Apparently, there are some conflicts in the Pentagon about who has the control over cyberspace. According to an Air Force source, Admiral Mike Mullen—chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—wants the Navy to be involved. And while the kids fight for their shiny toys, the Russians hackers are now fighting on the internet for real. Great. Thank God that we have the CIA and the NSA looking out for the well-being of the Free World. [NextGov via Ars Technica]

There are a few Wings currently manned by Predator UAVs, which can indeed carry Hellfire missiles, but unlike the Reaper, their main mission is reconnaissance. Quite the contrary, the Reaper is the first true hunter-killer UAV, and its 66-foot wingspan and the ability to carry up to 1.5 tons of laser-guided bombs and other ordnances makes the Predator look like a fluttering sparrow.

And over Iraq, the Reaper can do the targeting-pod recon and close-air support that manned jets most commonly find themselves tasked with at a fraction of the cost (Reapers cost $18 million each, compared to three times that much for an F-16). Not to mention without the operational expenses or potential danger to the pilots, who can be in Las Vegas munching Taco Bell with their families. [Strategy Page via /.]

Namely, they want said holographic system to be bright, huge, have a great interactive interface, and be visible in 3-D with the naked eye. Watching a little too much TNG, guys? Noah at Danger Room compiles a few sources that say a lot of the holographic optics tech isn't that far off, surprisingly. Instant trips to Tahiti with giant palm-frond fans, here we come! [Air Force RFP via Danger Room]

According to Aviation Week, the X-37B test will use a launch slot previously reserved for another Atlas V, which would have carried NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite. This mission would have to be posponed to February-March 2009.

At first sight, it looks like the US military is starting to feel the heat of the May 2010 deadline for the space shuttle program—which will limit their capacity to service military satellites as well as their secret orbital base, with all those nuclear heads and chemical lasers capable of blowing up Teheran in a millisecond. However, the reality is that an "end-of-2008" launch was announced back in 2006. The spacecraft—as well as the X-40, its predecesor—has already been tested numerous times, one of them flying underneath the White Knight from Mojave Spaceport. [Aviation Week]

Officers already have what's known as the Silver Bullet—a small fleet of full-size trailers that can be loaded onto transport planes for officer travel, which the service claims is not sufficient for the amount of brass traversing the globe these days. What's got folks in Washington upset, however, is the diversion of over $16 million from the general "Global War on Terror" fund to build the pods, and ridiculous inefficiences like spending nearly $70,000 on subtle design tweaks like changing the color of the seat belts from brown to Air Force blue.

Granted, $16 million is pocket change for the Pentagon, and is anyone surprised that a government project is handling expenses inefficiently? When civilian first class gets more and more insane by the day, Air Force officers probably could stand a little in-flight R&R via SLICC.

[Washington Post via Danger Room]

Pictured: United first class pod, Onboard a C-130 transport

In an interview with CNN, Captain Matt Dean noted that "Seeing bad guys on the screen and watching them possibly get dispatched, and then going down to the Taco Bell for lunch, it's kind of surreal." In fact, their entire workday is fairly normal with shifts that rotate around the clock to prevent fatigue. Seems pretty cushy...if blowing terrorists up doesn't make you lose your appetite for the cheesy gordita crunch, that is. [CNN]

You can find, fix, target, and engage an enemy. A target could be a [computer] network... or it could be physical, with a [geographical] location. But we need the capabilities, just like we have in kinetic warfare, to engage targets when necessary. It could be either a kinetic or non-kinetic effect you want to achieve. And we need the ability to provide either.

It depends on our target; it depends on our rules of engagement—are we conducting open warfare with an adversary? If that's the case, then we don't really need to be discreet about it. When we drop a JDAM [Joint DIrect Attack Munition aka "big mofo guided bomb"] and leave a big smoking hole, that's not very discreet.

If I can [locate] it and I can take it out with a kinetic attack ... and it meets the rules of engagement, then that might be the preferred method.

