Chile bolsters its military | GlobalPost

Posted by Matt in July 4th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Americas, Military, Acquisitions, Armed Forces, arms, Army Tanks, Blogged, Chile, Chile Government, Chile Santiago, Combat Planes, Decade, Fighter Jets, Flock Browser, Holland, infrastructure, Military Aircraft, Military Balance, Navy Warships, Related Equipment, Santiago Chile, South-America, Spending Spree, submarines

SANTIAGO — Chile’s government recently announced the purchase of 18 F-16 combat planes from Holland, continuing a decade-long weapons spending spree that some say is destabilizing South America’s military balance.
The $270 million for fighter jets and related equipment and infrastructure is the latest in a long string of acquisitions for the three branches of the [...]

Video: Pentagon’s Robo-Hummingbird Flies Like the Real Thing

Posted by Matt in July 4th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Military Tech, 1 Million, Air 1, Air Vehicle, darpa, Drone, Flies, Hummingbird, Mad Science, Nano, Pentagon, Science Division, Spies, Wings

Military-backed researchers have built a tiny drone that looks and flies like a hummingbird, flapping its little robotic wings to stay in the air. So far, the mock bird, built for Pentagon mad-science division Darpa, has only stayed aloft for 20 seconds at a time. But that short flight was enough to show the potential [...]

China Looks to Undermine U.S. Power, With ‘Assassin’s Mace’

Posted by Matt in July 4th, 2009 | no comment

Published in China, Military, Airpower, Assasin's Mace, Assassin, China, Emissions, High Speed, Mace, Military Trade, Missile Sam, radar, Radiation, Ramo, Surface To Air, Surface To Air Missile, Trade Show, weapons, Wings, Zhuhai

U.S. airpower depends on the ability to overcome surface-to-air missile (SAM) defenses, and one of the key weapons for this role is the AGM-88 High Speed Anti-radiation Missile (HARM), which homes in on radar emissions. (You can see them, under the F/A-18’s wings in the picture, above.) The defenders can either turn off their [...]