military

Dec 18, 2015 ∞

Laser-armed fighter jets by 2020

Thom Patterson writes for CNN:

Here's how Air Force special ops might use them: The commander of USAF special ops, Lt. Gen. Bradley Heithold, said last September that by 2020 he wants them on C-130J Ghostrider gunships for landing zone protection.
The laser weapons would take out possible threats like enemy vehicles, or disable infrastructure such as cell towers.

I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens last night (more on that coming in an article later) so laser weapons seem an appropriate story to share today.

May 8, 2013 ∞

DARPA and deep learning

This article by Daniela Hernandez at Wired is well-done and fascinating. However, this bit most caught my eye:

Half of the $100 million in federal funding allotted to this program will come from Darpa — more than the amount coming from the National Institutes of Health — and the Defense Department’s research arm hopes the project will “inspire new information processing architectures or new computing approaches.”

Make no mistake: the US military wants intelligent killing machines.

May 7, 2013 ∞

Air Force sexual assault prevention officer charged with sexual battery

Disgusting. Anything less than dishonorable discharge and jail time will be an insult to victims and to this country.