70mm Hydra rockets have been a mainstay of the US military since the 1940s. They’re less expensive and cause less collateral damage than, say, a Hellfire-sized ordnance. Problem is—they don’t steer well, or rather, at all. A new laser-guidance upgrade from BAE Systems, however, is poised to make the Hydra-70 much agile and much more deadly. More »
Nobody would fault you for bringing a knife to a Swiss Minigun C1ST fight. Recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the smallest functional revolver on the planet, this diminutive firearm makes Derringers look like Desert Eagles. More »
Taliban warfighters aren’t the only threat to American forces in Afghanistan. There are also the nastly explosives they leave behind. But rather than simply reinforce some Humvees and hope for the best, General Atomics has developed a system to spot IEDs from the air, up to a mile away, day or night. More »
While the design has yet to catch on with civilian air travelers (focus groups hate amphitheater-style seating), Blended Wing Body aircraft hold great promise for military operations. To better study this innovative design without sinking untold extra millions into R&D, NASA built the next best thing—a 1:8.5 scale RC demonstrator. More »
As the role UAVs in the US military expands, the demands placed on these unmanned platforms grow as well. One of the most important new abilities these autonomous fliers must have is the ability to land atop a thin strip of tarmac rolling on the high seas. And that’s just what the new Northrop Grumman X-47B will do. More »
How do you test the functionality of a wholly new type of satellite docking system in the weightlessness of space, without shooting round after round of prototype into orbit? If you’re DARPA, you float the satellites—air hockey-style—on top of a 37.5-ton slab of granite. More »
Two days might not seem that long for your latest Amazon order’s arrival. But for the crew of the International Space Station, waiting 48 hours for fresh supplies must be an eternity. That’s why NASA and Rosaviakosmos have melded new technology and an old technique to deliver supplies eight times faster than ever before. More »
As the world awaits Curiosity’s arrival on Mars, an alien landscape 141.6 million miles closer to home remains woefully unexplored. To chart the vast depths of the ocean, the UK has developed an unmanned sub capable of diving miles beneath the sea. More »
The M2 flamethrower utilized by Allied forces during WWII proved to be a devastatingly effective weapon against bunkers—and Axis psyches. However, walking around a firefight with a napalm-filled backpack and an effective range of 20m is a great way to become a crispy critter. So the US military developed the M202 FLASH rocket-propelled flamethrower. More »
For off-shore wind farms to become an economically feasible alternative energy source, each turbine needs to be big. Like, really big. That’s why the latest turbine blade from Siemens is gigantic—just a hair shorter than the wingspan of an Airbus 380. More »
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