The items being purchased are 10,000 New International Version (NIV) Bibles with a custom-designed cover. The Bibles include Army-designed color photographs and text inserts.

War may be hell, but infowar is making a bid for heaven.

SOCOM wants Bibles

I'm famous! (Or not.)

Okay ... I'm acknowledged! (Well, that is true. Even if it is only on page 116.)

The recent decision by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to migrate from IPv4 to IPv6 in military networks underscores how policy can have a profound effect on network performance and even unintended consequences.

While to some IPv6 holds a promise of "increased security" and "support for wireless applications," these are very arguable points from an engineering perspective and, even if true, need to be seriously weighed against performance in environments with the unique link characteristics of military networks.

In "Internet Protocol Header Compression, Robust Header Compression, and Their Applicability in the Global Information Grid," E. Ertekin et al. show that moving from IPv4 to IPv6 increases the overhead due to packet headers by 50 percent. This will have serious performance impacts on capacity-constrained links, especially tactical radio links that need to keep the payload size small, resulting in a large percentage of the total payload dedicated to the header.

The authors present an excellent summary and comparison of current header compression schemes that can be used to mitigate this problem and present a good overview of the application of these techniques to the global information grid. Specifically, the article examines the use of two compression schemes developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and their applicability for military applications: Internet Protocol Header Compression (IPHC) and Robust Header Compression (ROHC). It is interesting to note that the DoD directive, while intending to standardize on IPv6 supposedly for increased robustness and interoperability, also trades that robustness for decreased link utilization and shifts the point of interoperability to the type of header compression a given system engineer chooses to implement.

Follow the first link ("Network-Centric Military Communications") to read the guest editorial. A subscription is required for access to the full text of the article.

Network-Centric Military Communications | IEEE Communications Magazine

They conclude that the ability to gather, fuse, and share information is important for overcoming nearly all operational problems associated with such contingencies.

MemeStreams is a weapons system.

Stretching the Network

Making a show of rushing missile shield components into place before they are required, to complete a system that may not work anyway, is a Potemkin defense. It invites more of the cost overruns and test failures that have bedeviled the program. The Pentagon had to tell Congress last week of another round of setbacks in developing one piece of the Star Wars puzzle: an infrared satellite system crucial to the project. This will mean more lost time and higher costs for an oft-revamped plan that even Pentagon analysts have called a "case study" for how not to build a complex space project. Voters paying for this buy-now, fly-later dream deserve realistic planning and candor, not another slice of political pie in the sky.

Missiles, or databases. What will it be?

Dream-Filled Missile Silos

No, officers, we're computer scientists and engineers.

This begs for a Weird Al parody of Jazzy Jeff's "Parents Just Don't Understand."

Robot Race Is Giant Step for Unmanned Kind

To win the $1 million prize, a vehicle must complete the desert course, expected to be as long as 200 miles, in less than 10 hours.

Robot Vehicle Successfully Navigates Test Course

For the KC-135 tanker, it would be optimal to replace the KC-135 before the end of the decade.

Investigating Optimal Replacement of Aging Air Force Systems

The rigorous five-week sniper training course fails more than half of its students. The demand is great enough that the Army has sent a team of trainers to Iraq to keep churning out new ones.

Cowboy up.

In Iraq's Murky Battle, a Precision Weapon

A review showed that DARPA could have better addressed the sensitivity of the technology. DoD should appoint a Privacy Ombudsman. The Director, Defense Research and Engineering, concurred.

You can download the full text of the report in PDF. Appendix D provides a brief description of each of the TIA subsystems, including FutureMAP, the futures market that was canceled by DARPA but subsequently resumed by a private firm. The privately run market is scheduled to open in 2004.

Inspector General Audit of Terrorism Information Awareness Program

The Marines are working on SUSTAIN, a similar manned vehicle system, which is meant to deploy Marines anywhere around the globe in two hours without violating the airspace of countries along the way.

Coming soon: precision guided munitions, delivered to the destination of your choice in thirty minutes or less, guaranteed! We offer a wide variety of "packages" to suit every occasion. Stop by our showroom today, or sign up online for a free trial delivery. On the road? Just press *PGM on your PCS mobile phone to speak with a delivery specialist.

In this increasingly virtual world of ours, it's important to take the time to reach out and "touch" someone.

Work starts on hypersonic vehicles