If you make the right decision based on inadequate information, you are lucky rather than intelligent. Although many planning decisions (including big ones, where the horizon is years off) must be made on partial information and rely on estimates, “due diligence” involves learning as much as you can. Two running fights over Joint Strike Fighter procurement, in the U.K. and Canada, show how the lack of due diligence can get you in trouble.
An innovation in a welding process could open the door for the U.S. Navy and shipbuilders to construct hulls of marine-grade titanium—a development that would substantially increase strength, decrease vessel weight and eliminate corrosion. The innovation is in friction stir welding, which joins metal with heat created by the high-speed rotation of a spinning pin tool. The pin tool plasticizes—but does not melt—metal, forming a weld as it moves along a joint. Efforts to use it with titanium had failed because the pin tool would erode and mix with the metal, degrading it.
The failure of North Korea's much-publicized rocket launch on April 13 occurred as Japan readied its ballistic missile defense force to destroy the rocket if it fell toward its territory.
Israel Weapon Industries Ltd. (IWI) has added a new version of its legendary submachine gun, unveiling the 9-mm Uzi Pro recently at shows in Chile, Brazil and India. The Uzi Pro was developed with input from the Israel Defense Forces, to produce a lightweight, compact weapon. The design incorporates a closed-bolt operation with blowback to maximize accuracy and safety. The weapon is ergonomically designed for use by right- or left-handed shooters. The firing rate can be set at automatic or semi-automatic.
Northrop Grumman's electro-optical distributed aperture system (EO-DAS) is a feature of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. But the company is looking for new applications of the system, which comprises six wide-angle thermal cameras that produce a constant, spherical video of the infrared (IR) picture around the aircraft.
Laser Detect Systems Ltd. (LDS), an Israeli company, is launching two laser-based scanners that reportedly detect all types of explosives, including liquids, in seconds. The LDS 5500D (see photo) is a tabletop device that uses a patented laser spectroscopy system and algorithms to detect explosives accurately and rapidly, the company says. The unit detects materials in liquid, powder or gel form, in sealed glass or plastic containers, or diluted with substances designed to mask their presence. It also detects explosive residue.
The ScanEagle mini-UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), in use by the U.S. Navy, has logged its first flight powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. The UAV, developed by Boeing subsidiary Insitu Inc. of Bingen, Wash., flew 2.5 hr. with the propulsion module. The flight test is significant since the U.S. Defense Department expects fuel cells to play an increasingly important role in improving the mission capability of UAVs and other platforms. One benefit of fuel cells for UAVs such as ScanEagle is reduced weight.
The business of being a sniper could soon become a little easier—at least for U.S. Army shooters. The Army is continuing development of its next-generation technology for sniper scopes and marksman sights for extended range known as the Integrated Ballistic Reticle System (IBRS) program. Bids were first solicited in 2010. Since then, the Army has completed two phases of the program, and in April selected L-3 Integrated Optical Systems of Pittsburgh to continue development of the technology in a third phase, which is to last 12 months.
The U.S. Navy's new robotics lab in Washington features realistic replicas of a Southeast Asian rain forest, sandstorm-swept desert and choppy coastal waters. Opened this spring, the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research (LASR) boasts 50,000 sq. ft. of space, and is designed to simulate real-world environs in which to test unmanned systems. The lab, which cost $18 million to build, isn't a substitute for operational testing of robots in the field, but can be used to avoid costly trips for environmental testing in places such as Hawaii.
Not trying to say that all the 'molly-coddling' of N.K. that's been happening is getting us anywhere, but shooting down one of their test missiles just seems a little too dangerous—sort of like smoking in the powder magazine. —Pappy on a post about possibly shooting down North Korea's latest rocket
The U.S. Air Force is looking for one good aluminum alloy. The service wants a higher-strength alternative to alloy 2014, which is widely used in aerospace components and fittings, as well as military vehicles and weapons, due to its machining and forming properties. It also wants an alternative to alloy 2040, developed and produced by Alcoa. This material has enhanced properties compared with 2014 that reduce landing-gear weight, but it's a single-source metal, and costly.
Tank: Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments Location: Washington Profile: Moderately hawkish, well-connected, future-focused Directed-energy weapons (DEW) don't have a good reputation, associated as they are with over-promised and under-delivered programs. It is therefore brave to make a pro-DEW case at a time of budget cuts, but that's what the CSBA's new report does.
Is an offensive cyberweapon equivalent to a nuclear bomb, in that its use requires the approval of a U.S. president? For years, U.S. officials wouldn't acknowledge the existence of cyberweapons, but current and former officials are now debating who has the authority to order an attack, and when. Attacking a foreign computer network would likely require “the president and [defense] secretary to . . . start making decisions,” Gen. Keith Alexander, head of U.S. Cyber Command, said at a recent congressional hearing. It may not always be a direct presidential order.
On a local trip, Editor-in-Chief Bill Sweetman stumbled across this relic: one of 25 surviving 15-in. Rodman guns from the Civil War, still on its mounting at Fort Foote, Md., waiting for the goldern rebs to try something. The milk-bottle shape and a new casting method overcame a minor flaw with previous super-heavy guns, to wit, a tendency to explode when fired.
Reviewed By Pat Toensmeier Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth By Frederick Kempe Berkeley Books, 2011 579 pp.; $29.95 The Berlin Wall symbolized the Cold War. Frederick Kempe writes of the events that led to its construction in 1961, sealing the division of Germany.
