The Pentagon Will Continue To Tap Some Of Science And Technology's Greatest Minds To Help Innovate U.S. Military Capabilities And Culture,

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson interacts with Pepper, a social humanoid robot, during the Clinton Global Initiative's annual meeting in New York, Sept. 28, 2015.

VOA: Top Scientists, Tech Experts to Innovate Military Under Trump Administration

THE PENTAGON — The Pentagon has tapped some of science and technology's greatest minds to help innovate U.S. military capabilities and culture, and members of the panel say they will continue serving in the Trump administration if asked.

Eric Schmidt, the chairman of the board and chairman of Google's parent company, Alphabet, said he expects everyone to stay on to serve under retired General James Mattis, if the board is invited to continue its work.

"No one has told me they are leaving," Schmidt told reporters Monday at the Pentagon after the first board meeting since the presidential election.

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CSN Editor: No surprises here. America's top minds have always worked with the military to give them a heads up on emerging technologies (Einstein and the atomic bomb) to today's leaders from Silicon Valley and elsewhere.

A Guide To Killer Robots Everywhere

Semi-Autonomous Killer Drones From Around The Globe -- Killer Apps/Foreign Policy

With the United Nations Human Rights Council debating the development of lethal robots at its meeting in Geneva today, Human Rights Watch is ramping up its campaign to get world governments to preemptively ban the use of killer robots that can decide to attack a target without consulting their human controllers first. Despite the fact that the Pentagon has said that U.S. drones will not be able to fire weapons without "appropriate" levels of human control, HRW worries that battlefield necessity will do away with such voluntary restrictions.

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My Comment: A brief but concise review.

9 Interesting Facts On The U.S. Pentagon

The Pentagon (Wikipedia

9 Things You May Not Know About the Pentagon -- History

On January 15, 1943, work was completed on the new headquarters for the U.S. War Department (the modern-day Department of Defense) in Arlington, Virginia. The massive complex, commonly known as the Pentagon, was built to house the nearly 30,000 defense workers tasked with helping America win World War II. With more than 17 miles of corridors, it remains one of the largest office buildings in the world, and has become a symbol—for better and for worse—of military might. Eighty years after its completion, here are nine things you may not know about the Pentagon. 

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Editor: Wikipedia's entry on the Pentagon is very comprehensive. That link is here.

A Robot Rescue Copter For Wounded Troops?

U.S. Navy Corpsmen transport wounded from an Army Medical Evacuation H-60 Black Hawk helicopter. Wikipedia

Army Eyes Robot Rescue Copters For Wounded Troops -- Danger Room

It’s one of the most dangerous missions on the modern battlefield — and one of the most important. Crews flying big, vulnerable and sometimes unarmed helicopters brave gunfire, bad weather and rugged terrain to snatch wounded troops from a firefight or the scene of a bomb blast.

Medical evacuation crews are some of the gutsiest people around. But to avoid another Black Hawk Down scenario — in which the rescuers also get trapped alongside the wounded — in the hottest battle zones the Pentagon sometimes grounds the medevac copters under certain conditions. Now the Army has latched onto a possible solution: replace the human copter crews with Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) drones.

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My Comment: Patient-panic problems will probably be the #1 problem in using such a system.

Absorbent Paint Could Soak Up Chemical Weapons

U.S. Army M1A1 Abrams tank. U.S. Army via Wikimedia Commons

Absorbent Paint Could Soak Up Chemical Weapons, Protecting Vehicle Occupants From Deadly Gas -- Popular Science

Syria’s regime announced for the first time this week that it has chemical weapons, and stands ready to use them if attacked. A new type of paint could potentially guard against it, protecting tanks and armored vehicles with a special chemical-absorbing topcoat.

Scientists at the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, like a British DARPA, worked with a company called AkzoNobel to develop the paint. It contains super absorbent silica gel, the same stuff that comes in those little bead-packets inside new shoeboxes and bags. The material can absorb chemicals, like maybe nerve gas, before they could reach a vehicle’s interior.

