Jun 19
Get skeeved out by the NSA taking a peek at all your data
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Jun 19
The ability to drop bombs on targets a continent away can be a huge tactical advantage (even if it is just saber-rattling
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Jun 18
Chris Kippenberger has an impressive resume: he’s helped make music videos for Ridley Scott Associates. He worked behind the scenes in the adult industry. He’s built his own drones. So how exactly did he end up making some of the prettiest car videos online?
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Jun 18
There’s a battle going on between Airbus and Boeing, but while both industry players maintain their fair share of government contracts, this war primarily concerns the commercial side of the biz. For many of the companies that surround these giants at this week’s Paris Air Show, however, military might is big business. Fighter jets, troop transporters, attack drones and massive missiles are the bread and butter of manufacturers like US-based Raytheon and France’s own Thales — smaller companies from China, Germany, Israel and Russia flaunt their own munitions at otherwise ordinary trade show booths, too.
High-profile politicians and military officers from around the world are also in no short supply at Le Bourget Airport this week. In one exhibition hall, we spotted Lieutenant General Craig Franklin, a top US Air Force commander, studying a new security screening system from Safran. Then, earlier today, we stumbled upon Sergey Shoygu, Russia’s Minister of Defence, examining a handful of mobile rocket launchers. And just after yesterday’s Airbus A350 cockpit tour, we bumped into a gaggle of Chinese officers as they were checking out model attack choppers at the Eurocopter booth.
Troops from dozens of countries around the globe were in attendance, often dressed up in full military regalia despite the oppressive summer heat. Allies and enemies alike joined together to take note of the latest and greatest, scanning ground displays and taking in dramatic performances a few hundred feet above the sweltering tarmac. You don’t need to rough it at Le Bourget to see this year’s displays, though. We’ve collected many of the 2013 Paris Air Show’s deadliest crafts in the gallery just below.
Gallery: Weapons at the 2013 Paris Air Show
Filed under: Transportation
Jun 14
The situation in Syria is getting worse by the hour. France and the UK have both confirmed Assad’s use of Sarin gas against rebel-held towns, Hezbollah fighters have jumped in to the regime’s defense, and drones are falling out of the sky at an alarming pace. Including this one.
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Jun 13
The US military may hold the crown for most people whacked from an autonomous weapons platform but it is far from the first to try remotely-piloted death machines. According to one former mafioso, the Graviano family was testing radio-controlled, explosives-laden kamikaze craft for the handling of its staffing issues two decades ago.
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Jun 13
The tension in Turkey is quickly approaching its breaking point as thousands of protesters gear up for a third week
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May 28
Drones aren’t just for war, creating airborne logos or patrolling Aussie beaches. If German railway operators have their way, they’d be used to capture graffiti artists, too. Motivated by the high cost of property damage incurred by spray-painting vandals (around 7.6 million euros / $10 million a year), the Deutsche Bahn will soon begin testing miniature helicopter-style drones in the hopes of identifying those responsible. Each remote-controlled chopper is equipped with an infrared sensor capable of thermal imaging and producing high-resolution photos that would be useful to authorities. The tiny aircraft can also fly up to 150 meters (500 feet) and as fast as 33 mph and would cost about 60,000 euros ($77,550) each. The Bahn assured the public that the mini drones will be restricted to highly targeted areas, which should help allay those privacy concerns.
[Image Credit: thierry ehrmann, Flickr]
May 08
Enemy rockets go up. ADAM makes’em go down… safely and in a grand explosion of fire. That’s the name of Lockheed Martin’s Area Defense Anti-Munitions system, or badass laser for short (to us, anyway), created to intercept and “negate” airborne rockets and drones. The aerospace company’s been testing its portable, prototype system — built with off-the-shelf parts — since last summer, successfully proving ADAM’s capability in detecting aerial threats at a distance of 5km or more and then obliterating those targets with its finely trained laser, or HEL beam (no, really), once they’re within a 2km range. But why waste time with words when the the company’s own slo-mo video paints a more vivid, shock and awe-some picture. Check it out after the break.
Filed under: Robots
Source: Lockheed Martin
May 03
The US Navy has officially introduced unmanned aircraft along with eight newly manned helicopters into its squadron, making it the latest military branch after the Army and the Air Force to embrace the drone. Indeed, ten of the 18 aircraft to be deployed are Fire Scout MQ-8Bs, an unmanned chopper the Navy wishes to operate from combat ships set in the Pacific in about a year. Built to track targets, the Fire Scout lets troops see what’s happening over potentially dangerous areas, allowing them to regroup and rearm if necessary. The drone isn’t without its fair share of detractors of course, especially after the occasional communication failure, but here’s hoping that these Linux-operated copters will remain well within human control.
Filed under: Transportation
Source: Associated Press
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