Delivering Death In 30 Minutes Or Less

Unlike the disastrous HTV-2 program, it looks like DoD got this one right.

US tests hypersonic weapon which can hit any target on earth in 30 mins

The US military successfully conducted the first test flight of the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW) concept.

In a statement issued by the US Department of Defence, the AHW is a first-of-its-kind glide vehicle, designed to fly long range within the earth’s atmosphere at hypersonic speed.

The hypersonic flying missile travels five times the speed of sound and is rumoured to gain up to mach 20 speeds. More impressively, it can strike a target in any location on Earth in just 30 minutes.

See also:
U.S. Army tests hypersonic weapon that travels five times the speed of sound… and can hit ANY target on earth in 30mins
America tests new hypersonic missile
Hypersonic bomb: One-hour delivery?
U.S. missile hits its target 2,300 miles away at 5 times the speed of sound
Hypersonic weapon flies 2,400 miles at Mach 8 without crashing
US army test flies advanced hypersonic weapon
Space and Missile Defense Command tests hypersonic glider for possible use as conventional weapon
Army Successfully Tests Hypersonic Missile
Hypersonic weapon tested by US Army
When you absolutely have to get there fast (and bomb something)
Matt Gurney: Even when broke, America can find cool ways to kill you
Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW)

The problem with a lot of high value targets (HVTs) is the time gap between pinpointing their location and the ability to bring ordinance to bear. Hypersonic, kinetic kill vehicles would narrow that gap considerably, minimizing the chances that the target could move and escape before it can be hit.

/fewer lost opportunities, more dead evil doers

Keeping Up With The Jetsons

You want a flying car? We got your flying car right here, almost, maybe in a few years.

‘Flying Humvee’ moves ahead

A flying car that’s rugged enough for hardcore off-road driving, able to survive small-arms fire and can quickly take off and land is potentially just a few years shy of reality, according to reports sourced from DARPA, the U.S. military’s future-oriented research arm.

Aerospace companies Lockheed Martin and AAI Corporation have presented “feasible designs” to the military’s Transformer program, reports Aviation Week’s Ares blog, and have advanced to the next phase, which is to begin work on prototypes of the contraptions.

See also:
Is Darpa’s Fly-Drive Transformer on the Right Road?
The ‘flying Humvee’ gets off the ground as U.S. military plans first all-terrain, bullet-proof warcraft by next year
Flying humvee inches closer to reality
DARPA sets target date for testing ‘flying Humvee’
Coming soon: US army four-seater vehicle that can take off and land vertically
Progress to the Flying Humvee and enabling a revolution if door to door air travel up to 400 mile ranges
What’s The Point of Darpa’s ‘Flying Humvee,’ Exactly?
Military Developing Transformer To Solve Problems That Don’t Exist
Pentagon Wants Flying Humvee, For Some Reason
Transformer (TX)
Transformer (flying car)

I’m all for flying cars, but do we really need them for combat? The concept drawings of the Transformer TX makes it look like a huge ordnance magnet that, if it wasn’t blown up transitioning from ground to sky or vice versa, it would have so many complex moving parts that it would be undergoing maintenance for many more hours than it would be available for field use. Look at the trouble we already have keeping the V-22 Osprey in service.

/at a time when budget cutting and deficit reduction is the new national pastime, the Transformer TX would seem to be, in my opinion, a military toy too far

Shoot Down At Dimona

Hmmm, I wonder who this UFO belonged to?

Israeli jet downs flying object near nuclear plant

An Israeli warplane has shot down a “suspicious object” flying over the southern part of the Dead Sea, the military said, adding that the intruder appeared to have been a balloon.

The country’s main nuclear reactor is about 30 kilometres from the Dead Sea, at Dimona in the Negev desert.

“Air force planes were scrambled after a suspicious object was seen,” a military spokeswoman told AFP yesterday. “It was shot down.” She did not elaborate.

Local news site Ynet said one of the planes fired a missile at the object “which was hovering close to the nuclear research institute at Dimona.”

See also:
IAF Intercepted a Suspicious Flying Object
IAF Jet Shoots Down Unknown Object from Jordan
Object shot out of sky above Israeli nuclear plant, military says
Hot air! Drifting to Dimona, balloon prompts IAF scramble
Air Force shoots down balloon near Dimona
Israel shoots down ‘balloon’ near nuclear site
‘Balloon’ is shot down near Israeli reactor site
Israel shoots down object near nuke plant
‘Balloon’ shot down near N-reactor
Israeli warplane shoots down object over Dimona
Fighter jet shoots down balloon in nuclear plant area
Negev Nuclear Research Center

An unmanned, motorized balloon? Apparently, someone wanted a closer look at Dimona than Google Earth provides.

/my guess would be Hezbollah gathering intelligence to range a rocket attack on the reactor but, then again, the IDF hasn’t found the wreckage yet to determine exactly what it was