As reported on The Verge. by Katie Drummond To an unsuspecting eye, the Torres family home is indistinguishable from the other bungalows that line a flat, treeless stretch of road somewhere off US Route 77. Under an unforgiving Texas sun, the family’s golden retriever runs in circles around the parched lawn, pausing for breath in the shadow of an SUV parked out front. And inside, life appears perfectly normal. Framed photos of Rosie and Le…
As reported on The Verge. By Nathan Olivarez-Giles Researchers at UC Irvine have created a new camouflage coating inspired by the pencil squid that is invisible to infrared cameras. The university developed the coating with military applications in mind — a tool to hide from enemies. Alon Gorodetsky, an assistant professor at Irvine who led the effort to project, says in a statement that since what his team has made is a film, it can easily…
As reported on Wired. BY ALLEN MCDUFFEE Photo: Courtesy AeroVironment Inc. A new small unmanned aircraft system (UAS) boasts something no other has been able to do thus far: continuous flight for 9 hours and all on the clean energy of solar power. AeroVironment‘s 13-pound Puma AE can be assembled and hand-launched in minutes and requires no infrastructure for launch or landing, making them attractive for frontline use where time and space can be too…
As reported on The Verge. By Joseph L. Flatley Jeremy Scahill and Richard Rowley reveal the new face of war Additional reporting by Jesse Hicks and Joshua Kopstein In the 1960s there was a saying: “Suppose they gave a war, and nobody came?” We’ll probably never know the answer to that particular American koan, but a recent book and documentary film sets out to answer a more important question: “What if they gave a war, but didn’t…
As reported on TechCrunch. by KIM-MAI CUTLER A wellspring of interest in quadcopters for commercial applications is advancing globally. FromAirware’s recent $10.7 million round from Andreessen Horowitz to the launch of AngelPad’s DroneDeploy, quadcopters are one of the hot, hardware trends that founders and VCs are latching onto. This experimentation is also happening on the other side of the world. Russia’s UVS Avia is building higher-end microdrones to examine nuclear reactors and waste sites, along with doing search-and-rescue in remote…
As reported on Engadget. By Steve Dent Many of the Pentagon’s most advanced weapon systems — including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and PAC-3 Patriot missile system — were compromised by Chinese hackers, according to a classified document obtained by the Washington Post. The list of weapons was part of an earlier DoD report condemning Chinese cyber-espionage activities, but had been confidential until now. Other systems hacked are said to include the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), the Navy’s…
As reported on Wired. BY DAVID AXE ALP commander Toorjan in April 2013. Photo: David Axe ZARI DISTRICT, Afghanistan — The sound of gunfire was the first sign that the Afghan cop’s loyalty was suspect. It was February in Hadji Musa, a village in the poppy-growing Zari district of northern Kandahar province, traditionally one of the most violent regions in a violent country. 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company, 3-41 Infantry — part of the high-tech 1st Brigade of the 1st…
As reported on Wired. BY NOAH SHACHTMAN A U.S. soldier participates in a night-raid training mission during Emerald Warrior 2012, an exercise put together by U.S. Special Operations Command. Photo: USAF In September, the U.S. government will fire into orbit a two-stage rocket from a Virginia launchpad. Officially, the mission is a scientific one, designed to improve America’s ability to send small satellites into orbit quickly and cheaply. But the launch will also have a…
As reported on Wired. BY NOAH SHACHTMAN Adm. William McRaven at a ceremony in 2011. Photo: DoD It’s been a brutal few days in Afghanistan. On Sunday, the local government accused an American special operator of torturing an Afghan civilian. On Monday, the Hamid Karzai administration insisted that U.S. warplanes killed 17 women and children. Then, on Tuesday, three more U.S. troops were killed by an improvised bomb, bringing the total to 17 slain in this awful month alone.…
As reported on Engadget. By Joe Pollicino With the third X-51A WaveRider failing to reach hypersonic speed due to a fin failure last August, it seemed the United States Air Force would possibly forgo the fourth (and final) run. On the morning of May 1st, however, that last X-51A got its chance to soar, successfully reaching Mach 5.1 during a record 370-second flight. According to the Wright Patterson Air Force base, the aircraft’s rocket booster helped it…