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Category: military – Page 185

US: N.Korea may be building missile facilities

A US think tank says North Korea appears to be building facilities that can be used to assemble ballistic missiles near the capital, Pyongyang.

On Tuesday, the Center for Strategic and International Studies published the results of an analysis on a construction site near Pyongyang International Airport. The site was captured in satellite images.

Pictures show three new buildings. The largest one is about 120 meters wide and 40 meters in depth. They all have bay doors, wide enough for large vehicles. The center says one of the buildings may be able to accommodate an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Tesla Cybertruck gets turned into electric military vehicle in crazy renders

The military has been talking about incorporating electric vehicles in their fleet and with the Tesla Cybertruck being described as an “armored personnel carrier from the future”, a rendering artist decided to explore what a Cybertruck would look like as an electric Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.

As we reported last week, the military is developing a plan to use EVs for remote missions and even cited Tesla as an example that larger EVs are viable.

With Tesla CEO Elon Musk describing the Cybertruck as ‘an armored personnel carrier from the future’, several people suggested that the military could end up using the Cybertruck as a platform to build electric military vehicles.

Iran launches its first military satellite

As the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic and historically low oil prices, the missile launch may signal a new willingness to take risks by Iran.

It said the satellite — dubbed the Nour — was deployed from the Qassed two-stage launcher from the Markazi desert, a vast expanse in Iran’s central plateau.

The satellite “orbited the Earth at 425km [264 miles]”, said the website. “This action will be a great success and a new development in the field of space for Islamic Iran.”

The IRGC called it the first military satellite ever launched by Tehran. It used a Ghased, or “Messenger”, satellite carrier to put the device into space, a previously unheard-of system.

Flyt Aerospace bids its Red Hummingbird hoverbike for US Air Force’s Agility Prime

Flyt Aerospace is offering its Red Hummingbird pilot-optional, fully-electric hoverbike for the US Air Force’s (USAF’s) Agility Prime electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) procurement effort.

The eight-motor, multi-rotor Red Hummingbird is designed for speeds of 0–97 km/h in 5.1 seconds, payload capacity of up to 113 kg, a cost of USD2.40 worth of electricity per flight, and the ability to operate for 20–30 minutes per charge. The aircraft is also designed to create only 65 db of noise at 50 ft altitude. Flyt is offering the Red Hummingbird for the Agility Prime 1–2 person capacity area of interest (AOI) 2, according to company founder and CEO Ansel Misfeldt.

Misfeldt told Jane’s on 1 May that the Red Hummingbird has a fully-built prototype currently in flight testing, but that the aircraft has yet to fly with a human. Flyt has so far been flying the aircraft with weights in the pilot seat to ensure system checkout before flying with a pilot.

The Army Is Testing Handheld Ray Guns

Circa 2015

Fittingly, these rifle-sized weapons would gun for other electronics.

Pew! Pew! Soldiers with handheld energy blasters are the stuff of G.I. Joe, not real life … until now. The U.S Army is currently testing electricity guns for possible use against electronics on the battlefield. They don’t look like props from the popular cartoon show but, rather like regular standard-issue M4 rifles with a pair of antennas that shoot out from the barrel and then spread, giving the front end of the gun a musket-like shape.

Soldiers “already carry rifles. Why not use something that every soldier already carries,” said James E. Burke, an electronics engineer with the U.S. Army’s Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, or ARDEC. Burke spoke with Defense One at a National Defense Industry Association event in Baltimore on Tuesday.

Marines will help make it clear that China can’t expel America from South China Sea

Beijing’s desire to turn the South China Sea into a personal lake for President Xi Jinping is getting pushback from an unexpected source, the United State Marine Corps. When people think of the Marines, they generally think of assault troops and aggressive attacks on fortified positions, so sea control might seem a stretch for the Corps.

But Marines are adaptive. Actually, the Marines are going back to the future. The seizure and defense of advanced naval bases has been a major part of the Marine Corps’ mission for over a century; but since World War II, the seizure portion — better known as amphibious warfare — has overshadowed the defensive mission. The Marine Corps commandant, Gen. David Berger, is rebalancing the Marine Corps for a closer integration with the Navy after the two sea services had drifted apart for several decades.

To understand this, we need to understand the threat posed by Chinese build-up in the Indo-Pacific Region.