Opening the Nano-World

A Defense Tech reader sent this interesting article my way. But, to be honest, I’m not sure what to make of it.

I know a little bit about “nanotechnology” but not necessarily enough to really know if this development is significant. But I thought I’d pass it along because DT readers may be able to enlighten me and others on this.

What applications in defense and intelligence might this have? The article mentions research funding was provided by the Army. From what I understand this sol-gel ink solution is a process that could lead to the construction of various nano-structures such as lenses, optics and even fine structures.

Here’s the article:

New sol-gel inks developed by researchers at the University of Illinois can be printed into patterns to produce three-dimensional structures of metal oxides with nanoscale features.

The ability to directly pattern functional oxides at the nanoscale opens a new avenue to functional devices. Potential applications include micro-fuel cells, photonic crystals and gas sensors.

The researchers describe the new inks in a paper accepted for publication in the journal Advanced Materials, and featured on its “Advances in Advance” Web site.

“Using this new family of inks, we have produced features as small as 225 nanometers,” said co-author Jennifer Lewis, the Thurnauer Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and director of the university’s Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory (FSMRL). “Our goal is to get down to 100 nanometer feature sizes.”

To create three-dimensional structures, the researchers use a robotic deposition process called direct-write assembly. The concentrated sol-gel ink is dispensed as a filament from a nozzle approximately 1 micron in diameter (about 100 times smaller than a human hair). The ink is dispensed while a computer-controlled micropositioner precisely directs the path. After the pattern for the first layer is complete, the nozzle is raised and another layer is deposited. This process is repeated until the desired shape is produced.

“We have opened direct ink writing to a new realm of functional materials,” said graduate student Eric Duoss, the paper’s lead author. “Since we print the desired functionality directly, the need for complicated templating and replicating schemes is eliminated.”

Unlike previous inks, which require a liquid coagulation reservoir, the newly formulated inks are concentrated enough to rapidly solidify and maintain their shape in air, even as they span gaps in underlying layers.

“This gives us the ability to start, stop and reposition the flow of ink repeatedly, providing exquisite control over the deposition process,” Duoss said. “For example, we can directly pattern defects in three-dimensional structures for use as photonic crystals.”

After the structures have been assembled, they are converted to the desired functional oxide phase by heating at elevated temperature. Titanium dioxide, which possesses high refractive index and interesting electrical properties, is one material the researchers have successfully produced.

The researchers’ ink design and patterning approach can be readily extended to other materials.

“There are a nearly endless variety of materials to choose from,” Lewis said. “We envision having a toolbox of inks that can print at the micro- and nanoscale. These inks will be used for heterogeneous integration with other manufacturing techniques to create complex, functional devices composed of many different materials.”

In addition to Lewis and Duoss, former post-doctoral researcher Mariusz Twardowski is a co-author of the paper.

(Gouge: BD)

-- Christian

The USS Liberty and the McCain Presidential Bid

Could the USS Liberty surface as a campaign issue?

The latest news on the Liberty, the Navy spook ship attacked by Israel on June 8, 1967, during the Six-Day War, is that recently released National Security Agency documents are backing up what many -- including the survivors of Liberty -- have been saying for 40 years: that Israel knew full well that it was attacking -- with aerial strafing, napalm and torpedoes -- an American vessel.

You may have read it on Military.com, one of the few news sites to run the piece in total. Other than The Chicago Tribune, which came out with the story, only The Baltimore Sun picked up the piece, according to a Google search.

It will be interesting to see is whether any presidential candidates address the latest revelations, since those from both parties frequently tout longstanding ties and mutual loyalty between the U.S. and Israel.

One candidate with a real interest in this story is Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who five years ago endorsed a book, The Liberty Incident, that concluded it was a mistake. McCain's interest stems from the fact that his father, the late Adm. John S. McCain, was commander of U.S. Naval Forces, Europe, at the time, and ordered the official court of inquiry to investigate the attack.

Based on the court's findings, Adm. McCain concluded it was a case of mistaken identity. But five years ago the legal advisor to the court broke his own silence in an interview with me, calling the final report a sham, a cover-up. It was about that same time that The Liberty Incident, by A. Jay Cristol, a former Navy pilot and retired judge, hit the bookshelves.

Sen. McCain praised the book and its findings in a blurb that appeared on the back cover.

In recent months there have been more revelations about the attack and immediate aftermath, however. In June, I reported that the Navy already was calling the attack accidental in its casualty notification telegrams to next of kin even before the court of inquiry convened for the first time.

Then came the Tribune story last week, reporting that the National Security Agency's deputy director of operations in 1967 now confirms that transcripts of U.S. intercepts of Israeli communications show the Israelis knew exactly who they were attacking.

Oliver Kirby is quoted in the Trib story as recalling the Israeli pilots several times identifying the ship as American but being told to attack anyway. While some of the original transcripts and intel have disappeared, the story reports that some of it is still in U.S. government archives.

