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... The first report on the incident, released Monday, noted the loss. “A post-recovery inventory of the boats found that all weapons, ammunition, and communication gear are accounted for minus two SIM cards that appear to have been removed from two handheld satellite phones,” said the report from the U.S. Central Command. ... “Those SIM cards don’t just contain the satellite links,” he said. “They also include encryption codes, and otherwise unpublished data relating to specific orders and personnel,” he added. The former naval officer said those SIM cards should not have been allowed to fall into Iranian hands. .......

On 16 January 1991, seven Boeing B-52Gs fully loaded with AGM-86C conventional air-launched cruise missiles took flight from Barksdale AFB in Louisiana on a top-secret mission to destroy targets inside Iraq. Those 35h missions were the first combat sorties of Operation Desert Storm. Lesser known is that the mission, dubbed Secret Squirrel, also marked the combat debut of the AGM-86C, with 35 weapons fired and 85-95% of targets successfully destroyed, according to the US air force. A derivative of the nuclear-tipped AGM-86B, the B-52G would not have been deployed if only armed with nuclear cruise missiles and unguided bombs. Now,...

It was a big year for military aircraft advances. Here’s a look back at four of those – the F-16 Viper, Marine Corps’ King Stallion Helo, a new stealth bomber and fifth generation fighter F-35.

The Pentagon has partnered with Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), and 159 other private companies and universities to develop wearable tech for military use. "I've been pushing the Pentagon to think outside our five-sided box and invest in innovation here in Silicon Valley and in tech communities across the country," U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said at Moffett Airfield near Mountain View, Calif. on Friday. "Now we're taking another step forward." Carter announced the creation of a new institute in San Jose called "Flexible Hybrid Electronic Institute." The institute will work to develop...

In a recent WIRED article, security researchers Runa Sandvik and Michael Auger tackled just that issue. The wife and husband duo purchased two $13,000 TrackingPoint rifles and spent the last year reverse engineering and hacking the rifles’ computers. The two plan to present their research at the Black Hat hacker conference in two weeks, according to the article. TrackingPoint bills itself as a company comprised of “lifetime NRA members and engineers.” The products sold on its website seem standard enough when it comes to a gun company: bolt-action rifles, semi-automatic carbines, etc. The “5.56mm semi-auto,” basically a M16-type rifle, costs...

The firefighting robot, known as SAFFiR for Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot, is a bipedal automated machine designed to fight fires in the place of humans, according to a U.S. Navy blog post. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) and Virginia Tech are working together on SAFFiR. The robot is designed to do tasks like humans, such as opening doors and using fire hoses, and has sensors, including infrared stereovision and a rotating laser for light detection and ranging (LIDAR) to move through heavy smoke.

The Laser Weapon System or LaWS is a directed-energy weapon developed by the United States Navy. The weapon was installed on the USS Ponce for field testing in 2014. In December 2014 the United States Navy reported the LaWS system works perfectly, and that the commander of the USS Ponce is authorized to use the system as a defensive weapon. The technical issues associated with the addition of LaWS (Laser Weapon System) to the Phalanx CIWS (Close in weapon system) will be somewhat different from those associated with adding a LaWS system to other weapon systems—or the provision of a...

U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus on Thursday said the Navy would rename the modified Littoral Combat Ships it plans to build in coming years as “frigates,” given their enhanced capabilities.

U.S. Air Force Col. William Pitts stands in front of an unmanned aerostat that is part of a new U.S. military cruise-missile defense system during a media preview on Dec. 17, 2014, in Middle River, Md. Patrick Semansky/AP************************************ MIDDLE RIVER, Md. -- The Army showed off a blimp-like airship Wednesday that is designed to help the military detect and destroy cruise missiles speeding toward the nation's capital or other major East Coast cities. The radar-toting vehicle will be launched next week as part of a three-year test of the system at Aberdeen Proving Ground, about 25 miles northeast of Baltimore....

During Indodefence 2014, the international defence exhibition held in Jakarta in November, SAAB and local shipyard PT Lundin presented a redesigned Stealth Fast Attack Craft (FAC) trimaran. The first hull of the original project called KRI Klewang 625 (solely designed and built by PT Lundin) was destroyed in a fire in Septembre 2012 shortly after its launch. The new project, presented by SAAB as a turnkey system solution, incorporates many modification and improvements. Compared to the original KRI Klewang, the redesigned stealth FAC includes a raised bridge, modified wave-piercing hull and a higher mast. The new Sea Giraffe 1X 3D...

