Weaponsblog

Just another example of weapons getting deadlier day by day! A 24-year-old man received multiple fatal stabs from Jeremy Key who wrapped the Critical Mass Knife, a dagger that is 14 inches across with multiple blades, around his wrist (like Samurai warriors or Ninjas) to pierce the victim.

The victim was fortunate enough to survive the fatal wounds from such a lethal weapon. The Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton got amazed when he saw the strange ‘Critical Mass Knife’, and said,

I have never seen such an awful looking device. It should not be for sale on the Internet, it should not be legal to own it.

Via: abclocal

The United Kingdom that intended to purchase $120 billion worth of Aircrafts from the U.S. for the Joint Strike Fighter Program is now considering abandoning the project.

The decision came as US refused to deliver any fighter source code to the UK. Earlier UK had intended to buy aircrafts from US that could operate on two new Aircraft Carriers of the UK.

Now after the refusal by US the UK is considering to further invest in the Eurofighter Typhoon Project.

In May US announced that the UK will be given access to the classified details on the conditions of strict secrecy but after US refuting from the decision it seems that the UK will now abandon the project.

Via: slashgear

RCV Engines Ltd has an important contract from Honeywell. The company achieved international recognition for its range of model aircraft engines recently and has now started developing Rotating Cylinder Valve (RCV) engine for use in Honeywell’s backpack-sized Micro Air Vehicle (MAV). The technology on which these engines are based were developed by the company a long time ago. These engines are best suited for the sub-250cc applications such as motorcycles, scooters and power tools.

These rotating cylinder valve engines exhibit great performance with minimal fuel usage. The engines are fuel-efficient and have an exceptional power to weight ratio and ability to run on a variety of fuels.

All these features make them just perfect for application in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The US Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) has developed a MAV Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration program using these engines to provide soldiers with improved situational awareness in war field.

This privately owned company exports its engines to over 50 countries and has some of the prestigious clients in its list. Now the company will supply its demonstrated engine to Honeywell to embed these engines in MAV. The engine set for the purpose has a capacity of 60cc and will deliver a power of 4.2bhp at 8200 rev/min using JP8 fuel. Apart from this, the company currently manufactures a range of 5 model aircraft engines from 9.5cc to 20cc with over 10,000 operating worldwide.

Via: Gizmag

Boeing’s new X-48B is an aircraft designed using the most basic block of aviation theory. The aircraft is shaped as a wing and features no tail or tube. If these two parts are missing obviously, there is no need of a fuselage. This uniquely shaped Blended Wing Body (BWB) prototype has improved fuel efficiency.

The theory suggests that it will produce low drag, making it up to 30 percent more fuel-efficient than traditional tube-and-wing designs. This 21 feet aircraft will undergo testing at NASA’s Dryden research facility in the Mojave Desert this year. If successful, the design will find great application in aviation and provide a good platform for heavy lifters with enough internal volume to hold vast amounts of cargo and as many as 800 passengers.

Via: Popular Mechanics

Lockheed Martin recently developed the first UAS that can transmit high-resolution broad area imaging from Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar (MiniSAR).

The technology will be useful as it can deliver four inch resolution SAR imagery into the hands of the Commanders.

During the demonstration a SkySpirit UAS soared to height of 3,000 feet and delivered SAR imagery to the commanders. This was the first time that an unmanned aircraft equipped with MiniSAR delivered data of this type and resolution.

The use of MiniSAR can help commanders in ground level surveillance without endangering their own lives.

The best feature of the technology is that it can perform operations in every climatic conditions whether it is a dust storm or rain the resolution of the images and the data transmitted will be the same.

The gross take of weight of SkySpirit is just 180 pounds and it has a payload capacity of 75 pounds.

Via: gizmag

Use of non-lethal weapons have always been preferred over other destructive weapons in case of civilian protests. Air force has decided to include a deadly radiofrequency weapon in its weapons list to burst the unruly domestic mob. Active Denial System, which was developed about ten years ago, will now be deployed into air force equipments for an air born platform.

