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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Rip »

With support from the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Dr. Binoy Ravindran, an engineering professor at Virginia Tech, has designed a system that could revolutionize how military and commercial computing systems perform.

It's called Popcorn Linux—an operating system that can compile different programming languages into a single cyber tongue.

"By applying Popcorn Linux to longtime, legacy Navy and Marine Corps computer systems, we can improve software without requiring thousands of man-hours to rewrite millions of lines of code," said Dr. Wen Masters, head of ONR's C4ISR Department. "This could yield significant savings in maintenance costs."

Crunching huge amounts of data for complex applications like battlespace awareness and artificial intelligence requires extremely powerful processing. Unfortunately, many of the processors capable of this speak their own specialized software programming languages—and must be programmed to interact with each other.

To increase computing speed, microchip manufacturers in recent years have placed multiple processing units on individual chips. Take the iPhone 7, for example, which has four processors—two high-power (think of a Ford Mustang) and two low-power (think of a Toyota Prius)—to simultaneously dial phone numbers, open web pages, check text messages and take photos and videos.

That involves designating specialized "heterogeneous" processors to carry out specific tasks, like displaying graphics or web browsing. Each processor can be devoted to one specialty, rather than divided among several functions, resulting in much better, faster performance.

"Before, each processor was like one handyman re-modeling your entire bathroom," said Dr. Sukarno Mertoguno, the ONR program officer sponsoring Ravindran's research. "Heterogeneous processors, by contrast, represent an actual plumber installing the pipes and an actual painter painting the walls. Each processor has a specialty."
https://phys.org/news/2017-06-cyber-boo ... power.html
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Re: Military Tech / Science

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Re: Military Tech / Science

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Home of the Akimbo AWPs
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Daehawk »

That sniper shot is amazing. The bullet must have dropped about 10 feet and no telling how far left he had to aim. Im surprised it had enough kinetic energy once it got there to penetrate his shirt.

Im a little surprised the F35 doesn't have full support to no pilot flight. Having a pilot back at base controlling it I mean.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Max Peck »

I hadn't realized that JTF2 was operating in Iraq in anything other than a training role.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Bakhtosh »

Army Tests High-Power Laser Mounted on Apache

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An Army release noted that the service has also tested lasers on the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck in April 2016 and the Stryker this past February and March. In both cases, the lasers downed a number of unmanned aerial vehicles. The Navy has a laser on board USS Ponce (AFSB(I) 15, formerly LPD 15), which is currently operating in the Persian Gulf.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Holman »

Whoa.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Punisher »

not impressed until they mount them on sharks.... or cats...
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Holman »

Does the laser punch through instantaneously, or must it be held on target?
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Paingod »

As far as I know, all of our current laser tech is based on a steady-beam - not a burst.

My favorite part of the article was this:
Lasers offer a number of advantages over artillery and missiles. Notably, they are invisible, and the power of the weapon can be adjusted to handle a specific material, like steel plating or Kevlar. HELs can even be set for non-lethal effects on people.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Isgrimnur »

So would that be ... an indian burn?
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Daehawk »

One thing lasers are not useful for....over the horizon warfare. They go straight and thats it. Arty no problem with horizon or a mountain.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Punisher »

Daehawk wrote:One thing lasers are not useful for....over the horizon warfare. They go straight and thats it. Arty no problem with horizon or a mountain.
1) Build a laser that punches through mountains.
2) The Earth is flat, so you don't have to worry about the horizon..Curvature of the Earth is old fake news.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Kasey Chang »

Holman wrote:Does the laser punch through instantaneously, or must it be held on target?
Given the existing power setup it can do microsecond bursts rather than continuous beam. Tracking beam isn't always necessary.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Grifman »

Holman wrote:Does the laser punch through instantaneously, or must it be held on target?
Like anything, it depends on the power of the laser and thickness, strength and composition of the target material :)
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Kasey Chang »

It's interesting we're sorta rehashing the arguments from the 80's "Star Wars" SDI, isn't it? "Union of Concerned Scientists" have posed similar questions regarding feasibility of laser defense decades ago. Now, the tech is definitely there, and computing power can compensate for the rest... but people are still thinking SDI "failures".
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by xwraith »

If you are interested in how the USN comes up with carrier design, and what trade offs are considered watch this lecture from the USNA museum Manvel Lecture series.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Grifman »