I can already imagine the IRC chats "Noob!? See if you can firewall this, bozo!" [Defense Tech]

In fact, security broke down on a number of levels—including areas where nuclear weapons are stored. To put this baffling stupidity in perspective, consider this: after Col. Joel Westa took command of the 5th Bomb Wing post-nuke debacle, he was quoted as saying that this inspection was going to be the "most scrutinized inspection in the history of time." And the most terrifying part is that the wing will keep its certification to handle nuclear weapons for the foreseeable future. I feel safe...how about you? [Air Force Times via Wired]

Bringing the good ol' Cold War days to the future, the system would be linked to the Air Force's high-speed instruction detection systems, letting them immediately strike back at the source. I'm internally debating whether this is a good idea or not, all Skynet jokes aside. Your thoughts? [Threat Level]

That's what the people from Bloom Automatic promise with their $45 adapter, which will launch golf balls as far as 500 yards, depending on the caliber of the gun. You just have to load a blank bullet, fire, and ducks will fall by the power of your balls. Or get it into the hole from tee box. And make ducks fall along the way. The adapter works in a variety of weapons, form a M1911 Colt pistol to the Russian SKS semi-automatic carbine. Scary looking, yes, but better golf balls than actual bullets.

Air Force Golf's launcher, however, works on compressed air and it looks more friendly in all-white. The developer came up with the idea after his dad had a stroke, "leaving him without the use of both his right arm and leg." He said that a few months later he thought that this was a good way for people with disabilities to "keep enjoying the greatest game ever played," even if it was going to be in a completely different way. [Bloom Automatic and Air Force Golf via UberGizmo]

• The ability to deter adversaries.
• The ability to deny access and operations to adversaries.
• The ability to disrupt adversaries.
• The ability to deceive adversaries.
• The ability to dissuade adversaries.
• The ability to defeat adversaries.

Why the Air Force? We don't know, but it may be that they think that since they own the skies and the Intarwebs is all wireless now, they are in a better position to tackle the potential cyber-attacks coming from the Bad Guys. The Army and the NSA also want a piece of this new cake, however, and are fighting with each other to get the top spot in the Department of Defense. Meanwhile, the Axis of Evil keeps its attack on million of Excel spreadsheets, Word documents, and World of Warcraft lumberjacks around the world. [Defense Tech]

The Air Force Research Laboratory is conducting a technology assessment of certain cell processors. The processors in the Sony PlayStation 3 are the only brand on the market that utilizes the specific cell processor characteristics needed for this program at an acceptable cost.

So in case you have 300 PS3 that just fell from a truck, here is the order:

The contractor shall provide the following items on a firm fixed price basis:

Item 1: Sony PlayStation 3 Game Console - 40 GB Hard Drive

Qty: 300

Sony Part Number 98006

The estimated delivery date is 30 days after receipt of award. The place of delivery, acceptance, and FOB destination point is F4HBL1/Transportation Depot 2, 148 Electronic Parkway, Rome, NY 13441-4516.

I wonder if Transportation Depot 2 is where they store the lost arks and dead aliens with the spaceships. [Air Force via Hushed Casket]

Made from semiconductor materials, the betavoltaic battery uses radioisotopes as its energy source. The beta particles that come from the decaying radioactive material are transformed into electric power that can power devices, such as a laptop, for up to three decades. Before you all run for the tinfoil, the batteries don't use fission or fusion, nor are there any chemical processes to produce energy, which means no radioactive or hazardous waste.

Similar to a solar cell, the process uses the beta electron emissions that occur when a neutron decays into a proton and causes a forward bias in the semiconductor. Yes, I'm clueless about that too, but the bottom line is that an electrical current is created —when electrons are scattered from their normal orbits in the semiconductor and into the circuit—so you can feed your laptop and other friends.

Small and thin, the batteries use a porous silicon material to collect the hydrogen isotope tritium that is generated in the process. And as it's a non-thermal reaction, your laptop will stay cooler than if its juice came from traditional lithium-ion batteries.

The plan is, if all goes well, to have these batteries, an eco warrior's wet dream due to their non-toxicity, on sale in two or three years. We hope it works out because we can't wait to have every electronic gadget we have running forever without any bloody chargers and cable spaghetti balls around. [Next Energy News]

Say Hello to the Goodbye Weapon [via Wired News]

Expected to first fly in 2008, its creators at Lockheed Martin and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are putting the final touches on its propulsion system, where the trick is transitioning between jet turbine engines, which work up to Mach 4, and scramjets for higher speeds.

This is one lightning-fast jet, fully three times faster than its predecessor, the SR-71 Blackbird. We were only waiting for this moment to arise, when one day this technology might find its way into passenger planes. – Charlie White

Falcon Fills Blackbird's Shoes [DefenseTech]

The canopy "became stuck in the down and locked position and could not be opened manually after the pilot cycled the mechanism several times, following a pre-flight warning that the canopy was unlocked."

What did they do? Why, of course, they broke out a chain saw and sawed open the cockpit, causing $180,000 worth of damage. Oops.

F-22 Raptor swallows pilot [The Register]

Air Force's Secret Drone Program Revealed [DefenseTech]