Tech: The Pentagon Wants Technology To Fight Wars In Big Cities And Underground

“From the Halls of Montezuma, To the shores of Tripoli, We fight our country’s battles, In the air, on land, and sea.” So opens the official hymn of the United States Marine Corps, and it covers the great scope of the American military. The Marines in particular find themselves fighting in all domains, with the Air Force, Army, and Navy each getting their fair share of air, land, and see. Yet as war evolves, and as the military looks to the future of combat, there are places it hasn’t yet fought. The Pentagon wants ideas on how to fight a war in megacities and caves. And they want to know by next week.

Megacities are a relatively new phenomenon. When the Marines stormed the Halls of Montezuma in 1847, the entire population of the United States was just over 20 million. Today, 20 million people live in or around Mexico City itself. Underground transit systems are also pretty new. While Union and Confederate troops were fighting at the Battle of Arkansas Post, London’s Metropolitan Railway began operation for the first time. Today, there are at least 148 underground transit systems in cities across the world, and with them, lots and lots of tunnels and alternative routes through cities. Fighting a war in the future may mean fighting in a giant city, and it may mean fighting literally underground.

From the Pentagon's solicitation:

As the world's population grows, the probability of the U.S. needing to conduct combat and humanitarian assistance / disaster relief (HA/DR) operations within a megacity (defined as a city with more than 10 million residents) also grows. The number of megacities, which can contain vast subterranean structures, is growing rapidly from 23 in 2014 to an expected 37 in 2025. As developing countries struggle to keep up with infrastructure and resource requirements, population stressors, poverty, and instability within the cities become increasingly likely thus resulting in military operations to stabilize and restore peace.

How does the Pentagon want to master battles in these fronts? Through technology, of course. They’re soliciting technology demonstrations in five different categories for an exercise later this summer. Here are the categories:

• Sensors for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in confined space and GPS-degraded (subterranean and dense urban) environments; situational awareness and data collection in GPS-degraded environments.
• Communications in GPS-degraded environments, to include dense urban and subterranean; multichannel, ad-hoc, self-forming and mesh networks are desirable.
• Position, navigation and timing in GPS-degraded/confined space environments, tracking and accountability in confined space; automated and/or autonomous mapping systems.
• Personal protective equipment, life support and air quality monitoring and detection in confined spaces; Emergency medical sensors for vitals monitoring with communications backbone in GPS-degraded environments; UAV/UAS for medical resupply and evacuation; life support for field medical monitoring and pain control in confined spaces.
• Military Information Support Operations in expansive, interwoven, and diverse population centers.

Essentially, the military wants to make sure it can still scout, talk, navigate, survive, and work with locals wherever they go. That may mean everything from robot scouts on tethers for exploring old tunnels, to automated translation devices for conversations in multiple languages.

Will Anybody Buy a Drone Large Enough to Carry a Person?

Attendees at the CES conference in Las Vegas will have an opportunity straight out of the Jetsons today: the chance to ride a quadcopter drone.
The 184, built by Chinese consumer drone maker Ehang, is a 440-pound quadcopter with an enclosed seating area for human passengers. It can carry a person up to 10 miles, or up to 23 minutes, at speeds around 60 miles per hour, according to Ehang cofounder and chief marketing officer Derrick Xiong. And just like a small drone, it is capable of flying at heights of up to 2.15 miles, though drone regulation would likely keep it at just several hundred feet.

If you are ready to race out and buy a 184, consider that they will likely cost between $200,000 and $300,000, keeping them out of reach of the average individual for now. Ehang does plan to ship them this year, and is preparing to begin accepting pre-orders.
“This is a commercialized product that comes with not only the body, but the failsafe system, even an air-conditioner system,” Xiong says.

The 184 can carry a person up to 10 miles, or up to 23 minutes, at speeds around 60 miles per hour.

