The parked truck's hood and engine gets burned through like butter, and as you can see, the accuracy is pretty amazing. If this was a missile, it would have exploded in the air. The laser can produce between 100-300 kW of power, and the next step is to trial it on moving targets.

Even though the Air Force has scaled back the ambitious program's funding, perhaps we may still see the laser make it to battlefields. Maybe on the 250-Foot Long Hybrid Airship that will spy over Afghanistan in 2011? [Boeing via PopSci]

Those wacky Ladyada hardware hackers (Adafruit Industries) and Phil Torrone from MAKE Magazine, trawled the net and found the patent from the outside consulting firm that built the device for the government.

They discovered it flashes green LEDs at about 10Hz to induce its effects, and modified a Sears flashlight to build their own version called the BEDAZZLER. And true to form, they've put the schematics, source code, and circuit board layouts online so you can make one yourself. Watch it in action below. Fun! [Ladyada]

Police used the device to emit a painful shrill that forced demonstrators to cover their ears and withdraw while police threw tear gas and stun grenades. "Other law enforcement agencies will be watching to see how it was used," Pittsburgh's police bureau chief told the NY Times. "It served its purpose well."

Whether or not you think the protesters have a right to demonstrate or are anarchists without a permit to march, it's still pretty eye-opening to see tech like that used at home.

As a non-lethal weapon, sound canons have been mounted to vehicles by the U.S Army, installed on American warships to warn incoming vessels, defended private cruise ships against Somali pirates, and were at the ready (though not used) at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York.

But this is the first time LRAD has been used against U.S civilians. According to reports, 20 people were arrested, but there were no serious injuries. [New York Times]

Designed by Military Wraps, Photo Veil gathers images from cameras on drones, satellites and lidar to create an almost identical duplicate of the object's surroundings. These images are then displayed on its lightweight, customizable, foldable, portable and waterproof mesh exteriors, thus camouflaging the military vehicles underneath. For those out on foot, the Photo Veil's breathability and ability to mask thermal and infrared footprints also makes these wraps useful in blinds for snipers and in uniforms for soldiers out in the field. Ooh, you think they'll make a cloak out of this material just for me to review? I want to be the ultimate Hide n' Seek champion. [Military Wraps via cnet]

While the laser has been tested before, this was the first time they actually operated the whole thing as if they were shooting down a real target. This test fired the laser from the back-mounted generator thought the beam control system, exiting the aircraft through the nose-mounted turret and hitting a simulated ballistic missile target.

The next test—to be executed next year—will be firing and shooting down a real airborne ballistic missile.

Boeing Airborne Laser Team Fires High-Energy Laser Through Beam Control System

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., Dec. 01, 2008 — The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA], industry teammates and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency last week fired a high-energy laser through the Airborne Laser's (ABL) beam control/fire control system, completing the first ground test of the entire weapon system integrated aboard the aircraft.

During the test at Edwards Air Force Base, the laser beam traveled through the beam control/fire control system before exiting the aircraft through the nose-mounted turret. The beam control/fire control system steered and focused the beam onto a simulated ballistic-missile target.

"This test is significant because it demonstrated that the Airborne Laser missile defense program has successfully integrated the entire weapon system aboard the ABL aircraft," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. "With the achievement of the first firing of the laser aboard the aircraft in September, the team has now completed the two major milestones it hoped to accomplish in 2008, keeping ABL on track to conduct the missile shootdown demonstration planned for next year."

Michael Rinn, Boeing vice president and ABL program director, said the next step for the program is a series of longer-duration laser firings through the beam control/fire control system.

"Once we complete those tests, we will begin demonstrating the entire weapon system in flight," Rinn said. "The team is meeting its commitment to deliver this transformational directed-energy weapon system in the near term."

The program has logged many accomplishments over the past several years. In 2005, the high-energy laser demonstrated lethal levels of duration and power in the System Integration Laboratory at Edwards. In 2007, ABL completed numerous flight tests that demonstrated its ability to track an airborne target, measure and compensate for atmospheric conditions, and deliver a surrogate high-energy laser's simulated lethal beam on the target. In September 2008, the team achieved "first light" by firing the high-energy laser into a calorimeter aboard the aircraft.

Boeing is the prime contractor for ABL, which will provide speed-of-light capability to destroy all classes of ballistic missiles in their boost phase of flight.

The ABL aircraft is a modified Boeing 747-400F whose back half holds the high-energy laser, designed and built by Northrop Grumman. The front section of the aircraft contains the beam control/fire control system, developed by Lockheed Martin, and the battle management system, provided by Boeing.

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]

The first episode opens with tons of booms and fire—Michael Bay-esque even—with Humvees streaking across the shimmering dessert strafing enemy tanks with 50-cal. machine guns and calling in support from Cobra helicopter gunships. Then you realize it's all just a training mission, and that the tedious desert hours that follow are the real meat of this show.

