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The USS Zumwalt can't afford its own $800,000-per-round ammo
The USS Zumwalt, America's newest stealth destroyer packs some impressive firepower but there's just one problem: the US Navy can't afford the ammunition for the vessel's 155-millimeter Advanced Gun Systems. These weapons are designed to fire a GPS-guided shell, dubbed the Long Range Land Attack Projectile, up to 60 miles where it strikes with unprecedented accuracy. What's more, the Zumwalt can lob up to ten of these shells every minute. But while the LRLAPs are quite lethal, they're also ludicrously expensive at $800,000 a pop.
DARPA tests parasailing radar with its robotic boat
If you want a vision of what naval battles could look like in the near future, you just got it. DARPA has tested a parasailing radar array (part of its Towed Airborne Lift of Naval Systems project, or TALONS) using its robotic ACTUV boat as a nest. The array flew up to 1,000 feet, where its sensors were far more effective than they'd be at ship level. Its surface tracking radar had six times the range, and even a handheld radio covered three times its usual distance. The combination could lead to unmanned warships that not only travel for months on end, but can easily detect potential threats before they're in firing range.
Gene-modified soil bacteria promise eco-friendly computing
You normally need non-renewable elements or minerals to create nanowires. However, the US Navy's Office of Naval Research may have a better solution: the life living in the dirt under your feet. Its sponsored researchers have crafted nanowires from genetically modified Geobacter, a bacteria you find in soil just about everywhere on Earth. The team altered the bacteria so that it would replace amino acids with tryptophan, which is a much better electrical conductor (2,000 times) at the nanoscopic scale. String enough of those bacteria together and you suddenly have wiring that's virtually invisible to the human eye. They wires are tougher and smaller, too, so they stand a better chance of surviving inside electronics.
The US Navy just put a futuristic HUD in a diving helmet
Augmented reality (technology that uses screen-embedded eyewear to overlay the real world with information, images and more) isn't quite ready for mainstream consumers -- but it's almost ready for the diving community. The US Navy says it's developing a high-resolution, heads-up display embedded in a diving helmet. It's called The Divers Augmented Reality Display, or DAVD for short.
ICYMI: Rubik's phone, underwater bomb bot and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-997807{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-997807, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-997807{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-997807").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: The University of Bristol's Interaction Group made a phone prototype out of small cubes that can be flipped around to form different shapes. Saab created an underwater robot to help detect explosives. And Colorado State University students made a real life Mario Kart game with carts that we are dying to experience for ourselves. In case you want to share it with friends, the video for the bottle opener that automatically messages your friends when you open a beer is here. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
The Navy's new cloud network forms a tactical 'kill web'
The US Navy is deploying a "tactical cloud" network that will tie together targeting data acquired from a range of sources in the sea, sky and space to form a lethal "kill web," the U.S. Naval Institute reports this week. The network will essentially allow any aircraft, ship or submarine to draw targeting information from any other instrument in the cloud and extend their own range when launching weapons against surface targets.
Emily is a tough, remote-controlled robotic lifeguard
Attention Dwayne Johnson: it's not too late to make your version of Baywatch more apt for this generation. May we suggest casting Emily -- a 25-pound, remote-controlled robotic lifeguard that can travel up to 22 mph. It might not have biceps and legs to die for, but it has already rescued tons of people, including 300 Syrian refugees off the Greek island of Lesbos. The machine's name stands for Emergency Integrated Lifesaving Lanyard, and it's the product of a collaboration between the Navy and Tony Mulligan, the CEO of maritime robotic company Hydronalix.
Saab built a robot to stop underwater terrorist bombs
The US isn't just worried about terrorist bombings above-ground -- it's concerned about bombs below the waves, too. To that end, it's working with Saab on a remotely-controlled underwater robot, the Sea Wasp, that's designed to deal with improvised explosives. The machine (a smaller take on the existing Seaeye) uses a mix of sonar and a manipulator arm to find, move and sometimes disable explosives. Its party trick is its sheer maneuverability. It can hover in virtually any position, helping it dispose of bombs even when they're attached to a ship's hull.
US Navy's solar drone flies from and lands on water
Unlike most quadcopters, the Aqua-Quad doesn't take off from solid ground. Dr. Kevin Jones and his team from the Naval Postgraduate School developed it to fly straight up from the ocean or any body of water. And it can land back on water after it has fulfilled its mission, staying on or under the surface until it's deployed again. According to New Scientist, the Aqua-Quad (PDF) could be used to replace sonobuoys to search for submarines, especially enemy subs that might be lurking in the depths of the country's oceans.
DARPA wants a military drone that can land on small ships
For the longest time, the US Navy has conducted surveillance and reconnaissance missions by launching planes from large aircraft carriers. Those vessels are expensive though, so the Office of Naval Research and DARPA are working on a long-endurance drone that can launch from small ships instead. Project TERN (Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node) has now entered phase three, meaning the initial designs are complete and the team is ready to build its first prototype. It's being developed for $93 million by Northrop Grumman, a defense contractor with plenty of experience building nightmare-inducing military assets.
The Navy is testing out a bigger, badder Fire Scout UAV
The Department of Defense is reportedly readying it's larger and more capable iteration of the MQ-8 Fire Scout UAV for use aboard its Littoral Combat Ships beginning in 2018. Military.com reports that after two years of flight tests, the Navy is prepping its new MQ-8C Fire Scout for operational testing ahead of its eventual deployment. It's predecessor, the MQ-8B, entered service last November aboard the USS Fort Worth.
