Manufactured from 5/8″ titanium rod, the line of Vertical Assault Climbing Hooks from Wilcox Industries is available in four styles. Two versions of the three prong hook are offered (120 deg and 154 deg). The double and single prong hooks are also available but are not used as often as they hang up on obstacles less but are more difficult to hook. At the bottom of the photo you can see the pole interface which connects with currently fielded boat poles.
Quite frankly, we just didn’t have time.
Gun Disassembly 3D for the iPhone
How Inmates Smuggle Cellphones into Prison
LWRC to License Production to Jordan
The $750 Travel Belt Yes, $750
Holster Mounting Bracket for Wheelchair Frames – Thanks to Tactical Wire for putting the word out on this.
I saw a lot of great kit at last week’s ADS Warrior Expo West, but the new IZLID Ultra from BE Meyers really impressed me. The precise application of airpower has become a cornerstone of our Counter Insurgency strategy and without the proper tools to effectively mark targets, that strategy would be nowhere. The IZLID 1000P has been the work horse for Terminal Attack Controllers for some time, but the new IZLID Ultra offers several advantages.
Just setting the two versions of the IZLID side-by-side you can see a distinct difference. The IZLID 1000P (top) is over 10†long, roughly 2.5†diameter and weighs 27.5 oz with batteries while the IZLID Ultra (bottom) is 8.6†long, about 1.8†diameter, and weighs 11.7 oz with batteries. Both lasers mark targets at very long range (>43 km) with their nominal 1W output at 860 nm but the Ultra really shines due to its compact size and weight and well as a longer battery life. Additionally, the new chassis allows for an improved grip as well easier access to the controls. Notice in the photo, the 1000P has a weapons mount. Rarely if ever, is this used due to the size of the device but with the new Ultra, it may well be an option allowing a TAC to mount it to his rifle.
Unleashed Tactical Equipment unveiled the ARC at last week’s GPEC trade show in Germany. The name says it all, Absorb, Reflect, Control and that is exactly what it is designed to do; keep good emanations in and bad emanations out. The material can be configured in any number of ways including shelters.
ARC is available in the US exclusively through Tidewater Tactical.
According to an article in Advanced Materials, DARPA funded research at the U. of Florida has adapted technology regularly found in flat-screen OLED televisions to create a thin film that turns any infrared signal into visible light. This is exciting news for the consumer base is that such cheap night vision could be integrated into everything from car windshields to plate glass windows to cell phone cameras as well eyewear. For the warfighter, this could also be a boon, as eye pro could pull double duty as night vision and be even more widely available.
Traditional night vision systems rely on a vacuum but new thin-film night vision requires no vacuum but instead use several layers of energy-efficient OLEDs to convert infrared light to the visible spectrum. In this case it is seven separate layers of OLEDs that detect IR light as it enters, generating a charge of three to five volts then amplifies the signal as it passes through the additional layers. This process converts the light to the visible spectrum, producing a green-lit picture similar to that of existing night vision tech. What makes this new technology so special is that a night vision device might weigh less than a quarter of a pound, with the actual working bits being only a few microns thick.
The proof of concept for the technology is only about one square centimeter, but researchers think they could scale the concept to a usable device like a car windshield or cell phone camera within just 18 months.
Truthfully, these are the things that keep me up at night. Sure, the technology can easily be applied to both mil and commercially items to improve night vision at a lower cost but ultimately that’s the problem isn’t it? If everyone can afford night vision and it is built-in to common everyday items then it isn’t special anymore and it chips away at that “Owning the Night” edge we have prided ourselves on for the last 30 years or so. We want technologies like this to be special. Our enemies purchase any technology from the open market that they can use to close the gap between them and us. Fortunately, our tech base is hard at work fielding and improving on new systems that fuse night vision and IR sensors (see photo). For example, the AN/PSQ-20 Enhanced Night Vision Goggle is a helmet-mounted passive Image Intensification (I2) and thermal device and it’s developments like this that are critical to ensuring the US military maintains its warfighting edge.
We constantly run across interesting stuff but just can’t seem to find the time to write about it.
X170 Action Camera
Toy Company Develops Less-than-lethal Rifle
Air Force Puts 2nd Lt in Charge of Uniform Roadmap (Yes, this explains SO much)
The Gen 4 iPhone Saga
Free iPhone App – Adobe® Ideas 1.0 for iPhone
The Foretrex 401 is a lightweight (3.1 oz with batteries!), wrist mounted GPS receiver that has become very popular with troops down range. The 401 can often be seen strapped to a weapon’s stock so that the shooter can conduct a GPS check by simply rolling his carbine toward his face. In addition to GPS, the device also integrates an electronic compass (yes, mounting it to a rifle affects it) as well as a barometric sensor which comes in quite handy while operating in mountainous terrain. The Foretrex 401 also runs the free Jumpmaster Software package designed to assist parachutists to compute release points. Data for this as well as other applications is easily updated via a USB cable. As an added bonus, you can share waypoint and track data wirelessly with other 401s. It is powered by readily available by 2 AAA batteries which provide up to 17 hours of use.
The best place we have found to purchase Garmin products is Strohman Enterprises. In fact, they have a special on the Foretrex 401 for $159. Owned by Lt Col USMC (Ret) Joseph Strohman, the company supplies Garmin and Aimpoint products to LE & Military organizations as well as individual personnel. Joe and his crew are well versed in all of the products and can answer customer’s questions about anything from mounting solutions to loading map data for the AOR.
Hewlett Packard is developing a mew flexible display that is solar powered which can be adapted for use as a wrist-mount. The obvious advantage to a solar powered device is that it sheds the Soldier’s reliance on batteries. “Soldiers in the infantry carry enormous amounts of batteries and gadgets that can weigh up to 70 pounds,†says Carl Taussig, director of HP’s Information Surfaces lab, according to a post on Wired’s Gadget lab. Taussig plans to offer the displays to the military next year which are just 200 microns thick. Printed using the same E Ink technology as the Kindle, the circuitry for the display is rolled on in a process similar to traditional printing while optical and electronic components will be stamped onto the plastic backing. HP has already spun out a company called Phicot to produce these displays. The power will come from existing solar cell technology that is easily integrated into fabric.
Of course the two major obstacles to this technology are being bright enough to see in the day and dim enough to see at night without giving away your location to an enemy. Then there is whole night time issue. It doesn’t require batteries but the US military does it’s best work at night. How long will it hold a solar charge?
