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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.
This 37-inch tire can take the explosion of an IED along with a few rounds of rife fire and still haul an armoured Humvee out of a battle at 90kph. Completely airless and supported by a honeycomb-inspired series of hexagons, the tire's structure can distribute weight loads evenly while taunting the enemy that it doesn't even require a hubcap (unlike 
Get ready for some real pew pew, because Northrop Grumman has just announced that the first ever high-energy, solid-state lethal laser for actual war applications is now available for ordering. This means that you can pay now a few millions and get yours for Xmas. The new Firestrike units offer 15 kilowatts of power, but can be combined to offer 100 kilowatts of technological terror, capable of actually destroying the enemy. According to the company, this new laser "changes the game" of military engagement. Nobody would say by judging the neutral looks of it:
They are secret. They are kinetic. They are made of rubberised rocket fuel. And they fire up destroying absolutely everything they come across, bouncing through bunkers, filling buildings with extremely hot flames, obliterating everyone and anything inside with fierce heat. The Pentagon officially calls them "kinetic fireball incendiaries". Other people call them kinetic rocket fire balls, and the way they work make them absolutely terrifying weapons.
The US Army banned YouTube, social networking sites and blogging well over a year ago, citing security and bandwidth issues. Standard wartime practice, really, just updated for the internets. It has the unfortunate side effect, though, of cutting troops from technology that would keep them closer to their family. Enter TroopTube, a video sharing site where soldiers can upload clips for the families and "supporters" that are screened by Pentagon employees for "taste, copyright violations and national security issues."
The US Army is ramping up the development of technology that previously could have been classified as X-Files, "making science fiction into reality" as Dr. John Parmentola, Director of their Research and Laboratory Management. The list of things currently in the works is amazing: regenerating body parts on "nano-scaffolding", telepathy through electronic impulses in the scalp, and self-aware virtual photorealistic soldiers that can be deployed in the battlefield through "quantum ghost imaging". To test these they want to use them into a massively multi-player online games like World of Warcraft or Eve online:
The Office of Naval Research just threw a $US1.6m grant at some UCSD researchers, to be used to build a "field hospital on a chip". The system will monitor a few biomarkers for deviations from safe levels, at which point it will automatically medicate its wearer. While the military hopes that such a device could provide first aid to wounded soldiers, the technology could also find plenty of practical uses in medicine, especially for doling out insulin to diabetics or anesthetic to chronic pain sufferers.
Not far from a kick arse gadget that Batman would own, the Solar Com-Bat Spy Plane is a surveillance device which is powered by solar, wind and vibrations, making it seem like the perfect device to use in the heat of battle. Although this bat-like spycam is only 6 inches long, it will be a huge help in gathering real-time data for soldiers, which includes tracking down sound detection, and detecting nuclear radiation and poisonous gasses. The only thing that could make this gadget cooler is if its parents—a stapler and a coffee machine—were shot by a mugger in front of its eyes, giving it a more brooding personality. [
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