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NASA tests sense-and-avoid system for commercial UAVs
NASA's testing a sense-and-avoid system that will allow fully-autonomous, commercial UAVs to operate in civilian airspace. The trials are being held at the Armstrong Flight Research Center in California as part of the agency's Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the National Airspace System (UAS-NAS) project.
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.
USAF to receive the last of its Predator drones in early 2011
While the controversial (and deadly) use of combat drones certainly shows no signs of abatement, the Air Force has announced that a recent purchase of 268 Predators will be its last. The vehicles, manufactured by General Atomics, should be in the hands of the military by early next year. For its part, the USAF will apparently switch to purchasing Reaper drones -- which can carry a wide variety of armaments, including Sidewinder or Hellfire missiles and laser-guided bombs. We just hope that they aren't using the unencrypted video feeds that made Predators so easy to monitor.
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]
