Gizmodo: Stealth

Navy Scraps Plans to Build $2.6 Billion Zumwalt Class Stealth Destroyers

John Mahoney — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:15:08 EDT

One place where "if you build it, they will come" doesn't always apply is in military hardware. After constructing two Zumwalt class DD(X) stealth destroyers at $2.6 billion apiece, the Navy has scrapped its plan to build up the rest of its intended 313-ship fleet—turns out, the demand for a ship whose primary mission is to obliterate large land targets with guided artillery and Tomahawk missiles doesn't suit the smaller-scale anti-terror missions most of the armed forces are currently faced with. Now the Pentagon just has to decide what to do with the almost $1 trillion it just freed up in its budget. I'm sure they'll have no problem with that. [AP]

B-2 Bomber Crash Film Finally Released Publicly

Mark Wilson — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 10:00:00 EDT

Do you remember the $1.2 B-2 Stealth Bomber that crashed during take-off? Well now a video has been released of the event. But let me warn you—it's really, really hard watching so much taxpayer cash wastefully go up in flames, especially when the travesty unfolds so slowly. Apparently the plane's sensors were fooled by the presence of water and convinced the vehicle to pitch up on take-off. Luckily both pilots ejected safely. [via Wired]

50 Years of DARPA: 5 Good Inventions, 5 Lousy Ones

Wilson Rothman — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:45:00 EDT

To commemorate the golden jubilee of America's Defense Advance Research Projects Agency—formed these 50 years ago in response to a little traveler called Sputnik—New Scientist has come up with a short list of 10 DARPA inventions: five that changed the world, and five that fell flat:

Five Big Wins

The internet - You know, ARPANET, or a communications network that heals thyself. The whole porn-music-movie triangle trade was not in the original blueprint.

GPS - The idea that satellites up there could tell us where we are down here is as old as Sputnik, and DARPA had an attempt or two before getting it right with GPS. Again, not originally purposed for civilians and their "points of interest"—more about targeting ballistic warheads, but you know, potato, po-tah-to.

Speech translation - Soldiers in Iraq use handheld machine translators to aid in communication with some degree of success, meaning it's only a matter of time before some German tourists ask you to speak into the microphone.

Stealth planes - Stealth airplane technology was so sneaky it even snuck up on Air Force top brass, who were apparently shocked to learn about the prototype for the original F-117.

Gallium arsenide - Yep, some DARPA egghead discovered you can do more with arsenic than poison KGB triple-agents. It's now found in all kinds of everyday electronics. That may not last, though, because environmentally speaking it's still some pretty nasty stuff.

Five That Didn't Quite Make It

Hafnium bombs - DARPA put $7 million into researching a bomb with massive initial devastation but no radioactive fallout, but alas, it didn't ever work. Apparently if you want the good, you gotta take the bad.

The mechanical elephant - Hannibal would have been proud of this one: During the Vietnam War, some dudes at DARPA wanted to take terrain-friendly robot elephants into the jungle. Even DARPA's director was embarrassed.

Telepathic spies - People who claimed psychic powers were on the receiving end of a lot of government funding in the 1970s. Even though the project was a failure, getting rich by pretending to be psychic does seem to suggest a kind of sixth sense.

FutureMap - Apparently a bunch of Dick Cheney's friends betting on terror targets was considered grotesque by some people. I've still got $30K riding on Dubuque.

Project Orion - This is a nerd favorite: it's the spaceship powered by atomic-bomb turds. I think everyone was sad to see that one go.

Check out the New Scientist story for the real deal behind these 10 projects, and a look at some crazy projects that might make the list in the next 50 years. [New Scientist]

Camouflage Paint Hides Vehicles From Radar, Subsequent Missiles

Mark Wilson — Thu, 08 May 2008 09:51:00 EDT

A German inventor has developed a paint called AR 1 that can hide a vehicle from radar, and most importantly, "all militarily relevant frequencies." How it works is unclear, though one test researcher proposes it's either by reflecting radar waves in a pattern so they cancel one another out, or by utilizing microscopic magnets to absorb radar radiation. And no, it won't get you out of speeding tickets.

The inventor's story is an interesting one, involving thousands of hours of lab trial and error, as well as international military interest in his product...that far outshined the response from his own country's military.

