Military tech

The U.S. Army has successfully tested a hypersonic aircraft that can travel five times the speed of sound and reach anywhere on Earth in under an hour.

Described by the Pentagon as a "glide vehicle, designed to fly within the earth's atmosphere at hypersonic speed and long range," the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW) was launched aboard a rocket from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii.

It hit a target at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, some 2,300 miles away, in less than 30 minutes, according to Department of Defense and AP reports. … Read more

Call them a bunch of intellectual lightweights.

Researchers at HRL Laboratories, the California Institute of Technology, and the University of California at Irvine have created what they say is the lowest-density material, a lattice of hollow tubes of the metal nickel.

Its volume is 99.99 percent air, and its density is 0.9 milligram per cubic centimeter--not including the air in or between its tubes. That density is less than one-thousandth that of water.

The metallic microlattice, as the researchers call it, could be useful for absorbing sound, vibration, and shock. Other possibilities, according to HRL: electrodes that could … Read more

Love brainteasers? Brainiacs from a California university hope you can help decipher a mind-draining 10,000-piece puzzle through their collaborative Web site.

The DARPA Shredder Challenge aims to discover new ways the U.S. military can process and decode shredded documents confiscated in war zones, as well as test vulnerabilities in the shredding methods used by the U.S. national security community.

The Shredder Challenge is made up of five separate puzzles in which the number of documents, the documents' subject matter, and the shredding methods vary to present challenges of increasing difficulty. To complete each problem, participants must provide the answer to a puzzle embedded in the content of the reconstructed document.

Three out of the five puzzles are still available to be solved before the contest ends December 4 and DARPA awards $50,000 as the prize. Manuel Cebrian, a research scientist at the University of California at San Diego, and a team from UCSD have created a way to solve the remaining enigmas by "combining advanced computer vision methods with shared tasking and referral-based crowdsourcing," says the USCD Web site. … Read more

Defense contractor ITT Exelis has a nifty new line of night-vision goggles that let you see thermal imagery in the dark.

The Spiral Enhanced Night Vision Goggles (SENVG), part of the i-Aware line, overlay thermal images on the usual green display in night-vision goggles. They're sensitive enough to pick up recently moved soil on a dirt path, and can also be used to spot people hiding behind bushes.

Soldiers can use them to see clearly at night an in all weather conditions--SENVG comes with an image intensification function.

The goggles can also be used to import or export images, video, and data such as UAV pictures of terrain or map files. … Read more

V-Moda refines the sound design of last year's original Crossfade LP DJ headphones with a refresh that offers customized ear plates, dual 50mm drivers, and a tough backbone enforced under strict military testing.

For this version, V-Moda displays its newest Live Play sonic signature developed using a 31-band equalizer to ensure a clean space, free of artificial sound spikes. The guts are built around a driver diaphragm model with a hard inner ring that pumps mids and highs, while a softer outer ring on top extends the bass line for harder punches.

V-Moda takes precautions to protect the Crossfade LP2s so you don't have to. The headphones adhere to the military's MIL-STD-810G hardened guidelines and will likely outlive everything else in your DJ bag thanks to a Kevlar wrapped detachable cable, a headband that can bend completely flat, and the shell's resistance to humidity, salt spray, and UV exposure.

The company is also offering customers a chance to personalize their gear with a custom ear shield program that lets you select between 12 colors of interchangeable shields- if you ask nicely, V-Moda will even etch your artwork onto the sides, anything from your name, company, sports team logo, or personal artwork.

The V-Moda Crossfade LP2 headphones are available now for $199.

More pictures after the break.… Read more

Are you a fan of first-person shooters? Check out this video of an astounding setup that immerses players in the action of Battlefield 3 unlike any other rig you've seen.

The gaming simulator, created by Channel 5's The Gadget Show, combines a jaw-dropping number of sensors and inputs for a highly realistic experience. The cost of the hardware alone was more than $650,000.… Read more

If you're behind on your reports and your boss is breathing down your neck, one of these might come in handy.

A British company lists this Martin Baker Mk6 ejector seat--which has been outfitted with a stainless steel frame so it can be used anywhere--as being for sale.

Once part of a Blackburn Buccaneer fighter jet, the seat still has its parachutes, harness, and eject levers. … Read more

Northrop Grumman's X-47B unmanned stealth plane achieved cruise mode flight for the first time recently, a major step toward using the bomber aboard aircraft carriers.

During a flight at Edwards Air Force Base on September 30, the robo-plane retracted its landing gear and flew in cruise configuration for the first time. The test helped prove its navigation hardware and software.

The flight was part of the X-47B's "envelope expansion" under the Navy's Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) program. Northrop has produced two X-47Bs for the Navy and the aircraft is slated to begin carrier trials in 2013. … Read more

The drive for more fuel-efficient cars reaches beyond the garages of the U.S. populace and into military motor pools. Under a development contract with the U.S. Army, Ricardo, an international engineering firm, has finished building its first take on a new light tactical vehicle. One of the primary goals of the FED Alpha, which stands for Fuel Efficient Ground Vehicle Demonstrator, is to be more fuel efficient than current Army vehicles.

To reach this goal, the FED Alpha relies on a four-cylinder Cummins diesel engine and Goodyear low rolling resistance tires. Gears in the drive line use a special finish to help reduce friction. By contrast, the Humvee, currently in wide use by the Army, uses a 6.2-liter V-8 diesel engine. No figures have been released for the FED Alpha's actual fuel economy. … Read more