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Businesses, be aware and prepare. The latest wave of digital disruptions is rolling in, and future success depends on being ready for them and their effects. A comprehensive yearlong study reveals that, in the next three to five years, emerging technologies will reshape industry and initiate new business models.

As the military world continues its march toward network centricity, software developers are making strides toward better collaboration as well. A project expected to roll out in the next few months will connect disparate researchers, allowing them to share ideas and products. This open-source idea swapping takes practices already in place in the private sector and moves them into the defense arena with the aim of accelerating production time while reducing costs. The purpose is to enable the rapid development and certification of products for the Global Information Grid.

Telephonics Corporation has been awarded a $2 million follow-on contract from the U.S.

The danger to the Free World’s information infrastructure has become more sophisticated and widespread, and it now poses a threat to the very economic well-being of the Free World. Economics and national security have become so closely intertwined that both now are facing common threats from global information operations.

U.S. soldiers will soon be planning and executing operations in cyberspace as effectively and efficiently as they do on physical battlefields. These new missions are being outlined in a series of concepts suggesting how ground forces will function in cyberspace. Once they are formally evaluated and approved, the cyberplan is scheduled to become part of the U.S. Army’s overall warfighting and operational doctrine.

Combatant commanders now have a place to test, train, evaluate and develop nonkinetic alternatives to fight in the Global War on Terrorism. The Information Operations Range enables warfighters to explore military deception, electronic warfare, psychological operations, computer network operations and operations security to influence behavior or respond to an event. In conjunction with the range, commands can use Virtual Integrated Support for the Information Operations Environment tools to conduct the planning, assessment and analysis for information operations. The tools also can be employed to create events to assess new technologies and systems integration in the cyber and information operations domains.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has embarked on a quest to develop a soda-can-size robot that can shape shift enough to fit through a hole the diameter of a quarter. Working with industry and academia, the agency’s Chemical Robots program seeks to create a new class of soft, flexible, meso-scale mobile device that can navigate through arbitrarily shaped openings. As envisioned, the robot would then perform tasks related to search and rescue or reconnaissance, depending on the payload.

U.S. government agencies and private-sector firms must improve communications to better protect vital national infrastructure. Besides the ongoing need to shield both classified and unclassified computer network assets, an industry expert maintains that a vigorous defense has a deeper psychological impact, implying that systems can be trusted.

FLIR Systems Incorporated has been awarded a $13 million firm-fixed-fee-price contrac

A lightweight fuel cell technology may soon be powering warfighters’ battlefield electronic equipment. Currently being tested by U.S., European and Israeli armed forces, the system offers the potential for continuous and reliable energy for the myriad sensors, computers and communications devices necessary for soldiers’ survival. Unlike batteries, which are heavy, short lived and require logistics trails, fuel cells can be refueled in the field and provide up to several days of continuous operation.