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After Math: To all the turkeys I loved before
The holiday season has officially kicked into high gear, which means it's time to gather around the hearth, count your blessings and quietly roll your eyes as uncle Jerry launches once again into why smoke wouldn't rise straight up if the Earth weren't flat. While he's blowing smoke about thermodynamic theory, here are some examples of tech institutions finding the holiday spirit and giving back to their fans.
Lockheed Martin's hypersonic aircraft plans are taking shape
For years, Lockheed Martin has been working on hypersonic (Mach 5 and above) aircraft like the SR-72, which could reach virtually any part of the world within a couple of hours. These vehicles have long been seen as distant prospects (the SR-72 might not reach service until 2030 at the earliest), but they now appear to be coming together. Lockheed tells the press that it expects to fly a demonstrator hypersonic aircraft "the size of an F-22" at a cost of less than $1 billion. That's no mean feat when some conventional programs cost more, and it's a hint that hypersonic technology is becoming a practical reality.
Eight top-secret aircraft that definitely aren't UFOs
Since its establishment in 1955, the Groom Lake airfield at Edwards Air Force Base—better known as Area 51—has hosted the development of some of the most exotic and advanced aircraft the world has ever seen. These so-called black projects, named for their ultra-classified nature, have produced planes like the SR-71 Blackbird, which is still the fastest and highest-operating aircraft ever built (that we know about); the F-117 Nighthawk, the world's first stealth attack aircraft; and the RQ-170, a mysterious and seldom-seen aerial reconnaissance UAV.
Northrop Grumman lands USAF deal for new long-range strike bomber
Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James announced on Tuesday that the DoD has awarded Northrop Grumman the lead contract for the US military's upcoming Long-Range Strike Bomber (LRSB). The contract is valued $60 billion, making it the single largest airframe contract since Lockheed won the deal for the $400 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter over a decade ago. At that price, the 21 airframes on order are expected to cost roughly $564 million apiece (in FY2016 dollars).
Boeing and Jeff Bezos move closer to putting US rockets in orbit
United Launch Associates (ULA), the rocket enterprise from Boeing and Lockheed, has ramped up its commitment to Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket engines. The two companies agreed to expand production capability of Origin's BE-4 rocket motor, "an important step toward building (them) at the production rate needed for the Vulcan launch vehicle," said Bezos. Last year, the two companies formed a pact to develop an engine that that can replace the Russian-built RD-180 engines originally planned for Vulcan -- ULA's successor to the Atlas V. Due to a US congressional ban on Russian products, ULA can no longer purchase RD-180s.
Lockheed Martin buys helicopter maker Sikorsky
Don't look now, but Lockheed Martin just became an even larger aerospace powerhouse. The aircraft maker has acquired helicopter maker Sikorsky (best known for the UH-60 Blackhawk) for $9 billion. The two have already been partners on programs like the MH-60, but this gives Lockheed its very own rotary-wing team. If a customer wants something that flies, the company will have it covered. The buyout is poised to close by late 2015 or early 2016, provided everything goes smoothly.
Lockheed Martin's laser can stop a truck from over a mile away
Lasers have staggering range, can attack land or air-based targets and are dirt-cheap to fire, making them ideal for a military with one eye on the budget. Now, Lockheed Martin has worked out that the technology could also be used for stopping a car without resorting to lethal force. The company has been testing out a new fiber-optic laser, called ATHENA, which was able to burn through the engine manifold of a truck that was over a mile away.
Here's what astronauts aboard Orion will see during re-entry
Most of us will never be astronauts -- sorry to break it to ya -- but we can at least pretend to be aboard the Orion capsule with this video (below the fold), courtesy of NASA. Orion's camera captured 10 minutes of footage from the time it started blazing through Earth's atmosphere until it deployed its parachutes to slow down its descent into the ocean. You'll even see the plasma (created by friction between the atmosphere and the heat shield) change colors as the capsule speeds up and temperature increases. NASA launched a test flight of the Lockheed-made spacecraft in early December to test its components, especially its heat shield.
Lockheed Martin's FORTIS exoskeleton helps US Navy with heavy lifting
While it may not be a full suit of high-tech gadgetry like Iron Man dons, the US Navy is set to test exoskeletons from Lockheed Martin. In the first contract to employs the company's strength-boosting garb for industrial use, two FORTIS exoskeletons will help carry heavy loads for the trial period. The lightweight unpowered option lends endurance by using the ground to help bear the mass. During the testing phase, the company hopes to further develop the tech for use at Navy shipyards where a smattering of heavy tools are needed for maintenance. "By wearing the FORTIS exoskeleton, operators can hold the weight of those heavy tools for extended periods of time with reduced fatigue," said Adam Mill, director of new initiatives at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.