The US Navy wants to buy unpatched security flaws
It won't surprise you to hear that governments are eager to buy unpatched security exploits for the sake of cyberdefense or surveillance, but they're rarely overt about it. No one must have told that to the US Navy until this week, however. The Electronic Frontier Foundation caught the military branch soliciting for both zero-day exploits and recently discovered vulnerabilities (less than six months old) for relatively common software from the likes of Apple, Google and Microsoft. The Navy quickly took the posting down, but it was clear the organization wanted to turn these flaws into "exploit binaries" -- that is, finished software that would be useful for attacks.
Watch the US Navy test its electromagnetic jet fighter catapult
The US Navy's next-gen electromagnetic catapult for aircraft carriers works! Well, OK, the military hasn't exactly used it to launch an actual fighter jet yet, but a recent test has proven that it can handle 80,000 thousands of pounds of steel. The Navy has been testing the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System or EMALS for months aboard the Gerald R. Ford carrier, but this is the first time a "dead-load" (or a weighted steel sled that weighs up to 80,000 pounds) is involved. Its advantages over traditional catapults that use steam instead of electromagnetic energy include smoother acceleration and its ability to place less stress on the aircraft -- plus, it was designed to work even with more advanced carriers that the military will surely use in the future. It will take a long time before any plane goes near the system, though: the Navy has already retrieved the sled above from the depths of the James River to conduct more dead-load launches.
The US Navy wants to protect its drones against hacks
Cyberwarfare is bad enough by itself, but it's especially dangerous when military drones are involved. The last thing you want is a hijacked UAV that can give away your position or, worse, fire on your own troops. To that end, the US Navy is asking private companies for help with developing technology that protects drones, missiles and other airborne weapons against hacks. Whoever has the best proposal will (hopefully) craft systems that not only prevent enemies from getting in, but bounce back quickly if the worst happens.
US Navy fighter jets will carry an autonomous anti-ship missile
The US Navy may have a robotic ace in the hole when it fights enemy warships in the future. It's planning to put Lockheed Martin's autonomous LRASM (Long Range Anti-Ship Missile) on the F/A-18 Super Hornet by 2019, giving jet fighters a weapon that tracks and wipes out targets mostly or entirely on its own. Most of the missile's details are secret, but it's smart enough to dodge obstacles on the way to vessels as far as 200 nautical miles out -- and that's the unclassified range, which suggests that it's more capable in practice. There are also versions of LRASM in the works that will launch from ships, submarines and other aircraft, so this intelligent projectile could soon be a mainstay of the US military.
Navy researchers make bulletproof glass out of clay
The US Naval Research Laboratory announced a major breakthrough in materials science on Thursday. After decades of research and development, the NRL has created a transparent, bulletproof material that can be molded into virtually any shape. This material, known as Spinel, is made from a synthetic powdered clay that is heated and pressed under vacuum (aka sintered) into transparent sheets. "Spinel is actually a mineral, it's magnesium aluminate," Dr. Jas Sanghera, who leads the research, said in a statement. "The advantage is it's so much tougher, stronger, harder than glass. It provides better protection in more hostile environments -- so it can withstand sand and rain erosion."
The X-47B's first aerial refueling test will also be its last
The Navy's X-47B combat UAV demonstrator successfully paired with an an Omega Air KC-707 airtanker earlier this week. This marks the first time in aviation history for a UAV to demonstrate aerial refueling capabilities. Unfortunately, these tests also likely mark the end of the X-47B program. Despite only completing 20 percent of its potential flight hours, both of the Navy's X-47Bs are destined for museums. Still, the technologies that they've demonstrated -- including those historic autonomous carrier landings in 2013 -- will make their way into future unmanned combat aerial vehicles as part of the Navy's Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program.
Duck-like US Navy drone can fly or swim to hunt submarines
There are plenty of flying and swimming drones, but you'd ideally have both at once for sub-hunting -- you want something that can poke its head underwater, but move quickly through the air when needed. The US Navy certainly knows this. It's developing a duck-like drone, the Flimmer, that can both fly and swim. In addition to both a rear-facing propeller and wings, its latest incarnation has four fins that adapt to what the robotic craft is doing. In flight, they serve as stabilizers and canard wings; in the sea, they flap to give the machine a speed boost.
US Navy's latest diving suit saves helium, space and weight
The US Navy has just unveiled a new diving suit prototype, and aside from being more efficient than older models, it also helps conserve helium. See, the agency's current suit uses Fly-Away Mixed Gas System (FMGS), which releases gases the diver exhales into the sea, including huge amounts of oxygen and helium. According to the Navy scientists that designed the new version, it "modifies the current helmet and rebreather," and tests prove that it can drastically reduce the consumption of the noble gas-- important in the midst of a global helium shortage. While we can make do without balloons or squeaky voices in parties, the gas is also used for more important purposes, such as operating MRI machines and the Large Hadron Collider.
US Navy's firefighting robot finally appears (with a trusty sidekick)
SAFFiR, the humanoid firefighting robot that the US Navy and Virginia Tech engineers have been developing for years, is now more than just a blueprint. In fact, the military division has already demonstrated what the biped can do aboard one of its decommissioned ships. During a series of tests conducted in November 2014, it worked well enough to navigate uneven floors (extremely difficult for humanoid machines), identify equipment using thermal imaging and handle a hose to put out small fires. The Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot did need a bit of help from a sidekick, though. No, not the firefighting snakebot Anna Konda (which is unfortunate, if you think they're the perfect pair), but a small drone created by Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute.
