Sc-Fi RoboCop (2013) "Omnicorp Product Line" - YouTube

The video were revealed today as part of the early viral marketing campaign for Jose Padilha‘s new RoboCop, which will star Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson and Hugh Laurie.

The film is set for release in August 9, 2013, but you can see the new ED, and seemingly a tease of RoboCop in the video.

Those with a keen memory for the original film will note that the video below seems to position ED and RoboCop as complimentary technology, rather than competing interests. So that’s a bit different than what we saw in the Paul Verhoeven movie. Wonder how that factors in to the new take?

That image above is a shot of the redesigned ED-209 automated security sentry drone from OmniCorp — you may remember the original ED-209 as the roaring, bullet-spitting hulk that went haywire in a boardroom demonstration and lead to the fictional funding of Sci-Fi hero RoboCop.

ESA European ministers emphasise space defense & security

	Global Monitoring for Environment and Security

Council underlined the importance of space systems for security. They drew attention to the role of satellite systems – particularly Galileo, EGNOS and GMES – as the backbone for improving Europe’s response to emergencies.

Pre-operational Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) services are already available. The ministers from EU and ESA Member States urged the European Commission to accelerate the transition to full operations, in support of EU external actions.

The ministers reaffirmed GMES as a priority for the EU, and urged the European Commission to take the necessary and timely actions to secure the continuity of the programme and the services it supplies to users.

Ministers highlighted the fact that the policy governing the availability of GMES data is crucial to the secure use of services and to the development of sustainable markets in the value-adding sector.

GMES will work hand-in-hand with the high-accuracy Public Regulated Service of Europe’s Galileo navigation satellite system.

Ministers also stressed that satellite communications represent a key capability in any crisis management operation, especially when ground infrastructures are damaged or destroyed.

As well as calling on the European Commission to ensure the optimal use of space solutions in Europe’s coordination of civil protection, the ministers also turned their attention to the need to protect the satellites.

Ministers expressed concern about the risks that space weather and space debris can pose to space assets.

They took good note of the recently established user requirements for systems designed to monitor and protect space assets and called on the EU, ESA and their Member States initially to exploit fully all existing capacities in this area.

ESA signs agreement with European Defense Agency

ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain met EDA Chief Executive Claude-France Arnould at the Paris Air and Space Show Monday to sign an Administrative Arrangement on cooperation between ESA and the European Defence Agency.

The conclusion of the Administrative Arrangement follows the invitation sent by the Head of the European Defence Agency (EDA), Baroness Ashton, to ESA's Director General to enter negotiations for the establishment of such an Arrangement and its approval by the EU Council and the ESA Council in May and June 2011, respectively.

"I am convinced that an increased dialogue and coordination between the space and defence communities is of mutual interest and will allow European space programmes to better support Europe's security and defence needs," said Mr Dordain.

"Reinforcing the cooperation between EDA and ESA will allow us to further develop the security dimension of the European Space Policy in coordination with other EU stakeholders."

The aim of the Arrangement is to provide a structured relationship and a mutually beneficial cooperation between ESA and EDA through the coordination of their respective activities.

The cooperation will in particular aim at exploring the added value and contribution of space assets to the development of European capabilities in the area of crisis management and the Common Security and Defence Policy.

"The signature of this Arrangement will allow to consolidate our already close and fruitful working relations with the European Space Agency," said Ms Arnould. "I am looking forward to explore further synergies between the needs of the defence community and ESA activities to the benefit of our respective Member States."

Building on their specific complementary roles and activities, ESA and EDA are already cooperating on a variety of subjects, including Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, Satellite Communi-cation in support of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), and Space Situational Awareness, as well as critical space technologies.

The Administrative Arrangement concluded between ESA and EDA foresees that their cooperation will involve in particular:

• Identify those capability gaps or shortfalls that could be filled by space assets for the sustainable and effective implementation of the relevant EU policies
  + Investigate whether identified capability requirements can be shared and thus supported by both EDA and ESA;
  + Coordinate research, technology and demonstration activities, including access to study results as appropriate and subject to their respective rules;
  + Investigate synergies between existing dedicated EDA and ESA programmes and their future evolution;
  + Explore synergies and coordinate activities in support of industrial competitiveness and European non-dependence issues.
  + Within the scope of this cooperation, ESA and EDA may enter into implementing arrangements for specific projects in accordance with their respective rules and procedures.
  A first Implementing Arrangement will be concluded shortly in the area of UAS Command and Control over Satellite for a joint demonstration mission.
  Other activities of common interest focus on:
  + Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance,
  + Civil-military synergies in Earth observation,
  + Satellite communications,
  + Space Situational Awareness,
  + Critical space technologies for European non-dependence.

Russia to build aerospace defence shield

Russia will build a national aerospace defense shield by the end of 2011, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security Viktor Ozerov told reporters on Tuesday in the cosmonauts' training center near Moscow. He believes that a combined aerospace defense force will cooperate more effectively with NATO's European anti-missile defense system.

