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Category: military

Akash Systems has signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms with the U.S. Department of Commerce for $18.2 million in direct funding and $50 million in federal and state tax credits through the CHIPS Act. Although this isn’t yet a binding contract that will give the company the promised funds, it’s an important first step in the negotiation process for the Oakland-based startup, which shows that both the company and the U.S. government are gradually moving towards a formal agreement. According to Akash Systems (h/t Axios), it will use the funds to ramp up its operations for producing diamond-cooled semiconductors for AI, data centers, space applications, and defense markets.

Diamond-cooling technology goes deeper than just thermal paste with nano-diamond technology. For example, some use synthetic diamonds as the chip substrate, utilizing the material’s thermal conductivity to more efficiently move heat away from the processor. So, let’s look closer at Akash’s solution.

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While labeled a “robot wolf” by its designers, this platform presents itself as a powerful tactical tool likely aimed at military or security applications, where its design and capabilities stand to offer significant operational value.

The robot’s four-legged design is an immediate indicator of its…

At China’s Zhuhai Air Show, a new robotic quadruped known as robot-wolf stole the spotlight demonstrating its capability to respond to real-time voice commands.

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Chinese researchers with ties to China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have built an AI model called ChatBIT, designed for military applications using Meta’s open-source Llama model. According to Reuters, some researchers are associated with the Academy of Military Science (AMS), the PLA’s top research group.

Three academic papers and several analysts have confirmed the information, with ChatBIT using Meta’s Llama 13B large language model (LLM). This LLM has been modified for intelligence gathering and processing, allowing military planners to use it for operational decision-making.

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The order of the planets is something most of us learn in school: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and (until 2006) Pluto.

So, you would be forgiven for thinking that as Earthlings, our closest planetary neighbor is Venus. And in a way, you would be right – at its nearest, Venus approaches Earth closer than any other planet in the Solar System. Likewise, its orbit is closer to our orbit than any other. However, in another sense, you would be wrong. At least, that is the argument put forward in an article published in PhysicsToday.

To identify our closest neighbor, engineers affiliated with NASA, Los Alamos National Observatory, and the US Army’s Engineer Research Development Center built a computer simulation to calculate the average proximity of Earth to its three nearest planets (Mars, Venus, and Mercury) over a 10,000-year-period. Because of the way the planets align during their respective orbits, the model shows that Earth spends more time nearer to Mercury than either Venus or Mars.

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SAN DIEGO – U.S. Navy electronics experts are hiring two companies to develop enabling technologies to safeguard naval systems from the effects of high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (EMP).

Officials of the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific in San Diego, announced estimated $12.5 million separate contracts Wednesday to Long Wave Inc. in Oklahoma City, Okla., and to Reliance Construction Co. in Cary, N.C., for high-altitude EMP hardening processes.

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Perhaps no technology has shaped the 21st-century battlefield as profoundly as the drone. These uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), along with their land and sea counterparts, have redefined the way wars are fought by providing military forces with unprecedented capabilities in surveillance, precision targeting, and intelligence gathering — all while reducing the risk to their own personnel. Drones have made complex operations more efficient and less costly, enabling militaries to strike with pinpoint accuracy and maintain a persistent presence over the battlefield.

As the century progresses, the influence of drones continues to expand beyond traditional state actors. Non-state groups and non-peer adversaries increasingly have adopted this technology, leveraging it to level the playing field in conflicts around the world. With commercial drones becoming more accessible, these actors can conduct reconnaissance, drop bombs, and challenge conventional military forces in ways that previously were unimaginable.

The influence of drones flows across all domains of warfare. Loitering munitions, or “Kamikaze drones,” have disrupted traditional force structures by providing smaller, more agile units with the ability to strike high-value targets such as tanks, artillery, and command centers.

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WASHINGTON — The Australian Department of Defence announced the cancellation of its JP9102 military satellite program, an estimated $5 billion project awarded to Lockheed Martin just 18 months ago, citing shifts in satellite technology and the market’s pivot toward multi-orbit space communications.

The cancellation of Australia’s JP9102 satellite program is yet another sign of the disruptive impact that low Earth orbit space internet services, led by the rapid growth of SpaceX’s Starlink, are having on the traditional satellite communications industry and government procurement models.

JP9102, or Defence Joint Project 9,102, was launched in 2021 with plans to develop between three to five geostationary satellites and ground systems, marking one of Australia’s most ambitious space infrastructure ventures.

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