Combine that with the fact that high-end Predator pilots are severely fatigued from round-the-clock duty, and you can see why the DoD is making this move. It would expand the fleet of armed UAVs and make them cheaper to operate overall. Sure, the thought of 18 or 19 year old pilots fresh out of basic behind the controls of these machines is a bit unsettling—but it's not like this would be the first time the US threw a teenager into battle. Plus, we are taking about unmanned vehicles looking for specific, high-value targets. There is probably less chance of major incidents involving friendly fire or civilian casualties. [Inside Defense via Danger Room]

The Army plans to increase efficiency and serve as a model for the military and the nation when it comes to the operation of our housing, buildings, and forward operating bases. The Army will use its considerable purchasing power to push green projects that might not otherwise receive needed money.

One of these projects is the installation of a 500 megawatt solar thermal plant in Ft. Irwin, an Army base located in the Mojave Desert. Another, the purchase of 4,000 Small Neighborhood Electric Vehicles similar to the Peapod, which will always beat the SUVs currently in use at these bases.

The effort will have to be really serious, as their energy costs have increased a full 40% during the last seven years, even while they have cut consumption by almost 8%. According to their latest numbers released this week in Washington, D.C., right now they are spending $2 billion on fuel every year. However, most of it goes to feeding the generators that power the temporary bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, so no matter how much money they spend on saving energy at home, they still will have to feed the monster around the world. [DODBuzz]

"The next generation of airborne drones won’t just be small and silent," says the multidisciplinary group, "they’ll alter their wing shapes using morphing techniques to squeeze through confined spaces, dive between buildings, zoom under overpasses, land on apartment balconies, or sail along the coastline."

The researchers behind the project view the pterodactyl as one of the most successful flying creatures to ever soar above the Earth—so, naturally, a robotic version might prove useful in gathering information and maybe even conducting military strikes somewhere down the line. Nothing would strike fear into the hearts of terrorists like a squadron of pterodactyls swooping down and devouring their comrades one by one. [Science Daily]

Several crashes of military aircraft can be attributed to knockoff chips, but more insidiously, internal military data might be at risk. Melissa E. Hathaway, a head of cybersecurity at the FBI, says, "Counterfeit products have been linked to the crash of mission-critical networks, and may also contain hidden 'back doors' enabling network security to be bypassed and sensitive data accessed [by hackers, thieves, and spies]." Robert P. Ernst, who investigates counterfeiting for the U.S. Navy, estimates that 15% of the spare or replacement microchips bought by the Pentagon are fake. Where do these parts actually come from?

Made in, as BusinessWeek colorfully puts it, the "Chinese hinterland," a lot of these components are made on the cheap and sold to the government for much less than name-brands can offer. To be fair, no evidence of terrifying espionage has been found; all of the problems are due to crappy chips failing to work at the worst times, which really should have been expected, since the military has been paying half the price for the same product.

But you can start to take off that tin foil hat, because steps are being taken. After the inquiries the military has decided to effect a rule requiring the source of all chips be ascertained before they place a bid. I'm satisfied, aren't you? [BusinessWeek]

"Having a soldier gain the ability to communicate without any overt movement would be invaluable both in the battlefield as well as in combat casualty care," the Army said in last year's contract solicitation, which was awarded last month to a coalition of scientists and extraordinary gentlemen from the University of California at Irvine, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Maryland. "It would provide a revolutionary technology for silent communication and orientation that is inherently immune to external environmental sound and light."

The system, in theory, would work thusly. First, it would "decode the activity in brain networks" so soldiers could radio commands to their squad simply by thinking of the message. In the system's early stages (and, again, we're talking theoretical here), the person on the other end of that thought transmission would hear a robotic voice speaking the command into their headphones. But that's kind of primitive, don't you think?

But scientists eventually hope to deliver a version in which commands are rendered in the speaker's voice and indicate the speaker's distance and direction from the listener.

