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Palmer Luckey's startup bought an underwater drone company
Palmer Luckey's AI defense company Anduril is expanding to underwater drones by acquiring Dive Technologies.
Sphero spins off a new company to make robots for police, military use
Robotic toy maker Sphero is spinning its public safety division into a new company focused on robots for first responders, government and defense.
Dark-alley defense: Tech tools to keep you safe
"One of the best gadgets you can have is a doorstop." Douglas White has been in the personal security business for nearly 30 years. He started training in martial arts 24 years ago, and he's been a bail enforcement agent -- a bounty hunter -- for 13 years. He's done international security tours with Linkin Park and the Stone Temple Pilots, but he's currently prioritizing fatherhood and capturing fugitives from his home base in Connecticut. White can handily navigate a dark alley filled with foes, even when his only weapons are his hands. However, in an ideal scenario, White will always have a tool at his disposal. Not necessarily a weapon -- then again, anything can be weaponized if you try hard enough.
Pentagon puts $10 billion contract on hold after Trump criticizes Amazon
The Pentagon has temporarily halted its $10 billion cloud-computing competition after President Trump suggested that the bid might be rigged in favor of Amazon. The process will now be reviewed by new Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and a spokesperson said that "no decision will be made on the program until he has completed his examination."
Germany and the Netherlands form a joint military network
Networking on the battlefield won't just be limited to communication between units for one country. Germany and the Netherlands have created a joint military network, TEN (Tactical Edge Networking), that helps soldiers from the two countries coordinate their operations. They'll even share computers, radios, telephones and other equipment. TEN will initially link Germany's land operations with the Netherlands' tactical communications program.
US Air Force successfully shoots down multiple missiles with a laser
The US Air Force just edged closer to its goal of outfitting aircraft with laser weapons. Testers at the White Sands Missile Range have successfully shot down multiple air-launched missiles using the Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD), proving that it can hold up under intense situations. While SHiELD is currently a ground-based behemoth (see below), the finished technology should be portable and rugged enough to be used aboard aircraft.
Microsoft and Amazon will fight for the Pentagon's $10B cloud contract
Amazon and Microsoft are the two final companies in the running for the Defense Department's $10 billion cloud computing contract. The Pentagon's migration to the cloud, known as the JEDI project, was announced in 2017, with some of the biggest companies in the world competing for the prize ever since (although Google sat it out, citing "AI principles").
What Trump means when he talks nukes at the State of the Union
President Donald Trump is expected to cover five main topics in his first State of the Union address tonight, including the economy, immigration, infrastructure and trade. The fifth topic, national security, will put the spotlight on North Korea and the erratic, ad hominem nuclear standoff between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Trump himself. The tension of this relationship has spilled over to Twitter, where Trump has lobbed insults and threats at Kim over the past year. Trump called Kim "little Rocket Man" and declared the US' "nuclear button" was "much bigger and more powerful" than Kim's. In August, Trump promised "fire and fury" if North Korea didn't stop testing nuclear weapons, and Kim later called Trump a "mentally deranged dotard." Meanwhile, North Korea carried out more than a dozen nuclear tests throughout 2017, including launching intercontinental ballistic missiles theoretically capable of striking the US mainland. Its most recent ICBM test was in November.
China reportedly tests new ballistic weapon that flies under radar
A US government source told The Diplomat this week that China has conducted flight tests of a missile equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV). Two tests of the HGV, a model known as the DF-17, took place in November and China is understood to have conducted a number of other tests of experimental HGVs throughout 2014 and 2016. The DF-17 is thought to have a range of between 1,800 and 2,500 kilometers and represents a new kind of weapon system, one that the US and Russia are also developing.
Epic's long-awaited 'Fortnite' hits consoles and PC July 25th
We've been waiting on Epic Games' fort-building monster defense game Fortnite for a long, long time. First announced in 2011, the developer's initial Unreal Engine 4 title was slated to be a PC exclusive. A trailer released in 2014 gave interested fans a bit of hope, and we even saw the gameplay at E3 in 2015. Now that we've hit 2017, though, Fortnite is poised to actually release on July 25th to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Mac, along with "paid early access" to the game via pre-order.
