[[{"id":"phhg4e\/node\/230511","site":"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/","hash":"phhg4e","entity_id":230511,"entity_type":"node","bundle":"basic_content","bundle_name":"Basic content","ss_language":"und","path":"node\/230511","url":"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/american-military-will-test-toyota-trucks-for-war","path_alias":"american-military-will-test-toyota-trucks-for-war","label":"American Military Will Test Toyota Trucks For War","content":" Al Jazeera English, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 2.0 A Technical In Libya In 2011 The basics of a technical are all here: a civilian truck, hastily camouflaged, with a weapon in the back, manned by an exhausted crew wearing a mix of military and street clothing. No other country in the world spends $600 billion on its military. The Pentagon, giant hub of the most advanced and most expensive war-fighting apparatus ever known, spends a lot of money on new, advanced, and expensive vehicles, from stealth fighters to stealth bombers to bomb-resistant troop carriers to aircraft carriers. Yet what if there was a versatile, flexible weapon of war, used the world over, that combines discretion with horsepower? Technically, there is, and U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is about to test them out. SOCOM is ordering Toyota and Ford SUVs and trucks, with options to improve their armor and add-on other features that turn the civilian vehicles into covert military machines. Known collectively as \u201ctechnicals,\u201d civilian vehicles converted for war use are so common there\u2019s even a Twitter account documenting them under the name \u201c Toyota Wars.\u201d SOCOM\u2019s current deal is with Ohio\u2019s Battelle Memorial Institute to modify up to \u201c556 vehicles-- 396 armored and 160 unarmored\u201d over five years, according to Military Aerospace, for a total payout of up to $170 million. At roughly $300,000 apiece, that makes the vehicles about half the cost of the heavy, IED-resistant MRAP troop carriers sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. Unlike MRAPs, however, converted trucks have one modest edge: until the shooting starts, they don\u2019t stand out as explicitly military vehicles, which is an advantage special operations forces are likely to use to their advantage. While adapting Toyotas to war may be new to the United States, they\u2019ve shown up in wars across the globe, as any available weapons get attached to any available vehicles. Sudan\u2019s Military Industry Corporation even specifically makes gun-carrying trucks for sale and export. While America\u2019s military is better known for its high-tech weapons, it looks like special operations forces are, at least, entering the pickup truck era of warfare. ","teaser":" Al Jazeera English, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 2.0 A Technical In Libya In 2011 The basics of a technical are all here: a civilian truck, hastily camouflaged, with a weapon in the back, manned by an exhausted crew wearing a mix of military and street clothing. No other country in the world","ss_name":"AthertonKD","tos_name":"AthertonKD","ss_name_formatted":"AthertonKD","tos_name_formatted":"AthertonKD","is_uid":183,"bs_status":true,"bs_sticky":false,"bs_promote":true,"is_tnid":0,"bs_translate":false,"ds_created":"2016-07-22T16:29:11Z","ds_changed":"2016-07-22T16:29:11Z","ds_last_comment_or_change":"2016-07-22T16:29:11Z","bs_field_sponsored":false,"bs_field_custom_page":false,"bs_field_display_social":true,"bs_field_feed_builder_exclusion":false,"bs_field_display_author_bio":true,"bs_field_display_bottom_recirc":true,"bs_use_sir_trevor_body":true,"bs_field_flag_gallery":false,"bs_field_flag_video":true,"bs_field_display_off_ramp":true,"bs_in_nps":true,"ts_bonnier_summary":"
Toyota wars…<\/div>","ts_bonnier_eyebrow":"
Military<\/a><\/div>","timestamp":"2016-08-02T15:43:59.629Z","bm_field_display_off_ramp":[true],"sm_field_gallery_items":["0"],"sm_field_image":["http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/small_4x3\/public\/images\/2016\/07\/technicallibya.jpg?itok=U61NwMZA&fc=50,50"],"sm_field_gallery_display":["gallery_none"],"bm_field_sponsored":[false],"sm_field_customhtml_display":["customhtml_none"],"bm_field_flag_gallery":[false],"bm_field_flag_video":[true],"bm_field_custom_page":[false],"bm_field_display_bottom_recirc":[true],"bm_use_sir_trevor_body":[true],"tid":[214183,222925,210433,222069,214184,222926,215729,219633,212414,63,200098],"sm_field_layout_standard":["right-sidebar"],"sm_field_primary_channel":["military"],"tm_vid_2_names":["Kelsey D. Atherton"],"tm_vid_1_names":["technicals socom special operations command special operations forces toyota wars hi-lux armored trucks Battelle Memorial Institute Military Technology"],"spell":["American Military Will Test Toyota Trucks For War"," Al Jazeera English, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 2.0 A Technical In Libya In 2011 The basics of a technical are all here: a civilian truck, hastily