So far, calls to McCain's senate and campaign offices have not been returned.

-- Bryant Jordan

Searchers Say They Have Fossett 'Ping'

From this morning's Military.com news...

Teams on the ground and in two aircraft kept up the hunt for millionaire aviator Steve Fossett on Sunday after a new analysis of radar data provided fresh optimism.

The formal aerial search by the Civil Air Patrol and the Nevada National Guard had ended Sept. 19 after more than two weeks of scouring a rugged area of deserts and mountains twice the size of New Jersey.

However, analysis of radar data and satellite images from Sept. 3, the day Fossett disappeared in a small plane, led Air Force technicians to believe they had spotted clues to his route.

"We said the only time we would reopen the search is if we had viable leads. This time we believe we do," Gary Derks, the state Department of Public Safety official in charge of the search, said Sunday.

The area being searched was southeast of hotel magnate Barron Hilton's million-acre ranch in western Nevada, where Fossett had been staying. Nothing was found by Sunday afternoon.

Fossett, 63, was the first person to circle the globe solo in a balloon. He also swam the English Channel, completed the Iditarod sled-dog race and scaled some of the world's best-known peaks.

-- Christian

Why We Fight: Friday Follies Edition

In this week's edition of the Friday Follies, here's why we at DT are confident of victory in Afghanistan. With professionals like these, no one else stands a chance.

Have a great weekend...

-- Christian

Let Bots Do the Dirty Work...

A little Friday Follies with your morning coffee.

I guess now we know why robot EOD techs are so popular in the Sand Box...

All I can say is "ouch!"

(Gouge: CM)

-- Christian

How Not to Make $100 in Iraq

Time for the Friday Follies...

Looks like it's getting more and more dangerous for those night owls who like to dig up IED pits on Iraq's roads.

-- Christian

Look Downrange Will Ya?

Now we know why Gen. Jones and Chief Ramsey say it's time to trash the Iraqi National Police...

UPDATE:

DT reader "sintax" writes:

hey a friend of mine shot this with me when we were on patrol in dora district south Baghdad. yes the NP's(national police) are very poorly trained and equipped. sometimes they don't even get paid for months. there is alot corruption in the Iraqi state dept which is under their control. anyways shout out to Bravo company 1-35AR in Germany. BLACKJACKS!...

...But believe it or not they have tons of heart and i have seen them fight hard in combat. many of them are good guys. they have charged with us into battle many of times.

Thanks, sintax, for your insight. And I gotta tell you, I love the chuckling in the background. Keep up the good work!

-- Christian

When You Don't Want to Take Out the Trash

Here’s another one for the Friday Funnies.

Ask any Soldier whether he likes the camouflage scheme of the new Army Combat Uniform and you’ll usually get a groan and eye roll. I’ve had a hard time finding anyone that thinks the “universal” camo pattern is anything close to universal.

That is, unless you’re trying to stay out of the line of fire from CinCHome by hiding in plain sight...

(Gouge: RC)

-- Christian

Home, Sweet, Impregnable Fortress Home

Zhang Cheng and his 1,300 mile-per-hour choice of office decor has reignited my long forgotten desire to create my own fortress of doom.

Decade old changes in military purchasing habits have opened avenues for regular folk and paranoid fruitcakes alike. In the age of 'global' terror, your puny house alarm is only likely give provide sample-fodder for super-burglars mixing beats in their stolen iPod Nanos. So what could I do to protect my junk from techno-pirates and annoying little sh*ts that may or may not live down my street?

(For the benefit of those waiting for the missile-silo bubble to burst, we'll pretend I've got a fully-loaded island in the sun, complete with volcano).

Starting outside, the perimeter of mi casa should be free of all surveillance platforms and rival gangs. Advanced optics and specialized audio equipment placed around the gaff should provide me with ample warning of approaching homemade UAVs. Of course, you could also create your own air coverage like Bin Laden, or just buy real time satellite imagery if you're lazy.

Walls don't really go with the volcano, so Isla Snell features laser fencing to detect any possible intruder. Guard dogs are too low-tech, so in the age of genetic modification I've created my own protection: glow-in-the-dark guard pigs. Depending on my set up, speakers/sirens could also nauseate the intruder with my rendition of "I Fought the Law" whilst riot-slime causes hilarious slip'n'slide movements.

Surplus light armour is available to move from one side of the yard to the other and the spy car will patrol the areas my guard pigs don't. If you're lucky enough to survive the pigs/slime, please feel free to ring the buzzer. Biometrics would secure all doors and windows but I've opted for the alternative, of course.

