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
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
If you can’t trust your networks or satellite communications in a crisis, ‘use-or-lose’ scenarios get a lot closer. Stability was an overriding concern at last week’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on nuclear command authority, the first in four decades. Senators wondered aloud whether one individual — the American president — should have the sole
U.S. missile defense experts are surveying industry to find companies able to develop computer simulations of enemy missiles and missile-related observables to help government and industry improve better ballistic missile defense systems and enabling technologies. Officials of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) in Huntsville, Ala., issued a sources-sought notice (MDA18EITRFI01) on Monday for the MDA
The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have released a new strategy to integrate their capabilities to address the challenges posed by archipelagic and coastal geography, and the proliferation of advanced sensors and mobile, long-range missile systems that can threaten naval forces from ashore. Called Littoral Operations in Contested Environments (LOCE), the concept puts forward a
A lot of people think that high-energy lasers, or HELs, can”t penetrate fog, rain and dust, said Thomas Webber. That”s just plain wrong. Webber, director of the Directed Energy Division”s Technical Center, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, spoke at the Association of the United States Army”s Annual Meeting and Exposition, Oct. 9. The
Power electronics experts at the General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems group in San Diego are joining a project to develop lasers that could lead to a weapon for future unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) able to destroy enemy ballistic missiles in boost phase. Officials of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) in Albuquerque, N.M., announced a $8.9
For the first time in the U.S., time-resolved small-angle x-ray scattering (TRSAXS) is used to observe ultra-fast carbon clustering and graphite and nanodiamond production in the insensitive explosive Plastic Bonded Explosive (PBX) 9502, potentially leading to better computer models of explosive performance. “Carbon clusters are produced during the chemical process of detonation in high explosives,”
Dozens of defense contractors showed off their latest gear and technology at the annual International Police Chief Association conference and exhibition this past week in Philadelphia. Everything from lethal and non-lethal weapons, body armor, drones, policing software, uniforms, and even vehicles were on display, including a new armored vehicle called “The Rook.” The Rook, designed