USAF handing out cash to keep drone pilots

In addition to the already $25k in bonuses the Air Force has dedicated to 5 year commitments, they are tacking on another $10k, according to Engadget. So, if you sign up for 5 more years, you are potentially adding a cool $35k a year to your salary.

SOCOM To Test Laser Weapon on Apache

Does anyone remember the Strategic Artificially Intelligent Nuclear Transports from the movie Short Circuit… Johnny 5? Wouldn’t you like to be a Pepper too? The film featured highly mobile robotics armed with small, directed energy (i.e. laser) weapons, and one scene showed a demonstration of the S.A.I.N.T. robots eliminating enemy tanks, trucks, and the like with ease. Now […]

TOPGUN Turns 30 and is Due for an Upgrade on the Highway to the Danger Zone!

‘Top Gun’ today Three decades after the movie, our experts weigh in on what’s changed. “Top Gun” is due for an upgrade. Believe it or not, May 16 will mark 30 years since Tom Cruise and company made fighter pilots – pardon us, naval aviators – the envy of thrill-seekers everywhere. Technology has changed. Culture has changed. […]

Rechargeable Armor for Military Vehicles

A Raytheon team has developed vehicle armor that doubles as a battery – a breakthrough that could power electronics, reduce engine run times and lessen the military’s demand for costly, dangerous fuel convoys. The armor, described in a September 2015 patent, works by layering bullet-resistant electrical conductors such as high-hardened steel with sturdy insulators such […]

Spray On Stealth Technology is Imminent

The possible military uses for this new adaptive technology are extensive. The ink contained within the spray embodies electromagnetic components that can adjust their electrical change through voltage-control. In addition to doing the same work as whip antennas and radar arrays, the ink could also help military vehicles gain stealth by steering enemy radar waves […]

T-X Solicitation Delay Pushes FOC Back 2 Years

Editor’s Note: It appears as though the refining of the actual RFP for the Air Force’s T-X jet trainer replacement program will take longer than anticipated, pushing the official solicitation release until sometime right before the end of the calendar year 2016. As a result of the delay, the T-X is not anticipated to reach […]

Air Force: T-X Requirements To Remain Unchanged

Editor’s Note: As we’ve spoken of before, things are heating up in the competition between aircraft manufacturers to win the T-X contract, the Air Force’s replacement to its aging fleet of T-38 Talon jet trainers. Some thought a shift in those requirements was pending, which would allow Textron’s entry, one based on their prototype “Scorpion” […]

Pentagon: Runaway JLENS Blimp Was Missing Batteries

Editor’s Note: We recall watching this “runaway blimp” event unfold on the news last fall, immediately knowing how much trouble it was going to cause and how many people would be screaming loudly about cost overruns, failed programs, Big Brother, and pretty much everything else under the sun. It’s almost laughable to think the whole […]