An Ultra-Simple Tourniquet That’s Saving Soldiers’ Lives

Wired - When you think of surgery, images of calm doctors working on anesthetized patients in pristine operating rooms come to mind. Combat medics face a different reality. They often ply their trade on dusty desert roads, and, when trying to save a soldier’s life, a charred Humvee door sometimes has to suffice for an operating table.

Medics across all branches of the armed services are prepared for situations like these. Dr. Sam Scheinberg is a veteran combat surgeon and saved his share of soldiers in Vietnam. As CEO of SAM Medical he commissioned Portland-based design firm Ziba to develop a tourniquet that can help save the lives of wounded soldiers. His only caveat was was that it had to be “brain dead and bomb proof.”

Ziba has won awards for its work for Adidas, Costco, and Logitech, but designing for users who are pinned down by sniper fire was a new experience. In response, they tossed their sketchpads and CAD workstations and opted to prototype solutions by crawling on the floor of their studio and dodging imaginary mortar shells. They whipped up prototypes made from duct tape and scrap materials.   Read More

Navy’s Next Missile Launcher Spins Like a Revolver Barrel

Wired - The Navy may have a new line of defense against a changing threat environment after the successful missile firing from a new multi-role launcher in development.

In a recent round of tests announced Tuesday, Chemring Countermeasures and Raytheon Missile Systems say they have successfully fired a Raytheon-Lockheed Martin Javelin missile from a prototype multi-role Centurion launcher during testing at the Defence Training Estate on Salisbury Plain in England, where it was able to hit a static target.

“We’re bringing an entirely new dimension to ship self-defense by providing a sea-based, inside-the-horizon platform protection,” said Rick Nelson, vice president of Raytheon Missile Systems’ Naval and Area Mission Defense line, in a statement. “Chemring’s Centurion launcher, when coupled with Raytheon’s combat-proven missiles, offers an evolutionary capability to defeat surface threats with this One System-Multiple Missions technology.”   Read More

The Most Technologically Advanced Warship Ever Built

When the Navy needs to surprise and overwhelm an inland enemy, it can send in its new Zumwalt-class destroyer. 

The Zumwalt-Class Destroyer Nick Kaloterakis

 

 

PopSci - When the USS Zumwalt rolls out of dry dock at Bath Iron Works in Maine next year, the Navy’s newest warship will be 100 feet longer than the destroyers currently serving around the globe—and nearly twice as massive—yet it will have a radar signature 50 times smaller and will carry half the crew. Packed bow to stern with state-of-the-art radar, stealth, weapons, and propulsion systems, the USS Zumwalt, which will be operational in mid-2016, will be the most technologically sophisticated warship ever to hit the water.

A complement to Arleigh Burke–class destroyers that currently protect the Navy’s prized aircraft carriers from aerial attacks, the Zumwalt-class destroyer is for laying waste to land. It can evade enemy detection; slip into the shallows along foreign coastlines; and deliver devastatingly accurate firepower hundreds of miles inland, supporting special operations ashore, clearing the way for amphibious troop landings, or knocking out air defenses. It’s a seaborne battering ram—a specialized piece of equipment for smashing in the enemy’s front door.

In the 1990s, the U.S. military carried out successful amphibious assaults in Somalia and elsewhere. But as coastal defenses around the world grew more advanced—not least those of Iraq, which would have been a serious threat to U.S. troops had they invaded Kuwait by sea during Operation Desert Storm—the Navy decided to build the Zumwalt.

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The Air Force's X-37B Space Plane Returns to Earth After a 15-Month Secret Mission

X-37B After Landing Air Force crews tend to the X-37B secretive space plane 
after it returned from its maiden voyage Dec. 3, 2010. U.S. Air Force/
Michael Stonecypher

 

PopSci - The Air Force’s X-37B--its secret robotic space plane that’s been orbiting the Earth on a mission shrouded in mystery for more than a year--landed safely in the wee hours Saturday morning at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Orbital Test Vehicle 2 (OTV-2) is the second X-37B test vehicle to successfully complete an orbital mission and autonomously return to Earth, following sister spacecraft OTV-1’s 225-day mission in 2010.

