The Army Game Project, the team behind the US Army sponsored video game, America’s Army, had a booth at AUSA. They were giving away the latest issue of the America’s Army comic book, which we honestly had no idea even existed.
America’s Army Comic At AUSA
October 26th, 2013BHI Launches New Website
October 25th, 2013
Ask SSD – Modern Cavalry?
October 25th, 2013It’s amazing what can happen at a bar. A few weeks ago I was sitting at a bar in North Carolina when an old industry friend asked me a question about a product he was looking for to go camping with his family. I rattled off an answer and he said that I should start a weekly feature. Well Patrick, you’re right, “Ask SSD” would be a great weekly feature but since I answered your question, I though I’d kick it off with something that I couldn’t answer. Another industry friend sent me this photo wondering who these guys were. Since crowdsourcing is the future, I take it to you, my readers, to help identify these modern-day horse soldiers.
AUSA – 3M/Ceradyne
October 25th, 2013Late last year 3M purchased armor producer Ceradyne. At this year’s AUSA Annual Meeting & Expo Ceradyne displayed their wares in the 3M booth. This new helmet, the 3M “Defender” Ultra Light Weight Ballistic Bump Helmet caught my eye but I was not allowed to photograph it. However, they did hand me a brochure. It leverages the technology they developed for the USMC’s Enhanced Combat Helmet program. I though I’d share the brochure with you. Hopefully, we’ll be able to share more at SHOT Show.
The H&K MP5 Isn’t Dead, It’s Just Tan
October 25th, 2013
AUSA – GuardBot Inc
October 25th, 2013
The Spherical Amphibious Robot System looks like something the BC comic strip character Thor would have invented had his timeline been long enough.
The SARS does looks like a wheel with cameras (or other sensors) on either side but but that’s where the similarity ends. Unlike the BC wheel, SARS is amphibious and is propelled by an internal pendulum to control the center of gravity meaning forward and rearward movement as well as 360 Deg turns. It can be manually operated or preprogrammed with a GPS track and rolls along, in virtual silence. It offers about 4-6 hours of endurance and a top speed of 6mph on land and 4 mph on water. Finally, SARS can negotiate a 30 Deg slope.
Sneak Peek – Team Wendy / Wilcox Ind Powered Helmet
October 25th, 2013
Team Wendy already incorporates a Wilcox Industries VAS shroud onto their helmets. Now, they’ve produced a test bed bump helmet that integrates the Wilcox powered helmet technology developed for their Mohawk helmet technology demonstrator.
The helmet is wired internally for power with contacts in the VAS Shroud to support hot shoe NOD mounts. Additionally, as you can see from the photos, one rail is powered directly and on the opposite side, they’ve selected a powered Mil Std 1913 rail.
The battery pack attaches to the rear of the helmet and can be easily removed. Once again, these are not final, production articles but rather a test bed to demonstrate the capability.
It Was 30 Years Ago Today
October 25th, 2013
On the morning of October 25th, 1983 America awoke to reports that our troops had invaded a small Caribbean nation named Grenada in order to liberate American medical students from danger posed by political instability. Joined by Regional Security System troops from a variety of Caribbean partner nations they swiftly overwhelmed the Grenadian and Cuban troops. While Operation Urgent Fury was in name, a joint force operation and included the use of Special Operations Forces, it highlighted many interoperability issues such as use of operational overlays and radio issues.
I was in high school when this went down and it made me want to be in the Army even more than I already did. Thankfully, over time, many of the stove pipe issues suffered by the pre-Goldwater-Nichols military were beginning to be identified when I joined a few years later. Interestingly, the operation was conducted with many systems still in use from the Viet Nam war. Our next time at bat, in Panama, saw several new weapons developed during the Reagan buildup such as the F117 stealth fighter and the Marine Corps LAV. Additionally, SOF took a much more prominent role in operation Blue Spoon.
Let us not forget the 19 Americans killed in action and the 116 who were wounded. Unfortunately, there were 24 Grenadian civilians also killed in the conflict.
