Field telephones were standard on the battlefield from the 1910s through the 1980s, with the EE-8 field telephone (1930s–Vietnam) offering a 7-mile range. The SCR-300 Walkie-Talkie, developed by Galvin Manufacturing (Motorola) in 1940, was the first backpack FM radio with about a 3-mile range. SINCGARS, fielded by the U.S. Army in the late 1980s, has…
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The CORONA (Discoverer) program operated from 1959 to 1972 as the United States’ first photo-reconnaissance satellite program, with Discoverer XIV achieving the first mid-air film recovery in August 1960. KH-11 KENNEN (CRYSTAL), first launched in 1976, introduced electro-optical digital imaging with about 15 cm per-pixel resolution, and a 2019 declassified image from USA-224 reportedly achieved…
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OpenAI ChatGPT, built on GPT-4 and now multimodal with text, image, and voice inputs, reached over 100 million weekly users by 2024 and offers a free tier plus the $20/month ChatGPT Plus plan with plugins and web browsing. Google Gemini (formerly Bard) integrates with Google Workspace, offers Gemini Advanced in Google One AI Premium at…
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The four pillars of quantum technology are quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum sensing (metrology), and quantum simulation. In 2016, China’s Micius satellite demonstrated satellite-based quantum key distribution by distributing entangled photons between ground stations over 1,200 km. IBM aims to build a 4,000+ qubit machine by 2025 and demonstrated a 433-qubit processor in 2022. D-Wave’s…
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Global government and military Satcom spending is projected to grow about 7–10% annually, rising from roughly $50 billion in 2024 to $64 billion by 2030. The Ukraine conflict underscored Satcom’s importance, with Starlink keeping forces online for combat and coalition operations. Militaries are shifting to enterprise Satcom architectures that blend military and commercial satellites across…
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In June 2024, a team led by Japan’s NICT and Aston University achieved 402 Tbps over a single standard optical fiber using six wavelength bands (O, E, S, C, L, and U). In March 2024, the same international team reached 301 Tbps by extending into E-band and S-band with a custom amplifier for those bands.…
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The United States fields the LGM-30G Minuteman III ICBM (silo-based) with a ~13,000 km range that carries 1× nuclear RV (W78/W87, ~335 kt) and the UGM-133 Trident II D5 SLBM (submarine-launched) with >12,000 km range capable of up to 8 MIRVs (W76/W88). The U.S. LRHW “Dark Eagle” program develops a long-range hypersonic boost-glide missile with…
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1957 – The Atoms for Peace agreement between the United States and Iran launches Iran’s civil nuclear program. 1967 – Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) is a 5 MW reactor supplied by the United States, using weapons-grade uranium fuel (93% enriched). 1968–1970 – Iran signs and ratifies the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT); IAEA safeguards enter force…
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Fiber-optic drones carry control commands and high-bandwidth video via a tether, delivering a 1 Gbps (1000Base-T) link with near-zero latency and immunity to RF jamming. Fiber communications were pioneered by Charles Kao in 1966 and proven practical by 1977, enabling high-bandwidth data transfer for drones. Russia deployed fiber-tethered kamikaze FPV drones in spring 2024 during…
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The NFL reported a 20,000% increase in drone incursions at football games from 2017 to 2023. The global anti-drone market is projected to grow at 27.8% per year this decade. Counter-UAS systems typically use multi-sensor fusion, combining radar, RF analyzers, optical/infrared cameras, and acoustic sensors with artificial intelligence. Rafael’s Drone Dome provides 360° detection with…
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