Military Technology is Advancing Rapidly to the Battlefields

The Department of Defense is always looking for new ways to help our soldiers do a better job and to keep our country safe from foreign invasion. The Defense Department is doing an outstanding job coming up with inventions and innovations that keeps us the number one military power on earth. Historically, the best Armies on earth relied on sheer numbers to defeat their enemies. The modern military is more about technology and the number of soldiers is becoming less important.

Space Plane

Everyone that is worried about NASA funding and the advancement of space technology can rest assured that the United States is still the top dog in space and will remain so for years to come. The Air Force has been working on the next generation of an unmanned space plane. The plane was launched in April of this year for it's maiden test flight. The X-37b is a 29 foot delta-winged, unmanned, space capable, plane that was carried into space by NASA's Atlas V without the use of solid rocket motors due to the cargo's light weight.

It is the first plane of it type capable of unmanned reentry and landing back on earth. Without having to provide life support systems it is smaller, faster and cheaper to build. The robotic controlled space plane can do many things such as satellite repositioning, taking the place of a destroyed satellite in an emergency, reconnaissance flights, and many other missions that only the military know about.

Snake Robotics

Researchers at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory is expanding on snake-robot technology to develop capability that will replace human intervention with IEDs (improvised explosive devices). The Robotic Tentacle Manipulator will be able to pickup and manipulate objects including explosive device without detonating it due to improved touch sensitivity. It can move through most any terrain and debris and is capable of turning door knobs.

Battlefield Communications

The Army's Research Laboratory has also been working on a way to improve communications on the battlefield. One of the major requirements is high bandwidth data transmission. Improvements have been made in filtering, by using GaAs varactor diodes. The "Q" of a tuned circuit can be adjusted finer and solve previous data transmission problems. This means soldiers and commanders can get up to date information faster and is more reliable.

Battery Recharging Kit

Soldiers in Afghanistan are just now receiving new solar battery charging technology made possible by the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command's communications-electronics center. The Portable 62 Watt kit will save the soldiers from having to retrieve batteries and exposing themselves to enemy fire. It has AC and DC outputs.

Micro Air Vehicles and Robot Birds

The Air Force Research Lab located on the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton Ohio continues work with micro air vehicles (MAVs). The latest development is a remote controlled bird. The bird can provide local reconnaissance and remain undetected by appearing to be a regular bird such as sitting on a power line. This will be very useful to soldiers fighting in urban environments keeping them safe as they have the bird check out potential dangerous areas before they move into the area.

Deployment of troops into battlefield situations will never be a safe proposition but with the advancement of these new military inventions they can at least be made safer to some degree. It is good knowing that the Department of Defense is working to make harmful conditions better for our men and women in the military who put their lives at risk every day to accomplish their assigned missions.

Sources:
U.S. Air Force, "Air Force officials launch Atlas V carrying X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle." af.mil
U.S. Army, "Army technology expands snake-robotics." army.mil
U.S. Army, "Army research improves battlefield communications." army.mil
U.S. Army, "Army deploys innovative battery-recharging kit." army.mil
John Ohab, "Robot Birds: Designing Micro Air Vehicles." Armed with Science