Pentagon – pressnews

Billionaire Space Battle Heats Up As Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos Eyes Rival, Elon Musk’s SpaceX

5Jan

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Technology

Billionaire Space Battle Heats Up As Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos Eyes Rival, Elon Musk’s SpaceX

[ad_1] When the Vulcan rocket lifts off for the first time as soon as next week, multiple billionaires are sure to be watching. Built through a joint venture of Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., the new vehicle is poised to take on Elon Musk's SpaceX and ferry satellites and cargo for the likes of the Pentagon, NASA, and even Amazon.com Inc.Vulcan is also helping fuel takeover offers for the company building it, the United Launch Alliance. Among them is a multibillion-dollar bid from Blue Origin LLC, the ambitious space venture run by billionaire Jeff Bezos, according to people familiar with the matter. It's a pivotal moment for ULA, a once-dominant launch provider for the US government whose star has faded in recent years. With SpaceX now leading the commercial market and making i...

5 things about AI you may have missed today: Pentagon replicator AI initiative to Google Dream Track, and more

26Nov

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5 things about AI you may have missed today: Pentagon replicator AI initiative to Google Dream Track, and more

[ad_1] Pentagon's replicator initiative aims for mass deployment of AI-enabled autonomous vehicles by 2026; Spain's AI sensation: Aitana, the virtual model, earns up to €10,000 monthly; AI robots revolutionise Japanese agriculture, easing labour shortages in smart farms; California Governor advocates statewide GenAI training to navigate shifting job landscape- this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look.1. Pentagon's replicator initiative aims for mass deployment of AI-enabled autonomous vehicles by 2026The Pentagon has accelerated AI integration in military operations, aiming to deploy thousands of cost-effective autonomous vehicles by 2026 under the Replicator initiative. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks emphasises the need for innovation in small, smart, and affo...

Pentagon’s AI initiatives accelerate hard decisions on lethal autonomous weapons

26Nov

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Pentagon’s AI initiatives accelerate hard decisions on lethal autonomous weapons

[ad_1] Artificial intelligence employed by the U.S. military has piloted pint-sized surveillance drones in special operations forces' missions and helped Ukraine in its war against Russia. It tracks soldiers' fitness, predicts when Air Force planes need maintenance, and helps keep tabs on rivals in space.Now, the Pentagon is intent on fielding multiple thousands of relatively inexpensive, expendable AI-enabled autonomous vehicles by 2026 to keep pace with China. The ambitious initiative — dubbed Replicator — seeks to “galvanize progress in the too-slow shift of U.S. military innovation to leverage platforms that are small, smart, cheap, and many,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said in August. While its funding is uncertain and details vague, Replicator is expected to accel...

F-35 Fighter Jet – The World’s Costliest Weapons Program – Just Got More Expensive

3Oct

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F-35 Fighter Jet – The World’s Costliest Weapons Program – Just Got More Expensive

[ad_1] The world's most expensive weapons program - the US's F-35 fighter jet - got even more costly, according to the Pentagon. The program to develop and procure the plane will cost a total of $438 billion, up $26 billion from the last estimate a year ago, according to the F-35's new Selected Acquisition Report released Monday. The 6.5% increase is actually relatively modest by the standards of the program, which originally was $233 billion when Lockheed Martin Corp. won the contract in 2001.“The cost data in question was driven after accounting for inflation” and readjustment of the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps production plans which extend from 2044 to 2049, the program office said in a statement. The new estimate does not change the total number of planned aircraft, which inclu...

Pentagon successfully flight tests hypersonic weapon components

27Oct

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Pentagon successfully flight tests hypersonic weapon components

[ad_1] The U.S. Navy and Army blasted off a rocket from a seaside launch pad in Virginia to test nearly a dozen hypersonic weapon experiments. The U.S. Navy and Army blasted off a rocket from a seaside launch pad in Virginia to test nearly a dozen hypersonic weapon experiments on Wednesday to help develop the new class of weapon, the Pentagon said, calling the test successful.Sandia National Laboratories ran the test from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, which evaluated hypersonic weapon communications and navigation equipment as well as advanced materials that can withstand the heat in a "realistic hypersonic environment," according to a Navy statement. Hypersonic glide vehicles are launched from a rocket in the upper atmosphere before gliding to a target at speeds of more...

