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Future Army Battle Uniforms - Wired, Lethal
ssyladin writes "CNN is running an article about the future US army battle dress, code-named 'Scorpion'. It says that "..soldiers of 2011 will step into wired uniforms that incorporate all the equipment they need. The uniforms will monitor vital signs and plug them into a massive network of satellites, unmanned planes and robotic vehicles the military has planned." There will be sensors to monitor heartrate and blood-pressure, built-in tourniquets, a HUD to connect to GPS info, overhead maps, infrared and starlight cameras, and even the venerable M16 rifles are slated for an overhaul."
But can it play networked Pong?
to the phrase "Blue Screen of Death" doesn't it?
I'm glad to see they are going to get rid of the M16. Hopefully they'll replace it with something that's a bit more reliable. Having your rifle jam after a swim is not a feature.
It does sound like a video game.
I wonder if the "network" keeps track of Frags?
How Now Brown Cow
YES now you die terrorist scum! you shall all be punished for not having nuclear weapons with our new wires!
Maybe now we won't be firing at ourselves the majority of the time. ... unmanned drones and vehicles will be?
CE
My theory is that Iraq's WMD's are hidden behind shields of invisibility. That explains a lot.
Sarge: "Dang, that remote works well."
My blog
I wonder if they have anything like This?
Now THAT would be nasty
I'm not Seth.
They may finally be able to avoid too many civilian casualties and "friendly fire", wouldn't they ?
Karma cannot be described by words alone.
This seems to be just your average pork barrel gee whiz military contracting.
suddenly I feel very tired
Definitely too many things to go wrong! GPS and heartbeat maybe, so they know where to collect the bodies?? But relying on all that electronics makes grunts too vulnerable to EMP. There's no substitute for a reliable weapon in the hands of a well trained soldier.
I wonder, will Spearmen will be able to defeat these soldiers?
This uniform sounds awesome enough that I would *love* to have one, forget about joining the army.
HUD + accurate head and position tracking + wireless network = 3d multiplayer games in meatspace!
...Dolph Lundgren and Claude Van Damme.
is not spending every now and then billions of $ for developing new army technology. The money could be used to rebuild infrastructure in Iraq. That would help people.
Sounds like a Unreal/Quake/FPSoC come to life, all they need to do now is add "Force Feedback"... oh wait, they have...
"Computer Scientists can count to 1024 on their fingers" (non-mutant, non-mutilatated, human computer scientists)
now all we need is the M56 Smart Gun attachment and the M41-A Assault Rifle.
then again... one should always have a Remington 870 as back up... you know, for close encounters.
As people wire up more and more. Especially the basic electronics of communication: there is really no excuse anymore for putting these into dangling breakable boxes when they can be easily moulded into belts. Think of "smart armour" more than "smart clothes". Backpacks that are thin and protective and also wired. Helmets that provide enhanced vision and sound as well as safety. Shoes that incorporate tracking devices. Shoulder packs that hold all the latest MP3s. It's inevitable.
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Perhaps we should develop something that would benefit mankind instead of spending billions on thinking up new ways of killing each other. In a way I'm glad we haven't met those advanced and intelligent aliens yet. It would be too embarrassing. Yeah, yeah, I know... this is flamebait, blabla.
Am I the only one who wonders at the need for all this, when US forces are already orders of magnitude better equipped and organized and effective than any other on the planet?
Wouldn't peaceful uses of technology be a more worthwhile investment?
Under the rules of war, minelayers are required to keep accurate maps - not so easy with autonomous mines. Cleaning up afterwards would be almost impossible.
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of those.
Cynicism is the natural defence of the romantic.
IPv6, once known as "Toaster Net", has officially been renamed "Bullet Net". Every Bullet will have it's own IPv6 address, built in webcam, Fly by Wireless, and will automatically check to see if there is any beverage left in the coffee pot / coke machine.
"Computer Scientists can count to 1024 on their fingers" (non-mutant, non-mutilatated, human computer scientists)
Ah yes. The troops will really appreciate all the High-Tech when the HUD displays "1R4Q 0wnZ y00" during battle.
And yesyes, imagine a Beowulf etc...
Is this how we progress to the Ultimate Soldiers of the future?
The resemblance of the helmets is quite striking.
It adds another point of failure (`Fuck! My clothes have crashed!') requires maintenance, and replenishable energy of some sort ('Everyone, remember to recharge your helmets before the battle'.)
Just imagine the results of these failures. Imagine these become commonplace, the only way to combat these advantages would be with an EMP bomb (I dont know their name or their feasability, anyone care to fill this in) then command would assume the loss of a batalion, who would then be simply "guys with guns who arent on our side" Friendly fire skyrockets. maybe far fetched but people come to rely on technology and when it fails in war shoot first so you can be around later to ask questions comes into play.
The Borg assimilated my race & all I got was this lousy T-shirt
The US military today announced that due to space requirements for all the gadgets on the new battle dress in future all recruits must be at least 7 feet tall and comfortable wearing fatigues that weigh 150lbs
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
I'm looking forward to the OICW.
If I was a soldier, with the current state of technology, I wouldn't want any sort of automatic tourniquet built into my clothes. I'd rather bleed and wait for the medic.
He painted a unicorn in outer space. I'm askin' ya, what's it breathin'?
Woefully under equipped tatty soldiers in 3rd world countries with 40 year old weaponary in 2011 ?
A slashdotting - you get the stick first and then the carrot !
I can just imagine the scenario, poor grunt struggling under the load of all this extra crap can hardly move on the battlefield, and some 12 year old raghead with an AK jumps up and fills the grunt full of lead.
btw is all this tech going to stop the yanks from shooting each other and their allies?
be vigilant, be pure, behave
It freaks me out a little bit, why should a country that is allready so powerful still invest so heavyly in arms. who needs these arms? what for? There is nobody strong enough to challenge the US and nobody will be in the foreseeable future.
As a non american i feel threatened.
Am i to be 'liberated' next?
Having said that, the pic on the CNN story is so much cooler.
US forces are starting to look like Imperial Storm Troopers? Well, they already aim pretty lousy... That was a start, this is just the finishing touch I guess.
Hate me!
+1 Anti-american
(betraying your own country seems to be all the rage these days on slashdot)
You stinking traitor. You'll only be happy when America is once more awash with blood from another Islamic attack, won't you?
I seem to remember seeing this hashed over various times in the past. It sounds great and all, but when you give all this crazy crap to a marine and ask him what he thinks, he says "This is 27 pounds I *don't* need." (Well, he may not say that if his CO is around, but that's what he's thinking.)
Technology is great and all, but until they can pack it all down to a few ounces, I really don't see it taking off. Every soldier knows how much burden something like just an extra pound adds to a pack. It can really make a difference. In the end it seems to always come down to the battery. They can shrink LCD screens, keyboards, earpieces, whatever. But to have a useful lifetime they still need a heavy battery pack and I think that's what's really holding this back.
The military is all about "total information access" or whatever they call it. But in fact, sheer information alone is useless. I was at Quantico a few years ago presenting a research project and during a presentation, the director of this program emphasized that current technology gives them boatloads of data, the rub is in making sense of it and presenting in a useful way -- both to the soldier and to the people at base camp (or whatever.) So just strapping a GPS module, encrypted digital radio, digicam, etc. on a soldier's back isn't neccessarily useful for anyone involved. Somehow you've got to figure out how to make it all useful.
Imagine half the US army's uniforms activating their automated tourniqets at once, whilst it would no doubt be hilarious to watch it probably wouldn't do them much good
Extended Warranty? How can I lose!
an improoved, lighter version of the Land Warrior Program
".Sig Stealer" was here
...None of this is going to do much against terrorist attacks.
The most high-tech component will be the helmet, with tiny, built-in cameras to spot enemies lurking in the dark or concealed by bushes. The cameras' images will appear on semitransparent screens attached to their helmets.
Sweet! Wall hacks for US soldiers. What else will we learn from counterstrike and quake 3 kids?
Then comes a uniform with built-in tourniquets that one day might be tightened and loosened remotely.
Bored Soldier: Base I'm bleeding bad, I need my "arm" tightened.
Base: Our sensors show that isn't your arm.
n/t
Why is there no SEP(Somebody Elses Problem)-field included in this nice suit?
ouch - this is really bad for the eyes.. Zaphod
Let's play CounterStrike - Reality mode.