Building a drone large enough to carry a person is not radically different from building a small consumer quadcopter. The 184 still flies with four arms and places the bulk of the weight at its center. Made of lightweight carbon fiber, the drone takes off and lands vertically and is battery-powered. According to Xiong, one of the largest changes comes into play in the software, where a fresh set of flight-control algorithms oversee the speed of the drone’s huge rotors.
The 184 is not the first rideable quadcopter. The 18-rotor Volocopter has been able to carry people since 2011, though it must be piloted manually. Lady Gaga once flew a few feet while suspended by a large drone at an album release party. In August, a Dutch engineer revealed an open-air quadcopter that could carry a person for up to 10 seconds.

Ehang expects the first adopters of the 184, which costs about the same as an entry-level helicopter, could use it as a tourist attraction or ferry between difficult-to-reach locations, such as islands. It could serve many of the same use cases as small consumer drones and helicopters, such as delivering people and supplies to remote locations or airlifting injured people to safety. Navigation is as simple as putting an address in Google Maps.
It is unclear exactly how a vehicle like the 184 would be regulated in China or elsewhere, but Xiong said Ehang is working with mayors of cities in several countries to consider the technology. Like self-driving cars and consumer drones, it would likely require fresh legislation.
Public trust is a major barrier to adoption of technology like the 184, according to Stanford Intelligent Systems Laboratory director Mykel Kochenderfer. Users need to be sure of the reliability of the vehicle’s frame, propulsion system, and resistance to hacking. Overall, it’s difficult to foresee every single possible failure.
“Nevertheless, I’m sure that there will be some enthusiastic early adopters; whether that will be sufficient to get the business off the ground remains to be seen,” Kochenderfer says. “NASA has been supporting research on future concepts for personal air vehicles and autonomy for some time now, but it will take time for this technology to catch on.”

The moment I nearly threw up at a VR demo

Today it was my turn, as a virtual reality demo here at the CES tech show went badly wrong.
It started well. In an elegant hotel suite at the top of the famous strip, gaming chip-maker Nvidia gave a slick presentation about its Shield product - an Android-based TV connected device that offers a host of high quality entertainment options, including VR.
Then, it was time to try some new VR titles.

'Mind blowing'

Overall, I've been quietly impressed with VR. I've tried various headsets in various stages of development and seen some amazing virtual sights.
At home, I'm starting to think my family members are growing Google Cardboards out of their foreheads - although I know some VR aficionados say they don't count.
The day's first experience was mind blowing. Inside a small empty room, wearing an HTC Vive, I climbed Mount Everest.
The graphics were superb - actual footage provided by the makers of the movie Everest. And wherever I looked - up down, around - there I was in the Himalayas.



Even a glitch, when my hands went through the mountain, didn't dampen the moment - that's how intense it was.
I recorded my first impressions for our radio show Tech Tent as I stumbled tentatively around the mountain, teetering over vast ice chasms on tiny bridges and climbing a vertical ladder up a sheer face known as Death Falls.

Emotional ascent

Listening back to the recording, my voice actually cracked with emotion when I reached the top.
Everest duly conquered, it was time to take a trip into outer space with a demo of another new game called Adr1ft.
The Rift VR headset applied, I was given an Xbox controller. Now, I'm familiar enough with them but not to the extent that they are like an extra hand - and of course with the headset on you can't actually see it.
Suddenly, I was floating inside a glass windowed dome above earth not dissimilar to the cupola on board the International Space Station.

Various bits of debris surrounded me. It was powerful - but the constrictions of being inside a virtual space helmet gave the visuals a tighter window than I had expected.
The developer, Adam Orth, is passionate about VR. He started to tell me that Adr1ft was based on personal experience.

Space quest

"Have you been into space?" I asked, as I sat through the tuition video - although I have to admit by the time it had finished I'd already forgotten which buttons did what, and I was also distracted by trying to explain what was around me for the radio show.
"No. It was… metaphorical," he answered.
But before I could find out what he meant, suddenly, I found I just couldn't move.



