military

iRobot’s Bomb-disposing PackBot Heads Out to War

The folks at iRobot (yeah, the same guys that make the Roomba) are ready to send their new PackBot 510 out to battle. The PackBot is a bomb-disposing robot used out in the field where it’s too dangerous for soldiers to maneuver. The new PackBot 510 is 30% faster and stronger than its predecessor. It’s…

Purdue University Develops Mr.Fusion, Finally

A team of scientists and researchers at Purdue have developed a fully functional Mr. Fusion. (For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, go rent Back to the Future II asap.) This tactical biorefinery can munch up food, paper and plastic garbage and turn it into energy. This machine was commissioned for the…

What’s in Jack Bauer’s Gear Closet?

Attack of the Hunter-Killer Grim Reaper Robots

What’s not to like about the sneaky and efficient drone, a robotic aircraft controlled from afar that can put the hurt on enemies while assuring that none of us good guys die in the process? The radio-controlled warplanes have come a long way since those first Predator surveillance drones, and now the more-powerful Reaper hunter-killer…

Dumb Jet: F-22 Raptor Listens But Can’t Talk

The Lockheed Martin F-22a Raptor is fast, has a long range, and is more maneuverable than any other jet in the sky, but it’s crazy dumb when it comes to sending out its data to other jets and ground control. Pilots of the speedy aircraft are required to talk fast, telling other pilots in the…

U.S. Military Develops Ray Gun, People Feel Like They’re On Fire

The U.S. military has developed a non-lethal ray gun that makes people feel like they’re on fire. Yes! It’s supposed to be used in places like Iraq and Afghanistan (where else?) in order to disperse crowds and get people to cooperate. It uses millimeter electromagnetic waves to penetrate the skin and raises body temperature to…

Singapore Contest Offers $600k for Best Robo-Warrior

All you bot builders listen up. Singapore’s Defence Science and Technology Agency is holding a contest to see who can build the best street-fighting robowarrior. The prize? One million Singapore dollars (about $652,000 US). The bar is set pretty high, however, as the winning bot will have to know how to move within buildings, navigate…

Serious Weapons: Navy Uses Poison Darts to Neutralize Surf Mines

The Navy has figured out a strange way to neutralize deadly mines near the beach: using a satellite-guided bomb that releases thousands of poison darts. Each .50 caliber Venom dart is packing some seriously poisonous stuff called DETA, causing some of the mines to explode and then neutralizing the rest of them with caustic chemicals.…

Militaries Develop Small Fighting Robots To Do Our Dirty Work

Israel likes to keep its military in tip-top shape since it’s not exactly in a friendly neighborhood. To that end, it is (and has been) developing micro air vehicles (MAVs) the size of a hornet designed to attack its enemies. Other countries are getting onboard with the whole “tiny killer robot from outer space” motif,…

NYC and DC Get $4k Bomb-Stopping Trash Cans

So it appears that the latest weapon against the war on terror is a 2,000-pound, steel bin of….trash. Dubbed the BlastGard 101, the new trash can is being rolled out in parts of NYC and DC for its bomb-stopping capabilities. So aside from its massive weight, the steel trash bin can quench fireballs and stifle…

China Space Attack: Unstoppable

Though it sounds like something out of a sci-fi flick, Defense Tech is reporting that China has successfully tested an anti-satellite weapon. They conducted the test by demolishing an old Chinese weather satellite over 500 miles above the earth. What does this mean for us? Well, unless we can get a real-life Jack Bauer over…

Awesome Railgun Demoed, Navy Gives the Thumbs Up

Railguns have moved beyond the realm of first-person shooters on a video screen—one was demonstrated earlier this week at the Naval Surface Warfare Center that could put the serious hurt on you, making you feel like you’ve been hit by a Ford Taurus at 380mph. US Navy brass like the idea of the futuristic weapon,…

Ray Guns on the Battlefield? Not Too Far Off

Don’t be strapping on that holster for your ray gun just yet, but a couple of weapons mongers are making solid progress toward weapons-grade lasers. Raytheon’s Laser Area Defense System (LADS) can take down a 60mm mortar, acting all like Star Wars and everything. But wait, those zapped mortars weren’t flying through the air—they were…

Man Develops $2,000 Halo-like Military Suit

If you participate in the strange art known as “cosplay,” you should be forced to give up your citizenship. I don’t care if you’re pretending to be Link, Cloud or Master Chief. So take this guy, Troy Hurtubise. He spent $15,000 of his own money and two years of his life developing what amounts to…

Doomsday Plane: A Floating Pentagon ‘Just in Case’

Think your ride is cool? I bet it’s no match for the National Airborne Operations Center, no matter how pimped out yours is. Known colloquially as the “Doomsday Plane,” the Boeing 747 is outfitted enough to be considered a floating Pentagon. (In the event of a devastating attack upon the United States, the Doomsday Plane…

DREAD: Silent Monster Weapon Spins Out 120,000 Rounds Per Minute

You’re not going to want to be on the receiving end of this DREAD gun, capable of cranking out 120,000 rounds per minute of .308 and .50 caliber round metal balls at 8000 feet per second (ft/s). To give you some perspective, the M-16 rifle delivers its ammunition at 3200 ft/s, and can shoot a…

Robots Entitled to the Same Rights as Humans in the Future?

The wheels are in motion to give robots the same rights that people currently enjoy. Huh? A recent inquiry by the British government suggests that within the next 20 to 50 years robots will be intelligent enough to warrant many of the same rights and benefits that us mere mortals now have. Robots would be…

Hypersonic Cruise Missiles Hit Mach 5

Tomahawk Cruise missiles may be known for their pinpoint accuracy, but when it comes to speed, there’s no topping the X-51. As part of the Pentagon’s Prompt Global Strike project, the X-51 is a hypersonic cruise missile that can strike anywhere in the world in less than an hour. The new missile, which is designed…

SkyGuard Annihilates Incoming Missiles with Giant Laser

It sounds like something straight out of a video game, but the U.S. Dept of Homeland Security is considering using Northrop Grumman’s SkyGuard to take out incoming rockets before they reach their intended targets. Each SkyGuard costs $150 million to make and is armed with an infrared camera that scans the sky looking for suspicious…

Nonlethal Gun Makes You Wish You Were Shot with BFG

It took 10 years and a $40 million budget to make, but the Air Force has unveiled a new weapon it calls the Active Denial System. It’s a nonlethal weapon that has been certified for use in Iraq as a means of crowd control. The ADS shoots a beam of high intensity millimeter waves, which…