Surface warfare is in the news as navies tackle pirates off the Somali coast. The impact of piracy reflects the importance of sea lanes to a global economy, and navies are reequipping to deal with high- and low-level threats. One result is the emergence of a variety of antiship missiles. DTI has covered Chinese, Russian and Indian developments, but the rest of the world is also responding to changing threats.
April was the cruelest month for the U.S. Air Force, and Ares commenters sounded off in record numbers to defend or denounce Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, mostly in relation to his cancellation of F-22 production. And—a credit to all involved—neither Godwin’s Law nor John Gabriel’s GIF theory were invoked. In splatter-movie terms, VH-71 is the first cheerleader to say, ‘You guys stay here, I’ll check the basement.’ –Editor-in-Chief Bill Sweetman, making an easy prediction ahead of Gates’s press conference.
The Pentagon wants to know why some soldiers have a knack for detecting improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and whether it is a skill that can be quantified and taught. Early results of an 18-month study by the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization and the Army Research Institute suggest that there are cognitive skills that can be identified in some soldiers and enhanced. They cannot, however, be taught to every soldier.
Israel’s recent successful test of the upgraded Arrow II antiballistic missile system has officials hopeful that the U.S. will continue funding the program, intended to defend against ballistic missile attacks by Iran and Syria. The Israel Aerospace Industries-built Arrow missile intercepted a Rafael Blue Sparrow missile simulating the path of an Iranian Shahab-3 over the Mediterranean. It was the first test of an upgraded Arrow with the new X‑band radar the U.S. installed eight months ago and a new command-and-control system.
There is a scene from Ian Fleming’s Moonraker where James Bond and M play bridge against the villain, Hugo Drax, at an exclusive gambling club in London—with a meticulously fixed deck. As Drax loses, he starts to snarl,“You’re a che—” but then gets a filthy look from the steward that reminds him that gentlemen do not accuse gentlemen of such things, particularly when they are true.
NATO marked its 60th birthday with growth and a renewed commitment to operations in Afghanistan. At a meeting co-hosted Apr. 3-4 by France and Germany, the alliance inducted Albania and Croatia as its 27th and 28th members, and welcomed the full return to membership of France. Premier Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark was unanimously elected secretary-general.
The revolution underway in secure building design is heavily influenced by three criteria: lightweight and sustainable engineering, network integration, and cheap and ubiquitous surveillance. Put another way: A building isn’t designed to have security—a building is security.
As the world’s major navies struggle to deal with the threat from advanced diesel-electric and air-independent propulsion (AIP) submarines operating in shallow waters, it might make sense to pay attention to how the Italian navy is working on antisubmarine warfare (ASW).
There is growing interest in the heavy mortar as an indirect fire-support weapon. Fueling this is a new generation of automatic and semiautomatic weapons that combine the heavy punch of a mortar round with the accuracy and rate of fire of artillery and howitzers. When mounted on light vehicles, these weapons gain strategic and tactical mobility and can support light forces.
The British Army is testing its first batch of Ridgback armored vehicles. The Ridgbacks are slated for deployment to Afghanistan later this year. Ridgbacks are Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles that are several tons lighter and almost 2 meters (6.5 ft.) shorter than the army’s Mastiff 2 MRAPs. The weight and size will better suit the 4 X 4 vehicles in the rough terrain of Afghanistan. The Defense Ministry ordered 157 Ridgbacks in four versions (troop carrier, remote weapon station, command vehicle and ambulance) in an Urgent Operational Requirement.
The first deployment of Italy’s Freccia 8 X 8 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) could be in Afghanistan this year, with troops in NATO’s International Security Assistance Force under newly accelerated plans. The 27.6-ton vehicles (30 tons with extra armor) entered service in February. They will replace Dardo tracked IFVs.
Brown University researchers have developed a system for robotic control via voice commands and hand signals in different environments. Working with a PackBot from iRobot Corp., researchers installed a depth-imaging camera (see photo inset) from CSEM of Zurich, and wrote a custom program that lets the robot recognize gestures and commands, decipher them and respond. The camera uses infrared light to detect objects and establish distances between the robot, the human controller and other objects. The program also provides a visual recognition capability.
Call it winning hearts and minds, nation building or just plain common sense, but one vital lesson the U.S. has learned in Iraq and Afghanistan is that stability operations must be a core competency of the military, especially when fractured societies have no experience with democracy or basic human freedoms.
The physical rehabilitation of wounded soldiers is getting a hand from rock stars and cartoon characters. The hands-on video technology of Nintendo’s Wii is used in therapy to help Canadian soldiers wounded in Afghanistan. The physical aspects of the Wii are popular with therapists, and benefits are being documented by research.
Aircraft and land vehicles can achieve greater fuel efficiency and minimize greenhouse-gas emissions by using airflow control (AFC) technology to reduce drag. AFC involves the placement of actuators at select points along vehicle surfaces to modify airflow. These include wings on aircraft and the back surfaces of land vehicles. According to Prof. Ramesh K. Agarwal of Washington University of St. Louis, actuators reduce transonic drag over wings by 12-15%, and yield a 15-18% reduction in drag on land vehicles.
With an estimated 90% of all illegal drugs that enter the U.S. passing through Mexico, and claims that many of the weapons seized from drug traffickers and at crime scenes in Mexico come from the U.S., it’s obvious that the border between the countries needs more security.
It can be difficult for companies and organizations to put dollars-and-cents figures on the damage hackers do to computer networks. Not so for the Pentagon. Officials there say that in one six-month period they spent more than $100 million to repair damage done by cyberattacks caused by hackers and viruses.
Armed forces need more and more stored electrical power, for everything from vehicle propulsion to portable communication devices. Batteries, capacitors and other energy-storage systems, however, are inefficient—they don’t have the density, high power or recharge speed necessary for optimal use. Scientists at the Maryland NanoCenter may have a solution in electrostatic nanocapacitors, which they claim are up to 10 times more efficient than conventional devices at storing energy, producing high power and achieving fast recharge rates. Prof.
Concern is growing over China’s development of a long-range, precision-strike antiship ballistic missile (ASBM). In a discussion of the weapon in this year’s annual China Military Power report to Congress, the Defense Dept. concludes the capability is significant, “as it provide[s] China with preemptive and coercive options in a regional crisis.”
The U.K. Defense Ministry is looking to improve the efficiency of its battlefield and humanitarian medical services with Bulk Medical Storage Facilities (BMSFs), temperature-controlled containers that are designed to safely transport blood, plasma and other perishable supplies to forward field hospitals. The ministry is investing approximately £3 million ($4.4 million) in the project, which includes 88 man-portable refrigerator systems that will be used to carry blood to wounded soldiers on the battlefield. The BMSFs are being built by General Dynamics UK.
The U.S. Navy is placing a great deal of reliance on a single technology to defeat submarines close to the fleet: improved radar that can automatically detect and identify submarine periscopes, even in high sea states.
The Apr. 6 announcement by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates of program cuts and realignments was merely the start of a long debate over which will prevail, which will be reversed and which traded off for others. Land-based tactical air was one of the big losers. The U.S. Air Force has lost most hope of getting more F-22s—or indeed any new fighters of any kind until the F-35A is operational. Instead, Gates indicated that the F-35A ramp-up would be faster. He also indicated that 250 of the oldest Air Force fighters would be retired during 2010.
David J. Gorsich Chief Scientist, Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, Warren, Mich. Age: 40 Education: B.S., electrical engineering, Lawrence Technological University; M.A., applied mathematics, George Washington University; Ph.D., applied mathematics, MIT.
