TECH NEWS

UK military wants lasers to stop drone swarms without running out of ammo

Project PANOPTES puts £5M on the table for an autonomous, vehicle-mounted defense

Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD) is seeking anti-drone technology capable of protecting troops from saturation attacks designed to overwhelm defenses or exhaust their ammunition.

The tender, dubbed Project PANOPTES, is being run by UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) on behalf of the MoD, with an initial £5 million ($6.8 million) available to successful bidders.

First-stage submissions close at midday on September 23, suggesting that the MoD is in something of a hurry.

According to the competition document, PANOPTES aims to deliver "an integrated Counter-Uncrewed Aerial System (C-UAS) force-protection capability, capable of autonomous operation."

The MoD wants a system that complements its existing defenses by detecting, tracking, and defeating low-cost threats without being overwhelmed or rapidly exhausting its ammunition. It must operate autonomously and be mountable on an Army vehicle.

UKDI is "particularly interested in capabilities centred on Laser Directed...

Copyright of this story solely belongs to www.theregister.com. To see the full text click HERE

https://cdn1.expresscomputer.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/04145615/New-Project-88.jpg

Havells launches multilingual AI voice feature for connected home devices

Havells has launched an Agentic AI Voice feature on its Havells One mobile app, allowing users to control connected appliances through natural-language voice commands in English and seven Indian languages. The feature, developed by Havells Center for Research & Innovation (CRI), uses ElevenLabs’ streaming speech-to-text and text-to-speech models as its

https://media.wired.com/photos/6a99df5244b5359704296ca0/191:100/w_1280,c_limit/STScI-01M0T8BARTCFQW684XQ932TNNM-2.png

What the Heck? Another Perfect Geometric Shape Has Been Detected on Saturn

A team of astronomers discovered a strange polygonal atmospheric structure on Saturn near the planet’s south pole. This 10-sided shape, known as a decagon, joins one of the gas giant’s most famous features: a hexagon near the north pole that was first observed 44 years ago. Images of

https://image.theregister.com/1683941.jpg?imageId=1683941&x=0&y=0&cropw=100&croph=100&panox=0&panoy=0&panow=100&panoh=100&width=1200&height=683

US law firm accuses UK AI software firm of unwanted contract renewal when it tried to leave

A US law firm is alleging that UK-based telecoms and software company ConnexAI sold it software and AI systems that failed to perform as the vendor claimed, and then unlawfully renewed its contract. ConnexAI has rejected the allegations. The dispute has involves two court cases, both of which are ongoing.

https://cdn1.expresscomputer.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/04143525/New-Project-86.jpg

AMD, Delhi University partner to train up to 10,000 students in AI

AMD and the University of Delhi have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to provide students and faculty with access to AI development tools and training resources, with the programme targeting up to 10,000 students over the next year. Under the collaboration, AMD will bring its AI Engage Developer

Read more

Havells launches multilingual AI voice feature for connected home devices

What the Heck? Another Perfect Geometric Shape Has Been Detected on Saturn

US law firm accuses UK AI software firm of unwanted contract renewal when it tried to leave

AMD, Delhi University partner to train up to 10,000 students in AI