The Russian navy laid down a new class of missile ship at Zelenodolsk in August. The Project 21631 ship, Grad Sviyazhsk, is one of five planned. The first ship will deploy on the Caspian Sea. Grad Sviyazhsk is a missile version of the Project 21630 Buyan small artillery ships. The first and so far only 21630 ship, Astrakhan, has been in service since 2006. The class was developed for the shallow waters of the Caspian Sea. Two more 21630 ships were laid down at the Almaz shipyard in St. Petersburg in 2005-06, and are to be handed over in 2011-12.
Peacekeepers and civilians in parts of Africa that have been wracked by conflict may gain greater and safer access to areas riddled with land mines due to an innovative animal-training program. A Belgian organization called Apopo is training Gambian pouched rats to sniff out mines. The rats have poor eyesight but an olfactory sense that rivals that of dogs. Apopo trains tethered rats to expect a food reward when they detect the scent of explosives.
Battlefield scanning for muzzle flashes or light off an optic—even an eye—may soon be more accurate. Researchers at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., led by Paul Willson and Venkataraman Swaminathan, are working on a toolbox-sized sensor called a dual-color optical retroscope for this counter-sniping task (right). Software tunes out clutter and false warnings from the sensors’ field of vision. The sensors are a combination of lenses focusing a radiating spectrum of non-damaging light outward. The retroscope picks up reflections bouncing back from enemy lenses.
The day when robots feel what humans feel—at least in a tactile sense—may be near. Engineers at the University of California at Berkeley developed an artificial skin with semiconductors that permits robots to feel objects and gauge how much pressure is required to grip and manipulate them. The material, called e-skin, may eventually be used in prosthetic limbs.
The Indian navy plans to procure six diesel-electric submarines with air-independent propulsion in a deal worth $11 billion—the country’s largest defense program yet. Two boats will be built at the contractor’s shipyard and four at Indian shipyards. A request for information (RFI) has been released for submarines displacing 7,000-8,000 tons, which would make them the largest non-nuclear boats ever and almost twice the size of conventional subs in service anywhere. India’s Scorpene-class submarines, six of which are under construction, displace 1,700 tons.
Eric Wetzel of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and Norman Wagner, professor at the University of Delaware Center for Composite Materials, have worked on armor technology for a decade. One material they codeveloped that shows potential for enhancing Kevlar and other fabrics used in body armor is a shear-thickening fluid (STF) with nanoparticles that acts as “liquid armor” on application.
Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant, 52, has been nominated to be the 20th chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces. If approved by the government, Galant will succeed Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi in February. Galant has been the head of southern command, whose territory includes Gaza, since 2005. He commanded Operation Cast Lead, the 2008-09 war in Gaza, and received praise for his actions behind the lines and in the field.
On Aug. 19, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave the U.S. Army preliminary approval to fly its newly renamed Gray Eagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in national airspace near a desert airfield at El Mirage, Calif., using a “sense-and-avoid” system of ground-based radars, rather than a chase plane and a ground observer, to mitigate the risk of collisions with manned aircraft. Formerly the Extended Range/Multi-Purpose UAV, Gray Eagle is a larger derivative of the armed MQ-1 Predator. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) makes both aircraft.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the potential for conflict in other arid areas such as the Horn of Africa, have manufacturers redoubling their efforts to develop relevant test procedures for combat equipment. Air Dynamics Industrial Systems Corp. of York, Pa., has designed a system that combines programmable levels of sand and dust exposure, along with relevant environmental conditions, in one configurable platform. The Desert Wind sand and dust test chamber was developed under a subcontract from SAIC and engineered to exceed the U.S.
Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley are giving humans one tool that they will no doubt be better at using than robots: a device to rapidly generate realistic 3D maps of enclosed areas. The scientists have developed a prototype of a portable laser backpack that can produce the maps. The work, funded by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Army Research Laboratory, will eventually permit commanders to jointly view the interior of a building and, ideally, confer over a network with each other for mission planning and other objectives.
Reviewed BY Paul McLeary The Iraq Wars And America’s Military Revolution By Keith L. Shimko Cambridge University Press, 2010 249 pp., $27.00 What constitutes a true military revolution? If you think you have a good idea, then a look through Keith L. Shimko’s excellent book, The Iraq Wars and America’s Military Revolution, may change your mind.
