China unveils a new plasma generator capable of powering hypersonic weapons
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF China is taking the hypersonic bull by the horns and innovating new energy and weapons systems faster than the US can read about them. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and...
Lockheed Martin achieves first light of it’s latest 50kw laser weapon system
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The future of combat is drones and hypersonic weapons systems, so you need a new defensive weapon to counter than and light’s fast, cheap, and deadly. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential...
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...
The US military’s Active Denial System is a 95Ghz heat ray weapon
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Ray guns and heat rays are often thought of as sci-fi but both are very real … 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. Earlier in...
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...
US Navy shows off first of a kind laser weapon by destroying drones over the Pacific
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF New weapons of war are emerging, from autonomous robotic weapons systems to hypersonic weapons systems, so the military needs a new way to defeat them all. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Laser weapons like the ones in...
New Russian laser weapon obliterates targets in seconds
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The next generation of warfare will include many things, from autonomous hunter killer robots and intelligent hypersonic weapons, and lasers. As what’s being termed the new Cold War hots up I’m seeing a surge in the pace of development of fully and semi-autonomous weapons...
Blackhat hackers discover a way to turn satellites into “microwave weapons”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Satellites are ubiquitous and a newly discovered exploit could let hackers turn them into high frequency weapons that fry electronics on the ground. As I discussed in a recent keynote on the future of cybersecurity, even air gaps, thought to be the ultimate in...
Lockheed Martin awarded contract to arm US Navy destroyers with lasers
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We are entering a new era of warfare, full of AI fuelled semi-autonomous weapons, hypersonic missiles and lasers. The US military is increasingly ramping up its interest in, and spending on, new laser weapons, that will be positioned at forward operating bases, and on...
The Pentagon is making lasers that create voices out of thin air
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to use lasers to create sound opens up a weird array of new use cases, from crowd control to just plain being able to freak people out… Within three years, the US Pentagon’s non-lethal weapons lab hopes to have a direct energy...
The F-35 could be the first US aircraft to be outfitted with laser weapons
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Laser weapons were once relegated to science fiction movies but soon they’ll come of age. A press briefing in the Netherlands earlier this week for the F-35 has restarted the rumour mill that the F-35 will be one of the first US military platforms...
Lockheed shoots drones out of the sky with it’s newest laser weapon
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Laser weapons are coming of age and it won’t be long before they’re deployed on the battlefield, and that’s bad news for drones and drone fans Remember when you were growing up and every sci fi film you watched, from James Bond to Star...
British Aerospace unveils the world’s first laser deflector shield concept
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Plenty of companies are developing new laser and direct energy weapons systems but none have ever managed to create one, that might be about to change. Deflector shields are the stuff of science fiction – whether it’s the rippling green shields that saw off...
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...
US Army to equip its bases and vehicles with laser weapons by 2023
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF They’re finally here, now we’re just waiting for the laser guns. The US Army have announced that they are going to be going all in on laser and direct energy weapons and that they will be rolling them out to all of their Forward Operating...
New era of hypersonic warfare forces the Pentagon to rethink its strategy
Experts around the world agree that we could be entering an era of Cold War 2.0, and that’s bad news Foreign states such as China and Russia are developing high-speed, highly manoeuvrable weapons and drones and the Pentagon and US Pacific Command want weapons to counter them said Doug Graham, Vice President of Missile Systems and Advanced Programs for...
US defense contractors announce directed energy weapons are ready for prime time
Directed energy weapons are coming of age For years, the Pentagon has pursued the dream of directed energy weapons, laser weapons, that could defeat a foes arsenal of weapons – from small inflatable ribs and tanks to ICBM’s and hypersonic drones – for pennies when compared with the expensive multi...