Battleship Earth, Does the Pentagon have the right weapons to fight off an alien invasion?

As summer blockbuster season kicks into high gear, big-budget action movies like The Avengers, Battleship, and Prometheus remind us that there's one thing that unites Americans: Our shared fear of an alien attack. They also remind us that when the invading space fleet arrives, humanity is not going to surrender without a fight to our intergalactic invaders. Instead, we will band together to fight off their incredibly advanced weaponry with our ... well, with what, exactly? Are we really ready to battle our would-be alien overlords?

Luckily, the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known as DARPA, as well as some of the world's largest weapons manufacturers, are dreaming up the weapons of the future today. With the help of everything from lasers on jets to hypersonic planes to invisibility cloaks, we just might be able to make the battle for Earth a fair fight. You may think we're joking, but why else would NASA be uploading The Avengers to the International Space Station if not as a training manual? Here's a look at some of the most space-worthy inventions being cooked up now.

HIGH ENERGY LIQUID LASER AREA DEFENSE SYSTEM (HELLADS)

The official title sounds rather subdued, but don't be fooled -- this is an awesome laser beam. Currently in development at DARPA, these advanced lasers are being pursued because of their ability to "harness the speed and power of light to counter multiple threats." Weapons-grade lasers are actually a reality now, but are too big to be of use in an actual fight. DARPA, however, hopes to unveil a 150-kilowatt weapon that's light enough to attach to a fighter jet. Those will come in handy when the first sally of flying saucers emerges from the mothership.






HYPERSONIC AIRCRAFT

As students of the battle of Yavin can attest, sometimes the fate of the universe comes down to a few hotshot fliers. But it's not just piloting skill that will be needed to take down our interspace combatants. We'll need some pretty high-tech jets to repel an alien fleet, and the Falcon HTV-2 sounds just about perfect. Take a moment to appreciate these statistics from DARPA:


Falcon HTV-2 is an unmanned, rocket-launched, maneuverable aircraft that glides through the Earth's atmosphere at incredibly fast speeds-Mach 20 (approximately 13,000 miles per hour). At HTV-2 speeds, flight time between New York City and Los Angeles would be less than 12 minutes. The HTV-2 vehicle is a ‘data truck' with numerous sensors that collect data in an uncertain operating envelope."

Amazing! How did the designers get such an incredible plane to work? Well, they didn't -- not yet, anyway. The most recent test flight, in August of last year, ended when the military lost contactwith the plane after 36 minutes. It was later reported that the HTV-2 literally flew out of its skin.



AERO-ADAPTIVE AERO-OPTIC BEAM CONTROL

From studying footage of TIE-fighters and Cylon Raiders, we know that small alien craft may have the upper hand on even our most advanced jets when it comes to maneuverability. So when our flyboys or flygirls have alien fighters bearing down on their six, let's hope they're outfitted with thisunder-development project from DARPA that aims to "improve the performance of high energy lasers on tactical aircraft against targets" -- such as an incoming missile -- "in the aft field of regard." It might not win the dogfight, but it can buy us enough time for the cavalry to arrive.




DISCROTOR HELICOPTERS

Everyone knows that alien spaceships don't have to clumsily lumber down a runway before takeoff -- they lift off vertically with perfect balance and then propel in whatever direction they choose. Helicopters have the vertical takeoff aspect down, but even the best designs can be foiled by ground landings, as was the stealthy MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter used in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. A Discrotor helicopter is actually a helicopter/airplane blend that can take off and land vertically, but also enter into high-speed flying mode by retracting its rotating blades and relying on fixed wings, allowing it to move like a plane. Will that help against aliens? We certainly hope so.




REDESIGNED NUCLEAR-POWERED SUBMARINES

As Battleship reminds us, there's no guarantee where the attack by space invaders will begin. In case of a sea battle, the U.S. Navy is currently at work on replacements for the Ohio-class nuclear-powered submarine, which will be set to replace the existing ones in 2029. Most of the Ohiosubmarines carry submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) -- up to 24 per ship -- and form the sea wing of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. The new subs, called the SSBN-X Future Follow-on Submarine, are optimistically projected to cost at least $4.9 billion per boat, although other estimates range as high as $9 billion. That's pricey, especially as skyrocketing defense costs have come under fire during a period of belt-tightening austerity. But hey, if the new subs fend off an extermination attack on the human race, we figure they'll pretty much pay for themselves.