NASA’s UFO panel convenes to study unclassified sightings

25Oct

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NASA’s UFO panel convenes to study unclassified sightings

[ad_1] A panel organized by NASA opened a study of what the government calls "unidentified aerial phenomena," commonly termed UFOs. A first-of-its-kind panel organized by NASA opened a study on Monday of what the government calls "unidentified aerial phenomena," commonly termed UFOs, bringing together experts from scientific fields ranging from physics to astrobiology. The 16-member panel, convened with little fanfare, will focus its inquiry entirely on unclassified sightings and other data collected from civilian government and commercial sectors, according to NASA. The team's inquiry is separate from a newly formalized Pentagon-based investigation of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs, reported by military aviators and analyzed by U.S. defense and intelligence officials. ...

Microsoft Army Goggles Left US Soldiers With Nausea, Headaches in Test

13Oct

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Microsoft Army Goggles Left US Soldiers With Nausea, Headaches in Test

[ad_1] US soldiers using Microsoft’s new goggles in their latest field test suffered “mission-affecting physical impairments”. US soldiers using Microsoft Corp. 's new goggles in their latest field test suffered “mission-affecting physical impairments” including headaches, eyestrain and nausea, according to a summary of the exercise compiled by the Pentagon's testing office. More than 80% of those who experienced discomfort had symptoms after less than three hours using the customized version of Microsoft's HoloLens goggles, Nickolas Guertin, director of Operation Test and Evaluation, said in a summary for Army and Defense Department officials. He said the system also is still experiencing too many failures of essential functions. The problems found in the testing in May and June...

At Least 13% Rise In Sexual Assault Cases In US Military In 2021: Pentagon

1Sep

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At Least 13% Rise In Sexual Assault Cases In US Military In 2021: Pentagon

[ad_1] According to report, at least 8,866 sex assaults cases reported at US military academies last year.Washington: The number of sexual assaults in the US military increased by 13 percent in fiscal year 2021, reaching a record high, according to an annual report published Thursday by the Pentagon.The Department of Defense's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPR) said there were 8,866 reported assaults "involving service members as either victims or subjects" in the year to September 30, 2021, compared to 7,813 the previous year.But only a portion of sexual assaults are reported to authorities, and the SAPR, using surveys of the troops, estimates that nearly 36,000 active duty servicewomen and men -- 8.4 percent of women and 1.5 percent of men -- experienced unwanted sexu...

Pentagon Training Afghan Pilots For Deployment In Ukraine: Report

30Aug

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Pentagon Training Afghan Pilots For Deployment In Ukraine: Report

[ad_1] Over 100 Afghan personnel were killed since Taliban came to power, said a UN report(Representational)Washington: The US Department of Defence, also known as the Pentagon, is set to train former Afghan pilots in California and send them via Poland to conflict-ravaged Ukraine, Russian media agency Tass claimed citing a military diplomatic source.According to the source quoted by Russian media, this involves former pilots and other Afghans who have served in special units. "They are also offered to undergo training and sign a contract which involves the subsequent deployment to the combat zone in Ukraine," Russian newsagency Tass reporting quoting an anonymous source.However, these measures wouldn't affect the outcome of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, it added. Howev...

US Claims Russia Struggling To Find More Soldiers To Fight In Ukraine

29Aug

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US Claims Russia Struggling To Find More Soldiers To Fight In Ukraine

[ad_1] Ukraine War:US says Russia experiencing significant setbacks and heavy troop losses since invasion began.Washington: Russia is struggling to find more soldiers to fight in Ukraine, even tapping prisons, and many new recruits are older, in poor shape and lacking training, a senior US defense official said Monday.The official noted Russian President Vladimir Putin's decree last Thursday to increase the headcount of the country's army by about 10 percent to 1.15 million servicemen, starting January next year.After experiencing significant setbacks and heavy troop losses in six months after invading Ukraine, the Pentagon believes that "this effort is unlikely to succeed, as Russia has historically not met personnel and strength targets," the official said."Russia has already begun try...