Armed with Science | Providing You Information on Military Science and Technology

Ten Technologies: A Brief Look at Military Evolution — Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Filed under Technology by Carla Voorhees on November 9, 2011 at 11:33 am {no comments}

By Carla Voorhees,
Defense Media Activity

This is the seventh in a series of 10 technologies integral to the United States military since World War I.

US Army (USA) Specialist Fourth Class (SPC) Ted Trenary (left), and USA Private First Class (PFC) Kevin Tirserio, 101st Airborne Division (AD), Fort Campbell, Kentucky (KY), prepare to launch a Raven unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from Forward Operations Base (FOB) McHenry, Iraq, during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. The Soldiers will fly the Raven over Route Trans-Am to scan for Improvised Explosive Devices (IED).

The importance of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) cannot be overstated. Since 9/11, there has been an explosion of UAV technology; however, as early as 1999, RQ-1 Predators patrolled the airspace over Kosovo.

Today’s UAVs come in a range of sizes and shapes, from the huge unmanned drones patrolling the skies over Libya and Afghanistan to the 3-foot-long Raven that scans for Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). These UAVs stream video and still images constantly, providing the Air Force with nearly 1,500 hours of video and 1,500 still images every day.

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DoD 2011 NPLD Project – Wetland/Riparian Restoration, Malmstrom Air Force Base

Filed under Earth Sciences, Education & Culture by Carla Voorhees on November 8, 2011 at 3:18 pm {no comments}

DoD is funding 41 National Public Lands Day (NPLD) sites on military installations in 2011. The event encourages volunteers to explore and enjoy America’s natural wonders through outdoor recreation. Find out more about one of these projects below.

Volunteers planted ponderosa pines and forsynthia shrubs for the Whitmore Ravine riparian area restoration project. They also removed invasives, cleaned up trash, and put up a fence to protect new wetland plantings and to prevent additional erosion into the adjacent pond.

Here are a few photos with captions from our work on 24 September at Malmstrom AFB:

: Toni Neslen with the Cascade County Conservation District position trees for planting along Whitmore Ravine.

: Scouts learning new skills and having a great time.

: Mark Bell, Weston Solutions, Inc. helps haul fence rails to the far end of the fence line. Weston Solutions, 819 RHS, 219 RHS, and 341CES helped install the fence at Powwow Park.

: Christopher Chaney, along with other volunteers from the 819th RED HORSE Squadron, Airmen’s Council, 5/6 Alliance, USDA/Wildlife Services, Cascade County Conservation District, and other active duty personnel and their families helped plant 125 ponderosa pine and forsynthia shrubs for the Whitmore Ravine riparian area restoration project.

: A 450ft 3-rail wood fence was installed at Powwow Park to protect new plantings and prevent additional erosion into the adjacent pond.

: Cub Scout Pack 43, 23 kids, they planted 24 ponderosa pine trees around Powwow Park.

: Tree planting along the Base’s storm water outfall system will help restore and conserve valuable riparian and wildlife habitat.

: Volunteers plant forsynthia shrubs and ponderosa pine along Whitmore Ravine.

: Happy scouts planting their first trees.

: Happy scouts planting their first trees.

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Haunting nightmares ruining your night?

Filed under Life Sciences by Julie Weckerlein on November 8, 2011 at 1:46 pm {no comments}

Ever wake up in a cold sweat from a super-scary nightmare you could have sworn was real?

You are not alone.

While having a spooky dream every now and then is common, there may be a psychologic reason some people can’t sleep due to having nightmares on a regular basis, and an Air Force clinic is providing treatment for servicemembers who deal with scary stuff in their sleep.

U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Dayan Neely

According to a release written by Jon Stock of the Air Force Surgeon General Public Affairs, as many as 25 percent of the adult population will wake up after an intense and fearful vision brings them out of their rest. In fact, almost three percent of adults were reported to have nightmares frequently to always, based on the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM-IV-TR.”

The Wilford Hall Clinical Health Psychology Center at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, which specializes in behavioral sleep medicine, defines a nightmare as a frightening and complex dream that may lead to being awakened from sleep. These dreams are often a lengthy, elaborate dream sequence that is highly anxiety-provoking or terrifying. They may also become a beneficial habit after a traumatic event that leads to post-traumatic stress disorder and a way of processing the event. After time, these nightmares actually are reduced to being just a bad habit and involve the individual reliving the traumatic event multiple times over again.

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Ten Technologies: A Brief Look at Military Evolution — Helicopters

Filed under STEM, Technology by Carla Voorhees on November 8, 2011 at 12:34 pm {no comments}

By Carla Voorhees,
Defense Media Activity

This is the sixth in a series of 10 technologies integral to the United States military since World War I.

CH-47 Chinook Helicopter Brings In Sling Load Of Artillery Ammunition During Operation Bolling (U.S. Army Photo)

The helicopter was rapidly developed for the United States military after Igor Sikorsky, a Russian-American, found a way to compensate for the torque effect (where the body tends to rotate opposite the direction of the rotors) in the late 1930s. The first military design was designated the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation’s R-4, and was used primarily for rescue operations performed by the Army Air Forces Air Rescue Service, starting in 1944.