ANTI-SUBMARINE WARFARE CONTINUOUS TRAIL UNMANNED VESSEL

Anyone who's seen The Abyss or Sphere (OK, very few people actually saw Sphere) knows that the alien menace could just as easily come from below the seas as from outer space. But we will hopefully soon have the ability to track their preparations deep blow the waves with the ACTUV, an independent, unmanned surface ship designed to track even the quietest submarines. When it's ready, the vessels will differ from current unmanned surface ships by having the ability to operate independently on the high seas, rather than being tethered to a surface ship. America will be ready for the age of sea drones. Will the aliens?



EXTREME ACCURACY TASKED ORDNANCE (EXACTO)

Aliens can move extremely quickly, making them hard to shoot. This poses a problem for human snipers, but not for long. DARPA is currently working on the world's first guided bullet, which would have the ability to actually change its path after being fired. A 2009 Time article described the project as "bullets that, once fired at a specific target, fly themselves into it by changing shape." This will come in handy when the invaders enter us as parasites and then silently use our bodies as growth pods before emerging in a spray in blood. Actually, the bullets won't be that helpful in that scenario, but better safe than sorry.

CROSSHAIRS

If it comes to a ground battle, we don't know whether the aliens we'll face will be clumsy prawns or nimble xenomorphs, but with vehicle-mounted CROSSHAIRS detection units, we'll be ready for anything. Equipped with visual and infrared cameras, CROSSHAIRS rigs are designed to "detect, locate, and engage shooters, as well as defeat a variety of threats including bullets, rocket propelled grenades, anti-tank guided missiles, and direct fired mortars, while stationary and moving." The idea is to detect and analyze threats fast enough for either automated systems or troops in the vehicle to respond. Bring it on, slimeballs.



MAGNETO HYDRODYNAMIC EXPLOSIVE MUNITIONS

On the ground, soldiers will have an edge on their little green opponents if they can get their hands on these bullets, which conveniently share a name with X-Men superhero Magneto and are known by the more blockbuster-friendly acronym MAHEM. (What lucky engineer gets to dream up these names?) The bullets use "compressed magnetic flux generator (CMFG)-driven magneto hydrodynamically formed metal jets." DARPA is purposefully vague about what exactly this means, but it would seem to involve using a magnetic field to push molten metal into its target.



ADAPTIV ARMOR

The aliens may, like the eponymous Predator, have evolved the ability to see in infrared. Not a problem, thanks to BAE Systems' pixilated armor system. ADAPTIV armor works by covering a vehicle with sheets of hexagonal "pixels" that can rapidly change temperature. Onboard thermal cameras capture the background and change the vehicle's heat signature to make it undetectable by infrared scopes. It will even be able to mimic the heat signatures of other vehicles for subterfuge purposes. Of course, if you don't have access to an ADAPTIV-equipped military vehicle, you can always just cover yourself with mud like Arnold does in the movie.



SPACE-BASED INFRARED SYSTEM

When you're fighting extraterrestrial marauders, the battlefield is truly global. These days, SBIRS is best known for delays and cost overruns, but we're going to be glad we spent those billions when the alien missiles start flying. SBIRS, contracted to Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, will consist of a series of satellites in both elliptical and geosynchronous orbits as well as on-the-ground data processing centers to detect missile launches or nuclear detonations anywhere on earth. The first dedicated SBIRS satellite was launched in 2011, but hopefully we'll have the rest of the system up and running before Loki opens the portal to the Underworld.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/05/31/battleship_earth?page=0,10 

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Aviation Geeks Scramble to ID bin Laden Raid’s Mystery Copter

