DHS Officials Question Lab R&D Focus; Sandia Labs’ Jill Hruby Comments

The Department of Homeland Security’s 2002 founding legislation indicates it can fund research and development projects for other agencies such as the Energy Department. 

However, Daniel Gerstein, DHS’ deputy undersecretary for science and technology, told a House subcommittee April 19 that the agency has too much emphasis on development and not enough on basic or applied…

Report: Iran Claims Success in Decoding US Drone Data

Iranian officials are claiming that they successfully decoded a U.S. drone that was captured last year, Reuters reports. 

Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division, told the state news agency that Iranian engineers were close to completing the decoding for the Sentinel. 

Iran reported that it captured the unmanned aircraft in December.

U.S. officials…

Soldiers Could See Through Dust, Clouds with New AF Filter Tech

Air Force-funded research has yielded new visibility technology for use in cloudy or dusty environments, Armed With Science reports. 

Colorado School of Mines and ITN Energy Systems researchers developed a new circular polarization filter for the Air Force that has a variety of applications, spanning early cancer detection to enhanced vision through dust or clouds. 

The new…

NIST Opens Two Laser, Atomic Clock Labs; Patrick Gallagher Comments

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has opened two facilities in Colorado to conduct high-precision science and measurement research, the Commerce Department announced Wednesday. 

Federal, state and local government officials ands university officials gathered to celebrate the facilities’ openings last Friday in Boulder, Colo. 

The new NIST precision measurement laboratory has a controlled environment…

Pentagon to Award Regenerative Tissue Tech Research Grants

The Defense Department is looking to develop regenerative medicine for treating combat-related injuries as part of a new $75 million program, Nextgov reports.

The Army Medical Research and Material Command issued a grant application Monday for regenerative medicine with the Office of Naval Research, Department of Veterans Affairs and National Institutes of Health.

The Pentagon…

Army Developing Tech to Monitor Soldier Brain Injuries

The Army is increasingly researching methods to diagnose and treat traumatic brain injuries on the battlefield, the American Forces Press Service reports.

The brach has invested $633 million into TBI research and has 472 active research projects alone. 

Col. Dr. Dallas Hack, director of the Army’s combat casualty care research program, told AFPS that more…

Iran Seeking Web Content Monitoring Tech

Iran is openly seeking a vendor to provide information on Internet firewalls for filtering and monitoring web content. 

Iran’s ministry of information and communications technology issued a request for information, translated from Farsi and reported by Ars Technica, asking organizations and companies to describe software that could be used for censorship.

The RFI, posted April 11 and…

New Biochip Could Monitor Soldier Traumatic Injuries

Military-funded research has yielded a biochip that could detect injuries to service members based on traumatic events, according to NextGov. 

Anthony Guiseppi-Elie, a bioengineering and computer engineering researcher, applied for a patent last Thursday for an implantable biochip that would manage trauma-induced hemorrhages. 

Guiseppi-Elie’s biochip technology would remotely monitor soldiers on a battlefield.

The research abstract suggests…

CBP Only Wants Readily Available Tech for Border Project; Mark Borkowski Comments

Customs and Border Protection will update its border security system by mixing in commercial technology, Nextgov reports.

Mark Borkowski, assistant commissioner for CBP’s office of technology, innovation and acquisition, said the agency is taking a new approach by using technology that is already available.

He added that industry must prove to the agency that the technology is ready to go.

CBP…

ATK, NASA Test Deep Space Exploration Booster; Fred Brasfield Comments

ATK and NASA completed the first test of a space launch system booster for a new phase of space exploration, the company announced Tuesday. 

The aerospace and defense firm said it completed the flight control test 1 for the space agency’s space launch system booster program March 28 in Utah. 

Fred Brasfield, vice president for the company’s next-generation booster program, said NASA…