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My Comment: A simple but effective counter-measure. This is smart.

Korea Militarizes Samsung's Smartphone Apps

Korea Militarizes Samsung Smartphone Apps -- Tech Eye

Invade the North? There's an app for that

South Korea has been developing battlefield applications for Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S and other Android-based smartphones.

According to the Korea Times, nine apps have been completed with more coming.

The big idea is that the Koreans want to use smartphones in military operations and since it has a big smartphone maker close it thought it would use it.

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My Comment: Expect even more apps with a military concept in the near future.

Look At That Flipping Ship!

Look At That Flipping Ship! U.S. Navy Celebrates Research Vessel's 50th Year With Acrobatic Display -- Daily Mail

Seen out of context, it looks like a ship silently slinking under the waves, like the final scene in a disaster movie.

But have no fear, this is simply a very special U.S Navy ship, taking a 'flip' as it celebrates 50 years of cartwheels.

With an ability to drift over the ocean like a ship - yet transform into a vertical buoy in pursuit of scientific research - the Navy's Floating Instrument Platform (FLIP) is one of the most unique ships on (or under) the water.

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U.S. Military Looks At The Future

Was stealth a game-changer? Here maintainers and crew chiefs prepare B-2 stealth bombers for Operation Odyssey Dawn on March 19, 2011. Senior Airman Kenny Holston / U.S. Air Force

US Military Brainstorms Future Game-Changers -- MSNBC

Have expensive stealth bombers and cheap roadside bombs changed the face of modern warfare? The question of what technologies count as "game-changers" dominated the first of several U.S. military workshops meant to identify the most disruptive science and technology.

Much of the NeXTech workshop in Washington, D.C., looked at tomorrow's science and technology that could change warfare in 2025 — robots, 3D printing, energy, human enhancement and smarter software. But the gathered scientists, industry leaders and military officers also disagreed about how to define a technology's impact as "game-changing," even as they tried to keep focused on the future.

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My Comment: A summary on what many are predicting will be future game-changers for the US military.

U.S. Navy Caused 'Skyquake' Along San Diego County's Coastline

Getty Images

Navy Says It Caused Mysterious 'Skyquake' -- North County Times

After an initial couldn't-have-been-us denial, it turns out it was the military's fault after all.

A Navy spokesman confirmed late Friday that two Navy F/A-18 fighter jets went "supersonic," rattling doors and windows ---- and nerves ---- like an earthquake along San Diego County's coastline about 12:45 p.m. Friday.

The jets were showing off for about 2,000 family members and invited guests of sailors aboard the Carl Vinson during a daylong family cruise, said Lt. Aaron Kakiel, a spokesman for Naval Air Forces Pacific, at North Island Air Station.

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My Comment: The original story is here. It must have been impressive to experience such a sonic quake .... especially for the spectators who were close.

Army To Introduce It's Battlefield Network This October

Photo from KitUp/Military.com

It Only Took The Army 16 Years And 2 Wars to Deploy This Network -- Danger Room

In October, the Army will do something it’s wanted to do for more than a decade: send a pair of combat brigades to a warzone equipped with a new data network, and the hardware to operate it. It’ll let more than a thousand troops rapidly send voice, text, imagery and data across a warzone and to a soldier on patrol. It’s a milestone, following years of aspirations, setbacks and adjustments. And it arrives pretty much too late for the wars.

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Update #1: Army Strips Down Expectations -- And Battle Network -- For Faster Fielding -- Aol Defense
Update #2: Army Battlefield Network: Winners and Losers -- National Defense

My Comment: Only 16 years?

