We are at an inflection point in the evolution of warfare. While technology is rapidly increasing pace, it is also creating an expansion into multiple, parallel domains, and giving enemy forces more options for both disruption and defense. Technology advances are a key factor to successes spanning the spectrum from humanitarian efforts to complex anti-access/area-denial environments. However, technology is only an enabler, and mindsets must change to allow the technology to be a tool for success, and not ignored due to antiquated doctrine, policies, and guidance.

Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim)
Orlando, FL
+1 407-608-7000
https://bisimulations.com

The U.S. Air Force Academy has selected VBS3 and VBS Fires FST products from Bohemia Interactive Simulations and SimCentric Technologies for use in the Academy’s Military Strategic Studies course.

Supacat
Honiton, Devon, UK
01 404 891 777
www.supacat.com

Supacat, a UK designer and manufacturer of special forces vehicles, recently unveiled the latest variation of its Light Reconnaissance Vehicle 400 (LRV 400).

AeroVironment, Inc.
Monrovia, CA
626-357-9983
www.avinc.com

AeroVironment, Inc. a manufacturer of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for both military and commercial applications, received a contract award from the United States Navy for continuation and expansion of its Blackwing™ small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) program. The contract includes orders for multiple Blackwing vehicles, sensor payloads and refurbishment kits for a total value of $2,578,822.

NASA has successfully applied a new technology in flight that allows aircraft to fold their wings to different angles while in the air. Part of the Spanwise Adaptive Wing (SAW) project, the technology could produce multiple in-flight benefits to aircraft in the future, both subsonic and supersonic.

Solder isn’t the first thing that comes to mind as essential to a nuclear weapon. But since weapons contain hundreds of thousands of solder joints, each potentially a point of failure, Sandia National Laboratories has developed and refined computer models to predict their performance and reliability.

Sometimes calculations don’t match reality. That’s the problem that has faced materials scientists for years when trying to determine the strength of alloys. There has been a disconnect between the theoretical strength of alloys and how strong they actually are. Why?

Boeing has long used computational tools as part of its aircraft design process, but now engineers at the world’s largest aerospace company are increasingly shifting their focus from traditional subscale models in wind tunnels to computational models for the most challenging components of an aircraft.

A research team designed the main wings of the Nsphere aerial vehicle to be controlled separately and independently. The drone with independently controlled wings can take off and land vertically without runway and auxiliary equipment.

NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) are studying what happens with engine performance, emissions, and contrail formation when using different types of fuels in jet engines. The international collaboration uses Germany’s Advanced Technology Research Aircraft (ATRA) A320 aircraft burning alternative biofuels, while NASA’s fully instrumented DC-8 Flying Laboratory trails a safe distance behind, sampling and analyzing gases and particles within the ATRA’s wake.