Nothing responded as I expected. I couldn't even get to the space ship hatch to get outside and start my mission. I started to feel very hot and very disorientated. I was tumbling around, bumping into walls and debris and no longer knew which way was up. My virtual space helmet visor was cracking.
Within about 30 seconds I wanted to rip the helmet off and run to the bathroom.
I asked to stop.
Adam was totally thrown.
"Let me just get you out of the ship…." he said, taking the control from my hands.
But it was too much - I had to remove the headset.
He looked genuinely crushed and I felt terrible.
"We've never had this reaction before," he said.
He started pressing buttons and his face lit up.
"The controller is configured wrong!" he said.
"No wonder you couldn't do it."

 Broken illusion

I'm not sure whether this was a polite ruse to save my dignity.
"I still don't think I feel very confident about continuing," I said sadly.
There was a long pause.
"I'm sorry…" I tried.
"Would you tell me about your inspiration for the game?"
He didn't respond.
I sensed my time was up. After some small talk we said a polite goodbye and Mr Orth did ask if I wanted to continue, but I think we both knew the moment had passed. And I was seriously worried about throwing up.

I left the suite, immediately took a wrong turn and found myself totally lost in the labyrinth that is the average Las Vegas hotel.
When I finally did get outside, I walked the wrong way up the strip in the pouring rain. The disorientation stayed with me for about half an hour afterwards, and I felt too nauseous to get in a taxi.
Now - it could be that I'm just not cut out for VR gaming. It could also be that I'm nursing a winter cold and I'm not fighting fit for space travel.
But now I have experienced first-hand the weirdness that VR can induce - seemingly very suddenly - and I didn't like it. I am in a very small minority, I am told, and I hadn't felt it before.

"There's always going to be a small percentage of the population that gets motion sickness, there's no way around that," said Brian Blau from the tech research firm Gartner.
"But for most people, it usually won't be a problem.
"For the most part, when there's motion sickness it's caused by the app. Developers have to work hard to avoid types of situations that cause the problem.
"Making VR is not easy, it will take time and experience."
My experience hasn't put me off virtual reality, but it has made me cautious.
And I guess my future career as an astronaut is dead in the water.

HTC Vive virtual reality headset gets upgraded - CES 2016

Taiwanese tech firm HTC has revealed changes to its forthcoming virtual reality headset at the CES tech show.

The Vive's release was delayed after what chief executive Cher Wang described as a "very, very big technological breakthrough".
This has been revealed to be a camera system that allows the wearer to see objects in the physical room around them, helping to avoid collisions.
Some have questioned whether the device will be affordable, though.
By pressing a button on a handheld controller, the user can see objects near them ghosted in to the virtual reality environment.
This merging of physical and digital is intended as a safety feature - and a solution to one of the practical problems facing VR.
HTC plans to launch the Vive in April.
Pre-orders for a rival PC-powered headset, the Rift by Oculus, are set to begin on Wednesday. However, the Facebook-owned firm has yet to reveal when they will be delivered.

The other major headset on show at the Vegas event is the PlayStation VR, which works with Sony's games console.

'New era'

"For too long, the promise of virtual reality has been little more than a promise," said Ms Wang.
"Today we stand on the precipice of a new era. Vive is creating a world where the only limit is human imagination."
The headset's improvements over a version revealed in February include:

• A front-facing camera, so the user can view the world around them when desired
• A redesign of the headset and strap to make them more comfortable
• Interchangeable foam inserts and "nose gaskets" to better fit the shape of the wearer's face
• A brighter display with better clarity than before
• Handheld controllers feature a range of updates including textured buttons, grip pads and softer edges

HTC would not reveal any details on pricing, but when pushed it acknowledged the cost might prove a barrier to mass-market adoption.
"It is a very good experience but if you already have, say a PlayStation, then PlayStation VR is going to be a quicker and cheaper way to get into it," said Stuart Miles, editor of tech site Pocket-lint.