And they'll still have to send in the SAS for the dirtiest jobs when they can't rely on the tech. Seriously, although technology advancement is to be encouraged for this kind of thing, and, I hope will eventually reduce the problems still present in today's wars (friendly-fire, civilian casualties etc.) I worry that over-reliance on technology by soldiers will result in the basic survival skills they are currently taught being lost.
"The headgear will contain a laser-engagement system"- All I want are soldiers with freakin laser beams on there head.
will surely only display things that Command HQ want the soldiers to see. Because in the real world, war is a scary, bloody mess.
It's time for power armor.
Anyone for titanium foam, self-assembled protein meshes, molecular optronics, parabiological components, linear electric motors (pseudomuscle), active electro-thermo-bio-cammo, para-sentient infosystems, and symbio-skin? Ah, and cellular universal microrobots? And since we are at it, what about animal-based combat cyborgs to assist human soldiers in the battlefield?
BTW: Why are USAns so afraid?
``L'imagination au povoir.''
With sattelite-controlled tourniquets, it sounds like a single hack could simultaneously cut off circulation to all the limbs of every uniformed US soldier in the world. Am I missing something?
Man, I'd love to be the one to hack that network.
Yes. The invincible America. Another president like Bush in 2011 and we'll have the American army here when I go sleeping with my neighbour's wife. Why? Because you can't stop them.
But still, they all died. Except for Ripley of course ;-)
So the purpose of all this scary battlefield kit is to better equip GIs to engage with Al Qaeda terrorists? Where is everyone lining up for that battle, except in your imagination?
If the war against terrorism is ever going to be won, it will have to be won in hearts and minds, not by creating ever greater chasms of inequality between the USA and the rest of the world.
Either that, or they just network to 12 year olds who could fight for the US from the comfort of the chair at home by remote control. These kids actually have some skill at distinguishing friend from foe, and might reduce the US dependence on expensive missiles.
..k
The Mothership
So, yeah.
The enemy kills one of our soldiers.
The enemy takes his gear. The enemy uses the gear to find out where the president is and goes to assassinate him. Boom Instant Failure.
I'm going to build a Beowulf Cluster of Army Personel!
I've been seeing a _lot_ of articles and "special features" lately about The Weapon and The Soldier of The Future. I can't help but be reminded of the pro-army propaganda in Starship Troopers (the antiwar movie, not the conservative novel). The Future Soldier that CNN is featuring somehow reminds me of a wimped-down version of Heinlein's powered armor suits.
There have been many instances of media covering the weapons of the future (I submitted a story on future robots a couple of weeks ago); what I'm worried about is why that focus is there. Are we getting ready for a long series of wars, ones that we expect to last until at least 2011, when these super-wired Counterstrike uniforms will come into service? That's kind of scary.
(sorry for the blatant US-centrism)
We recently had heard in the office over one of the Yellow Machine that's made by Anthology Solutions.
.. of some old cartoon in which space-pilots had suits that would instantly totally amputate body-parts that were hurt:P Afterwards they'd have to spend a few months in "regeneration" where some controlled cancers made the leg grow back:P... Anyway, I really wouldn't want an automatic tourniquet in my sleeve, thank you:)
0x or or snor perron?!
Firstly, please, don't call the US ``America''. America is a continent of over 20 countries.
Secondly, you do well to be afraid. I am scared too.
Thirdly, about the need for those weapons: I've always wondered why are USAns so afraid, and what are they so afraid of? But I am beginning to think that they are right, in a sickly way: USAns feel threatened, and it's because, perhaps subconsciously, feel that they are not good enough, that their time is up, that their country can't keep up with the times. I know it sounds odd, but I truly believe there is some truth to this insight.
So, yes, I think that there are enemies that are powerful enough to threat the USA. Russia and China, to begin with---don't subestimate them. But the worst threat to the USA is the USA itself---it's destroying itself, and fast. The US will may very well pay with it's own existance for the oil it's looting.
Post Comment``L'imagination au povoir.''
As mentioned in "Encounter at Farpoint". If the uniforms can monitor health and apply tourniqets, it is only a small step to being able to administer pain relief medication and then go even further and supply a surge of adrenalin immediately prior to battle, followed by a sedative once fighting has ceased.
What's your rank and unit soldier?
Corporal, 1055 Berserker Division Sir.
============
Political Correctness is doubleplusungood.
that's great !
it will be much easier to find out which
rambo shot the allies, specially as there
are more of them shot than enemies...
Sounds simular to the Half-Life H.E.V protective suit. Wonder if it will allow you to heal with soda cans from vending machines? and administer morphine when you fall
That's so great, we have cool new ways of killing people......
DO you think it would allow the soldier to put their own skins on the enemy. Make them look like they are wearing a purple pokka dot bikini or something...
but seriously how about not putting the money into armies and not having wars.
-- Karma Karma Karma Karma, Karma Chameleon - Boy George
These aren't the droids you're looking for...
this new ultra-cool-fighting-killing-fragging-heavy duty-the-toilet-paper-will-never-run-out-uniform is pretty good for those that want to use muscles and even "artificial" ones (one can never have enough) instead of their brains. sounds male and manly. cowboys ahead!
As a consequence of your military might and will to use it, we, the others, fear you. Sometimes that leads to hate. That hate is what you fear. Isn't it?
Are new weapons the right protection?
Am i to be 'liberated' next?
Have you done anything stupid lately?
Firstly, please, don't call the US ``America''. America is a continent of over 20 countries.
No one else in the Americas seems to have a problem understanding that when America is mentioned it means the USA. Whats you're problem?
USAns are afraid?
Well, fear is the best way to control your citizenry and it seems the rest of the world. Even you are afraid of being liberated for waking the giant with a big stick.
Michael Moore's movies and books outline the fear pedaling of the US media and the US gov. very well.
The average lifespan of an Empire is 300 years. The US has been an empire for a much shorter time.
pay with its own existance for the oil its looting
Wow, I thought everything else you said was over the top...I guess we all have to go gather up the animals and get on that arc thingy, huh?
anyone read 'supremacy' by Arthur C. Clarke (i think) ?
:-)
its about a technologically superior army/civilisation (cant remember) makeing war on a totally out-teched army/civilisation.
Some people should read it before talking about fielding this kind of stuff in 8 years..
Welcome to two new high level members of the Army:
General Protection Fault
and
Major Error!
And good luck to their subordinates.
Yes, you are right there. -- Another glass of champagne?
Our latest operations in Afghanistan displayed one startling weakness for a uniform like this - not enough satellites. Unless the Scorpion program launches a ton of orbiting equipment in support of the program, I don't see it going very far.
I think you're trolling but I'll respond. A bullet is a bullet is a bullet. In 2011, 40 year old weaponry will be an M-16 / M-60 / AK-47 / AK-74. Last time I check those weapons fire projectiles that will kill a human being. I'm pretty sure the same results will happen 8 years from now too.
The point is not to worry about future opponents, the point is to be modular, to quick deploy and to be tactical - all at the same time. Send soldiers to police a public demonstration in NYC, equip them with body armor, gas mask and non-lethal projecticles. Send soldiers to police Baghdad, same equipment as above but include lethal projecticles, GPS with maps and translation software.
Rangers Lead the Way!
sigh.
US Citizen living abroad? Register to vote!
America's Army home page.
Rangers Lead the Way!
This will work because the US has been targeting low tech areas. Anyone that can do good electromagnetic detection can use these systems to target the soldiers. If you can isolate a single signal at two different locations at the same time, you can id the target down to sub meter at distances over a hundred km.
YOU doing to prevent terrorist attacks? Why hasn't Tom Ridge hired you as a consultant yet? Stupid motherfucker.
Damn, where are my mod points now? The parent comment is one of the most insightful ones posted here in a LONG time...
Black holes are where God divided by zero
A uniform that tells every terrorist in the world where our soldiers are, as long as they send their bright computer hackers to America to be taught at MIT...
"As a writer / novelist you might want to spellcheck your sig.
Am i to be 'liberated' next?
Have you done anything stupid lately
Like been born in a nation with natural resources but no nukes? Yes, I have. I'm trying to fix the second part, though.
No one else in the Americas seems to have a problem understanding that when America is mentioned it means the USA. Whats you're problem?