On the tech side, these Marines are struggling. Yes, there is in fact a Blue Force tracker console in the lead Lieutenant's truck, showing satellite maps of the battlefield and tracking friendlies and enemy units via GPS. But at the same time he's showing it off, other drivers are bargaining for salvaged hoses and gaskets for their busted Humvees, and grabbing smuggled batteries brought in by an embedded reporter from Rolling Stone for their NVGs. "It's like Gilligan's Island—they're giving us rocks and coconuts to make radios with," says one. Yes, recon Marines are legendary for getting things done quick and dirty, but when low-rank Marines are spending $500 or more of their own money for parts for their own trucks—damn. That may come as no surprise to anyone who has been or knows someone who has been deployed, but for us sitting here watching HBO in our living rooms, it's something we can't be reminded of enough.

Generation Kill was created by David Simon and Ed Burns (based on the book of the same name), the minds behind the just plain fucking brilliant The Wire. To Iraq they bring their same absolutely no bullshit treatment they gave to the Baltimore streets, with no clean-cut, by-the-book plots, practically no background music, and no warm and fuzzy morals or bleeding heart polemics. Just the straight stuff, which unfortunately includes Marines ordering titanium armor for their Humvees' turrets off of eBay and hoping they'll get FedExed to the Kuwaiti desert. With all the far-out DARPA concepts you see online every day, it's important for everyone to remember that despite a lot of leaps forward, here in the 21st century, the shit is still the shit.

The concept for the project came about through a $1.7 million "Phase One" brainstorming contract. Apparently unaware of the existence of birds, DARPA decided that this innovative and classy new idea was worth pushing through to development and handed over the second wad of cash this week. The Nano Air Vehicle is part of an apparent trend toward smaller and smaller UAVs, following AreoVironment's 80 gram, six inch Black Widow and Prox Dynamics' four inch, 20 gram Black Hornet (which, thanks to the less literal-minded people at PD, does not fly like an actual insect). [Ares] -By John Herrman

Popular Mechanics originally reported that "SWORDS was yanked because it made people nervous" based partly on a conversation with Army spokesman Kevin Fahey. He was talking about instances where SWORDS robots had swung around without being commanded to do so: "the gun started moving when it was not intended to move," and that's potentially dangerous when it's operating and friendly soldiers are nearby.

But Cynthia Black, a spokesperson for the robot-makers Foster Miller, points out that there have only actually been three "uncommanded movement" incidents. One involving a loose wire, one a broken solder joint and one where a burnt-out motor caused a robot to slide backwards down a hill. Both the wiring fault and soldering error have been fixed, by double-soldering and redundant circuits, and there's nothing much anyone could do about the third problem. All three events were prior to its safety certification.

Sound a bit dubious, since it's their robot they're trying to defend? Well, even Kevin Fahey himself, in a email to Danger Room now says "SWORD is still deployed" and that the Army is going to expand the use of robots like it.

There's one more fact that squashes the "Terminator" label the robots have been given: they can't fire their weapon without direct orders. And it would take a heck of a sequence of malfunctions for it to point the wrong way and fire at our own guys all by itself. Thank goodness they didn't build AI into them, hey? [Danger Room]

Update: Popular Mechanics has a new article online that sets the record straight. Basically, as we report here, the robots are working well, are still deployed in Iraq, and pose no safety threat to their operators. And there are only three deployed in any case. Read it here.

He confirmed that no inappropriate shots were fired, so no one was hurt. But that doesn't mean there weren't any casualties—it might've basically killed the program says Fahey: "Once you've done something that's really bad, it can take 10 or 20 years to try it again." On the upside, it means we have another 10 to 20 years before they rise and go to war with us. [Pop Mechanics, Danger Room]

As compared to biological systems, today's intelligent machines are less efficient by a factor of one million to one billion in real world, complex environments. The key to achieving the vision of the SyNAPSE program will be an unprecedented multidisciplinary approach that coordinates aggressive technology development in the following technical areas: 1) Hardware; 2) Architecture; 3) Simulation; and 4) Environment. Hardware includes neuromorphic electronics with novel, high density, plastic, synaptic components; Architecture includes neuromorphic design from microcircuits to complete system; Simulation includes large-scale digital simulation of neuromorphic circuits and functional neuromorphic systems; and Environment includes virtual training, testing and benchmarking for neuromorphic systems.

Yes, they've got a bubblegum bomb that skips like a stone across water to knock down your door. And land between your legs, no doubt. Still not exploded? How 'bout a guidance system that'll chuck six rubber bullet bombs your door, for some Bomberman-style chain booms. Actually, that sounds awesome: a dude in a Bomberman suit chucking bombs at stuff would own everything. [Danger Room, Danger Room]

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