US defense research agency announces new phase of hypersonic flight program

LOS ANGELES — The Defense Department’s research arm will seek proposals next month for solutions to technology hurdles in super high-speed flight with a goal of testing a full-scale hypersonic X-plane in four years.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said Friday it will host a so-called Proposers’ Day on Aug. 14 to lay out technical areas for which proposals are being sought.

 

 

DARPA has tested highly experimental versions of a rocket-launched unmanned glider designed to fly at speeds 20 times the speed of sound, or Mach 20. The goal is to give the U.S. a defense capability of reaching any spot on Earth in an hour.
Read More.......... 

U.S. army takes delivery of last PTDS surveillance aerostat which is already in use in Afghanistan.

The Army accepted the last ordered Persistent Threat Detection System on May 29, 2012. Many of the systems are currently providing a situational awareness for Soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
(Photo credit U.S. Army)

The Persistent Threat Detection System entered its next chapter, May 29, as Lt. Col. Michael Parodi, product manager Meteorological and Target Identification Capabilities, was on hand at the Lockheed Martin facility in Akron, Ohio; to accept the delivery of the last PTDS ordered. Since its original introduction as a quick reaction capability the Army has procured 66 systems that have been used in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

 Read More............

Launch of Second Amphibious Ship HMAS Adelaide, Canberra Class LHD for Royal Australian Navy

Navantia launched at its Ferrol facilities, the second amphibious ship for the Royal Australian Navy. The Ship’s launching lady, Mrs. Maureen Banks, as well as the Chief of the Royal Australian Navy, Vice Admiral Ray Griggs, together with representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, BAE Systems, SEPI and Navantia have attended the event. Construction of the “Adelaide” started with the Steel Cutting ceremony on the 2nd of February 2010, followed by the keel laying on the 18th of February 2011.

Launch of HMAS Adelaide, Canberra Class LHD (Picture: Royal Australian Navy)

Read More...........

WikiLeaks Has Data From 2.4 Million Syrian Emails

LONDON - The secret-spilling group WikiLeaks said Thursday it was in the process of publishing material from 2.4 million Syrian emails - many of which it said came from official government accounts.
WikiLeaks' Sarah Harrison told journalists at London's Frontline Club that the emails reveal interactions between the Syrian government and Western companies, although she declined to go into much further detail.
Harrison quoted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as saying that "the material is embarrassing to Syria, but it is also embarrassing to Syria's external opponents."
WikiLeaks posted only a handful of the documents to its website Thursday, but the disclosure - whose source WikiLeaks has not made clear - wouldn't be the first major leak of Syrian emails.

 

In February, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz published excerpts of what it said were emails hacked from Syrian servers by Anonymous, the shadowy Internet activist group. In March, Britain's Guardian newspaper published emails it sourced to Syrian opposition activists.

 

Read More............. 

BAE to begin Mantis UAV test flights in 2013

 

BAE Systems is planning to begin test flights of its long-endurance unmanned air vehicle (UAV), dubbed The Mantis, in UK airspace in early 2013.

The drone is expected to undergo a total of 20 test flights covering 750 miles, with each lasting for around three hours, at an altitude of up to 15,000ft above the Irish Sea, as reported by The Daily Mail.

According to BAE, the UAV is currently being evaluated, prior to the start of self-funded taxi tests by the company next year.

BAE military aircraft head, Chris Boardman, told The Times: "It will take a decade to mature for production and operation the next generation of technology. We understand the constraints of the current financial climate but we need to start doing what we need to do."

The tests, if successful, are expected to mark an end for the use of fighter pilots in the UK, and will also bring down the curtain on conventional aircraft, such as the Lockheed Martin-built F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft.

Read More..........

Americans Have Most Confidence in Military

Most Americans have the highest confidence in the U.S. military and practically none in Congress, according to a new Gallup poll.
The military, small businesses and local police generally enjoy the confidence of a majority of Americans but the rest can't even hit the 50 percent mark on the latest Gallup poll. And even those institutions have seen their ratings decline a bit for last year.
In all, seven institutions have lower confidence ratings this year than in 2011, five had slight upticks and four were unchanged. But "none of the 16 institutions tested this year saw significant increases in confidence compared with last year," Gallup said. "The biggest declines were for television news, the public schools and organized religion."
In fact, confidence in public schools hit a new low with a five percentage point drop in one year, Gallup said.

Read More............ 

China leader urges resistance against Western forces

China's top security official has urged the ruling Communist Party to resist Western "attacks" on the country's political and legal systems, in comments timed ahead of a 10-yearly leadership change.
Zhou Yongkang, one of China's top nine rulers and reputedly one of the most hardline, said the Communist Party must repel the "mistaken views" of Western political theorists.
"We will never change in our endeavour to defend the party's leading role and socialism with Chinese characteristics," he wrote in the latest edition of a Communist Party publication, "Qiushi".
"We will resolutely resist the attacks of hostile forces on our nation's political and judicial systems, and we will resolutely resist the influence of mistaken Western political and legal views."

Read More.......