Such arrogance! >:-( Sure we do! USAns are too ignorant to know about it, and just don't care if they do notice, that's all.
Even you are afraid of being liberated for waking the giant with a big stick.
Well, no. I'm afraid of people who are so afraid---because of their feeling of inadequacy?---that can never feel safe as equals [the def of a bully]. Peace is for the strong, the fearful attack.
The average lifespan of an Empire is 300 years. The US has been an empire for a much shorter time.
Things are moving much faster now, in case you didn't notice. I'd say the US may be very weel be ripe.
Thanks for the pointer about Moore. I'll check him.
``L'imagination au povoir.''
There will be a rude awakening for people of your kind - self-righteous and nationalistic. You got a rude awakening with Vietnam and Watergate. Sadly, people so blinded by dogma rarely remember the lessons learned. So there will be another one coming in the next few years. Bush will not be remembered as a great president. He will be remembered as one of the greatest fuckups in power of all time.
What are his achievements? Look at what he has promised, and what he has achieved. The economy is dragging, the peace in Iraq and Afghanistan is being lost. He most likely lied to you about the urgency of action in Iraq. Saddam and bin Laden both live, and are not in US custody. I'm just amazed at how blind you get when someone waves the star-spangled banner in front of you while saying something to the effect of "the us is great. i lead america, so i must be great too". It's like all chains of logic disappear in the face of patriotism and pride.
Stop the brainwash
FACT BOX Every soldier will eventually be able to view thermal images from uncooled infrared cameras, which are only in limited use today. Firefighters have been using similar cameras to see through smoke, and some Cadillacs use them to see through fog. wow, hi-tech soldiers and cadillac owners have something in common. dont get me wronge but, it just seems wierd that if you can afford a cadillac you have the same infrared camera technology that the military has. uhm. cough!
i have a cat named george. RAWR!
All your troops are belong to us.
My first thought that crossed my mind was "Ah, some experiment with next generation armor went wrong".
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Now they just need to develop the BFG1000 and I'll enlist!
And that's exactly why terrorism is so popular!
The united states military is just so amazingly powerful that almost no country could defeat it.
So instead of fighting the military directly you go for what REALLY powers the military...
The american economy...the world trade center...etc.
Terrorism is just the next step after guerilla warfare. When guerilla warfare first started westerners said it was "Cheap" and "low down" but it worked and after the victories in china and vietnam it's effectiveness is obvious.
But now america is so strong even guerilla armies might not be a match for it. So the next step in the progression of "poor mans" or "peoples" warfare will be terrorism.
Really getting this powerful just means no one will ever fight us directly they will only fight us asymmetricaly i.e. stateless terrorism.
The last (almost) global empire, the Roman one, did think the same thing. They thought their legions were unbeatable by anyone in the world, so they just didn't care about improving it, and the number of logionaires was at an all time law by the end of the 5th century. They were still the greatest army in the known world, and unbeatable by any other army.
Then in the winter of around 495 the legions of the Rhine and Danube fronteers just saw something strange. Hundreds of thousands of people were camping in the borders of the rivers. But not Soldiers. Not young and strong man. But Old men and women and children...
As soon as the rivers got frozen by the lower winter temperatures, they just crossed it. Thousands of people, unarmed, weak, starving. And the legions could do nothing, even with better equipment and better training and all the money Rome spent with them. There were simply not enough of them to stop thousands of "civilians" to invade the empire.
I guess the US are just not willing to incur in the same mistakes as the romans did.
"The wars of the future will not be fought on the battlefield or at sea. They will be fought in space, or possibly on top of a very tall mountain. In either case, most of the actual fighting will be done by small robots. And as you go forth today remember always your duty is clear: To build and maintain those robots. Thank you."
-- Military school Commandant's graduation address, "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson"
Thanks to the Simpsons Archive (www.snpp.com) for the quote!
At which time (2011) I will construct several tesla coils, and use them to single-handedly take over the world.
I can't wait!
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
At first the military would teach soldiers to be soldiers, and the gear would be supplementary, but it would most likely end up like every other technological advance. One day our soldiers are almost 100% reliant on the gadgets, at which point we are almost completely vulnerable to some sort of electronic attack that leaves us with a battlefield full of soldiers getting picked off like fish in a barrel because they have lost their technological crutch.
I am wondering if having everyone and everything automated and wirelessly networked is a hot idea. A technologically adept adversary could take advantage of this fact and, say, feed false info into the system, or order an air strike, remote acivation of the automatic tourniquit(sp?) system, what have you. Even if they didn't hack the system a captured unit might be just as good.
I'm waiting for Soldier CAM where you can adopt a soldier and watch the action from his/her perspective from the comfort of your home. Of course it would probably be 99.999% boredom, followed by 0.001% action that you miss when you get up to get a beer.
Use your head, can't you, use your head,
You're on earth, there's no cure for that - S. Beckett
Oh I loved that idea - not because they coudl reform the minefield, but after the conflict is over. 'right lads, its all over. back in the box' and all the mines would disarm and hop back into the packing crate.
Solitaire did not teach people how to use a word processor. It taught them how to use a mouse in windows. Playing games for soldiers is roughly analogous, if I understand correctly.
Stop the brainwash
Then....
...and as <insert terrorist from 'axis of evil' regime here> overrode the US military uniform network he cackled, "just try to fight with all your turnique control mechanisms ON! Hahaha...And now for a little adjustment to your GPS...hehehe....
The reason why the 'Star Wars' defence missle sheild (the one that the US is trying to build) will never work is because every terrorist nation has a Hans Solo who will go in and blow up the sheild generator.
Now....
Now with the new uniforms, the terroristic Anikin Skywalkers out there can take down the droid control ship, and all the new uniforms will start malfunctioning.
And we wonder why the head of Kim Jong II, the current leader of N.Korea, is such a Hollywood film fan!!
Does this thing have built in sound? Because you can just imagine the...
"3 Frags Left!"
"Multikill!"
"Godlike!"
In a press release... Microsoft Corp announced today its DirectX 12 MilSpec API renamed DirectWarfare including the new
DirectFCS (fire control system) and
ActiveWarhead
seamlessly integrated in the new Microsoft LookOut Below communications software.
Where do you want the bombs to fall today
Finally we figure out how darth vader chokes one of the commanders.
"donÂt underestimate the powers of the force"
While pressing the neck tourniquette of one of the commanders with his remote.
This outfit looks like the soldier outfit of the Doom bad guys if you'd ask me!
This is a replacement signature.
Does that mean you'll be able to see percentage-health bars over your soldiers' heads?
"Your creatures are dying"
I know, he's Boba Fett!
i er .future.ap/story.futuresoldier.cnn.jpg
http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2003/TECH/ptech/06/04/sold
"Firstly, please, don't call the US `America'. America is a continent of over 20 countries."
United
States
of
America
I am an AMERICAN.
I live in AMERICA.
Any questions?
Oh, and last time I checked there was no continent called "America". There is a North America and a South America. But, let's just check the map here....one sec......NOPE no plain old AMERICA. Get over yourself.
then some 7337 ha>"nuke the bug, destroy it!! invade the bugs home terroritory!!!" Meanwhile, in ha>or land: "those American infedels dont stand a chance now, they will be trampled down like the useless flies that they are...."
Sorry, the continent is called ``America''. It has been called that for some 500 years (since about the time of Americo Vespucio, or a little later, actually). It's often divided into 3 parts: South America, Central America, and North America.
I am an AMERICAN.
I live in AMERICA.
Me too and me too!
Any questions?
Two questions: (1) In which American country were you born? (2) In which American country do you live now?
``L'imagination au povoir.''
If all americans are this reactionary and racist, then I'm really really scared.
they changed it to something else because they were afraid to get sued by George Lucas.
... I think you'd better think about the Chinese Army a bit longer before you make statements like that ...
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Did he offend your patriotic heart?
I mean, yeah, this sounds like a great suit and all, but what if....
Enemy soldier: Sweet! I got the American's root password... watch this!!
*American soldier suddenly falls to the ground as *ALL* tourniquets in his suit tighten*
...The army has a long way to go in the equipment deparment like tents, food and weaponry.
Dolemite
__________________
Save the World! Use a Quote!
(metal tentacles wrap around armour...)
