The Inquisitr » army

All those G.I. Joe cool weapons aren’t so futuristic

Steven Hodson — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 20:38:00 +0000

With the G.I. Joe movie hitting the theaters this weekend we will probably be treated to all kinds of really cool weaponry that might seem more sci-fi than real but you would be wrong. Even though the U.S. military might have some of the coolest toys around they aren’t resting on their laurels as they are working hard to turn what might be science fiction into hard core reality.

Here’s just a few items that are either in the testing phase or on the drawing board.

The XM-25 Rifle – designed to replace the standard issue Colt M4 rifles the XM-25 is designed to use smart bullets that would let soldiers fire around corners or into trenches. The new rifles are expected to be deployed by 2012.

Aurora Excalibur – the next generation drones are planned to take over for the current flock of Predator drones that are seeing extensive action around the world. The Aurora is supposed to have a top speed of 460 mph, be able to take off and land vertically and carry 4 hellfire missiles – all by remote control.

100kW Laser Cannon – obviously meant to replace tradition guns on battleships this free electron laser uses a superconducting electron accelerator to focus its beam in order to take down cruise missiles, planes or ships.

F-35 Lightening II – meant to replace much of the current line-up of the military’s aging air fleet. At only $83 million per plane this is consider the cheaper alternative but also the most versatile. The F-35 is three designs rolled into one: takes off normally, short runway take-off with vertical landing, and finally launchable from aircraft carriers.

Battlesuits – this is probably one of the most sought after battle tech items but Lockheed-Martin is already hard at work on the Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC) which is basically a wearable computer that senses the direction the wearer wants to go and then accelerating that movement using its battery powered titanium frame.

hat tip to DVICE

Pentagon Temporarily Increases U.S. Army By 22,000

AHN — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:00:47 +0000

Washington, D.C. (AHN) – Defense Sec. Robert Gates on Monday said he was increasing the size of the U.S. Army by 22,000 soldiers over the next three years to help U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, wars he described as “faster-paced against an even more adaptive enemy.”

In a press conference, Gates said he will add to the active-duty end strength of the Army from the current authoroized end-strength of 547,000, to a temporary 569,000. “These additional forces will be used to ensure that our deploying units are properly manned, and not to create new combat formations,” he said.

The increase will be implemented over the next three fiscal years, which begins when the 2009 fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. It will also cost $100 million for the two remaining months this year, and about $1 billion in 2010.

“The department will not seek additional funds for fiscal years ‘09 or 2010 to implement this decision, and will work with OMB and the Congress in putting together the necessary fiscal program in the remaining two years,” Gates said.

“We will take that money from some place that we think isn’t as high a priority as more soldiers and taking some additional steps to relieve the stress on the force,” he added. “This is a very high priority, and this is why, frankly, some of the wheeling and dealing on the Hill of a few hundred million here and a few hundred million there for a pet project here and a pet project there confront us with ever more difficult choices when we’re trying to make trade-offs in terms of how do we help our soldiers out, how do we relieve the stress on the force.”

There are about 58,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan and 130,000 in Iraq.

The United States is currently increasing its troops in Afghanistan by 21,000. The new troops will train Afghan Security Forces following a shift in the U.S. mission to training and increasing the size of the Afghan Army to 134,000, and the police force to 82,000 by 2011.

The Pentagon launched its first major offensive in Afghanistan under the Obama administration early this month, with 4,000 Marines and 650 Afghan soldiers sweeping through and securing the Helmand River valley.

Helmand is where over 90 percent of Afghanistan’s opium is harvested and where militants support their activities from one of the world’s largest poppy fields.

Operation Khanjar or Strike of the Sword has proved costly in terms of lives lost, with July becoming the deadliest month for American troops since the 2001 invasion.

In Iraq, American forces withdrew from cities and localities on June 30 as part of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) signed by the U.S. and Iraqi governments December last year. In the weeks preceding the removal of troops, violence was at the lowest levels since the 2003 U.S-led invasion.

But it quickly picked up, with a bomb inthe oil-rich province of Kirkuk on the same day American troops left, that killed 33 people and injured 97 others, and several explosions a week after that left 41 people dead.

Speaking during the same press conference as Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said, ” I’ve grown increasingly concerned over the last year and a half about stress on the force and our ability to meet the demands out there. This temporary increase helps us address that concern.”

“It will also help us get a better handle on dwell time and boost the number of people we can deploy with the capabilities our commanders most need,” he added. “And that’s really the larger point here. It’s not just about relief. It’s about renewing our efforts to fight these two wars.”

Some active-duty soldiers members of white supremacist social network

Steven Hodson — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:29:35 +0000

There is no doubt that in a military force of the size of the US Army there are bound to be a few borderline crackpots. However I think that the idea that a fair number of them are also members of white supremacist social networking services should be just a tad discomforting.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a Alabama base watchdog service that tracks hate groups has compiled a book that contains the online profiles of at least 40 newsaxon.org users who proudly display that they are members of the US Armed Forces. On Friday the SPLC will be presenting its finding to the key members of congress who chair the House and Senate committees overseeing the armed forces. At that point they well be urging the Pentagon to crack down on these affiliations.

