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The prospect of a nuclear deal for Pakistan gives India less sleepless nights than the fact that the US, in an attempt to "incentivise" Pakistan, is piling on sophisticated military equipment that have little to do with counter-terrorism but more to do with targeting India. With the first lot of 18 F-16C/D Block 50/52 combat aircraft due to be delivered in the next few months, India is raising the diplomatic pitch against the transfer of such equipment to Pakistan. While defence minister A K Antony has articulated these concerns, this has been the subject of a lot of diplomatic traffic...

of electrical energy to repel projectiles away from an armored vehicle, British scientists say. Researchers at the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory, better know as "Dstl" and located at four sites in England, say it is possible to corporate material known as supercapacitors into armor that would turn a vehicle into a kind of giant battery, The Daily Telegraph reported. Dstl is the research and development arm of the Ministry of Defense. The report said when a threat from an incoming projective is detected, the energy in the supercapacitor can be rapidly pushed into the metal plating on the outside...

For the first time, after a decade of development, the U.S. Air Force fired its ALT (Airborne Laser Testbed) laser while in flight and hit a rapidly (1,800 meters a second) rising ballistic missile. The laser beam took several seconds to weaken the missile structure, and cause it to come apart. This test came only eight months after the smaller Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) was fired in flight for the first time. The target was some lumber on the ground, which was hit. The ATL weapon was carried in a C-130H four engine transport. Five years ago, manufacturers of combat...

Funded in part by Air Force Research Laboratory Manufacturing Technology Small Business Innovation Research contracts, FOPAT Production is producing breakthrough foam patterns for casting foundries and other manufacturers of aerospace components. The advanced patterns will improve casting processes by replacing wax, a known problematic material, with foam. Estimates indicate the development will generate $5 million in yearly energy savings, as well as $140 million in productivity, material savings, and scrap reduction. The work also supports goals of ManTech's Advanced Manufacturing Propulsion Initiative, which seeks to transform the Air Force propulsion supplier base in order both to assure industrial capability and...

India's Arjun tank will battle for its life against a squadron of Russian T-90s in trials likely to determine the controversial vehicle's future. The long-awaited trials, which start in March, will pit the 14 indigenous Arjuns against the 14 T-90s, day and night for a month, according to the national Business Standard newspaper. The 24th Infantry Division stationed in Bikaner will conduct the trials in the rugged deserts of the northern state of Rajasthan, around the cities of Bikaner, Suratgarh and also Pokhran, the site of India's first nuclear bomb test in May 1974. The performance of tanks and their...

Those splendid brainboxes at DARPA - the Pentagon's in-house bazaar of the bizarre - have outdone themselves this time. They now plan an entirely uncrewed, automated ghost frigate able to cruise the oceans of the world for months or years on end without human input. The new project is called Anti-submarine warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV), and is intended to produce "an X-ship founded on the assumption that no person steps aboard at any point in its operating cycle". The uncrewed frigate would have enough range and endurance for "global, months long deployments with no underway human maintenance", being...

The U.S. Army is sending the troops a new generation of "see-through-the-wall" devices. The Eagle series of sensors use low power ultra-wideband radio waves to detect what is behind walls (except metal ones). These devices weigh 3.5-6 pounds (there are three versions) and all are handheld. The M model can detect motion, of people or animals who are up to six meters behind a 20cm concrete wall. The P model can see into the ground (3-4 meters down) and detect objects, as well as tunnels. The V model produces sharper images, but at shorter ranges. All these devices use rechargeable...

BAE Systems has unveiled its brand new howitzer for deployment in the U.S. Army and eventually for military customers elsewhere. The next-generation howitzer is an upgraded Paladin Integrated Management vehicle in the M-109 Paladin family of vehicles, a combat-proven weapon system manufactured by BAE Systems in York, Pa. It was not immediately clear when the weapon would be marketed outside the United States, currently its major user. Previous PIM models are known to be operational with the Israeli army, and usage has been reported in Kuwait and Taiwan. Congressional representatives, community leaders and BAE employees attended a ceremony at the...

U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin hopes to sign an agreement with Israel on its F-35 fighter jet by the end of the year, and targets 75 to 100 jets for the deal, an executive said on Friday. "Israel is extremely interested and we very much hope that we will make a deal with Israel for F-35s this year," Patrick Dewar, a corporate vice president at Lockheed Martin told Reuters at the Bahrain air show. "When we talk about Israel, somewhere between 75 and 100 jets," he said, when asked to estimate the size of the market for F-35s. Dewar also...

The US Defense Department is slowing Lockheed Martin Corp's $300 billion F-35 fighter jet program, a multinational effort, to stabilize its schedule and costs, according to draft budget documents obtained by Reuters. The department's fiscal 2011 budget will request $10.7 billion to continue the F-35's development and to procure 42 aircraft, a budget overview shows. Overall, the plan is to cut planned purchases by 10 aircraft in fiscal 2011 and a total of 122 through 2015. The Pentagon “has adjusted F-35 procurement quantities based on new data on costs and on likely orders from our foreign nations partners and realigned...

