In the future, it won't be business as usual as the Pentagon revises purchasing policies. Plans call for defense contractors to be ahead of schedule and under budget in the coming lean times. Overall, the Pentagon wants to cut its own costs, but allow reasonable profits for industry. In particular, changes are being pursued in overhead and support costs. What the Pentagon has in mind is "using profitability to motivate contractors to reduce their cost structures," says Shay Assad, director of defense pricing and acquisition policy. As part of the initiative to better track contractors' cost structures, the Defense Contract Management Agency will be supplementing staff with 350 cost-estimate experts.

Multi-Contact is specialized in the design of individual connectors and customized solutions for nearly all industries and environments. For example, high power connectors for submarines, interfacing battery to charging device and converter. The MC Multilam Technology ensures low contact resistance, reliable performance, and a long product life.

For weapons control, airborne and defense system controls, remotely operated vehicles, and specialist defense applications. Whether you need ultra-rugged miniature joysticks, handheld (gamepad-style) grips, track balls, or custom hand controllers, Daco Scientific can provide you with the ideal controls for your military/security application and you won't have to wait months.

Prime Technology's new Non-Dispersive Infrared (NDIR) CO2 sensor is solid state based, requires no sensing element replacement due to aging, and is easily calibrated on site. The device has been specifically designed to operate in high barometric pressure environments including submarines, hyperbaric chambers, dive chambers, ROVs/AUVs, and many more custom applications.

A pioneering curriculum, the Engineering Management Program was established in 1960 at the request of several Delaware Valley corporations. In the years since, the program has met with a highly positive response from students and has enjoyed substantial support from industrial and governmental organizations.

By creating a thumb-nail-sized piece of graphene foam incorpoating nanoscale structures, researchers at New York's Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have come up with a way to sniff out explosives. The approach is 10x more sensitive than conventional polymer sensors. After detecting a gas like ammonia or nitrogen dioxide, applying a 100 mA current "cleans" the material so that it can be used to detect again.

Engineers are now using titanium with composite aerospace structures because standard aluminum corrodes when bonded to the nonmetallics. The newest alloy is Ti-5-5-5-3, a near-beta titanium alloy with higher fatigue and fracture toughness and tensile strength compared to beta-processed alpha beta titanium alloys. "Triple nickel's" ease of forging into complex shapes and heat treatment to >180 ksi ultimate tensile strength makes it a better choice than traditional alloys.

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Data encryption and decryption are routine for security applications, but block ciphers and cryptographic algorithms are still vulnerable to side-channel attacks. Via such attacks, enemies can extract secret keys by monitoring electromagnetic emissions, power consumption, and other system parameters. Fortunately, numerous countermeasures that utilize leakage-resistance protocols can defeat side-channel analysis targeted at military/aerospace applications and communications, as this EE Times article discusses.

As China continues to evolve technologically, so do its military aerospace endeavors — the latest of which are two UAV variations. Designated as Crossbow, the first UAV features stealth capabilities. The second, which incorporates "extended wings and winglets," could possibly be an attack version of the same drone. Reportedly, both were designed by Shenyang University students.

Columbia Chemical provides products, processes, and knowhow to protect steel parts and assemblies from rust and corrosion. Our zinc and zinc-alloy plating processes provide attractive, multi-color, environmentally-friendly finishes that achieve military specifications and expectations. Also available are approved phosphate, electroless nickel, and Boeing-approved cadmium finishing systems.

StL & Associates is a company based on trust, reliability, and performance! We are a broad-line distributor of electronic components, aviation components, semi conductors, and computer peripherals. Our quality standards meet and exceed the highest levels in the industry.

Smartphone app developers are being tapped by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to create mobile apps that can enhance sensor performance for drones, and for related intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance vehicles. The agency hopes to speed up development of a swarm application to fly multiple drones in unison, under its ADAPT (Adaptable Sensor System) program.

Next year, C-130J Hercules cargo planes will be equipped with electro-optical/infrared cameras and imagery capabilities. The addition — an enhanced package of the IR sensor ball on the Harvest Hawk — becomes part of the Super Scout payload — a roll-in/-out container that houses the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) equipment. It allows the planes to do double duty: airlifts and ISR tasks.

Instead of putting soldiers in harm's way, disposable GPS-guided micro drones are designed to glide into areas of interest to capture intelligence. Essentially a sensor-equipped circuit board with wings, a CICADA (Close-In Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft) is attached underneath the wings of a mothership drone, then released to glide into its target area with an accuracy of 4.6 m (15 ft).

Characterized as revolutionary, the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System received a 2011 Best of What's New award, which was officially announced in the December issue of Popular Science. Developed for the U.S. Navy by Northrop Grumman and its industry team, the tailless drone is scheduled for its first aircraft-carrier launches in 2013. Demonstrations of autonomous aerial refueling are planned for 2014.

Managers in today's competitive R&D marketplace rely on enhanced business skills to improve their company's competitive edge. The Industrial Research Institute (IRI), in partnership with the Kellogg School of Management, specifically designed Shaping Innovation Leaders to meet the needs of demanding leadership roles in promising and much more.

ULTRAPEN™ PT1 is Myron L's groundbreaking new conductivity/TDS/salinity tester. The PT1 pen features the accuracy and stability of benchtop lab equipment with the convenience of a pen. Constructed of durable aircraft aluminum, this pen is fully potted for extra protection with an easy to read LCD and one-button functions.

The U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel drone that fell into the hands of Iranian Revolutionary Guards could compromise top secret U.S. stealth technology (video). Recently, the U.S. officially requested return of the drone, but that's highly unlikely. Details on what happened are still sketchy, but according to experts, the drone probably malfunctioned and was not victim to a cyber attack. Stay tuned.

Designed to rocket at 6,000 mph or Mach 8, the U.S. Army's Advanced Hypersonic weapon successfully completed its 2,400 mile test flight from Hawaii to the South Pacific Kwajalein Atoll. With a more traditional conical design, the Army vehicle brings development of a Prompt Global Strike capability to strike anywhere in the world in <1 hour closer to reality.

Keeping Drones Out of Enemy Hands

What measures do you think could be employed by the U.S. military to keep the latest stealth drone technology from falling into an enemy's possession?

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