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AIRCRAFT	VEHICLES	NAVAL	INFANTRY/MISSILES
Dark Star	Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle	Sea Shadow	Smart Bullets
Bird Of Prey	FOX NBCRS	British Stealth Naval Ship	Land Warrior System
X-45 Unmanned Attack Drone	Bradley Linebacker		Objective Individual Combat Weapon
Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)	Advanced Armored Personnel Carrier		Exo- atmospheric Kinetic Kill Vehicle
Comanche RAH-66	Crusader		Fast Hawk
X-36			JASSM
Global Hawk (a.k.a. Preditor)
Grumman E-2C Hawkeye

Darkstar - The Department of Defense has unveiled the low observable Tier III Minus unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which was hosted by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, Calif. Never before seen in public, the Tier III Minus UAV, known by the nickname DarkStar, is one of two high altitude endurance UAVs being developed for the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office (DARO) by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) joint UAV program office. A single turbo-fan engine, supplied by Williams International (located in Todd's old Michigan neighborhood), will provide power for the vehicle. Darkstar is a low observable tactical reconnaissance UAV that will operate within the current military force structure and with existing command, control, communications, computer and intelligence (C4I) equipment. At a planned $10 million a copy, the DarkStar UAV will provide affordable, near real time, continuous, all weather, wide area surveillance in support of tactical commanders. The result will be timely information that the tactical commander can immediately exploit for accurate situational awareness and to perform precision strikes and other high priority intelligence and reconnaissance tasks. Optimized for low observable's, DarkStar's operational goal is to be highly survivable while penetrating high threat environments. Complementing the Tier III Minus is the Tier II Plus, which will be optimized for long range and endurance in a low-to-moderate threat environment. Both vehicles will be capable of fully autonomous take-off, flight and recovery; be capable of dynamic retasking while in flight; and will operate in the same force structure. 1 more picture here

Global Hawk - Feb. 20, 1997: The Department of Defense's newest unmanned air vehicle (UAV), in a hangar in San Diego, Calif. Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial reconnaissance system that will provide military field commanders with high-resolution, near-real-time imagery of large geographic areas. The Global Hawk is optimized for low-to-moderate threat, long endurance reconnaissance missions where range, endurance and persistent coverage are paramount. The vehicle, with its 116- foot wingspan and 44-foot length, carries both synthetic aperture radar and electro-optical and infrared sensors. The Global Hawk system will be able to survey, in one day, an area equivalent to the state of Illinois (40,000 square nautical miles), while providing imagery with a three-foot resolution. Alternatively, the system can provide more detailed spot images of one-foot resolution, if needed. For a typical mission, the Global Hawk system can fly to a target area 3,000 nautical miles away, and stay airborne for 24 hours collecting data before returning. It flies at altitudes up to 65,000 feet. During the summer of 1997, the air vehicle moved to the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., where flight tests occurred. Photo by David Gossett, courtesy of Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical.

X-36 - Currently, no information is available about this advanced fighter aircraft from General Dynamics. As you can see, the design and look of this aircraft is alien in comparison to existing aircraft. It is safe to assume that it is indeed stealth, and will harness the latest technological advances. This fighter is still in its experimental phase, so production will probably not start until well after the year 2000. 1 more picture here

Comanche RAH-66 - The Comanche RAH-66 is the US Army's new Reconnaissance and Attack Helicopter being developed by Boeing Sikorsky. The first flight of the Comanche took place on 4th January 1996. Production is scheduled to start in the year 2004 but the Defense Acquisition Board of the US Department of Defense has approved an operational capability program which requires six additional Comanche helicopters to be manufactured in the year 2001 for operational testing by the United States Army. 1 more picture here

Advanced Armored Personnel Carrier - FMC-NUROL Defense Industries, Inc. (FNSS) is a joint venture between the United States based United Defense, L.P. (formerly FMC Corporation) and NUROL Group of Turkey, established in Ankara in 1988, to manufacture 1698 Armoured Combat Vehicles of several types for a contract of 10 years. The Advanced Personnel Carrier with a pintle mount providing a base to a 12.7 mm gun is an all terrain amphibious, infantry support and transport vehicle for which, upon request, different cupolas can be installed. The AAPC offers a unique combination of strategic and tactical mobility, crew protection, capacity and affordability. It is highly agile and able to operate fully in built-up areas, as well as in desert jungle conditions. Being of compact dimensions and capable of pivot turn, the vehicle can access areas where larger vehicles are unable to operate. The AAPC was developed to replace the aging M113 APC.

FOX NBCRS - The FOX Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Reconnaissance System is a vehicle that protects a crew as they check the battlefield for contamination. The FOX is a rolling laboratory that takes air, water, and ground samples and immediately analyzes them for signs of weapons of mass destruction. Land Systems is working with the U.S. Army Chemical Corps on a program to upgrade FOX's capabilities over the next few years at the Anniston Army Depot in Alabama.

Grumman E-2C Hawkeye - Responsibility for early warning of incoming aircraft and missiles now rests squarely on the shoulders of one plane--the Grumman E-2C Hawkeye. The E-2C can spot large enemy aircraft more than 300 miles away and track more than 2000 targets at once. The NASA-tested experimental wing is the ideal shape for an advanced-technology radar antenna. Joined wings had intrigued NASA and university researchers for nearly 20 years on the strength of aerodynamics alone. After considerable wind-tunnel testing, however, the flying properties turned out to be only marginally better than those of conventional swept wings. Predictions state that the detection range for a small target will be 2 1/2 times that of current technology. Scuds should be visible beyond 400 miles, and air breathing targets with cross sections down to 1 meter should be visible 400 to 600 miles off.

Sea Shadow - The vessel is the Sea Shadow, America's only known attempt to disappear as effectively on water as the F-117 Stealth fighter can disappear in air. Construction took place in total secrecy nearly a decade ago at the Lockheed Missiles & Space Co.'s closely guarded Redwood City, California, facility. As one of the Defense Department's "black" programs, the whole $200-million undertaking officially did not exist. Among the sparse facts made available were these: Length--160 ft. Width--70 ft. Draft--14 ft. Displacement--560 tons. The ship's purpose, according to the memo, was "to explore the application of a variety of advanced technologies to surface ships. These technologies involve ship control, structures, automation, sea keeping, and signature control." Signature control is another way of saying stealth. Although critics of the idea point out that with nuclear submarines the Navy can already operate undetected at sea, a stealth ship would have at least two key advantages. One, it could be used for air defense of convoys, which subs presently cannot. Two, it could operate in a number of areas--some of them strategically important--where the water is too shallow for subs to get close to shore. Given how little we knew of the Sea Shadow until the moment of its unveiling, there's no telling what other "invisible ships" the Navy may have lurking at sea. 1 more picture here

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