Future Infantry/Soldier

by David Crane david@defensereview.com This is a follow-up to our article, "Fracture Camouflage™: You can’t hit what you can’t see." DefRev spoke with Guy Cramer, the man behind Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corp.’s proprietary "Fracture Camouflage", last week. We found out that Mr. Cramer has additional camouflage patterns that utilize the same "proprietary graphics techniques" known as "Camouflage Designated Enhanced Fractal Geometry", …

One of our readers, Dennis S., sent DefRev the following email message on USMC MARPAT and CADPAT digitized camouflage patterns/digital camo: "Just wanted to pass on an article I found by a former USMC sergeant who was involved in the MARPAT program, available at… http://www.militarymorons.com/misc/misc.html. The article is titled "MARPAT – A Personal Tale – From one of the designers …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com The U.S. Army has just unveiled their new combat uniform that will replace the current Battle Dress Uniform (BDU). Their calling the new uniform the "Army Combat Uniform" (ACU). The ACU is a wrinkle-free, and features a digitized camouflage pattern (digital camo). The U.S. Army Program Executive Office Soldier (PEO Soldier) has a page that explains …

by Noah Shachtman Ever since they tangled with the Red Coats, American generals have been giving their grunts more and more and more gear to lug — from rations to radios, body armor to batteries. Now, for the first time, the Army has decided to junk the old uniforms and start from scratch. "We’re stripping the soldier down to his …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Metal Storm recently conducted a live-fire demo of its robot-mounted electronic ballistics system for the U.S. military. According to the Metal Storm website, "The demonstration included the remotely controlled firing of stacked pyrotechnic and inert 40mm rounds from a four-barrel pod with recoiling system mounted on a ‘Talon’ robot manufactured by Foster-Miller Inc. (Foster-Miller) and supplied …

Future Force Warrior (FFW) is currently being developed at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Center (NSC). According to the NSC website, "Future Force Warrior (FFW) is the Army’s flagship Science and Technology initiative to develop and demonstrate revolutionary capabilities for Future Force soldier systems. An integrated system of systems approach is being employed to support the Army transformation to a …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com O.k., this one looks legit. It comes to us straight from the U.S. Army’s PEO Soldier website. "PEO" stands for "Program Executive Office". DefRev was tipped to it by one of our readers. The article discusses the XM8 "Lightweight Assault Carbine" and the Army’s desire to field "the entire family of XM-8 rifles and not just …

The following information was supplied to DefRev by Stavatti Corporation-Armament Systems. A link to the SF-1 Gasdynamic Laser Rifle information sheet/line card is included in the story. It should be noted that DefRev does not yet have verification of any of Stavatti’s claims, including the veracity of the SF-1 weapon-performance claims made below. Back in March 2003, DefRev broke the …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com "ArmdLbrl" at TacticalForums.com has started an excellent thread over there about the Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton (BLEEX) program, which is being funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA is the central research and development organization for the Department of Defense (DoD). DARPA’s been working on this thing for quite some time. It’s a …