camouflaged, with a weapon in the back, manned by an exhausted crew wearing a mix of military and street clothing. No other country in the world spends $600 billion on its military. The Pentagon, giant hub of the most advanced and most expensive war-fighting apparatus ever known, spends a lot of money on new, advanced, and expensive vehicles, from stealth fighters to stealth bombers to bomb-resistant troop carriers to aircraft carriers. Yet what if there was a versatile, flexible weapon of war, used the world over, that combines discretion with horsepower? Technically, there is, and U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is about to test them out. SOCOM is ordering Toyota and Ford SUVs and trucks, with options to improve their armor and add-on other features that turn the civilian vehicles into covert military machines. Known collectively as \u201ctechnicals,\u201d civilian vehicles converted for war use are so common there\u2019s even a Twitter account documenting them under the name \u201c Toyota Wars.\u201d SOCOM\u2019s current deal is with Ohio\u2019s Battelle Memorial Institute to modify up to \u201c556 vehicles-- 396 armored and 160 unarmored\u201d over five years, according to Military Aerospace, for a total payout of up to $170 million. At roughly $300,000 apiece, that makes the vehicles about half the cost of the heavy, IED-resistant MRAP troop carriers sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. Unlike MRAPs, however, converted trucks have one modest edge: until the shooting starts, they don\u2019t stand out as explicitly military vehicles, which is an advantage special operations forces are likely to use to their advantage. While adapting Toyotas to war may be new to the United States, they\u2019ve shown up in wars across the globe, as any available weapons get attached to any available vehicles. Sudan\u2019s Military Industry Corporation even specifically makes gun-carrying trucks for sale and export. While America\u2019s military is better known for its high-tech weapons, it looks like special operations forces are, at least, entering the pickup truck era of warfare. ","technicals socom special operations command special operations forces toyota wars hi-lux armored trucks Battelle Memorial Institute Military Technology","Kelsey D. Atherton","
Toyota wars…<\/div>","
Military<\/a><\/div>"],"bm_field_feed_builder_exclusion":[false],"im_field_author":[200098],"bm_field_display_social":[true],"bm_in_nps":[true],"sm_field_sponsor_label":[""],"sm_field_subtitle":["Like many other militaries already have\n"],"bm_field_display_author_bio":[true],"im_field_tags":[214183,222925,210433,222069,214184,222926,215729,219633,212414,63],"im_vid_2":[200098],"sm_vid_Authors":["Kelsey D. Atherton"],"im_vid_1":[214183,222925,210433,222069,214184,222926,215729,219633,212414,63],"sm_field_video_display":["video_none"],"sm_vid_Tags":["technicals","socom","special operations command","special operations forces","toyota wars","hi-lux","armored trucks","Battelle Memorial Institute","Military","Technology"]},{"id":"phhg4e\/node\/229623","site":"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/","hash":"phhg4e","entity_id":229623,"entity_type":"node","bundle":"basic_content","bundle_name":"Basic content","ss_language":"und","path":"node\/229623","url":"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/navys-locust-launcher-fires-swarm-drones","path_alias":"navys-locust-launcher-fires-swarm-drones","label":"LOCUST Launcher Fires A Swarm Of Navy Drones","content":" Screenshot by author, from YouTube LOCUST Drone And Launcher The tube, the sky, the drone, the swarm. Birthed into the sky with all the fanfare of a soda bottle pop, the drone swarm took flight from its metallic silos. One drone every second, until the whole swarm is airborne. Pop, pop, pop, this is the future of war, according to the Office of Naval Research. LOCUST drone launcher "LOw-Cost Unmanned aerial vehicle Swarming Technology", or LOCUST, as the program is known, is an evocative acronym, immediately bringing to mind biblical retribution against Pharaoh and countless other famines wrecked by the flying, grain-hungry insects. LOCUST drone launcher The military program is modestly less sinister. It\u2019s lots of small drones, folded up into tubes, and then put into the sky to cover and scout an area together. For decades, America has fielded aircraft more expensive than the weapons used to knock them out of the sky. One solution to this, and that favored largely by the Air Force, is stealthy planes, which are much harder for anti-air missiles to hit. Another option, which is growing on the Air Force and which the Navy demonstrates here, is instead to throw lots of smaller, cheaper robots into the sky, with a single human controlling them from afar, and let the enemy waste expensive anti-air missiles on drones, while redundant swarm members complete the mission. We\u2019ve seen this swarm demonstrated before. The latest video, released by the Office of Naval Research yesterday, shows a refinement