For today's wealthy agoraphobes, a modest $10,000 could provide features such as candle-stick activating doorways and revolving fireplaces. Naturally all electrics are connected by a central system, but my modesty shots are kept off-site. Robotic agents patrol the corridors feeding video to the Tablet PC alerting me to any food delivery. A thermal camera would help me avoid creditors meaning I could make a quick getaway in my submarine. Any attempt to gain underwater access would be detected by the robo-fish, of course.

Some among you may argue that fear has clouded reason and that paranoia has led to the 21st century version of bomb shelter hysteria, that we don't actually need used military equipment and high-tech 'home-alone' protection. But with the balls/idiocy of todays 'crim-orrists' (or terr-inals), now might be the time to spruce up the old homestead and -- let's face it -- play with some of the coolest inventions since Porno Pez.

Now, if I only had room in the tub...

-- Steven Snell

G.I. Journos' Killer War Doc

A little more than two years ago, filmmaker Deborah Scranton got an offer to embed with the New Hampshire National Guard as they headed to Iraq. She turned it down. Instead, Scranton gave cameras to ten soldiers -- and let them shoot the movie. The result, The War Tapes, premiered this weekend in New York, at the Tribeca Film Festival. It's not only the best documentary to date about the conflict in Iraq. But it just might change the face of journalism in the process.

Most movies about Iraq, so far, have been pretty thin, with little insight into the guys fighting this war, and minimal combat footage. That's largely because the filmmakers didn't have the acess -- or the patience -- to get to the war's meatiest material.

Scranton leapfrogged that problem by letting the soldiers become her cameramen. Shooting over a thousand hours, in the field and back at home, they took the time to cpature their unit's unguarded moments, both literal and metaphorical. The laugh-out-loud moments come almost as often as the IED attacks: the ode to guarding septic trucks; the Tarantino-esque debate over whether a severed limb "resembles hamburger, ground up but uncooked.. [or] like a raw pot roast"; the scorpion-spider cage match; the verge-of-breakup moments with girlfriends; the young Iraqi, who stepped into an American convoy a moment too soon.

The War Tapes benefits from a strong dose of luck. Scranton could've cast a thousand GIs, and not gotten three soldiers as sharp, as articulate, and as funny as Stephen Pink, Zack Bazzi, and Mike Moriarty, the movie's main characters. And she couldn't have known how much action these guys would see -- Al-Anbar province in 2004 saw some of the most ferocious fighting of the counterinsurgency.

But an even larger helping of editorial prowess makes The War Tapes a success. Condensing a thousand hours into two hours is tough. Condensing into two hours with a narrative and emotional arc this strong is damn-near-impossible.

In recent years, there's been a ridiculously cantankerous debate over the benefits of professional journalists versus citizen-reporters. The pros are seen as biased and clueless; the amateurs as, well, amateurish, without the seasoned eye to pick the truly telling moments from the torrent of experience. Take the blogs from frontline troops, for example. The views are a refreshing alternative to what you read in the mainstream press; their anecdotes vital. But getting to that good stuff, sorting out the proverbial wheat from blogosphere chaff, takes forever. Most readers, I've found, just give up.

Documentaries like The War Tapes -- and Grizzly Man, and, to a lesser extent, Capturing the Friedmans -- have found the happy medium between the old- and new-school approaches to news. The citizen-journos collect the facts. The pros craft a story from 'em. The result may not be what the news-gathers expected -- Zack Bazzi was surprised how much of his political views wound up in The War Tapes' final cut. But, in this case at least, it's satisfying and truthful and raw. And it's the kind of journalism we ought to have. With some luck, it may be the kind we get, moving ahead.

Kneel Before the Centaur

Like a lot of us, former Navy electrician Dennis Buller is worried about our troops over in Iraq -- specifically, about the amount of gear they have to lug around. But unlike the rest of us, he's built a machine to do something about it.

Think of it as a Segway for grunts. Except you kneel down on it, instead of ride upright. "After seeing the Chronicles of Narnia, I want to call it the Centaur," Buller writes in. (Don't worry, George, he doesn't mean literally breeding animals with humans.) "See the movie and you will know what I mean."

This thing will scurry an infantryman around at twenty miles an hour, enable him to carry enough armor to make small arms obsolete, keep him warm, cool, and allow him to open a door and waste someone with extreme prejudice...

I built this because I know how hard it is for non-Technical [sic] people to understand what is in my head. Plus I cannot draw...

Dennis' prototype is about 3 1/2 feet long, and travels about eight miles an hour (the next one, he promises, will go twice as fast). The Centaur's small size makes it a better option for troops in urban battlefields than a Humvee, which "cannot pear [sic] around a corner, take cover in a house or dodge an RPG round." Dennis wants to pair later versions up with technology from the IBOT electric wheelchair, so the Centaur can climb stairs.

This first model is quite crude. But it works better than the first motorcycle, or the first ATV, or the first snowmobile. Not bad considering I made it in my shed.