Between the end of World War II and the beginning of the Vietnam war, helicopter use and technology exploded, especially by the U.S. Marine Corps. The helicopter allowed for a quick-moving, agile force that could react to enemy offensives, like airborne cavalry, and deposit troops, weapons, and supplies in the field even in difficult terrain.

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Ten Technologies: A Brief Look at Military Evolution — Minesweeping

Filed under Featured, STEM, Technology by Julie Weckerlein on November 7, 2011 at 11:48 am {one comment}

By Carla Voorhees,
Defense Media Activity

This is the fifth in a series of 10 technologies integral to the United States military since World War I.

Korean War Minesweeping: Crewman operates a winch on board USS Mockingbird (AMS-27) during mine clearance operations off Wonsan, North Korea. The ship’s name is seen on a life-ring mounted on the bulwark in the lower right. Original photo is dated 14 November 1950. (Official U.S. Navy Photograph, National Archives. )

Naval mines are a mainstay of modern warfare, first used in World War I when mines laid by the U.S. Navy and Royal Navy helped inhibit the movement of German U-boats between Scotland and Norway. Mines were also laid throughout the western Pacific during WWII, and contributed to the sinking of many Japanese warships and merchant ships.

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Ten Technologies: A Brief Look at Military Evolution — Aircraft Carriers

Filed under Technology by Carla Voorhees on November 5, 2011 at 3:25 pm {2 comments}

By Carla Voorhees,
Defense Media Activity

This is the fourth in a series of 10 technologies integral to the United States military since World War I.

USS Valley Forge (CV-45): Crewmen use flight deck tractors with power brooms to sweep snow from the carrier’s flight deck, during operations off Korea, circa early 1951. Photo is dated 8 May 1951, but Valley Forge ended her second Korean War deployment in late March of that year. Plane parked in the foreground is a F4U-4 “Corsair” fighter. Those on the forward flight deck are an AD “Skyraider” attack plane and a HO3S helicopter. (Official U.S. Navy Photograph, National Archives.)

The birth of the aircraft carrier dates back to 1910, just seven years after the dawn of modern aviation with the Wright brother’s bi-plane. At first, the U.S. Navy was skeptical as to whether or not aeronautics had a place in naval warfare.

The first challenge was to prove that an airplane could take off and land from a ship at sea. The first test was conducted using the cruiser Birmingham at the Norfolk Navy Yard, where a temporary wooden platform was erected. On Nov 14, 1910, in a blanket of clouds and light showers, Eugene Ely flew off from the ship. The second test, whether a plane could land on a ship, was conducted on Jan. 18, 1911, on a second platform attached to the cruiser USS Pennsylvania. A series of 22 weighted lines stretched across the deck of the ship along with hooks attached to the plane, prepared to catch the plane as it landed. This worked like a dream.

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Ten Technologies: A Brief Look at Military Evolution — Amphibious Landing Craft

Filed under Technology by Carla Voorhees on November 4, 2011 at 2:07 pm {one comment}

By Carla Voorhees,
Defense Media Activity

This is the third in a series of 10 technologies integral to the United States military since World War I.

Normandy Invasion, June 1944: Landing ships putting cargo ashore on one of the invasion beaches, at low tide during the first days of the operation, June 1944. Among identifiable ships present are USS LST-532 (in the center of the view); USS LST-262 (3rd LST from right); USS LST-310 (2nd LST from right); USS LST-533 (partially visible at far right); and USS LST-524. Note barrage balloons overhead and Army “half-track” convoy forming up on the beach. (Photograph from the U.S. Coast Guard Collection in the U.S. National Archives)

This quote from Navy.mil sums up the importance of amphibious forces to the U.S. Military:

“At 7:55 a.m. (Pearl Harbor time) on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941, the U.S. Navy was without a single ocean-going ship capable of discharging a cargo of big tanks or other heavy equipment onto a beach without the aid of piers or cranes. The events of that moment would change that situation. Amphibious forces in the Pacific would wrest island by island away from the Japanese and in Europe recover Europe from Hitler’s grip. Since then amphibious forces have played an important role in U.S. Navy operations.”

The result was a network of equipment – tanks, tracked landing craft, and specialized ships – that brought ship-to-shore capabilities to the U.S. military.

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Air Force modernization takes B-2 to North Pole

Filed under STEM, Technology by Julie Weckerlein on November 4, 2011 at 12:28 pm {3 comments}

by Kate Blais
95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

A B-2 Spirit flew from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to the North Pole and back Oct. 27 on a mission to test the aircraft’s hardware and software upgrades, endurance and its performance at extremely high latitudes.

The 18-plus hour mission consisted of developmental and operational test points to prove that the B-2′s software upgrade works well and is able to operate anywhere in the world.

A B-2 Spirit flies to the North Pole Oct. 27, 2011, on a test mission from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The polar flight helped ensure that the B-2 maintains its global combat power capability in all environments with new computers for future growth and sustained contributions to the greater Air Force mission. (U.S. Air Force photo/Bobbi Zapka)

“A goal of the test force is to prevent a situation where an aircraft experiences an anomaly with a new system for the first time in an operational mission,” said Lt. Col. Hans Miller, the 419th Flight Test Squadron commander. “This flight to the North Pole could reveal data and lessons that were not seen in a lab or simulated environment.”

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