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darpa
space
Iran Hopes to Send a Man to Space Within 10 Years
After a test satellite launch (Iran: success! USA: failure!) this past weekend carried out with one of their many, many missiles, Iran is rolling with the momentum and announcing plans to put a man in space within 10 years. While the feasibility of such a plan remains up in the air, it of course isn't the first time such an audacious goal has been set. More »
army tech
British Army Competition Yields Bomb-Dropping, Hi-Def Video Taking, Unfortunately Noisy Flying Robot
One of the front runners of an ongoing British Army-sponsored competition for new military technology is this miniature spaceship-looking thing, which is designed to inconspicuously drop bombs and listening devices behind enemy lines. The external blade-less shape allows the machine to enter buildings through windows or doors, and an HD camera feed lets it double as a surveillance bot. More »
military
A Magazine for M-16 Magazines Helps You Kill Zombies Twice as Efficiently
So, you have a army-sized stockpile of weapons in your basement for protection against the coming apocalypse. That's good, being prepared is key. But what happens when you are overrun with zombies in the aftermath? They may be slow, but they can still get you in a swarm. That means you need an more efficient way to reload—and the FAST (Fast And Smooth Transition) system can help you do just that. Basically, it is a magazine for your magazines. More »
military
Navy Drops $7.5 Million on an EMP Generator
As anyone who has seen the Matrix will tell you, an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) can wreak havoc on electronics. You may also know that an EMP is a byproduct of a nuclear blast—which is why the Navy has handed over $7.5 million to L-3 Services, Inc. to build an EMP generator. The device is not going to be used as a weapon, instead it will be used to test the resistance of military systems to specific EMP levels as a preventative measure in the event that a nuclear weapon is detonated in US airspace. More »
uavs
'Airknife' UAV Concept: A $2 Million Knife With Wings
We have seen a lot of UAV news come down the pipeline in recent years, mostly because the military realizes that they can be a safe, effective and cost efficient way to kill, spy, and kill some more. But is the US military ready to shell out around $2 million for a flying knife that can stab the enemy from great distances? More »
uavs
Armchair UAV Pilots Striking Afghanistan in Las Vegas, Taco Bell Fueled Comfort
We all know about how the military is utilizing UAV's in an ever increasing amount of missions. And why not? Unmanned aircraft represent a safer and more cost efficient approach to aerial combat. However, we rarely get to see what it is like on the other side of these aircraft—to see the job through the eyes of a UAV pilot. Apparently, it's much like any other job—except you get to kill things in Afghanistan from the air-conditioned Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. More »
uavs
Curly-Winged UAV Will Leech From Power Lines, Fly Forever
The next version of the DevilRay unmanned aerial vehicle will feature the ability to dock to and recharge from power lines. Made by Defense Research Associates, the UAV uses down-curled wingtips to make such a low-speed maneuver possible. The four-foot wide, propeller-driven flying wing will use "inverse capped helix winglets" to take advantage of the wingtip wind vortexes that form during flight, providing stabilization in lieu of a tail. More »
aviation
DARPA Unveils Details About the Mach 6 Vulcan Engine
How does one design a propulsion system that combines a full-scale turbine engine and a Constant Volume Combustion (CVC) engine that is capable of delivering 12,000 pounds of payload up to 9,000 nautical miles from the continental United States in less than two hours? DARPA has released new details on how they plan on tackling this issue with their Vulcan engine—a ramjet / scramjet hybrid that will take an aircraft like the Falcon HTV-3X from 0 to Mach 4 with a traditional turbine engine, then kick in the CVC to push it to Mach 6 and beyond. More »
garbage power
Military TGER Generator Runs on Trash
The U.S. military has been running two prototype generators that run on leftovers, shredded documents and ammunition wrappers at their headquarters in Iraq. The Tactical Garbage to Energy Refinery (TGER) works by breaking down garbage into small bits and then heating it up until it becomes a synthetic gas and then combining it with the ethanol produced from the fermenting of foods and liquids. The result is a fuel capable of running the generators. More »
3:30 PM on Fri Jun 20 2008
By Sean Fallon
4,697 views,
27 comments
Latest by Upsilon: @pernicious: That's what the military calls targets who have been eliminated, lol. more »
robots
Last year DARPA began the search for a company that could develop robots capable of squeezing through small openings and returning to their original size, shape, and functionality on the other side. Like most of DARPA's projects, the idea was way-out there. However, it appears that iRobot (the guys behind practical home robots like the Roomba vacuum and the Looj Gutter cleaner) have answered the call.
