defense

US government lifts foreign contractor ban

News The US Department of Defense has reconsidered a ban on employing foreign IT contractors. But in a U-turn the Department of Defense has now ruled that non-US IT workers can be hired by government agencies if they pass background investigations and...

31 May 2002, 16:30

Robotic car wins $2m desert race

News DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is the research and development unit of the US Department of Defense. In life, and apparently in artificial life, timing is everything. On Saturday, the Stanford University Racing Team's robotic...

10 October 2005, 11:49

Teenager cleared in 'e-mail bomb' case

News The defense counsel argued that sending a flood of unsolicited e-mails did not constitute unauthorised access or modification, as the targeted company's e-mail server was set up for the purpose of receiving e-mail messages.

3 November 2005, 15:17

Robot car tech shifts into high gear

News They were the first unmanned cars ever to complete the race designed by DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the research and development arm of the US Department of Defense. A $2m race in the desert earlier this month proved that...

19 October 2005, 10:31

News.blog: Pentagon starts podcasting

News The 5-minute segments, delivered as radio-style news reports, are produced by the Pentagon Channel, a cable TV channel for military news and information that the Department of Defense launched in May.

9 November 2005, 9:28

Photos: Robot cars go head to head

News The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) raised the green flag on Saturday on 11 driverless cars to drive a 97-plus kilometres course at the former George Air Force Base in Oro Grande, California, or what race officials called DARPA city.

Tags: force, air, base, drivers

5 November 2007, 10:06

DARPA brings robot racing to US streets

News The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency plans to hold its third contest for robotic vehicles in November 2007, with a first prize set at £1.1m ($2m). The DARPA Grand Challenge has conquered the desert.

3 May 2006, 17:04

US military signs up Ariba

News The US Department of Defense (DoD) is to link its internal procurement system with Ariba's Commerce Services Network to gain access to 30,000 new suppliers. The DoD has signed up application integration vendor WebMethods to link its network, EMALL...

4 January 2002, 10:25

Photos: Racing robot cars

News After a two-year break since its last race, the US government's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will hold the semifinals of its Urban Grand Challenge from 26 October through 31 October. Thirty-five teams are expected to descend on the...

Tags: race, racing, science, cars

5 October 2007, 11:06

News.blog: Robotic flies are future spies

News With funding from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a team of Harvard researchers led by Robert Wood have developed a robotic fly that could be used for surveillance and chemical-detecting missions.

31 July 2007, 10:06

Gearing up for DARPA's street race

News The day before, one of the oversized truck's competitors in a race of robotic vehicles sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Stanford University's unmanned Volkswagen SUV, had claimed victory in a 132-mile robotic...

29 January 2007, 9:14

NASA hacker begins battle against extradition

News Gary McKinnon, 39, appeared at Bow Street Magistrate's Court in London for an extradition hearing on charges that he gained unauthorised access to 97 US government computers, including machines belonging to NASA and the Department of Defense.

28 July 2005, 10:07

Photos: How to survive a Humvee rollover

News To reduce the risks, the Defense Department conducts training designed to help troops avoid IEDs in the first place and to improve their chances of getting out of danger with minimal exposure to harm.

Tags: training, story, department, army

12 November 2007, 10:11

Photos: Fighting crime with 'nonlethal' tech

News One example of that sort of gadgetry comes from the realm of defense contractors: the so-called Active Denial System, which is designed for crowd-control situations -- people on the receiving end feel an intense, but fleeting, sensation of heat.

Tags: law, station, wave, ground

31 October 2007, 9:51

Your TV is killing the planet

News Overall, consumer electronics account for 15 to 20 per cent of household electricity use today, up from 5 per cent in 1980, according to figures from the US Environmental Protection Agency and the National Resources Defense Council, an...

23 November 2005, 9:34