Military Tech

(Credit: TORC Technologies)

FORT HOOD, Texas--Click briefly through the parade of cautionary fireballs that make-up the Iraq/Convoy category on any video-sharing Web site and the message is clear; in war, people get killed making deliveries.

The military wants to do something about that--namely, get soldiers out of the driver's seat. To help move things in the right direction, a Robotics Rodeo at the sprawling Army installation here in the heart of Texas gave some companies a chance to show what they have to offer. The rodeo, which ended Thursday, was sponsored by the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) and by III Corps.

Autonomous Solutions demonstrated its GuideLine system, wherein a lead truck transmits angle and length data to a vehicle automation system, which in turn drives the "followers." The vehicles are tethered together with a thin Kevlar line, which controls the distance between them. A sensor is mounted on the front bumper of the follower, but no modifications are required to the lead vehicle, according to the company. The all-weather system works night or day and is not RF- or GPS-dependent, nor is there a computer-based control station, according to the Utah based company. In this demonstration video, Autonomous Solutions used a remote-controlled lead vehicle supplied by Boeing.

Kairos Autonomi brought a rough-and-ready, one-size-retrofits-all solution to the Robotics Rodeo. The Pronto4 Strap-on Autonomy System can convert any vehicle with a steering wheel into a tele-operated or semi-autonomous unmanned system in about four hours, according to the company.

Photos: Robots on the road to safer convoys

The Kairos do-it-yourself kit includes a "single enclosure system" with transmission, brake, and throttle controls, a built-in CPU, 900MHz radio subsystem, axis linkage, steering set-up, cables, preloaded software, and a user's manual. This system is also used on target vehicles, allowing them to scoot around at up to 90 mph, according to the company.

TORC Technologies offers another take--put the unmanned vehicle in front of a convoy, where it can absorb roadside bombs. (See TORC's video) The system, called Autonomous Remote Control HMMWVs (ARCH), takes a modular approach, integrating a number of TORC's plug-in products including PowerHub, ByWire, (PDF), and--most important for an autonomous, 5,200-pound Humvee--the SafeStop wireless emergency stop system.

The "lead" vehicle carries an autonomous navigation system, while the manned "chase" vehicle carries the control unit. The operator steers the lead in tele-operated, semi-autonomous or autonomous mode--the ultimate back seat driver.

TARDEC had its own system on display. Lockheed Martin demonstrated the Convoy Active Safety Technology (CAST) system along with its AutoMate sensor and actuator kit on two TARDEC 2.5-ton trucks. The big advantage CAST has is price, according to the Lockheed Martin crew. They reckon the whole system can be installed for $25,000. CAST is basically an auto-pilot kit. It can switch from manual to automatic with a push of a button. The system maintains a preset distance between convoy vehicles, adjusts speed, and can shift gears and maneuver corners. Another important feature is obstacle detection and avoidance-- accidentally hitting a child while driving in a war zone is a major cause of post-traumatic stress among soldiers, according to TARDEC. The system has been tested on five truck convoys, according to Lockheed Martin.

Among the other companies at the Robotics Rodeo were Oshkosh, SwRI (PDF), and General Dynamics.

No one at the Rodeo expects unattended robo-conveys to be speeding from Karachi to Kandahar anytime soon. But elements of these systems could help soldiers recover from a momentary distraction, a nod-off, or worse, and that's a huge gain.

The Department of Defense's $1 trillion-plus plan to build and deliver multiple versions of the Joint Strike Force (JSF) aircraft to multiple customers is behind schedule, over budget, and upside down, according to a report from the Government Accounting Office (PDF).

Upside down because the military is accelerating procurement of operational aircraft before it has even taken delivery of test units, according to the non-partisan GAO.

(Credit: Lockheed Martin)

"Procuring large numbers of production jets while still working to deliver test jets and mature manufacturing processes does not seem prudent," the report states.

The JSF program, personified by the F-35 Lighting II, is a joint international venture led by the United States and the United Kingdom. The report calls this the DOD's most complex and ambitious aircraft acquisition and the linchpin of the military's plan to modernize its tactical air forces.