That original mission lasted 224 days, a figure that at the time was mind-blowing for a top secret robotic spaceplane. It led to wide speculation about what the X-37B’s are really capable of--the Air Force maintains that it is simply learning how to quickly recover and launch robotic spaceplanes, nothing more--as well as what their pickup-truck-sized cargo bays might be holding (the Air Force is silent on the latter point).

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Battle of Normandy | Greatest Tank Battles | Military Channel Documentary

Military Channel Documentary - Firepower: Combat Vehicles

Where the US Will Spend Its Weapons Cash

DefenseTech - If you want further proof of where Pentagon weapon spending is likely to head, check out the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assesments latest publication, Outside-In, Operating from Range to Defeat Iran’s Anti-Access and Area-Denial Threats.

The document, a concept for how the Defense Deparment can counter Iran’s increasingly sophisticated efforts to feild weapons that could hold the U.S. and its allies at bay, echoes CSBA’s other concepts adopted by the DoD, such as the Air-Sea Battle and the “family” of long-range strike systems. All of these call for an increased investment in long-range strike and ISR gear.

As I just wrote over at military.com’s homepage:

CSBA’s ideas and recommendations have a way of becoming Pentagon policy. Several years ago, CSBA recommended adopting an air-sea battle concept that focused on building long-range, carrier-launched stealthy UAVs, a family of long-range strike systems, a cyber buildup and a focus on setting up a number of disbursed bare-bones bases in the Pacific where U.S forces could scatter to in the event of a war with a China armed with very sophisticated area denial weapons. Many of these recommendations have found their way into the Pentagon’s new strategy and budgets.

So, what technologies should you watch if you’re using this and other CSBA reports as tea leaves to understand dufture pentagon budgets. Listen to what CSBA’s Mark Gunzinger, the man who authored the think tank’s latest report, said today:

We think the world is becoming increasingly non-permissive for military operations [in all domains]; air, space, sea, undersea and on the ground. If that trend continues, we’re going to have to move toward capabilities can operate in all those domains against those kinds of threats.                 More

Whoosh! U.S. Navy F-35C gets electromagnetic launch

The Navy's F-35C is propelled by its EMALS program in 

a test earlier this month. (Credit: U.S. Navy)

CNET - The U.S. Navy said today it has demonstrated the successful integration of two of its key next-generation sea-based strike programs–the carrier version of the Joint Strike Fighter, and the all-new electromagnetic aircraft launch system.

Both the F-35C fighter and the EMALS launch technology are expected to see service eventually aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy’s next-generation aircraft carrier, as well as other Ford-class carriers.            More

With test launch, U.S. Navy goes electromagnetic (photos)

Building the world’s most advanced aircraft carrier (photos)

Stealth bombers - How Stealth Works

Gizmodo - Stealth bombers are not invisible—far from it, in fact. The Northrop Grumman-designed B-2 Spirit has a hard-to-ignore 175-foot wingspan and a thin, disk-like silhouette that makes it look like a cross between a stingray and an alien craft from a summer blockbuster.

When one flies over your head, you stop and stare. The words holy shit might fall out of your mouth. Considering there are only 20 around, I’m going to argue the response is appropriate. They really don’t look like anything else in the world. Rather than evade attention, B-2s grab your attention by the shoulders and violently shake it. So how do they go stealth?

Turns out, it’s not just one thing; many factors contribute to a B-2′s supersneak powers. There’s no invisibility cloak here. B-2s combine the best radar-evading tech and design into a remarkably effective low-observability cocktail. In fact, since it was first displayed in 1988, only one B-2 has ever been lost—and not in combat. So the plane’s under-the-radar (and infrared, acoustic, electromagnetic, visual, for that matter) design has been doing its job well. See, there’s more special about the plane than just its stealth status. The B-2 can also carry a huge weapons payload. Combine that with the ability to approach targets undetected, and this extremely expensive plane (we’re talking billions) is quietly proving its worth.            More

Meet the Army’s Tiny Spy Satellite

DefenseTech - I was wandering the show floor at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference in Washington when I came across this little guy. It’s called NanoEye and it’s basically a prototype for a tiny class of spy satellite that the Army hopes to develop.

The 20 kilogram NanoEye is meant to be cheap, maneuverable and able to take high-resolution pictures for small ground units in combat — kind of like the micro UAVs that are used by infantry units to provide near instant overhead ISR for troops in the field.

