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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.
Uncharted Waters makes port at new publisher OGPlanet this fall
The free-to-play naval game Uncharted Waters Online drops anchor at a new publisher this fall, partnering with OGPlanet. All player accounts will be transferred to OGPlanet and the game will re-launch with a focus on expanding the North American playerbase. Current players will find all information pertaining to the service migration (such as thank you sales and current server shut down date) on the Netmarble site. In UWO, players can relive and rewrite the history of the 15th Century, sailing the world in authentic period ships (like The English Frigate, Baltic Galleon, Spanish Carrack, and Turkish Galley) and participating in strategic battles. Whether starting as an Adventurer, a Merchant, or a Soldier, players amass wealth and power, discover new worlds, and even claim unoccupied islands. Get a taste of the game in the cinematic trailer below. [Source: OGPlanet press release]
Daily iPad App: Leviathan Warships features sweet, turn-based boat warfare
First of all, go enjoy the wonderful trailer for this game. If you're not sold on Leviathan Warships (US$4.99 on the App Store) after watching that, then I'm not exactly sure what else you want. Leviathan Warships is a turn-based naval strategy game. Your job is to guide a series of ships through watery battlegrounds, leading them turn by turn against your opponents. The game is similar to Bungie's Crimson: Steam Pirates, in that you guide ships around by dragging them, but it's much more complicated. You can aim each ship's guns separately, upgrade your ships as you see fit and take on co-op and multiplayer battles in addition to the main campaign. The whole package is impressively thorough, and in that sense, the trailer is dead on. In fact, there might be a little bit too much here to play with. Those looking for a casual title will find Leviathan Warships overwhelming. But the $4.99 price is fitting -- enough to signify the game is substantial, but still cheap enough for anyone interested to jump right in. Leviathan Warships is highly recommended for sure.
Navy Field 2 entering closed beta on March 27th
Is there a serious need for more games in your life based on World War II? There are a few options out there already, but very soon you'll have another as Nexon brings Navy Field 2 into closed beta testing on March 27th. Unlike many of the other options, this one isn't meant as an action-based game; it's an MMORTS focused on naval engagements and the more strategic pace of sending ships into confrontations. Players will be able to choose between 500 different ships from World War I and World War II to build their own fleets, entering huge engagements of up to 64 players at a time. The ships can also be customized with new weapons and armor. If this sounds like your cup of tea, check out the official trailer past the break and sign up for the beta, which will run until April 10th. [Source: Nexon press release]
Northrop Grumman Unveils US Navy's MQ-4C BAMS Triton unmanned aircraft
If Broad Area Maritime Surveillance, or war gadgets are your bag, then things just got real. Northrop Grumman has just unveiled the MQ-4C BAMS Triton, the latest addition to the US Navy's Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force. The spy plane was more than four years in development, has a wingspan of 130.9 feet, and is able to cover more than 2.7 million square miles in a single mission. As you will have been unable to avoid noticing, the unmanned aircraft definitely inherited some of the RQ-4 Global Hawk's dome-like DNA, and will edge towards active service after completing functional requirement reviews and system development and demonstration flights. Want to bone-up on the full spec? Hit the more coverage link for the numbers. In the meantime, we're wondering if they might extend the research.
LASR: behind the curtain of the Navy's robotics laboratory
I don't know all that much about the Naval Research Laboratory when I arrive in DC for "the public's first opportunity to look inside" the space's new $17 million Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research (LASR). I give the cab driver the address, and he casually tells me that it "stinks," illustrating this notion with a universally familiar hand gesture. He means it literally, too - that you can smell the place, simply driving by in a cab, with the windows up. He says this with such assurance, such gusto, that I fully expect it to smell like the city dump. A wall of stink. It's not much to go on, but it's something. And while I can thankfully report that his reaction was a bit overstated - at least on this particular day - there's certainly a distinct odor to the place. It's a sprawling 130-acre complex that sits sandwiched between the 295 freeway and the waters of the Potomac River; a series of nearly identical big, white buildings facing inward toward a grassy courtyard. On the way in, a space with what appears to be crushed cars is visible from the freeway.
