Monday, September 16, 2013

The March of the Robots

The age of the robot is here, especially on the battlefield.  Here are a pair of videos from Aviation Week.  The first shows technologies in development for ground forces.  The large, four-legged creature that seems to move like a horse is actually an artificial mule designed to lug cargo around for the infantry.



The second video captures seven carrier landings by the UCV, or unmanned combat vehicle, XB-47.   Note the precision achieved indicated by the nose wheel placement.   Remember, this is on a moving ship with wind variations.


5 comments:

  1. The carrier 'touch and goes' are cool, but the donkey bots are amazing.

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  2. Hi Mound, maybe time for a F35 update
    http://gizmodo.com/inside-the-pentagons-trillion-dollar-f-35-embarrassmen-1325863089

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  3. Hey Steve. I'm keeping an eye on Sought Korea at the moment. The Defence Acquisition Board there has chosen a stealth-modified F-15 over the F-35 but there's a huge political press on to get them to relent.

    Actually I had thought if there was ever a place for the F-35 it was in South Korea given the nature of the threat in their own backyard. A light attack bomber makes a lot more sense in South Korea than it does in the Canadian north.

    If Lockheed gets bumped by Boeing in South Korea it could spell trouble for the F-35 everywhere else. I think Lockheed would happily firesale the 35 to S. Korea except for a law that prohibits Lockheed from selling to any foreign customer at a price lower than it offers the U.S. military.

    Boeing is also fielding a stealth variant of the F-18 Super Hornet. At around half the fly away cost of the 35, Boeing's approach is that the stealth 18's masking is "good enough" for the cost saving.

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  4. Hey Steve. I'm keeping an eye on Sought Korea at the moment. The Defence Acquisition Board there has chosen a stealth-modified F-15 over the F-35 but there's a huge political press on to get them to relent.

    Actually I had thought if there was ever a place for the F-35 it was in South Korea given the nature of the threat in their own backyard. A light attack bomber makes a lot more sense in South Korea than it does in the Canadian north.

    If Lockheed gets bumped by Boeing in South Korea it could spell trouble for the F-35 everywhere else. I think Lockheed would happily firesale the 35 to S. Korea except for a law that prohibits Lockheed from selling to any foreign customer at a price lower than it offers the U.S. military.

    Boeing is also fielding a stealth variant of the F-18 Super Hornet. At around half the fly away cost of the 35, Boeing's approach is that the stealth 18's masking is "good enough" for the cost saving.

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  5. I dunno. That XB-47 thing would impress me more if they'd given it brakes.

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