Monthly Archives: September 2009

Air Force, Raytheon, weapons systems

Raytheon starts testing smarter Maverick missile

Today’s “things that go boom”  entry: Raytheon announced today that the company has begun testing a new model of the Maverick standoff attack missile for the Air Force designed for greater precision against targets in urban environments and on the move.

The new version, the AGM-65E2, is a semi-active laser guided weapon that  locks onto a target “painted” by a laser directed from the launching aircraft.  Based on the AGM-65E originally developed for the Marine Corps, which can follow a laser spot from the aircraft or a forward observer or other aircraft, the 65E2 will be less apt to be confused by movement of targets, and by clutter in a built-up area, making it less likely that it will hit the wrong target or cause “collateral damage”.

“The newest variant of the laser-guided Maverick is perfectly suited for urban combat and high-speed maneuvering targets,” said Harry Schulte, vice president of Air Warfare Systems. “Because of its accuracy and standoff range, the U.S. warfighter and our international partners can use this weapon against a variety of targets.”

Raytheon’s release at:  Raytheon Starts Developmental Testing of Upgraded Laser-Guided Maverick Missile – Sep 14, 2009.

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buzzword compliance

Tech buzz from the veterinarian

Mooch got his ear pierced today. A centimeter-wide hole in his right ear is testament to a bite from something–I’m guessing another cat, but maybe something he was trying to eat.  In any case, as the vet talked with me and looked at Mooch’s extensive medical history, he remembered that I had been an editor at Ziff Davis, and was a a tech journalist. So he took the opportunity to rave about his Palm Pre.

He was most excited about the “home brew” applications he had installed, which required him to get to the Linux command line on the Pre.  And how he had installed a hack of the GPS and the networking on the Pre that allowed him to remote login to his Pre, and fetch the GPS location of the phone if he had lost it.

He let me look at his for a few minutes, because–surprise–I have been so deep in the world of defense tech lately, I haven’t even had a chance to look at a Pre on a store shelf, let alone evaluate one.  And yes, after a cursory examination of the Pre, even with its microscopic keys, the Pre has moved up on my list of potential replacements for my Blackberry 8700c. (I absolutely loathe screen-typing on the iPhone–I need physical feedback, being a touch typist.)

That is, if I ever get free of AT&T, what with every other member of my family on an AT&T phone, and two of them on iPhones.

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