Star Wars meets the Military, Future awe inspiring projects on the go.

[NutLoose]

Meet Big Dog an all terrain walking "Mule" being developed for the US military..

Yellow Drum Machine alternate version (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3442226798339307980#docid=-5757499260159320190)


And could you imagine the uses for something like this, cheap and cheerful


YouTube - Parrot's AR Drone does iPhone controlled augmented reality, blows our mind at CES 2010 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvM1rANTm0k)

post more if you know of them..

[chopper2004]

Have seen the 'headless' mule video few years back....interesting

Also it could play a special effects in a sci fi or horror movie e.g Sleepy Hollow :ok:

[The B Word]

Sgt Bootneck: "Where's your back-pack Prune?"

Marine Prune: "Dunno Sarge, the last I saw of it was when we hooked it up on the robo-mule and then it f@cked off over the hill, out of sight!"

What a great idea! :}

[walter kennedy]

A Sergeant Major in 10 Para once said to me something along the lines of "You shouldn't start a war unless you would have been prepared to fight it with clubs."
A principal that becomes more important in these days of drones launching weapons.

[Double Zero]

I'm still not convinced the ' Mule ' wasn't, erm, 2 blokes with skinny legs who know each other very well facing each other.

Assuming it's the real thing, why not put a turret on it then everyone can stand back at the home base...

From films I've seen, the most effective way to take it out would be to get a suitable heroic young ( or p**ed old ) fighter pilot to fly rings around it, having first attached a landrover winch to the back of his aircraft.

The notably indoor flying thing with 4 fans looked like it might be a giant step forward in bringing drinks to one's chair in the mess - what fun to get hold of your mates' control and have it do a barrel roll overhead.

[NutLoose]

Meet Ripsaw, the US Military armed unmanned tracked vehicle.
- Top speed 60 MPH, 0 to 50 MPH in 3.5 seconds
- Incredible suspension with 14″ of travel, giving it the ability to handle almost any obstacle at high speed
- 650 HP V-8 engine
- Extremely lightweight tracks compared to the norm

Ripsaw MS1 UGV: Ultimate Armed/Weaponized Tracked Tactical Robot? (http://www.defensereview.com/ripsaw-ms1-ugv-ultimate-armedweaponized-tracked-tactical-robot/)

looks like fun

How the Ripsaw Works – the world’s fastest tracked vehicle – The Blogs at HowStuffWorks (http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2009/05/18/how-the-ripsaw-works-the-worlds-fastest-tracked-vehicle/)

[NutLoose]

now for the weird

In 1994, the Wright Laboratory in Ohio wrote a memo that proposed some interesting weapons. On the list were several, er, special items: a flatulence bomb; a bomb that would cause the enemy to develop halitosis; and another bomb that would make all the men in an enemy unit become gay.
No word on whether the memo was written on April 1 -- we can only hope it was.

When the rules of engagement prohibit the use of deadly force, you've got to get creative when it comes to immobilizing your enemies. We get that, but control through vomit -- really?
As it turns out, government-funded researchers are hard at work coming up with a flashlight-sized device that will make someone puke through the magic of flashing colored lights. Oddly enough, it's not the lights part of the equation that's complicated. The problem keeping the puke ray from being standard issue is one of size.
Scientists are having a hard time making the device suitably small.

Weirdest Weapons: Backyard to Battlefield: Military Channel (http://military.discovery.com/tv/backyard-battlefield/weird-weapons/weird-weapons.html)

[tucumseh]

Assuming it's the real thing, why not put a turret on it then everone can stand back at the home base...

The first time I saw the US DoD presentation (about 2001), it HAD a mortar, or similar, attached. While a serious subject, everyone was falling about laughing - the music backing was "Johnny I Hardly Knew You". ("When Johnny comes marching home......"). "Johnny" had been wounded and the Mule was laying down fire so he could be rescued. The squad leader was behind a rock giving Johnny's mum a real time update on her son's well-being via video phone.

The US spend serious money on R&D like this.

[The B Word]

and another bomb that would make all the men in an enemy unit become gay

http://www.artbadges.com/1%20inch%20badges/cnd_th.jpg
BAN THE 'BUM'!

:E

[Double Zero]

I'd have thought flatulence & halitosis standard in any army, though if those were all that mattered the other lot would have to admit they were the worst offenders & lay their arms down.

The ' gay-bomb ' is as far as I've heard a once serious project - god forbid in the case of any of the above a negligent discharge on friendly soil !

As for the Mechanised Mule, it has many advantages; should one fall into Taliban hands, they would be totally dumbfounded on finding a mule they could neither eat nor sh*g; suggest an enticing orifice be fitted, with revolving anti-personnel blades - it would require special briefing to Welsh & Arkansas units on our side, ( only joking, take my hat off to you but couldn't resist the stereotype ) - otherwise before being sent into battle it could be used as a pencil sharpener.

If such were activated without the special code, big self destruct - sounds more effective than a UCAV to me, especially if given a Burka & long eyelashes...