DEFENSE

Systems Digest

15 FEBRUARY 2022

DSIAC collects and publishes articles related to our technical focus areas on the web to share with the DoD community.

FEATURED ARTICLE

Simplified Human/Machine Interfaces Top List of Critical DoD Technologies

A modern-day cell phone packs quite a wallop when it comes to computing technology and capability. But most cell phones barely come with a “quick start guide,” let alone an instruction manual that spells out how to use all the features. Cell phone companies have mastered the interface between humans and technology, making their use…

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Notable Technical Inquiry

Combustion Efficiency Data for Liquid-Fueled Ramjets

The Defense Systems Information Analysis Center (DSIAC) was asked how combustion efficiency can be estimated for a liquid-fueled ramjet flying in the Mach 2-3 range with a given combustor length or bulk flow residence time.  In particular, DSIAC was asked for some sort of data or an empirical/analytical model that has been validated with data, rather than non-computational fluid dynamics solutions, that can be used…

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FEATURED WEBINAR

What U.S. universities have active foundry capabilities?

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How is the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) conceptualizing the ultralow-cost unmanned aircraft system (UAS) phenomenon in the wake of its widespread success in Ukraine?

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) conceptualizes ultra low-cost unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) – often called “small UAS” (sUAS) – as both a threat to its operations and an opportunity for force multiplication. Counter-sUAS (C-sUAS) operations have become an organizational and financial priority for the Pentagon. While both DoD and individual military personnel have also…

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Hands spraying a suspension lug

Who is using the MS3314 suspension lug?

The Defense Systems Information Analysis Center (DSIAC) is seeking information on who is using the MS3314 suspension lug in the U.S government and industry. The MS3314 suspension lug is designed for all-service use by the U.S. Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and Navy for aircraft and ordnance. Known to be utilized with munitions/armament/bombs, the MS3314…

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Technologist Jamie Meza guides a torpedo anchor prototype as it is lifted over a test bed at the Drop Tower facility. The anchor is being tested for use with offshore wind turbines. (Photo by Craig Fritz)

The Big Drop

Beside a 50-foot-deep pool, a 300-foot metal tower rises into the air at Sandia New Mexico. Cables and a vertical guided trolley attached to the tower allow personnel to hoist objects to varying heights so they can watch them fall at Sandia’s Drop Tower and Water Impact test facility. Built in late ’50s and early…

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graphic of blue and purple satellite in space

Shape-Shifting Antenna Poised to Transform Communications

By leveraging cutting-edge additive manufacturing techniques and shape memory alloys, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, have created an antenna that can change its shape based on its temperature. This technology — described in a recent online publication in ACS Applied Engineering Materials and which will be featured on…

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The Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, launched the Space Power InfraRed Regulation and Analysis of Lifetime, or SPIRRAL, experiment, Nov. 4, 2024. SPIRRAL, flown by AFRL through the DOD Space Test Program, will characterize the performance of Variable Emissivity Materials, or VEMs, an approach toward solving thermal challenges for space vehicles while on-orbit. (U.S. Air Force graphic/Greg Gerken)

Revolutionizing Space-Based Thermal Systems: AFRL’s SPIRRAL Launch on SPX-31

KIRTLAND AFB, N.M. (AFRL) – The Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, launched the Space Power InfraRed Regulation and Analysis of Lifetime, or SPIRRAL, experiment, Nov. 4, 2024. SPIRRAL, flown by AFRL through the DoD Space Test Program, will characterize the performance of Variable Emissivity Materials, or VEMs, an approach toward solving thermal challenges for…

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Project team members from NSRI, UNL and JEC during kick off meeting at the Cyber-Physical Networking Lab at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, October 2024.

