DSIAC collects and publishes articles related to our technical focus areas on the web to share with the DoD community.
While drone-on-drone fights are still thought of in the future tense (which isn’t to say forces aren’t preparing for them) drone-to-drone cooperation is here now – in the form of swarming, for instance. With the Navy developing unmanned vehicles – in the air, on the surface and below the ocean – these systems, designed to
The U.S. Navy, which has already developed a 30-kilowatt laser that has been used operationally, will soon test a new directed energy weapon that is five times more powerful, said the vice chief of naval operations July 23. The Office of Naval Research “will perform a shipboard test of a 150-killowatt laser weapon system in
Lasers are here to stay -now, how do you detect them? The recent at-sea tests of the Navy’s Laser Weapon System have ushered in a new era—the age of “Laser Wars”—where there is an increasing role for directed-energy weapons in the battlespace. How will commanders detect, assess, and counter laser or laser-assisted threats in this
Special Operations Command is looking for a few good ideas to help it fight the Islamic State and other adversaries, a top acquisition official said on May 25.It has niche requirements for tools that will help it defend against drone and electronic warfare attacks, and to navigate the world of social media, said Tony Davis,
The Pentagon has been battered by criticism that it is falling behind in the technology arms race. Skeptics point to rising powers and terrorists finding new ways to exploit military weak spots. Hundreds of pages of legislation have been written to prod the Defense Department to innovate. Amid downbeat talk now comes new data that
Researchers at the Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal are co-inventors of a new nanocomposite and method to manufacture it. The other inventors are from the University of California-Davis. The new nanocomposite is comprised of non-faceted nanoparticles reinforcing a nanostructured metal matrix. This means that instead of having a large particle
The Air Force’s next-generation close-air-support platform should be able to provide instant firepower on demand, the service’s top officer told reporters June 15. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh compared the desired capability to the convenience and flexibility of a soda machine. “Imagine the … flying Coke machine and just having a Coke
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Material Science and Technology Division, has been granted U.S. patent 9,303,323 for a method to simultaneously extract carbon dioxide and hydrogen from seawater. This single process provides all the raw materials necessary for the production of synthetic liquid hydrocarbon fuels. Synthetic fuel production can offer logistical and operational advantages
The project, which is called the Laser Directed Energy Weapon Capability Demonstrator, will have a contract worth between 20 and 100 million pounds, according to the Ministry of Defence, which also said that “the potential of laser based weapons systems has been identified as an opportunity and offers significant advantages in terms of running costs
The rising threat of small, unmanned drones near airports is becoming increasingly important to the US.Now a UK-developed system capable of jamming signals on UAVs is going to be trialed by the US aviation authority.The system uses high powered radio waves to disable drones, effectively blocking their communication and switching them off in midair.Three British
The U.S. Marine Corps is progressing with a new project to arm its MV-22 Osprey aircraft with new weapons such as laser-guided 2.75in rockets, missiles and heavy guns – a move which would expand the tiltrotor”s mission set beyond supply, weapons and forces transport to include a wider range of offensive and defensive combat missions,
Surprisingly powerful surveillance sensors compressed into small packages and new software tools are revolutionizing the drone market in a wide cross-section of industries.The Pentagon expects to capitalize on this emerging technology. For the military, miniaturized autonomous aircraft hold much promise as weapons that could give forces an edge in combat, and be far less costly