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Imagine a day when a submarine could blast a target to smithereens using nothing more than acoustic energy. That’s the idea behind a recently granted U.S. Navy patent for a cavitation weapon. The powerful weapon would use sonar to generate “acoustic remote cavitation,” i.e. a big pressure bubble, that would destroy everything from torpedoes to mines. As the patent describes:

*A method is disclosed of generating a predetermined field of cavitation around a remote target in an underwater environment. The method includes the steps of identifying a remote target location, generating at least two acoustic beams, each at a high power output, from an underwater acoustic source, and controlling the generated acoustic beams to intersect with each other at the remote target location and thereby create a destructive cavitation field at the intersection of the beams. The acoustic source and target can be located in unconfined underwater space and at a distance of at least 100 m apart. *

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Adam Savage has made bullet-proof Iron Man Armor using 3D printed titanium and a flying jet suit from Gravity.

It is more precisely a real-life Titanium Man (comic book enemy of Iron Man).

The US military (Special Ops) recently canceled an attempt to make real-life iron man exoskeleton armor with strength enhancement. They are looking to use components of the system to help boost the strength of joints and to increase light-weight armor protection for many soldiers.

Joel Aud

The Mad Scientist team executed its 2019 Science Fiction Writing Contest to glean insights about the future fight with a near-peer competitor in 2030. We received 77 submissions from both within and outside of the DoD. This story was one of our semi-finalists and features a futuristic look at warfare and its featured technologies.

Less than 100 miles from Las Vegas, is the most famous secret military installation on the planet: Area 51. For decades, the U.S. government refused to acknowledge it existed. But now, the secret is out.

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The combined company, with big footprints in both the fast-growing commercial aerospace business and an increase in military spending, may be emboldened to push back on big customers like Boeing, Airbus and Lockheed Martin in terms of pricing, aftermarket work and intellectual property.


United Technologies has struck a deal to combine its booming aerospace business with defense contractor Raytheon, a surprise twist capable of rattling customers and competitors alike.

The deal would create a giant, one-stop shop with products that range from Tomahawk missiles and radar systems to jet engines that power passenger planes and the seats that fill them.

Under one roof, the companies could put more pressure on suppliers and encourage their industrial conglomerate competitors to seek deals of their own.

THE PHOTONIC FENCE:


Laser Insect Monitoring and Eradication.

The Photonic Fence is poised to revolutionize response to and monitoring of harmful insect incursions in agriculture, hospitality, government, military and residential pest control markets.

The Photonic Fence monitors insects in flight and eliminates those identified as targets by shooting them down with a micro-burst of laser energy. The Photonic Fence also holds the potential to create entirely new methods of entomological study.

Among science fiction stories with space flight, the overwhelming majority are about combat, both between spacecraft and between futuristic ground troops. Not to mention the occasional starship marine assault trying to board a hostile ship while in flight. Yes, there are a few non-combat stories, mostly about exploration, but space combat is here to stay.

This is just the natural continuation of the process of militarisation of space

Which naturally leads to questions about the space branch of the military of various nations. The “astro-military” in other words. Some may start out as a subdivision of an existing branch and eventually grow large enough to split off (such as how the US Army Air Corps spit off to become the US Air Force in 1947). Some may grow large enough to absorb other branches of the military, others may be reabsorbed into other branches. In William Keith’s Galactic Marines series one of the themes of the early novels is how the US Marines fight being absorbed or eliminated. Their solution is diversifying their mission to include performing assaults on Luna and Mars.

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