Fox NFL Sunday’s” Terry Bradshaw and Michael Strahan spent some time USAF EOD techs Staff Sgt. Elizabeth Spradley and Senior Airman James Dobrynski on a recent visit to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. They got some stick time with the iRobot EOD robot and checked out the Vuzix TAC-EYE.
(U.S. Air Force photos by Senior Airman Felicia Juenke)
For more information contact Vuzix.
HDT is an advanced heavy fuel engine technology company primarily serving the needs of the US Department of Defense. They speak from experience. Key company team members have used HDT military motorcycles in modern military conflicts and have a first-hand understanding of how cutting edge technology, innovative design, and superior performance offers a tactical advantage and measure of safety.
Their product line includes gas and heavy fuel powered motorcycles designed for quick, quiet entry. Gas and heavy fuel powered UTVs that can be up-armored to serve as fast assault vehicles or configured to serve as convoy control, reconnaissance, or base camp transport for supplies and personnel. Additionally, they supply heavy fuel powered small engines in a variety of displacements and configurations designed to be integrated into gensets, power units, and other manned and unmanned vehicle platforms.
They will be in Booth #807 at the Soldier Equipment and Technology Expo held today and tomorrow at the Crown Convention Center in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Not very often you can say you get something for free and even rarer for it to be from SureFire. The ShotTimer is exactly what the name implies. Designed as an iPhone app, it displays elapsed time and split time for every shot fired and even allows you to email results for later analysis. It also offers a start delay mode for training on your own and has a Par Time mode so you can try to beat the clock.
The ShotTimer app is available on iTunes for free (for a short time) and an FAQ is available on at www.SureFire.com.
From the Military Boots Blog comes this story about a variety of useful apps for the uniformed user of the ubiquitous iPhone.
We’ve written about iPhone apps before like BulletFlight but there are some great apps on the list including iSurvive that we haven’t seen yet as well as a little surprise but you’ll have to visit their site for a peek. Thanks to the folks at Military Boots Blog for a good read.
Ok, sure. It sounds like something out of an action movie. Sport Enthusiasts of Lockpicking – Europe member Ray used a hi-res camera to image the Dutch Police Hand Cuff Key. He then used a 3D printer to make a copy.
According to the lock picking blog Black Bag:
At first the police officers at HAR (Hacking at Random 2009, an international technology & security conference) were a little reluctant to event try out the plastic key he printed. But he found another way to verify the key he printed was the correct one. I guess these officers never thought about wearing keys concealed, especially when talking with Mr. Handcuff himself. Given the megapixel camera’s on the market today it was not so difficult to verify the key he printed was the correct one. At the end of the day he talked the officers into trying the key on their handcuffs and … it did work! At least the Dutch Police now knows there is a plastic key on the market that will open their handcuffs. A plastic key undetectable by metal detectors….
FOB life hasn’t been this complicated since the Viet Nam war. Command and Control from semi-permanent positions in austere environments calls for a unique set of solutions. Furniture has to be lightweight in case of movement yet sturdy and durable. Throw in the increasing requirement for conditioned power and tools to command, control and communicate with deployed forces and there aren’t many off-the-shelf solutions available. However, Energy Technologies Incorporated’s Tactical Officeâ„¢ may just hold the answer. Tactical Office is a deployable office system that includes a Tactical Deskâ„¢ that can be equipped with a Global Power Conditioner, Global UPS, Notebook PowerStationâ„¢, Tactical Task Light, Tactical Computer Workstation which is built into a drawer. You can even use solar panels to charge the UPS.
The shipping weight empty is 100 pounds but features two heavy duty wheels to make it easier to move around. The Tactical Officeâ„¢ also includes field chairs that can be folded and stored in the lids and unlike that stool that came with your old WW II-style GI field desk, these have chair backs.
For more information visit Energy Technologies Inc.
A funny thing happened the French on the way to fielding their new Future Soldier System FELIN (Fantassin à Équipement et Liaisons Intégrés, English Integrated Equipment and Communications Infantryman). It seems that in 2013, the French Government is going to sell off the frequency spectrum used by FELIN. I Love it when a plan comes together. The FELIN information network sub-system operates in the 802 – 862 Mhz range which is scheduled for sale in 2013. Yes, that says “sale”, as in someone else will own it and the French Army will no longer be authorized to use it. This means that prime contractor Sagem will have to alter the software of the radio and no one has yet publicly disclosed how much this will cost. Sagem is currently filling orders for 5,045 FELIN systems to be delivered through the end of 2010.
Another issue beyond cost is performance. The current radio has a range of 1km in open terrain, 600m in urban areas, and only 100m indoors. Concerns have been expressed that a new, higher frequency range will be further inhibited in areas of high biomass such as jungles.
The RIF or information network sub-system consists of a radio with integrated global positioning system (GPS). This voice and data network connects the Soldier to others in the section and to the section commander, who is connected to the SITEL battle management system in a combat vehicle. SITEL, also developed by Sagem, is being fitted to all French Army vehicles. The RIF relies on the Thales Communications PR4G VS4 frequency-hopping radio for tactical internet connectivity and links to the vehicle’s SITEL.
Recent versions of FELIN have boasted a new Tenue Combat (combat uniform) that more resembles the loose “Guerilla” suits of the 50s and 60s than the current issue tight fitting uniform. Additionally, the camo pattern seen in the photo above was an affectation of Sagem and will not be a part of the FELIN which will retain the current issue CCE pattern. CCE is similar in coloration to the old US issue Woodland pattern.
Waterloo Labs has finally invented every first person shooter fan’s wet dream; the ability to use a real gun to shoot onscreen targets. To make it happen, four accelerometers, which can be used to triangulate a point of impact based on vibrations, were mounted onto a large piece of drywall, which in turn had a flash game based on Half-Life projected onto it. The accelerometers were connected to a data acquisition device which posted the data on LabVIEW, a program that used the data from the accelerometers to determine the bullet’s point of impact. The computer then then simulated a mouse click on the point of impact. The result was that a real bullet killed a virtual enemy. Such mashups are fairly easy if you have access to a few pieces of specialized hardware and could be constructed given adequate time.