Watch Lockheed Martin's laser weapon take down boats from a mile away
It's good that Lockheed Martin's ADAM laser can shoot down drones and rockets, but there are threats much closer to Earth -- say, small boat crews bent on destroying large warships. Never fear, though, as we now know that ADAM can take care of those targets as well. Lockheed has successfully wielded the weapon against small boats, burning holes through their rubber hulls from a full mile away. The laser's automatic infrared tracking makes targeting a piece of cake. Even with the pitching of the waves, it's easy to aim at a specific point on a vessel.
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter cockpit demonstrator hands-on (video)
We spend hundreds of hours on board a variety of airplanes each year, most often en-route to a trade show or product launch event, but occasionally we have a rare opportunity to hop on board military aircraft, to test out unrelated products, or, even more unusually, to take a seat behind the yoke. Sadly that's not what we're doing today -- well, not exactly. We are taking a closer look at the F-35 fighter jet at Lockheed Martin's Fighter Demonstration Center just outside our nation's capital, but, being in the middle of a corporate complex, there's no actual Lightning II on hand. We were able to take a simulated ride, however -- this isn't your ordinary 4D sickness-inducing amusement park thrill. The F-35 is by far the most advanced Lockheed jet to date, with updated radar, all-internal weapons, improved tracking systems, 360-degree infrared coverage with a visor readout, and a full-stealth design, not to mention the incredibly capable glass cockpit powered by more than 9.3 million lines of software code, and an overall smoother experience for pilots that could end up spending shifts of 12 hours or longer in flight. The F-35 has already seen plenty of field time in the US, with more than 500 flights already in 2012, and it's set to make its way to the UK armed forces next week and the Netherlands later this year, but while the aircraft is quite familiar to the pilots tasked with flying it, the public hasn't had an opportunity to experience Lockheed's latest airborne warrior. We flew a simulated mission within a grounded duplicate of the flyable F-35 cockpit, and the capabilities and improvements are quite clear -- you definitely don't want to encounter an F-35 from a previous-generation aircraft. The dual 8 x 10-inch touch-enabled displays combine to give you 8 x 20 inches of real estate, with dedicated modules for the weapons systems, targeting, and navigation easily accessible -- you can also move them to different panels depending on your current objective. A pair of joysticks at the left and right side provide direct access, letting you move a cursor to track enemy crafts or ground-based targets as well, and a very slick heads-up-display mounted in the helmet provides infrared mapping and instrument readouts. Overall, it seems to be an incredibly powerful system. Unfortunately, the mock-up on display here isn't accessible to the public, but you can join us for a behind-the-scenes look just after the break.%Gallery-160208%
Report: Orion test flight pushed back to 2014, manned flight delayed until 2021
Even something as exhaustively planned as the test-flight of the Orion spacecraft isn't immune to a slipping timeline. It's reportedly been pushed back from next year to 2014 -- when we're expecting to see the capsule launch from Cape Canaveral, loop around the planet twice at 3,700 miles (the furthest any spacecraft has journeyed since the '70s) before splashing down in the Pacific. This unmanned test was designed to see if the vehicle's heat-shield, flight-software and parachutes all work before lives are risked on board. It's also signified a pushing back of the first launch from 2016 until 2021. This means there's nine more years before someone calls us up as a crew replacement -- at least that's how our dream goes.
K-MAX unmanned chopper delivers Air Force salute to Afghan danger (video)
It's a year since Lockheed Martin won the contract to provide an unmanned cargo delivery system to the US military and now its first K-MAX helicopter is just about ready for duty. The 6,000-pound RC chopper is scheduled to journey to the manifold fronts of Afghanistan next month, where it'll get busy ferrying its own bodyweight in ammo and supplies to needy anthills up to 200km away. And, if things get too sticky for laptop flying, there's always room for a brave soul to jump in there and grab the controls. You'll find a fresh demo video after the break, plus we've also stuck in that fancy clip from last year to rotor your memory.
DARPA setting up a $130 million 'virtual firing range' to help battle cyber attacks
The US government is serious about online security, just ask any one of its cyber commandos. Adding to its arsenal for battling the big bad hackers, Reuters reports that DARPA is working on a National Cyber Range, which would act a standalone internet simulation engine where digital warriors can be trained and experimental ideas tested out. Lockheed Martin and Johns Hopkins University are competing to provide the final system, with one of them expected to soon get the go-ahead for a one-year trial, which, if all goes well, will be followed by DARPA unleashing its techies upon the virtual firing range in earnest next year. The cost of the project is said to run somewhere near $130 million, which might have sounded a bit expensive before the recent spate of successful hacking attacks on high profile private companies, but now seems like a rational expenditure to ensure the nuclear missile codes and the people crazy enough to use them are kept at a safe distance from one another. DARPA has a pair of other cleverly titled cybersecurity schemes up its sleeve, called CRASH and CINDER, but you'll have to hit the source link to learn more about them.