Early in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Graham Chapman’s King Arthur is confronted by John Cleese’s faceless Black Knight. Arthur lops off the knight’s arms in a swordfight. “Tis but a scratch,” says the knight, who continues fighting. This came to mind when David Vos, senior director of Rockwell Collins Control Technologies, talked at the AUVSI show about his team’s work on the Automatic Supervisory Adaptive Control (ASAC) system.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Military Balance 2010 report places China third in the number of artillery systems it fields, after Russia and North Korea. But China doubtless exceeds both in resource commitment and breadth of artillery investments. Credited with an estimated 17,700-plus towed, self-propelled and rocket systems, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has at least 56 artillery systems in use, development or available for export. The U.S. Army and Marine Corps, by contrast, have 8,137-plus artillery pieces of roughly 10 types.
Changes in the way airborne imagery is disseminated and processed are having far-reaching and sometimes counter-intuitive effects on surveillance operations. Two examples: Unmanned aircraft now have larger crews than most manned systems, and U.S. Marines in Afghanistan are making tactical use of a sensor that was designed almost 50 years ago to find China’s nuclear weapons.
Tough economic realities looming in defense spending are casting a shadow over U.S. Marine Corps plans for its ground tactical fleet, which will likely soon see orders trimmed or possibly scrapped.
The German military has deployed two unmanned aerial vehicle systems to Afghanistan in the past year. The KZO (German acronym for small aircraft for target acquisition) drone operates with the military’s provincial reconstruction team in Kunduz, while the Heron 1 medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) platform flies from Mazar-e-Sharif air base. Both provide tactical support to German forces and NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in northern Afghanistan.
In an effort to make the most effective use of its massive firepower and advanced communication capabilities against asymmetric enemies skilled in hit-and-run tactics, Israel has been redefining its doctrine of combat operations. Its new strategy for land forces stresses the use of heavily armored vehicles to enable the relentless pursuit of an enemy with minimal casualties, advanced sensors to detect and neutralize threats, and real-time data feeds and communications down to the unit level to enhance situational awareness.
One focus of robotics research is swarming—creating a network of simple and inexpensive machines to accomplish a task collectively that would be too complex for one machine to do. MIT’s latest development in this area might have been useful for the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Researchers at the Senseable City Laboratory developed a prototype robot with a nanomesh fabric that absorbs large quantities of hydrophobic liquids such as oil.
A modern military draws on many disciplines to assure that personnel maintain peak levels of physical and mental readiness. One key area is the development and implementation of life science technologies that enhance operational efficiency. William Selvamurthy, chief controller of life sciences and human resources at India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), works tirelessly to promote innovations in high-tech areas ranging from medical treatments and crop genetics to nano technology.
Tank: Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments Location: Washington Profile: Moderately hawkish, well connected, future-focused Leading the Pentagon’s “family of systems” study of long-range strike options by a few weeks, the CSBA released its own report on the subject in September.
It may not look high-tech, but crews in French army EC665 Tiger HAP combat support helicopters in Afghanistan can now engage in more effective targeting of enemies with a two-component, hand-mounted laser-pointer with infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV) and white-light sources. Developed by Desman SARL of Campan, France, in response to an urgent operational requirement from French procurement agency DGA, the 120 H LA multifunctional pointing system attaches to the back of a crewman’s gloved hand with Velcro straps.
The Italian coast guard has launched a program to field two new flagships in the form of oceangoing offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) with multimission capabilities. With a length of 90 meters (295 ft.), the ships will be larger than any current commissioned vessels. The current capital ships of the service, which is part of the navy but has considerable independence, are five Diciotti-class Series 900 OPVs built by Fincantieri, which displace 430 tons and are 52.8 meters long.
Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, but the war that began with a heralded display of precision-guided munitions and the massive, rapid movement of troops is ending quietly, with U.S. forces hunkered down on large bases in the desert, teaching Iraqi counterparts how to be soldiers.
Catching terrorists before they commit violent acts has been the driving force behind many national security research initiatives since 9/11, but a recent Yale University-led study may be one of the more unusual government-sponsored science programs: the identification of people who are planning a criminal act based on their mental state. Advances in this area could in theory lead to a technology that detects would-be terrorists as they walk through an airport or other secure area.
Security experts regard Israel’s three ports, Haifa, Ashdod and Eilat, as high-profile targets for “mega-terror” attacks. Ashdod especially is one of the most vulnerable sites in Israel. It is within range of some rockets in the Hamas arsenal and contains bromine tanks and other hazardous-chemical-storage facilities that could release highly toxic clouds over nearby urban areas, if attacked.
