of China as the low-cost centre for global outsourcing of engineering parts and aggregates," BEML stated.
To read more of this content at Bengal's Howrah News Service, click here.
BAE Technology May Have Been Compromised, Says Pentagon
A war of words has broken out between BAE Systems and the US government after a report by the Pentagon inspector general found that sensitive weapons technology linked to a major fighter jet programme may have been "compromised" due to allegedly lax oversight by the UK defence company.
The report didn't cite a single instance of leaks from the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme, the largest defence project in the world. It is being led by Lockheed Martin, the US defence giant, along with several foreign groups, including BAE. But the report said: "The advanced aviation and weapons technology for the JSF programme may have been compromised by unauthorised access at facilities and in computers at BAE Systems, and incomplete contractor oversight may have increased the risk of unintended or deliberate release of information to foreign competitors."
To read more of this content at The Independent, click here.
The report didn't cite a single instance of leaks from the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme, the largest defence project in the world. It is being led by Lockheed Martin, the US defence giant, along with several foreign groups, including BAE. But the report said: "The advanced aviation and weapons technology for the JSF programme may have been compromised by unauthorised access at facilities and in computers at BAE Systems, and incomplete contractor oversight may have increased the risk of unintended or deliberate release of information to foreign competitors."
To read more of this content at The Independent, click here.
Israeli Defence Minister: Iran Within Two Years of a Nuclear Bomb
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Friday he believed Iran could be within two years of developing a nuclear bomb.
'It's possible that it may take another two years, maybe four ... it's all the same if international pressure and other possibilities don't stop the process,' Barak was quoted as saying in Friday's online edition of the Israeli newspaper the Jediot Achronot.
When asked whether Israel 'was prepared to be alone with the problem,' Barak said, 'The State of Israel is the strongest country in the entire region, even at a range of 1,500 kilometres.'
To read more of this content at Monsters & Critics News, click here.
'It's possible that it may take another two years, maybe four ... it's all the same if international pressure and other possibilities don't stop the process,' Barak was quoted as saying in Friday's online edition of the Israeli newspaper the Jediot Achronot.
When asked whether Israel 'was prepared to be alone with the problem,' Barak said, 'The State of Israel is the strongest country in the entire region, even at a range of 1,500 kilometres.'
To read more of this content at Monsters & Critics News, click here.
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