Help me!
Help me!
(plasma cutter thingy opens up hatch)
Oh my god somebody help me!
Arrgh! No!
Aieeeeeeeeeeeee!
Umm, is it just me, or is this depend on working electronics to a frightening level? I can see it taking not much more than a good EMP blast to take the suits out of action? I mean, it'd be hard to have to add EMP shielding to them, on top of everything else... soldiers can only carry so much.
Couple that with the fact that they're bound to be very lax when it comes to training in what to do when the suit fails, and this will be a very distinct disadvantage, more than anything.
Main console:
[10:15] Enemy: counter-attacks your left_flank
[10:16] Status update: (Soldier #00233 @left_flank) wet his pants
[10:16] Status update: (Soldier #01553 @left_flank) wet his pants
[10:16] Status update: (Soldier #01201 @left_flank) wet his pants
[10:16] Status update: (Soldier #00101 @left_flank) wet his pants
[10:16] System: "wet his pants" message repeated 23 times, disabled for 30 seconds
and you'd better think about the Chinese air force. Without proper air cover, any large ground force becomes a sitting duck
The author of this post asserts his moral rights.
So I guess by that logic the way to beat terrorism is to send a couple of ordinary looking people who happen to be able to kill/sneak their way to the head of the terrorist network and perform an arrest.
Collosal underreaction.
Really, really difficult to do. Unless those agents are god or cyborgs or something.
You asians are always funny when you talk about continents. Oh, wait. That's right. Even though you're on the same landmass and same tectonic plate, you don't want to have any relation to those yellow skinned heathens. Better to call yourself european.
In fact, power storage is really what is hampering any major advances into the portable, semi-autonomous electronics. Wireless phones, laptops, robotic flies, cybersoldiers, etc. -- we need some sort of a major breaktrhough in power storage until we can produce actual designs as opposed to mockups that you need to plug into the wall socket.
>|<*:=
How does Congress plan on having the soldiers use all of this if we are putting 400 billion into defense and only 40 into education? What good is fancy equipment if you have idiot soldiers to use it?
IMO, the worlds leaders should be brought togethor and shot.
I do worry that these new computer-enabled combat suits would fail in a spectacular fashion if methods of generating a strong electromagnetic pulse is factored into the equation.
For example, a bomb with a big capacitor inside surrounded by a jacket of carbon filaments could send a shockwave of EMP that will disable any electronics within a couple of hundred meters of the explosion point. And of course we know what happens when you detonate a nuclear warhead at high altitude; I believe that one Soviet tactic during the initial phases of a nuclear war was to use obselete but still large SS-9 rockets that would detonate their 25 megaton warheads about 200 to 400 kilometers off the ground over enemy territory, which would create such a strong EMP shock it would wipe out everything electrical underneath the explosion point.
the elusive SEP (somebody elses problem) field.
-
Or are they really just weapons of mass distraction?
If they were both they would be impossible to find..
It would probably go over better with the younger crowd if they called it the Future Universal Battle Uniform (FUBU)
--- You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad- Neal (not Cowboy) Boortz
You can't just throw money at a problem at expect it to go away. It's like saying space launch is no problem because we just need to shoot something upward at a speed of 100,000 m/s. You are ignoring the reality of the world
Simply pumping food or money into Africa is not the solution. Why? Because anything with value will be used to make a personal profit. This will happen either internally through corruption, or externally through raids and strongarm tactics. We can (peacefully) detect & replace corrupted people. External factors we can't control as much. The only place you won't have external factors is in places that are suitabally developed to recognise large amounts of money can't be made off of small food shipments (i.e. the populace isn't starving). But such places don't need aid anyway...
The world, unfortunately, works very much as Sgt. Paul Howe quoted in Black Hawk Down. In most of the world, power [and therefore order] still flows through the barrel of a gun. Is it nice? No. Is this what we want? [Defense contractors aside] No. This is required because this is the way the world works. Thus, we still need to be able to have muscle to make sure that food goes where it's supposed to. etc. We cannot change human nature (greed to the point of violence), therefore we must go with it (enough violence to stop the greed).
You also forget that these advancements are meant to save [friendly] lives. If I can make a bigger bomb that can kill 4 rooms of a bldg instead of 1, that's 3 fewer places I will be shot at from.
- Sig
(1) Hack into US SoldierNet. (2) Remotely tighten all tourniquets
Use the Firehose to mod down Second Life stories!
I'm no big fan of W, but that is about the most idiotic anti-US screed I've seen around here. I don't recall Jews slaughtering thousands of people during Hitler's time, unlike the terrorists of today that pose a genuine threat that requires strong action. To back those actions, and support the leaders that direct them, is hardly "mindless" or "senseless." Pull your head out of the sand...
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
More prosaically, fuel cells seem like a practical option here.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
So, instead of focusing on the political injustices being carried out in the name of the people, you're just going to male-bash. That's so progressive of you.
Tell you what. Go to Afganistan (there's still a war going on there fyi) armed with your lecture notes on epistemology and neofeminism. You can go home when you've neutralized one single pro-taliban guerilla without paying him off. Until then, force is an ugly part of world politics and it's not going to go away by itself or via male-bashing.
If women ruled the world, you think there would be no war? if so you are fooling yourself into selectively believing in sexist ideals of femininity. If not, quit male bashing. Pissing people off does not make the world a better place.
what are you on? switch to something else.
Does it have portable AC units?
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
Thats nothing,, wait till they talk more about SIPE.. they spoke of it here and there on tlc and what not.. SIPE is like a space suit for combat, environmentals, full body armor all weather even fire.. and all the .net plugins :)
.. Maybe if they get all that the won't shoot eachother as much / the wrong guys..
Face it people were looking at the dawn of the real storm trooper's
(ex army guy.still waiting for hand held high power lasers)
So now the troops in the Laundry will have to ge a BSEE?
...with their primitive catapults, rolling logs, and hmmm, did they have any box cutters?
I wonder how long it will be until we see "mechanized infantry" ala R. Heinlein's Starship Troopers...
David Barak
Need Geek Rock? Try The Franchise!
The uniforms will monitor vital signs and plug them into a massive network of satellites, unmanned planes and robotic vehicles
I hope they use wireless...
...wrote a fitting line for this in Starship troopers, something along the lines of, "Bog a cap trooper down with all kinds of fancy gadgets and someone a lot more simply equipped, say with a stone axe, will sneak up behind him and bash his head in while he is trying to read a vernier."
If the US embraces technology as much as they are planning to, then the first country that figures out that the way to beat them is to destroy that technology (think massive EMP, anti-satellite etc.) is going to whip their ass. 200,000 soldiers with useless heads up displays and no ability to communicate with command is exactly what I would want if I was an ememy commander.
just = (My)Opinion.toCents();
Bloody Sunday springs to mind.
Soldiers aren't trained for crowd control. Northern Ireland demonstrated that pretty well.
did anyone else notice that US troops didn't even have the right *color* uniforms during the recent war in Iraq?
They were wearing green jungle camo for a desert war because the US Army didn't make enough sand-colored uniforms ahead of time.
If the military can't even get its shit together enough to provide the right color uniforms to its troops, how can anyone believe they'll pull off the uniforms described in this story?
So, do we need to build the academy to get the stim pack upgrade? and do we need to wait for an expansion before the beings in charge decide that medics are actually needed?
This is my sig. Its pathetic.
earth to moron
didn't you learn anything about the pathology of anti-communism?
for your own sanity and the safety of those around you, I hope you are just spewing troll bait
stop moralizing until you learn some facts.
your grasp of history is fantasy.
your logic is moronic.
sounds like you have some real problems...
Does anyone else remember that crap about exoskeletons? Sure,the idea is cool. A steel frame strapped to your body that allows you to jump 5 times your height and run 20mph..
It just lacks workability.
The guys on the ground don't need to know how to set up ipchains to pull the trigger. All the brainwork is done ahead of time. Soldiers fight. Engineering is left to engineers. These suits are going to be VERY user friendly. And, the army doesn't accept retards. You don't need a GED to fight, but if you're incapable of getting that GED you probably can't pass the written test (yes there is a test to get in).
I agree that since we spend huge, huge huge amounts of cash on bombing the third world, it makes sense to spend enough on our own education and space programs to keep our future bright.
