Tag: MILITARY TECH

British scientists are developing an active camouflage system for tanks that uses electronic ink to project images of the surrounding terrain onto the armored vehicle's shell. According to The Telegraph, electronic sensors would be placed on the tank's exterior. These sensors scan the environment, and use the e-ink to project colors, lines and shapes onto the tank's hull -- turning the vehicle ...

The two developers of the most frightening and impressive robots in the United States are joining forces to create an incredible new high-flying bot, reports the BBC. The Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (creator of the terrifying EATR-bot that can sustain itself on human flesh) first developed the awesome Precision Urban Hopper. Boston Dynamics (the firm that ...

We've covered pirates of various types numerous times. Most of them have been the digital sort, particularly those belonging to the so-called Pirate Bay (some of whom are now doing a little time behind bars). However, it's pirates of a very different, rather more traditional type that are threatening wealthy cruisers, and many ship owners are spending millions to outfit their giant yachts with ...

Watch out, Alderaan; the world's largest laser is finally complete. Created to blast tiny hydrogen atoms into a self-sustaining fusion reaction, the giant laser system -- located in Livermore, California -- is known as the National Ignition Facility (NIF). According to the Daily Mail, the system is comprised of 192 laser beams and is 60 times more powerful than the next most powerful laser. It'll ...

What did your mom tell you about pointing lasers in other people's eyes? Apparently, U.S. troops in Iraq have recently suffered a rash of laser "friendly fire" incidents; since November, one unit has experienced 12 such incidents, resulting in the injuries of 14 soldiers. Of the 14, one soldier was permanently blinded in one eye and three more were forced to undergo medical evacuation, according ...

All that time spent gaming may not be time spent poorly after all, according to Joystiq's story of one young man. Last Friday, while being interviewed by Democracy Now! about his new book, 'Wired for War,' author P.W. Singer related the story of one young man who has found success in the military, thanks to the hours he'd logged in front of computer monitors and TV screens. According to Singer, ...

In a move sure to bring the polygraph haters out of the woodwork, the US Army is issuing a handheld lie detector to select soldiers in Afghanistan in order to "root out potential terrorists" and help "narrow the list of suspects after a roadside bombing." The Department of Defense isn't asserting that the device is perfect, but it's hoping the detection capabilities are accurate enough to save ...

By the sounds of our headline, you might think that the U.S. Air Force is extending an olive branch to those workers made of silicon and steel (a.k.a. robots) by promoting its first cyborg general. The truth, however, is slightly less exciting. Lt. Gen. Robert Elder Jr., the new Cyber General, is flesh and blood like the rest of us, and earns that sinister-sounding title by taking command of the ...

So you may be able to earn college credit learning to speak Klingon, and you can order yourself replicas of many bits of Klingon weaponry. But even though you may wish it otherwise, you have to face facts: Klingons are not real. That other bane of the Starfleet's existence, the cloaking shield, isn't real either. That said, it seems we may be getting closer to invisibility becoming a reality, ...

It's one thing to make (tasteless) jokes about exploding cell phones being the ultimate cause of human extinction, but when a robotic device seemingly goes out of its way to kill its operators, then something may be up. It seems a bug or glitch caused a robotic anti-aircraft gun In South Africa to flip out and kill nine soldiers (and injure a further 14). Details are sparse, but a jam or internal ...