One of the most 'popular' features on the controversial F-35 is the jet's Distributed Aperture System (DAS). DAS creates an all-seeing sphere and classifies and relays data and video to the pilot's helmet and to the jet's mission computers. This game-changing system has now been adapted for the high seas, and it won't stop there. DAS accomplishes its unique task via a constellation of electro-optical cameras installed around the F-35, each staring in a separate direction. Then, a powerful computer processor "stitches" these video images together to create a continuous viewable video "sphere." When the DAS imagery is paired with...

The AC-130 flying gunship fleet is one of the most fabled and feared assets in the entire USAF inventory. Known for its ability to unleash a broadside of cannon fire in the dead of night, the newest of the AC-130 lot is more about smart bombs than raining lead and howitzer shells down on the enemy. Before the turn of the decade it became clear that the aging AC-130 fleet was in low supply and exceedingly high demand. As a result the Air Force Special Operations Command decided that it should augment the existing fleet on AC-130H and AC-130Us in...

The Navy Is Already Working On A Submarine That Won't Be Ready Until 2030 Kris Osborn, Military.com Feb. 4, 2014, 8:54 PM QUONSET POINT, R.I. -- Over the next several years, General Dynamics Electric Boat plans to add several new buildings to its facility here, double its workforce, and invest about $150 million -- all as preparation for the construction of the Navy's next-generation nuclear-armed submarine. Early prototyping is already under way at Electric Boat for the Ohio Replacement Program (ORP), a high-tech, 560-foot long, nuclear-powered submarine. Navy leaders have announced plans to build 12 ORPs, with the first one...

A new Boeing Co. (BA) surveillance aircraft deployed to Japan last month isn’t yet effective at hunting submarines or performing reconnaissance over large areas -- two of its main missions, the Pentagon’s weapons tester found. Flaws in the $35 billion program included the plane’s radar performance, sensor integration and data transfer, Michael Gilmore, chief of the Pentagon testing office, wrote in his annual report on major weapons, which has yet to be released. He said the new P-8A Poseidon exhibited “all of the major deficiencies” identified in earlier exercises when subjected to more stressful realistic combat testing from September 2012...

The MXT135 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System has a range of roughly 7,800 feet - and is to be deployed in Afghanistan soon. I would call it the "Equalizer." Some call it the "Punisher".

SAN ANTONIO – When Chance Darby received the helmet that saved his life in Afghanistan, he said it successfully stopped an enemy rifle bullet but left him with two big headaches. One headache lasted a few days after the impact from a high-velocity round. The other lasted several weeks as he tried to keep the news of the incident from his mother, Lynlee Darby, and his then-fiancée and now wife, Cheryl. Chance proposed to Cheryl shortly before deploying to Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division. On May 31, 2012, Taliban ambushed his platoon while it was dismantling an improvised explosive...

Comment is free I worked on the US drone program. The public should know what really goes on Few of the politicians who so brazenly proclaim the benefits of drones have a real clue how it actually works (and doesn't) Share 51006 117 inShare158 Email Anonymous woman on grey Heather Linebaugh theguardian.com, Sunday 29 December 2013 07.30 EST Jump to comments (2811) Hermes 450 drone An Elbit Systems Hermes 450 drone. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images Whenever I read comments by politicians defending the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Predator and Reaper program – aka drones – I wish I could ask them a...

Advanced Super Hornet Demonstrates Significant Stealth, Range Improvements - Tests prove aircraft will outpace future threats ST. LOUIS, Aug. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- During three weeks of flight testing the Advanced Super Hornet, Boeing [NYSE: BA] and partner Northrop Grumman demonstrated that the fighter can outperform threats for decades to come with improvements that make the jet much harder for radar to detect and give it significantly more combat range. Through 21 flights in St. Louis and Patuxent River, Md., that began Aug. 5, the team tested conformal fuel tanks (CFT), an enclosed weapons pod (EWP), and signature enhancements, each...

Today, off the coast of Virginia on the USS George H.W. Bush, the U.S. Navy successfully landed an X-47B drone aboard an aircraft carrier for the first time. "It isn't very often you get a glimpse of the future," Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said in an official Navy release. The landing of the fighter jet-sized drone, which is larger than the Predator drones common in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen, represents a watershed moment in the wielding of unmanned aerial vehicles. "The operational unmanned aircraft soon to be developed have the opportunity to radically change the way presence and...

USS GEORGE H. W. BUSH, at sea (NNS) -- The X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator completed its first-ever carrier-based arrested landing on board USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) off the coast of Virginia July 10. "By evolving and integrating new technology like the X-47B and the unmanned aircraft to follow, carriers will remain relevant throughout their 50-year lifespan," said Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. Today's demonstration was the first time a tailless, unmanned autonomous aircraft landed on a modern aircraft carrier. This test marks an historic event for naval aviation that Navy leaders believe will impact...