Topic: Aerospace and Defense Sector

Is DARPA Working on a Handheld Nuclear Fusion Device?

The Pentagon's DARPA arm is known for its attempts to reduce devices to microchip size. Projects have included multi-purpose sensors, cryogenic coolers, video cameras, and apparently, "Chip-Scale High Energy Atomic ...READ»

Dark-Sided DARPA Dangles $40k for Crowdsourced Balloon Hunt

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has long been shrouded in mists made of equal measures of awe, mystery, controversy, and spying. Now it's strolling out of those clouds, jauntily singing a 1980s pop ditty by Nena. 99 ...READ»

Upcoming S&T Event: Does DARPA Still Effectively Spur U.S. Technological Innovation?

There has been substantial debate recently whether DARPA - the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - still effectively spurs U.S. technological innovation. On Tuesday, September 14, The Information Technology and Innovation ...READ»

Undercover Bedbugs?

The latest in soldiery: a menagerie of robo-animals.READ»

Double-Decker Airplane Takes Flight

After six years of development and two years of delays, debate and red tape, The Airbus A380 Superjumbo (A modern-day Spruce Goose) is ready to fly commercial. Yesterday's meeting of the European Aviation Safety Agency and the ...READ»

Innovation: Rock, Paper, Scissors

Everybody knows the game of rock, paper, scissors. Airbus seems to know the game, too. The aircraft consortium has been playing it with the choice of materials for its A350. Originally, Airbus was planning to build a conventional ...READ»

Innovation: Dream On

Even a futurist needs to cool his jets when he thinks he just dreamt the headline that appeared at CNNMoney.com recently about the doubling of air travelers by 2025. Is that level of growth real, you might ask, or just a ...READ»

Technology: A Dream Deferred

With 52 airlines awaiting a total of 762 787s, word that delivery of Boeing's much-ballyhooed Dreamliner would be deferred was unwelcome news indeed. Nevertheless, the Dreamliner's production problems seem to bear no resemblance to ...READ»

The Caterpillar Self-Driving Dump Truck

A Robotic Behemoth for Mining.READ»

Technology: A380 Encounters Turbulence

Is the Airbus A380 a plane in search of a mission? According to a report in The Straits Times, if not for the recession, traffic controllers at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) might have to turn away the A380 because it ...READ»

When the Red-Eye Becomes the Green-Eye

Last week, UK-based low-cost airline easyJet announced it had designed an aircraft that would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 50 percent. They call it the "ecoJet" and claim the design could become reality by 2015. Sounds great, ...READ»

Excuse Me, Is My Plane Ready NOW?

As the price of jet fuel goes through the roof, airlines are eager to replace old gas-guzzling planes with a new generation of fuel-efficient airliners. Airbus and Boeing are taking plenty of deposits, but not one of the shiny new ...READ»

Who's Subsidizing That New Airbus Bus? Us!

The arrival of Airbus’ big-bus airplane in the U.S. last week was the occasion for lots of breathless coverage in the media. The A380, the largest passenger plane in history, did a kind of fashion-runway pirouette across the U.S., ...READ»

Technology: A380 Impact Within U.S. Muted at First

As big as the Airbus A380 is, its impact in the U.S. market will be muted for the first few years simply because there won't be a lot of them flying here. In fact, to date no American carriers have even ordered the plane. The ...READ»

Innovation in The Air

New York — Our new CORPORATE INNOVATION PROJECT shows what types of innovation are accretive and why. Look at the commercial aircraft business. Airlines are being killed by today’s fuel costs and many are reconsidering ...READ»

Run for Your Life: The Pentagon's Robotic Hummingbird Takes Flight

Video of the latest flying contraption by DARPA, the Pentagon's hyper-strange research lab.READ»

China Enters Big Airframe Business

New York — In my December, 2006 North River Advisor, Airbus, I warned that Airbus’ continued weaknesses while global demand for fuel-efficient, jumbo commercial airliners explodes would attract a powerful new ...READ»

9th International Defense Exhibition & Conference

Christmas comes in February for defense contractors. Thanks to its enormous military budget, China is the biggest target for the kinds of companies that will hawk everything from battleships to bullets at this five-day fair. But as ...READ»

I've Got the Privacy (Jet)Blues

JetBlue Airlines has recently come under fire for sharing 5 million passenger itineraries with a defense contractor without passengers' knowledge or consent. In so doing, not only did the company violate its own privacy policy, it ...READ»

On the Runway

Click on a date above for more details Susie Essman Host, Bravo TV's Better Half Bravo takes on love and work with its latest reality show, launching October 3. Essman, best known for her role on ...READ»

New Autonomous Audi Can Get Reckless Driving Tickets Without You

With geo-aware brains and no driver, this modified Audi TT-S experimental vehicle is built to drift around corners and then regain control of itself. It could be the forerunner of future handling systems that could allow drivers to ...READ»

Vision Quest: Contests Throughout History

1567 Prize for: Developing a method of finding longitude at sea Offered by: Spain's King Philip II Amount: 6,000 gold ducats, plus an annual pension of 2,000ducats for life Winner: Marine chronometer, by James Harrison, in ...READ»

• The Power of the Prize

Is Dreamliner Delay a Blessing in Disguise?

The network carriers and Boeing engineers have the same nightmare, which is further delays in delivery of the fuel-efficient 787. Of course, those delays have come to pass, and at the worst possible time. For if the big ...READ»

Testing The Future

You either design your future, or you can just let it fall on you.READ»

Fantastic Voyage

"Voyager of the Seas" is a big boat -- the largest cruise ship ever. And the story of its creation offers powerful lessons -- in strategic daring, relentless execution, and devotion to design.READ»