Military tech

Remember the scene in Independence Day where the alien invaders blow up the White House with some sort of interstellar death ray? We Earthlings are still a long, long way from that sort of weaponry--just how far will depend, as so many things do, on budget battles in Washington.

The Pentagon's premier "directed energy" weapons system is a missile-zapping laser that could someday soon be tooling around in a modified 747, if all goes right for a program valued at $3.8 billion. This week, the Airborne Laser aircraft paid a visit to Andrews Air Force Base … Read more

In 2004, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld famously told a National Guardsman serving in Iraq, "As you know, you have to go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you want." The soldier had been inquiring about the readiness of Humvees for combat conditions--specifically, the need to "up-armor" the vehicles to provide better protection against enemy fire.

But even if a nation's military has to do the best it can with the gear it has, it can also plan ahead for the gear it knows it will need. That's the dual … Read more

The 2007 biennial International Paris Air Show got under way Monday with a flurry of announcements, press conferences and flybys from some of the biggest names in the aviation business. The tarmac at Le Bourget Airport outside the French capital was crowded with aircraft of all sizes.

Much of the early buzz at the show went to the commercial rivalry between Boeing and Airbus, both of which have been heavily promoting two marquee aircraft. For Airbus, it's the A380 superjumbo; it's due to go into service with Singapore Airlines in October.

Robots might not be fighting wars by themselves yet, but they're doing their part among the support ranks in the battlefied. As equipment such as pocket-sized spy bots become increasingly common, other types of mobile equipment aren't far behind.

DARPA's "LANdroid" prototype, for instance, is a wireless network router mounted on treads that looks like a tiny tank. Like the ultra-portable spy bots, the palm-sized device is designed to be dropped by Army troops in the field, then autonomously find the best spot to station itself as a network hub, according to OhGizmo.

It's … Read more

Where can you find some primo vintage desert footwear, a discussion of probability algorithms, and a solar-powered robotics operation? Why, it's Crave's slideshow of 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge entrants!

DARPA's 2005 Grand Challenge was a 132-mile Nevada desert race of autonomous vehicles. This year's Challenge is focused on urban operations--navigating a four-way intersection, performing pretty involved street driving moves--all without a human operator. How much time, manpower, equipment, research and programming does it take to teach a car how to drive itself? Read the story.

Seriously though, check out the boots on that dude from the … Read more

The soldier of the future is looking for a little help from Congress in the here and now.

One of the Army's high-tech works in progress is a program called Land Warrior that's designed to loop individual foot soldiers into an electronic battlefield network. Helmets would be fitted out with headphones, microphone and a miniature computer display in an eyepiece. Assault rifles would have a digital video camera along with a laser rangefinder and thermal sight. GPS tech would help soldiers know whether the noise around the corner comes from friend or foe.

The Army this week put … Read more

In dangerous places like Iraq and Afghanistan, robots help to save soldiers' lives and limbs by ferreting out hidden explosives. In return, the soldiers help put the robots back together after a rough day of bomb-sniffing.

One of the main places that fix-up work takes place is the Joint Robotics Repair Facility at Camp Victory in Baghdad. The U.S. Army describes the JRRF as an "all-volunteer workshop" where the goal is quick turnaround--the shop adheres to a four-hour turnaround standard for repairs. If a given robot can't be rebuilt that fast, the soldiers who brought it … Read more

Are you interested in what you'll be driving in the future? Do you need a phone that can get down and dirty? Are the colors on your monitor a tad bit off? If the answers are yes, then we have some photos for you. We look at concept cars, a phone that can withstand the elements, and a tour of a monitor calibration software application.

Photos: Designing the future--Concept car retrospective

Every year at car shows around the world, car makers show off new design ideas. Concept cars represent a transition between current and future models, with only certain … Read more

Thanks to a certain unnamed colleague, Crave often has an inordinate number of posts involving inflatable watercraft. So we feel that apologies are in order for our landlocked readers, especially those in the desert. To show that we're equal-opportunity gadget freaks, today we offer a recreational item that won't be found floating in any backyard pool: a tank. And it's apparently available on Amazon, of all places.

The "JL421 Badonkadonk"--or just "the Donk" to its friends--is an armored land cruiser that can carry up a crew of five (internally or externallly) and … Read more