Military tech

Five years ago, the U.S. Army launched America's Army, a free first-person-shooter (FPS) computer game based on the Army itself. It received solid reviews, and has been through multiple permutations, including retail versions for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. A new Xbox 360 America's Army game, True Soldiers, ships later this fall.

The Army is now bringing its video game series out of the PC and console and to virtual reality with the Virtual Army Experience. America's Army: VAE is a traveling exhibit presented by the U.S. Army that lets people get a dose of … Read more

"Mother of Satan"--that's what bomb makers call peroxide-based explosives like triacetone triperoxide (TATP), which are easy to make and hard to detect. But a new pen-shaped detector doodad offers hope for those doing time in airport security lines.

The Peroxide Explosives Tester, or PET, by Acro is supposed to help security personnel quickly and accurately identify peroxide-based explosives, from diacetone diperoxide and hexam-methalene-triperoxidediamine to the notorious TATP, a component allegedly used by Mr. Goofy in the shoe bomb he tried to detonate on a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001.

Acro announced this month that it had licensed … Read more

Like its diminutive avian namesake, Boeing's A160T Hummingbird is a whiz at hovering. And it turns out the prototype aircraft can also hoist a hefty load.

The unmanned helicopter this week flew for eight hours--its longest flight to date--and as high as 5,000 feet while burdened with a 1,000-pound payload. The test flight goes a long way toward proving the Hummingbird fit for use in military operations, where it could ferry supplies, sensors or weapons to the battlefield, perform surveillance and target acquisition, or even rescue pilots who've been shot down.

Over time, Boeing wants to … Read more

Medical instrument sterilization is a hot, dirty, expensive business involving chemicals, ozone-depleting aerosols and hazardous waste, but a new plasma technology promises to change the way we kill germs.

Atmospheric Glow Technologies of Knoxville, Tenn., is building a portable medical device called the Steriglow Sterilization System that it says will produce no waste or heat and costs much less to operate than existing technologies.

The process takes plasma, the same stuff found in flat-screen TVs, and creates "short-lived reactive chemical species from air" that neutralizes all biocontaminants. Viruses, bacteria, fungi--it kills them all. It's so effective that … Read more

Turns out the "explosion-proof" computer that's been making the rounds on the gizmo circuit may be safe to use at the gas pump, but it won't do you any good to sit on it while cruising Karbala.

The Ruffneck Zone 1 Computer can be used for virtually any application, in the harshest of environments by the most careless and abusive operators, according to Computer Dynamics. It has a 15-inch touch screen that's readable in any light condition (including direct sunlight), is impact-resistant and can be operated by gloved hands. But no, it's not bomb-proof.… Read more

CNET News.com reports on and posts photos of Caltech's entrant for the DARPA Urban Challenge. This Ford E-350 van, named Alice, is rigged with GPS, LIDAR, and other sensors, the data from which is processed by Caltech's custom programming. The goal for Alice is to negotiate an urban course designated by DARPA without a driver. This Urban Challenge is a new twist on DARPA 2005 Grand Challenge, which ran through the desert. In the Urban Challenge, cars will have to follow basic street rules, like staying in their lanes and obeying traffic signs and signals. The race … Read more

Military and spy tech just keeps getting weirder and weirder. According to Scientific American, Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon's top defense contractor, is designing a microcamera based on the maple seed.

Instead of floating and fluttering on the air, this tiny camera will have two tinier jet boosters to help steer it, or at least keep it aloft. Each device will have its own camera and wireless communications for sending telemetry back to its source. Lockheed's plan is to produce many of these little seed-cameras for dispersal over war zones to monitor conditions and, with the help of different … Read more

Don't book just yet--soon you'll be able to take a space cruise and get a face lift at the same time.

This month, researchers from SRI International and the University of Cincinnati will conduct the first-ever robotic surgery in simulated zero-gravity aboard a NASA C-9 aircraft flying 34,000 feet over the Gulf of Mexico, it was announced yesterday.

The C-9, aka the "Weightless Wonder," will simulate the microgravity of space and variable gravity of military critical care air transports by performing 40 parabolas per flight, each 18 to 25 seconds long.

The experiment will compare … Read more

Three words you don't want to hear around the Simbex's new shock measuring helmet. "Wait! Wear this."

The U.S. Army has awarded $932,000 to Lebanon, N.H.-based Simbex for 20 Head Impact Telemetry (HIT) System-equipped helmets to be used to "measure the shock from explosive devices." The Army wants to determine the amount of head trauma soldiers receive while in combat.

"There has been tremendous interest in better understanding the biomechanics of brain injury following both blunt trauma and blast events," Simbex founder Richard Greenwald said. The technology is … Read more