Category: military

SpaceX’s reused rockets will carry national security payloads for the first time

[ad_1] There’s clearly a pragmatic incentive to allow reused rockets. The Space Force expects to save $52.7 million for the GPS III missions alone. It might also be difficult to insist on brand new rockets. SpaceX is shifting its focus to Starship, and might not be eager to make more Falcon 9 rockets than necessary. […]

Heron Systems’ AI pilot just beat a human in a simulated dogfight

[ad_1] Defense One reports that like many other artificial intelligence systems we’ve seen, progress in developing these pilots relied on deep reinforcement learning that trained by attempting their tasks over and over again in a virtual environment. Notably, the AI pilots weren’t allowed to use information gleaned from these battles to upgrade during the competition, […]

Sphero spins off a new company to make robots for police, military use

[ad_1] Sphero has brought four million robots to market, including programmable tank robots, and it’s experience in mobility could come in handy. We’ve also seen it make wearables. Though so far, those have been used to create music, not keep users safe. It’s not entirely surprising that Sphero would see an opportunity in the military […]

Samsung made a Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition for the military

[ad_1] This is otherwise a run-of-the-mill Galaxy S20 with a 6.2-inch, 1440p display, a Snapdragon 865 processor, 12GB of RAM, 128GB of expandable storage, a 4,000mAh battery and the usual arrays of front and rear cameras. Although Samsung shows the Tactical Edition in a rugged casing, there’s no mention of the phone itself being rugged. […]

Pentagon officially releases UFO footage

[ad_1] As for these recent sightings, however, the Pentagon has decided to release the clips “in order to clear up any misconceptions by the public on whether or not the footage that has been circulating was real, or whether or not there is more to the videos,” Pentagon spokesperson Sue Gough told CNN. She added […]

US Space Force will send its first satellite into space today

[ad_1] The launch is an important milestone for Space Force — the sixth branch of the military formed as a Trump administration directive. Until now, the agency has mostly just laid out plans, asked for funding, released a Star Trek-esque logo and inspired a Netflix comedy series starring Steve Carell. The AEHF-6 satellite will provide […]

Hitting the Books: Disney’s influence on America’s first stealth planes

[ad_1] Stealth: The Secret Contest to Invent Invisible Aircraftby Peter Westwick If you has any interest in aircraft in the 1950s, Southern California was the place to be. Blessed (at the time at least) with ample open space for airfields and manufacturing plants, a cadre of advanced research institutes and elite universities like CalTech, as […]

Nearly the whole US military has banned TikTok

[ad_1] There are no restrictions on use with personal devices, but officials have encouraged personnel and their kids to uninstall the app. The Air Force and Coast Guard didn’t provide specific reasoning for the ban, but it’s likely to be consistent with earlier bans. There’s been concerns that TikTok’s ownership might leave it susceptible to […]

US Army is the latest military branch to ban TikTok

[ad_1] As with the Navy ban, the Army is likely concerned that TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance could pose problems. While there’s no evidence of suspicious activity taking place, ByteDance could theoretically be compelled to forward soldiers’ sensitive info to the Chinese government or to recruit soldiers as spies.The company has been eager to fend […]

Navy bans TikTok from government-issued phones

[ad_1] There’s little doubt as to why TikTok might face restrictions, though. US politicians remain concerned about TikTok’s Chinese ownership and the potential for the app to serve as a conduit for Chinese government plans. There’s no evidence that TikTok is siphoning personal info, but that might not matter to jittery officials. As it stands, […]