Chronic manufacturing inefficiencies, parts problems, design changes, and a steep learning curve have slowed delivery of test aircraft, according to the watchdog agency, even as DOD wants to ramp up production of line aircraft. Speeding up the delivery of 169 aircraft by 2015 will require billions in additional funding, "magnifying the financial risk to the government" and adding years to the development schedule, according to the GAO.

Contractors say they'll have the problems fixed and all the test aircraft delivered by next year. But by that time, the DOD plans to have already purchased 62 operational aircraft, according to the report. As currently configured, the DOD is at liberty to spend $57 billion on 360 aircraft, even before it completes flight testing. The contractor has extended the manufacturing schedule three times.

In 2007, the DOD decided to cut back on test aircraft and flight tests and rely instead on "state-of-the-art simulation labs, a flying test bed, and desk studies to verify nearly 83 percent of JSF capabilities." Ground testing to this extent is not a proven substitute for actual test flights, the report warns.

The single-seat, single-engine multi-role strike fighter has something for everyone. It does stealth, air-to-air, close air support, tactical bombing, and air defense missions. It can take off and land on conventional runways, do short takeoff and vertical-landing, or land on a carrier. The project features a mixed bag of contractors as well, with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and BAE Systems leading an international team of suppliers and manufacturers.

Multiple Kill Vehicle in simulated action.

(Credit: U.S. Missile Defense Agency)

Lockheed Martin said this week it has reached an important milestone in the development of one piece of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System (PDF) puzzle: an interceptor missile capable of taking out multiple enemy ICBM warheads.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Multiple Kill Vehicle-L would be launched as a single interceptor equipped with a multiple-kill payload that doesn't bother with the single warhead--it goes after an entire "threat cluster" instead.

It's designed to destroy not only the enemy's re-entry vehicle (intercontinental ballistic missile) but also all the warheads it may contain, including the fake ones meant to deceive U.S. defenses.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based defense contractor said it has calibrated the pathfinder seeker, a component that, along with in-flight targeting data, will ultimately enable the weapon to attack and destroy large numbers of objects in the threat cluster. It plans to build two operational prototype seekers, each with a state-of-the-art infrared plane array. One will be mounted on an aircraft to test missile-seeking ability in a flight environment next year; the other will be used in the laboratory to demonstrate the engagement of multiple targets.

"Completion of this milestone validates the design and core technology required for tracking and discriminating targets," Lockheed Martin program director Rick Reginato said in a press release. "This effort involved the development of telescopes, structures, electronics and software to meet the challenging requirements of mid-course threat sensing." The program could come on line by 2017.

(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: DARPA)

When it comes to international quagmires, it would be nice to know if the natives are restless before you send in the cavalry.

Apparently, the U.S. military is not happy with the briefings it gets before being dispatched to police deadly fiascos around the world. So it is underwriting a program that will allow commanders not only to predict events and gauge stability in the countries in which they operate, but also to anticipate and respond to political crises worldwide.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Lockheed Martin a contract to develop PRESAGE (Predicting Stability through Analyzing Germane Events), a system that will use diplomatic, military, and economic intelligence to predict, for instance, if and when a population will turn from basket-weaving to IED production.

PRESAGE will forecast rebellions, insurgencies, ethnic/religious violence, civil war, and major economic crises," according to Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Laboratories. Then, once a crisis has been identified, the program generates a strategy or tactic to deal with it--sort of like a virtual State Department, but without the Cadillacs.

The program is but one element in DARPA's Integrated Crises Early Warning System (ICEWS). The vision is to produce a computational social science model that can forecast instability and conflict in an area before it becomes a major problem for the United States. Then, on the off-chance a crisis should develop, the program will help commanders to efficiently allocate resources in "mitigating" the "stability challenge."

Universities in Pennsylvania, Kansas, Washington, and Georgia are also involved, as are Innovative Decisions, Evidence Based Research, Interactive Data Visualization, and Argonne National Laboratory.

"PRESAGE will combine a portfolio of state-of-the-art and operationally deployed social science models and technologies to predict events of interest and general stability indicators," Lockheed's Mark Hoffman said in a press release. "Being able to predict events with reasonable accuracy is the first step in constructing a decision-support system to aid in region stabilization."

What is "reasonable accuracy"? More than 80 percent, according to the world's largest defense company. We need one of these in the Oval Office.

(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.