Medical research has made major advances in recent years in treating traumatic brain injury, or TBI (DTI March 2010, p. 33), but armed forces now seek to prevent it altogether by making helmets more effective at protecting soldiers’ brains from the effects of blasts. MSA Gallet of Chatillon-sur-Chalaronne, France, is a European leader in helmet development, notably supplying the helmet for the French Felin soldier-modernization system and part of the U.S. Army’s Advanced Combat Helmet through its parent MSA of Cranberry Township, Pa.
Two German research groups have teamed up to develop a micro-thin spycam—what might be the next generation of portable video camera. The Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research produced a 1-sq.-cm (0.15-sq.-in.), 3-mm-thick (0.1-in.) structured lens array, which reportedly projects clear, sharp images that are visible even in sunlight from a projector the size of a matchbox.
Researchers in the U.K. and U.S. are working to make infantry uniforms capable of detecting the ions produced by blister agents and chemical weapons. The U.K.’s Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) used its “Porton Man” chemical weapon dummy for tests last year in the drive to develop a clothing system that measures penetration of chemical warfare agents. These tests were able to demonstrate real-time monitoring of a blister agent using a lightweight chemical detector underneath an experimental suit.
In the space of six days last month, it was possible to see two extremes in the engineering and management of defense systems and to draw lessons from them. The IDEX show in Abu Dhabi was the debut for two vehicles that emerged from the U.K.’s Light Protected Patrol Vehicle (LPPV) program: Force Protection’s winning Ocelot (or Foxhound), and Supacat’s SPV400.
Consolidation may be underway in one part of the robotics market: explosive ordnance disposal (EOD). Cobham plc of Dorset, England, which develops, supplies and supports defense and aerospace systems, has acquired Telerob of Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, a manufacturer of bomb-disposal robots, in a deal valued at €78 million ($107 million). Telerob produces medium and heavyweight robots and response vehicles for nuclear, biological and chemical threats. Most are for homeland security.
West Point cadet Derek Wales, an electrical engineering major, was watching Internet video of a firefight in Afghanistan and saw that U.S. soldiers pinpointing enemy snipers for artillery fire were fumbling with GPS equipment and compasses. Wales, with fellow EE majors John Eischer and George Hopkins, designed a lightweight target-location module. Called DemonEye, the device incorporates a laser rangefinder, digital compass, GPS and mini computer to calculate target locations rapidly and accurately.
With its ballistic-missile submarine replacement program anchored by milestone authority and a fiscal 2012 request for about $1.1 billion in R&D funding, the U.S. Navy is set to develop and build SSBN(X) boats without sinking the rest of its shipbuilding plan. While it is apparent the Navy plans to use the Virginia-class attack submarine program as a template for the SSBN(X), there is uncertainty about whether the new boomers will resemble a modified Virginia, improved version of the current SSBN model or a hybrid of both.
The iRobot Corp. of Bedford, Mass., is following up its popular PackBot bomb-clearing robot with a new, heavier version, which was scheduled to make its international debut at the IDEX defense trade show in Abu Dhabi last month. The 710 Warrior is for explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), route clearance and intelligence and reconnaissance. The robot is also being equipped with a Taser stun gun, to test its suitability for nonlethal applications. The company doesn’t have orders yet from the U.S.
Some U.S. combat troops wrap 10-ft. coaxial cables into the webbing of their ballistic vests and connect them to radios. They use the cable in place of a cumbersome monopole antenna (see photo) for broadband communications. The procedure is intended to increase their mobility. One problem with this, however, is that a high-frequency antenna varies in performance based on its direction and the materials through which a signal passes. The technique only allows single-channel communication over a short 50-100-meter (160-320-ft.) range.
Red Sky-2, the latest version of Israel Military Industries’ Very Short Range Air Defense system, has been developed as an upgrade for man-portable air-defense missiles. The company displayed the weapon last month at the International Exhibition on Aerospace, Defense and Civil Aviation in Bengaluru, India. The Red Sky-2 system, which can be backpacked into an area and rapidly assembled and deployed, fires common shoulder-launched air-defense missiles such as Stinger (U.S.), Igla (Russia) and Mistral (France).
MBDA, the European missile developer, seeks to broaden its product portfolio by adding naval combat management systems (CMS) to its capabilities. MBDA has developed the Compact Warfare System Package (CWSP) for missile patrol boats, amphibious vessels and support ships, and is pitching the technology to potential buyers.
