Military tech

Laser gunship hits $30 million bulls-eye

The U.S. Air Force has awarded Boeing a new contract worth up to $30 million for the next phase of development on the Advanced Tactical Laser.

The ATL is a C-130H aircraft outfitted with a 12,000-pound high-energy chemical laser module that would be used as a weapon against ground targets. It's the smaller sibling of the Airborne Laser, a highly modified 747 under development that packs a similar weapon but that would be used against ballistic missiles.

While the 747-centric ABL is designed to fire its laser through a bulbous nose apparatus, the ATL totes a belly turret reminiscent of the manned versions used in some World War II bombers.

The new Extended User Evaluation contract marks the start of a transition for the ATL, which Boeing has been working on as an Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration project. The EUE phase means another round of ground and flight tests, along with "hands-on operation" for the Air Force and other potential users.

Why use a laser when the Air Force already has a wide array of missiles and bombs at its disposal? (The standard gunship variant of the C-130 can already be equipped with 40mm and 105mm cannons.) "Little to no collateral damage," Boeing says, thanks to the laser weapon's "ultra-precision engagement capability." That is, think laser pointer with extreme prejudice.

In addition, the laser would presumably strike more or less silently--no thump-thump-thump or rat-a-tat-tat. (Note, 11:30 a.m. PDT: A reader writes in to say that high-power lasers operating in the atmosphere are anything but silent, perhaps because of ionizing the air - a la lightning.)

For use against missiles, mortars, and the like, laser weapons are intended to heat up and weaken the metal skin of the projectile, causing it to rupture while in flight. Against ground targets, the ATL could, say, zap fuel tanks or even vehicle tires--if it could hold focus long enough.… Read more

Space-rugged robot put to volcano test

Scarab, a robot developed by Carnegie Mellon University with support from NASA, is about to be tested at Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano to prove its fitness for the extreme conditions of space.

The robot was developed by the Lunar Rover Initiative, a group of scientists from the Field Robotics Center at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute. The test mission, intended to mimic a lunar rover mission, will have Scarab climb, drill, extract, and analyze samples, CMU announced Tuesday.

The dormant volcano and Hawaii's highest mountain, Mauna Kea is best known for its elite observatory of astronomical telescopes. But on this mission, scientists will be looking within instead of out at the universe.

The 400-kilogram (880-pound) robot has a suspension system that allows it to climb or drive on steep inclines of sand and rock. Scarab's November 1-13 mission will take place about two-thirds of the way up to Mauna Kea's peak at an elevation of 9,000 feet. The robot will take samples from the dormant volcano.

One of Scarab's innovative tools specifically being tested during the November mission is a drill from Norcat (Northern Centre for Advanced Technology) and a chemical analysis device from NASA.… Read more

'60 Minutes' video: Drone warfare in Iraq

One technology more than any other has stood out as a success story for the U.S. military in Iraq: unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs.

The best-known of the UAVs, the MQ-1 Predator, has evolved from its early use as simply a reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft to become a highly valued weapon in its own right. Armed with Hellfire missiles, it can both track enemy combatants and fire on them. A more recent version of the Predator, called the MQ-9 Reaper, was specifically put into service as a "hunter-killer" drone.

The Pentagon has been so impressed with the … Read more

Submersible airplane, another DARPA 'must have'

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Strategic Technology Office is looking for a submersible aircraft design and invites you to come up with a concept.

Performance requirements call for an aircraft that can cover 1,850km by air or 185km by sea, or 22km underwater in eight hours or less. And this is not some miniature pool hopper; DARPA wants it to be able to carry a crew of eight and a 2,000lb payload.

Speculation on design suggests an old-school snorkel to provide air supply for the power plant while your flying fish is in submerged mode, … Read more

Ultrasound cuff could stanch bleeding on battlefield

A prototype high-tech cuff that detects and treats bleeding from combat injuries got a step closer to the battlefield Monday when Siemens Healthcare announced an exclusive contract with the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency to develop the device.

The Deep Bleeder Acoustic Coagulation cuff, or DBAC, is designed to limit blood loss from penetrating wounds to limbs--as in the case of a gunshot injury--thus reducing the risk of limb loss or death.

Once the cuff is applied, ultrasound technology within the device automatically would identify the location and severity of the bleeding. This in turn would trigger therapeutic ultrasound elements … Read more

A.I.-controlled helicopter: Seriously, need I say more?

On Monday, a 4-foot-long helicopter equipped with an artificial-intelligence system developed by computer scientists at Stanford University flew over the campus, according to Reuters. The helicopter had taught itself to fly by watching the aerobatics of a radio-controlled helicopter flown by a human. Also on Monday, I got my Warlock to level 66 in World of Warcraft. Yeah, I think I need to reevaluate my priorities.

The self-controlled mini-hopper performed flips, rolls, pirouettes, stall-turns, knife-edges, and an inverted hover over a field. Adam Coates, a Ph.D. student who worked on the project, said the machines can fly maneuvers at … Read more

Photos: Tools of the Hurricane Hunters

As Hurricane Ike descended upon the upper Texas coastline late last week, it was business as usual for the Hurricane Hunters of the U.S. Air Force.

Aircraft and crews of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron were flying nonstop in and out of the most violent parts of Ike on their standard mission--getting data on hurricanes from the inside. That information can help improve the accuracy of National Hurricane Center forecasts and alerts by some 30 percent, no small matter at all in trying to prepare public authorities and the general public for what to expect.

The Hurricane Hunters fly … Read more

Unmanned stealth jet could transform naval aviation

Construction of the X-47B unmanned, tailless, stealth jet is ahead of schedule, with the first flight scheduled for November 2009, reports defense contractor Northrop Grumman.(pdf)

The X-47B is expected to be the first tailless UAV jet to operate off an aircraft carrier, which includes catapult launches and arrested landings; to do that it will also need to be capable of maneuvering precisely and autonomous around the flight deck. But none of that is expected to happen until sea trials in 2011.

The plane, developed under the Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) program, has the "potential to … Read more

Hep C test for walking blood banks

A new test to screen blood donors for hepatitis C (HCV) is showing promise, having scored the highest against five other systems during an evaluation by Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, according to developer OraSure Technologies.

When there's a shortage of blood for transfusions on the battlefield, medics turn to the Walking Blood Bank, i.e. any available soldier. However, short of prescreening every potential donor or using other time-consuming methods, there has been no way to be sure that a donor is disease free (PDF).

The company already offers a test for HIV, and now it looks … Read more

Another tour of duty for iRobot

The U.S. Army plans to spend up to $200 million on iRobot products over the next five years, iRobot announced Tuesday.

The contract iRobot previously had with the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation expired in May 2008 and was limited to the purchase of PackBots.

The new contract gives the U.S. Army the freedom to purchase parts, training, and maintenance services from iRobot, as well as any robots from the company's industrial or consumer lines over the next five years, according to iRobot.

However, the $200 million five-year contract that was … Read more