But apparently the most promising and equitable use for such a paint could be civilian. Airport towers and buildings have a long history of interfering with flight control radars. And to simply make them disappear would be quite useful—as opposed to calling hangar 12 in for a landing or something. [Spiegel Online via NewLaunches][image]

Zero-G Defy Xtreme Stealth Watch Had Better Get You Noticed

Mark Wilson — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:20:06 EST

The Zero-G Defy Xtreme Stealth by elite watchmaker Zenith is one of the most lust-worthy timepieces we've seen in recent history. Modeled after the famous Stealth Bomber, this blackened titanium watch (utilizing a PVD coating process) is specially crafted to keep time without extreme gravity throwing off your appointments. Featuring a titanium strap with Kevlar inserts, hop out of your matching stealth jet, go for a dive down to 1,000 feet and stop a bullet with your wrist—all for what looks to be an increasingly reasonable $500,000. [zenith via coolhunting]

Mobiado Introduces Its Stealth Cellphone, Er, Stealthily

AddyDugdale — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 05:25:12 EST

Made from a block of aircraft aluminum, Mobiado's black Stealth Mobile is inspired by the bomber of the same name. Only 1200 will be made, so I expect the price, while not quite as expensive as a B-2 Spirit, should hit you in the pocket. Full specs of the small-buttoned beauty are below.

Band GSM 900/1800/1900MHz
WCDMA 2100MHz
Data GRPS/EDGE/UMTS
Size 109mm x 46mm x 18.5mm (4.3" x 1.8" x 0.7")
Weight 177g (6.2oz)
Battery Life up to 2 weeks standby time
up to 4 hours talk time
Main Display 262k color TFT, 320x240 pixel resolution
Camera 2 megapixel
Video Yes
Messaging MMS/SMS/IM
Email Yes (POP/IMAP/SMTP)
Bluetooth Yes
Memory 6MB internal, microSD card slot
Availability Unknown
Other Speakerphone, aircraft aluminum body, sapphire display and camera window

The Mobiado Stealth was released yesterday, but so far without a price. [Sybarites]

Royal Marines' Latest Boat is Swift, Stealthy, Sexy and Skinny

AddyDugdale — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 13:30:00 EDT

This is the secret weapon that the British Navy is hoping will help it in its wars on drugs and terror. As yet unnamed, the slinky little craft has been spotted buzzing around the waters of Poole, where the service's Special Boat Service—the equivalent to the Navy Seals—is based.

With speeds of around 60 knots (70mph), this razor-sharp and super-silent craft leaves barely any wake and is thought to be undetectable by radar. This is due, in part, to its angled design and radar-absorbent coating.

Designed and built by VT Halmatic, the defense company's website is keeping schtum on the boat, thought to be a replacement for two of the SBS's current tubs, the VSV (Very Slim Vessel) and its interceptor craft.

"Nobody knows too much," an anonymous source has been quoted as saying, "because there has been a lot of secrecy about them, but they are British built and have been spotted in Poole going very quickly." So, Shhhhhhh - you ain't seen it, roight?

Marines unveil stealth boat as latest weapon in war on terror [Daily Mail]

Stealth Cam Prowler Catches Man or Beast in the Act

Charlie White — Mon, 07 May 2007 13:00:00 EDT

We're seeing more infrared cameras lately, but this one has a different marketing angle for these perverted porncams: it's pitched to photo hunters. You position the Stealth Cam Prowler digital video infrared scouting camera where those animals you'd like see usually hang around, and then you can capture video or 2-megapixel stills of them in the dark or 5-megapixel color shots in daylight, triggered by its motion sensor.

It has 42 infrared emitters that surreptitiously light up moving critters within 50 feet, and its pictures or video are stamped with the time and date, as well as the moon phase and temperature. You can have its burst mode shoot one to nine pictures at a time, or set it to capture 5 to 90 seconds of video. This looks like it would be great for catching animals—human or otherwise—in the act. No pricing or availability was announced yet. – Charlie White

Product Page [Stealthcam, via Be Sportier]

Stealth Media Center Quietly Invades Your Living Room

Louis Ramirez — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 12:15:17 EST

If their last PC was the Hummer of the Media Center world, this one's undoubtedly the Beetle. Living up to its namesake, the new Stealth Media Center measures a scant 3.6-inches high yet packs enough media muscle to merit a spot next to your plasma. Design-wise, it's one of the better looking MCE PCs out there and it's no slouch when it comes to performance either. Click through for a run down of its insides.