Last year, President Medvedev approved a plan to merge the Space Forces created in 2001, the Air Defense Forces and also the missile attack warning and space surveillance systems into a single military force. Commenting on the issue, Viktor Ozerov said as follows:

"Space Forces is a branch of the Russian army that focuses on space and ground intelligence, as well as anti-missile security. Cooperation with Russia on anti-missile defence was named among the priorities at the latest Russia-NATO summit in Lisbon. Russia and NATO member states have managed to agree on some aspects of anti-missile shield in Europe, though some difficulties remain with adjusting anti-missile systems of Russia, the US and that of NATO to each other."

During the talks in the Cosmonaut Training Center outside Moscow, deputy chairman of the Russian Federal Space Agency Vitaly Davydov commented on the planned Moon and Mars missions, adding that Russia has been working on a program for the Solar system exploration through 2030.

"President Medvedev asked us to present a program for space exploration until 2030. Before we start making preparations for a piloted Mars mission, we expect to launch several missions to the Moon."

These manned missions may be launched from Russia's new spaceport "Vostochny", which is currently being built in Amur region. The first unmanned capsule is due to take off from the Vostochny in 2015, while the first piloted mission is scheduled for 2018.

EADS Aerospace chief calls for clarity on new transport plane

Aerospace chief calls for clarity on new transport plane

The head of EADS on Saturday called for seven countries that have ordered the Airbus A400M military plane to provide "a clear idea" on the future of the troubled project "by the end of next week."

"We need to have a clear idea, not detailed but clear, on what is happening on the A400M by the end of next week," Louis Gallois, of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, told reporters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

European countries badly need the new transport aircraft, under development at EADS unit Airbus, but the project is three years behind schedule and a reported 11 billion euros (15 billion dollars) over budget.

EADS has threatened to pull the plug unless the seven NATO countries that have ordered 180 of the aircraft for 20 billion euros stump up more cash, saying that the European aerospace sector is at stake.

With the seven countries -- Germany, France, Spain, Britain, Belgium, Luxembourg and Turkey -- holding a series of crisis meetings, French Defence Minister Herve Morin set Thursday a deadline of February 28 to strike a deal.

He also said that he hoped an agreement could be found at the next meeting of European Union defence ministers at the end of February in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

Morin said in Turkey that France has urged its partners to stump up an extra 1.5 billion euros on top of two billion euros already envisaged by the seven countries, still short of the 6.4 billion euros that EADS is seeking.

Russian Space Industry to grow by 18%

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday that the output of the national space industry in 2009 will increase by about 18%.

Despite difficulties caused by the global financial crisis, "financing of the space industry has always been and will remain sufficient," Putin said at a meeting on the development of defense-related industries.

"We expect space industry production growth in 2009 at about 18%," he said, adding that overall production growth in the defense industry would increase by up to 3.8%.

The prime minister also noted that the quality of production needs improvement.

"Despite all our efforts, many Russian-made spacecraft are not as advanced as their foreign equivalents... and the R and D work takes longer than planned," Putin said.

He urged improvements to production efficiency, and said priority projects must be tackled, including the Angara-family carrier rockets and the development of new communications, navigation and remote Earth sensing spacecraft.

Putin reiterated that in the past two years Russia's space industry enterprises have received and spent over 21 billion rubles ($609 million), and that half of those funds were allocated for technical upgrading of production facilities.

China hands out death penalty for Uighurs protest

BEIJING — A Chinese court sentenced six men to death and a seventh man to life in prison for their roles in the deadly ethnic rioting that convulsed the western regional capital of Urumqi in July, according to Xinhua, the state news agency.

All seven men appeared to be Uighurs, the largest ethnic group in the vast region of Xinjiang. All were convicted of murder, and some were also found guilty of arson and robbery, Xinhua reported.

The sentences were the first to be handed down by a court in response to the rioting of July 5, in which enraged Uighurs went on a rampage against Han, the dominant ethnic group in China, in the streets of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. At least 197 people were killed, most of them Han civilians, and 1,600 injured, the government announced. The ethnic rioting was the worst in decades in China and prompted cycles of retaliation as well as protests against the regional government.

Uighurs in Urumqi said the Chinese government gave severe underestimates of the number of Uighurs killed, while some Han residents say the government is covering up the extent of the atrocities committed by the Uighurs. Last month, as rumors of further violence by Uighurs swirled in Urumqi, large crowds of Han took to the streets to call for the resignation of Wang Lequan, the top official in Xinjiang for 15 years.

Uighurs in Xinjiang have long complained of deeply entrenched discrimination against them by the Han and of mass migrations to Xinjiang by the Han that have changed society in parts of the region they once clearly dominated.

All the men sentenced on Monday have Uighur names. The six sentenced to death by the Intermediate People’s Court in Urumqi were Abdukerim Abduwayit, Gheni Yusup, Abdulla Mettohti, Adil Rozi, Nureli Wuxiu’er and Alim Metyusup. A seventh man, Tayirejan Abulimit, was given a life sentence because he had admitted to committing murder and robbery and assisted authorities in the arrest of Alim Metyusup, Xinhua reported.

Full Story from NY Times.com

EADS TV Video - Spectacular

winmedia.asx (video/x-ms-asf Object)

Shared via AddThis