The Invisible Warship

Source: Popular Science

DDG1000 Zumwalt
Purpose: Multi-mission destroyer designed for shallow-water dominance
Manufacturer: Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics
Dimensions [feet]: 600 (length); 80.7 (beam); 27.6 (draft)
Weapons: Two 155-millimeter Advanced Gun System launchers; 80 Advanced Vertical Launch System cells; two 57-millimeter close-range guns
Cost: $2.3 billion

It will be almost silent, nearly invisible to enemy radar—and capable of dropping six powerful missiles simultaneously on a single target up to 95 miles away. But the most important feature of the DDG1000 Zumwalt, the Navy's first new destroyer in 30 years, could be its versatility. The 600-foot-long ship will be just as comfortable in the deep ocean as in the mine-infested shallows of the Persian Gulf.

Yesterday’s big boats were designed for open-water standoffs, not hostile coastlines. They show up like giant bull’s-eyes on land-based radar installations. And the ships lack sufficient sensor systems to dodge the waterborne mines common to enemy harbors.

That’s not going to cut it for the fleet of the future. Captain Jim Syring, the DDG1000’s program manager, says the need for littoral dominance is obvious if you consider the shallow waters near potential conflict regions: “All you’ve got to do is look at the areas of interest: the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Japan, the Korean Peninsula.”

Whether it’s dropping off a SEAL team or launching missiles inland, the Zumwalt is going to have to slip in unnoticed. It will be quiet—the diesel engine’s noise will be stifled by an inch-thick rubber coating that Syring likens to elephant skin—and stealthy. The spinning dishes and antennas common to today’s ships easily register on enemy radar, so the DDG1000 will instead feature communications hardware that lies flat, embedded in the skin of the deckhouse. This sleek design, combined with a hull that slopes inward from sea level up, rather than outward like most ships, will scatter the energy from an enemy’s radar. According to Syring, on scanners the Zumwalt will look like a fishing boat.

Though hard to find, the DDG1000 will announce its presence with a bang. The Advanced Gun System will be able to fire 600 GPS-guided Long Range Land Attack Projectiles in only 30 minutes—or plant six of them in the same spot at the same time. Staggered around the ship’s perimeter, 80 launchers packed with Tomahawks and other missiles will provide additional power.

For added protection, a new dual-band radar system that searches both the sky and the sea surface will be able to locate something as small as a terrorist speeding in on a Jet Ski, and the ship’s bulbous front protrusion sports a super-sensitive sonar array for identifying underwater minefields. All that’s left now is to start cutting metal. Construction on the first of seven ships is expected to start early next year, with a planned delivery date of 2012.

Halo 3 Pictures and Information Leaked

Here is some information that was translated from the Swedish magazine to English. It was posted at xbox360fanboy.com and other information was taken from videogamesblogger.com.


3 Levels are revealed.
- Valhalla = Blood gulch
- High Ground = Zanzibar
- Snowbound = Frost bite

Weapons
-Spiker - a new Brute weapon
-Spartan laser - a laser that tears vehicles apart
-Nail Grenade - sticks into walls and sends nails everywhere

Vehicles
-The Mongoose is in! This is the ATV that was cut from Halo 2. It seats two and has no weapons. Designed from recon and quick travel.

Multiplayer features
- Man Cannon: Launches you into the air. You can still be fired at and you can fire back. It sounds like the jump pads from Unreal and Quake Arena. Though the cannon part could mean that you are a weapon if you collide with someone physically.
- No bots: No bots again.
- Controls: The X-button will have a special use which game developer Bungie will not reveal. A guess is it’s for stealing the opponent’s weapon in close range. Bumpers are now used to reload both weapons independently.

Controls
-The X button has a new, still secret feature. Reloading has now been allocated to the bumper buttons. Right bumper reloads the right weapon, and the left bumper reloads the left. Genius.

Halo 3: Legendary Edition.
The Collector’s Edition will be called “Legendary Edition” and is a replica of Master Chief’s helmet complete with four DVD discs.
- The first disc will be the game disc.
- The second will contain documentaries and developer comments.
- The third disc is all about the spin-off material that has been created (Red vs. Blue, Spark of Life etc).
- The fourth disc will contain all of the cut scenes from Halo 1 to 3 in HD. (you can see it on the 3rd photo)
- A taste of the Halo movie will be on one of the discs.

On plot twists.
-“Halo 3 will contain more plot twists than any other game in the series” -Jaime Griesemer

On Gears of War being competition.
“We’ve played lots and lots of multiplayer and some singleplayer, and yeah, it’s really good. But it’s also quite a bit different from what we’re doing. I realize that a lot of people are concerned that Halo 3 and Gears of War are going to compete for the same audience, but I think that when people get to play, they’ll realize how different the games are. Gears is a much slower game where stragegy and cover plays a bigger part.” -Jaime Griesemer

On graphics.
“A lot is still missing in this build. Weather- and water effects are missing, and most of our HDR isn’t in there yet. We’re still at alpha stage, but when everything is in place, Halo 3 will be the best X360 has to offer.” -Brian Jarrard

“We definitely have another strategy than Epic Games when it comes to graphics. We’ll never engulf our game environments in lots of details like that. Gears of War looks absolutely fantastic, but we want to avoid compromising Halo’s unique visual style. That’s why we’re making a clean, sharp game as opposed to one with insane amount of details.” -Brian Jarrard

“There are many ways to convey emotion. Graphics is not the most important one.” -Brian Jarrard

On multiplayer and bots.
“Multiplayer has always been important, but it’s developed in a different way which makes it look bigger for every game. We have a base that we always build the MP part on, whereas the SP mode practically has to be built ground-up every time. Xbox Live also made MP in Halo 2 even more important.” -Brian Jarrard

“A lot of people ask us about bots. They think that the AI in Halo was pretty damn good, and would work well in MP as well, but it’s really not that simple. The enemies in Halo are optimized for encountering the player in large numbers. They would be a lot worse at abstract thought AI like ‘I have to defend my flag’ and so forth. In short, to create bots for Halo would be an immense undertaking, and we rather put that time into making new levels, weapons and netcode.” -Jaime Griesemer

Best Buy Reveals Halo 3 Launch On Their Website!

Best Buy's website shows that Halo 3 releases 12/30/2010! Does this mean it's being developed for the XBox 720?

Obviously, this is not the real release date of the game, but it was hilarious to see Best Buy has some humor on the "it will be released when its finished" release date. Hopefully us Halo fans will not have to wait another 4 years to see this game in our living rooms.