NSRI, UNL Developing AI for USSTRATCOM to Maximize Electromagnetic Spectrum

As digital communication grows, the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) is becoming increasingly crowded. Novel solutions for how the United States can effectively share the spectrum are critical to national objectives, several of which were outlined in the November 2023 Presidential Memorandum on Modernizing United States Spectrum Policy and Establishing a National Spectrum Strategy. Researchers from the…

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geometric box shapes

Tunable Ultrasound Propagation in Microscale Metamaterials

Acoustic metamaterials—architected materials that have tailored geometries designed to control the propagation of acoustic or elastic waves through a medium—have been studied extensively through computational and theoretical methods, but physical realizations of these materials to date have been restricted to large sizes and low frequencies. A new study, which is coauthored by Portela, MIT Mechanical…

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An HH-60W Jolly Green II search and rescue helicopter assigned to the 106th Rescue Wing conducts a flyover during an HH-60W conversion ceremony at the 106th Rescue Wing at Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base, Westhampton Beach, N.Y., Oct. 25, 2024. The ceremony celebrated the official conversion of the 106th from the HH-60G Pave Hawk search and rescue helicopter to the HH-60W Jolly Green II. (U.S. Air Force photo)

New York Air Guard Wing Welcomes New, High-Tech Helicopters

WESTHAMPTON BEACH, N.Y. (AFNS) — The New York National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing officially marked the arrival of its new HH-60W Jolly Green II search and rescue fleet during a ceremony October 25 at Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base. The aircraft will replace the HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters formerly flown by the wing….

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Soldiers of the Maneuver Center of Excellence Experimental Company, 1st Battalion, 29 Infantry Regiment, 316th Cavalry Brigade, employ integrated robotics during a simulated operation as attendees of the Human Machine Integration Summit II view the action, Oct. 17, 2023, at Fort Moore, Ga. The Army has been working with prototypes and performing exercises with new technology including robotic combat vehicles, or RCVs, to help achieve the Secretary of the Army’s goal of “no blood for first contact,” where human machine integrated formations shoulder risk normally assumed by Soldiers. (U.S. Army photo by Denise Mosley)

Army Advances Human-Machine Integration Tests to Enhance, Fight With Combat Units

WASHINGTON — Robots integrated into Army formations can help protect soldiers and revolutionize warfare in multiple domains. “Human-machine integration forces can take on dangerous battlefield operations, including overwatch, or movement of troops to a point of tactical advantage, and the suppression of the enemy,” said Brig. Gen. Chad Chalfont, Commandant of the Army Armor School…

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Aircraft Survivability Symposium

The Aircraft Survivability Symposium is a SECRET//NOFORN event, and all attendees must submit and keep a completed DD Form 3150 on their person at all times to attend. The presenters will discuss survivability technologies, survivability…

Special Air Warfare Symposium

Hosted by the Global Special Operations Forces (SOF) Foundation, the 2022 Special Air Warfare Symposium will be held in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, the home of Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). Though much of…

Automated ISR and Battle Management

DSI’s 10th Annual Automated Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and Battle Management Summit will provide the DoD, military services, intelligence community, industry, and academia the opportunity to discuss ways to modernize ISR systems for the…

2022 Tactical Wheeled Conference

This conference is focused on the tactical wheeled vehicle industry and its support to the U.S. Department of Defense and our nation’s Warfighters. The information and dialogue presented at this conference will discuss the design,…

AFA Warfare Symposium

Attended by DoD officers, enlisted members, civilians, and veterans, this warfighting symposium will focus on the critical concerns and challenges of joint warfare in every corner of the globe. Drawing speakers from combatant commands, as…

Voice From the Community

ST Portrait
Michael J. Patterson

Chairman/Founder Desert Works Propulsion, LLC

Mr. Patterson has 40 years’ experience in spacecraft electric propulsion (EP), including 37 years with NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH, where he served as Senior Technologist for In-Space Propulsion until retirement in December 2021. During his NASA tenure, he worked to transition EP technologies to commercial and National Security Space missions. In 2022, he founded Desert Works Propulsion LLC to accelerate fielding of high-performance EP in support of U.S. commercial and military missions, providing consulting, design, and manufacturing.

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