Unfortunately, our leaders don't give two $#!ts about our future, except as it relates to keeping them in power and/or rich.
Which is why I agree with the sentiment of getting the world leaders together and shooting them. Unfortunately anarchy leads to government, and probably a worse form since you are starting from scratch then.
The REAL solution is for the people to take a continuous and active interest in the affairs of their government in an open democratic environment. Unfortunately again, as the experiment of the USA demonstrates, even an excellently constructed system will eventually be distorted for the good of the few at the expense of the many. In our (usa) case, the powerful and rich and select special interests (whose goals can be integrated into the existing power bases' plans) patiently gain position in the machinery of the existing establishment and bend it to their will. The overall movement of the haves against the have nots (of wealth AND of influence) is never acknowledged as such except by the have nots, who are dismissed by the haves as "nuts" or worse. Eventually, you get the situation we are in now (post 9-11) where the system is not just corrupt but beyond salvaging. It not only no longer serves the purpose of protecting it's citizens, it doesn't even follow it's own laws at all.
So, we're headed into the dark ages (again). Which is good if you're religious, but bad if you like to think for yourself, or want to see the world become a better place (instead of just praying a lot to get into heaven or whatnot).
So (you may think) so wise guy, what do YOU suggest, since we're penned in? Well, I don't see a way out. My greatest hope about the nature of existence is that life is followed by oblivion instead of reincarnation or an afterlife.
It's simple, but nobody wants to believe it: War is the health of the state. War is the single most effective way to increase the power and scope of government. History has proven it time and time again. The government which can successfully make a business out of war is the government which enjoys nearly unlimited power over its people.
We need to realize that government is a business. Like any business, government's objective is to serve its own interests: to profit. The main difference between government and private business, which most people don't realize, is that government is the only business that may "legally" initiate force as a business model. This is exactly why government MUST be strictly limited in power -- abuse of power is not just possible, it is inevitable. As the saying goes -- power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The only solution to this problem is to apply strict limits on the scope and power of government (as the founders proposed) -- a solution which directly conflicts with the objectives of those in power.
Actually social entitlements make the vast majority of the federal budget./ pdf/guide .pdf on page twelve there is a budget breakdown.
http://w3.access.gpo.gov/usbudget/fy2002
medicare/medicaid=19% of the budget
social security=23%
7% = means based entitlements, thats stuff like food stamps vetrans benefits, child tax credits etc.
total entitlement payments=59% of budget
contrast this with 10% on national debt interest
defense 16%
19% non defense government budget
7% for federal insurance, federal retirement system, payment to farmers
thats 66% percent for more or less direct payments to people (if you include the 7% for insurance retirement, payments to farmers) contrasted to 16% for the defense department
One could argue that defense money could be better allocated to paying down the debt, or even more for national infrastructure. However, most people don't seem to realize that payments to our own citizens(who deserve money that they have payed in or need it because they can't help themselves) consumes the vast majority of the budget. This will be a huge problem in a few years worldwide when the babyboomers retire, just look at the current strikes in france to see such an issue.
Bring back the old version of slashdot.
What would you call us? United States of Americans?
Actually, pretty much that: estadounidenses (=``from the United States''). And it's official usage. In English, I follow the growing usage of calling you ``Usans''. [Of course, we could refer to you as ``Users'' if you like.]
``L'imagination au povoir.''
...that is what bothers you wimps the most. We don't care if you hate or love us, you are insignificant nobodies.
Just another whole lot of funds American education and health care won't see.
Bleh !
Speaking for the Marine Corps... Shit breaks. A lot. A common joke in the Corps is if you put a couple marines, naked, in an empty room with three steel balls, one ball will be eaten, another broken, and the third lost. STuff like this... bad news.
Give these systems to Marines at CAX, and give them an order to see how easy it is to break. I guarantee you the failure rate will be astronomical. Don't field it to regular forces until the Marine Corps cannot break it any more regularly than they can the current gear, AND don't field it until the weight is brought down.
The article mentioned lower weight... Quite a bit of a combat load is things like tents, shovels, extra uniforms, socks, another pair of boots, food, water, how does this system propose to deal with that? Especially with the requirement to carry spare batteries. What I read of the article, the equipment this stuff replaces is not any heavier- the gear involved in this is a fraction of a real combat load. IT might be significantly lighter for a heavily armed sentry, but for an infantryman in the field, any gain would be marginal, and not worth the greater potential for failure. The OICW is about twice the weight of an M-16... Even if the overall system weight is less, thats still double the weight on the arms in combat. Anyone who has used the M-16 in rifle PT knows how quickly even a lightweight rifle can become extremely heavy.
Military forces do best when they stick to simple gear that gets the job done. Aviation and naval forces may be able to get away with more complexity by the nature of their jobs, but the basic infantryman doesn't have time to worry about all that crap. Field simple to use, lightweight, and reliable gear and go out and raise hell. Thats how the infantry wins.
Even in 2011 they'll still have to fight no-boots-wearing AK-47 armed "soldiers", spending US$ 50 billion a year to the war welfare.
That's OK. You still be firing at the Canadians and the British.
Only if they won't give up their WMD.
http://xkcd.com/386/
What if there were specialised troops that were embedded in a normal brigade that would carry these devices. Similar to how radio was carried in WWII by one guy in each platoon, or whatever. (Sorry I don't know my military terminology, but I mean a small group of about 10) This would be a good way to start, would allow each group to stay connected and know where they are, but allow the rest to be able to do what they do now.
This is my digital signature. 10011011001
Depends on the battlefield. If we tried to take them in a march to Beijing, we'd lose. If we fortified Taiwan against invasion, we'd win. Limited ops to take a shoreline city or two I'd have to call it even.
The only real advantage they have is numbers. They could field an army nearly as big as our entire population, which would be great for defending their turf, but they don't have power projection capabilities worth a damn. If they tried to mount an invasion of Taiwan, we'd sink most of their fleet. The troops that did get through would be cut to ribbons on the beaches. Naval aviation assets that could be brought to battle can take several times their number in chinese- The Chinese do have some good, modern fighters, but the bulk of their air force is old and obsolete.
I'd say more... but I don't want to go to leavenworth.
At Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, a government-sponsored lab that opened on May 22, research could lead to external skeletons carrying artificial muscles that would make soldiers faster and stronger, said Paula Hammond, a research team leader. Does this remind anybody else of the Green Goblins suit from Spiderman (minus the crazy-gas of course)??
Check out "Bowling for Columbine", it's a great movie. Or you can go to www.michaelmoore.com to find out what he's all about.
2003-06-04 15:23:33 Wired, Lightweight and Ready to Kill (articles,usa) (rejected) Editors SUCK!
Joe Haldeman, can't remember if it was in 'Forever War', or 'Forever Peace'
Look Here
Pretty good books.
... that the Normandy invasion took place on June 6, 1944, not in 1943.
Just thought you'd like to know.
144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
You are wrong. The max effective range for the M-16A2 Service Rifle is 550 meters for point targets and 800 meters for area targets. The U.S.M.C. qualifies its recruits at the 200, 300 and 500 meter lines. At my last qualification I hit the smaller round target 4 for 5 at 200 meters in the off-hand and 10 for 10 on the 40in. x 20in. target at 500 meters in the prone position. I wasn't even in the top ten percent of the shooters that day. "Every Marine a Rifleman."
if this new battle armor is networked, would it be possible that it could be hacked by the enemy? suppose someone got illicit acess to the network (its wireless, of course, so it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility), and made the armor go haywire? it has built in, remote control turniquettes? great, we'll cut off the enemy's circulation, deaden their response time. or shut off their optical enhancements, or make their optical enhancements play feed of terrorist leader propaganda. this sounds like a bad idea to me.
There are about 30,000 Taliban/AQ goons (most of whom were killed or vaporized a short while back) that would tend to disagree with your statement.
How many "willing participants" in the terror game did the US kill in Afghanistan? I dunno, but the answer is at least "plenty".
Errr.. was this not ment to b funnY?
You never had a jam firing with an M16? There's no way. There's no way, especially when you consider the condition of the rifles that are used in boot camp/basic training/whatever you want to call it.
I don't know which defense contractor you're consulting for, or which cog of the propaganda machine you represent, but it's just laughable that you would make a statement like this.
