Russia’s invasion of Georgia wasn’t anything special from a military standpoint. Air and ground assets poured across the border, attacking in much the same way that mechanized armies have for a century. What was new was a form of warfare widely touted but imperfectly understood—cyber attacks against Georgian and Russian Internet news sites and select Georgian government sites, temporarily disabling them with denial-of-service (DOS) actions that did little damage but effectively removed them from being a factor in the conflict.
A development at Cornell University could lead to devices that extract purified water from above the water table, even pulling it out of thin air, so to speak, by trapping the vapor associated with humidity. Assistant Prof. Abraham Stroock, along with Prof. Hector Abruna and Tobias Wheeler, a graduate student, designed a “microtree” out of a 1-mm.-thick membrane of polyhydroxyethyl methacrylate hydrogel, a soft, biocompatible material used in contact lenses.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency successfully test-fired a high-energy chemical laser on Sept. 7 at Edwards AFB, Calif., during ground testing for the Airborne Laser (ABL) missile-defense program. The ABL is designed to destroy ballistic missiles in the boost phase of flight. The laser was fired for the first time on board the modified Boeing 747-400F aircraft that will be the weapon’s platform. The firing caps a 10-month effort to install and ready the laser for further tests.
The change in leadership at the U.S. Air Force last June may in part be responsible for a decision by the service to postpone plans to make USAF’s new cyber warfare unit a command on Oct. 1. According to an Air Force representative, plans for Cyber Command are in a “pause” until Secretary Michael B. Donley, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz and other senior leaders decide how to proceed. A Corona meeting of generals is scheduled for this month, the representative says, at which a decision is likely to be made about how to structure the unit.
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has developed a hybrid passive/reactive armor system that defeats a range of threats to armored vehicles. Called Aspro-MT, the material withstands armor-piercing rounds from heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades (RPG), improvised explosive devices, explosively formed projectiles and high-speed fragmentation from 155-mm. artillery rounds. Rafael, which added the product to its Aspro line, is touting the armor for the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected (MRAP) vehicle program and Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (see story, p. 46).
Boeing has developed a cargo handling and transport trailer that replaces or augments trailers and pallets used to load, unload and transport aircraft cargo. The Joint Recovery and Distribution System (Jrads) uses hydraulic lifts and rollers to raise and lower the deck of the trailer, tilt it forward or back and side-to-side. The Jrads trailer transports loads of up to 35,000 lb. on paved and unpaved roads.
Erecting a more formidable defense of computer networks by analyzing which components are most prone to hacking is the goal of software developed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Network Security Planning Architecture (NetSPA) processes information about networks and the individual machines and software running on them, and creates a graph that shows how they can be hacked. System administrators can review the graph and decide what actions to take, or NetSPA will make recommendations about how to fix obvious weaknesses.
Battlefield medicine is one target of a high-resolution microscope no bigger than a dime. Changhuei Yang, assistant professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering at the California Institute of Technology, says the optofluidic microscope he and colleagues developed combines computer-chip technology with microfluidics (small-scale fluid flow). Primary uses would be to analyze blood samples and check water for pathogens. The device has no lens. It uses a layer of metal coated on the grid of a charge-coupled device sensor that can be illuminated by local light.
The next step in precision-guided weaponry is now being demonstrated in Israel: the use of portable and handheld laser designators to guide missiles fired from well behind the front lines. Laser-guided weapons offer high precision, measurable control and, importantly, the ability to be effectively integrated within joint-force environments based on NATO-standard coding to coordinate target designation and weapons. This standard has created an unofficial battlefield language that enables mutual support and coordination between multinational units.
Russia’s arms export agency Rosoboronexport opened its shop window to international customers in August at IDELF 2008 in Moscow, the defense exhibition for land forces. A lot of up-to-the-minute hardware was on display, and Deputy Director General Igor Sevastianov talked about increased international cooperation as an element of Russia’s export plans.
When Selex Sistemi Integrati began developing a line of radars in 2006, it wanted a platform that would be versatile and inexpensive to operate and support. The result is Lyra, a family of small radars with a common base that is configurable for a number of applications. Lyra comes in three models—10, 50 and 80—that can be used as surface-movement radar at airports, for coastal surveillance and naval traffic control, on battlefields and for border security.
A debate about the effects of blast trauma could influence equipment design, diagnoses and treatment. Neurologist Ibola Cernak of Johns Hopkins University has studied blast trauma since the Balkans war. She maintains that traumatic brain injury (TBI) results from blast waves that move through the torso and into the brain via major blood vessels. This creates neurological effects that are not always immediately apparent. Conventional thinking has been that blast waves injure organs like the lungs and bowel. The U.S.
