DSIAC collects and publishes articles related to our technical focus areas on the web to share with the DoD community.
The Army has officially canceled its search for an off-the-shelf 7.62mm Interim Combat Service Rifle (ICSR) meant to replace the standard-issue M4 carbine — a major setback in the branch’s search for a new infantry rifle to augment soldier lethality. Army Contracting Command announced the cancellation of the ICSR program on Nov. 28, citing a
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) experts at General Atomics are integrating the Raytheon laser-guided small diameter bomb (SDB) on the company”s MQ-9 Reaper mid-size attack UAV under terms of a $17.5 million contract announced last week. Officials of the U.S. Air Force Medium Altitude Unmanned Aerial System Division at Wright-Patterson Air For e Base, Ohio, are
General Electric (GE) reports that researchers at its Additive Research Lab, GE Global Research, Niskayuna, New York, USA, are working to combine computer vision and machine learning to develop a type of metal Additive Manufacturing system with the ability to self-inspect its manufacturing process in real-time. According to GE, the eventual goal of the project
AFRL Materials and Manufacturing Directorate researchers recently took advantage of a unique and rare research opportunity to better understand the behavior of materials used in the additive manufacturing process. Once a little-known curiosity, the popularity of additive manufacturing, or 3-D printing as it is commonly known, has increased in recent years, both among researchers and
On paper, the idea is brilliant: Capture carbon dioxide molecules from a power plant’s emissions before they reach the atmosphere, while also generating power. The concept, formally known as carbon capture, is simple. Its execution, though, is challenging. Despite the challenges, could fuel cells help cut global emissions? ExxonMobil scientist Tim Barckholtz thinks so. Along
Jet engines in passenger and freight planes may seem the antithesis of the digital economy. Complex and costly, they are powered by old-fashioned polluting fuels: high-octane hydrocarbons. But aero-engine makers’ emphasis on improving safety and reliability has led them to become the pioneers in the internet of things (IoT). They have connected industrial systems to
The British Royal Navy is increasingly being forced to “cannibalize” its own warships and submarines for spare parts as funding has been cut for stores, a Government spending watchdog has said. Instances of ships being stripped of parts so they can be fitted to other vessels more in need have risen by half in the
The flight preparations for the four engines that will power NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) on its first integrated flight with Orion are complete and the engines are assembled and ready to be joined to the deep space rocket’s core stage. All five structures that form the massive core stage for the rocket have been
One of the best examples of how rapidly advancing technologies can change security requirements is the rise of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Relatively unknown to all but a few in the military as recently as 1990, today they are central to militaries throughout the world; the general public can even buy them in grocery stores.
The Abrams has for decades been considered the world’s premier tank. However, experts say that the T-14 Armata, a next-generation platform that the Russians are developing, could challenge some aspects of the Abrams’ supremacy. The U.S. tank of today looks much like the same one that was developed in the 1970s, but it has undergone
A laser directed energy weapon will be the first project to be undertaken at Dragonworks, a new UK facility dedicated to the development and testing of advanced laser technology. Located at Qinetiq’s headquarters in Farnborough, the new facility will serve as a test bed for all technologies associated with high-energy lasers for military or commercial
Over the past two decades, the solid rocket motor (SRM) industrial base has undergone various changes including consolidation and recent expansion. Specifically, since 1995, the industry has consolidated from six U.S. manufacturers to two U.S. manufacturers. With regard to expansion, a foreign supplier entered the market in 2012, and in 2017, a U.S. firm, which