Israel has developed a new non-lethal weapon; the Thunder Cannon. Light enough to be mounted in a cart, it uses a new Pulse Detonation Technology that combines LPG (liquefied natural gas) with air to create a sonic boom in a cannon type barrel. Each burst moves forward at 2,000 meters per second and lasts 300 milliseconds. The cannon generates 60 to 100 bursts per second. One 27 pound (12kg) canister of LPG can create 5,000 bursts. A PDA size control unit does the mixing and detonation. The cannon is effective, at hitting people with these sonic bursts, at ranges of...

The recent Chinese missile defense test is just one of many signs that anti-ballistic missile systems are the “must have” military fashion accessory of 2010. For China the need for such weapons is obvious: the only neighbors they have who lack a real or potential short- to medium-range missile capability are Laos, Burma, and perhaps Mongolia. All of their other neighbors, especially Russia, North Korea. and India, have been building up their rocket forces at a rapid rate. For both Europe and China, any effective BMD requires space-based early warning sensors similar to the US Defense Support Program satellites based...

The U.S. Navy is playing catch-up by equipping some of its F-18E fighters with IRST (Infa-Red Search & Track). The first F-18E Block IIs are entering service, carrying an IRST pod. IRST uses a high resolution infrared (heat sensing) radar to positively spot and identify a potential aerial target (using a 3-D model of the target in its computer memory.) This is similar to the ATFLIR (Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared) pods used to spot surface targets. FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared Radar) has been around since the 1980s, and as the technology became more powerful, it was possible to spot...

Russia's army will get new missiles and nuclear submarines from 2010, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday, stressing the need to replace the ageing military arsenal. "Next year, the army will get 30 ballistic missiles...five Iskander (missile) systems, some 300 new armoured vehicles, 30 helicopters, 28 fighter planes, three nuclear submarines, a ship, as well as 11 spacecraft," Medvedev said in his annual address to the nation. "These measures will allow our armed forces and our allies to deal with any threat," he told officials in a speech at the Kremlin. Much of Russia's military equipment dates back to Soviet...

Active Denial Technology is a breakthrough non-lethal technology that uses millimeter-wave electromagnetic energy to stop, deter and turn back an advancing adversary from relatively long range. It is expected to save countless lives by providing a way to stop individuals without causing injury, before a deadly confrontation develops. The technology was developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Department of Defense's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate. Approximately $40 million has been spent on this technology over the past ten years. In July 2005 it was reported that the Active Denial System would be deployed to Iraq before the end...

A photograph taken in Beavercreek has some hoping it's proof of top-secret 'pulse jet' tests. BEAVERCREEK — A Beavercreek man's photograph of an unusual aircraft condensation trail has sparked a high-flying debate among scientists and aviation fans over whether the Air Force or NASA is flying an aerospace vehicle with an exotic new propulsion system. The photo of the vapor trail, taken Nov. 10 by amateur meteorologist Bill Telzerow from his backyard, shows a distinctive "doughnuts-on-a-rope" shape. The photo has raised questions about whether an experimental propulsion system that uses pulse detonation engine technology is being tested here. The propulsion...

While various setbacks in the war on terror underscore the limits of American power, it is important not to lose sight of the bigger picture: we live in the age of American supremacy. Part of the explanation for U.S. dominance surely lies in America’s economic strength. But Europe and Japan are similarly wealthy, yet their global sway lags far behind. What they lack is America’s superior military capabilities. In the words of Gregg Easterbrook: “The American military is now the strongest the world has ever known, both in absolute terms and relative to other nations; stronger than the Wehrmacht in...

Undercover U.S. government investigators purchased sensitive surplus military equipment such as launcher mounts for shoulder-fired missiles and guided-missile radar test sets from a Defence Department contractor. Much of the equipment could be useful to terrorists, said a report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. In June, two GAO investigators spent $1.1 million on such equipment at two excess property warehouses. Their purchases included several types of body armour inserts used by troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, an all-band antenna used to track aircraft and a digital signal converter used in naval surveillance. "The body armour could...

A computer technician has pleaded guilty in a plot to ship to Iran more than 100 pressure sensors that could be used as components in explosive devices, authorities said Wednesday. Mohammad Fazeli, 27, entered his guilty plea Monday to one count of violating a U.S. embargo prohibiting trade with Iran, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors agreed to drop one count each of conspiracy and making false statements. Fazeli, who remains free on $50,000 bond, faces up to 10 years in federal prison when he is sentenced Aug. 7. In...

LOS ANGELES MAN CHARGED FOR ATTEMPTING TO SHIP SENSITIVE TECHNOLOGY TO IRAN Joint ICE-FBI probe uncovers scheme involving illegal export of pressure sensors LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles man was arraigned in federal court here yesterday for his role in a scheme to illegally export more than 100 Honeywell sensors to Iran in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). According to the manufacturer, the sensors, which detect the pressure of liquid or gas, could potentially be used to detonate explosive devices. Mohammad Fazeli, 27, was arrested March 16 at his Los Angeles apartment by agents with...