US Navy shows off its new LASR autonomous robot testing facility
All the fun of the desert and the rainforest from the (relative) comfort of home? Sign us up. That's the promise offered by the admittedly awesomely named Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research (that's LASR, for you abbreviators out there), first announced last month. The robotics lab, housed in a $17.7 million building at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC, offers up around 50,000 square feet, a portion of which is aimed at reproducing some of the Earth's more extreme ecosystems to test out naval robotics. The facility is home to firefighting robots, swimming 'bots and hydrogen fuel cell-powered unmanned aircrafts, to name but a few. The Naval Research Laboratory opened the doors of the massive facility up to members of the media today, and Engadget was on-hand along with a moderate sized gathering of fellow reporters. Included in the tour were two simulated environments. The Tropical High Bay is designed to mimic rainforest terrain, with flowing water, fog and climate controlled temperature and humidity. The Desert High Bay is a bit let complex in its environmental simulation, limited to a sand pit, rock way, and adjustable light, smoke and wind. Meanwhile, an on-site indoor pool is used to challenge aquatic vehicles. Testers demonstrated the Pectoral Fin Swimmer – an autonomous bot inspired by the biological movements of fish, in order to access areas not reached by more traditional propel driven robots. Also on hand was Lucas, a Mobile, Dexterous, Social (MDS) humanoid robot [pictured above] with a Segway base. The laboratory demonstrated how the robot was capable of reasoning in a simulated firefighting scenario – and, equipped with an extinguisher, was capable of putting out a very real fire on the floor of the facility. We'll have a more in-depth tour of the facility in the near future. In the meantime, check out a sneak-peek of what we saw in the gallery below.
SAFFiR: the autonomous, firefighting humanoid robot
It took six years, but at long last, Anna Konda has a formidable firefighting partner. SAFFiR, also known as the Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot, is being shaped by scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory. As the story goes, it's a humanoid robot that's being engineered to "move autonomously throughout the ship, interact with people, and fight fires, handling many of the dangerous firefighting tasks that are normally performed by humans." Outside of being stoic (and brawny) from tip to tip, it's also outfitted with multi-modal sensor technology for advanced navigation and a sensor suite that includes a camera, gas sensor, and stereo IR camera to enable it to see through smoke. We're told that its internal batteries can keep it cranking for a solid half-hour, while being capable of manipulating fire suppressors and throwing propelled extinguishing agent technology (PEAT) grenades. Wilder still, it'll be able to balance in "sea conditions," making it perfect for killing flames while onboard a ship. Of course, it's also being tweaked to work with a robotic team, giving it undercover powers to eventually turn the flames on the folks that created it. Paranoid? Maybe. But who are we to be too careful?Update: Turns out, the same Dr. Hong that we had on The Engadget Show is responsible for this guy as well. It's the next step in evolution of the CHARLI humanoid, and the two photos seen after the break are credited to RoMeLa: Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory, Virginia Tech.
Navy test-fires weaponized railgun with explosive results (video)
You're about to watch a test firing of BAE's experimental railgun demonstrating why the technology isn't science fiction anymore. Load an aluminum projectile into the 12-meter barrel and one million amps will hypersonically propel it toward the target. The conflagration you'll witness is due to the metal slug burning off in the charged air. In April, General Atomics will supply its own prototype so the military can identify which one is closer to making its way aboard the battleships of the 2020's. Anyway, now you can go watch the video fully aware of what's going on, try not to sit there with your mouth open.
ASUS G74SX-A1 gaming laptop gets rated, loves a bit of Battleship
The 1982 Lockheed Sea Shadow may be rusting away in Suisun Bay, but its Commie-spooking contours haven't been forgotten. They apparently inspired the design of the Asus G74SX-A1, which just won a HotHardware recommendation for its cheese-eschewing looks as well as its performance, efficient cooling and realistic $1749 price tag. For once, the Core i7-2360QM CPU coupled with a GeForce GTX 560M and generous 12GB dollop of DDR-1333 RAM actually conspired to surpass the manufacturer's 3DMark benchmark claims. It wasn't flawless though: overall computing performance was middling compared to rivals; the speakers were shoddy when it came to producing music rather than explosions; and the 17.3-inch Full HD display was slightly wasted on some games that only ran smoothly with high quality settings at 1280x720. Still, all this naval talk makes us fancy some Silent Hunter 4 -- and that should play just fine. Check out source link lurking below for the full review.
