Future Combat Systems

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com Photo(s) Credit: BAE Systems September 19, 2011 Speaking of BAE Systems, they're currently developing a thermal/IR (infrared) adaptive camouflage/"invisibility cloak" technology/sytem called ADAPTIV. Catchy. Adaptiv is comprised of sheets of hexagonal "pixels"/panels that "can change temperature very rapidly". ADAPTIV (as in "adaptive camouflage") would appear to work in a similar fashion as …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com July 17, 2011 Back in May (2011), Dan Power ran a couple of blurbs on Armor Report about Kryron Terminator aluminum alloy ballistic armor (body armor and vehicle armor), which was developed by Bourque Industries. Kryron reportedly recently “showed major improvement over earlier test results with the ability to deflect several 0.50 …

The following is a NanoRidge Materials, Inc. / SouthWest NanoTechnologies, Inc. press release: New Hybrid Armor Incorporates Specialty Multi-wall Carbon Nanotube Material to Protect Soldiers and Law Enforcement Officers from Small Arms Fire NORMAN, OK, August 19, 2010 – SouthWest NanoTechnologies, Inc. (SWeNT) the leading manufacturer of single-wall and Specialty Multi-Wall (SMW™) carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is manufacturing specialty multi-wall carbon …

The following is a BAE Systems press release. August 3, 2010 CINCINNATI, Ohio – BAE Systems has been awarded a $21 million order from Textron Marine and Land Systems (TM&LS) to build and deliver more than 420 armor protection kits for Armored Security Vehicles (ASV). This is a follow-on order to a contract for ASV armor panels valued at $10.5 …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com July 20, 2010 On October 15, 2009, DefenseReview (DR) published an article on the U.S. Air Force’s successful testing of a Lockheed Martin Martin NC-130H-mounted Boeing Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) weapon system. As impressive as that may have been, Raytheon Company just picked up the gauntlet by shooting down four unmanned aerial …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com July 20, 2010 Updated on 7/22/10 On July 14, 2010, the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Center/Soldier Systems Center awarded Lockheed Martin a $1.1 million contract to field a few test articles of the Lockheed Martin / Berkeley Bionics Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC) (pronounced “Hulk”) hydrolic-powered anthropomorphic soldier exoskeleton system. The HULC, …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com July 12, 2010 Anyone remember the movie Stealth (2005)? It was a huge bomb at the box office, but it did feature some interesting fictional future aircraft tech, including the “Extreme Deep Invader (EDI)” an autonomous high-speed, low-observable jet-powered unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) with artificial intelligence (via a quantum computer pilot …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com All photos contained in this article were taken by DefenseReview.com, and are copyrighted. DefenseReview.com owns the copyright on these photos. The photos were shot with Canon PowerShot S90 10-megapixel digital camera (still camera with video capability). June 24, 2010 Updated on 8/13/10 Anyone who’s been reading DefenseReview for the last few years …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com March 23, 2010 One of the reasons why it’s so dangerous to mess with the United States militarily is that, while we Americans value hard work–which makes us formidable, in itself,–we’ve always exhibited and enjoyed a very healthy combination of inherent creativity/inventiveness and laziness, in the sense that if there’s a way …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com October 15, 2009 There’s a scene at the beginning of the 1985 film Real Genius showing a fictional “Crossbow Project” demonstration video of some unlucky bastard (perhaps a third-world dictator or politician?) getting instantly vaporized by a space-based laser weapon fired from a satellite. The video is being shown to a bunch …