Military
The military has been a key driver of technology throughout history and the 21st century is no exception. Drones, GPS and the internet itself are just some of the transformative technologies originally developed for the military that have found commercial applications, and the list continues to grow.
Latest News
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DARPA's ground-effect X-plane will haul 100 tons of cargo
February 01, 2024Aurora Flight Sciences has updated the design of its Liberty Lifter seaborne military heavy-lift transport – a highly efficient X-plane the company is developing for DARPA that achieves bulk lift by using wing-in-ground effect. -
US Army's AMPV armored fighting vehicle takes on drones
January 24, 2024In a recent live-fire field test, BAE Systems' Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System (C-UAS) prototype took out a small fleet of quadcopter drones in spectacular fashion using a Moog modular weapons system. -
Britain's Dragonfire laser weapon engages first aerial targets
January 21, 2024Britain has fired its Dragonfire high-powered laser weapon at aerial targets for the first time. The test of the Laser Directed Energy Weapon (LDEW) on the Ministry of Defence's Hebrides Range was designed to demonstrate its power and accuracy. -
US Army's latest reconnaissance aircraft is a Bombardier business jet
January 10, 2024The US Army is swapping out its Cold War fleet of prop-driven recon planes with ones based on a business jet. Under a new contract, the Army is buying a Global 6500 jet aircraft from Bombardier with options for two more for development prototypes. -
US Space Force's not-so-secret X-37B spaceplane roars into orbit
December 28, 2023The US Space Force's X-37B spaceplane has launched successfully on its multi-year orbital mission. At 8:07 pm EST, the unmanned vehicle set atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy booster lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. -
Raytheon to build microwave weapon antennas for US Air Force and Navy
December 28, 2023The US Navy and US Air Force have tapped Raytheon to design, build and test two high-power microwave antenna systems. These will be used in field-grade directed energy weapons to counter aerial drones and similar threats. -
Silent Arrow to develop motorized, disposable, heavy transport drone
December 27, 2023Aerospace company Silent Arrow has been awarded a contract by the Air Force Research Laboratory's innovation arm AFWERX to develop a heavy payload, long-range motorized version of its GD-2000 glider drone capable of flying 300 nm (350 mi, 560 km). -
US Air Force refuels a tanker plane backwards
December 27, 2023In a topsy-turvy bit of military aviation, the US Air Force used a C-5M Super Galaxy heavy transport to refuel a KC-10 Extender refueling tanker aircraft, pumping fuel backwards up the boom from transport to tanker instead of the other way around. -
US Navy receives first long-range robotic submarine
December 27, 2023The US Navy has taken delivery of its first giant robotic submarine. Boeing's Extra Large Uncrewed Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV), also known as "Orca," has completed acceptance tests including extensive surface and underwater trials. -
GE combines rotating detonation and ramjet in new hypersonic engine
December 18, 2023GE Aerospace has demonstrated what it claims is the world's first hypersonic Dual-Mode Ramjet (DMRJ) rig test using Rotating Detonation Combustion (RDC) in a supersonic flow stream that could one day give hypersonic missiles longer range. -
UK, Japan, and Italy team up to build 6th-Gen fighter plane
December 17, 2023The Sixth-Generation fighter plane commonly known as the Tempest has taken a major step toward being reality after Britain, Japan, and Italy signed an international treaty in Tokyo to create a formal partnership to develop a new supersonic aircraft. -
Raytheon to create DARPA's airborne "wireless internet for energy"
December 14, 2023DARPA has tapped Raytheon to design and develop a wireless, airborne relay system to "deliver energy into contested environments," as part of its Energy Web Dominance program, in which DARPA wants to be able to power anything from nearly anywhere. -
US flexible interceptor destroys ballistic missile in major test
December 12, 2023The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has completed a major test (FTG-12) of a stage-selectable Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) missile system that destroyed an air-launched Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) target vehicle. -
Roadrunner-M drone can take out aerial threats or live to fly another day
December 10, 2023In the spirit of waste not, want not, Anduril Industries has rolled out its Roadrunner-Munition (Roadrunner-M) jet-propelled VTOL autonomous interceptor drone that can destroy aerial threats or return to base intact to fight another day. -
AUKUS partners to build global deep-space defense tracking network
December 03, 2023The US, UK, and Australia AUKUS agreement is about more than nuclear subs, as evidenced by the three nations announcing the building of an international Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability network intended to monitor space out to geosynchronous orbit.
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