“In the wake of several high-profile murders by extremists of the radical right, we urge your committees to investigate the threat posed by racial extremists who may be serving in the military to ensure that our armed forces are not inadvertently training future domestic terrorists,” Morris Dees, SPLC co-founder and chief trial counsel, wrote to the legislators. “Evidence continues to mount that current Pentagon policies are inadequate to prevent racial extremists from joining and serving in the armed forces.”

Source: Stars & Stripes – Watchdog group: Dozens of active-duty troops found on neo-Nazi site.

Mark Potock the editor of the report isn’t expecting much of a reaction from the Pentagon given past experiences where the Pentagon has basically shrugged it off and refused to look into the matter in any serious fashon.

On the newsaxon.org website, which Potok termed “a racist version of Facebook run by the National Socialist Movement,” many participants list their branch of service, base location and hometown on colorful pages festooned with Nazi art and Confederate battle flags. Some say they have served or will soon be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Several include pictures of themselves in camouflage combat uniforms.

One participant under the username “WhitePride85,” who said he is a 24-year-old staff sergeant from Madison, Wis., wrote: “I have been in the Army for over 5 years now … I am a SSGT … I have been in Iraq and Kuwait … I love and will do anything to keep our master race marching. I have been a skinhead forever.”

Source: Stars & Stripes – Watchdog group: Dozens of active-duty troops found on neo-Nazi site.

If this kind of thing is prevalent in the arm forces it makes one wonder just how may deaths in places like Iraq and Afghanistan were honest mistakes or the result of supremacist hatred.

U.S. Army in the anti-malware biz – for free

Steven Hodson — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:15:56 +0000

You know for all we as individuals complain about viruses, trojans and other such nasties imagine how it must be for government agencies where people don’t care for the most part about what lands on their machines. This has proven to be enough of a problem I guess that the U.S. Army through its Research Office has gotten into fighting malware on its own instead of using off the shelf solutions.

According to Angela Moscaritolo of SCMagazineUS the tool was developed by SRI International and funded through a Cyber Threat Analytics research grant from the USARO and has been getting high marks across all platforms

“It works so well that it has even found infected Mac computers, much to the embarrassment of the Mac owners who, of course, swear that their computers cannot be infected with bots,” Marcus Sachs, director at SANS Internet Storm Center, told SCMagazineUS.com Tuesday in an email.

[...]

It reportedly helps Windows, Mac and Linux users detect malware-infected hosts on their networks by tracking interactions that typically occur when a PC is infected with malware, Porras said. The tool will generate an infection profile with all the forensic evidence that was gathered.

The infection profile report will then allow users to determine which machines on the network are acting like they are infected. The tool anonymizes infection profiles and passes them back to SRI, where they go into a repository that is used to help generate new threat intelligence.

BotHunter will not clean up machines. If infected, Porras recommended removing the machine from the network and running various removal tools – including anti-virus and spyware solutions – to try and clear up infection.

To date there have been 35,000 downloads of BotHunter.

[hat tip to -=David=-]

$50M to be invested in combat training games

Steven Hodson — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:29:56 +0000

The Army isn’t messing around anymore.

While many may have thought that America’s Army: Operations game was a bold move when it first came out it is nothing compared to what the Army has up its sleeve. According to Seth Robson of Stars and Stripes the Army has created its own video game unit and plans on investing some $50 million over five years. the investment will be spent on designing game systems used to prepare soldiers for combat.

Lt. Col. Gary Stephens who is the product manager for air and ground tactical trainers said that the $50 million has been approved through the Project Executive Office – Simulation Training and Instrumentation starting in 2010

“The Army takes this seriously,” Stephens said of PEO-STRI and its Army gaming unit, which will handle military video game requirements. “We own gaming for the Army — from requirements through procurement,” he said.

In addition to the $50 million the Army gaming unit has an undisclosed budget to purchase a state-of-the-art commercial video game system that will be fielded for training in February. It would seem like Col. Mark McManigal, the capabilities manger for gaming under the Training and Doctrine Command, says

“We are just starting on the tip of the spear of where this is going to go,”

I’ll say .. it also seems like all those hours kids are spending playing Battlefield might just give them a jump one day.

Nothing like a recession to boost Army numbers

Duncan Riley — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:00:08 +0000

US Army recruiting offices are reporting increased interest in signing up as the economic crisis worsens.

Atlanta recruiting offices are the most recent to see an increase in numbers, and potential recruits are smarter as well. The Army reported that 83% of its recruits in the year ending Sept. 30 had high school diplomas, up from 79% the previous year.

The percentage of young people who said they would probably join the military increased from 9% to 11% in the first half of this year, according to a Pentagon-sponsored survey.

According to WBSRadio, Sgt. 1st Class Fabian Byrd at the Smyrna Army Recruiting office (Atlanta) says it’s easy to see why the Army is attractive: “you have a guaranteed job, a guaranteed medical benefits, a guaranteed paycheck and you have 30 days of vacation every year.” While we honor the service of any person in the army, Byrd seems to forget a few other things, like you could get sent to a shit hole and get killed, but hey, it’s a pay packet right