military

Despite Contamination, Navy Copters Keep Aiding Japan

As the world braced for a possible core meltdown in Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, the U.S. Navy kept its helicopters flying to provide earthquake and tsunami relief. The Navy’s Pacific-based Seventh Fleet announced on its Facebook page that the aircraft carrier in position, the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, had been moved slightly away from…

Tech News Spencer Ackerman - Wired Mar 14

Second Super Secret X-37B Space Plane Blasts Into Orbit

Another day, another super secret robotic Air Force space plane. This one, a sister plane to the Boeing X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle that returned from a months-long mission in December, was launched into the heavens Saturday atop an Atlas V rocket. But what is its mission? Like the first X-37B, we have no idea, but…

Space & Spaceflight Jack Loftus Mar 6

Trucks Flying Out of the Back of an Airplane Are Just as Awesome as They Sound

Sometimes, when you need a truck somewhere, you drive it there. Sometimes, you parachute it out of the back of an airplane. Here’s how the US Air Force gets it done—the speed with which those humvees launch out of the plane is pretty spectacular. Make sure your toe doesn’t get caught. [via AcidCow]

Tech News Sam Biddle Mar 4

Dating Sites Are the New Hotspot for Libyan Protest

On a Muslim dating site called Mawada, there’s a man with a profile titled “Where Is Miriam?” He will frequently receive messages from other muslim women which read something along the lines of “may your day be filled with Jasmine.” He’s also quite popular with the ladies, amassing over 171,000 admirers. But neither “Where Is…

Tech News Adrian Covert Mar 1

5 haunting subterranean structures from around the globe

Even if you’ve been to the Catacombs of Paris or have gone spelunking in Brooklyn’s abandoned subway lines, there’s still a wealth of underground places to be explored. Here are some of the world’s less welcoming manmade tunnels and grottos. Fort Zverv In the 1970s, this munitions store in Kronstadt, Russia caught on fire. The…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Feb 26

Is alien invasion movie “Battle: Los Angeles” actually based in fact?

In next month’s Battle: Los Angeles, invading aliens go to war with the American military. It’s science fiction…except that a panel of UFO experts claims it’s factual. At a recent Sony Pictures press conference, the studio emphasized the movie’s “based in fact” premise by giving us a chance to chat with a pair of ufologists…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Feb 25

A Cheetah-Inspired Robo-Beast and a Headless Terminator

Remember Boston Dynamics, the company responsible for the oh-so-creepy BigDog robot? Well they’re still at it, except now they’re working on a cheetah-like robot (called Cheetah) that can chase us down like prey, and a humanoid, bipedal robot that looks like the Terminator crossed with the Headless Horseman. https://gizmodo.com/new-video-of-bigdog-quadruped-robot-is-so-stunning-its-368651 According to Wired’s Danger Room blog,…

Tech News Adrian Covert Feb 25

Paintball Robots!

A madcap inventor is seeking $15,000 on Kickstarter, to bring these paintballin’ robots to life. With stair-climbing wheels and a rotating top, they could be used to spice up 10 Things I Hate About You homages or actual combat. Or both, at the same time! So far, every part has been made by hand, in…

Tech News Kat Hannaford Feb 25

R.I.P. Hervey Stockman, First Pilot to Fly a Spy Plane Over Soviet Territory

Hervey Stockman passed away today, leaving behind a legacy as the first man to pilot a dedicated spy plane in Soviet airspace. Taking the Lockheed U-2 into Communist territory in the middle of the Cold War, Stockman was able to collect data on the USSR while evading MiGs trying to intercept him. Stockman also happened…

Tech News Adrian Covert Feb 23

Robotic hummingbird is right out of a James Bond film

Here’s footage of AeroVironment’s Nano Hummingbird, which was built with DARPA funding. This robot bird was built to be a spy ornithopter, can fly at a speed of 11 miles per hour, and weighs as much as a AA battery. Here are the traits DARPA required of this mechanical bird: 1. Demonstrate precision hover flight…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Feb 19

On its way to ultradestructive megawatt power, Navy’s death ray laser breaks another record

The Navy’s death ray weapon keeps burning through laser records, on its way to the ultimate goal of searing through 2,000 feet of steel per second. The Free Electron Laser’s latest milestone involved running its electron injection system for eight hours at 500 kilovolts. That will help the laser become more powerful and more deadly,…

io9 Rebecca Boyle - Popular Science Feb 19

Pentagon Red Tape Delayed Iraq’s Life-Saving Laser Weapons

Military bureaucrats needlessly blocked U.S. troops in Iraq from getting laser weapons – tools that could’ve kept civilians from getting killed. That, in a nutshell, is what the Pentagon’s Inspector General concluded after an investigation of the Marine Corps’ botched attempts to send the nonlethal lasers to the war zone. It’s a major mea culpa,…

Tech News David Axe - Wired Feb 16

Meet the CIA’s robotic animal agents: Charlie the spy fish and the robo-dragonfly