Analysis: Jane Wakefield, Technology reporter

Today, in Vegas, I stood on the deck of a shipwreck and watched a blue whale float past - all in the comfort of a hotel suite.
I was trying out HTC's new, improved virtual reality headset and it was quite an experience.
The ability for 360-degree viewing makes it very immersive and the content is compelling. But whether I would invest in it is another matter.
At Christmas, my children played around with the much cheaper and currently available Google Cardboard and while that is a totally different experience it seemed to satisfy their immediate VR needs.

Vying for VR

Competition in the virtual reality market is primed to be fierce in 2016, according to Michael Goodman of Strategy Analytics.
"This is like a bunch of competitors, right at the starting line, eying each other just before the gun goes off," he said.
Attempts to popularise VR flopped in the 1990s, but Mr Goodman said that a positive sign this time was that several content-producing firms had already announced VR titles and franchises before the headsets had gone on sale.
"That's really unprecedented in the media entertainment space," he added.

Fitness gadgets

HTC also unveiled a trio of health-related devices as part of a tie-up with the fitness specialist Under Armour.
They will be sold together for $400 (£270) in a product titled HealthBox.
The first is the UA Band, an all-day wristband for tracking activity, exercise and sleep.
The second, the UA Heart Rate monitor, is designed to be strapped to the wearer's chest during workouts in order to detect heartbeats and calculate calories burned.
Finally, there is the UA Scale, a wi-fi connected set of scales which sync with a companion app so that users can track weight fluctuations over time.
"There is nothing amazingly new here," remarked Mr Miles.
"Rather, it is the sum of its parts and some will like the ease of a $400 box set for health and fitness."

Are Islamic State Missiles A Threat To RAF

We now know that they have at least the technology, if not the ability, to shoot down aircraft.
But how concerning is this for the coalition planes flying bombing missions over Syria and Iraq?
Will IS actually be able to shoot down US, French or British fighter jets?

Combat pilots can send out chaff and flares to evade missiles

The RAF Tornados and Typhoons fly at around 20,000 feet. Drones operate at a similar altitude. Shoulder-borne surface-to-air missiles, MANPADS, have a range of 12,000 feet, putting coalition aircraft out of reach.
The main threat therefore, would be to helicopters or during an aircraft's take-off and landing - the point at which they are most vulnerable.

Video: Inside IS Weapons Lab

During operations in Afghanistan, guards, usually from the RAF regiment, would patrol and secure the perimeter of Kandahar and Bastion airfields to prevent Taliban insurgents from targeting planes.
Surveillance balloons would keep watch over the bases and surrounding areas too.
This precaution isn't necessary during current anti-IS operations because all aircraft are stationed inside friendly territory: Cyprus, Turkey, Kuwait, Jordan, UAE and aircraft carriers in the Gulf.
Heightened airfield security is in practice, however, because of the situation.
If an aircraft is targeted by a surface-to-air missile, it has a suite of defensive options it could use to divert the attack.
Onboard detection systems will identify the MANPAD radar before a missile is even launched, giving the pilot time to take evasive action or prepare for an attack.
If a missile is fired, the pilot could send out chaff and flares.
Chaff is basically tin foil, cut into thousands of small pieces. It reflects radar signals and effectively hides the aircraft in an electro-magnetic cloud, confusing the tracking mechanism on the radar-guided missile.