For what it's worth, I shot expert everytime I got a rifle in my hands after basic training, despite jams. Same with the M60 and the M240. The M9 is a different story, but that's neither here nor there.
Why should I argue rationally with someone being irrational? I'll just mock them instead.
The new suits will automatic tourniquets built in. Anytime a Republican president puts on a set, the automatic neck tourniquet will activate.
Why should I argue rationally with someone being irrational? I'll just mock them instead.
I think it is because many people in America believe that if you cannot pull your weight, you deserve what you get. I cannot totally disagree, as this is a sentiment that derives from our animal nature. As a person who doesn't put much value on the notion of humanity's categorical distinction from other animals, I understand how this sentiment prevails here in America. Life is cruel. Results come at a price. We are all sent out of the womb to swim, tread water, or die trying. These are American values (among others, even some that contradict these), I think.
Am I the only one who noticed that this uniform seems to look a lot like the old Cobra Alley Viper from GI Joe? The Helmet is dead on (stormtrooper?! not even!)... now if it was to come in orange and blue camo...
i forget the article, but cost estimates place a fully loaded OICW as lower cost than a fully loaded M16 with similar capabilities. Plus, as far as soldiering goes, that $35,000 is only a small part of what the army spends to support that soldier.
Photos.
I didn't know that venerable meant the same thing as suck-ass....M-16s despite their being improved since Vietnam still jam when dirty. It's about time they be replaced.
BOOM!
These things had better be designed with security as a top consideration. I can see all sorts of potential disasters -- sending incorrect targeting information, remotely controlling the soldiers weapons, or worst of all, a command to tighten the built-in tourniquets on all suits.
As much as I really do agree with you, and as mcu of a badass as Marshal Zhukov was, American material support was a big contribution to that victory.
When the alternative is spending the millions of dollars per soldier in training, feeding, housing, dependents, medical, and pension benefits it's no wonder that the modern military is running to designs that can handle single operators managing multiple platforms safely from a distance. Not only is it safer for the guys who are expected to fight for us, but it's cheaper than spending a ton of cash on a pilot who doesn't have any long term plans to stay in the service. Human error causes more troubles than computer error usually still, that might be a case of not giving the machines time enough to catch up in the idiot process but I think it is more likely that the human machines we're dependent on aren't the most reliable things in the first place. After all, if they worked perfectly then we might not have battlefields at all.
This struck me as pretty interesting because of an interview I did a few months ago with a professor at (the) Ohio State University. He developed a plastic that polarizes the spin of electrons, hopefully paving the way for plastic semiconductors. He thought they might be available for some applications in 5-10 years (on the consumer side; he didn't speculate about when the government would have operational technology).
He mentioned that one of the applications of these would be for military use--the semiconductors could be woven into clothing for use reading heart rates, wound location, blood coagulation, that sort of thing. He also suggested that the semiconductors could be used in displays housed in pens: a screen could be unrolled from the barrel (not unlike a tape measure), which would also house a battery and transmitter for receiving data. It might be handy for maps.
He thought plastic semiconductors wouldn't be terribly expensive, either, which is always good news. (Naturally there's greater context than what we've described here--e.g., the ability to create inexpensive hard drives with RAM seek times.)
When I was a grad student, I did some work for an Army project on building some of the biosensors that would be included in future uniforms. The organization I did the research for was working on biosensors to measure heartbeat (I did some work on the microcode) and was attempting to build a hypothermia/shiver detector (that I was doing most of my work on).
:)
We were experimenting with placing small devices that measure acceleration in various places and attempting to determine from a frequency-time analysis (i.e. imagine a frequency spectrum vs time) using neural networks and wavelet analysis to try and differentiate between the acceleration profiles caused by walking, running, moving, etc vs shivering....
The alternative was to stick a small thermometer up the soldier's "rear" which I don't think anyone wanted
Evolution: love it or leave it
How does this help rebuild our decrepit schools and pay the teachers of our youth a decent wage? How does this help the RICHEST nation on Earth provide health care for it's own damn children!?!?? We are one of the LAST countries to realize things like health care for all, and yet we spend trillions on war and all the goodies that go along with it. Aren't we GREAT! (US)
So THIS is how we end up spending more on our military than all other industrialized countries COMBINED.
Screw them AND us right? As long as we have all this tremendous power and can instill enough fear (yay!!), who cares! Right?
...right?
Dumbasses...
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel Boorstin
It would be nice to program automated tasks to be performed on both the equipment and the soldier, trying to reboot an injured soldier in the field from somewhere in USA...
Achille Talon
Hop!
You'll never get me in a networked uniform capable of applying tourniquets ... I have more repect for ANY enemy than to assume the network cant be hacked.
one
you do realize you'll probably end up living with barbara streisand then?!?!...
if she ever does hold herself to her word.
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
Won't there be cyborgs fighting in 2011?
Being a soldier, I have a pretty good feeling that the US Military would have a hard time selling the idea of remotely controlled tourniquets to soldiers who would be wearing the uniform. This is similar to the concept behind a flak jacket where the armour is hard near vital organs and softer around them (the idea is that a projectile won't shatter if it penetrates the armor, causing more damage, although try telling that to a soldier in the field).
The first thing that came to my mind when I read that is an enemy infiltrating our communications system and activating tourniquets on every American soldier on the battle field, whether they can see them or not. Dak
Yeah right!. Or try this one!
>You fuck with America and you sign your death warrant.
I think this is the kind of attitude I'm talking about.
>apologise to the murderers
Of course not, but you seem to have a hard time working out who the murderers actually are. You must be one of the 50% or so of Americans who think Saddam had something to do with 9/11 right?
Skiing? Check out The Independant Skiers Portal
Built in tourniquets? What, they don't think the enemy will try to hack that? For that matter, the enemy will probably try to hack the entire suit... or render it completley usless with some sort of large EMP weapon...
Sometimes being overreliant on technology ISN'T a good thing.
Frankie
The 'self defence' defence would be credible if any of those actions took place on American soil. But in reality every single one of them involved US forces travelling to foreign countries to attack them. In cases of real self defence you don't have to travel to find the enemy, they come to you when they attack you.
I notice that when you say 'people die and go to jail' in the drug trade, you only refer to Americans as 'people'.
You need to read up on your Somali history. In the famous 'Black Hawk Down' incident, where according to US media 18 people were killed, there were actually about 1000 people killed, if you count Somalis. Most of them civilian bystanders, not child rapists as you would have us believe. And those helicopters were on a mission to capture Somali politicians the US disapproved of, not on any mission to feed people.
how long until someone writes an aimbot for soldiers?
Heck, if we can build one of these at home, I'm fairly sure that the "enemy" can too. Electronics aren't such a good idea when they become too depended-upon... especially in situations with a lot of sand, impact, or moisture, etc etc.
Hmm... wirelessly tighten tourniquets on an opposing force? Harden their cast-o-costumes on them? Or hack the IFF system, so joey shoots johnny since he's obviously now a "foe"... after all, his visor said so.
... attention all HaX0rs, Uncle oSAMa's hiring...
I'm all for making people more effective, but given what I see out there in terms of applied security, it seems like a risky business.
That, and the fact that as we depend more on technology, we often become less capable of dealing with a circumstance where the technology has failed.
Man... the opportunities for speculative fiction are limitless.
i.
i - This sig provided by
...use the information given to you!
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
From http://www.hecklerkoch-usa.com/pages/military/m29_ faq.html#Anchor-An-363
An M16 costs under $1000. We have heard M29 (OICW) may cost $10,000. Why is this?
M29 (OICW) is a single system consisting of a fire control and combinatorial weapon. The functions contained within the system include the "add-ons" now used on the M16 or M4 such as optics, thermal weapon system, and aim light. With these functional add-ons, the existing M16/M4/203 system cost exceeds $35,000 each.
Photos.
Somehow I don't think this will work all that well... As with most military technology, it's going to cost vast amounts of money and be lost in vast numbers.
I mean, people bitch hardcore when soldiers die on the battlefield (despite the fact that they knew what they were getting into, and signed up for it), what are they going to do when each soldier's death also means the destruction of $100K of sensitive military equipment paid for by tax dollars?
Naturally the idea is a wicked one, bringing to mind the Power Armor from the Fallout games, and the suits worn by the soldiers in Starship Troopers (the book, not the sissy movie). However, until you actually have a 1-man-killing-machine-tank-suit, I don't think it's going to be viable...
