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A commercial space company seeking to shine among the satellite launch industry has secretly sent its own "star" into orbit. Rocket Lab on Wednesday (Jan. 24) revealed to the world that "The Humanity Star" is circling Earth and is expected to become the brightest object in the night sky. Covered in 65 highly-reflective panels, the satellite is rapidly spinning, reflecting the sun's light back onto the planet, much in the same way that a disco ball casts light onto a dance floor. From the ground, the geodesic sphere-shaped satellite will appear as a bright, glinting star quickly traversing the night...

Over a career that has taken him to Afghanistan and Iraq, Col. Patrick Duggan has seen the lethal power of drones. Now, as a base commander in the nation’s capital, he is worried that frequent illegal flights buzzing over Washington could pose a threat. In the middle of a federal no-fly zone for drones, in some of the most sensitive and restricted airspace in the United States, technicians working with Duggan recorded nearly 100 drone sightings over two months last summer. And that was just around two Army posts he oversees. Many of the operators were probably oblivious to the...

A series of mysterious attacks against the main Russian military base in Syria, including one conducted by a swarm of armed miniature drones, has exposed Russia’s continued vulnerability in the country despite recent claims of victory by President Vladimir Putin. The attacks have also spurred a flurry of questions over who may be responsible for what amounts to the biggest military challenge yet to Russia’s role in Syria, just when Moscow is seeking to wind its presence down. In the most recent and unusual of the attacks, more than a dozen armed drones descended from an unknown location onto Russia’s...

Russia foils massive attack on its Syrian bases by electronically “controlling” 6 drones, downing seven The Defense Ministry in Moscow revealed on Monday, Jan. 8: A massive terrorist drone attack on Russian military and naval bases in Syria was thwarted by electronic measures and anti-air weapon fire. The statement said that overnight on Jan. 6, Syrian “militants” (terrorists) sent a large swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles to attack Russia’s Tartus Naval base and Khmeimim air base. Russian defenses took control of six drones and its Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile and gun system shot down another seven. .... they used electronic measures...

The Trump administration is asking Congress to give the federal government sweeping powers to track, hack and destroy any type of drone over domestic soil with a new exception to laws governing surveillance, computer privacy and aircraft protection, according to a document obtained by The New York Times. The draft bill’s language would authorize the government to summarily track, seize control of and use force to destroy any unmanned aircraft it determines may pose a security threat to an area designated for special protection. The government would have to respect “privacy, civil rights and civil liberties” when exercising that power,...

A drone squad, designed to locate and - if necessary - capture nuisance drones flown by members of the public, is to be launched by police in Tokyo. The police unit will patrol important buildings such as the prime minister's office. If a suspicious drone is detected, the operator will be warned via loudspeakers on the ground. But if he or she fails to respond, police will launch drones equipped with nets to bring down the device. "Terrorist attacks using drones carrying explosives are a possibility," a senior member of the police department's security bureau told the Asahi Shimbun website....

With the news of the infection by Ebola of a health care worker in Texas this morning, I'm beginning to think that it's time for strong...and mean draconian...measures that may ensure the safety of the majority of Americans. In 1996, the late author Tom Clancy published a book entitled "Executive Orders". In it, the protagonist, Jack Ryan, had just become the President of the US after a successful kamikaze attack that destroyed Congress, the Joint Chiefs, the Supreme Court, and, of course, the president. In the course of the book, certain forces attempted or accomplished several things to upset the...

A group of hobbyists with a weirdly extensive machine gun collection decided to try a modern update to drone target practice. In this case, the targets were smaller drones ranging in size from remote-control toy airplanes to larger flying wings, about as big as the Army's hand-tossed RQ-11 Raven. Instead of special anti-air weapons, they tried a few different machine guns, which are more representative of the weapons insurgents might aim at drones. While many of the bullets fired hit the drones, it took direct hits to the tiny drone engines to make them stop flying. Verdict: It's possible to...

