Focus - Analysis

The rapid reaction forces and commandos of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) need modern arms and hardware to counter the threats coming from Afghanistan. The air component plays a major role due to the long borders, hard-of-access terrain, potential guerrilla war, infiltration of terrorists and illegal migrants. So far, reconnaissance and strike helicopters and drones can be used, the Independent Military Review writes.

Researchers from the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Aerospace Systems Directorate recently secured a patent for their control surface technology after successfully developing and demonstrating additively manufactured, multi-material conformal control surfaces for aircraft wings.

In partnership with NASA, the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works team is solving one of the most persistent challenges of supersonic flight – the sonic boom. X-59 QueSST (Quiet SuperSonic Technology) will be used to collect community response data on the acceptability of a quiet sonic boom generated by the unique design of the aircraft. The data will help NASA provide regulators with the information needed to establish an acceptable commercial supersonic noise standard to lift the ban on commercial supersonic travel over land. This breakthrough would open the door to an entirely new global market for aircraft manufacturers, enabling passengers to travel anywhere in the world in half the time it takes today.

Nellis Air Force Base Airmen are utilizing the modern software application WIDOW, or Web-based Information Dominant Warfare, to digitize the tactical-level mission planning process.

The Aerodynamics Branch of Arnold Engineering Development Complex at Arnold Air Force Base is helping the Air Force take directed energy (DE) systems airborne.

Before the dawn of online gaming, video games and computer games primarily featured two to four players sitting in the same room looking at the same screen while using a controller or keyboard to play a game where they either raced or battled with or against each other. Games such as Mario Kart, Goldeneye and Super Smash Brothers provided hours of entertainment and camaraderie for gamers as they competed with and against their friends and family. When online gaming came into prominence in the early 2000s, it allowed gamers to play with friends, and mostly complete strangers, from anywhere across the globe. Today, the multi-billion dollar industry connects more than 2 billion gamers across a broad spectrum of different types of games such as strategy, first person shooter, and role playing games. U.S. Marine Corps pilots stationed in Cherry Point, North Carolina have taken a piece of the concept of online gaming and used it to enhance their training.

Warfighters at Nellis Air Force Base are helping the US Air Force build a more integrated and lethal force through Advanced Battle Management System development, the Air Force’s network solution to enable rapid decision-making that powers Joint All-Domain Command and Control, or JADC2.

The KC-135 Stratotanker, the backbone of the U.S. Air Force’s strategic aerial refueling fleet for nearly 65 years, recently gained new capabilities that will enable it to continue to carry out its mission of Global Reach and Global Power for years to come.

The United Engine Corporation of Rostec has completed the first stage of testing a demonstrator model of a pulse detonation engine, which in the future can be used in advanced rocket and space systems, hypersonic aircraft and orbital spaceplanes. In some operating modes, the power plant demonstrated up to 50% increase in specific thrust when compared to conventional engines.

Military space technologies rose to a new level in the past decades. A group of satellites can monitor and coordinate joint operation of combat units. Sophisticated ground, airborne and space systems are designed to intercept and disable spacecraft. Specific attention is paid to guidance, the Independent Military Review writes.