httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1HEzH_TsBc&feature=related CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla., May 7th, 2011 -- The first Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) geosynchronous (GEO-1) spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin for the U.S. Air Force, was successfully launched today at 2:10 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. SBIRS GEO-1 is the most technologically advanced military infrared satellite ever developed and will deliver vastly improved missile warning capabilities for the nation while simultaneously improving the … [Read more...]
XM1100 Scorpion: Intelligent Munitions System (IMS)
Textron Defense Systems’ Scorpion is ideally suited for a full spectrum of operations — including major contingency and stability operations — in open, rolling and urban environments. Scorpion enables the war fighter to rapidly secure a small unit perimeter or deny mounted avenues of approach. It attacks all types of vehicles from concealed, off-route locations without visual clues. Scorpion enhances intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities and enables the war fighter to shape the battlefield with precise effects. Consistent with the U.S. Army’s modernization strategy, … [Read more...]
MULE/ARV-A(L)
Lockheed Martin is developing the Future Combat System (FCS) Multifunction Utility/Logistics and Equipment Vehicle/Armed Robotic Vehicle-Assault (Light) vehicle (MULE) under a contract for the FCS Lead System Integrator, The Boeing Company. The vehicle was selected to move into the System Development and Demonstration phase in 2003 and ultimately into production. The MULE offers an extraordinary capability that will support the U.S. Army's transformation to a lighter and more mobile fighting force. The MULE's unique mobility will enable it to go everywhere the soldier can go and more. It will … [Read more...]
Free Electron Laser (FEL) program: U.S. Counters China’s DF-21D
By Rob Anastasio, ONR Corporate Strategic Communications ARLINGTON, Va.-Scientists at Los Alamos National Lab, N.M., have achieved a remarkable breakthrough with the Office of Naval Research's Free Electron Laser (FEL) program, demonstrating an injector capable of producing the electrons needed to generate megawatt-class laser beams for the Navy's next-generation weapon system. The Dec. 20 milestone, which occurred months ahead of schedule, will be the highlight of a two-day preliminary design review scheduled Jan. 20-21 in Virginia. "The injector performed as we predicted all along," said … [Read more...]
Air Force Unleashes ‘Gorgon Stare’
The United States Air Force’s new revolutionary wide-area airborne surveillance system named “Gorgon Stare,” designed and developed by Sierra Nevada Corp., and the USAF’s 645th Aeronautical Systems Group was deployed to Afghanistan this winter. This revolutionary system, which operates day and night, allows its users to overcome the “soda straw” view that the current conventional single field of view EO/IR camera mounted on Predator and Reaper UAVs provides. The Air Force hopes to have 10 Reapers equipped with the Gorgon Stare system by early to mid-2011. The $15 million dollar sensor’s … [Read more...]