Archive for the 'War' Category
U.S. Air Force Fires General In Charge of Nuclear Missiles
October 12th, 2013Two top officers involved with nuclear weapons have been removed within a couple of days. Via: BBC: The general in charge of the US Air Force’s long-range nuclear missiles has been sacked due to “loss of trust and confidence”, officials have said. The Air Force said Maj Gen Michael Carey’s removal was for “behaviour during […]
Microsoft and Lockheed Martin Team Up for Government Cloud Platform
October 8th, 2013Via: Information Week: Microsoft will soon launch a dedicated multi-tenant cloud environment that meets the distinct requirements of U.S. government agencies. The Windows Azure U.S. Government Cloud will be an exclusive community cloud available for U.S. state, local and federal government agencies. It will be hosted in Microsoft data centers located in the U.S. and […]
“Soon, Drones May Be Able to Make Lethal Decisions on Their Own”
October 8th, 2013Acronym of the day: LAR – Lethal Autonomous Robot Via: National Journal: Scientists, engineers and policymakers are all figuring out ways drones can be used better and more smartly, more precise and less damaging to civilians, with longer range and better staying power. One method under development is by increasing autonomy on the drone itself. […]
America’s Police Are Looking More and More Like the Military
October 8th, 2013Via: Guardian: America’s streets are looking more and more like a war zone. Last week, in a small county in upstate New York with a population of roughly 120,000 people, county legislators approved the receipt of a 20-ton Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle, donated by the US Defense Department to the county sheriff. Between […]
Aerospace Company Develops Drone That Can Fly Continuously For 5 Years
October 8th, 2013Via: CBS: An aerospace company has presented its design “atmospheric satellites” that fly at 65,000 feet and provide drone-like services such as live-mapping and monitoring narcotics trafficking. Titan Aerospace recently offered the Solara series of such drones: which can fly continuously for nearly five years, charging its own battery high above commercial aircraft through the […]
Harvest Time: Canadian Government Takes Man’s Farm to Build Military Base
October 6th, 2013Via: Maclean’s: In Frank Meyers’s eyes, the view from his dining room window is priceless. Literally. He can see the old wooden house where he lived as a little boy. The family barn, rebuilt with his talented hands. Rows and rows of sweet corn, sprouting from prime Ontario soil. No matter how many federal bureaucrats […]
Introducing WildCat
October 4th, 2013Via: Boston Dynamics: WildCat is a four-legged robot being developed to run fast on all types of terrain. So far WildCat has run at about 16 mph on flat terrain using bounding and galloping gaits. The video shows WildCat’s best performance so far. WildCat is being developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from DARPA’s M3 […]
Pentagon Spent $5 Billion on Weapons on the Eve of the Shutdown
October 3rd, 2013Via: Foreign Policy: The Pentagon pumped billions of dollars into contractors’ bank accounts on the eve of the U.S. government’s shutdown that saw 400,000 Defense Department employees furloughed. All told, the Pentagon awarded 94 contracts yesterday evening on its annual end-of-the-fiscal-year spending spree, spending more than five billion dollars on everything from robot submarines to […]
Is Saddam Hussein’s Fortune in a Warehouse in Moscow?
October 1st, 2013Via: Daily Mail: A cargo of 20 billion euros in cash (£16.75billion) has lain unclaimed at a Moscow airport for six years amid allegations it could be the secret fortune of Saddam Hussein. The stash, now under high security in a cargo depot, is held on 200 wooden pallets each worth 100 million euros, enough […]
Navy Research Blimp Hovering Over Maryland
September 30th, 2013[???] Via: CBS: The U.S. Navy research laboratory says the blimp is a government research airship conducting aerial mapping, and that the MZ-3A lighter than air blimp began roaming above the D.C. area on Sept. 21 and can remain stationary for more than 12 hours. The blimp is mapping in the flight restriction zones around […]
