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When you think of diamonds, rings and anniversaries generally come to mind. But one day, the first thing that will come to mind may be bone surgery. By carefully designing modified diamonds at the nano-scale level, a Missouri University of Science and Technology researcher hopes to create multifunctional diamond-based materials for applications ranging from advanced composites to drug delivery platforms and biomedical imaging agents.

Dr. Vadym Mochalin, an associate professor of chemistry and materials science and engineering at Missouri S&T, is characterizing and modifying 5-nanometer nanodiamond particles produced from expired military grade explosives so that they can be developed to perform specific tasks. His current research studies their use as a filler in various types of composites.

Mochalin hopes to develop a way to uniformly incorporate the nanodiamonds and form strong chemical bonds between them to help design composite structures that can be used in medical applications, oil drilling bits, polishing and lubricating compositions, and even energy storage systems. Nanodiamonds are the ideal choice for such applications because they are mechanically strong, chemically stable and non-toxic. They can also form bonds with many other materials due to their tailorable surface chemistry.

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Threats posed by to systems are a colossal challenge for the U.S. Navy, but a combo of advanced , intelligent algorithms, and are being developed to help warfighters detect and counter them.

Electronic warfare (EW) systems – whether on land or aboard U.S. military ships and aircraft – tap the to sense, protect, and communicate. But, when necessary, these same systems can be turned against adversaries to deny their ability to disrupt or use radio, infrared, or signals.

Today’s EW systems tend to rely on databases of known threats with predefined countermeasures, which can limit their ability to quickly adapt and respond to new advanced threats. Soon, these systems may increasingly be tasked with isolating unknown hostile radar signals within dense electromagnetic environments and responding quickly with effective electronic countermeasures.

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Several fighter jet models will soon use artificial intelligence to control nearby UAVs that will be able to carry weapons, test enemy air defenses or perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions in high-risk areas, Senior US Air Force officials said recently.

US Air Force Chief Scientist Gregory Zacharias said that much higher degrees of autonomy and manned-unmanned teaming are expected to emerge in the near future from work at the Air Force Research Lab. “This involves an attempt to have another platform fly alongside a human, perhaps serving as a weapons truck” Zacharias told DefenseSystems.com.

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TEL AVIV, Jan 21 — Israel has upgraded its missile defence system so that the country can be protected from the ground to outer space.

The latest addition, the Arrow 3, became operational on Wednesday. The system has a range up to 2,400 km and can be used as an anti-satellite weapon. It was co-developed by Israel Aerospace Industries and Boeing Co.

An 'Arrow 3' ballistic missile interceptor is seen during its test launch near Ashdod, Israel December 10, 2015. — Reuters picAn ‘Arrow 3’ ballistic missile interceptor is seen during its test launch near Ashdod, Israel December 10, 2015. — Reuters picThe bottom tier of Israel’s missile defence system is the Iron Dome interceptor, which is designed to destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells fired up to 70 km away. The second tier of the system is David’s Sling, which is designed to shoot down mid-range, lower-altitude missiles. The Arrow 2 is designed to intercept missiles in low to high atmosphere.

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This post is also available in: heעברית (Hebrew)

Microsoft’s HoloLens hologram headset systems are already being used in the Australian, Ukrainian and Israeli military forces, and now the US military is also finding a use for Microsoft’s most advanced technology.

In recent exercises, forces from the Marines held a weeklong exercise called Spartan Emerging Technology and Innovation Week at North Carolina. The event featured various training technologies – from quadcopters to augmented reality developed with support from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to accelerate the development of decision-making skills.

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A strange beeping noise in the Arctic has Canadians puzzled. Is it marine mammals doing something weird? A foreign submarine? Collective hallucination?

A military patrol and acoustic specialists are being dispatched to investigate, the army said Thursday.

Speculation has abounded since Inuit hunters in the village of Igloolik heard the beep several times off the Fury and Hecla Straight late last year.

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