TAMPA, Florida — Dial down the godawful soundtrack and try to ignore the choppy camera work, but re-watch Lockheed Martin’s promo video depicting its two-year-old Human Universal Load Carrier exoskeleton. Because inside of the year, an improved version of this combat exoskeleton could be headed to Afghanistan for combat trials. That’s right: cyborg soldiers might, might just be months away from becoming a front-line reality. At least, that’s what a Lockheed indicated today at a Special Forces trade show in Tampa. Asked if there were plans to deploy the HULC exoskeleton overseas following its next round of Army testing, Lockheed’s special operation program manager Keith Maxwell nodded yes and said, “after that.” Maxwell was wearing what he described as a “smaller, lighter, more energy-efficient” version ... Continue reading →
One of the strangest — and perhaps most dangerous — nuclear tests ever conducted was Operation ARGUS, in late 1958. The basic idea behind them was proposed by the Greek physicist Nicholas Christofilos, then at Livermore. If you shot a nuclear warhead off in the upper atmosphere, Christofilos argued, it would create an artificial radiation field similar to the Van Allen radiation belts that surround the planet. In essence, it would create a “shell” of electrons around the planet. Frame from an government film showing the electron shell going around the planet The tactical advantage to such a test is that hypothetically you could use this knowledge to knock out enemy missiles and satellites that were coming in. So they gave it a test, and ... Continue reading →
Prepare your face for palming. In a new article today at American Thinker, graphic artist Mara Zebest -- who is identified as working "closely" with Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Cold Case Posse "in providing evidence on Obama's forged birth certificate" -- highlights some supposed anomalies in a Situation Room photo from the day of the bin Laden raid in order to prove... something. The American Thinker, which regularly publishes embarrassing drivel like this, is viewed as credible by prominent conservatives like Rush Limbaugh, who has called it "one of my most favorite and thoughtful blogs," and Lou Dobbs, who has cited them on his Fox Business program. The first mystery of this photo, per Zebest, concerns what may or may not be a pair of phantom ... Continue reading →
Thousands of soldiers have come home with symptoms and illnesses they suspect are linked to open-air "burn pits." Now, a new study has confirmed that particulate matter from the pits causes lung damage and immune system impairment. Photo: U.S. Air Force Since returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan, an untold number of soldiers have come down with puzzling health problems. Chronic bronchitis. Neurological defects. Even cancer. Many of them are pointing the finger at a single culprit: The open-air “burn pits” that incinerated trash — from human waste to computer parts — on military bases overseas. Pentagon officials have consistently reassured personnel that there was no “specific evidence” connecting the two. But now, only days after Danger Room uncovered a memo suggesting that Army officials ... Continue reading →
Navy communications tech has come a long way since this IT2 Alex Pattios manned the comms at the Military Sealift Operations Center in 2002. In a few months, the Navy's installing its first wireless network on three ships in the Mideast. Photo: U.S. Navy Bandwidth on Navy ships is a scarce, expensive commodity. For sailors using non-essential systems, like recreational computers? Dial-up speeds — if they’re lucky. But by the end of the year, for the first time, the Navy will put a 4G LTE wireless network aboard some of its ships, giving a whole new communications tool to sailors and Marines: their smartphones. By the end of 2012, the Navy confirms, three ships will receive a brand-new microwave-based wireless wide area network (WWAN): the ... Continue reading →