Video: Islamic State's Driverless Car Bomb

Flares are effective against infrared-guided missiles. These weapons seek a heat source, so they are attracted to the hot spots on a plane, in particular the jet engine nozzles and exhaust.
One of the features of stealth aircraft for instance, is a low heat signature.
Flares create sudden bursts of intense heat, hotter than anything the aircraft is giving off itself. This acts as a decoy to the missile, again confusing its tracking system and, ideally, diverting the threat away.
A classic manoeuvre is to fire off the multiple flares and chaff then make a rapid turn away from the threat, and reduce engine power to lower the thermal signature of the aircraft.
Commercial aircraft don't have these defence measures, but having this weapon in Raqqa is one thing, getting it to and using it at a major European airport against an international airline, is some leaps away for IS yet.
It's all very well obtaining a surface-to-air missile system, but you need to know how to operate it. Just because you own an F1 car, doesn't mean you can drive it properly.
The video obtained by Sky News doesn't show Islamic State fighters actually using the shoulder borne surface-to-air missile, but we do see them demonstrate a worryingly advanced knowledge of the way it is put together, and that, at the very least, suggests a degree of competency.
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Mark Zuckerberg Reveals Plan For A.I. Butler

 

The Facebook boss wants an artificial intelligence system in his home which could let friends in when they ring the doorbell.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has said he wants to build an artificially intelligent assistant to help him at home and work.

Mr Zuckerberg, who commits to a new personal challenge every year, revealed his plan in a Facebook post.
"You can think of it kind of like Jarvis in Iron Man," he wrote, referring to the artificially intelligent butler who appears in the Marvel comic books and films.
Mr Zuckerberg said he would start the project by exploring existing technology, and then begin teaching the technology to understand his voice so it can learn to control everything in his home, such as music, lights and temperature.
His plan also includes teaching the assistant to let his friends into his home by looking at their faces when they ring the doorbell.

Video: Zuckerberg On Hollywood Portrayal

Mr Zuckerberg also wrote in the post that he wants the assistant to visualise data to support him at work.
He said: "This should be a fun intellectual challenge to code this for myself.
"I'm looking forward to sharing what I learn over the course of the year."

Video: Zuckerberg Inspired By New Baby

Other challenges Mr Zuckerberg has taken on in recent years have included reading two books every month and learning Mandarin.

The Top Five (5) Most Dangerous Airlines in the World

 

The past couple of years have not been good for aviation, at least not from a PR perspective. From the botched landing of Asiana flight 214 in late 2013, to the fatal crashes of not one, but two Malaysia Airlines 777s in 2014, to the tragic loss at sea of an Indonesia AirAsia plane just a few months ago, it seems like there's a major plane crash every time you turn on the news.

The good news is that in spite of how dangerous flying might seem to be, global aviation safety continues to improve, overall, year-over-year. The bad news? None of the world's most dangerous airlines make headlines, which means you may inadvertently board one of their planes without knowing.

Indonesia's Lion Air is one of the world's most dangerous airlines. Aero Icarus via Wikimedia Commons

1.  Lion Air

Although Indonesia AirAsia has come under a great deal of scrutiny since flight QZ8501 crashed in late 2014, it is not Indonesia's most dangerous, even if its overall safety rating prevents it from ever flying to the United States or European Union, a ban shared by fellow Indonesian carriers Garuda Indonesia, KALstar Aviation and Sriwijaya Air.
No, that dubious honor goes to Lion Air, who has suffered many hull losses during its time in operation, although only one of them ever made major headlines.

This is all that remains of doomed Nepal Airlines flight 183. Krish Dulal via Wikimedia Commons

2.  Nepal Airlines

It's difficult not to have empathy for pilots who land jets in Nepal, what with the Himalayas being there and all – some planes are bound to be less lucky than others. This is unfortunately true not only anecdotally but in reality, with Nepal Airlines in particular being dangerous.
Having experienced nearly a dozen fatal accidents in the past three decades, in spite of a relatively modest flight schedule, Nepal Airlines gets just one star (out of a potential seven) from AirlineRatings.com, a site which ranks airline safety using a number of metrics.

Afghanistan's Kam Air is one of the easiest dangerous airlines to avoid. Karla Marshall via Wikimedia Commons

3.  Kam Air

The only thing less likely than having heard about Kam Air is having the opportunity (or need, as it were) to fly it – based in Afghanistan, Kam Air is not an airline the average backpacker would fly these days, unless that backpack is owned by the U.S. military. Kam Air has only been in operation for a decade, but has already experienced fatal accidents resulting in more than 100 passenger deaths.

