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Just after the new year, DARPA put out a broad agency announcement requesting a flying car, specifically a one-to four-person, vertical takeoff and landing-capable vehicle that can negotiate off-road conditions as well as take to the skies. Today, Fort Worth-based AVX Aircraft has responded with a proposal, releasing some mock-ups of a dual-rotor, ducted-fan driven aircraft that’s also road-ready. AVX says the four-seater will be able to carry a 1,040-lb. payload 250 miles on a single tank of fuel, peaking at 80 miles per hour over land and 140 miles per hour in the air. It’s coaxial rotor design would...

7/6/2010 - JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq (AFNS) -- As the drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq picks up steam, there is a collection of Airmen, Soldiers and civilians ready to process billions of dollars in equipment for redistribution. The Redistribution Property Accountability Team was developed to process equipment bound for refurbishment in the United States or locations of higher priority. At the heart of this immense project is the members of the 732nd Expeditionary Support Squadron. "The RPAT mission is incredibly important," said Army Sgt. Jason Crocker, the 402nd Army Field Support Brigade RPAT Sprung officer in charge. "We help...

After more than a century of popular sci-fi fantasies that feature deadly energy weapons, including War of the Worlds, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Star Trek and Star Wars, it looks like the ray gun has finally arrived in the real world. And even if the first ray guns out of the lab can barely fit on the bed of a 30-ton off-road truck rather than in a soldier’s palm, the novel, "speed-of-light" capabilities that lasers could bring to the battlefield has drawn the keen interest of the Pentagon brass, which spends about $400 million a year on directed-energy beam weapons....

Airmen's traumatic battlefield injuries may be more effectively treated by using a new light-activated technology developed as a result of research managed by Air Force Office of Scientific Research and supported by funds from the Office of the Secretary of Defense This new treatment for war injuries includes using a process or technology called Photochemical Tissue Bonding, which can replace conventional sutures, staples and glues in repairing skin wounds, reconnecting severed peripheral nerves, blood vessels, tendons and incisions in the cornea. Harvard Medical School professor and Massachusetts General Hospital Wellman Center researcher, Dr. Irene Kochevar and her colleague at Wellman,...

A French firm has developed a cell phone cryptography technology strong enough to satisfy French government and NATO security standards. The president of France was pleased, and his subordinates were relieved, because their boss is an enthusiastic smart phone user. Smartphones are popular because they can do so much, particularly accessing the Internet. But wireless devices, especially cell phones, give military and government security officials a very bad feeling. Moreover, in the last few years, several prominent heads-of-state (including the current American president), who were avid smartphone users, came to power. They were all told by their security personnel that...

ORANGE, Va. — Officials in central Virginia approved a Wal-Mart Supercenter early Tuesday near one of the nation's most important Civil War battlefields, a proposal that had stirred opposition by preservationists and hundreds of historians. The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to grant the special permit to the world's biggest retailer after a majority of more than 100 speakers said they favored bringing the Wal-Mart to Locust Grove, within a cannonball's shot from the Wilderness Battlefield. Historians and Civil War buffs are fearful the Wal-Mart store will draw traffic and more commerce to an area within the historic...

8/4/2009 - SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFNS) -- Three Air Force aircraft along with multiple aircrew, aeromedical evacuation teams, and agencies from around the world gave a British soldier a fighting chance at life in late July after the soldier sustained multiple gunshot wounds and had his blood supply replaced more than 10 times at a military hospital in Afghanistan. According to officials, the soldier sustained multiple wounds to the abdomen and chest, and was transfused with 75 units of blood and another 75 units of platelets. Emergency surgery was conducted to repair the soldier's liver and lung. After...

Lecturer and author Dr. Nick Begich will discuss the latest research on telepathy in the battlefield, where brain waves alone can give commands..

The U.S. Army has halted use of a powder designed to control bleeding only months after approving it because of concerns about its health effects. WoundStat was dropped because a study by the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research showed it could injure the lining and walls of blood vessels, Army officials say. WoundStat is a clay-based agent that is poured onto a moderate-to-severe wound and held in place until it sticks to the wound, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which approved the product. The Army announced in October 2008 that it would start using it downrange,...

For years, the use of unscreened blood transfusions exposed severely wounded servicemembers and other trauma patients in Iraq and Afghanistan to the inherent risk of diseases such as HIV, hepatitis and malaria, according to medical experts who advise the secretary of defense. Battlefield attacks that resulted in mass casualties or severe injuries often overtaxed the military’s blood supply system until 2007, meaning medics collected fresh blood from those on site for emergency treatment of the wounded, the Defense Health Board wrote in a June 2008 report. The unscreened blood transfusions, however, did not meet federal safety standards required of all...