The U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) plans to conduct another test of a solid-state laser that could some day protect Navy ships. The West Coast test, slated for this month, is part of the Maritime Laser Demonstration (MLD) system, which will demonstrate the ability of high-powered lasers to be used as defensive weapons against such targets as small surface vessels and aircraft. Last year, the Navy and Northrop Grumman completed shore tests of the laser’s ability to track boats.
Russia’s Phazotron-NIIR Corp. has officially revealed the operational parameters of the production version of its Zhuk-AE active, electronically scanned array radar for the MiG-35 fighter. A promotional leaflet that was distributed at the Aero India International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition at Yelahanka air force station in Bengaluru last month reported that the production radar will have a larger 688-mm-dia. (27-in.) antenna, compared with the 600-mm version of the Zhuk-AE prototype that has been tested on the aircraft so far.
Armored vehicles have traditionally been built with large manned turrets or simple ring- or pintle-mounted machine guns, each of which has drawbacks, notably in weight, crew exposure and increased vehicle silhouette. Recent advances in weapons and sensors, however, make the remotely controlled weapon station (RCWS) a viable option for more platforms, since it can reduce a vehicle’s weight and size and protect the crew.
In the 1980s, the Pentagon was so concerned about the ability of the military to maintain power essential for operations after a Soviet nuclear attack that it considered installing small nuclear reactors at bases around the world. More than 20 years later, national security threats have changed, but the idea of having military bases equipped with small nuclear reactors is gaining currency, and companies are touting their designs to the Pentagon.
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems of Israel continues to expand the Iron Dome counter-rocket, artillery and mortar (C-RAM) system (see p. 26). The company unveiled a surface-to-surface derivative called Iron Flame, at the international Conference on Fire and Combined Arms in an Urban Terrain, held recently by Israel’s Artillery Corps Association in Zikhron Ya’akov. The low-cost, autonomous weapon, said to weigh “several tens of kilograms,” employs an Iron Dome missile interceptor stripped of its advanced proximity seeker and fuze.
Database computing as used by the military, government and business is inherently inefficient, expensive, potentially unreliable and causes major disruptions to service when a system crashes. Last year alone, dozens of state agencies throughout the U.S., along with at least one large bank and various companies had their websites go down—with loss of services and access to customers and employees—due to malfunctions in their main database computers.
Robotic hands grasp objects but are not dexterous enough to handle and manipulate small items such as keys and tableware. Sensors, motors and controls provide some dexterity, but make hands complex, expensive and, because of the amount of computing required for operations, slow. Researchers at Harvard and Yale found a way to make robot hands more sensitive—pattern them after cockroach legs.
Although rocket, artillery and mortar (RAM) attacks have not been as lethal in recent conflicts as improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and suicide bombings, they pose an ongoing threat to military installations, forward operating bases, infrastructure and civilian areas. Work underway in the U.S., Europe and Israel is focused on developing effective and economical counter-RAM systems that provide coverage and, importantly, a sense of security to troops and civilians.
Reviewed By Pat Toensmeier War Over The Trenches: Air Power and the Western Front Campaigns 1916-1918 BY E.R. Hooton Midland Publishing, 2010 352 pp., $36.95
Editor-in-Chief Bill Sweetman posted an obituary on Ares last month for helicopter pioneer Charles Kaman, who died on Jan. 31 at 91. Sweetman wrote: “One of [the K-Max helicopter’s] unique features is obvious: the side-by-side, canted, intermeshing rotors. Like all counter-rotating helos, the Kaman design doesn’t throw power away with an antitorque rotor, and does not unduly mind hovering in a crosswind, a useful attribute in tight corners.” Other thought-provoking observations made Ares a topical read in February. Here are a few:
Hosni Mubarak’s decision to step down as Egypt’s president on Feb. 11 has placated protesters, who had been demanding he leave office since January. The government is being run, at least for now, by Defense Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. But while the demonstrators got what they wanted, the unrest in Egypt that preceded Mubarak’s resignation could have a broad impact on regional stability and geopolitics.
On Feb. 3, the Pentagon’s Defense Acquisition Board cut several remaining pieces of the Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) modernization project, while moving the two survivors into separate program offices.
This fall marks the 10th anniversary of U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan. Despite more than $50 billion in reconstruction funds that have poured into the country—$29 billion of which have gone to Afghan security forces, with an additional $11 billion slated to be spent this year—even the most optimistic assessments are that little progress has been made in rule of law, governance and security.
