battlefield

11.22.09

Army Seeks Helmet-Mounted Radar to Give Every Soldier 360-Degree Awareness

By Clay Dillow Posted 10.27.2009 at 3:15 pm 3 Comments

It's often said that a soldier's greatest weapon is his head; now, the U.S. Army plans to sharpen that weapon, installing radar in troops' combat helmets, upgrading one of the oldest pieces of infantry armor into an effective tactical device.

The Helmet Mounted Radar Program aims to provide a near-360-degree field for Moving Target Indicator (MTI) radar sensors that is low-power and can detect a moving threat as far out as 25 meters. The sensor should be integrated into the combat helmet and weigh less than two-and-a-half pounds, with less than a pound mounted on the helmet itself.

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READ MORE ABOUT > army, battlefield, combat, helmets, infantry, military, radar

Medic Bot Does Curls to Save Wounded Soldiers

By Jeremy Hsu Posted 08.24.2009 at 11:08 am 1 Comment

The rescue robot with a teddy head has gone through nine different prototypes on its way to becoming a rugged battlefield medic for the U.S. military. Now new prototypes of BEAR can lift a quarter of a ton, while balancing gracefully on their treads.

Vecna Robotics hopes that BEAR (Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot) can eventually find and rescue humans in any number of hazardous situations, ranging from bullet-torn battlefields to chemical accident sites and earthquake-damaged buildings.

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READ MORE ABOUT > battlefield, BEAR, bot, medic, rescue, robot

Winning-and Losing-the First Wired War

U.S. forces in Iraq are waging a pivotal campaign in modern warfare-combat on the first "networked" battlefield. One problem: the enemy has a few networks of its own

By Noah Shachtman, with reporting in Iraq by David Axe Posted 06.01.2006 at 1:00 am 0 Comments

The mission changes for Charlie Company seconds after the soldiers roll off the base. The dreary night patrol around Balad, a shambling Shi'ite town in north-central Iraq, has just been canceled. It's time instead to hightail it west, to the Sunni neighborhood of Ad Duluiyah. "Alpha Company is taking direct fire," a voice crackles over the radio in First Lt. Brian Feldmayer's Humvee. "I need you to expedite."

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