Daehawk wrote:One thing lasers are not useful for....over the horizon warfare. They go straight and thats it. Arty no problem with horizon or a mountain.
True, but that's not the purpose. Right now their primary purpose would be defense, taking out attacking missiles or aircraft (if they choose to get that close) or maybe even small attach craft. Ships that don't have to carry anti missile missiles would have more room for other things - more missiles, more radar, more ASW tech, etc.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Punisher »

Grifman wrote:
Holman wrote:Does the laser punch through instantaneously, or must it be held on target?
Like anything, it depends on the power of the laser and thickness, strength and composition of the target material :)
Can it cook a house full of popcorn?
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Brian »

Roy: Our studies indicate the weapon is totally useless in warfare.
David Decker: It's not intended for use in your kind of warfare, Roy. It's the perfect peacetime weapon. That's why it's secret.
Man: So it's both immoral *and* unethical?
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Daehawk »

Army is flight testing helicopter-mounted laser weapons.

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On Monday, Raytheon said that it had bolted a laser to a U.S. Army Apache AH-64 helicopter and zapped an unmanned target at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

The weapons test marked the first time a “fully integrated laser system” had successfully located and shot a target from a rotary-wing aircraft “over a wide variety of flight regimes, altitudes and air speeds,” the company said in a statement.

Raytheon didn’t specify what the target was but said the helicopter’s laser “directed energy” on it from nearly a mile away. Unlike the computer rendering of the weapon provided by the company, the laser’s beam is invisible in real life.
The US military's experiments shooting lasers from vehicles continue with another important milestone: Laser-equipped attack helicopter fired at targets for the first time. The US Army keeps getting better at nailing UAV targets with ground-based truck lasers, but it's harder to fire accurately from helicopters. Not only does their position fluctuate with airborne conditions, but their whole frame vibrates as their rotors spin fast enough to keep the whole vehicle aloft. Hitting a target almost a mile away from the air, as the Army just accomplished in a New Mexico tests series, is a big deal.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Kasey Chang »

I was envisioning a HUMVEE with two of these pods as local missile and air defense. Hmmm...

Or heck, put them on a drone designed for pop-up and dive maneuvers, don't have to worry about the pilot's reaction time and whatnot.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Daehawk »

Drone wouldn't have the power.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Paingod »

Daehawk wrote:Drone wouldn't have the power.
You mod it to add +10 battery power, but at the cost of -5 Speed.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Kasey Chang »

Daehawk wrote:Drone wouldn't have the power.
To power the laser, or to heft the pod in pop-up maneuvers?

Those pods look self-contained to me. Put them on unmanned Little Birds UH-6's then.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Daehawk »

Both. If it was a large plane type drone it could lift not sure on power. Small quad drones no power to lift.

If the pod has the power in it just what is it using a ZPM? :)
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Kasey Chang »

I do have to point out that less than a mile is barely longer than gun range (Apache's chain gun is rated out of about 0.7 miles, IIRC). Rockets can go up to 3 miles, and Hellfires go double that.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by xwraith »

I forgot to call it "a box of pure malevolent evil, a purveyor of
insidious insanity, an eldritch manifestation that would make Bill
Gates let out a low whistle of admiration," but it's all those, too.
-- David Gerard, Re: [Mediawiki-l] Wikitext grammar, 2010.08.06
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Daehawk »

Loud ass old plane.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

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Hey, we still operate Herky Birds (C-130's and derivatives)
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Re: Military Tech / Science

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The Drive
The U.S. Navy has released the first formal requirements for a proposed new frigate design, which it is now referring to as Guided Missile Frigate Replacement Program or FFG(X). The plan leaves open the possibility the service will buy a clean-sheet design in lieu of an “up-gunned” variant of the much maligned Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). Whatever happens, the new ships will finally include a robust area air defense capability.
...
In order to meet these mission requirements, there are 11 “desired” systems prospective vendors will want to assure make it into their proposals. The most important by far is the inclusion of an undefined “self defense launcher” in the final design. The Navy specifically said it was interested in available “trade space” for a system that could potentially launch the RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) and the Standard Missile-2 (SM-2). The most obvious choice would be an array of Mk 41 vertical launch system (VLS) cells somewhere on the ship. These can accommodate single SM-2s or quad-packed ESSMs. This would be a major capability upgrade over the existing LCS. Even the up-gunned LCS concept, also known as the Small Surface Combatant (SSC), lacked any real air defense capability, making it effectively a sitting duck in almost any real combat scenario, despite adding $70 million to the ship's price tag.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