NII Stali, a Russian designer of protection systems, demonstrated its SPMZ-2E electromagnetic defense system for armored vehicles at the recent IDELF land forces expo in Moscow. It is designed to protect tanks and other combat vehicles from mines with magnetic fuses. Company officials claim that with the SPMZ-2E, tanks can pass over minefields without waiting for support. The system generates a 2-3-meter (6.5-10-ft.)-wide electromagnetic field around a tank that detonates or blocks the magnetic fuse of a mine well before the vehicle crosses it (see photo).
Armored combat vehicles are incorporating advances in guided weapons, active and reactive protection, automation and vision systems to increase tactical effectiveness. One area where these technologies come together is remotely operated weapon stations, which improve crew protection and provide transformational capabilities. These include extending operability under limited visibility, accelerating target engagement through integration of sensor, platform and weapons, and expanding semi-autonomous battlefield capabilities.
The Ares web site featured live reports from the Farnborough International Air Show outside London in July. Aviation Week editors filed at least five weblog posts per day, many of which appeared on Ares. Reading our coverage was the next best thing to being there.
Degaussing coils conduct electric currents to cloak a ship’s magnetic field, making it difficult to detect by magnetic sensors and magnetically activated mines. The copper coils, installed along the circumference of a hull, are effective but heavy, and require an elaborate infrastructure. An innovative technology has the potential to dramatically reduce the weight, cost and space needed for degaussing coils, while increasing their performance. The U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s Carderock Div.
Along with 1,000 new troops, Bundeswehr forces in Afghanistan will draw on 50 new Dingo 2 armored vehicles from Krauss-Maffei Wegmann by the end of the year. Berlin is spending $214 million on the order, which includes four battle-damage repair variants, options for 44 additional vehicles, plus 230 light (FLW 100) and 190 heavy (FLW 200) remotely operated weapon stations. The modular stations won over procurement officials during trials last year.
The MIT Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies is dissecting what may be a viable design for body armor. A fish with prehistoric bloodlines called Polypterus senegalus has scales in multiple layers that act as an armored suit. Researchers say it protects internal organs during attack. P. senegalus is a freshwater fish from Africa whose family tree goes back 96 million years. Each scale has four different layer materials. In a U.S.
Consumers aren’t the only ones feeling the pinch of higher fuel prices. The U.S. military, the largest user of petroleum products in the world, takes a huge hit when prices rise. Every $1-per-barrel increase in oil costs the Pentagon about $130 million. The Air Force alone spent $12.6 billion on fuel in 2007, and expenditures will be greater this year, which is why USAF wants all its aircraft using synthetic fuel blends by 2011. Recent tests of 50/50 blends of petroleum and synthetic fuels, including biofuels (DTI June, p.
NASA Glenn Research Center has developed helic composite trusses of shape-memory polymer (SMP) that deploy into strong, lightweight structures for space, aerial and ground platforms. The trusses compress after use for storage or transportation. In a NASA Tech Briefs report, the trusses are described as “simple, light and affordable alternatives to articulated mechanisms and inflatable structures.” Fabricated of glass-reinforced thermoset polymers, they yield high torsion, bending and compression stiffness.
As micro air vehicles become smaller, individual soldiers may use them as their own tactical reconnaissance assets. Researchers say that micro air vehicles (MAV) will look like insects, which is no coincidence. “It’s in recognition of the capabilities we hope to utilize,” says Aaron Penkacik, vice president of advanced systems and technology at BAE Systems, the industrial lead in a program to develop technology for collaborative swarms of miniature robots for complex terrain.
Vision Systems International of San Jose, Calif., has begun delivering its Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) display sight for use in 145 U.S. Air Force F-15E fighters. The system provides pilots with a “first look, first shot” weapons-engagement capability, and is in use by U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F pilots. JHMCS puts targeting, weapons and aircraft performance data on a helmet visor that’s less than 3 in. from a pilot’s eye. A pilot directs weapons with the system by pointing his head at a target.
It happens all the time. Despite years of research and development and millions in expenditures, U.S. Army procurement programs are unceremoniously dumped. A recent turnaround by the Army, however, shows that “no” doesn’t always mean “no,” and that a lot of good can come out of rethinking a program that’s been thrown aside.
Defense contractor Indra Sistemas of Madrid doesn’t always get the attention that larger rivals in Europe and North America receive. But that may change. The company wants to expand sales of its radars for air, land and sea deployment, and move ahead with ventures in satellite technology, border surveillance and flight-data processing.
One of the first active electronically-scanned array (AESA) radars based on the latest generation of X-band transmit/receive (T/R) modules from EADS Defense Electronics is about to begin trials with the German military. The radar, known as TRGS (Tactical Radar for Ground Surveillance), has been ordered for the military’s ground-surveillance radar program. It will be fielded in two versions: on a tripod and integrated in an extendable mast on Dingo 2 lightly-armored wheeled reconnaissance vehicles from Krauss-Maffei Wegmann.
