Search Results for: ground

Lasing Skulls in the Digital Age: Tactical Laser Weapons Finally Maturing for Future Warfare Applications: Meet the Boeing ATL (Advanced Tactical Laser) Airborne Laser Weapon

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 …

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Precision Urban Hopper Mini Recon Robot/UGV Scales Tall Fences in a Single Bound

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com October 1, 2009 What do you get when you combine a (wheeled) manpackable mini-UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) / ground robot with a flee-type (or grasshopper-type) jumping capability? You get the Precision Urban Hopper (PUH) jumping UGV. The Precision Urban Hopper, brought to you by the friendly folks at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) …

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KBM IGLA-S MANPADS: Russian Manpackable Shoulder-Launched Fire-and-Forget Surface-to-Air Missile System

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com September 14, 2009 Updated on 9/15/09 Russian arms manufacturer KBM (KB Mashynostroyeniya) (Moscow region, Russia) is currently offering an improved/uprated next-generation version of the IGLA 9K38 MANPADS (Man-Portable Air Defense System) manpackable fire-and-forget surface-to-air missile launcher system called the IGLA-S (“Needle-S”), or IGLA-Super, portable antiaircraft missile complex (PAAMC) for export to foreign …

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BAE/Vectronix Laser Target Locator Module (LTLM): Thermal/IR Binoculars with Laser Rangefinder for Locating and Targeting the Enemy at Night

By David Crane August 13, 2009 BAE Systems has just won a five-year, $347 million ($347M) to produce, maintain, and provide logistical support for 200 digital handheld Laser Target Locator Modules (LTLM) per month for the U.S. Army for an indefinite period of time, presumably until the $347M runs out, unless the contract is extended. BAE is partnering with Swiss …

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The Afghanistan Security Solution (Long-Term): AFPAK Border Security Fence Needed, Not More U.S. Troops

By Mike Sparks April 29, 2009 “Geographically speaking, Afghanistan is ungovernable. It’s a recipe for a failed state” — Defeatist statement from Peter Zeihan of STRATFOR The April 2009 Armed Forces Journal (AFJ) on page 18 reports we are going to spend more than last year’s $36.5 BILLION occupying Afghanistan with 34,000 U.S. troops in 2008, yet Taliban violence is …

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Airtronic USA Develops American RPG-7: Meet the Amerikansky Rocket-Propelled Grenade Launcher

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com April 13, 2009 Updated on 4/26/09. My good friend and professional contact, prolific infantry small arms/machine gun designer Jim Sullivan (a.k.a. L James Sullivan), has complained to me quite a bit about U.S. military infantry warfighters not having an American version of the Russian RPG-7 / RPG-7V shoulder-launched, anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade weapon …

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