The CIA recently created accounts on Flickr and YouTube. Most of what’s been uploaded is underwhelming and weirdly mundane — for example, you can learn about a satisfying career as a K-9 bomb-sniffing dog — but there are some oddly intriguing mechanical animals on display, namely the robo-fish Charlie and a “dragonfly insectothopter,” which the…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Feb 9

The Navy Spent $450,000 Flying F-18s Over the Closed Dome of the Super Bowl

Everyone loves a great jet flyover! Except when you can’t see the jets, because you’re underneath a retractable dome. That’s un-retracted. Which is exactly what the Navy spent $450,000 of your tax dollars to do on Sunday. [Washington Post]

Tech News Sam Biddle Feb 8

Meet the Land Battleship, the biggest $#@?! tank that never existed

This absurdly oversized vehicle is the Land Battleship, a juggernaut that supposedly ran over Nazis in World War II. This 1941 illustration from Mechanix Illustrated is, as commenters over at Modern Mechanix astutely point out, an artistic embellishment of real Soviet tanks such as the KV. From now on, I’m just going to refer to…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Feb 8

One in 50 Troops in Afghanistan Is a Robot

There are more than 2,000 ground robots fighting alongside flesh-and-blood forces in Afghanistan, according to Lt. Col. Dave Thompson, the Marine Corps’ top robot-handler. If his figures are right, it means one in 50 U.S. troops in Afghanistan isn’t even a human being. And America’s swelling ranks of groundbot warriors are being used in new,…

Tech News David Axe - Wired Feb 8

“Military Grade” iPhone Case Could Probably Take a Bullet

Designer Jon Eicher‘s Military Grade iPhone 4 Case looks like it may be one of the few cases whose tough looks and promises of protection might actually live up to the hype. Updated. This one-of-a-kind $99 case, you see, is comprised of a variety of military-grade shock absorption and vibration-reducing materials (Military Standard 810-G to…

Tech News Jack Loftus Feb 6

These Soldiers Don’t Need Invisibility Technology

Watch very closely as the camera pans around this landscape and try to locate the horde of soldiers—twenty? thirty?—hiding in plain sight. Apparently, some people in the military need no stinking magic cloaking technology to become invisible. [Thanks Karl!]

Tech News Jesus Diaz Feb 6

Utah Bioweapon Defense Facility Locked Down Over ‘Serious Concern’ (Updated)

It’s probably nothing, but Utah’s Dugway Proving Ground — where the Army tests biological weapon defense systems — is on lockdown and no one can leave. “We are working […] to resolve a serious concern within the Test Area.” (Updated) Via ksl.com, a statement from Dugway Proving Ground: Wednesday, “during a routine inventory of sensitive…

Tech News Jeff Neumann Jan 27

The Army’s Underground Nuclear Ice Village

In 1959, the US Army began building an immense complex underneath the frozen surface of Greenland. It would be a center of research, to the benefit of mankind! It would also be a great place to launch Cold War nukes. http://viddler.com/v/ The installation was named “Camp Century”—instead of after some famous dead American—because, as an…

Tech News Sam Biddle Jan 20

Despite Contamination, Navy Copters Keep Aiding Japan

Second Super Secret X-37B Space Plane Blasts Into Orbit

Trucks Flying Out of the Back of an Airplane Are Just as Awesome as They Sound

Dating Sites Are the New Hotspot for Libyan Protest

5 haunting subterranean structures from around the globe

Is alien invasion movie “Battle: Los Angeles” actually based in fact?

A Cheetah-Inspired Robo-Beast and a Headless Terminator

Paintball Robots!

R.I.P. Hervey Stockman, First Pilot to Fly a Spy Plane Over Soviet Territory

Robotic hummingbird is right out of a James Bond film

On its way to ultradestructive megawatt power, Navy’s death ray laser breaks another record

Pentagon Red Tape Delayed Iraq’s Life-Saving Laser Weapons

Meet the CIA’s robotic animal agents: Charlie the spy fish and the robo-dragonfly

The Navy Spent $450,000 Flying F-18s Over the Closed Dome of the Super Bowl

Meet the Land Battleship, the biggest $#@?! tank that never existed

One in 50 Troops in Afghanistan Is a Robot

“Military Grade” iPhone Case Could Probably Take a Bullet

These Soldiers Don’t Need Invisibility Technology

Utah Bioweapon Defense Facility Locked Down Over ‘Serious Concern’ (Updated)

The Army’s Underground Nuclear Ice Village

Google Displayed Polymarket Bets as News ‘In Error,’ Google Says

‘Marvel Rivals’ Wants to Start Being More Than Just a Hero Shooter

‘How Do We Make Sure That Claude Behaves Itself?’: Anthropic Invited 15 Christians for a Summit

See the Next ‘Hunger Games’ in This Trip Down Memory Lane

Indie Animation Is Having a Moment on YouTube

Trump’s World Liberty Financial Makes FTX-esque Move, Borrows Against Its Own Crypto Token

Steven Soderbergh Wanted to Take ‘Bond’ Back to the ’60s

If You Make Fart Music, ChatGPT Will Be the Most Supportive Girlfriend You Could Ask For

This Loud-Ass Party Speaker Almost Got Me High AF

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

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