US to Try to Shoot Down Spy Satellite - washingtonpost.com

This is a test of the US ability to shoot down satellites, a key ability in war with any peer competitor.  Words to the contrary are just that.  No one can seriously believe that the presence of hydrazine, which according to wikipedia has been used in rockets since World War II is the reason for this shoot down.  It is a step in the direction of war capabilities in near space. 

Military and administration officials said the satellite is carrying fuel called hydrazine that could injure or even kill people who are near it when it hits the ground. That reason alone, they said, persuaded President Bush to order the shoot-down.

US to Try to Shoot Down Spy Satellite - washingtonpost.com

 

Technorati Tags: hydrazine,satellite,shoot down

NewsDaily: TopNews -- Russian bomber buzzes Nimitz

 

The Russian Tupolev 95 propeller bomber flew over the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier twice early Saturday, the Daily Mail reported Monday. The British newspaper noted the incident came amidst diplomatic salvos Russia has tossed regarding U.S. plans to install a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic that Moscow considers inflammatory.

This must be music to the ears of the military/industrial complex.  Our old predictable enemy is back.  Extremely expensive military toys that have the advantage of never really being used can be justified again.  The language of the old, cold war soldiers is being spoken. 

NewsDaily: TopNews -- Russian bomber buzzes Nimitz

VIDEO: Israel Aerospace Industries Heron UAV in flight-29/06/2007-London-Flightglobal.com

VIDEO: Israel Aerospace Industries Heron UAV in flight-29/06/2007-London-Flightglobal.com

UAVs SubscribeYou are in: Home › UAVs › News Article DATE:11/02/08 SOURCE:Flight International Israel special - Israel broadens UAV use with advanced designs By Arie Egozi Future manned aircraft procurement programmes will have to be adjusted based on the capabilities of advanced unmanned aircraft vehicles now under development, the Israeli air force admits. Most of the UAVs under development in Israel and in use with the IAF are highly classified, and will stay that way for years to come. "The UAVs that the Israeli armed forces are using on a daily basis are a super force multiplier," says a senior source at the Israeli ministry of defense, adding that some of the programmes make UAVs "not just a substitute for manned aircraft, but a tool with dramatically enhanced capabilities". Investment In addition to programmes funded by the MoD, Israel's two main manufacturers, Elbit Systems and the Malat division of Israel Aerospace Industries, are investing their own research and development money in advanced UAV systems. One partially unclassified project is IAI's Heron 2 or Heron TP. The IAF is test flying this large UAV, which it has dubbed "Eitan". According to an IAF source, the test flights will continue through 2008 "before series production begins". Industry and air force sources frequently refer to UAVs as a satellite substitute, and when the prototype Eitan was unveiled in late 2007 at Tel-Nof air force base it was fitted with what appeared to be the housing for an advanced multi-sensor payload. Powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turboprop, and 13m (43ft) long with a wing span of 26m, the Eitan has a maximum take-off weight of 4t. The aircraft is designed for autonomous take-off and landing, a feature of most UAVs developed in Israel. Sources estimate the Eitan has an endurance of over 70h and a ceiling of 45,000ft. Its composite fuselage is designed to carry large-volume payloads, and the new UAV will perform some long-range missions now accomplished by manned IAF aircraft.

Welcome to www.dailyrecord.com - Morris County - Soldiers using anti-armor weapon developed at Picatinny

 

The M72A7 is a lightweight, shoulder-launched, disposable munition meant to defeat lightly armored vehicles and other hard targets at close ranges. It fires a 66mm high-explosive, anti-tank rocket. With a weight of approximately 8 pounds and a length of about 30 inches, it allows rapid engagement of stationary and moving targets to a maximum range of 350 meters, according to Gary Barber, team leader and project officer for Shoulder-Launched Munitions at Picatinny.

Welcome to www.dailyrecord.com - Morris County - Soldiers using anti-armor weapon developed at Picatinny

WSMR says unmanned vehicles ready for frontlines

Unmanned vehicles will be seen on the frontlines sooner then expected with the acceleration of unmanned systems evaluation at White Sands Missile Range.

