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 May 3, 2010 Updated on 5/03/2010 Within the last couple weeks, British newspapers have published stories on two Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) programs under the Prompt Global Strike (PGS) initiative, who’s purpose is to enable the United States to launch precision conventional weapon strikes anywhere in the world within one …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com April 7, 2010 Updated 4/09/10 Looks like nuclear weapons aren’t the only thing the Iranian government is after. Apparently, they’ve also got a penchant for speedboats, specifically high-tech, very expensive speedboats. Multiple news sources are reporting that the Iranians have surreptitiously acquired a “James Bond-style” fast mover called the Bladerunner 51 / Bradstone …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com February 1, 2010 Updated on 2/20/10 On March 29 of last year (2009), DefenseReview published a story stating that we disagreed with the cancellation of the F-22 Raptor program, and calling for at least 1,000 Raptors, total, to be built and fielded. This is because we knew that advanced Russian and Chinese …

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 …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com May 29, 2009 While Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ decision to halt production of the costly Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor low-observable/stealth fighter aircraft is perhaps not the best long-term strategic decision he could have made, it’s certainly understandable. Given the U.S. government’s–and thus DoD’s–current money crunch vs. the program’s high cost and lack …

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com April 6, 2009 I’ve been writing about the vulnerability of U.S. Navy surface ships, particularly large expensive aircraft carriers, against other countries’ anti-ship cruise missiles and torpedoes for awhile, now. Specifically, I’ve focused on the latest crop of supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles and supercavitating torpedoes, even though some argue that long-range wake-homing …

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com September 7, 2008 Laser warfare may be closer than we think. Danger Room and Gizmodo both report that Northrop Grumman is promising the U.S. military that it will have working, deployable weapons-grade solid-state, electric lasers (tactical lasers) ready to go by the end of 2008. Solid-state electric lasers have been making progress …

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com August 20, 2008 The recent dust-up in Georgia between Russian and Geogian forces, i.e. the Russian invasion of Georgia, has reinvigorated expensive, high-tech conventional-warfare/Cold-War-type weapons like the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor low-observable/stealth fighter aircraft a.k.a. F/A-22 Raptor air-to-air (air-superiority fighter)/ground attack aircraft. The F-22, in particular has been receiving a lot of …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com September 16, 2007 Article updated on 4/07/08. In the world of big business, and big military, money is power. The more money one controls, the more powerful one is. And, in the U.S. military, the bigger the program and sexier the hardware/technology, the more prestige you’ve got, especially if that hardware can …