How HyperStealth’s Algorithms Build Better Camo

A mock-up of HyperStealth’s Quantum Stealth technology. Photo: HyperStealth

Discreet by Design: How HyperStealth’s Algorithms Build Better Camo -- Danger Room

Guy Cramer was annoyed by the cost of Canada’s newest military uniform redesign. He’d been interested in camo since the ‘80s, when he wore it as a professional paintballer. He decided he could do better, so Cramer invested in a $100 design program, spent an hour retooling the pattern and posted the critique online.

This was back in 2003, when Cramer was selling plumbing supplies and working on science projects in his free time. A year later, Cramer gets a call from Jordan’s military office. The king, they said, wanted him to redesign the country’s uniforms. Within three months, Cramer whiped them up a new pattern.

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My Comment: I look forward to the day when they can be invisible.

The Pentagon Wants A Reddit Knockoff

Screencaps of several milSuite services. In July, the Pentagon plans to launch Eureka, a Reddit-style forum. Illustration: Army

TIL: The Pentagon Is Building a Reddit Knockoff -- Danger Room

For years, the military has struggled over what to do about social media. One response has been to create dull, Pentagon-controlled versions of popular websites Facebook and YouTube. Now the Pentagon is preparing to launch its own version of Reddit, in another small step in the military’s quest to strip the fun out of everything on the internet.

It’s called Eureka, and it’s supposed to be a rough analogue to the ginormous social news site where users vote on which content rises to the top — or which content falls to the bottom — of user-generated feeds.

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My Comment: Reddit's military forum is here.

The Essential Guns, Gadgets, And Gear Of Spec Ops

Colt M4A1 Carbine with SOPMOD Kit
The M4A1 has been the standard for special operations since its release in 1994. The A1 model has a slightly heavier barrel compared with the standard M4, and full auto capability. The Special Operations Peculiar Modification (SOPMOD) Kit provides additional items such as the M203 Grenade Launcher, a Picatinny Rail System for attachments, forward hand grip, Trijicon's 4x ACOG sight, EOTech's holographic sight, Aimpoint's Close Combat Optic (CCO) sight, Insight Technology's PEQ-2 or PEQ-15 Aiming Laser, and the Insight Flashlight.

The Essential Guns, Gadgets, And Gear Of Spec Ops -- Popular Mechanics

Special operations forces wear body armor made of revolutionary materials, carry armor-puncturing knives, and don visions systems that can combine visual data with infrared and feeds from UAVs overhead.

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Self-Guided Bullet

Straight Shooter Trevor Johnston

Rough Sketch: Self-Guided Bullet -- Popular Science

“Our .50-caliber bullet can guide itself to a hit half a mile away”.

For years, people have tried to come up with ways to steer bullets, and everyone has consistently said you can’t do it. And you couldn’t—if the bullet was spinning. A spinning bullet is too stable; you can’t apply enough force to turn it off its axis of revolution. The secret sauce is that our bullet doesn’t spin. It’s kind of like a musket ball, which doesn’t rotate, but with technology added to let us control where it goes.

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My Comment: For snipers .... I guess this is the ultimate weapon.

Robots Go To War

March Of The Robots -- Economist

Robotics: From reconnaissance to bomb-defusal to launching attacks, military robots are on the march, raising knotty ethical quandaries.

IN THE early afternoon of August 18th 2008, a reconnaissance unit of about 100 French paratroopers, accompanied by a small number of Afghan and American soldiers, was ambushed by a similarly sized Taliban force in the Uzbin Valley, not far from Kabul. Ten French soldiers were killed in fighting that continued into the night—France’s biggest loss since it sent soldiers to Afghanistan in 2002. But it might have been avoided had the unit had a single aerial-robot scout, says Gérard de Boisboissel, a specialist on military robots at the French army’s Saint-Cyr military academy. That assessment, shared by many, led to a retooling of France’s armed forces. Today drones, also called unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), routinely accompany even small French units.

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My Comment: Just an update on military robots.

