Hunter Killer 4k

[Fortun Bawa]

HunterKiller: by most definitions, the term designates an entirely new class of UAV, not a weaponized sensor platform, such as the MQ-1 Predator, but an aircraft designed from the beginning to seek out and strike targets.

The original Air Force Request For Information in 2004 called for a high-altitude/long-endurance (HALE) aircraft capable of carrying a 3000-pound payload, including at least four 500-pound laser- or GPS-guided weapons, with long loiter time and an operating altitude between 35,000 and 50,000 feet. There were no specifications on speed or sensors.

While the UAV Battle Lab is scheduled to close in August, along with all other USAF battle labs in a major budget restructure, Whittemore says much of its mission will remain at Creech, as part of the Air Warfare Center. In terms of ongoing innovation in the field, that certainly will include the hunter-killer concept and whether, despite the designation and increased weapons capability, it is still primarily a weaponized ISR platform.

But Ralph Starace, director of the Strike Market Segment at Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems in El Segundo, Calif., believes a true hunter-killer needs to be more than a weaponized ISR platform if it is to perform the specialized tasks warfighters will require of it.

That is how the Army sees Warrior-somewhere between Predator and Reaper in capability, with more weapons, range, and endurance than Predator, sharing common ground control with Shadow and interoperable with manned aviation platforms, especially the Apache helicopter.

There also is some debate as to whether a hunter-killer is a single platform or two distinct platforms-one a hunter, the other a killer-perhaps with one in the air, the other on the ground, or one unmanned, the other manned. Two platforms would allow the hunter to be ISR heavy, the killer strike heavy, as Peak says. But if the number of platforms required is increased, what is the impact on cost and the complexity of operations for the ground-station crew?

Keith Arthur, Teaming & Intelligent Systems team leader at the Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate in Fort Eustis, Va., believes there are so many different ways to develop a hunter-killer concept that variants of them all probably will be seen in the next two decades. And many of the enabling capabilities will be developed, matured, and demonstrated at AATD to enable the Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) to experiment on the best way to employ them.

AATD recently tested the concept of multiple platforms-air and ground-working together as a hunter-killer team in an Unmanned Autonomous Collaboration Operations [UACO] demonstration at Fort Benning, Ga.

The unmanned platforms can split up a problem, decide how to execute the task, get agreement with a single human operator handling an entire team of vehicles, then go out and perform the mission. Handling all of that from the front seat of an Apache was too much of a workload. So these technologies are intended to increase the cognitive decision-making software to handle minute-to-minute needs of a single UAV.

Another concept that may or may not fall into the hunter-killer arena is the Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV), sometimes seen as a long-term replacement for manned fighter aircraft, but recently handed a setback when a joint Air Force/Navy program was scrapped. The Navy is continuing to pursue the concept, but it has now been placed on the back burner in the Air Force.

HKB-3 hunter-killer droidProduction informationManufacturerBaktoid Combat AutomataClassBattle droid[1]DegreeFourth-degree droid[1]Cost19,130 credits (new)[1]Technical specificationsArmamentRapid-fire blaster rifleEquipmentquadanium steel plating[1]Chronological and political informationAffiliationTrade Federation[1]Confederacy of Independent Systems[1][Source]

HKB-3 droids were easily modified hunter-killer droids. They had square heads and were equipped with rapid-fire blasters. They relied on a Central Control Computer to coordinate their operation. This feature made them effective at tracking a target because they could easily coordinate with each other when sent out in groups. Individually they had poor targeting abilities, but in a group, if one droid homed in on a target, all droids in the patrol group could coordinate their fire on the same coordinates to maximize their effectiveness.

Prior to and during the Stark Hyperspace War, HKB-3s were favored by officials of the Trade Federation to serve as bodyguards and provide general sentry duties. It was during that conflict that Wookiee Jedi Master Tyvokka was killed after Trade Federation Minister Nute Gunray ordered his hunter-killer droid bodyguards to open fire on him.

By the time of Invasion of Naboo, they had largely been replaced by the highly-superior droideka. Though a rarer sight than the B-series battle droid, HKB-3 hunter-killer droids could still be seen during the Clone Wars, typically relegated to simple guard duties or patrolling remote planets.[1]

By 1943, the tide began to turn against the German U-boats due to Allied advances in antisubmarine intelligence, electronic tracking and attack aircraft. The U.S. Navy decided it was time to hunt down U-boats one by one. The U-boats were so elusive, no single ship could do the job, so the U.S. Navy organized special antisubmarine escort ships and dispatched them in units called Hunter-Killer Task Groups.

