navy

At home with the Blue Angels

PENSACOLA, Fla.--If you've ever watched a Blue Angels show, you may not have known that when the F-18 pilots are screaming across the sky, less than 2 feet apart, they're probably not looking straight ahead.

Rather, they're most likely looking sideways at the fighter just off their side, ensuring that they know exactly where it is as they rocket forward at several hundred miles per hour.

That seems like a smart thing, even though it is kind of disconcerting to think the pilots aren't exactly looking where they're going, since no one wants these … Read more

US Navy's new policy: Only open software

The US Navy just announced a bold IT policy: no more proprietary software:

"The days of proprietary technology must come to an end," [Vice Admiral Mark Edwards, deputy chief of naval operations for communications] said. "We will no longer accept systems that couple hardware, software and data."

The reasons? Innovation and cost are considered superior when delivered by open source and open standards:… Read more

Navy buttons-up new working uniform

Here's the new Navy enlisted, BDU-style uniform as displayed at the Defense Logistic Agency exhibit booth, Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association West 2008 (AFCEA) conference in sunny San Diego, CA.

The new Navy Working Uniform (NWU) will include several cold weather options, such as a unisex pullover sweater, a fleece jacket, and a parka. It comes in three camo patterns, the main one being the blue/gray variant you see here, with woodland and desert digital palette for those going ashore.

The permanent press, 50/50 nylon and cotton blend NWU will replace seven different styles of current … Read more

Protector all set to go against pirates

Pirates have grown mighty bold around the Horn of Africa of late--so bold that the Navy is reportedly considering the deployment of 30-foot, armed robo-boats to challenge the dusty buccaneers. Surely they'll mend their ways.

The Navy began testing the Israeli Protector unmanned surface vehicle (USV) last year. There is a civilian version of these rigid-hulled inflatables built by Rayglass Boats in New Zealand, a common enough sight around any harbor that's even used as the official chase boat for the America's Cup. But you'd hardly equate these with the unmanned version.

Extensively tweaked by defense … Read more

Trimaran gets some respect from the Navy

Maybe it's the trimaran's festive appearance that put off the scrambled-egg crowd, but one still wonders why the U.S. Navy took so long to adapt this 4,000-year-old Polynesian technology to its combat ship inventory.

In any case, they're making up for it now with the new Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), which promises to deliver more payload per ton of displacement than any previous U.S. warship, all on a high-speed, stealthy trimaran hull made of aluminum and steel.

The LCS is the Navy's response to asymmetric threats in coastal waters. The trimaran hull enables … Read more

Light your kitchen the DARPA-approved way

Here's that final touch you've been looking for in the kitchen remodel war with the Joneses: efficient fiber optics (EFO), the "breakthrough in accent lighting technology," could be perfect for your undercounter needs.

You want green? This is the most efficient fiber optic lighting system in the world, according to developer Solon, Ohio based Energy Focus. "One 70 watt EFO lamp delivers the center beam candlepower of eight 50 watt Halogen lamps - replacing a total of 400 watts." The government agrees--it handed out $12.7 million in R&D support and awarded … Read more

Navy seeks 'kamikaze' robot to clear mines

Today, sussing out bombs on land and from the air is a routine chore for robots in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now the U.S. Navy wants a smart class of robo-fish to do the same in some of the world's most dangerous waterways.

One contender for that task is the Transphibian, a 3-foot-long autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) created by Durham, N.C.-based Nekton Research. The Transphibian is designed to identify mines and map the seabed by swimming and crawling through places where troops or ships are likely to follow. Soon, the company hopes to field a type of &… Read more

SubjuGator wins robot sub competition

Once again, the top dog among robotic subs is a Gator.

The SubjuGator team from the University of Florida has finished first for the third straight year in the balmy San Diego waters of the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition.

There aren't many details to offer just yet on how Sunday's finals went. So far, it's just the Gators and the Proteus team from Cornell University that have posted brief notes on who won. Cornell reports that it finished fourth overall, behind Florida, the University of Rhode Island's (Ram-boat 8) and Montreal's Ecole de Technologie Superieure (… Read more

Rock and roll: iNavi G1 in-car karaoke device

No sooner had we posted our top 10 boredom-busting road trip gadgets than up pops a portable navigation device to rule them all. In addition to its impressive list of media and navigation capabilities (movie and music playback, support for SD cards, TV tuner, 3D map rendering), the iNavi G1 also comes with a karaoke function to let the whole family serenade each other on those long, cross-country drives. Oh, how those hours will fly by!

The iNavi G1 is only available in Korea at the moment, but we are already perfecting our Livin' on a Prayer routine in the … Read more

Permission to board the simulator

Battle stations! The U.S. Navy has upped the stakes in the battle of the training simulators with the commissioning of its 550-foot USS Trayer Battle Stations 21.

The Trayer, dry-docked at a mock pier in the $82.5 million USS Iowa training complex in Great Lakes, Ill., simulates an Arleigh-Burke-class destroyer and some of the adventure and hard work that goes with sailing the Seven Seas.

BTS 21 is part of a 10-year, $763 million "recapitalization" of training facilities that will set new standards in simulation technology by using video screens, smells, vibrations and sound effects to … Read more