Tara Air operates exclusively within the Himalaya region of Nepal. Solundir via Wikimedia Commons

4.  Tara Air

Tara Air maintains just as low a profile, internationally speaking, as Kam Air, although it operates in Nepal instead of Afghanistan. Although only one Tara Air flight has resulted in passenger fatalities, the airline has only existed for six years, which raises serious questions about its overall safety.
Tara Air is relatively easy for most travelers to avoid, since it operates exclusively to rural destinations in Nepal, but if you want to explore the foothills of the Himalaya, and don't have the time to endure the long overland journey from Kathmandu, you may find yourself with little choice but to fly Tara Air.

SCAT's planes might not look like its namesake, but the airline's safety record does. Maarten Visser via Wikimedia Commons

5.  SCAT Airlines

Kazakhstan-based SCAT Airlines' name doesn't do it any favors, even if you except the fact that its name is an acronym for something rather innocuous: "Special Cargo Air Transport." Unfortunately, SCAT's air record is just as smelly as what you think of when you first hear its name, but not because of how many fatal crashes it's suffered (just one) since it began operations in 1997.
Rather, the European Commission's decision to blacklist SCAT stems from an overall lack of confidence in its regulatory processes, which has spilled over onto other Kazakh airlines.

Tech: Russian Scientists Develop Quadcopter That Can Be Controlled By Thoughts

Thanks to the hard work of a few Russian scientists, everyone might soon be able to use the power of telekinesis.

They’ve created a special quadcopter that doesn’t need external controls as it can be operated with the power of thought. The user needs to put on a special helmet that can read human thoughts and translate them into machine-readable instructions, telling the copter how high and far to fly.

The project was financed by Russia’s Foundation for Advanced Research, an organisation that supports research programs in the interest of national defense. Neurobotics, a Zelenograd-based company, worked on the copter’s design for many years before developing a successful prototype. “Commands, or ‘conditions’ as we call them, are generated by the sensors on the head of an operator,” Neurobotics director Vladimir Konyshev explained. “The person thinks about certain actions at right moments which the system then recognises and identifies.”

One of the most notable features of the technology is that it allows the user to multitask. “It is important that the demonstrator who controls the copter can do something else at the same time,” he added. “Only then we can talk about a technology that can be used for military purposes.” So the scientists who are currently testing the device are able to control it while going about other activities simultaneously.

According to Vitaliy Davidov of the Fund of Perspective Research Development of the Russian Federation, the technology is important because it has many other applications apart from controlling drones or copters. “The possibilities for usage of the neurointerface are also very interesting and does not have to be exclusively used for the copter,” he said.

Air Drop Warns Ramadi Residents To Leave

The Iraqi military leaflets advised people living in the city that they should depart within 72 hours.

An army officer told Reuters: "It is an indication that a major military operation to retake the city centre will start soon."
 
Last week, Iraqi armed forces said they had made major advances in the vicinity of Ramadi and were now operating on its edge.
They took a key military base from fighters on the western edge of the city after attacking them on two fronts.

Analysts estimate there are between 250 and 300 IS militants in the centre of Ramadi.
The Iraqi forces have been backed up in their fight in Anbar province by coalition airstrikes.
RAF Tornados have been involved in providing close air support in and around Ramadi.

It is not known if coalition jets are likely to be involved in any future planned operation.
The United States and its allies staged 20 strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria on Friday, including one near the Iraqi city of Fallujah.
The US admitted the latter strike is being investigated as a possible friendly fire incident.

The vast majority of Friday's strikes were carried out against IS in Iraq, with targets near five other cities including Ramadi involved.
Iraq's defence minister Khaled al Obeidi predicted on Saturday that security forces would retake full control of Ramadi by the end of the year.

