Important Innovations

  The B-21 Raider                                                              Source: Northrup Grumman Secret Stealth Bomber The B-21 Raider is the US Air Force's next generation, strategic bomber.  It will replace the B1 and B2 bombers.  Information on the secretive stealth bomber has been largely kept under wraps by the US Air Force and by Northrup Grumman, the US based defense contractor that is building it.  Now comes word from the Chairman of the US House Armed Services Committee, US Congressman Adam Smith (D-Washington) that the B-21 Raider "is on-time, on budget and they're making it work in intelligent ways". The vehicle is being called a modern military procurement miracle. Two Decades of Problematic Military Procurement Processes Congressman Smith, in a speech this week before the American Enterprise Institute, said that the Pentagon is now starting to reverse two decades of aircraft, ship and ground program delays and escalating costs with the more budget

  Flying Carriers With Swarming Gremlin Drones                                                          Source:  DARPA Flying Aircraft Carrier Rendering                    Source:  DARPA's Flying Carrier and Gremlin Drones DARPA R&D Project Stranger Than Science Fiction The Pentagon's DARPA (the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency) is working at forever changing the face of warfare.  They are developing for the US military huge, flying aircraft carriers.  The carriers would be loaded with highly advanced drones, called Gremlins, instead of fighter jets.  Military officials believe the carriers would be safer in the the sky than on the ocean where they are becoming increasingly vulnerable to long range missile attacks.  The Pentagon is particularly concerned about new maneuverable, ballistic missile technology from China. The Gremlins The US Navy currently has 11 nuclear powered carriers.  Each carrier contains up to 80 fighter jets and 6,000 personnel

SpaceX To Build Hypersonic and Ballistic Missile Tracking Satellites                            Source: Artist Image of Hypersonic Missile New, Highly Advanced Satellite Technology The US Department of Defense has awarded SpaceX a $149 million contract to build hypersonic and ballistic missile tracking and warning satellites.  The satellites will be positioned in low-Earth orbit similar to Starlink.  Starlink is SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's mega-constellation of satellites to provide the world broadband internet at inexpensive prices.  The Pentagon contract is a first for SpaceX and yet another major win for CEO Elon Musk.  This contract comes 3 weeks after US Defense Secretary Mark Espey announced that China and Russia have weaponized space with killer satellites and directed energy weapons. New, Advanced Satellite Technology The new satellites for the military will have wide field of vision, infrared sensors that can pinpoint and track potential missile threats coming in from space at

Harnessing Ocean Energy As A Power Source Source:  DARPA Sustainable Energy The concept of underwater energy harvesting by drones is being developed by the US Defense Department's Advanced Research Agency DARPA.  This could not only revolutionize naval propulsion, particularly for drone submarines, by providing them a sustainable energy source.  But also, if the drones transport the harvested ocean energy to ships at sea, there would be far less need to return to port to refuel.  The time and energy efficiencies would be breakthrough. Manta Ray Project DARPA calls the program the Manta Ray Project.  It's goal is to develop unmanned underwater vehicles - drones - that can operate underwater for very long, extended periods of time, all the while harvesting the energy of the ocean as a power source.  Four companies have just been selected for the job.  Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman and Navtek LLC are working on the drones.  And Metron is developing underwater energy

Encounters Between Navy Aircraft and UFOs Source:  stock image of  UFO Incident Filings by Pilots Several Hazard Reports just released by the US Navy document a number of sightings and encounters by Navy pilots with unidentified flying objects or UFOs.  The Hazard Reports were released under a Freedom of Information request. They document six separate incidents.  This is in addition to the three videos released by the US Department of Defense a few weeks ago.  The videos and images were shot by Navy pilots encountering incredibly fast and agile "unidentified aerial phenomena" over both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The UFOs were spotted by at least seven Navy pilots and a US Navy ship. Official UFO Sightings by US Navy Pilots The Hazard Reports just released were officially filed by six Navy pilots during the past decade.  The pilots, in their official reports, said the UFOs encountered looked like missiles, unmanned drones, while some of the other

Pentagon Releases Images of 3 UFO Incidents Source:  US Department of Defense Navy Now Has UFO Policy for Navy Pilots We live in very strange, out of this world times.  First, the global pandemic hits with unrelenting fury across the world.   Now there is evidence of Unidentified Flying Objects over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans spotted by US Navy pilots.  The images come from none other than the US Department of Defense.  The images have just been made public.  The Pentagon did so to show that the incidents are "real" and that the UFO's are still unidentified. Three Documented UFO Incidents The Pentagon has released still photos and unclassified videos of three separate UFO incidents taken by US Navy pilots.  One  incident took place in 2004,  involving 2 Navy jets and a US Navy ship.  The other two incidents happened in 2015. 2004 "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" The Pentagon is calling

Developing Customized Software to Combat It Source:  DARPA Disinformation Attacks Becoming More Technologically Innovative The U.S. Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, is launching a project to thwart large-scale disinformation attacks.  DARPA considers these automated fake news attacks and fake social media posts as a threat to national security.  The new program's goal is to develop and deploy customized software to immediately spot fake news disinformation. Experts say the pace of innovation in new means to hack and disseminate disinformation is unprecedented. Massive News Scanning and Evaluation by Algorithms DARPA is now in discussions with software developers to design the system.  The Pentagon's R&D center wants to put the potential systems through rigorous testing.  The algorithm testing/detection process will scan and evaluate 250,000 news reports, 250,000 social media posts with 5,000 fake news items put into the mix.  The

DARPA's Blackjack Satellite Program Source:  DARPA  - Artist concept of  Blackjack New Race to Space The US Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, is moving forward on an important project called Blackjack to launch large networks of small, inexpensive satellites into Low Earth Orbit to strengthen US defensive capabilities. The small satellites are more difficult targets to hit for enemy forces. It's an ambitious program that is showing a lot of promise.  For a news blog on it, go to Important Innovations Collection: DARPA's Blackjack Satellite Program : US Pentagon Concept:  Large Networks of Small, Cheap Satellites Source:  Artist Concept of DARPA's Small Sat System Blackjack Up ...