Items tagged with air force
Are artificially intelligent pilots better at taking to the skies than human fliers? We are about to find out. The final competition in DARPA's AlphaDogfight trials are set to take place on August 18-20, though virtually instead of in-person because of the Coronavirus pandemic. And don't worry, nobody will be harmed in this competition (just potentially hurt egos). Human pilots and AI opponents will not actually be flying real fighter jets and shooting one another down. The dogfights will take place in a virtual reality F-16 simulator. The matchup will culminate on the last day of the competition, pitting the top AI against an experienced Air Force fighter pilot, where virtual pride is on the...
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John Henry was a steel driving railroad man who, according to legend, bested a steam-powered rock drilling machine in a competition many, many years ago. I'm reminded of this because it's one of my favorite songs performed by my late grandfather and great uncle, and now decades later, man versus machine is still a relevant topic as the United States Air Force gets read to pit a AI-powered autonomous fighter jet against a human pilot. Things have changed dramatically since the days of John Henry and steam-powered machines. Artificial intelligence has improved machines by leaps and bounds, and every so often, we are reminded of the potential AI holds. For example, when IBM's Watson beat the greatest...
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As North Korea continues to build up its missile program and arsenal, the U.S. and other nations allied against the growingly erratic regime are looking for a way to protect nations from North Korean missiles. The U.S. has a weapon called CHAMP (Counter-electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project) that could potentially stop North Korean missiles from launching, or force them to splash down harmlessly in the ocean after launch. The system is launched in a cruise missile from an aircraft and rather than having conventional explosives or nuclear payloads inside, it is fitted with high-powered microwave generators. The idea is that the American cruise missile would fly...
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SpaceX has been on a roll lately with its Falcon 9 launches. The company has stuck to a rapid pace, launching payloads into Earth's orbit every few weeks (or more often in some cases) during 2017. Today, SpaceX successfully launched one of its most important (and classified) payloads to date: the U.S. Air Force's Boeing X-37B spy plane. This marks the first time that SpaceX was granted the opportunity to use its Falcon 9 to launch the X-37B, and it shows that the Air Force has confidence in the rocket's reliability rating. The X-37B's four previous missions began with it being thrust into orbit atop an Atlas V booster. Given the top-secret nature of the X-37B's [spying] mission, there's little...
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Residents near Cape Canaveral, Florida were awakened by a strange alarm clock on Sunday morning. The United States military’s secretive and experimental Orbital Test Vehicle, or X-37B space plane, broke through the sound barrier on its return to earth awakening many residents. It landed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 7:47am EST. Image from: United States Air Force X-37B program manager Lt. Col. Ron Fehlen commented, “The landing of OTV-4 marks another success for the X-37B program and the nation. We are incredibly pleased with the performance of the space vehicle and are excited about the data gathered to support the scientific and space communities. We are extremely proud of the dedication...
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Warfare is evolving at a pace faster than most people could have predicted even just a decade ago. Advances in technology have led to some incredibly high-tech gear on the battlefield and in the skies. In regards to the latter, the United States Air Force has developed an F-16 drone that can not only fly autonomously, it can also engage in battle with intelligent strategies that it conceives on its own. The Air Force had already been using F-16 drones as practice targets for the F-35 to destroy in training. Now the Air Force has announced fully autonomous air-to-air and ground strike capabilities that it developed in conjunction with Lockheed Martin's Skunkworks. Talk about a 'holy hell' moment....
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This spring has been an important one for SpaceX. Elon Musk’s space flight company landed its Falcon 9 rocket on a barge (though a little too hard) and then completed a successful abort test for the Dragon capsule. So far, the spotlight has generally been on what SpaceX can do for our astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS). Today, the U.S. Air Force announced that it has certified SpaceX for “national security space launch missions.”The announcement was made by Lieutenant General Samuel Greaves, Commander of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC). “The SpaceX and SMC teams have worked hard to achieve certification,” Greaves said in a statement. “And we’re also maintaining...
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Some of the smartest people in the history of computer technology figured out that one of the most powerful ways to solve problems and advance a platform or project are to open them up and solicit the collective brainpower and creativity of the whole world. Collaboration has driven technology forward and brought forth such innovations as Linux—which is the basis for the operating systems of an astonishing amount of today’s computing devices, including Android-based mobile devices. To this day, open collaboration through online communities sustains and propels the innovation of a great amount of software and even hardware. The U.S. Air Force is employing the same strategy to leap the...
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Thank you to The Air Force Collaboratory for sponsoring this article. Learn how your idea could change everything. The U.S. Air Force is looking for bright students to participate in its new collaborative program called The Air Force Collaboratory. Simply put, the Air Force is opening up three unclassified projects to anyone who wants to participate in solving some of the “toughest science and technology challenges” that the Air Force faces. Anyone can sign up by creating a profile via Facebook or email, and your customized profile page will show your activity, achievements, and more. Signing up is quick, easy, and free To be clear, these are actual projects that the Air Force is...
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We've discussed Sony's decision to shut down Other OS functionality and abandon the supercomputing market several times in the past 12 months. One of the expansions in progress even as Sony killed these programs, dubbed Condor, is now fully online for the first time. This new cluster is composed of 1,716 PS3s and, if it delivers as promised, will greatly enhance the quality of image processing available to the Air Force and Air National Guard. The system has been some years in the building—the Rome NY-based research lab first began requesting additional PS3's back in 2009. Digital image processing has always been one of the PS3's greatest strengths, some of Sony's original demonstrations...
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The U.S. Air Force has awarded a $750,000 contract to Wombat Security Technologies for the creation of a "micro-game platform" that trains people not to fall for phishing schemes. Wombat is best known for anti-phishing training games with cartoon-like graphics and names like Anti-Phishing Phyllis, Anti-Phishing Phil, and PhishGuru. This is the second Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract the USAF has awarded to Wombat. The SBIR program is basically a R&D grant program awarded to small businesses developing promising technology for government use. Anti-Phishing Phyllis and her goldfish-like boyfriend Anti-Phishing Phil teach corporate users how to avoid evil e-mails. The Phyllis...
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You can hardly talk about U.S. military and defense systems without mentioning Raytheon. The same company that introduced an iPhone app for the battlefield a few months ago has just announced a huge contract win that could change the way GPS is viewed and used forever. And if you've ever wished that you could find a signal in a crowded city or have a GPS unit with more accuracy, there's a good chance you'll appreciate this.The United States Air Force has selected Raytheon for an "initial contract of $886 million to develop a new element of the Global Positioning System to improve the accuracy of information from GPS satellites." GPS is fantastic, and it's even available on most smartphones, but...
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