Wargaming.net announces World of Battleships
First it was by land. Then it was by air. And now the third assault comes by sea. Today Wargaming.net announced that it will be rounding out its "World of" trilogy by adding a third MMO to its roster: World of Battleships. This free-to-play title will focus on the iconic battleships of the last century as players duke it out on the high seas. Like World of Tanks and World of Warplanes, World of Battleships will incorporate player-friendly controls and a clean interface to allow the maximum amount of carnage with the minimum amount of confusion. There will be a wide array of battleships available to play on maps with changing weather conditions and challenging obstacles. Wargaming.net CEO Victor Kislyi sees this as the final step for world domination: "Humans always needed to conquer the elements -- earth, water and air. With World of Tanks, World of Warplanes and World of Battleships we will offer players to conquer all, simultaneously." The company plans to allow players to "distribute resources" between all three titles once they're all up and running. You can get a first look at World of Battleships in the gallery below! %Gallery-130714%
US Navy explains basic mechanical principles of a fire control computer -- in 1953 (video)
Bits, bytes and silicon transistors? Boy, you have it good -- back in 1953, state-of-the-art computers were made of gears, sprockets, chains and cams, and we trusted them to accurately wreck lives with ginormous naval guns. If you're wondering how that could possibly work, you don't have to go far -- a series of seven videos after the break show you how it was done, and which might even ingratiate you with the grizzled old neighbor who desperately wants you off his lawn.
Cox provides HD programming, internet at US Naval Base in San Diego
The proud men and women of the United States Navy have to get their HD fix somehow, right? Being that the answer to that is undoubtedly "yes," we're happy to see that Cox Communications has signed on to provide HD programming, high-speed internet and digital phone services to the Pacific Beacon residences at the US Naval Base in San Diego, California. Currently, services are being installed in 512 units at Palmer Hall, while all of the buildings in the complex should be complete (and completely wired) by March 1st of next year.
Guidelines for autonomous killbots proposed
Suggestions in regard to robotic rights seem to be flying off the shelves these days, but an engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Centre has concocted an interesting set of guidelines catering to autonomous killbots of the future. Most likely, it's just a matter of time before machine-on-machine violence becomes commonplace, and John Canning's "Concept of Operations for Armed Autonomous Systems" outlines just how lethal robots should handle themselves when faced with potentially deadly conflicts. Interestingly, the document suggests the the bots should be allowed to make their own decisions when it comes to blasting or forgiving fellow robots, but before they pull the trigger on a human, it should request guidance from a flesh 'n blood friendly. Still, a definite loophole exists in the fact that these simple-minded killers could aim for a "human's weapon" without asking permission, and when his awful auto-aim programming leads to a costly casualty, it'll simply be deemed "collateral damage." Can't say we like the sound of that. [Warning: PDF read link] [Via El Reg]
Navy develops 8-Megajoule railgun, Nukem bows down
The mere mention of the word brings back visions of the original first-person-shooters to grace our now-antiquated machines, and now the US Navy is getting real personal with a realized version of the pixelated railgun we all love and adore. Presumably ripped straight from the (admittedly lacking) storyline of Quake, an 8-Megajoule railgun has been officially created, fired, and deemed worthy of flanking our naval ships, which should strike fear in the hearts of anyone wishing us harm. The gun was showcased this week at the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren, Virginia, and utilizes massive quantities of electricity rather than gunpowder to propel "nonexplosive projectiles at incredible speeds." The weapon is powerful enough to equal the damage inflicted by a Tomahawk cruise missile, and the device's project director compared the impact to hitting a solid object "going 380 miles-per-hour in a Ford Taurus." Moreover, the railgun touts a 200 to 250 nautical-mile range, compared to the 15 nautical-mile range that current five-inch guns sport now. Interestingly, the weapon should "only" cost around $1,000 per shot once loaded onboard, which is chump change compared to the cool million that vanishes each time a cruise missile is deployed, and if everything goes as planned, we'll be seeing a 32-Megajoule prototype in June, with a 64-Megajoule rendition adorning our ships by 2020.[Via Slashdot]
