Military Gadgets
US Army has a new individual first aid kit
When it comes to the battlefield, things can get ugly pretty quickly. After all, this is no kids’ playground where military might will assure success – there are many other factors that come into play as well which will determine the outcome of the war, and ground troops need to be sufficiently armed and equipped with the latest and greatest weaponry and gadgets to maximize their chances of victory and survival on the ground. The US Army is one of the most advanced militaries in the world, and from what we’ve seen to date, taking the ‘shock and awe’ route is their preferred method to pound enemies into submission, but when it comes to urban warfare, things get a whole lot more complicated. Suicide bombers come in all shapes, sizes and personalities, making it hard to filter out who is a threat and who isn’t.
Best to be prepared then with an individual first aid kit of your own, just in case the resident medic is not around to tend to your wounds, or is KIA. In order to improve first aid medical response of soldiers in the field, the US Army has come up with the latest Individual First Aid Kit, better known as IFAK in short, in order to meet the unique needs that have surfaced at the battle-scarred countries of Iraq and Afghanistan.
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GHOST keeps our waterways secure like a boss
Stealth technology is always fascinating to read about, and to be attacked by an “invisible” enemy is one of the greatest fears of any military. After all, this is the modern day water ninja – the GHOST marine platform that hails from New Hampshire’s Juliet Marine Systems (JMS). It does not have any special cloaking ability up to the par of the X-Men’s heavily modified SR-71 Blackbird, but what this particular watercraft does, and does well is this – it is invisible to enemy ships’ radar, effectively allowing it to trawl the country’s waterways while keeping threats away at bay.
Resembling the love child of a stealth jet fighter and an attack helicopter, this one was specially developed for possible use by the U.S. Navy. It is touted to be faster and more economical compared to current military vessels, and according to JMS, GHOST is the world’s first super-cavitating watercraft.
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IED attack simulator designed for soldiers, not gamers
What you are seeing here is not a new video game, but a simulation exercise at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center. It is located near Edinburgh, Indiana and it is designed to prepare soldiers for IED (improvised explosive device) attacks.
With the mounted jeep and large screens, it is designed to replicate the conditions that occur with IED situations like in Afghanistan. This includes simulated explosions, smoke, noise, and poor visibility.
Spc. Darren J. Ganier-Slotterbeck has said that “if we’d had the ability to go through training like this at the time, those deployments would have been a lot different.” Ganier-Slotterbeck was deployed three times with the Marines in the past ten years, and he has had to deal with real-life IED situations like the main character in The Hurt Locker.
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US Army tests 1.8-gigapixel camera helicopter drone
All right, the Iranians might have shot down one of those drones from the US, but we are quite sure the US Army is already light years ahead in terms of technology as well as next generation drones. In fact, the US Army recently tested a helicopter drone that would make for the perfect spy machine – especially when it sports a 1.8-gigapixel camera on it. This drone aircraft is capable of hovering around, and will not require a runway in order to take-off or land, now how about that?
This particular technology employed promised “an unprecedented capability to track and monitor activity on the ground”, where another three of these sensor-equipped drones are on track to see action in Afghanistan in either May or June next year. While Boeing was first off the blocks in building these drones, other firms are still able to throw in their bid to manufacture the rest. It will take a year of deployment in order to learn all that they can about the drone, its capabilities and limitations, resulting in a record compilation that will pave the way for a superior model down the road.
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Raytheon is working on a mini-bomber
We have reported on devices from Raytheon before, and they are usually making these very neat things that you don’t really want to see being used in a real-life war. For example, they were working on a prototype Power Loader that I never want to see being used to fight an alien, and a pain gun that I never want to be on the wrong side of.
Now, they are working on this idea of turning a small spy drone into a bomb dropper. This is different from the huge bombers that you see that are large targets, and this little mini-bomber is smaller and probably harder to target.
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Robot arm makes flight simulator more realistic
In order to train pilots, especially those in the air force and military, it goes without saying that using a flight simulator is far more cost effective compared to letting a rookie sit in an expensive, multi-million dollar fighter jet. After all, it certainly helps the military and air force cut down on costs should the simulated flight experience a crash – not to mention saving lives in the process. Apart from that, the best combat flight simulators in the world will enable military pilots to practice virtual dog-fighting all within the “comfort” of within a machine which is capable of tilting and moving like a mild-mannered theme park ride.
How about upping the ante when it comes to such rides? Well, a next-generation simulator that resides on the end of a huge robotic arm will enable trainees enjoy the sensation of white-knuckle 6G forces all within the simulated space of a screaming-fast fighter jet.
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Cyborg based insects being researched by US engineers
It goes without saying that many of today’s modern inventions got their inspiration from nature – after all, it makes perfect sense, as nature is already perfected as it is. Our planes and submarines are modeled after birds and fishes, so in the next step of warfare, US engineers are working on cyborg based insects, but there is one niggling issue that has certainly kept those engineers awake – how do you power something so small? It seems that the solution could very well end up in placing a couple of spiral energy harvesters on either side of a beetle’s thorax.
Yes sir, Pentagon’s plans of a cyber-insect army will see that method be implemented so that energy can be harvested from the creatures in order to juice up sensors as well as other equipment that are fastened to their bodies. The team has already managed to put together an energy scavenging device which is attached close to the insects’ wings.
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Silynx C4OPS Hybrid Headset – good enough for the army, good enough for you
If you feel that gadgets these days need to be of a higher quality in terms of material and construction, I am quite sure that many others are in agreement with you. After all, don’t you think that many of the devices we purchase are so fragile which is why there are so many screen protectors and smartphone cases in stores? I would think that Apple makes far more money in terms of profit percentage with each licensed accessory sold (protective sleeves, cases, etc) for the iPad and iPhone instead of the actual hardware itself.
Well, if you happen to be one who lives the rough and tumble lifestyle and love adventuring with a group of people, then it would be prudent to make sure that your equipment are up to snuff no matter the conditions. The Silynx C4OPS Hybrid Headset is under our scrutiny here for today, where it is an enhanced in ear headset system that was specially designed to enable 5 x 5 loud and clear communications in extreme noise environments.
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