Five U.S. Army command sergeants major expressed skepticism that autonomous military robots would be used anytime soon at a panel on "Technology and the Warfighter" at the Army Science Conference. [More]
A search for colossal feats of alien engineering called "Dyson spheres" has so far found no convincing candidates within 1000 light years of Earth, but Richard Carrigan, formerly with the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, has combed through data from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite and has identified 17 possible "spheres," four of which seem most promising. [More]
Strategic Command Chief Urges Quick Nuclear Weapons Modernization — Walter Pincus —Washington Post — Dec 04, 2008
The leader of the U.S. Strategic Command said yesterday that "time is not on our side" to modernize the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile, particularly as China and Russia upgrade their nuclear warheads and delivery systems. [More]
Analyst Takes Issue With Estimate of WMD Risk — Elaine M. Grossman —Global Security Newswire — Dec 03, 2008
Michael Krepon, a longtime expert on nuclear threat reduction, is questioning a finding released this week asserting the likelihood that a weapon of mass destruction will be used somewhere around the globe within the next five years. [More]
Russian researchers are tracking the malfunctioning U.S. Defense Support Program satellite, DSP-23, out of concern that the it might prove troublesome to other high-value satellites in its populated geocentric orbit. [More]
Terrorists are likely to use a weapon of mass destruction somewhere in the world in the next five years, a blue-ribbon panel assembled by Congress has concluded. [More]
Recent reports that Iran had enough material in its stocks of low-enriched uranium to build a nuclear weapon were premature, but Tehran is nevertheless only months away from that position if it continues to enrich at its 2009 rate, according to analysis from the Institute for Science and International Security. [More]
Why Australia Should have a Military Space Policy — Marko Beljac —On Line Opinion (Australia) — Dec 01, 2008
The author evaluates a recent Australian Senate Committee report on space policy and laments the lack of attention to military space policy, which he argues is unfortunate because "the further militarisation of space will be an important strategic development in the first half of the 21st century." [More]
John Arquilla, a professor of defense analysis at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, argues that aircraft carriers and the flotilla of destroyers, frigates, and cruisers are an unnecessary expense in the age of assymetric warfare and should be phased out of the U.S. defense budget. [More]
With Vintage Satellites still in Orbit, Sales are Grounded — Peter Pae —Los Angeles Times — Nov 30, 2008
Satellite manufacturers are seeing their sales flag as older satellites exceed their expected life expectancy, sometimes by two to three times longer than anticipated. [More]