(Credit:
DOD)
The Pentagon has awarded defense heavyweight Lockheed Martin the contract for next-stage development of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), a new-generation radio technology that will replace dozens of legacy systems throughout the U.S. military (PDF).
Initial design and development costs for this phase, called Airborne Maritime and Fixed Station, will run $800 million to $1.2 billion, with a potential $10 billion more for full production later. Boeing and Lockheed Martin worked on separate preliminary designs for the new programmable, tactical radio system, but only Lockheed nailed the contract.
The Department of Defense initiated the JTRS program in 1997 to bring military communications into the network-centric digital age. The program, which could ultimately result in the replacement of hundreds of thousands of radios, has been plagued by massive cost overruns (PDF) and lack of vision. This contract signals a major step forward.
Incorporating advanced software and network capabilities for secure voice, text, and video communications that can operate across the frequency spectrum, the AMF JTRS is expected to enable any ad hoc mobile wireless network of vehicles and planes to connect instantly using the Wideband Networking Waveform.
That is, if it's not obsolete by the time it hits the quartermaster's shelf.
The USS Winston S. Churchill follows a suspected pirate vessel in the Indian Ocean.
(Credit: U.S. Navy)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.
Pirate RPG round stuck in metal hull. No word on how Hypalon inflatable tubes would hold up to similar abuse.
(Credit: U.S. Navy)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 contractors RAFAEL, BAE Systems, and Lockheed Martin, the Protector looks to be a full-on armed plug-and-play, anti-terror surveillance and reconnaissance marauder (PDF). It comes equipped with a stabilized mini-Typhoon, remote-controlled weapon station (PDF) cameras, radar equipment, and Toplite electro-optics.
And in this corner: Somali pirates generally operate out of a brace or more of what look to be 6- to 9-meter outboard-driven, open-fishing skiffs. Armed with RPGs and AKs, they either surround and intimidate a ship into stopping or lure them in with false distress calls, according to the International Maritime Bureau. In any case, it seems fair to assume that they would dearly like to get their hands on a remote-controlled Protector.
(Credit:
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne )
Oh ye of little faith, behold: Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne has successfully tested a sub-scale combustor for a dual-mode ramjet engine that could power the DARPA-financed Falcon HTV-3X hypersonic cruiser to Mach 6 and beyond. Dual-mode because the engine can function both at subsonic speeds and then kick up to supersonic scramjet speeds (greater than Mach 5).
By contrast, one of the fastest conventional Air Force jets--the SR-71 Blackbird--does a tortoise-paced Mach 3.4.
(Credit:
United Technologies)
The engine technology was developed for Lockheed Martin's Falcon Combined-Cycle Engine Technology (FaCET) program. The goal is to develop hypersonic technologies that would enable "prompt global reach," which in this case means delivering 12 tons of payload up to 10,000 miles away in less than two hours.
(Credit:
Gibbs Technologies)
Remember those guys who would ride their Stingrays off the end of the pier? Well apparently they're finally in charge over there at the military industrial complex, and the aquatic world of hooah is all the better for it.
Case in point: a Gibbs Technology and Lockheed Martin team has announced the development of three new, high-speed, amphibious prototypes for use in littoral and riverine special ops insertions.
"High performance on the water, high performance on the ground and the transition between the two is seamless," brags Kiwi Alan Gibbs, chairman of Gibbs Technologies of his high-speed amphibians (HSAs).Yes, they're fast, up to 45 mph on water and over 100 mph on land. But the eye opener is the water-to-land transition time--5 seconds. That qualifies as seamless in our book.
And for the duck hunter that has everything, Gibbs already makes a few consumer versions of this unit. Drive into the water, push the button, step on the gas, the wheels rise up and you're on plane in less than 12 seconds, according to Gibbs. We're partial to the 007-ready Gibbs Aquada model, a three person amphibious sports car, perfect for picking up Pussy Galore.
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