buglerbilly
17-06-10, 10:49 PM
By Noah Shachtman June 17, 2010 | 4:28 pm
The military’s Special Operations Command is expected to have a record budget next year, with an unprecedented amount of cash to buy everything from spy gear to gunship upgrades. Danger Room co-founder Sharon Weinberger took a trip down to the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference, to meet the weaponeers vying for a slice of those billions.
“True to special operations’ reputation for secrecy, rules for the SOFIC were strict,” she writes. “Special operations personnel below the rank of major or master sergeant are allowed to be photographed only from the side (‘to avoid both eyes and bridge of the nose’) and cannot be identified by name.”
Some of those companies — like their customers — prefer their work to remain below the radar; their websites provide few public details and are password protected. The booth of one surveillance company, Black Tree, featured listening devices embedded in what looked like nothing more than a tree branch…
Another company, Geonautics International, advertises its “covert technical surveillance” products, which include a camera mounted inside a Garfield stuffed animal and a “nano camera” that comes hidden inside a Pepsi can. A company representative manning the booth declined to speak about the product line.
More traditional defense contractors showed off their wares, too. BAE Systems demo’d a prototype commando ensemble, supposedly 18 percent lighter than today’s back-breaking mass of gear. According to National Defense magazine, this ”Ultra Lightweight Warrior Soldier System” includes a “chest-size battery that is integrated into a body armor plate, night vision goggles embedded inside a helmet, a forearm-mounted computer display sewn into the sleeve of a combat uniform and a rucksack carriage system.”
Aurora Flight Sciences showed off a two-pound drone, made out of polypropylene foam, that can hover and soar for an hour. When the trip’s done, the Skate folds into a briefcase, vanishing from plain sight.
Photo: Aurora Flight Sciences
Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/06/kitty-cams-briefcase-drones-at-special-ops-conference/#more-26183#ixzz0r95BXhj7
The military’s Special Operations Command is expected to have a record budget next year, with an unprecedented amount of cash to buy everything from spy gear to gunship upgrades. Danger Room co-founder Sharon Weinberger took a trip down to the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference, to meet the weaponeers vying for a slice of those billions.
“True to special operations’ reputation for secrecy, rules for the SOFIC were strict,” she writes. “Special operations personnel below the rank of major or master sergeant are allowed to be photographed only from the side (‘to avoid both eyes and bridge of the nose’) and cannot be identified by name.”
Some of those companies — like their customers — prefer their work to remain below the radar; their websites provide few public details and are password protected. The booth of one surveillance company, Black Tree, featured listening devices embedded in what looked like nothing more than a tree branch…
Another company, Geonautics International, advertises its “covert technical surveillance” products, which include a camera mounted inside a Garfield stuffed animal and a “nano camera” that comes hidden inside a Pepsi can. A company representative manning the booth declined to speak about the product line.
More traditional defense contractors showed off their wares, too. BAE Systems demo’d a prototype commando ensemble, supposedly 18 percent lighter than today’s back-breaking mass of gear. According to National Defense magazine, this ”Ultra Lightweight Warrior Soldier System” includes a “chest-size battery that is integrated into a body armor plate, night vision goggles embedded inside a helmet, a forearm-mounted computer display sewn into the sleeve of a combat uniform and a rucksack carriage system.”
Aurora Flight Sciences showed off a two-pound drone, made out of polypropylene foam, that can hover and soar for an hour. When the trip’s done, the Skate folds into a briefcase, vanishing from plain sight.
Photo: Aurora Flight Sciences
Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/06/kitty-cams-briefcase-drones-at-special-ops-conference/#more-26183#ixzz0r95BXhj7