More »
Roomba Maker to Develop DARPA's ChemBot Morphing Robots
Last year DARPA began the search for a company that could develop robots capable of squeezing through small openings and returning to their original size, shape, and functionality on the other side. Like most of DARPA's projects, the idea was way-out there. However, it appears that iRobot (the guys behind practical home robots like the Roomba vacuum and the Looj Gutter cleaner) have answered the call.
More »
missile
Lockheed's Multiple Kill Vehicle-L Missile Will Get All the MIRVs
Anti-missile systems have popped up often on Giz, but until now none of them have promised what Lockheed Martin's excellently-named Multiple Kill Vehicle-L will do: tackle all the threats inside an ICBM. Each ICBM contains a bunch of Multiple Independently targetable Reentry Vehicles, some containing genuine warheads, some dummies to confuse defense systems. More »
aircraft
Joint Strike Fighter Technology May Have Been Compromised...Whoops!
It appears that the geniuses at the Defense Department have been asleep at the wheel of their new Joint Strike Fighter program, leading some to believe that its super valuable aviation and weapons technology may have been compromised. The crux of the problem involves the fact that the Pentagon's Defense Security Service (DSS) has had a difficult time monitoring the contractors working on the aircraft. While no specific breaches have come to light regarding the classified information, an audit has uncovered that the DSS cut corners and the DoD suffered lapses in its controls designed to evaluate and protect the sensitive information from unauthorized access. More »
apple
Department of Defense Unhappy With Apple Chip Company Purchase
P.A. Semi, the chip design company Apple picked up for a song, is best known for its super-efficient PWRficient processor, a PowerPC variant. One of the big customers for the CPU is the Department of Defense, which makes use of it in programs in every major branch of the military, and they're not thrilled by the possibility of Apple ending production of the chips. More »
9:00 PM on Thu Apr 24 2008
By matt buchanan
15,184 views,
60 comments
Latest by GadgetPlay: @johnnyabnormal: Oops, they did promote him to "Bird Colonel." more »
tracking
GPS Tracker Defense Hides Your Global Position
In our Gizmodomobile (a sort of cross between the Batmobile, those cars from M.A.S.K. and every other awesometastic vehicle you've ever read about, dreamed about or just imagined), sometimes we need to disable all 238 installed GPS tracking devices to go off the grid (namely while we park for hours on end outside of Bill Gates' mansion). You know what would free up our hands for our thermal binoculars? This GPS Tracker Defense. More »
8:50 AM on Wed Apr 23 2008
By Mark Wilson
10,371 views,
35 comments
Latest by hnkelley: @flyboy: That depends on which system is installed. The standard Lojack system is not GPS; it's a transmitter and more »
drones
Morphing Micro-Drone Is Half Bat, Half Cockroach, Creeps Us Out
I don't know what's more creepy about this 11-inch remote controlled drone developed by the USAF for reconnaissance missions. Maybe it's the flexible wings, which close and open like a bat when landing. Perhaps it's the crawling on the floor, modeled after cockroaches, to reach hidden places to spy. Or most probably is the fact that they are planning to develop a large drone that will carry 50 of these little beasts, ready to burst out of its belly at any time. Whatever it is, I want one. [Flight]
shocking
Lipstick Stun Gun Comes In One Shade: Frazzled 'Nads
Forget DIY camera stun guns: they're just a stunt. If you want real pocket protection, these charmingly disguised stun guns can deliver 350,000 volts of agony to an assailant. Will they think it looks like you're just brandishing a tube of lippy at them? Probably not an experiment to try. They have an LED flashlight built-in, and come with a charger. If carrying this around in your purse makes you feel safer, they're available for a paltry $49.95 in a variety of shades and shapes. So you can, you know, coordinate your electro-shock defense with your outfit. Weird. [Red Ferret via Gizmodo UK]
military
Army dudes sat down with scientists at University of Michigan and other schools and asked for a simple frickin' bionic bat with frickin' stereo cameras, miniaturized radar, ultra-sensitive self-guidance, "energy scavenging" recharging capability and a radio to send data back to troops in urban combat zones. Was that too much to ask? Here's how it's working out for them:
More »
Army's Miniature Spy-Bat Concept Makes Lucius Fox Drool
Army dudes sat down with scientists at University of Michigan and other schools and asked for a simple frickin' bionic bat with frickin' stereo cameras, miniaturized radar, ultra-sensitive self-guidance, "energy scavenging" recharging capability and a radio to send data back to troops in urban combat zones. Was that too much to ask? Here's how it's working out for them:
More »