Updated 8:33 p.m, May 4
The May 2 raid on Osama bin Laden’s luxury compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, had it all: painstaking intelligence-gathering, a heroic Navy SEAL assault team, satellite and drone surveillance, and biometric forensics.
And now this: a possible super-secret, stealthy helicopter, unknown to the wider world before one crashed during the assault.
Aviation specialists are picking apart pixel-by-pixel the dozen-or-so photos of the copter that have appeared online. They’re assembling digital mock-ups of the aircraft and comparing them to lost stealth designs of the 1980s and ’90s. Speculation abounds, and so far no one from the government is commenting. But depending on what the copter turns out to be, it could shed new light on everything from the abilities of U.S. commandos to the relationship between the United States and Pakistan.
Opinions about the copter seem to fall into three basic camps. The most-cautious observers believe the wreckage is from a conventional chopper that got so badly mangled during the crash that it became unrecognizable. In the center, there are those who think the helicopter is an Army MH-60 Blackhawk tweaked to make it quieter and more stealthy. On the fringes, the true believers are talking about a brand-new, radar-evading helicopter design.
Considering the proliferation of bewildering photos from the crash site, the conservative viewpoint seems unlikely. Equally, the notion of a brand-new “black” helicopter seems far-fetched, especially considering the Army’s long history of heavily modifying existing rotorcraft for secret missions.
That leaves an upgraded, stealth-optimized MH-60 as the most likely candidate — a conclusion that jibes with CIA director Leon Panetta’s assertion Tuesday that the 25-man strike team was “carried in two Blackhawk helicopters that went in.”
A story by ace reporter Sean Naylor in Army Times, published just minutes after the initial version of this post, supports this conclusion. Naylor quotes a retired Special Forces aviator saying the special Blackhawk, modified by Lockheed Martin, has “hard edges, sort of like an … F-117″ stealth fighter from the same company.
According to a source who spoke to our own Spencer Ackerman, the modifications might have taken place with the help of a mysterious Army organization called the “Technology Applications Program Office,” located at Fort Eustis, Virginia. The rumored nickname? Airwolf. That’s right, like the cheesy ‘80 TV show.

Blackhawk Down?

Aside from one IT consultant who unwittingly live-tweeted the bin Laden raid, reports from Pakistani sources of a crashed helicopter were the first evidence that something was going down in Abbottabad. “According to eyewitnesses, a low-flying helicopter crashed in a populated area, and as a result two houses were engulfed in flames,” a Pakistani news service reported.
One local news agency claimed the downed bird was Pakistani. It wasn’t until several hours later that U.S. government sources clarified the initial stories. “We lost one helicopter due to mechanical failure,” a senior U.S. official said. “The aircraft was destroyed by the crew, and the assault force and crew members boarded the remaining aircraft to exit the compound.”
The official’s insistence — echoed later by Panetta — that there were just two choppers involved in the 25-man raid raised some eyebrows.
According to Capt. Crispin Burke, a U.S. Army Blackhawk pilot and Danger Room pal, two of the copters together can just barely squeeze in 25 people plus their weapons and other gear. But it’s inconceivable that a single surviving Blackhawk could have transported all 25 members of the assault team. Anyone who’s ridden in a Blackhawk knows that.
More than two choppers were present over bin Laden’s compound, despite what the administration was saying. That was the first indication that, as far as helicopters were concerned, something unusual was afoot.
Then came the photos. When the sun rose in Abbottabad, enterprising photographers with the European Press Agency and the Associated Press snapped pics showing the remains of the destroyed U.S. helicopter. The snapshots apparently depicted features not found on standard Blackhawks. Late on May 3, the first headlines appeared announcing the existence of a previously unknown “stealth helicopter.”

