by David Crane david@defensereview.com On March 17th, 2005, it was announced that iRobot (headquartered in Burlington, MA) has won an $18.4 million Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) contract to provide 150 of its PackBot EOD Hazardous Duty Mobile Robots to the U.S. Navy by the end of 2005 for the purpose of explosive ordanced disposal operations. These robots, already battle-proven/combat-proven …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com An Israeli company called Tadiran Spectralink Ltd. (Holon, Israel), a member of the Elisra Group, has just advanced the military combat application of telepresence a step further with their wrist-mounted Video Receiver And Monitor for Battlefield Operations, or V-RAMBO, for short. Tadiran Spectralink refers to the technology that V-Rambo utilizes as "Wrist-Displayed Vital UAV-Derived Intelligence". Basically, …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com This article contains the first digital photo of a camouflaged/combat-ready/field-ready Foster-Miller Armed/Weaponized Talon Robot/UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle), a.k.a. SWORDS robot of which DefenseReview is aware. The weapon attached to the Talon Robot/SWORDS robot in the pic would appear to be an AT4 anti-armor/anti-tank weapon (ATW) (i.e. rocket launcher), which is produced by Saab Bofors Dynamics, Weapon …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com DefenseReview is going to be publishing articles along with hi-res digital pictures from the 24th Army Science Conference (ASC 2004), this week. These will include pics of a functional electro-magnetic rail gun built by the Institute for Advanced Technology (IAT) at the University of Texas at Austin (and the projectile it fires, which DefenseReview has), the …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com The U.S. milityary and several large military defense/aeorospace companies (i.e. major military defense contractors) have recently expressed a significant level of interest in the DREAD Centrifuge Weapon System (centrifuge gun) technology that DefenseReview wrote about, back in June (2004). DefenseReview isn’t surprised. It seems like a no-brainer, really. The DREAD Centrifuge Weapon System tech appears to …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com DefenseReview recently attended the 24th Army Science Conference, in sunny Orlando, FL. The conference was held at the truly spectacular JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes (where we stayed, thanks to the U.S. Army). The conference itself was pretty terrific, as well. O.k., I’m going to discuss a number of very interesting military/military-applicable technologies I observed inside …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Military.com has a feature on their site that I recently discovered while I was searching the web for links I could include with my recent article on the Nikonov AN-94 "Abakan" assault rifle, titled "Nikonov AN-94 ‘Abakan’ Assault Rifle: Advanced Russian Small Arms Tech". The feature I discovered is called "SoldierTech: Military Gear and Gadgets". It …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com June 10, 2004 The following article contains a link to the DREAD Weapon System Video. This is the first time this video has ever been shown to the public. The DREAD depicted in the video is a functional prototype that operates on a less-than-lethal mode. This prototype was dismantled for security purposes to protect the technology, …

The following is a feeback email DefRev received today from one of our readers in Australia, along with our reply, which has been edited/modified for publication as a story on "Defense Review". DefRev would like to thank "Eddy B" for the information and links he provided to us. One of the links will launch the General Dynamics Armament and Technical …

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 …