In theory, ground troops will control NanoEyes and receive images from the satellites on laptops or radios within ten minutes of asking one of the tiny satellites to take a picture, according to an Army fact sheet that was being given out next to the display.          More

Air Force UAV Controls Infected with Virus

DefenseTech - I’m sure you’ve all heard this, but just in case you haven’t, the Internet is abuzz with reports that the Air Force’s UAV ground control systems (GCS) at Creech Air Force Base, Nev., have been infected by a computer virus. The virus, that’s apparently recording drone operators’ keystrokes, was detected about two weeks ago. While it hasn’t prevented the service from flying UAV missions, it has proven to be difficult to remove — Air Force technicians are having to completely wipe the GCS’ internal hard drives to get rid of the virus. Service officials still aren’t 100 percent sure how it penetrated Creech’s firewalls nor do they know where it came from. It may be a run of the mill computer virus that somehow made its way into the base’s systems or it may be a sophisticated cyber espionage tool specifically targeting the U.S.’ drone program — no one knows yet.           More

Best of Show From the World’s Largest Weapons Fair

Fox News - The Royal Marines stage a beach assault 
using the Griffon 2400TD -- an innovative new hovercraft 
that moves at an eye-opening 45 knots, even over land.

From grenades and rifles to drones, fighter jets and tanks, the 2011 Defense & Security Equipment International show (DSEi) held every two years in London had it all.

The show featured the latest and greatest from 46 countries and nearly 1,400 defense shopkeepers. While the camouflaged Vespa and the gold-plated machine guns scored points for creativity, they don’t exactly measure up to big boys toys. So what earned our best in show nod?

A Truly Amphibious Assault Hovercraft

Every DSEi features a water demonstration on the River Thames — and the Griffon 2400TD stole the water show this year.

Navies grapple with tides, which leave a very brief window of opportunity to land. The solution? The amphibious capability provided by a hovercraft, which isn’t limited by tides and can get onto the beach and beyond.

The Griffon 2400TD is a robust, flattened boat that hovers a meter or so above the water — essentially flying above the surface. That cushion of air means it doesn’t rock as much as a boat would, providing a very stable platform for weapons.

It can travel at 45 knots across not just water but land, mud, swamps, rapids and sand, unlike conventional vessels. Thirteen meters long, it can carry a crew of two plus 16 war fighters.

In addition to being arguably the most environmentally friendly craft out there, the Griffon 2400TD can operate in terrain where others can’t, from the high Arctic to the jungles of South America.
Next in the pipeline for Griffon Hoverworks is a game-changing hybrid, the company says — a very cool innovation.

A Target Destroyer

One next-gen weapon from Saab is far from your granny’s surface-to-air missile.

Revealed at the show with an unrivalled range and a new integrated sighting system, the Saab RBS 70 NG has significantly reduced weight and unjammable laser guidance, making it particularly useful in an urban area.

The new tracking system helps the operator aim it more accurately — far more exactly than a human being — with maximum range at a higher speed.

The integrated thermal imager, in addition to enabling operation in challenging weather conditions, gives longer detection range than the previous sight and far better than eyes or binoculars.

Using the Bolide laser guidance system, it has an effective intercept range of almost 5 miles and an altitude of approximately 3 miles.

The RBS 70 NG is capable of taking down small and big UAVs as well as armored ground targets, helicopters and combat aircraft. With a man in the loop, the operator can choose where to aim for maximum impact to take down those larger targets — an advantage not available with other systems.                    More

Sneak Preview: Military's Maple-Seed-Inspired Drone

SAMARAI Monocopter A Lockheed Martin engineer 
holds the latest prototype of the SAMARAI monocopter 
drone, a unique vertical take off and landing (VTOL) 
configuration whose one wing whirls around a central 
hub like maple tree spinners Eric Hagerman

After years of development and military funding setbacks, defense contractor Lockheed Martin is finally ready to debut its maple seed-inspired drone. The one-winged, one-foot-long SAMARAI drone just flew a test flight for the Associated Press ahead of its official unveiling at an unmanned vehicle conference next week.
The asymmetric UAV is modeled after maple seeds, called samara, that fly off trees and twirl through the air with the utmost efficiency. Originally, the SAMARAI was envisioned as a seed-sized drone that could deliver a 2-gram payload and send back streaming video, but that has since changed to a much bigger, whining drone.      More