by David Crane defrev at gmail.com This article may be modified/updated with new information in the coming days, so readers might want to check back in (to this article) over the next week. August 15, 2007 In late February 2006, DefenseReview broke the story on a developmental (but functional) prototype remote-controlled armed/weaponized semi-autonomous/fully-autonomous unmanned mini-helicopter called the AutoCopter Gunship, which …

by David Crane david at defensereview.com By now, everyone who hasn’t been living under a rock in the middle of the Sahara desert (or similar-type isolated location) has heard about China’s supposedly successful anti-satellite shoot-to-kill missile test that has the West, including the U.S., "up in arms" (excuse the pun) about the safety of our military and civilian communications and …

by David Crane david at defensereview.com January 31, 2007 The latest episode of the Discovery Channel series FutureWeapons (a.k.a. Future Weapons), titled The Protectors, features Pinnacle Armor, Inc.’s Dragon Skin body armor (flexible hard armor/scalar armor system) and the Milkor USA, Inc. M32 MGL (Multiple shot Grenade Launcher a.ka. Multiple Grenade Launcher), two technologies that DefenseReview has already covered. Our …

by David Crane david at defensereview.com November 20, 2006 By now, everyone and their mother knows that last month, in the Pacific, a Chinese submarine stalked a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group and surfaced within torpedo and missile firing range before being detected. DefenseReview can’t really say we’re surprised by this, especially since U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups are no …

The following is a Boeing press release: ST. LOUIS, Oct. 13, 2006 — The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has begun flight testing for the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) program and has generated "first light" of ATL’s high-energy chemical laser in ground tests, achieving two key milestones in the laser gunship development effort. During the "low-power" …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com This article contains DefenseReview’s interview with the R&D element of Dillon Aero, Inc. on the M134D Gatling Gun/Minigun. September 25, 2006 DefenseReview first mentioned the Dillon Aero M134D Gatling Gun a.k.a. M134D MiniGun in our September 2005 article on the BSC AGSS II helicopter gunner simulator, after we saw both systems (M134D and AGSS II) at …

The following is an Air Force Press News Release: 9/14/2006 – WASHINGTON (AFPN) — The Air Force chief of staff announced "Reaper" has been chosen as the name for the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle. The Air Force is the Department of Defense's executive agent for designating and naming military aerospace vehicles. In the case of the Reaper, Gen. T. Michael …

by Jim Jensen Assault Rifle/Carbine with interchangeable bolts, barrels and magazine wells can shoot 5.56mm, 7.62mm Russian, and 7.62mm NATO bullets Iraq: ”Ping” “ping” “ping” an U.S. Army light infantry Soldier firing from the top cargo hatch of a BAE Systems M113 APC (Armored Personnel Carrier)/armored vehicle is placing well-aimed 5.56mm (5.56x45mm/.223 Remington) M16A2/A4 rifle shots on an Iraqi rebel …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com A company called More Industries, LLC is manufacturing and marketing a remotely-operated weapons system (i.e. remote-controlled weapons system) called HAMMER for use on UGVs (Unmanned Ground Vehicles, a.k.a. ground robots), manned ground vehicles (i.e. HMMWVs/Humvees, APCs/IFVs, and civilan vehicles like flatbed trucks and SUVs/4x4s), and UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), turning the latter into UCAVs (Unmanned Combat …

by Steven Donald Smith American Forces Press Service July 13, 2006 The Missile Defense Agency successfully completed a developmental flight test of a major element of its ballistic missile defense system today at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., agency officials said. Initial indications show that the test achieved what it set out to do: test parts of the Terminal High …