The Invisible Rotorcraft

So what was it that betrayed the downed choppers’ secret roots? Nearly rivetless skin, odd control surfaces, a shrouded tail rotor and special infrared-absorbing paint, for starters.
“Note how the UH-60 has a large stabilator [horizontal fin] with plenty of rivets,” Burke commented. “The one in the crash is much smaller, very smooth and swept back. Strange.”
A “round shield-like affair over the tail-rotor hub is an airflow diverter, designed to eliminate the turbulence around the rotor hub, making it more efficient,” wrote “Bill” from the milblog Arrgggh!. The diverter “probably has a secondary effect of reducing the noise of the tail rotor by making it directional.”
A very clear photo of that “shield” was given to Reuters, and appear at the top of this story.)
“The aircraft skin is interesting,” Bill continued. “It’s perfectly smooth, and I have a nagging hunch it’s something I’ve seen before, back in the late ’80s” — on an experimental OH-6 “Loach” scout chopper.
To him, the paint on the wrecked chopper appeared to be a “variation on the Invisible Loach — a light-emitting appliqué film which, coupled to directional cameras, will exactly reproduce the light and color patterns on the opposite side of the aircraft. Think of the aircraft as being made of glass.”
The stealthy copter also has a “special coating” on its windshield to scatter radar waves, Naylor asserts in his Army Times story.
Combined, the details imply a helicopter design that is more stealthy than standard choppers in every sense of the term. “Such a helicopter would not be invisible or silent, but would be harder to detect and track using an X-band or Ku-band radar, and quieter than a conventional helicopter,” said Carlo Kopp, joint head of the Air Power Australia think tank.
Based on the evidence, and the assumption that these improvements were applied to a basic Blackhawk airframe, aviation artist Ugo Crisponi produced a quick rendering of what the secret chopper might look like. The components depicted in the new Guardian photos — plus Naylor’s detailed description — match Crisponi’s concept pretty closely.
Historians and analysts were quick to point out precedents for the elusive bird. The obvious example is the Army’s überexpensive RAH-66 Comanche, killed off in 2004. That bird, Copp said, featured “shrouded rotor heads and unspecified absorbent materials” just like the mystery craft from Abbottabad.
John Pike, from Virginia-based Globalsecurity.org, highlighted the “MH-X,” a low-signature transport chopper project from the 1980s that was reportedly tested alongside the F-117 stealth fighter and B-2 stealth bomber.
Based on Naylor’s reporting, it appears that a handful of special Blackhawks — probably no more than four — indeed originated from the MH-X program, but plans for a large, permanent unit to fly these birds was cancelled “within the last two years.” Instead, Army Special Forces aviators took turns training on the stealth copters in Nevada, possibly at the secretive base known by some as “Area 51.”

Stealth Copter, Clear Politics

Though the evidence is mounting that the newly revealed black chopper is more angular Blackhawk derived from the MH-X program, it could be a while before we know for sure. The Pentagon is slow to reveal its most-advanced aircraft.
Nearly two years have passed since the Air Force admitted it possessed a stealthy spy drone, the RQ-170 — and we still don’t have an official photo of that bird. Moreover, statements from Washington seem intended to obscure the issue of the mystery chopper.
In any event, the implications are potentially enormous. For one, the existence of a stealthy helicopter means we must revise upward our assessment of U.S. Special Operations Forces’ ability to strike fast and unseen, all over the world.
Second, we should take with a grain of salt all the recent hand-wringing over the supposed decay in the American military rotorcraft industry. If we really have already fielded the world’s first radar-evading helicopter, there’s less reason to worry that the United States might have lost its chopper-making skills.
Third, the fact that the Pentagon was willing to risk its most secret whirlybird “shows the importance of the mission in the eyes of U.S. commanders,” according to Aviation Week’s Bill Sweetman, who was, as usual, among the first to report on the new chopper.
Finally, the black helicopter sheds new light on the military’s suspicion of possible Pakistani interference in the bin Laden raid. In his speech announcing bin Laden’s death, President Barack Obama heaped praise on Pakistan. “Our counter-terrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden.”
But Panetta later admitted that the United States had deliberately not told Pakistan of the impending raid. That “could jeopardize the mission,” because Pakistan “might alert the targets.”
Moreover, Joint Special Operations Command wasn’t comfortable simply arriving on the scene in its decidedly radar-visible Army Chinooks or Air Force MV-22 tilt-rotors. That would’ve meant essentially barging into Pakistani airspace, and hoping that Islamabad would refrain from targeting the attackers with surface-to-air-missiles.
No, JSOC felt it was necessary to stay off Pakistani radar displays for as long as possible. The unavoidable inference is that the commandos feared Pakistan might actually shoot at unannounced American choppers. That revelation, more so than the mere existence of a stealthy helicopter, could be the most compelling news of all.
Photo: Reuters, Associated Press.
Satellite image courtesy GeoEye.
Illustration courtesy David Cenciotti.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/05/aviation-geeks-scramble-to-i-d-osama-raids-mystery-copter/all/1

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