In May 1944, Hunter-Killer Task Group 22.3 was formed. It consisted of a small aircraft carrier escort named the USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60) and five light destroyer escorts. By pooling their technologies and going on the offensive, Task Groups like 22.3 turned the tables on the U-boats. The hunters became the hunted.

The lead ship of Task Group 22.3 was the antisubmarine escort carrier USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60). Her fighter planes and torpedo bombers were responsible for fanning out and hunting for U-boats beyond the range of Allied land-based planes. Speed and altitude enabled the fighter planes to search many more square miles of ocean than a ship could alone.

Pilots used their eyes to scan the seas for U-boats during the day and relied on radar at night. They also dropped sonobuoys, underwater equipment used to listen for submerged U-boats. When a pilot located a U-boat, he instinctively dove down and fired into the water to mark its position. The Task Group destroyers could then launch explosive underwater depth charges at the submarine.

Destroyer escorts had guns and torpedoes for attacking surfaced U-boats, small hedgehog bombs that exploded when they hit submerged U-boats, and powerful underwater depth charges that could be set to explode at specific depths. U-boat captains did everything in their power to avoid the destroyer escorts.

During his last antisubmarine patrol with Task Group 21.12, Gallery began to think it might be possible to capture a U-boat. It would be a monumental feat and provide the Allies with secret German naval technologies including U-boat torpedo guidance systems, communication codes and the attack tactics used by U-boats.

Upon returning to the U.S. in April of 1944, Gallery ordered each ship in the Task Group to prepare a plan for capturing, boarding and towing a U-boat. The boarding parties began their training exercises immediately, though there were many unknowns in preparing for something that had never been done before.

Malware designed to seek out and disable enterprise security defenses has surged in popularity over the past year to comprise nearly a quarter (26%) of all detections in 2023, according to Picus Security.

Huseyin Can Yuceel, security research lead at Picus Security, argued that it can be extremely difficult to stop hunter-killer malware, as security tools may appear to be working as expected, even if an attack has actually disabled or reconfigured them.

To ensure cyber defenses are theoretically robust and practically effective, security teams must embrace security validation to consistently test and optimize their readiness to prevent, detect, and respond to these sophisticated threats. In addition, by employing behavioral analysis and machine learning, security teams can better position defenses to anticipate and neutralize the hunter-killer components of modern threats.

70% of malware analyzed now employ stealth-oriented techniques by attackers, particularly those that facilitate evading security measures and maintaining persistence in networks. Nearly one-third of all analyzed malware can inject malicious code into legitimate processes, allowing adversaries to avoid detection while potentially gaining elevated privileges.

There was a 150% increase in the use of T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information. This highlights a trend toward hindering the effectiveness of security solutions and obfuscating malicious activities to complicate the detection of attacks, forensic analysis, and incident response efforts.

To combat hunter-killer malware and stay ahead of 2024 malware trends, Picus is urging organizations to embrace machine learning, protect user credentials, and consistently validate their defenses against the latest tactics and techniques used by cybercriminals.

The US Navy commissioned the USS South Dakota on Feb. 2, 2019, and, in doing so, ushered in a new era of millennial undersea war fighters and the most technologically advanced submarine hunter-killer on Earth.

Fast-attack submarines like the South Dakota serve as a door-kicker, as one did in 2011 when the US opened its campaign against Libya with a salvo of cruise missiles from the USS Michigan. These submarines also must hunt and sink enemy ships and submarines in times of combat, and the South Dakota is unmatched in that department.

"This, my friends, is one of today's highlights: What you're looking at here is the AQ-360 Hunter Killer UCAV, the first -fully- autonomous military aircraft in the world. The state-of-the-art computer system that resides inside this machine is brought to us by some of our most renowned AI researchers and it's right over at Langley AFB where the artificial mind is merged with a lean and mean, all-American airframe made of lightweight but highly durable polymer materials. I know that some of you are thinking right now, but rest assured: There's always a way to pull the plug in case they ever try to go SkyNet on us and the AI itself is still way less intelligent than your average Army PFC. The HK can hold up to four Maverick air-to-ground missiles which makes it an exceptional tank-killer and ideal for close air support missions that are deemed too dangerous to risk the lives of our combat pilots. All of you Chair Force fighter and bomber jocks out there don't need to worry though; your jobs are safe! The Hunter Killer is purely designed to take on ground vehicles, so all that sweet dog-fighting and bomb-dropping is still up to you guys."

3a8082e126