Starting September 30th, Juggernaut Defense is launching a Kickstarter to fund an iPhone 5 variant for their Juggernaut Case. We’ll be sure to keep you updated when the project goes up for funding.
Juggernaut Cases enable units to employ the ‘smartphone on the battlefield’ by ruggedizing the device within a shockproof/dustproof, IP-6X Case that contains an EMI-shielded USB connection to tactical radios through a sealed Glenair 80-series connector. By implementing features like the hands-free/flip-down armor mount and anti-glare etched chem-strengthened glass screen protector, users will be able to employ this ‘smartdevice technology’ running Android apps on the battlefield. The cases and mounts are manufactured in Arizona and are Berry-Compliant.
Ok, so maybe it’s not an Iron Man suit, but the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s “Warrior Web aims to develop a soft, lightweight undersuit that would help reduce injuries and fatigue and improve Soldiers’ ability to efficiently perform their missions.” And, they want to do it using no more than 100 watts of power.
Entering its final phase, program seeks proposals that would help combine promising technologies into a comfortable, lightweight undersuit that would help prevent injury and boost endurance
DARPA seeks proposals in the following technology areas:
Integrated advanced control systems across multiple joints
Materials, fabrics, structures, sensors, sensor interfaces and human factors associated with developing conforming, assistive wearable technologies
Technologies that significantly reduce the potential for acute or chronic injury of a wearer under typical warfighter mission profile situations
Technologies that increase physical capabilities and/or endurance of humans during activities such as running, lifting, climbing, carrying a load, marksmanship, etc.
Additional assistive wearable technologies for rehabilitation, physical therapy or those intended to help improve quality of life for the aging population
“Many of the individual technologies currently under development show real promise to reduce injury and fatigue and improve endurance,” said LTC Joseph Hitt, DARPA program manager for Warrior Web. “Now we’re aiming to combine them—and hopefully some new ones, too—into a single system that nearly every Soldier could wear and would provide decisive benefits under real-world conditions.”
Warrior Web has already undergone Task A which focused on developing a mix of core component technologies worn at the ankles, hips, knees and upper body. Next is Task B which will bring it all together.
DARPA has scheduled a Warrior Web Task B Proposers’ Day for potential performers on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2013. The Special Notice for the Proposers’ Day is available at http://go.usa.gov/jJjT and more information is available here. The Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Warrior Web Task B is available at http://go.usa.gov/jJbR.
Somewhere between May, when USSOCOM dropped the “special notice” announcing the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit or TALOS, the main stream media picked up on it and started calling it an Iron Man suit. The US Army’s RDECOM even produced this slick little video that literally fuels the fire.
NPR published a short, feel good after speaking with SOCOM’s Acquisition Executive Jim Guerts. It’s worth a read if you are interested in Soldier Tech.
I still question the timing of this effort. Why wasn’t it accomplished during the height of spending? The command and industry alike could have more easily absorbed R&D efforts. Now? Money’s tight and the Recession has finally hit the defense industry. I see them accepting less risk.
Having watched this same story played unsuccessfully, over and over again like a broken record and having seen a list of the companies that SOCOM currently has brought in for this week’s briefings, I’ll say that you’ll see movie sequels 4, 5 and 6 before you run across a real DoD Iron Man suit.
Magpul is now shipping 7 new iPhone case colors: Red, Light Blue, Clear, Gray, Dark Blue, Teal, and Yellow. Field cases for both the iPhone 4/4S and iPhone 5 will be available in the new colors. Additionally, all existing colors will also remain in production.
Yesterday I said that I wanted to take this 4th of July week to address the concept of Liberty. I got several excellent suggestions for topics but some of them were more focused on the roots of the Independence movement. Today, we face different threats to our Liberty that are an outgrowth of how we communicate.
Some have taken on the invasive and ubiquitous governmental data collections and begun to develop new means to counter those efforts. One of these innovations is a disruptive typeface called ZXX after the Library of Congress trigraph for “No linguistic content; Not applicable.”
While I don’t agree with the sentiment (there are more appropriate ways to raise awareness of criminal acts than compromising loads of classified information) of the example in the image above, it does give a good idea of what ZXX looks like in use.
In a recent post on Walker Art Center’s Gradient Blog, Developer Sang Mun (himself a former NSA contractor) said, “I drew six different cuts (Sans, Bold, Camo, False, Noise and Xed) to generate endless permutations, each font designed to thwart machine intelligences in a different way. I offered the typeface as a free download in hopes that as many people as possible would use it.”
I’d call this a practical design project. While it can be a pain to read, it would seem to fool OCR systems. Given the scope of ZXX’s applicability, it’s worth considering whether its use is practical. But ultimately, the question is, would an early adopter flag himself through its use? Interestingly, there was a time in the not so recent past when only criminals would feel the need to conceal their communications so. Now, more and more, the average citizen is asking himself whether the Government is reading his mail.
Early on in SSD’s history we wrote about Digital Force Technologies’ Satellite Imagery Enhanced GPS (SIMEG) Receiver. It is an awesome device and garnered a lot of interest from the user community when it was released. At this year’s SOFIC, we got a chance to check out DFT’s follow-on to SIMEG, the DIABLO.
While the SIMEG used a proprietary operating system, DIABLO relies on Android. It features an integrated high-sensitivity GPS receiver, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The user can customize the functionality of the DIABLO through the use of apps, but its greatest strength is the fusion of Geospatial Information and Services data with pinpoint positioning data to provide accurate situational awareness. Throw overlay data and live reporting feeds on top of that and you increase your battlespace awareness exponentially.
Not only did Systems Technology, Inc give SOFIC goers some hands on experience with their free fall simulator, but they also exhibited what is in my opinion, the hidden jewel of the show; a Jumpmaster Simulator.
Parachuting is inherently dangerous. That’s why they pay military jumpers $150 per month. Jumpmasters ensure that parachutists conduct correct actions in the aircraft and exit safely. But they don’t receive any extra pay even though they expose themselves to additional hazards in the performance of their duties as seen in this video of a Jumpmaster from the 5th SFG(A) conducting a ramp jump. Fortunately, he wasn’t injured when his reserve parachute deployed, sucking him out of the aircraft.
The Systems Technology simulator relies on fused reality. The Jumpmaster wears goggles that let him see the interior of the ramp simulator. But when the Jumpmaster looks at the blue screen area, a virtual horizon with sky and terrain is projected into his vision.
The simulator allows the Jumpmaster to master procedures in a safe environment and develop skill at spotting without expending valuable flying hours. Monitors can also be configured to see what the Jumpmaster is seeing and virtual parachutists can be added to the mix.
