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How the real Trinity test was filmed and photographed, and where to watch it
This color photograph of the test was taken by Jack Aeby. Jack Aeby / Los Alamos National Laboratory On July 16, 1945, at 5:30 am, the first atomic bomb in history was detonated at what is now White...
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Inside the US military lab making tube food for spy plane pilots
A display at the DOD's Combat Feeding Division shows how a pilot would eat the tube food through a probe. Rob Verger A buzzer goes off in a large industrial kitchen at an Army base in Natick,...
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UFO-type sightings happen more often near military airspace
A C-17 aircraft in Afghanistan in 2018. Gregory Brook / US Air Force It is the Department of Defense’s responsibility to secure the skies above the United States from potential threats. Following the...
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This communications company is a lifeline for far-flung operators
Ard Su for Popular Science In Overmatched, we take a close look at the science and technology at the heart of the defense industry—the world of soldiers and spies. YOU’RE STANDING at the top of a...
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Lockheed Martin plans to make its most powerful military laser yet
This Stryker vehicle has a 5-kW laser on it. Carrie Campbell / US Army On July 28, defense giant Lockheed Martin announced it was planning to scale its current laser technology up to a...
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US military’s special task force will explore generative AI
The military is increasingly utilizing virtual reality training systems and artificial intelligence in their development process. Air Force Staff Sgt Keith James / Air Education and Training Command...
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Air Force funds ‘blended wing body’ plane design for long-range,...
DAF selects JetZero to develop blended wing body aircraft prototype. Air Force The Pacific Ocean is vast, and when it comes to planning for how to fight a war in and across it, the United States is...
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Ukraine claims it built a battle drone called SkyKnight that can carry a bomb
Ukrainian soldiers during a training exercise in 2017. Anthony Jones / US Army For 18 months, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been fought largely from the ground. Neither Russia nor Ukraine has been...
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B-2 bomber’s latest tech upgrade brings it into the 21st century
A B-2 bomber seen in flight over Alaska in August, 2023. Andrew Britten / US Air Force The B-2 Spirit bomber is an elegant machine for a war that never came. The flying wing stealth bomber, unveiled...
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The Cold War backstory of Russia’s supersonic ‘Backfire’ bomber
A TU-22M Backfire seen in 2010. Wojtek Laski/Getty Images On August 19, a Russian Tu-22M bomber was reportedly destroyed while it was parked in an airfield in northwestern Russia. Russia’s defense...
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Australia is eyeing uncrewed vessels to patrol the vast Pacific Ocean
The USS Mississippi in Australia in 2022. It's a Virginia-class fast-attack submarine. John Hall / US Marine Corps The Pacific Ocean is vast, strategically important, and soon to be patrolled by...
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The US wants to dress military in smart surveillance apparel
The SMART ePANTS program has funding from the Department of Defense and IARPA. Deposit Photos An ongoing smart apparel project overseen by US defense and intelligence agencies has received a $22...
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Lockheed Martin test-fired a missile with twice the range of existing rocket...
A rendering of the Extended-Range GMLRS test. Lockheed Martin In late summer, in the deserts of southern New Mexico, a truck fired a rocket that then traveled 93 miles. Made and tested by defense...
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Seismic sensors reveal the true intensity of explosions in Ukraine
Ukrainian military members stand near a missile that stuck from the road after Russian shelling on September 2. Roman Chop/Global Images Ukraine/Getty Images Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February...
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How corporations helped fuel the big business of spying
Ard Su for Popular Science In Overmatched, we take a close look at the science and technology at the heart of the defense industry—the world of soldiers and spies. YOU MAY NOT HAVE HEARD of the...
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Depleted uranium shells for Ukraine are dense, armor-piercing ammunition
The Department of Defense says that these depleted uranium shells "had been compromised" and needed to be destroyed. This image is from June, 2022, in Utah. Nicholas Perez / US Air National Guard On...
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The US military’s tiniest drone feels like it flew straight out of a sci-fi film
The Black Hornet in flight. The wire hanging down is the aircraft's antenna. Teledyne FLIR On April 18 in New York City, a parking garage in lower Manhattan collapsed, killing one person—the garage’s...
