Lifeboat Foundation

The US Navy SEALs have changed their creed statement to become gender-neutral and have eliminated terms such as “brotherhood,” according to a report.

“Naval Special Warfare continues to deliberately develop a culture of tactical and ethical excellence that reflects the nation we represent, and that draws upon the talents of the all-volunteer force who meet the standards of qualification as a SEAL or SWCC,” Navy Special Warfare spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Stroup told American Military News.

One change addresses the first paragraph of the SEAL ethos.

A new bipartisan #congressionalreport calls for the #DefenseDepartment to get a lot more serious about the race to acquire #artificialintelligence and #autonomouscapabilities, modeling efforts to become dominant in these spheres after the “Manhattan Project” initiative to test and develop nuclear weapons in the 1940s.

On Tuesday, the House Armed Services Committee released the results of a yearlong review, co-led by Reps. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and Jim Banks, R-Ind., aimed at assessing #U.S. #militarycapabilities and preparedness to meet current threats. The 87-page #Future of Defense Task Force Report contains some expected findings — #China and #Russia are identified as the top security threats to the U.S. and modernization is described as an urgent need — but there are surprising points of emphasis.

A bipartisan congressional report calls for the DoD to get more serious about the race to acquire artificial intelligence and autonomous capabilities, modeling efforts to become dominant in these spheres after the “Manhattan Project” initiative to test and develop nuclear weapons in the 1940s.

Continue reading “Congress Wants a ‘Manhattan Project’ for Military Artificial Intelligence” »

Gryphon provides digital engineering, analytics, cyber and cloud solutions to U.S. security organizations. It was awarded a $14million DARPA task order to support the development and demonstration of an uranium-based Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) System.

The system is a part of the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program and will enable the U.S. military to operate spacecraft in cislunar space, Gryphon said. The cislunar space is the region outside the Earth’s atmosphere and just beyond the Moon’s orbit.

“A successfully demonstrated NTP system will provide a leap-ahead in space propulsion capability, allowing agile and rapid transit over vast distances as compared to present propulsion approaches,” said Gryphon’s Chief Engineer Dr. Tabitha Dodson.

Continue reading “U.S. DARPA tasks Gryphon with nuclear thermal propulsion system” »

New research shows Elon Musk’s broadband network could be tweaked to work as an alternative to GPS.

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan (Reuters) — Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen visited a low-key but critical maintenance base for fighter jet engines on Saturday, offering encouragement as the Chinese-claimed island’s armed forces strain in the face of repeated Chinese air force incursions.

This month alone, China’s drills have included its jets crossing the mid-line of the sensitive Taiwan Strait and exercising near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands in the South China Sea.

Summary: Non-invasive brain stimulation technology may enhance the human system’s ability for rapid and adaptive decision making.

Source: US Army Research Laboratory

Future technology may be able to monitor and modify the brain to produce enhanced team performance, while increasing the efficiency and accuracy of decisions.

The Navy has fielded a 650-round ammo backpack nicknamed ‘Avenger’ to troops at some point in the last several years, the service confirmed to Task & Purpose, although officials declined to elaborate on the scope or details of the system’s employment.

“Unfortunately we cannot disclose this type of information as it pertains to troop location, movements, and tactics,” Lisa Oswald, a spokeswoman for Naval Supply Systems Command, told Task & Purpose.

The United States Air Force signed a deal with SpaceX valued at around $28 million in 2018, to assess the Starlink network’s performance on military platforms. The Air Force is actively experimenting with how space-based internet could enhance Multi-Domain Operations (MDO). These operations require moving vast quantities of data between the five domains of warfare: ground, sea, sky, outer space, and cyberspace. The military needs a reliable communication system at all times to protect and defend the country from potential threats. The assessment of Starlink will offer the military insight on whether it should purchase Starlink service long-term.

U.S. Air Force Chief for Acquisition Dr. Will Roper, who serves as the principal adviser for technology research and development, met with reporters to discuss a live-fire military exercise that took place early this month, Investors news reports. During the conference, Roper shared SpaceX’s Starlink network was tested during the live-fire exercise as part of the military’s Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS). – “What I’ve seen from Starlink has been impressive and positive,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “They’re cleverly engineered satellites cleverly deployed. So, there’s a lot to learn from how they’re designed and I think that there’s a lot we can learn from them.”

Roper shared that the Air Force connected Starlink to a “variety of air and terrestrial assets”. Starlink terminals are hooked to the cockpit of a Boeing (BA) KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft to assess the network’s performance while the airplanes fly.

Dutch photographer and digital designer Bas Uterwijk has used artificial intelligence to create a ‘photograph’ of Alexander the Great… or what he could have looked like.

Uterwijk who has a background in computer graphics, 3D animation, and special effects, has used his talent to generate hyper-realistic portraits of famous historical figures.

His latest creation is Alexander the Great, otherwise referred to as the “King of Kings”. He was born on July 20 or 21, 356 B.C. in Pella, Macedonia. He was tutored by philosopher Aristotle until the age of 16. He became King of the Ancient Greek Kingdom of Macedonia and led a Pan-Hellenic military campaign against Persia and in the process spread Greek culture across the entire empire he created.