Yeah. We humans. Pretty amazing at times. At times. [TIME, Image: Wired]

Yes, this is a Caterpillar quickly reducing one of the most groundbreaking fighter aircraft the world has seen to a smoking heap of scrap. Because while they will always look like they're from the future, the Nighthawk's facet-based stealth tech has its origins in the 1970s, and will be replaced by the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning's more advanced systems, which are also cheaper to maintain. What is it about seeing stealth aircraft in a less-than-together state? Reassuring to know such scary-good tech is human, after all? [Ares]

The images above illustrate two design concepts: the first is focused on amplifying a swimmer's lower body movements in the water—like a motorized version of swim fins. The second concept goes a little further by attempting to mimic how a penguin uses its upper body to swim. Apparently the project is still in development, and since the image illustrates that the motorized lower body fin has actually been tested, I am going to assume that is the direction they have decided to pursue. That's probably for the best. [IHMC via Wired]

VRAC officials have seen early success with the program thanks, in part, to the ass-backwards approach they've taken to remote UAV control:

This approach inverts the typical paradigm for conveying information to UAV jockeys, according to VRAC. Because rather than augmenting the real-time camera picture with sensor generated information, the new interface works more like a virtual operating theater-one that's constantly fed by a myriad array of spatial and temporal information sources.

"We're also developing and measuring the effectiveness of new human interface techniques, which will enable operators to effectively control multiple, semi-autonomous aircraft," said research director Dr. James Oliver. "Already, up to 230 persons can be interfaced to participate in the system simultaneously."

Again, that sounds like a kick ass LAN party to me. A deadly LAN party, that is. [CNET]

Just in case you're blanking out, here's some more information, courtesy of the LA Times and the Bush Administration's now not-so-secret Special Ops missions in Pakistan:

As part of an escalating offensive against extremist targets in Pakistan, the United States is deploying Predator aircraft equipped with sophisticated new surveillance systems that were instrumental in crippling the insurgency in Iraq, according to U.S. military and intelligence officials.

Super drones? See through walls? Something even crazier than that? You decide.

Winner gets a visit from men in dark suits and a trip to the Caribbean! [CNN, Bruce Schneier, LA Times]

UPDATE: Lots of legitimate leads (aka not guesses of anti-terrorist iPhone apps) in the comments. The "gadget" may really be a whole combination of technologies and techniques as opposed to some awesome James Bond weapon. Lame!

Part of the US National Geospatial Intelligence Agency NextView program, the SUV-sized GeoEye-1 launched yesterday in a Delta II 7326 rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California—without exploding. Hours later, GeoEye's ground station in Norway confirmed that the rocket had delivered its payload right on target. The satellite was alive, fully armed and operational on its 423-mile orbit above the Earth.

Built by General Dynamics, the GeoEye-1 is equipped with a next-generation camera made by ITT. This camera can easily distinguish objects 16 inches long, with 11-bits per pixel color. In other words: this thing can see the color of your shorts. It will be up there, looking at your pants every single day, the time it takes for it to complete one orbit. And it will keep doing that for more than ten years, its expected life.

Of course, there's nothing new here until you notice the huge Google logo on the rocket, signaling the fact that Sergei and Larry own the exclusive rights to the GeoEye-1 images. Yes, no other company will be able to access this information, only Google. And they will be there, available for the public in Google Maps and Google Earth.

But don't fret, tin-foil hatters, because Google won't be able to access the highest resolution images because of US government regulations. Sure, the other guys will, but then again, their big bad satellites can see closer than this one. Still, you can rest safe that your underpants will be safe from public scrutiny. For now. Unless you do like me and keep flashing them around. [GeoEye, Wikipedia, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency via Cnet]

Wired's Danger room notes that the U.S. Air Force has effectively shifted away from the instant death scenario as of late, and focuses instead on how long it will take to cook a human with a laser (allegedly, everything is still top secret).

[F]rom what we know, the Air Force considers laser effects on eyes and skin, for the most part. Skin damage is very much easier to achieve than penetration; simply raising skin temperature to (say) 80C/ 180 f to a depth of a couple of millimeters will cause serious blistering (second-third degree burns). If 40% of the body is burned in this way, then the target will be disabled and may die.

[...] So instead of "zap-and-you're-dead" in normal science fiction style, with a hundred kilowatt laser, it's more a matter of spraying the target all over to ensure they're done. The description of the ATL as a "long range blow torch" is probably quite accurate.