Death to Reefer Addicts.
--
Let me tell you something about nations of the world: There is NOTHING stopping them from being civilized and receiving aid. But as long as they expect to develop socialist (needs of the people my ass) and murderous societies and policies, there will be no thought of this nation giving any of those barbaric folk anything but a chance at military confrontation.
/. ?) being anti-socialist is a little bit counter-productive.
SoÂcialÂism n.
1. Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy.
2. The stage in Marxist theory intermediate between capitalism and communism, in which collective ownership of the economy under the dictatorship of the proletariat has not yet been successfully achieved.
UNDERSTAND that when Marx wrote Democracies were not the majority of governments, pretty much the ONLY model for government were dictatorships, monarchies - ect.
Hate to break it to you but the US is a socialist democracy.
Why do you think we have such things as the Federal Reserve. Public education, including Universities & libraries, The FCC, The SEC, The FDA.
All of these goverment requlatory organisations ARE forms of socialist government. Without such regulatory organisations, businesses would be out of control. Radio and TV stations would try and overpower each others transmissions and your employer would embezzel your pension fund.
Socialists argue for more governmental controls to protect the average worker. So situations such as Enron & Global Crossings don't happen.
When large corporations weaken the control our socialist organisations have, the ordinary worker is hurt - from middle management all the way down to the mail room.
So saying you are against socialism means you support the exploitation of workers by large corporations. Unless you are the CEO of a large multinational corporation (any of those read
I promise you that Saddam would still be murdering his people, including children were it not for the military intervention of the US, something few socialist nations were willing to do and were unwilling to do for the most cynical reasons: for Saddam's money.
The European nations, and most accurately the UN security council are anti war. Not because they are socialist, but 1/2 of their populations were wiped out twice in the past 100 years. You know - a little thing called WWI & WWII.
Do me a favour and next time you post an opinion, make sure it's informed.
___________________________
I'm not a geek, but I play one on TV.
Thanks for correcting me... LOL believe it or not I meant to hit 44 but I toggled the 3 instead that dang preview button should be useful but I'm not that aggressive :-). BTW I'm not a WW buff, and memory isn't what it used to be. Thank you for your help.
Sure, it's pork barrel spending and dubious whether it will work. But even so, since this is what the DoD wants, it's worth thinking why it wants it.
Yes, it does nothing for fighting terrorism.
What this armour would do, if they ever release a beta, is make each soldier more leathal and harder to kill. Thus is allows them to have less soldiers (and still spend more money as well). Now, the difficulty of recruiting soldiers comes in here. Given the current situation, at least half of everyone going into the military is going have stones thrown at them in Iraq. That won't make a good recruiting poster.
I suppose the eventual goal would be to provide Donald Rumsfeld with an armour suit that gave the powers of a super hero like Magneto.
Wow, Who knew the Skins from Peter Hamilton's Fallen Dragon were so close?
I'm also flashing back to the first Star Trek TNG episodes, Encounter at Farpoint, where Q puts the crew on trial and in one of the scenes, when he's flashing through earths "history" he shows up dress as a suppsed 22nd century soldier in a "battle suit" of sorts. Good Stuff(tm).
I propose to just COPY the Russian design of AK-101 (newest improvement of AK-47 lineage), lengthen the barrel, give the bullet high power gun powder, lighten the whole gun by employing state of the art material (fiberglass?) Give the gun a better sight like a small 10x sniper scope, and bam!, you have a perfect future weapon system that's rugged, and almost fail safe. (99.9%)
Oh, not to mention recall all those pansy and fault prone beretta, and re-issue ColtM1911 side arm to all applicable soldiers and COs.
Citing Michael Moore as a reference is never a good thing. See here and here.
The US has always been technically competent in the military sphere. To the extent that a society is reflected in the character of its military, it is easy to understand our obsession with new technology. Even our written military fiction (e.g., Tom Clancy) dwells on the exact make of the missile or rifle used by the hero, or the terminal ballistics, rather than "shot a gun, killed the bad guy." Just watch CSI to see the holiness of technology.
This is good and bad, militarily. It is good to the extent that it gives us great early warning technology (though researcher Stephen Biddle has shown that the full suite of satellite and drone recon assets focused on a tiny area of Afghanistan in the recent war found only 50% of the enemy positions), and reduces the number of aircraft sorties needed to destroy a target by bombing. Technology is a negative to the extent that it takes time and resources, or institutional focus away from operational planning and success (as theorist Lt. Col. Richard Leonhard has argued).
It is also a net negative to the extent that it forestalls the use of simpler, cheaper, and equally effective technologies. NASA is famous for developing the zero-g pen, rather than rely on the pencil. The US army is now testing an electronic armour system that uses capacitors to pre-detonate incoming explosive rounds before they hit tanks. The ex-Soviets developed a similar system far cheaper: they hung chain link fence several inches off their tanks to predetonate rounds.
The proposed system sounds heavy, maintenance intensive, and perhaps not marginally better than existing battlefield radios. But these complaints are not militarily that big a deal. What worries me is that these intensive info-tech innovations will reduce whatever level of "mission orders" or local-iniative, and turn _soldiers_ into remote control devices, ala Alien 2, where the LT sits in the APC and sends his troops to die.
The operational and political consequences of this technology are decidedly worse than any technical hiccups they may have in implementing them using current tech.
Do you have any opinions on the reliablility of some of the more modern assault rifles, like the Styer AUG or the FAMAS?
This sig wasn't worth reading, was it.
The United States does sent BILLIONS of dollars overseas and 2/3's of the 3 Trillion dollar Governement Budget is spent on Social Programs. While I agree Military spending in the US is expensive, it isn't all bad. The stuff for the military is made in the US which means people need to make it in the US giving people jobs in the US.
On another point, as conservative US has found, throwing money at a problem doesn't make it go away. The US gives BILLIONS of dollars to in foriegn aid a year and found the return isn't equal. A better example of Forgien Aid gone wrong would be Hati and Afghanistan. I think it can also be agreed that not sending some contries financial aid would be worse than going to war.
There are a couple of infrastructure issues the Military assists the US with, but I don't feel like getting into those.
I'm not saying Military spending is at the level it should be, nor am I saying that the US has is right. I am just saying there are benifits to all people in the US from military spending.
I expect that the interception of this wireless communication is considered the same way the military has always considered previous communication lines... like radio. The stakes just seem to get higher and higher.
How many times have we seen this type of story run in that load of cr*p Popular Science? I think the press runs this story every other year and just changes the date from 2005 to 2007 to 2011, etc.
Where did you get this statistic on the cost of the Iraq war? Bush asked for, and Congress appropriated less than half that amount.
Sean
... now I can add "getting invaded by hordes of Canadian civilians" to my list of things to worry about - damn you, Slashdot!
Seriously - while I can see the point of some comparisons to the Roman empire, simple geography pretty much dooms this one.
Sean
Sorry I'm late to this discussion but I want to remind all of you that the armies of the future will be continue to be young people and that the enemy will continue to be civilian populations. What will be different, besides the armor and the weaponry, is that the young people will be brainwashed with the benefit of high technology and they will be drugged to the hilt. As always, the orders will come from old men acting on orders from their Gods in search of power and money.
The suits will rebel against their wearers, preferring to 'live' without fighting or dying, then the machines will rise and we'll all end up in the Matrix. Art predicts science yet again.
Never pet a burning dog.
Ummm, well a after Hitler took over and started re-arming a LOT of people predicted this. The biggest of whom was WINSTON CHURCHILL. Need I give you lecture on appeasment and the chicken-shit leadership in Europe at the time who chose paying territorial bribes over fighting.
Second, the Japanese strike on Pearl Harbor was a hit-and-run affair. It was designed to prevent the US from ENTERING a Pacific War. It was the first stroke in a lightning campaign intended to put the US Navy so far in the whole, that they would be inclined to simply pursue peace. Hirihito knew that this was Japan's ONLY hope of being victorious over the US.
Beyond that the resources needed for a ground invasion would have been far more substantial. More boats, more men, more planes, more food, more fuel. A bigger fleet means a bigger chance of getting caught and a greater succeptability to submarine attack. Additionally, such a fleet would be hindered by a need to protect troop and supply ships if they were discovered.