of the technology, and curiously leaves out the tactical simulation, where some swarm drones turn into weapons and blow up targets on the ground. That may be missing from the video below, but it\u2019s still very much part of the future plans for machines like this. Watch below: ","teaser":" Screenshot by author, from YouTube LOCUST Drone And Launcher The tube, the sky, the drone, the swarm. Birthed into the sky with all the fanfare of a soda bottle pop, the drone swarm took flight from its metallic silos. One drone every second, until the whole swarm is airborne. Pop, pop, pop, this","ss_name":"AthertonKD","tos_name":"AthertonKD","ss_name_formatted":"AthertonKD","tos_name_formatted":"AthertonKD","is_uid":183,"bs_status":true,"bs_sticky":false,"bs_promote":true,"is_tnid":0,"bs_translate":false,"ds_created":"2016-05-24T18:28:19Z","ds_changed":"2016-05-24T18:28:19Z","ds_last_comment_or_change":"2016-05-24T18:28:19Z","bs_field_sponsored":false,"bs_field_custom_page":false,"bs_field_display_social":true,"bs_field_feed_builder_exclusion":false,"bs_field_display_author_bio":true,"bs_field_display_bottom_recirc":true,"bs_use_sir_trevor_body":true,"bs_field_flag_gallery":false,"bs_field_flag_video":true,"bs_field_display_off_ramp":true,"bs_in_nps":true,"ts_bonnier_summary":"
LOCUST is a drone launching system.<\/div>","ts_bonnier_eyebrow":"
Military<\/a><\/div>","timestamp":"2016-08-02T15:42:32.742Z","bm_field_display_off_ramp":[true],"sm_field_gallery_items":["0"],"sm_field_image":["http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/small_4x3\/public\/locuststill.jpg?itok=t0B6y4Yz&fc=50,50"],"sm_field_gallery_display":["gallery_none"],"bm_field_sponsored":[false],"sm_field_customhtml_display":["customhtml_none"],"bm_field_flag_gallery":[false],"bm_field_flag_video":[true],"bm_field_custom_page":[false],"bm_field_display_bottom_recirc":[true],"bm_use_sir_trevor_body":[true],"tid":[200279,212822,211535,207689,208139,208079,219937,222035,210841,212414,63,200098],"sm_field_layout_standard":["right-sidebar"],"sm_field_primary_channel":["military"],"tm_vid_2_names":["Kelsey D. Atherton"],"tm_vid_1_names":["drones uavs unmanned aerial vehicles navy ONR office of naval research cheap drones locust swarming Military Technology"],"spell":["LOCUST Launcher Fires A Swarm Of Navy Drones"," Screenshot by author, from YouTube LOCUST Drone And Launcher The tube, the sky, the drone, the swarm. Birthed into the sky with all the fanfare of a soda bottle pop, the drone swarm took flight from its metallic silos. One drone every second, until the whole swarm is airborne. Pop, pop, pop, this is the future of war, according to the Office of Naval Research. LOCUST drone launcher "LOw-Cost Unmanned aerial vehicle Swarming Technology", or LOCUST, as the program is known, is an evocative acronym, immediately bringing to mind biblical retribution against Pharaoh and countless other famines wrecked by the flying, grain-hungry insects. LOCUST drone launcher The military program is modestly less sinister. It\u2019s lots of small drones, folded up into tubes, and then put into the sky to cover and scout an area together. For decades, America has fielded aircraft more expensive than the weapons used to knock them out of the sky. One solution to this, and that favored largely by the Air Force, is stealthy planes, which are much harder for anti-air missiles to hit. Another option, which is growing on the Air Force and which the Navy demonstrates here, is instead to throw lots of smaller, cheaper robots into the sky, with a single human controlling them from afar, and let the enemy waste expensive anti-air missiles on drones, while redundant swarm members complete the mission. We\u2019ve seen this swarm demonstrated before. The latest video, released by the Office of Naval Research yesterday, shows a refinement of the technology, and curiously leaves out the tactical simulation, where some swarm drones turn into weapons and blow up targets on the ground. That may be missing from the video below, but it\u2019s still very much part of the future plans for machines like this. Watch below: ","drones uavs unmanned aerial vehicles navy ONR office of naval research cheap drones locust swarming Military Technology","Kelsey D. Atherton","
LOCUST is a drone launching system.<\/div>","
Military<\/a><\/div>"],"bm_field_feed_builder_exclusion":[false],"im_field_author":[200098],"bm_field_display_social":[true],"bm_in_nps":[true],"sm_field_sponsor_label":[""],"sm_field_subtitle":["\u201c... so that locusts swarm over the land and devour everything....\u201d\n"],"bm_field_display_author_bio":[true],"im_field_tags":[200279,212822,211535,207689,208139,208079,219937,222035,210841,212414,63],"im_vid_2":[200098],"sm_vid_Authors":["Kelsey D. Atherton"],"im_vid_1":[200279,212822,211535,207689,208139,208079,219937,222035,210841,212414,63],"sm_field_video_display":["video_none"],"sm_vid_Tags":["drones","uavs","unmanned aerial vehicles","navy","ONR","office of naval research","cheap drones","locust","swarming","Military","Technology"]}]]