The system fires pain-inducing beams of 95-GHz radio waves. These waves only produce a sensation of burning at the target’s skin and do not really burn them. Several tests have been conducted by the department to check the efficiency and after effects of this deadly weapons and results were satisfying. The toughest subject could not withstand the pain for more than five seconds. The weapon is much better than other non-lethal weapons like rubber bullets and teasers as it cannot be misused.

Studies and experiments predicted that it was tough to shield the effect of this weapon, as even a small area, if exposed to the beam, will sufficiently produce the goodbye effect to retreat the subject.

“Key technologies to enable this capability from an airborne platform — such as a C-130 — are being developed at several Air Force Research Laboratory technology directorates,” says Diana Loree, program manager for the Airborne ADS.

The airborne ADS would supplement the formidable firepower of Special Forces AC-130 gunships, which currently includes a 105-mm howitzer and 25-mm Gatling guns. The flying gunboats typically engage targets at a range of two miles or more, which implies an ADS far more powerful than System 1 has been developed.

Via: Engadget

Homeland Security has started to develop high-power lasers to destroy missiles and protect commercial flights.

The concept sounds too futuristic but we all know that it is possible.

The laser will be called Skyguard and can release Laser Beams of such high intensity that it can make a missile explode in mid air in just seconds.

Skyguard is a giant laser gun with some brain as it can focus the high intensity laser with pinpoint accuracy on the most vulnerable part of the missile that is usually the explosives compartment. The beam makes the compartment so hot that the explosives inside the compartment are destroyed well before they reach their target.

Skyguard has an infrared camera that scans continuously scans a 6-8 mile radius around the installation site. On finding any heat emitting device in air it scans it for its heat signature and checks that with a database of known heat signatures. If the check reveals the presence of a missile then the laser is activated and it focuses on the main vulnerable compartment of the missile structure that heats it up and destroys it in mid air.

The technology will be pretty expensive as individual units will cost around $150 Million but if the units are mass produced then the system will cost somewhere around $30 Million.

Check out the video below to see Skyguard in Action:

Via: popsci

All of you must be quite familiar with guns of different types like the automatic AK-56 and others.

But this one is totally different as the whole gun mechanism is packed inside a knife.

Seems quite strange...!

The knife pictured above is actually a gun which holds 5 .22 Cal bullets in a revolver type loader and has a trigger on the handle of the knife.

Don’t try and use it for cooking as you might end up having some holes in your food...!

Check out the video of the gun in action after the jump.

via: blogspot

Japan Defense Agency is developing the world’s smallest UAV, that is based on ideas from a paper plane.

The UAV will measure just 60cm in wingspan and weighs just 400gms. The Defense Agency will share the development and the computer programming with some private sector firms at an estimated cost of one billion yen.

The Agency hopes to make the plane within the next five years and it will be the smallest and the lightest Spy Plane.

To keep the body of the plane feather light, polystyrene foam will be used and the plane will be full of technology.

The plane will be having a built-in camera to take images of enemy hideouts and they will be transmitted back to the base station. For finding the correct path the plane will be equipped with a GPS receiver.

How much the plane will do without refueling is still to be determined.

Via: physorg

Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Jeffrey Tok and his team are developing a technology that would allow soldiers to use the right kind of anti-pathogen protection at just the right time.

The system uses microscopic metal wires that are about 250 nanometers in diameter and 6,000 nanometers long that are then bar-coded just like items in a grocery shop are.

The technology in the wires is a merger of two main parts. On is the tiny wire itself and the other is a collection of antibodies.

These tiny wires are first made and then they are layered with bands of gold, silver and nickel to produce the patterns just like the barcodes that are found in products worldwide.

Then the antibodies are glued to their corresponding wires and at the end of the design procedure you will be having a pool of striped Nanowires with a unique antibody assigned to it.

To identify the pathogen millions of these wires are floated in a neutral liquid called assay buffer into which the pathogens are injected.

If a pathogen meets its corresponding antibody then the two get attached and the wire starts to glow under a special light.

To identify the pathogen a system takes two pictures in quick succession. The first when the special light is off and the barcodes are visible and the second when the special light is on and the wire is glowing. By examining the two images the system is able to determine the respective pathogen.

This technology will speed up the procedure of pathogen detection and thus will be beneficial to the soldiers who would now be able to take the corresponding measures to protect themselves in case of a Biological war.

Via: livescience