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A remote Air Force base in Alaska is getting its own nuclear reactor
F-35 fighter jets at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska in March, 2022. Jose Miguel T. Tamondong / US Air Force On August 31, the Air Force announced that a California company called Oklo would design,...
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The biggest hot air balloon in the US was built to carry skydivers
Inside the balloon. Shawn Raya The biggest hot air balloon in the United States is designed to fly to an altitude of 35,000 feet or higher, carrying seven people in its rattan basket over New Mexico....
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Saab says it has solved a modern camouflage conundrum
It's called Frequency Selective Surface technology. Saab On September 5, Swedish defense giant Saab announced a new feature for its existing camouflage netting. This netting is thrown over military...
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The US military could use your help finding a missing F-35 stealth jet
An F-35B seen in California in 2021. Drew Verbis/US Navy UPDATE: Sept. 18, 2023, 6:50 p.m. ET: On Monday night, the Joint Base Charleston released a statement on X, formerly Twitter, stating:...
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What’s in the US military’s historic lost and found: nukes, jets, and drones
An F-35B seen in South Carolina on Aug. 17, 2023. Kyle Baskin / US Marine Corps For roughly 24 hours, between the afternoon of September 17 and the evening of September 18, the United States Marine...
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This massive armored vehicle has a giant plow for clearing Russian mines
This is a Mine-Clearing Tank. Pearson Engineering At the DSEI international arms show held in London earlier this month, German defense company FFG showed off a tank-like vehicle it had already sent...
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The Air Force’s big new electric taxi flies at 200 mph
The Joby aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base. Joby Today, members of the military and an executive from Joby Aviation used a giant pair of scissors to cut a ribbon in front of an electric flying...
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The CIA is building its version of ChatGPT
The CIA believes such a tool could help parse vast amounts of data for analysts. CIA The Central Intelligence Agency confirmed it is building a ChatGPT-style AI for use across the US intelligence...
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A gigantic Navy drone is ready to surveil the ocean from above
A Triton in Guam in August. U.S. Navy A white-hulled MQ-4C Triton accelerated down a runway in Guam before lifting off into dark clouds. The video, captured August 18 by the US Navy, was recorded to...
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New B-21 stealth bomber photos reveal tantalizing clues about the aircraft
This image of the B-21 is dated July 31, 2023. US Air Force Aerospace companies that create a new stealth aircraft as their signature achievement face a conundrum. They put years if not decades of...
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America’s war in Afghanistan devastated the country’s environment in ways...
An Afghan scientist gathers water and soil samples at a water outflow from Bagram Airfield, formerly America's largest military base in Afghanistan. Credit: Kern Hendricks/Inside Climate News This...
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Shipbuilders 3D-printed a part for a nuclear submarine
The USS Virginia seen in 2010. The 3D-printed part is destined for another Virginia-class sub, the Oklahoma. US Navy A crewed submarine is, at its most elemental level, a machine designed to preserve...
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DARPA wants to modernize how first responders do triage during disasters
Ard Su for Popular Science In Overmatched, we take a close look at the science and technology at the heart of the defense industry—the world of soldiers and spies. IF A BUILDING COLLAPSES or a bomb...
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The F-35 fighter jet is getting a stealthier air-to-surface missile
An F-35 aircraft seen this year. Jacob Cabanero / Air Force The F-35 is built for a war fought with missiles. The United States’ newest stealth fighter comes in three flavors: F-35A for the Air Force,...
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This compact robotic tank is designed to shoot down drones
The TRX SHORAD. GDLS On the second floor of the Walter E. Washington convention center in the District of Columbia sits a robot tanklet, designed to hunt drones. The uncrewed vehicle is the TRX...
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Futuristic aircraft and robotic loaders dazzled at a Dallas tech summit
This bizarre-looking flying machine is an ultralight aircraft called the Black Fly, and it holds precisely one person. The company that makes it, Pivotal, recently changed their name from Opener. They...
