 |
 Military
Robot Repair Unit - Iraq
April 18, 2010
The Joint
Robotics Repair Detachment-Iraq, based at Camp Victory, Iraq,
is the only organization in theater that can repair military
robots and send them where they are needed most.
According to Major Roger Deon, commander of JRRD-I, the repair
facility has repaired or upgraded more than 1,800 robots since
April 2009.
"Repairs
can range from normal wear and tear, such as the track wear,
damaged cameras or motors, to battle damage from an IED blast
that may have damaged the robot's arm or circuit board," says
Shawn Wyzlic, robot technician.
More.... |
 U.S.
Army's 'SimCity' Counterinsurgency Game
March 22, 2010
UrbanSim is a computer-based game that is helping to
train military commanders and their staffs for
counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The game
features a simulated city rife with political, economic and
tribal rivalries typical of cities in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The player assumes the role of a battalion commander and
directs the actions of subordinate units over a 15-turn
period. Beware when playing the game. You won't find a tornado
or Godzilla wreaking havoc in this game like in some editions
of SimCity. Instead, you may find suicide bombers, insurgent
groups and anti-American mayors. The idea behind the game was
to take the best components of video games and apply this
concept towards the Army's training needs. For now, the game
is strictly a military application, but we're hoping a Home
edition will somehow find its way to market. (Source:
Defense.gov, Christen N. McCluney) See:
UrbanSim: A Game-Based
Instructional Package For Conducting Counterinsurgency
Operations (PDF - Source: Defense Technical Information
Center) |
 PHOTO:
RQ-4 Global Hawk
March 01, 2010
An RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle, assigned to
the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, at an undisclosed base in
Southwest Asia on February 12th, 2010 prior to a combat
mission. Click here
for photo. (DoD photo by Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol, U.S.
Air Force/Released) |
 TRC-170
Tropospheric Scatter Microwave Radio Terminal site
February 12, 2010
The United States Air Force's TRC-170, or Track 170, is
used for beyond-line-of-sight communications between launch
control and Patriot missile batteries. The system itself is
almost 40 years old and is extremely durable, able to overcome
many of the harshest conditions known. The terminal's antennae
produce 11,000 watts of energy, which is sent as a signal to
the troposphere. The signal then bounces off the troposphere
and comes back to earth to another TRC-170 system. Photo: The
379th Expeditionary Communications Squadron TRC-170
Tropospheric Scatter Microwave Radio Terminal site supports
U.S. Army Patriot missile batteries from an undisclosed
location in Southwest Asia on January 30th, 2010. (Photo by
Senior Airman Kasey Zickmund, USAF - Click photo to enlarge) |
 VIDEO:
Army Permafrost Lab
February 7, 2010
The US Army Corps of Engineers operates a permafrost lab
in an Alaskan tunnel. The lab is the only one of its kind and
tells a tale more than 40,000 years old.
Click here
for video. |
 VIDEO:
Assault Command Posts (ACPs)
January 17, 2010
ACPs are giving the Army state-of-the-art command and
control capabilities for forward deployed units.
Click here
for video. |
 US Army's Unmanned Aircraft Program Continues to Grow to
Support Demand
January 09, 2010
The
US Army has logged almost 1 million UAS (Umanned Aircraft
Systems) flight hours in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the Army
plans to grow the successful UAS program to keep pace with
demand. This year alone, the Army plans to train more than
2,000 operators who ultimately will deploy with the ground
troops they will support, reports Army Col. Christopher B.
Carlile, director of the Army Unmanned Aerial System Center of
Excellence at Fort Rucker, Alabama. Photo: US Army 1st Lt.
Steven Rose launches an RQ-11 Raven along the Euphrates River
near Taqqadum, Iraq, on October 9th, 2009. (U.S. Army photo/Spc.
Michael J. MacLeod - Click photo to enlarge) |
 PHOTO:
Distributed Sound and Light Array (DSLA)
December 16, 2009
The Department of Defense's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons
Program recently sponsored non-lethal light and sound
experiments at the Directed Energy Warfare Office at the
Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division in
Virginia. The goal of the experiments was to determine
the effects of combined non-lethal light and sound
stimuli on vehicle and vessel drivers. The results will
aid in determining potential military uses for
checkpoint operations and naval vessel exclusion areas,
according to Randy Woods, the technical lead for the
DSLA experiments at Dahlgren.
Click here
for photo. |
 Army
Testing New High Explosive Weapon
November 12, 2009
The Army plans on purchasing more than 12,500 systems starting
in 2012, which will be enough to put one in each Infantry
squad and SF team.
More... |
 PHOTO:
iRobot PackBot
November 03, 2009
An iRobot PackBot picks up an object at the Joint Robotics
Repair Detachment at Victory Base Complex, Baghdad, Iraq. The
robots can be operated by a commercial off-the-shelf
controller or a heads-up display.
Click here
for photo. |
 High-Tech
Vehicles Arrive in Afghanistan
October 23, 2009
New Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicles
(M-ATVs), built specifically for the mountainous Afghan
terrain, have arrived in Afghanistan. The first eight in
theater will be used to train troops and mechanics in units
selected to receive M-ATVs.
