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New Military Uniform to Have HUD, Mini-Missile System
Posted by Jesus Diaz at 5:26 AM on November 19, 2008
US soldiers are not the only ones getting advanced uniforms. In fact, Korea may be taking the lead with a new stormtrooper suit that--if goes beyond the vapourware stage--will include every sci-fi technology you can imagine. From a helmet with a heads-up-display to the personal cooling and heating system in the suit itself, and a matching weapon that includes a laser-guided target assessment system to fire, you guessed it, mini-missiles. And that's just the beginning.
Harrods of London is now selling a $US12,000 anti-ballistic polo shirt designed by Miguel Caballero. Caballero, sometimes called the "Armani of armour" caters to clients such as Prince Felipe of Spain and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The polo, made from ultra-lightweight bulletproof fabric can allegedly protect you from weaponry ranging from a 9mm pistol to an Uzi. Sure it can save you from an assassination attempt, but judging from this picture, it doesn't save you from looking like a giant douche. [
A team of MIT engineers is hoping to develop tomorrow's body armour today with a fish whose family tree stretches back 96 million years. Called the Polypterus senegalus, or "dinosaur eel" to layman schlubs like me, this primitive fish still thrives in the muddy rivers of Africa, and has retained a full-body suit of armoured scales that was common on species of fish millions of years ago. For years scientists have known that the eel's interlocking, millimeters-thick scales were capable of stopping penetrating attacks, but couldn't figure out why. Now, thanks to nanotechnology and a grant from the U.S. Army (go Joe!), they've figured it out.
IEDs, or Improvised Explosive Devices, are a sad fact of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, so you'll see the influence of these deadly weapons in this list of the US Army's top inventions for 2007. Every year the Army selects the top refinements, outright new inventions, or streamlined weaponry, and pumps out a list. This year's list features several new types of Humvee armour, GPS-guided artillery rounds, and a wheeled contraption for vehicles called SPARK (above), which sniffs out IEDs before they have a chance to do any damage.
The final project of a team from Cornell University, this electronic hogu, modelled above by a lantern-jawed mannequin called Bob, uses piezoelectric sensors and a microcontroller to measure the kicks and punches between contestants in a Tae Kwan Do bout. Piezoelectric sensors and a microcontroller are implanted in the transmitter side, while the receiver side has wireless receiver circuitry, another microcontroller, and a monitor to display the score. As that great black belt of martial arts would say, "Haiiiii-YAAAAAAA!" Yes, I'm talking Miss Piggy. [
A team at the Technical University of Munich in Germany has designed a glass chip pierced with micro-sized tubes that act the same way as spider silk glands, and can be used to replicate the initial stages of natural silk production. It's an interesting development since production of artificial spider silk has proven difficult in industrial quantities and qualities, and its tensile strength to density ratio is five times that of steel, making it potentially very useful as armour and in medical applications.
Designer Tim Smit had a vision: somehow unite people's need for personal security with fashion. So he created the Urban Security suit concept, a neoprene outfit with carefully placed kevlar panels— the biggest over the heart area. The neoprene lets you move easily, the kevlar shields your internal organs, and there's a gasmask to protect you from airborne toxins. It looks pretty interesting, in a dystopian future, Bladerunner-ish kind of way, though we're not sure of its popular appeal. Maybe emo kids of tomorrow will be sporting something like it? ... as long as it comes in black. [
Heaven forbid your pristine PS3 console should ever get a scratch on its shiny surface. Fortunately, this potential disaster may be less of a concern after you adorn your hardware with some of this console armour from Messiah Entertainment. They even have versions for your controllers—making your system look like a some sort of freakish knight with a big head and tiny hands. The console armour will be available starting on June 13th for US$19.99, while the controller armour will ship on May 16th for US$9.99. [
Soldiers in the French army will have their heart rate, BP and other vital signs monitored by telemetry à la the troops in Aliens as part of the next-gen combat suit due around 2015. The FELIN system —Fantassin à Équipements et Liaisons Intégrés— will now include this health-status uplink so commanders can check on their troops in real time. Presumably this'll aid planning, so that the least worn-out guys can be used effectively. The opinion of an anonymous ex-Foreign Legion guy is a little different: "the reality is that a remote command post should better not have detailed information about who is shot and what are the injuries." He may have a point, since there's many a battle that's been won by knackered-out troops whose life-signs may have had them withdrawn when using this system. What's your opinion, guys? [
This patent for an "energy weapon protection device" is the perfect accessory for your next anti-war march. It also might be a good idea to just have one handy for other occasions, too, as you never know when the 5-0 might get a little TASER-happy on you for failing to fully stop at a stop sign or something. These are 