D-Wave sells first commercial quantum computer to Lockheed Martin
Who found ten million dollars to drop on the first commercially available quantum computer? Lockheed Martin, it seems, as the aerospace defense contractor has just begun a "multi-year contract" with the quantum annealing experts at D-Wave to develop... nothing that they're ready or willing to publicly discuss at this time. This "strategic relationship" marks the second major vote of confidence in D-Wave's technology, after Google built image detection algorithms for the company's processors a couple years back. Or, perhaps Lockheed Martin just wants a new shiny black toy for the Skunk Works labs. PR after the break.
Lockheed Martin shows off Orion spacecraft, new secret lair
No, that's not the Apollo command module you're looking at up there. What's old is new again in space design, and what's floating weightless above this text is a photo of humanity's next great chariot into space. It's the Orion spacecraft from Lockheed Martin, commissioned for NASA and designed to carry a crew of four not just for trips into orbit but well out into the solar system. Lockheed Martin has just taken the wraps off the thing for the first time, also showing off its new Space Operations Simulation Center (SOSC), located neither in Houston nor Cape Canaveral. It is instead dug into built atop the bedrock in Colorado, theoretically isolating it from seismic and other disturbances so that the testing crew can do their thing without any outside interference. In that bunker the ship is currently testing ahead of a planned first launch in 2013, taking a crew into orbit as soon as 2016. Mars? That might be another few years. Update: John wrote in to point out that the facility is actually built on some bedrock, not within the bedrock. So, it's not an underground lair after all -- but it's still a lair by golly. Update 2: There's a vid charting the Orion's development included after the break.
Lockheed Martin begins laboratory testing of HULC robotic exoskeleton
We already knew that it was ready for testing, and Lockheed Martin has now announced that it has finally begun laboratory tests of its HULC robotic exoskeleton. The testing follows a number of improvements made to the exoskeleton that increased its reliability and performance, including some new environmental sealing that provides additional protection from natural elements and battlefield hazards, and some refinements to the HULC's form and fit that promise to let its wearer adapt to it in less time. While complete details on the testing itself is obviously a bit light, Lockheed Martin says that it will "validate the ruggedized system's capabilities and reliability in a variety of simulated battlefield conditions" -- think Laser Tag with robot legs (at least we will). Head past the break for the full press release, and look for the next milestone to happen sometime next year, when it's expected to see some actual use in the field.
U-2 spy plane lens used on homegrown camera, and other DIY monstrosities
DIY photography isn't a new school art, but one Chris McCaw has been credited with pushing the boundaries of it more so than just about anyone else in the business. This bloke is responsible for using bits and pieces of gear in order to concoct monstrous cameras that are then used to photograph long exposures of the sun, eventually leading to beautifully artistic shots known best as sunburns. During a recent interview with photo-eye, Chris detailed one of his latest inventions: a wheelchair camera that looks suspiciously like Mike Wazowski. The camera is so huge that it requires a jack just to raise and lower the lens (goodbye, lens shake!) and a handicap ramp is necessary to load and unload it from a van. The unit itself relies on a lens that was purportedly taken from a Lockheed U-2 spy plane, and if you're unfamiliar, that flavor of surveillance craft is largely credited with obliterating relations between America and the Soviet Union in 1960. Hit the links below for more -- it's definitely fascinating stuff.
HULC exo-skeleton ready for testing, set to hit the ground running next year (video)
Its lack of jetpacks means Heinlein's visions of future warfare have still not come to pass, but we're getting closer with word that Lockheed Martin's Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC) exoskeleton is ready for military testing. Since last we heard of the thing it's been "ruggedized" and made a little more battle-hardy, able to carry 200lbs plus its own 53lb heft without burdening the doughy soldier inside, demonstrated after the break. It supports the cargo plus its own weight through articulated rods that follow the legs to the ground, meaning grunts can haul heavy equipment to the battle and arrive feeling refreshed. Next up for the suit is eight weeks of military trials ahead of hitting the battlefield sometime next year. Hooah, future robo-jockeys.
Supersonic Green Machine sends greetings from the future
While many of us are busy debating the relative merits of pocket-sized technology, NASA is mulling over ideas on a much grander scale. Submitted as part of the Administration's research into advanced aeronautics, the above Lockheed Martin-designed aircraft is just one vision of how air travel might be conducted in the future. It's a supersonic jet employing an inverted-V engine-under-wing configuration, which apparently helps to significantly reduce the resultant sonic boom. Other than that, we're only told that "other revolutionary technologies" will provide for the achievement of range, payload and environmental goals. So that snazzy paintjob wasn't just for show, after all -- who'd have guessed?