I suppose it's fitting that a new slogan for tomorrow's battlefields came from a Colonel: Original recipe, or extra crispy? [Danger Room]

Northrop Grumman calls the individual components "laser chains," and say they've managed to successfully link two of them together (out of eight). Moreover, they have them running at peak power (30kW) for 5 minutes continuously and 40 minutes non continuously. Wired writes that a laser of this caliber should be able to knock mortars and rockets out of the sky.

Once thought to be significantly less powerful, electric lasers have progressed to the point that they're close to being a suitable chemical laser alternative. Not only that, they're also much safer in real world scenarios, evil villains notwithstanding. With Northrop Grumman assuring the Pentagon these will be ready by the end of the year, I'm getting kinda excited. [Danger Room]

The aircraft, which was carrying six crew and 58 passengers, veered off the runway after being hit by two improvised explosive devices, catching fire on its badly damaged port wing. Three people suffered minor injuries on evacuating the stricken transport, which was subsequently "deemed unrecoverable due to operational constraints", according to a Board of Inquiry investigation into the mishap.

The aircraft, a C-130J transport plane, is worth an estimated $82 million in working, non-blowed-up condition. [Danger Room via FlightGlobal]

DARPA hopes that the SRVS technology "will provide 90% accurate facial recognition of a moving individual from 1 km away (.62 miles), using a 6 cm lens." That represents a 3-fold improvement over current technology under more favorable conditions. However, the technique does not currently operate in real time, so the goal for researchers is to achieve a refresh rate of one frame per second. A finished product should weigh in at no more than 4.4 pounds with a length of around 14-inches and be available to Special Ops units by 2011. For once, I actually believe that might happen. [SRVS via New Scientist]

You could also have a refreshing break with a water bottle next to this Dok-Ing Croatian mine-sweeper.

Give the kids a chance to see what it's like to look down the firing sights of a shoulder-launched missile.

Or, better yet, the sights of this gigantic cannon.

Fondly stroke a grenade launcher, perhaps.

Or stand on the business end of some pretty demonic-looking UAVs on their launch sleds.

Plenty more fun to be had over at: [English Russia]

The good news for peaceniks is the U.S. Army doesn't think mission-ready laser weapons will arrive until at least 2016, and even then the systems will be limited use (Doomsday delayed again! Hooray!).

That hasn't stopped G.I. Joe-type development from going forward, however. In addition to the aerial laser tested in June and the missile-targeting, ground-based HEL TD, Boeing is also working on the Laser Avenger. The Avenger is a Humvee-mounted laser weapon system designed to target small ground targets like roadside bombs, IEDs, and, let's face it folks, people. We just hope they aren't wearing Imperial Stormtrooper armor at that time—that shit is worthless! [CNet]

At this point it's little more than wishful saber rattling, of course, but if there's one way to prove your mettle as a nation, it's to blast something big into space. But it would take a fool to think that space program could somehow help develop long-range ICBM systems, I mean, come on guys. Our space race with the Soviets was totally about the science. Right? [Reuters, Image: Giz's Iran Photoshop Contest Winner]

The FAST system consists of a hardened pouch that can hold three spring-loaded 30-round M-16 magazines. It's currently in a prototype phase, but a review by Mil-Spec Monkey deemed it to be a decent piece of equipment. However, they were a bit miffed by the bulk and the flimsy Velcro strap connecting it to the body. Hopefully they can get things worked out before you are forced to wage war with the undead. [Defense Tech and Mil-Spec Monkey]

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 /.]

The imaging system is used by NASA on board their Swift satellite , which is dedicated to spot gamma bursts. They got rid of the optics to make it lighter and more durable, thanks to the lack of optics and mirrors. The sensor redundancy also makes it error-proof: there are thousands of them, so if one gets damaged, the image will maintain its quality.

Other than its durability, the system can track thousands of vehicles at any time, and even has a "super resolution" mode that allows to produce a very detailed image of any sector in its field of view. [BBC News]

In layman's terms, the metamaterials developed by Zhang and his cohorts at UC Berkley scatter the visible light that hits them using a mixture of metal and circuit board materials like ceramic, Teflon and fiber composite. The scientists are using these materials to bend light around 3D objects, kind of like water around your ankles in a shallow river (yes, even cankles!), so they don't create reflections, shadows or Kevin Bacon impersonations.

