NASA’s hypersonic Rotating Detonation Engine passes first crucial tests
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Explosions are normally bad in engines, but done in the right way they are the future of jet engine design and hypersonic vehicles. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends, ...
The USAF’s Project VENOM is turning old F-16’s into drone wingmen
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In military terms over match refers to military superiority, and the US is worried it’s loosing its over match capability to China. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends, connect, watch...
The latest USAF report says force fields are almost here but they’re not quite sci-fi
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Force fields are the stuff of sci-fi, and while the US Military thinks they’re more drone like I and others have other ideas … Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and...
A new DARPA project is experimenting with living factories in space
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Why take stuff with you into space when bacteria and other bugs can make everything you need in situ? Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog....
Significant MQ-9 Reaper drone AI upgrade opens door to full military autonomy
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF If you had the world’s most sophisticated drone wouldn’t full hunter-killer automation be too tempting to ignore? Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Recently the United Nations announced that they believed they’d...
New microwave weapon THOR helps the USAF defeat drone swarms in seconds
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the future swarms of weaponised drones will over run battle fields so the world’s military’s need new defensive weapons. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. In a frightening video scenario swarms...
Rocket delivery anywhere in an hour gets included in latest US military budget
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Sometimes you need to get cargo from A to B very fast and as far as the US military are concerned rockets are the answer. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. A...
USAF topguns will fight against AI drones in 2021 as era of autonomous warfare nears
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The future of air combat will increasingly fought by autonomous systems, not human pilots, and the race to create those systems has already begun. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. I’ve been talking about the rise of fully...
Researchers use 3D printing to create a soft electronic wearable
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Electronics are normally hard and that makes them difficult to integrate into wearable devices or clothing, but now new soft electronics could pave the way for a whole host of new applications The human skin, even 3D Printed artificial skin, is amazing, but in...
The USAF turned an F-16 fighter jet into the world’s most advanced drone
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Militaries around the world are weaponising AI and drones to create semi, or fully, autonomous weapons platforms and the pace of development is accelerating. Earlier this week the US Air Force (USAF) announced that it has managed to turn an F-16 fighter jet into...
Texas might become a testing ground for new EMP proof electricity grids
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF With more countries around the world, such as Russia and North Korea rattling their nuclear arsenals, the US is revitalising its efforts to protect the US energy and communications networks from attack, specifically from the effect of electromagnetic pulses. An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack...
Lasers on fighter jets by 2020, the USAF and Northrop Grumman get cosy
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF New threats, such as drone swarms and new hypersonic planes and missile systems, are increasingly testing America’s defensive capabilities, as a consequence the US Military are now pushing the development of laser and directed energy weapons to counter these new threats hard. With new...