New procedures were rushed into theaters of war without rigorous review The U.S. Army has quietly altered or abandoned some of its more experimental medical treatments for troops injured in combat, as advances it once hailed as groundbreaking are foundlargely ineffective or perhaps even dangerous. Advanced battle dressings, a blood-clotting drug, alternative procedures for emergency blood transfusions - each was introduced early in the Iraq war, often with little evidence to support them beyond anecdotes or tests on animals. A few were adopted widely by civilian hospitals, based almost exclusively on accolades from the military. But an investigation by The...

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2009 – The commander of U.S. Central Command last night praised the Army medics and Navy corpsmen whose courage on the battlefield protects the lives of fellow servicemembers. U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Stephanie Cates receives the Angels of the Battlefield Award from U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, commander, U.S. Central Command, and U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, during a dinner in honor of military medics and corpsman at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., March 11, 2009. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Suzanne M. Day  (Click photo for...

BAGHDAD, Feb. 10, 2009 – Because communication on the battlefield is essential, a small group of soldiers here dedicates itself to ensuring Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division’s 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team can talk to one another when it counts. Army Spc. Giselle King prepares a force-tracking monitor on a vehicle at Camp Liberty, Iraq, Feb. 7, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Brian Tierce  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army Spc. Giselle King, an Indianapolis native who serves in the brigade’s Special Troops Battalion, focuses much of her time ensuring the communication readiness...

John P. Pryor, 42, of Moorestown, the dedicated leader of the University of Pennsylvania's trauma team and a decorated major in the Army Reserve who wrote eloquently about the painful parallels between battlefield deaths and urban homicides, was killed on Christmas by enemy fire in Iraq while serving as a combat surgeon. Dr. Pryor deployed Dec. 6 and was with a risky frontline surgical unit when he was killed by shrapnel from a mortar round. It was his second tour of duty in Iraq. Dr. Pryor, who was experienced and cool under pressure, was born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., and...

One of the greatest privileges of living in Virginia, especially for history buffs, is that we are neck-deep in Civil War country. I live within 50 miles of some of the most significant battles, and have walked the battlefields of Bull Run (I and II), Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Chancellorsville, The Wilderness, and many others. The one thing that has remained nearly unblemished, especially in the face of the building boom in Northern Virginia over the past 15 years, has been the fields and vistas of the hallowed ground where tens of thousands of brave men fought and died. If you want...

ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE - Using ancient Chinese medical techniques, a small team of military doctors here has begun treating wounded troops suffering from severe or chronic pain with acupuncture. The technique is proving so successful that the Air Force will begin teaching "battlefield acupuncture" early next year to physicians deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan, senior officials will announce tomorrow.

Archaeologists have discovered an ancient roman battlefield from the third century near Göttingen that will rewrite history, Lower Saxony's department for preservation of historical monuments said on Thursday. “The find can be dated to the third century and will definitely change the historical perception of that time,” Dr. Henning Haßmann told The Local. The amazing discovery allows an insight in what must have been a dramatic battle between Romans and Germanic tribes. “The find indicates a massive Roman military presence,” Haßmann said. So far historians believed that the battle of the Teutoburg Forest, which took place in 9 AD, resulted...

LOGAN, Utah, Nov. 10, 2008 – A member of the Utah National Guard’s 19th Special Forces Group received the Meritorious Service Medal here Nov. 1 at halftime of a Utah State University football game in front of thousands of appreciative fans – and his teammates. Michael Green, a lineman on the Utah State Aggies football team, stands at attention during a Nov. 1, 2008, halftime ceremony. Green received the Meritorious Service Medal for his service in Afghanistan with the Utah National Guard’s 19th Special Forces Group. Photo courtesy of Utah State University  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER — During a recent air assault operation in the Diyala province, the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division medical team once again demonstrated its excellence. The group, which consisted of one physician, three physician assistants, one mental health provider, a preventive medicine officer and numerous skilled combat medics, delivered seamless and exceptional medical care, despite harsh conditions. Several of the team members flew by helicopter, carrying everything needed to set up a rapid aid station with them. A rapid aid station is able to provide immediate treatment for any injuries sustained during the early phase of an...

ST. PETE’S BEACH, Fla., Aug. 19, 2008 – Scientists and battlefield medical clinicians shared their knowledge and experiences to advance medicine during the military’s premier trauma care conference here. The U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command’s annual Advanced Technology Applications for Combat Casualty Care Conference was held Aug. 11 to 15. What evolved from a disjointed vendor-oriented conference more than 10 years ago with just a couple hundred participants is now an extremely relevant knowledge exchange that has the ability to improve military medicine, said Army Col. Bob Vandre, a former MRMC Combat Casualty Care Program director who organized...