Kurdish Forces 'Need Ammunition' To Fight IS

On the People's Protection Units' (YPG) most forward position in their fight against Islamic State (IS), a Russian-made Mosin-Nagant bolt-action rifle from 1940 sits in the hands of an 18-year-old fighter.

It may lack the sophistication that is needed to fight IS in the Rojava, but he already handles it with experience.

The battered assortment of AK-47s slung on the shoulders of young men and women in the Kurdish militia group are also capable and effective.
Behind them, a 14.5mm KVPT heavy machine gun is mounted on the ubiquitous Toyota pick-up seen across the Middle East.

It spits heavy rounds in short bursts at a far-off IS position. Like all the weapons the Kurdish militia are wielding it is a crude and simple gun for waging war.
In front of them, IS are relying on snipers and 50mm mortars.

Breaking News: Syria Resolution Adopted By UN Security Council

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution aimed at establishing peace in Syria.

The document, approved by the United States, Russia, China, France, the UK and the 10 other nations, endorses an international roadmap for a peace process in the war-torn country.

Diplomats say it will endorse the previously agreed timetable for creating a transitional government in Syria and the holding of UN-monitored elections.

All parties will be expected to "immediately cease any attacks against civilians and civilian objects".

The text of the resolution also says the "Syrian people will decide the future of Syria".

Fierce Wildfires In Australia Destroy Homes

Firefighters in Australia have faced challenging conditions as they tackle more than 300 blazes near Melbourne.

Helicopter footage showed large buildings engulfed in flames, with residents forced to hurriedly leave their homes with any belongings that were close to hand.

Searing temperatures in excess of 40C (104F) - coupled with strong winds - have made it difficult for emergency crews to subdue the bushfires.

From the skies, small jets have been spraying retardant on the scorched land below, while fire engines on the ground struggled to slow the progress of the flames.

U.S. Air Force says - Laser-armed fighter jets by 2020

The invention of guns took warfare to a whole new level. Later, airplanes radically changed it again. Now, experts say another big shift is coming, led by energy weapons, including lasers.

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, said it's on track to demonstrate a working laser weapon on a fighter jet by 2020.

"It really is a national tipping point," said Kelly Hammett, chief engineer for the AFRL's directed energy directorate. "We see the technology evolving and maturing to the stage where it really can be used."

Arming larger planes with laser weapons has been possible for years. 

But the more difficult challenge is to create lasers small, accurate and powerful enough for fighter jets, Hammett said. The g-forces and vibrations of near supersonic speeds make that tough. Hammett said he thinks those hurdles can be overcome within five years.

The AFRL is also working on another idea that sounds like something from "Star Trek":

You might call it a defensive laser shield — as in, "Shields up, Mr. Sulu."

Here's how it would work: A 360-degree laser bubble would surround a U.S. warplane. That bubble would disable or destroy anything that comes inside, like a missile or another aircraft. 

Tech: Facebook Joins Stampede of Tech Giants Giving Away Artificial Intelligence Technology

Facebook is releasing for free the designs of a powerful new computer server it crafted to put more power behind artificial-intelligence software. Serkan Piantino, an engineering director in Facebook’s AI Research group, says the new servers are twice as fast as those Facebook used before. “We will discover more things in machine learning and AI as a result,” he says.

The social network’s giveaway is the latest in a recent flurry of announcements by tech giants that are open-sourcing artificial-intelligence technology, which is becoming vital to consumer and business-computing services. Opening up the technology is seen as a way to accelerate progress in the broader field, while also helping tech companies to boost their reputations and make key hires.

In November, Google opened up software called TensorFlow, used to power the company’s speech recognition and image search (see “Here’s What Developers Are Doing with Google’s AI Brain”). Just three days later Microsoft released software that distributes machine-learning software across multiple machines to make it more powerful. Not long after, IBM announced the fruition of an earlier promise to open-source SystemML, originally developed to use machine learning to find useful patterns in corporate databanks.