The Future Of Drone Warfare

A Drone-Eat-Drone World -- Nick Turse, Asia Times

United States military documents tell the story vividly. In the Gulf of Guinea, off the coast of West Africa, an unmanned mini-submarine deployed from the USS Freedom detects an "anomaly": another small remotely-operated sub with welding capabilities tampering with a major undersea oil pipeline.

The American submarine's "smart software" classifies the action as a possible threat and transmits the information to an unmanned drone flying overhead. The robot plane begins collecting intelligence data and is soon circling over a nearby

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My Comment: Expect budget cuts to put a damper on this future military/drone environment.

Touchscreen Troops

The Daily Exclusive: Touchscreen Troops -- The Daily

Soldiers to increasingly tap military apps on Pentagon-issued iPads, smartphones.

Modern warfare? There’s an app for that.

Well, not from Apple, but there are a handful from the Pentagon — and more to come. They’re being downloaded on tablets and smartphones to help combat troops complete their missions.

Right now, in transports and fighters, pilots and navigators are on Air Force-issued iPads, checking their orders and reviewing their flight plans.

And this summer, the Army is putting Droids in the hands of grunts headed to Afghanistan so they can receive streaming surveillance video from drones, scan their surroundings for threats, call for fire support and request medical evacuations. Sailors and Marines are connected, too.

Though not a nuclear warhead or an M-16 rifle, the smartphone and the tablet are indeed weapons — helping the warfighter defeat the enemy.

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My Comment: My only concern with these new developments is on the possibility of information overload. But for the moment .... the U.S. military is gong-ho to push this program.

Inside The Navy’s Newest Spy Sub

Wikipedia

Exclusive Pictures: Inside The Navy’s Newest Spy Sub -- Danger Room

UNDERWAY ON THE U.S.S. MISSISSIPPI — The Navy’s newest fast-attack submarine is speeding down the Florida coast, on its way to its commissioning ceremony in its namesake state, at 15 knots. And it’s getting outraced by dolphins.

Hours before the U.S.S. Mississippi dives several hundred feet beneath the Atlantic, its sail juts proudly into the warm, whipping southern air. Submariners allow me to see the highest point on the sub for myself — provided I can keep my balance up three steep levels’ worth of ladder and hoist myself out onto a platform the size of a fancy refrigerator. A harness hooked to an iron bolt on the sail keeps me from falling to my death. There’s no land in sight, just blue water turned white around the sub’s wake, a tall BPS-16 military radar spinning in front of us, and a family of dolphins jumping out of the surf in front of the 377-foot boat.

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My Comment: Four days on a sub .... must have been an eye opening trip.

A Backpack Radar That Can Detect Ambushers Within 150 Acres

Backpack Radar Can Detect Ambushers Within 150 Acres -- Popular Science

If you’re a soldier suspecting an ambush, you probably don’t have much time to spare, and you definitely can’t afford to be carrying any unnecessary weight. That’s why so much military tech involves shrinking whatever’s portable, and why, now, a company has thrown its radar-in-a-backpack into the ring.

The SpotterRF M600C weighs four pounds, uses just 10 watts of energy, and looks like the headrest on the driver’s seat of a jalopy (which is a good thing). If ambusher or otherwise comes within 150 acres, the system tracks it, no matter what the weather conditions are.

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My Comment: I can see them improving this tech to cover even greater territory.

Scientists Are Now Beginning To Have An Understand Of The Full Impact Bomb Blasts Have On A Soldier's Brain

Safe detonation of IED, Afghanistan 2012. Wikipedia

Study Measures Impact Of Bomb Blasts On Soldiers' Brains -- ABC News (Australia)

Scientists have begun to understand the full impact bomb blasts have on the brains of those who live through them.

Over the past decade, scores have been killed and maimed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and now new US research compares the survivors to concussed athletes.

Unfortunately the symptoms mimic and often overlap with those of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - and that is now a big problem for the Australian Defence Force.

Boston University neuroscientist Dr Lee Goldstein has replicated a typical IED blast and examined the effects on mice.

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My Comment: More research and faster results please.