The US Army's not-so-secret Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) spy blimp is better at staying hidden than we thought... if unintentionally. Although it was due to fly the friendly skies of Lakehurst, New Jersey in mid-June, Northrop Grumman's usually unmanned surveillance was only just caught floating over the Jersey Shore as part of a maiden flight on August 8th. The conspicuous, delayed test run proved that the LEMV could take off, steer and land smoothly, and started a series of exercises that should culminate in combat trials over Afghanistan at the start of 2013. Northrop's KC Brown Jr. tells Wired that there's a possible (if purely coincidental) consolation for missing another deadline -- the airship could be used in a pinch for carrying as much as seven tons of supplies without getting into harm's way, albeit at a fairly glacial 30MPH. The successful first flight won't be much consolation to Mav6, whose Blue Devil 2 was scuttled at the last minute after technical issues; it's nonetheless a relief for US troops, who may get weeks at a time of constant intelligence on enemy movements. Catch a short snippet of the early LEMV journey after the break.
Filed under: Robots, Transportation
US Army's LEMV spy blimp spotted hovering over New Jersey, may take up cargo duties (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 06:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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You might pride yourself on your poker face, but there would be no way to hide from a skull-probing EEG helmet being developed by Veritas Scientific. The device takes advantage of a well-known medical response called P300, which causes your brain's voltage to drop a split-second after you put a name to a face or object. Simply by showing you a slideshow of different images, interrogators could tell whether or not you recognize a particular individual -- or maybe that LTE-connected railgun hidden in your trunk. The company is pursuing military contracts and hopes to have a prototype ready in time for this year's war game exercises, but meanwhile you might want to start thinking of a way to install that tinfoil hat inside your skull.
Filed under: Science
EEG headware probes your neurons, shows interrogators your cranial contact list originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 07:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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