Weather issues delayed the launches for the Minotaur IV Lite, carrying DARPA’s HTV-2 hypersonic test vehicle, and USAF’s X-37B orbital test vehicle. The Minotaur launch from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., was set for April 20 but late Monday officials decided to delay a day, possibly two, because of poor weather conditions, reports the Lompoc Record. Similarly poor weather forced delays in the space shuttle landing (Discovery landed April 20), so officials postponed the inaugural X-37B launch, now set for April 22, per United Launch Alliance’s launch schedule.
Over the past 20 years, military explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) technicians have become very good at using high-tech tools like robots, communications jammers, smartphones, and next-generation bomb suits to disable improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in crowded urban environments. When it comes to a possible conflict with a near-peer adversary like…