Now while the US had no substantial Army at the opening bell of World War 2.. We still had the BIGGEST NAVY in the world surpassing both Great Britain AND Japan. Hirihito knew this all too well.
The entire Pacific fleet (save Pearl Harbor (hmmm...??)) WAS on alert status at the time. We did have other fleet resources available at the time. In order to assure victory for invasion, the Japanese would need to keep their fleet in the Hawaii area to protect their invading forces against American Naval reinforcement. This would effectively make them SITTING ducks for submarines and responding US carriers.
Hirihito WAS a brilliant Naval commander. He had no for-knowledge of the poor state of readiness that the Pearl Harbor fleet would be in that day. Had the base been alerted in sufficient time to the approaching strike force, it's very likely that Hirihito's fleet would have had it's asses handed to them being so deep into US controlled waters (In fact they WERE detected on RADAR, the duty officer was just too STUPID to believe it). Had they been detected at the proper time, they could have been encircled and annihalated by a combination of pursuing forces from Pearl Harbor and intercepting vessels who were on patrol further in the Pacific. Had this occured, it's likely that the Phillipines would NEVER have been taken.
So you see it was absoluetly vital that the mission be "hit and run". Furthermore, their only targets could be miliatary, directly targeting civilian facilities (through invasion or otherwise) would necessitate an American committment to full warfare. They DID NOT invade Pearl Harbor because they COULD NOT without placing their entire plan of SE Asia dominance at risk all in one stroke.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
Am I the only one who looks at that suit, hears the name "Scorpion" and pictures US troops running around shooting hooks out of their arms?
I can't wait until the rival "Sub-Zero" suit hits our shores.
Recent intelligence has shown that several other countries have similar programs. North Korea, China, etc. All of them are developing top secret battle military outfits.
Here's the round-up:
Russia's Siberian Battle uniform. Code name: Sub-Zero
North Korea's Battle uniform. Code name: Kung Lao
China's Battle uniform is reported to have stealth cammo capabilities, making it appear and behave like the Battle uniforms of other countries. Code name: Tsang Shung
In order to keep the 'inner' peace, China's Shaolin monks have devised their own high-tech outfit, code-named: Liu Kang
Bachman Foods Corporation has bought exclusive naming rights to US Army Special Forces Battle suits. Code named: Jaxx
Also, there have been rumors that Brazil has been experimenting with gene-manipulation of their soldiers. Project Code-name: Blanka.
The results are reportedly, very shocking.
I think you're absolutely right. Probably, a lot of the current problems the US is facing are partially our fault because we did try to help someone at some point. Of course, there were always other agenda too, and I'm ashamed of a lot US foreign policies for both the reasons and the results.
I don't think it should generally be the role of a government to give foreign aid, whether military or humanitarian. That's simply not one of the jobs given to the US government in the Constitution. Rather, individuals should be the ones to give humanitarian aid. There are many mission and humanitarian organizations that are helping a lot of people all over the world, uninhibited by major political pressure from the people giving the money.
Of course, giving military aid may contribute directly to the national defense, as did the US aid to the UK and other states during the Second World War. However, most of the aid since then can't be characterized as directly contributing to US defense.
Funny, I've always noticed that when someone refers to North America, South America, and Central America as a composite, they refer to them as "The Americas". Kind of like "The Simpsons".
:). Which, for Europeans and for people who live in the non-American parts of the Americas, is even worse than merely living in the American part of the Americas.
I am an American.
I live in America
I also live in the Americas.
But if you *really* want to know what country I live in, it's Texas
Imagine if a point of failure isn't total shut-down, but rather mis-interpreted signals.
A bit gets flipped and all your friends are drawn in "shoot-at-me" red instead of "friendly green"
Yeah, somebody will figure it out and shut the thing down, but how much damage will have been done in the interim?
That Jesus Christ guy is getting some terrible lag... it took him 3 days to respawn! -NJ CoolBreeze
Think, write, think, edit, think...then post.
ha ha that is the funniest thing i've read all day
"Given that the M16 and the OICW are both chambered in .223/5.56NATO, there's no way it's going to be good for 1000 meters, as that's a limitation of the cartridge design not the gun. The OICW is also a bullpup design, but still has a short barrel, decreasing maximum effective lethal range. The OICW uses the same magazines as the M16. "
.223-calibre firing part of the gun, but the buildt in, computer controlled, automatic 45/20mm grenade launcher.
When people are refering to the longer ranges of the OICW over the M16, they are not talking about the
Here's more info on the grenade launcher, mentioning that "... The system goals are to precisely deliver airburst rounds in MOUT and rural terrains that are five times more lethal at greater than twice the range of the M203(.223 cartridge). The 20mm HE fuze function features include point detonation (P.D.) delay, self-destruct, and a "window mode."
Here's the link.
you know, if we could just get the morons to stop making guns in the first place...
-Miles
Fuzzy
The US military must have decided it would be too expensive also, though they had favorable field trials. I guess the G11 was just ahead of its time. H&K designs since then, such as the the UMP and G36, have been much more conventional. The MP7 does have a new type of ammunition, but it's still not caseless. I guess the H&K guys decided that they were being too innovative for their own good and stuck to what they knew would sell.
The FDA approved a study on MDMA to be performed at the University of North Carolina. IIRC, it's been ongoing for some months now. So we're seeing at least one crack in the war on drugs. If we're lucky, they'll reschedule it in the next couple of years so psychiatrists can prescribe it for use with psychotherapy.
............... kris
"I thought I could organize freedom. How Scandinavian of me."
You can disable all the soldiers... Just login with password "admin"...
OK, I did hear of it - I thought they said "LAN Warrior." I figured it for another Ashcroft initiative.
"Land Warrior?" No, I am not disposed to discuss anything vaguely resembling that description. Furthermore, if I were so disposed, I would deny any knowledge of such a program. Sir.
"A generation which ignores history has no past and no future." -- Robert Heinlein
What happens if the uniform gets hacked into, and a tourniquet you didn't need gets applied and your hands and feet drop off? Going the other direction, what happens if the enemy gets vital information back from the uniform. e.g. lots of heartbeats in region x, or indeed great swathes of soldiers have gone null heartbeat in region y after application of enemy weapon z.
Would blackops then be soldiers in the old fashioned uniorms? Or just US Army unplugged.
What would an EM pulse do to the soldiers in the new uniform? Failsafes have to be thunk through.
My 2c
Hey man, it's not my problem that you are embarrassed to refer to yourself by your own nationality.n
You feel that we are somehow taking something away from you. Why is this? Because we are America (oh, SO sorry, the United States of America) and we are the obvious target for your frustrations. My country is rich. Your country is poor. You are jealous of this, ergo you resent the USA and you will find petty examples of how "wrong" the USA is.
Here's a fun illustration:
Belgium-->Belgian
Russia-->Russia
India-->Indian
United States of America-->American
Yet, somehow, the USA's use of the term is "arrogant" and "wrong". What about the others in the list? Why aren't Russians arrogant for calling themselves Russian?
Your argument is flawed. It is based on this silly notion that the USA is hogging the term America. Here's my advice: Take pride in your own country as I do mine. Then you'll see how silly your posts are.
Someone prolly already said this(with tongue in cheek i hope) But didn't I JUST see a movie where the machines started causing a little problem for the human race? unmanned planes.....robotic vehicles.......The machines are preparing for their revolution.......Where's Neo when ya need him? :)
I was in a line infantry unit in the 82nd. I fired every weapon available to a line infantry company on a regular basis.
Why should I argue rationally with someone being irrational? I'll just mock them instead.
It's better than AC fuckwad....
There is a war going on for your mind.
Lies, damn lies and marketing.
"And, if we attach the M16 to the gun rack in the back of this Cadillac Escalade, the resulting weapons system might cost in excess of $75,000!"
The M4 as typically fielded is maybe a $3,000 weapon (I have no way of knowing what the Army actually pays for it). It is not equipped with the M203 as standard equipment (only one or two riflemen in each squad carry that). It is not equipped with thermal sights as standard equipment. It is never equipped with both thermal and optical sights at the same time.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
hate to carry this farther, but
the army plans on giving OICWs to only a fraction of soldier, 1 for every 8 men i think. I can't remember, its probably in the linked FAQ.
Photos.