***Update: Now $125 thanks to Joan of Argghh! I've been complaining for some time now that the label Republican In Name Only, and its acronym, RINO, are ineffectual to say the least. My topmost reason is that a dichotomy exists in the word republican. Conservatives think of republicans as representing the people who elected them, with an eye fixed on protecting and preserving the American constitution with its limits on government and its recognition of personal rights. Progressives think of republicans as elitist and doing what they think is right no matter what the common folk think, and "The...

Northrop Grumman Corporation and the U.S. Navy have begun the next phase of the flight test program leading to the "final exam" Operational Evaluation and potential approval next year for full-rate production of the Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS). The Navy is conducting the Developmental Flight Test-IIE (DT-IIE) program from its Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division site in Florida. The first flight occurred on June 8. ALMDS is an airborne mine countermeasures system, one of several systems in development by Northrop Grumman to address the threat posed by mines to U.S. and allied ships. ALMDS uses its pulsed...

The effectiveness of a countermeasure system for the U.S. Army Chinook helicopter to defeat guided missiles was proven in battle, BAE Systems said. BAE said its Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures system has proved its worth in defeating infrared-guided missiles on the battlefield. ATIRCM uses lasers to protect the Chinook from missile attacks. A common missile warning system tells the system to emit a high-energy laser beam to defeat the infrared system on the incoming missile. Jim Crouch, general manager for protection solutions at BAE Systems, said ATIRCM is the best countermeasure system available for combat helicopters . "ATIRCM was put...

Current anti-sniper counter measures depend on the sight or sound of the initial shot, and by that time, it may be too late. Now a new device which uses the same “red-eye” effect of flash cameras and projects it hundreds of meters, can identify binoculars, sniper scopes, cameras and even human eyeballs that are staring at you. It is hence the first machine that can offer 24/7 warning that you are being watched or targeted, BEFORE a shot is fired. The CS300K™ Long Range Counter Surveillance Camera is the brainchild of high tech surveillance equipment manufacturer JETprotect, and will be...

Russia’s G5 system of missile defense leaves far behind the S-400 systems that are coming into operation today. It is able to counter space attacks, said Russia’s Air Force Commander-in-Chief Col.-Gen. Alexander Zelin.

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin may have been telling us more than he thought when he said Thursday: "Ballistic missile defence is not where we will concentrate our efforts." Where Canada is concentrating its efforts should be worthy of both Washington and mainline media attention. Weapons of electronic intelligence and electronic warfare are where the nation of Canada holds the cutting edge. Through an intricate series of subsidiaries and sub-contractors, leading back to the blind trust running his Canadian Steamship Lines company, Prime Minister Paul Martin is still at the epicenter of that cutting edge. In the development and design...

Reprinted from NewsMax.com Russia Beefing Up Missile ForcesPhil Brennan, NewsMax.comMonday, Dec. 13, 2004 Is there a new Cold War and arms race underway? A new force of the Topol-M Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM)- described by Russian Defense officials as a "21st-century weapon" unrivaled in the world and allegedly capable of defeating U.S. anti-missile defenses - is due to be created in 2005, posing a deadly threat to the U.S. According to Russian Missile Force Commander Nikolai Solovtsov a fifth missile regiment armed with Topol-M ICBMs will be added next year. Today's RIA Novosti quoted Solovtsov as telling a Moscow news...

Press Releases Fact Sheet: U.S. Department of Homeland Security Programs Countering Missile Threats to Commercial Aircraft The Department of Homeland Security has announced it is awarding contracts for the final engineering, prototype development, and deployment testing of a protective system for U.S. commercial aircraft against shoulder fired missiles, known as Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS). Two teams, one led by BAE Systems and one led by Northrop Grumman, are receiving funding of approximately $45 million each for this 18-month final prototype phase of the program. While there is no credible, specific intelligence information about planned MANPADS attacks against U.S. commercial...

President Bush visited the Ice Harbor Dam on the Snake River yesterday. I watched his motorcade and was impressed with the security arrangements. In a Tri-City Herald article published today titled "Security formidable for visit" is the following paragraph: "Several journalists at the dam discovered that their communications equipment, such as satellite phones and cell phones, wouldn't work until Bush's visit was finished" This implies that some sort of jamming equipment was used, but I am very skeptical. For one thing, my cell phone has never worked at nearby parks on the Snake River, simply because of the distance from...