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Watch this new Canada-made troop transport pass its explosive tests
The Senator MRAP. Roshel On May 30, Canadian defense company Roshel Defence Solutions officially launched its new armored troop transport, the Senator model Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP)...
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What are carrier strike groups, the ships the US sent near Israel?
The USS Gerald R. Ford seen on Oct. 11 in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The ship next to it is the USNS Laramie. Jacob Mattingly / US Navy On October 8, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered the...
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This weird-looking British ship will keep an eye out for sabotage beneath the...
The Proteus. Ministry of Defence On October 10, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary dedicated a ship called the Proteus in a ceremony on the River Thames. The vessel, which looks like someone started building a...
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This giant bumper car is street-legal and enormously delightful
Dan Hryhorcoff, who has a deep mechanical background, built the vehicle as a pandemic project. Kathy Hryhorcoff “I always build things,” says Dan Hryhorcoff. Case in point: Hryhorcoff has constructed...
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The Marines used a ‘robotic goat’ to fire a rocket-propelled grenade
The robotic goat with the M72 Light Anti-Tank Weapon on Sept. 9, 2023. Justin J. Marty / US Marines On September 9, Marines at Twentynine Palms, California, strapped a rocket launcher to the back of a...
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This electric plane’s 2,000-mile journey is over. Now its Air Force tests begin.
The aircraft landed at Duke Field in Florida on Oct. 26. Beta Technologies On Wednesday, October 18, an electric aircraft powered by a single propeller flew into, and then out of, Joint Base Andrews,...
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How an underground explosion in Nevada will help the US detect nuclear tests
This is the Nevada National Security Site’s U1a Complex. The test took place in Area 12's P tunnel at the Nevada National Security Site. US Dept. of Energy On October 18, beneath the Nevada desert,...
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The US is developing a new nuclear bomb. Why?
An F-15 carrying a simulated version of a B61 bomb in Nevada in 2021. Santos Torres / US Air Force On October 27, the Department of Defense announced that it wants to make a new variant of the B61...
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Watch a Japanese research ship fire an electromagnetic railgun
This striking image is from a high-speed camera used to photograph a US railgun in action in 2012. This Virginia-based railgun was funded by the Office of Naval Research. John Williams / Office of...
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Can we find hackers by the clues they leave in their code?
Ard Su for Popular Science In Overmatched, we take a close look at the science and technology at the heart of the defense industry—the world of soldiers and spies. THE YEAR WAS 1998. The computers...
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Want to report a UAP sighting? US government workers can now use this website.
In a an open hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) before the House Intelligence Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee, Deputy Director of Naval...
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Lab-made ‘super melanin’ speeds up healing and boosts sun protection
The synthetic melanin is being applied to Inflamed skin. Just under the surface of the skin are green free radicals, also known as ROS, or "reactive oxygen species.". Yu Chen, Northwestern University...
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Data brokers selling military members’ personal data is a national security risk
Researchers purchased nearly 50,000 military members' data for barely $10,000. Deposit Photos Unauthorized harvesting of Americans’ personal online data isn’t just a privacy issue—it’s also a matter...
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Watch an uncrewed Navy ‘ghost boat’ fire live missiles
A MARTAC T-38 Devil Ray unmanned surface vehicle on Oct. 26 in the Persian Gulf. Jacob Vernier / US Navy Oceans are now one step closer to being battlefields for robotic ships. This past week the US...
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Lung cancer in naval personnel linked to asbestos exposure
The HMAS Culgoa was a Modified River Class Frigate, sometimes known as the Bay Class. The Australian naval vessel was launched in September 1945 and was decommissioned in April 1954. Royal Australian...
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US military says national security depends on ‘forever chemicals’
“DoD is reliant on the critically important chemical and physical properties of PFAS to provide required performance for the technologies and consumable items and articles which enable military...
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VR and electric brain stimulation show promise for treating PTSD
Patients reported improvements after only three sessions. Deposit Photos Although it can sound cliché, there’s a lot of truth in the old axiom “face your fears.” In fact, exposure therapy ostensibly...
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