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Punisher wrote:not impressed until they mount them on sharks.... or cats...
You are uncreative:

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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by xwraith »

I forgot to call it "a box of pure malevolent evil, a purveyor of
insidious insanity, an eldritch manifestation that would make Bill
Gates let out a low whistle of admiration," but it's all those, too.
-- David Gerard, Re: [Mediawiki-l] Wikitext grammar, 2010.08.06
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Daehawk »

xwraith wrote:LA Speed Check
Pretty sure ive heard that but damn I love that story. I would love to go backseat in one today even. Anyone else think the stated top speed of a SR-71 at 2,200 mph is underrated?

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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Holman »

My parents live near Mobile and are close friends with a top exec at shipbuilder Austel USA. Yesterday they were guests at the christening of the USS Charleston (LCS-18), the ninth Littoral Combat Ship of the USS Independence class.

I've been looking for video and can't find any, but it sounds like it was the complete package of naval ceremony: speeches, cake, champagne bottle, the whole thing. They had a great time.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

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Retired But Still Flying, the F-117 Nighthawk May Soon Fade to Black
Technically categorized as “flyable storage,” the remaining single-seat, twin-engine aircraft in the Air Force inventory are tucked away at test and training ranges in Tonopah, Nevada.

But in accordance with the National Defense Authorization Act of 2017, passed Dec. 23, the Air Force will remove four F-117s every year to fully divest them — a process known as demilitarizing aircraft, a service official told Military.com on Monday.

“Flyable storage” aircraft are not considered classified, said the official, who requested anonymity to free discuss the program. This is why aviation enthusiasts may have spotted the stealth aircraft flying in 2014 and again in 2016 and again as they were taken out for training flights.

“We had to keep all the F-117s in flyable storage until the fiscal ’17 NDAA gave us permission to dispose of them,” the official said. “Once we have it, [Congress] doesn’t let us to get rid of anything, but do it in phases, like keep it in backup inventory, primary aircraft assigned, or flyable storage.”
...
“We’re supposed to dispose of one [Nighthawk] in 2017 and approximately four every year thereafter,” the official said.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Daehawk »

Hard to believe it was developed over 30 years ago and retired nearly 10 years ago. So much money and secrecy was poured into it.

I remember a fly over of one at the 1990/91 air show I went to . Pretty cool even though I never cared for it. Times fly by so to speak.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

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Article wrote:Furthermore, once the aircraft is declared as “excess after deactivation,” sometimes the aircraft can be sold off to other federal agencies in need, if it applies.
With the militarization of police forces, I look forward to stealth attack craft showing up at future riots.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by Holman »

Daehawk wrote:Hard to believe it was developed over 30 years ago and retired nearly 10 years ago. So much money and secrecy was poured into it.

I remember a fly over of one at the 1990/91 air show I went to . Pretty cool even though I never cared for it. Times fly by so to speak.
Wasn't the F-117 basically just a tech demo for stealth technology anyway?

IIRC there was debate about whether it really had a role it could fill, and then the Serbs (the Serbs!) managed to shoot one down.
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Re: Military Tech / Science

Post by xwraith »

Holman wrote:
Daehawk wrote:Hard to believe it was developed over 30 years ago and retired nearly 10 years ago. So much money and secrecy was poured into it.

I remember a fly over of one at the 1990/91 air show I went to . Pretty cool even though I never cared for it. Times fly by so to speak.
Wasn't the F-117 basically just a tech demo for stealth technology anyway?

IIRC there was debate about whether it really had a role it could fill, and then the Serbs (the Serbs!) managed to shoot one down.
It was definitely first generation, but from what I've read re-using the same predictable routes in and out of the area it was operating in was a major contributing factor to the loss. A lesson that should have been remembered from the Linebacker II raids approximately 27 years earlier.
I forgot to call it "a box of pure malevolent evil, a purveyor of
insidious insanity, an eldritch manifestation that would make Bill
Gates let out a low whistle of admiration," but it's all those, too.
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