The Stealth comes in 4 different configurations (starts at $4,399). Each model is powered by a dual-core AMD processor and comes with a minimum of 1GB of RAM, dual TV tuners (1 HD and 1 SD), and enough space to accommodate a 1.5TB SATA drive. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth aren't built-in, which is a sin considering the starting price, but to make up for it you get enough ports for pretty much everything that sits in your living room, and it's even HDCP-compliant. The pricing is too high for this blogger's wallet, but any MCE fans out there with cash to invest can't go wrong.

– Louis Ramirez
VidaBox Stealth

Stealth Stainless Steel Keyboard: Looks Badass, Costs a Ton

Travis Hudson — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 11:27:05 EDT

I'm telling you, trackballs are all the rage. This keyboard is ridiculously expensive at $1,200, but it is stainless steel, has a MacBook style keyboard and best of all—a freaking sweet integrated trackball! Yes! Twelve hundos is well worth it if I can get a trackball integrated into a stainless steel keyboard. – Travis Hudson

Product Page [Stealth]

Stealthy Camera Lighter: Take a Shot, Light a Fatty

Charlie White — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 12:34:42 EDT

While you're on your way to getting rid of that filthy habit, might as well have a versatile Zippo-esque lighter in your pocket, and this one has a 640x480 camera on board that can hold 30 pictures in its 64MB memory.

Might offer some good stealth in a pinch, or when you're on that next spy mission. Not exactly high-tech, it hooks up to USB 1.1 to send your pictures back to the mothership. And oh yeah, it can light those stogies, too. It's the same size as a regular Zippo, and that crappy camera on board doesn't raise the price too much—it's $30.

Product page [HotGadget, via CrunchGear]

Work Friendly: Make Any Site SFW (Safe For Work)

Charlie White — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 13:14:48 EDT

Every once in a while we'll post a rather risque babe shot here at the Giz. Some of the more squeamish or lawsuit-prone beatches at your workplace might become uncomfortable if they steal a glance at your screen while reading one of these posts, so we have the perfect solution to that problem: Work Friendly, a website that lets you enter the URL of that favorite but sometimes not-safe-for-work site, takes out the images and makes it look exactly like an innocent Microsoft Word document on your screen.

Notice the graphic above, showing a Gizmodo post I wrote yesterday that was accompanied by a rather erotic photo of a muddied-up babe, which some readers said earned them dirty looks from prudish colleagues. Looks pretty tame now, doesn't it? Now you're getting it. There's even a Boss Key that substitutes corporate-looking text for whatever it was you were reading that might've been objectionable. Great way to read the Giz on the sly. – Charlie White

Enter URL Here [work Friendly, via Fleshbot (NSFW)]

Stealth Tabletop from Design Concepts

Charlie White — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 10:37:25 EDT

Want to hide your PC rather than flaunt it? This design concept of a Stealth Tabletop looks like a designer coffee table, but boot up the multimedia PC hiding underneath, and there's a screen that magically appears.

Design Concepts from the UK sees this tabletop in corporate reception areas and in fancy houses where people want to hide the PC but still have it nearby. Neat stuff, maybe someday this could even be built and available.

Stealth Jet to Go from Deep Blue to Wild Blue

Charlie White — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 11:41:49 EST

Lockheed Martin is now testing Cormorant, a stealthy autonomous spy jet that starts and ends its mission 150 feet under water. Launched from Ohio-class submarines, the four-ton aircraft is designed with folding wings that allow it to fit inside a Trident missile tube, which is about 48 feet long but just 7 feet wide. The stealthy drone quietly floats to the surface and goes about its business of putting the hurt on those who hate America, and then when all the killing is done, slips back under the waves to be retrieved by a sneaky robotic underwater vehicle. Testing should be done by September, when the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will decide if it will commission a flying prototype. So it's not real yet, but even so, this has to be one of the coolest-looking airplane drawings ever, which was done, incidentally, by John MacNeill Illustration.

The Navy s Swimming Spy Plane [Popular Science]

US Defense Department Finds New Way to Quickly and Quietly Kill People

Charlie White — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 13:49:58 EST

The United States Department of Defense is working on Stiletto, a ship using what it calls M Hull technology, composed of M-shaped arches that let ships travel at a blistering 50 knots without making waves. There's an element of stealth at work here, too, where now ships can sneak up on each other, terminating each other s command with extreme prejudice. With this remarkable innovation, finally the Navy can put these killing machines to work, quickly and quietly snuffing out all those who hate freedom. Perhaps they should paint the arched hulls a golden hue, and then subsidize the technology s enormous development costs with an exclusive sponsorship from McDonald's.

Stiletto Experimental ship with carbon fiber M-hull design tops 50 knots (60mph) [gizmag]