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Category: military – Page 299

Defense Against Hypersonic Weapons Systems in Full Swing is Next Russian Military Technology

Russian military scientists’ work on developing defensive capabilities against the threat of hypersonic weapons systems is in full swing, according to Ground Forces Air Defense Force chief Alexander Leonov.

Speaking to Russian radio station RSN, Lieutenant-General Leonov indicated that “over the long term, we will be faced with hypersonic targets such as warheads [which do not fly to their target according to a traditional ballistic trajectory], as well as hypersonic aerial vehicles; this trend is very promising. Work to combat these prospective weapons must be organized, and is in fact already being carried out.”

The officer indicated that at present, medium and long-range hypersonic missile systems are perceived as the main threat when it comes to hypersonic weaponry.

Israeli robot ship fires torpedo

An unmanned Israeli vessel has test-fired a torpedo.

The Seagull, from Elbit Systems, demonstrated its weapons capability by launching a torpedo off the Israeli coast near Haifa, according to Israeli news site Ynetnews.

“The test was carried out in the Haifa area, and its primary goal was to determine if it’s possible to arm and launch a relatively large precision missile from an unmanned ship,” Ynetnews said. “The next phases in the development of the system are expected to include launching the torpedo at a target to destroy it.”

‘Growing’ drones is under research

It sounds like an idea for a science fiction film, but here in the UK scientists and engineers are spending time and money to see if they can do exactly that.

British warplanes are already flying with parts made from a 3D printer. Researchers are already using that same technology to build drones.

The military advantage is obvious — building equipment quickly and close to the battlefield — without long waits and long supply chains — gives you an enormous advantage over any enemy.

DARPA unified space-sensor networks help keep orbiting junk from slamming into something important

Now, here is a longer term concept. Could we see a day soon where we have some model of an EPA in Space due to the already junk material (namely abandoned/ broken satellites, etc.) and mining? Wonder who will get the contracts for space cleanup?

DARPA recently said that it had finished integrating seven space-watching networks that will feed tons of new Earth-orbiting junk data into what the agency calls “the largest and most diverse network of space situational awareness networks ever assembled.”

+More on Network World: NASA’s hot Juno Jupiter mission +

DARPA’s OrbitOutlook (O2) program brings seven previously separate new space sensor networks together that could ultimately feed into the United States Space Surveillance Network (SSN), a worldwide network of 29 military radar and optical telescopes operated by the Air Force as well as NASA, the FAA and other entities that could use the information.

DARPA Completes Integration of Live Data Feeds Into Space Surveillance Network; Jeremy Raley Comments

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has finished its work to integrate live data feeds from several sources into the U.S. Space Surveillance Network run by the Air Force in an effort to help space monitoring teams check when satellites are at risk.

SSN is a global network of 29 military radar and optical telescopes and DARPA added seven space data providers to the network to help monitor the space environment under its OrbitOutlook program, the agency said Wednesday.

DARPA plans to test the automated algorithms developed to determine relevant data from the integrated feed in order to help SSA experts carry out their mission.

AI beats top U.S. Air Force tactical air combat experts in combat simulation

Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Gene Lee, in a flight simulator, takes part in simulated air combat versus artificial intelligence technology developed by a team from industry, the U.S. Air Force, and University of Cincinnati. (credit: Lisa Ventre, University of Cincinnati Distribution A: Approved for public release; distribution unlimited. 88ABW Cleared 05/02/2016; 88ABW-2016–2270)

The U.S. Air Force got a wakeup call recently when AI software called ALPHA — running on a tiny $35 Raspberry Pi computer — repeatedly defeated retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Gene Lee, a top aerial combat instructor and Air Battle Manager, and other expert air-combat tacticians at the U.S. Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) in Dayton, Ohio. The contest was conducted in a high-fidelity air combat simulator.

According to Lee, who has considerable fighter-aircraft expertise (and has been flying in simulators against AI opponents since the early 1980s), ALPHA is “the most aggressive, responsive, dynamic and credible AI I’ve seen to date.” In fact, he was shot out of the ai r every time during protracted engagements in the simulator, he said.

AI fighter pilot wins in combat simulation

An artificially intelligent fighter pilot system has defeated two attacking jets in a combat simulation.

The AI, known as Alpha, used four virtual jets to successfully defend a coastline against two attacking aircraft — and did not suffer any losses. It also triumphed in simulation against a retired human fighter pilot.

In their paper, researchers from the University of Cincinnati and defence company Psibernetix describe Alpha as “a deadly opponent”. Reporting on simulated assaults against retired US Air Force colonel Gene Lee, the researchers wrote: “Not only could he not score a kill against it, he was shot out of the air by the reds every time after protracted engagements.”

Here, you’ve got an AI system that seems to be able to deal with the air-to-air environment, which is extraordinarily dynamic, has an extraordinary number of parameters and, in the paper, more than holds its own against a skilled and capable, experienced combat pilot,” said Doug Barrie, a military aerospace analyst at think tank IISS.

If such a system were ever used in a live setting and decided to attack a non-military target, the results could be dire, he said.

DARPA Moving Fast to Replace US Stealth Fighters with Hypersonic Fighters

In DARPA’s words, “Speed is the new stealth.”

In 2012, DARPA noted the United States is gradually losing the “strategic advantage” that its stealth warplanes have long provided since competitor countries’ stealth and counter-stealth capabilities are improving.

To arrest this decline, DARPA strongly argues the U.S. will need “the new stealth” of hypersonic aircraft.

DARPA approaches industry for new battlefield network algorithms and network protocols

Very nice.

ARLINGTON, Va., 27 June 2016. U.S. military researchers are asking industry for new algorithms and protocols for large, mission-aware, computer, communications, and battlefield network systems that physically are dispersed over large forward-deployed areas.

Officials of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., issued a broad agency announcement on Friday (DARPA-BAA-16–41) for the Dispersed Computing project, which seeks to boost application and network performance of dispersed computing architectures by orders of magnitude with new algorithms and protocol stacks.

Examples of such architectures include network elements, radios, smart phones, or sensors with programmable execution environments; and portable micro-clouds of different form factors.

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