Lifeboat Foundation

The flag of the nation’s newest military branch was unveiled today (May 15) during a ceremony in the Oval Office. President Donald Trump watched as the flag was unfurled and designated it the official banner of the Space Force.

“Space is going to be the future, both in terms of defense and offense and so many other things,” said Trump, who also signed the 2020 Armed Forces Day Proclamation during today’s event. “And already, from what I’m hearing and based on reports, we’re now the leader in space.”

The “SHiELD” would be the first weapon to actively destroy air-to-air missiles.

As we enter the 2020s, China, Russia and the United States are spending billions to develop hypersonic weapons in a bid to outpace ever-improving missile defenses.

While strategic-range cruise or ballistic missile strikes may be detected between 15 minutes to an hour before impact, hypersonic weapons capable of exceeding five times the speed of sound threaten to decrease that margin to just a few minutes. Such a fast tempo of destruction could destabilize the current balance of power by making first strikes more effective and unpredictable.

China and Russia have taken a lead in this new arms race. In October, China paraded launchers for land-attack DF-17 and anti-ship DF-100 hypersonic missiles. Meanwhile, Russia supposedly is deploying nuclear-capable hypersonic Kinzhal air-launched missiles and Avangard glide vehicles released by RS-28 intercontinental-range missiles.

The US Air Force (USAF) is working toward being able to update the Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter’s software while the aircraft is in flight.

The service believes updating software on the fly will reduce fielding time to its fleet by 50%, it says on 12 May. The USAF did not disclose how long it currently takes to update the software of an F-16.

For Army scientists, the goal of neuroscience research is pursuing the inner workings of the human brain to advance scientific understanding and improve Soldier performance.

Researchers recently applied new techniques to modify brain activity. Not only are these techniques used to characterize and study complex networks such as in telecommunications or social networks—they describe how different nodes, or elements of the network: brain regions in neuroscience, or individuals in social networks, interact with each other.

The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory, in collaboration with academic partners, collaborated on a neurostimulation study, where they safely and non-invasively modified brain activity and then characterized the dynamics of the brain’s response to this modification. This research provides some of the foundational knowledge for future technologies that may one day expedite cognitive processes. The journal Network Neuroscience published the recent discoveries.

Most existing lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) integrate graphite anodes, which have a capacity of approximately 350 milliamp hours (mAh) per gram. The capacity of silicon anodes is almost 10 times higher than that of their graphite counterparts (around 2,800 mAh per gram), and could thus theoretically enable the development of more compact and lighter lithium-based batteries.

Despite their higher capacity, silicon anodes have so far been unable to compete with graphite anodes, as silicon expands and contracts during battery operation, so the anodes’ outer protective layer can easily crack while a battery is operating. In a recent paper published in Nature Energy, a team of researchers at the University of Maryland College Park and Army Research Laboratory has reported a new electrolyte design that could overcome the limitations of existing silicon anodes.

“Silicon anodes and their formed solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) protecting layers are easier to pulverize during battery operation, because the SEI strongly bonds to Si, so both experience a large volume of changes,” Ji Chen, one of the leading researchers who carried out the study, told Phys.org.

The C20 will replace the C8 as the personal defence weapon for Canadian Forces sniper teams, confirmed Department of National Defence spokeswoman Andrée-Anne Poulin.

The government will also launch a competition sometime this month to buy 229 bolt action sniper rifles. That rifle, designated as the C21, will be used for long-range shooting and will come in two different calibres.

The Canadian Forces says the new C20, which will be in 7.62 calibre, will be more accurate and an improvement over the current C8 used by sniper teams.

The Borei-A class Knyaz Vladimir is out for sea trials again and could get commissioned very soon after years of delays.

Last week, the Indian and Chinese troops were involved in a face-off along the LAC in north Sikkim.