The U.S. Army Program Manager of the Future Combat Systems announced

Jan. 17 that the Future Combat Systems Brigade Combat Team will start evaluating and training Soldiers to use the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle and the Class I Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Originally these systems weren't scheduled for evaluation until 2011, but under the accelerated program evaluations will begin early this year.

The Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle, nicknamed the packbot, is a compact remote vehicle that can enter confined spaces and buildings and transmit video back to provide soldiers with tactical intelligence. The Class I Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is a compact man-portable air vehicle that can provide video feeds to soldiers, providing them with a bird's-eye view of the battlefield. Both vehicles have had a lot of positive reviews from soldiers using preproduction versions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

While both unmanned systems have preproduction variants already seeing combat in Iraq, these new versions will have increased functionality that will provide

The Class I UAV will be upgraded with an early version of the Army's Joint Tactical Radio System. The JTRS is an advanced radio system that according to Boeing, which is developing the system, will allow the Army to establish an ad-hoc wireless network anywhere in theater. Unlike normal radios, this new system will be able to transmit virtually any kind of data, allowing even the smallest tactical unit to share information with nearly any other unit in the Army network. Mounting this system on the Class I UAV means that the UAV will be able to transmit real time video and fly above obstructions to extend the range of a unit's communications.

In total 25 Small Unmanned Ground Vehicles and 11 Class 1 UAVs will be evaluated on their abilities and effectiveness in the field. "Part of the evaluations will be leader training, where the Army will seek opportunities on how to use the UAV for such operations as route clearance and base security," said Richard Fisher, deputy product manager future force unmanned aircraft systems.

Army leaders will begin to learn how to fight with these weapons. 

Tags: UAV, UGV

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Electromagnetic Railgun: An Innovative Naval Program

 

When fully operational, the electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) will:

• Deliver hypervelocity projectiles at Mach 5 on impact in support of Marines and ground forces.
• Strike within 5 meters of a pinpointed target from distances in excess of 200 nautical miles.
• Maximize damage through kinetic energy from longer range while minimizing risks to crews and ships.

Because of its design, EMRG uses electrical energy to deliver a time-critical strike rather than the chemical agents in warheads and propellants that can place crews and ships in jeopardy. EMRG represents significant advances in Navy and Marine Corps capabilities, extends the range of Marine Corps combat capability and distributed operations, and improves safety aboard sea vessels. The electromagnetic railgun is just one more leap-ahead technology catapulted by scientists at the Office of Naval Research.

Electromagnetic Railgun: An Innovative Naval Program

 

Technorati Tags: railgun,office of naval research

Challenging Military Transformation

But in Desportes’ view, future wars will be against an enemy that seeks to outflank the Western technical and industrial armory. That undercuts the effectiveness of the transformation effort, which assumes a state enemy with a hierarchy of decision-makers and physical assets suitable for precision bombing.

“This typically American approach focuses on the destruction of the enemy rather than the search for better paths to obtain the political result,” Desportes writes. “It is about conducting technically perfect strike operations rather than transforming these operations into strategic success.”

Transformation has been ineffective against nonstate entities like the Taliban, now fighting from caves, insurgents triggering roadside bombs in Iraq and suicide bombers. In Afghanistan, small groups of combatants avoid attacking in open ground.

One of the book’s central messages: Military planners’ focus on mobility, strike and communications, if devoid of political awareness, may win battles but end up losing wars. Thus, while precision-strike weapons are necessary, they are insufficient to winning the war, because stand-off weapons destroy but cannot occupy territory and control population.

Technology is useful, but troops must be able to fight without sophisticated networks, because such systems are vulnerable to cyber attacks.

A network-enabled approach is valuable because it allows troops to be more cost-efficient, but a network-centric Army is one that is geared to destruction, and therefore counterproductive in the strategic sense, in Desportes’ opinion.

Tags: Military Transformation, Net-centric warfare

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