More info on this latest invisibility discovery will be released later this week in the journals Nature and Science [The Associated Press]

The fear is that a king-sized EMP generated from a nuclear blast detonated in the sky could send this country back to the stone age. Even if the possibility of such a scenario occurring is remote, the Navy doesn't want to take chances. If all goes well, the generator is expected to be completed sometime in 2010. [Defense Industry Daily via Danger Room]

iRobot also plans on selling the Negotiators for $20,000 apiece—a fraction of the price Ahed was going to get from the military for the project (although the version has been significantly stripped down). The cheaper versions will be equipped with a video camera and little else—just enough to help small-scale police forces scout potentially dangerous situations.

In the end, iRobot executive Joe Dyer is excited about selling the Negotiator: "We always loved the design and the morphology. It's our design." Hahaha...snap. [Danger Room]

So far it only carries cameras and recon gear, but the company claims it can be fitted with a variety of different modular systems which could include weapons. For now, buyers will have to settle for chemical snifters, missile launch detectors, and an "RFID Interrogator," which might just be tactical speak for "RFID reader for border-jumpers' passports." [G-NIUS via CNET]

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]

Using his own computer at home in London, McKinnon hacked into 97 computers belonging to and used by the U.S. government between February 2001 and March 2002.

McKinnon is accused of causing the entire U.S. Army's Military District of Washington network of more than 2,000 computers to be shut down for 24 hours.

Using a limited 56-kbps dialup modem and the hacking name "Solo" he found many U.S. security systems used an insecure Microsoft Windows program with no password protection.

He then bought off-the-shelf software and scanned military networks, saying he found expert testimonies from senior figures reporting that technology obtained from extra-terrestrials did exist.

At the time of his indictment, Paul McNulty, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said: "Mr. McKinnon is charged with the biggest military computer hack of all time."

He's currently awaiting extradition to the United States where, if convicted, he'll face up to 70 years in jail and up to $1.75 million in fines. Let us know about that alien technology first, Gary! [Valleywag]

UPDATE: The photo of the Humvee has been removed because of the request of an army major citing a violation of "Operational Security restrictions." While we have doubts about the officialness of his request—especially since it was followed by the too-frequently-heard accusation that running this sort of image was a tactic of "our enemy"—we do not wish to be detained at Guantanamo Bay for questioning, so we have complied.

“Any kind of exposure you could give to someone that wouldn’t burn them to a crisp would produce a sound too weak to have any effect,” said Kenneth Foster, a bioengineering professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Foster knows what he's talking about, too. In 1974 he published the first research on the microwave auditory effect.

Fellow scientist and microwave research author Bill Guy agrees, citing some hard facts to support his conclusions:

Guy says that experiments have demonstrated that radiation at 40 microjoules per pulse per square centimeter produces sound at zero decibels, which is just barely in hearing range. To produce sound at 60 decibels, or the sound of normal conversation, requires 40 watts per square centimeter of radiation. “That would kill you pretty fast,” Guy says. Producing an unpleasant sound, at about 120 decibels, would take 40 million W/cm2 of energy. One milliwatt per square centimeter is considered to be the safety threshold.

Both scientists were in agreement about one other thing too: the MEDUSA just morphed from a crowd-control device into a monstrous weapon. We need more of those, right? [IEEE Spectrum Online]

Dogs have been performing parachute jumps in the name of military service since WW2, but never from such a great altitude, where oxygen deprivation and pressure changes can become an issue. Presumably, the dogs will be fitted with an oxygen mask in addition to their head-mounted camera, which will probably account for some pretty bad-ass looking head gear. [Telegraph via Geekologie]

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

Well, given the fact that the Airknife design is actually a parody of a UAV dubbed the AirSniper, I think not. That drone was discovered by a Wired editor in an ad placed in a recent issue of Unmanned Systems magazine. Apparently, the AirSniper is an unmanned quadcopter that doubles as an assault rifle—and it is being developed by a suspiciously mysterious company named AUS International.

It may be a joke, but I get the feeling that a gigantic flying bowie knife would be even more intimidating than a UAV loaded with missiles or guns. Talk about a surgical strike! [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.