Click here
for photos. |
 Virtual
Sand Table
September 20, 2009
 Since
the earliest days of armed, group combat, soldiers have been
drawing their attack plans in the desert sands. Today, many
military units use sand tables, complete with miniature
military pieces, to discuss tactics. Seems that wasn't good
enough, as scientists have now developed a computerized,
virtual sand table. Accompanying photo (click to enlarge)
shows Amela Sadagic, research associate professor at the Naval
Postgraduate School Modeling, Virtual Environments and
Simulation Institute, demonstrating the virtual sand table for
urban warfare operations at a training rehearsal in Monterey,
California. |
 VIDEO:
Gas Micro Aerial Vehicle
August 05, 2009
Click here
for video of a new prototype unmanned aerial vehicle, the Gas
Micro Aerial Vehicle (GMAV), that has the ability to hover in one
spot. |
 New
High-Altitude Airship Will Keep Watch Over Battlefield
July 5, 2009
By Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service
A giant, unmanned airship capable of hovering at about 70,000
feet promises to give future warfighters an unprecedented eye
on the battlefield.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA)
Integrated Sensor is Structure program, ISIS for short, will
provide a detailed, real-time picture of all movement on or
above the battlefield, explained program manager Timothy
Clark.
As envisioned, the ISIS airship will be able to track troop
movements - friendly as well as enemy - up to 180 miles away
and track the most advanced cruise missiles from about 370
miles away.
It also will be able to watch ground targets through heavily
forested areas, a capability not possible without the huge
ultra-high-frequency antenna ISIS will provide.
Operating outside of controlled air space and out of the range
of most surface-to-air missiles, Clark said, the system will
bring a capability not possible with satellites: the ability
to maintain watch over a huge, fixed position without
blinking.
ISIS is expected to have a 10-year lifespan, although
engineers estimate it could last even longer. When it's no
longer needed in one location, it can be moved to watch
another. "We should be able to get it to anywhere the services
would need it in about 10 days," Clark said.
Since the program's inception in 2004, its focus has been on
developing technologies needed to create extremely large,
super-sensitive, but also super-lightweight phased-array radar
antennas. That's been accomplished, Clark said, with 6,000
square meters of X-band and UHF antenna condensed onto a
40-by-46-meter cylinder - about the size of a 15-story
apartment building.
Meanwhile, the antenna's weight has been cut 90 percent, from
20 kilograms per meter to about 2.
Powering the system so it can stay aloft was another
challenge. Batteries were too heavy, so engineers tried
something else. They opted to use solar rays during the
daylight hours and to electrolyze water, storing the hydrogen
and oxygen separately so they could be run through a hydrogen
fuel cell at night.
"Then we collect the water and run it again," Clark said.
"It's a fully regenerative system."
The next step is to incorporate these technologies into the
hull of a non-rigid, pressurized airship.
A demonstration program already is under way to see how this
will work, Clark said.
Large pieces of the system are being put together at various
locations around the country, and if all goes as planned,
they'll be put together in a Lockheed-Martin hangar in Akron,
Ohio.
Flight tests are expected to begin in late fall 2012, likely
in the Florida Keys. Initially, DARPA will conduct 90 days of
tests worldwide against air, ground and surface targets at
known positions and sizes to ensure the radar is operating
properly.
From there, the Air Force will take over the program,
conducting its own additional testing before taking the ISIS
operational.
Once operational, ISIS will bring not only new capabilities,
but also new approaches to how the military conducts
reconnaissance and surveillance, Clark said.
"It's going to provide an affordable persistence," he said.
Clark recalled the post-Gulf War years, when U.S., British and
French military aircraft regularly patrolled two no-fly zones
designated over Iraq to protect humanitarian operations in the
north and Shiite Muslims in the south. ISIS could monitor the
same areas without the wear and tear on flight crews and
equipment, and at a fraction of the cost of manned patrols, he
said.
'So you are talking about enormous change in how we do
things," he said. "You are also talking about rethinking
forward basing and crew rest. All those things change in how
you execute what you do on the battlefield." |
 VIDEO:
Overview of the U-2 Full Pressure Suit
June 25, 2009
Click here
for an overview of the different parts of the U-2 Dragon Lady
full pressure suit and the benefits it provides pilots while
flying at extremely high altitudes. |
|
Unmanned
Little Bird (ULB) |
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|
June 16, 2009
The Unmanned Little Bird (ULB)
helicopter is capable of carrying a 300-pound payload for
missions that include resupply and casualty evacuation. The
photos above are from Bridgeport, California, home of the
Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center. The ULB would
especially be useful in mountainous regions, as supplies,
including food and water, must either be hauled up mountains
by troops or airlifted by helo. As a Marine who spent some
time at Bridgeport hauling five gallon water jugs up the
mountains, I opt for the latter. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Chief Warrant Officer 2
Keith A. Stevenson) |
|
Top header:
A Scan Eagle unmanned aerial vehicle is launched from a Mk V
Naval Special Warfare boat off the coast of San Clemente
Island. |
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