The Army could save hydrogen cars from a premature death
Over the past 25 years, hydrogen fuel cells (HFC) have been the butt of countless jokes in the automotive industry. Many critics see the technology as something long in the works that will never have a future. It's seen some spotty progress over the past decade, existing alongside compressed natural gas vehicles. But in terms of public perception, HFCs are still on the fringe compared with plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles. In 2016, the Los Angeles Times reported that Toyota expected to sell 3,000 of its $60,000 Mirai sedans by the end of 2017 -- and that was an optimistic forecast, mind you. In contrast, Tesla racked up over 232,000 preorders for its all-electric Model 3 sedan in just 24 hours, and Toyota crossed 3.9 million in global sales for the Prius in February.
DARPA tests buoy network for fallback military comms at sea
It doesn't matter how many war machines you have under your command if you can't relay orders to their operators. Maintaining communications is just as important as firepower, and DARPA wants the armed forces to have as many contingencies as possible when networks go down or are actively jammed. Setting up a fallback network is even trickier on the open ocean, but the agency's Tactical Undersea Network Architecture (TUNA) program is well on its way to a solution. That solution being a collection of "node" buoys, deployed from ships or planes, that are tethered together by fiber optic cables to create a radio frequency data network.
US Army's 'Phaser' could fry entire drone swarms in a volley
While the US military has enjoyed several decades of aerial dominance with few enemy fighter planes to shoot down, the emergence of ISIS drones presents a new threat to American ground troops. To combat swarms of these cheap, small dangers, the US Army is testing a new anti-air device that is designed to blow multiple UAVs out of the sky in a single shot. They call it the Phaser.
Russia hopes to block cruise missile attacks with cell towers
While the United States may have put its blimp-based missile defense system on hold, Russia is taking a more civilian approach to jamming cruise missiles. As Motherboard reports today, the Russian military is planning to mount anti-missile jamming devices called Pole–21s on civilian cellular network towers, giving the Kremlin a wide coverage area in the case of a US missile attack.
US military creates 'Space Mission Force' to wage satellite war
If a major war ever happens, low-Earth orbit could turn into a combat zone. To that end, the US Air Force Space Command has created the "Space Mission Force" to train soldiers to operate military satellites in response to threats. "Adversaries have developed and fielded capabilities to disrupt and deny the space systems we operate on behalf of the United States and our allies," writes US General John Hyten. "Consequently, [we] must organize, train and equip our space forces in a way that maintains our vigilance."
Obama forms commission to bolster US cyber security
The sad state of US cyber security was laid bare when attackers stole the sensitive data of 21 million government employees from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) last year. President Obama pledged $19 billion to fix the problem in February, and just unveiled a commission of private, public and academic experts to come up with a plan. Called the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity, it will be co-chaired by former IBM CEO Sam Palmisano and Tom Donilon, the President's former national security adviser.
iRobot is selling off its military division
The US military might seem like an endless cash train for contractors, but it's not always so. Vacuum bot maker iRobot has sold off its defense and security division in order to focus on its core Roomba business. If you were unaware that iRobot even made military toys, the company actually got its start building military hardware for the likes of DARPA as far back as 1998. At one point, it was awarded a $286 million military contract to produce robots that can detect and disarm bombs and do other risky chores.
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."
Boeing's 'plasma shields' would block explosion shockwaves
"Captain, magnetic seals in the anti-matter chamber are decaying!" "Shields up!" Now that we have that out of our systems, let's start by saying that unlike a Star Trek-style deflector, Boeing's plasma "shield" could never block shells or bullets, let alone anti-matter explosions. But if its patent "for shockwave attenuation via electromagnetic arc" ever amounts to anything, it'd still be a technological tour de force. The idea is to harness electrical energy to stop or slow down the shockwaves created by explosions, which can do just as much damage as shrapnel.
US Navy will fire fighter jets into the air with electromagnets
For the last 60 years, the US Navy has launched fighters from carrier decks using steam catapults. While that made for some atmospheric Top Gun shots, the jerky motion adds wear-and-tear to aircraft and pilots alike. The military is now ready to test the next generation Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) aboard the new USS Gerald R. Ford after successful land trials (see the video below). EMALS uses a prescribed dose of electromagnetic energy to smoothly launch a variety of aircraft at the precise speeds needed, reducing stress on airframes. It's more adaptable to different aircraft and launch conditions than current catapults, and is well-suited for lightweight drone systems like the X-47B now aboard US carriers.
