THE FUTURE IS AWESOME » weapons

Hover Bot Scares You to Death and Then Kills You

Duncan — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:05:43 +0000

click image to view full resolution photo (6.2 MB jpeg)

Lockheed Martin Press Release:

Lockheed Martin announced today that its team successfully conducted a free-flight hover test of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s Multiple Kill Vehicle-L. Conducted Dec. 2 at the National Hover Test Facility at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., the test met all objectives.

During an engagement with the enemy, the MKV-L with its cargo of kill vehicles will maneuver into the threat complex to intercept all lethal targets, along with any countermeasures the enemy may deploy in an attempt to trick the system. With tracking data from the Ballistic Missile Defense System and its own seeker, the MKV-L will dispense and guide the kill vehicles to destroy multiple targets.

The full-scale prototype flew at an altitude of approximately 23 feet (7 meters) for 20 seconds, maneuvering while simultaneously tracking a target.

“This test demonstrated the integrated operation of the MKV-L in near-earth flight,” said Rick Reginato, Multiple Kill Vehicle program director, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. “This represents a major step forward for the earliest operational payload designed to destroy multiple threat objects with a single missile defense interceptor.”

The test was the first of several to prove MKV readiness for complex flight testing aboard the Ballistic Missile Defense System’s ground-based interceptor currently deployed in Alaska and Southern California.

“Testing the payload in the ground-based, controlled flight environment at the National Hover Test Facility enables us to verify interoperation of components and subsystems as they are incrementally developed and integrated,” said Randy Riley, MKV-L Hover Test Bed program director, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company.

The MKV-L Hover Test Bed development team for the Missile Defense Agency includes: Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Sunnyvale, Calif., prime contractor; Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Canoga Park, Calif.; and Octant Technologies, San Jose, Calif.

[press release | direct link to video (16 MB of .wmv suckage) | via engadget]

Giant Missile Zapping Laser Strapped to 747, Shark Heads Next

Duncan — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:44:06 +0000

The Airborne Laser program is placing a high-energy, megawatt-class chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) and highly sophisticated beam control/fire control and battle management systems on a modified Boeing 747-400F aircraft to detect, track and destroy ballistic missiles in their boost phase of flight. ABL also can pass information on launch sites, target tracks and predicted impact points to other elements of the multi-layered global ballistic missile defense system. Boeing is the prime contractor for ABL.

“The Airborne Laser packs extraordinary capability into a 747. The back half of the aircraft will contain the world’s largest mobile laser, which consists of six modules, each the size of a Chevy Suburban sport utility vehicle. The front half already contains the beam control/fire control system, which compares in size and sophistication to the Hubble Space Telescope. “The COIL has already proved in ground tests that it can achieve the duration and power levels needed to destroy a ballistic missile,” said Guy Renard, Northrop Grumman’s ABL program manager. “In 2009, we will demonstrate this capability in the air against an actual boosting ballistic missile.”

[boeing abl | video stream | video download] (77 MB with obligatory cheesy music and V/O)

I’m In Yur Base Killin Yur Dudes

Duncan — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 16:18:49 +0000

The army’s machine-gun wielding, insurgent-slaying robot SWORDS is no longer spraying foes with hot doom in Iraq. Actually, it never got the chance to notch a single frag, and never will. Apparently, there was an incident where “the gun started moving when it was not intended to move”

[read more @ Pop Sci | via Digg]

Autonomous, gun-totting robots ‘threat to humanity’: expert

Duncan — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 19:32:16 +0000

“Increasingly autonomous, gun-totting robots developed for warfare could easily fall into the hands of terrorists and may one day unleash a robot arms race, a top expert on artificial intelligence told AFP.”

[Breitbart]