Spy movies and drone imagery may give people the idea that the problem of night vision has been definitively solved, but in fact the past few years have seen a vigorous three-way technology conflict at the lower end of the market, where users need portable and wearable sensors and want to fit very small unmanned vehicles—and large fleets of trucks—with night-vision devices.
Israel Shipyards is expanding the Saar class of missile boats used by the country's navy and also sold to foreign customers. The company is making the ship a “mini-corvette,” with longer range—beyond 3,000 nm—and sophisticated defensive capabilities. The move addresses the need for Israel and other nations to project power well beyond their territorial waters.
A Chinese military unit, probably with 1,000-plus handpicked personnel, has conducted cyberespionage against defense targets in the U.S. and worldwide since 2006, a new study by network security specialist Mandiant concludes. Its release coincides with the director of the Joint Strike Fighter program's statement to a U.S. Senate committee that he lacks confidence in the measures taken by industry to protect the classified and critical technology in the stealthy fighter.
Commo. Stephen Braham Head of Global Ship Integrated Export Team, U.K. Trade & Investment, Defense & Security Organization Education: Engineering degrees (bachelor's and master's) from Royal Naval Engineering College, Royal Naval Staff College.
Recent technology advancements and risk reduction in the U.S Navy's proposed air and missile defense radar (AMDR) are slashing cost estimates by nearly two-thirds and making it more likely that the sensor suite will survive budget cuts. The technological strides and price cuts put the program on course to deliver a sensor suite relatively soon that not only protects ships against immediate and future missile threats, but helps vessels provide better ballistic missile defense (BMD) for allies.
The U.S. Army is moving forward with development of a 120-mm tank round that will, in one unit of ammunition, combine the capabilities of four different rounds now in use and loaded aboard tanks, and provide two new capabilities. According to the Army News Service, the Advanced Multi-Purpose (AMP) round has an ammunition data link and programmable multimode fuze. The data link is used to select the capability necessary to defeat a target, while the fuze can be set to one of three modes—impact-detonate, detonate-delay, or airburst.
Moving equipment efficiently and economically during NATO's drawdown in Afghanistan poses serious challenges to the major players deployed there. “Everyone fixated on rushing kit into theater. Getting it back is left to chance,” says one British logistics planner.
Mortars, short-range rockets, improvised explosive devices and rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) are insurgents' weapons that military forces deal with by employing superior protection, operational procedures and tactics, and real-time intelligence. When insurgents obtain guided weapons, however, there is a major escalation in the threat level.
Laser beams that measure an object's distance are part of navigation systems in autonomous vehicles. This time-of-flight (TOF) technology has limitations, however, in distance and in imaging objects that do not reflect beams well. Researchers at Heriot-Watt University of Edinburgh, Scotland, developed a TOF system that yields high-resolution 3-D data about objects 1 km (0.6 mi.). The work raises the possibility that the system could not only guide autonomous vehicles but be a portable targeting device.
Most garments protect against contamination from chemical and biological agents by erecting fabric barriers between the body and toxins. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is experimenting with specially spun fibers that incorporate such additives as quaternary ammonium salt biocides, polyoxometalates, fullerenes and phthalocyanines, which spontaneously decontaminate fabrics by neutralizing the chemical and biological agents they contact.
The Pentagon justifiably regards quiet submarines as a threat. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) seeks to neutralize them with DASH, the Distributed Agile Submarine Hunting program, which is developing deep-ocean acoustic nodes that function as maritime satellites, or “subullites,” as Darpa calls them. The low noise of extreme depths enhances deployment of scalable fixed and mobile collaborative sensor platforms that detect (fixed) and track (mobile) submarines over large areas. Darpa recently tested two collaborative prototypes.
No matter how advanced a bolt-action rifle is, it represents 19th-century technology, says Bret Boyd, vice president of sales and marketing at TrackingPoint Inc., a company that is using 21st-century technology to make this type of weapon far more accurate.
The German army officially received its expanded future soldier system on March 7. The IdZ-ES, short for Infanterist der Zukunft-Erweitertes Systeme, goes to the 10th Panzer Div.'s Mountain Infantry Btn. 232, which deploys to Afghanistan in June. Rheinmetall Defense received an order for 30 systems in 2012 and another in January for 60 more. The 60-system order is being delivered in two batches: the first by midyear and the second at year-end. Each system has enough equipment to outfit a 10-man squad.
U.S. Army soldiers could be shooting straighter if the benefits of a new weapons contract materialize. Last month, the U.S. Army Contracting Command of Warren, Mich., announced the award of a firm-fixed-price contract for procurement of up to 120,000 M4 and M4A1 carbines to FN Manufacturing of Columbia, S.C. The projected completion date for the order is Feb. 19, 2018. The maximum value of the contract, which is being allocated in stages, is $76.9 million. The initial stage involves 24,000 rifles and is worth $9.3 million. All eyes will be on the M4A1 side of the order.
The first clear photos of China's new ICBM appeared on Chinese web pages this month, probably taken by a motorist on his cell phone—a common way of revealing new Chinese weapons. The Dong Feng-41 (DF-41) is likely the first mobile Chinese ICBM to be equipped with multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles (MIRV), possibly 10. Citing a U.S. government official, the Washington Free Beacon reported that the DF-41 was tested from the Wuzhai (Xichang) missile test and space launch center last July.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) has selected Lockheed Martin to move forward with a program to build a “flying Humvee” that takes off and flies over roads planted with roadside bombs. Darpa narrowed the Transformer program to two competitors: AAI Textron and Lockheed Martin. Both companies' concepts used ducted fans, but took different approaches to the vehicle.
An Asian shipping company looking to boost its antipiracy defenses started the year by becoming the latest client of the LRAD Corp. of San Diego, maker of long-range acoustic hailing devices that can rumble sound over water for more than a mile and cause hearing damage from 50 ft. away. LRAD stands for long-range acoustic device, the general term for the acoustic systems the company makes.
