British army gets new target acquisition system, enemies cower

Not only is the British army hoping to make tanks and troops invisible to the naked eye, but it'll soon be honing in on targets way before the mind would normally allow. In a $58.8 million deal, Thales UK has been selected to supply the troops with new Surveillance System and Range Finder (SSARF) technologies, which will reportedly "enable quick identification of enemy locations along with the ability to determine the best mortar or artillery firepower the situation on the ground requires." Best of all, the handheld system will feature integrated GPS, thermal imaging and a five kilometer range, but unfortunately, it won't be giving any Britons in the field an edge until 2009.

[Via MOD]

[Flashpoint @ Feb 22nd 2008 1:37PM]

With the new head mounted displays, blowing an Iranian insurgent's body to pieces will suddenly cause a pop-up:

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED - "Faster than Diet and Exercise"

10 -gamer points.

[mark @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:45PM]

is that a virtual game boy he's looking through?

[E71 @ Feb 22nd 2008 3:50PM]

As far as I know Iranian insurgents are rare, if they exist at all. The Iranian government only financially back insurgents/groups in other nations.

[Ignatius @ Feb 22nd 2008 9:18PM]

Don't forget, the Fast Action Response Team will be taking care of this one.

[Wyze @ Feb 22nd 2008 1:41PM]

Please dont let ELMO see this.......

[mattclarkie @ Feb 22nd 2008 1:59PM]

I have seen Thales UK vans driving around. They were very well disguised as Plumbers, only now do I know that they were in fact transporting top secret military hardware, I reckon I could have easily hijacked the van and sold the contents to some Dictatorship for One Trillion Dollars, now I have missed my chance and have to live in poverty.

[Charles @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:37PM]

Thales also make railway equipment so you probably would have ended up with a load of signalling junk designed to make sure trains run at least 30 minutes late and contain 50% fewer seats than there are passengers.

[Derek B @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:07PM]

Psshhh, they can see them, but that L85A2 next to him will jam before they can fire a single shot.

[patsy @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:09PM]

On Engadget, however, it begs the question: does it support MAME? What good are its primary functions if there's no game emulation?!

[teej @ Feb 22nd 2008 4:55PM]

i believe the correct out-dated, overused comment was "ok, but will it play Doom?"

[patsy @ Feb 22nd 2008 5:08PM]

That would have been over-used. I was angling more for the recent spade of Chinese non-game-console gadgets (particularly in the camera and cell phone category) that also include game emulation and people complain that the games are crap. But sure, Doom will work, too. Or "But will it run Linux?", or how about the perennial Slashdot favorite: "Just imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!"

[NovaLand @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:13PM]

I'm glad he got it specified that he was looking at a TANK. We mortals wouldn't recognise a tank if it was right in front of us. Ask the dude at the Tiananmen Square back in 1989!

[josh @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:22PM]

Man, they coulda used one of these in Red Vs. Blue so Sheila wouldn't have blown Church up.

[Mike @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:23PM]

So I guess the Britons aren't using longbows anymore?

[Richy @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:31PM]

Only against the French.

[mattclarkie @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:45PM]

When you can only see your enemies Back, it doesn't matter what you use.

[Ryan Waddell @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:32PM]

Does it have built in GPS? Then they could call it Surveillance, Navigation and Range Finder. I just like it for the acronym. :)

[Richy @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:32PM]

Best of all, the handheld system will feature integrated GPS

Great. How long before one of the squaddies gets their Landie stuck underneath a bridge?

[MW @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:32PM]

Even if that's a training exercise, why the hell doesn't he have a clip in his L85?

[Duncan @ Feb 22nd 2008 4:19PM]

It was a pre production training excercise, my dad (MOD) just saw the pic on the screen and remembers someone asking his advice on some other related issues for the trial. On training excercises like this UK troops don't feel the need to fire at each other so no need for a loaded clip.

[MW @ Feb 22nd 2008 4:26PM]

I didn't say anything about ammunition, but it doesn't even look like he has a blocker to keep crap from getting inside, that was my point. Even when we took our weapons on training exercises we either had an empty short clip or a cap to keep it clean.

[Duncan @ Feb 22nd 2008 4:43PM]

Ah sorry, misunderstood, the last bit was meant in jest btw, guess he forgot!

[MW @ Feb 22nd 2008 4:52PM]

Bad soldier, bad! All is well, no offense taken.

[Sauerkraut @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:33PM]

by then hopefully they'll be out of the middle east

[OneLove @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:44PM]

I would kill for a military style land rover defender.

[nh @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:49PM]

I'm not a soldier, so I can't say for sure, but I reckon the troops would rather be properly equiped with boots and body armour before the budget was frittered toys like this.

[cluster @ Feb 22nd 2008 3:46PM]

@nh

thank you for qualifying your statement before you opened your mouth.,

[Brian @ Feb 22nd 2008 3:31PM]

Is that as much of a problem for Brit troops as it is USA's?

[Ted @ Feb 22nd 2008 3:39PM]

It's worse for British troops, there are often articles in the papers comparing how much better equipped US troops are compared to the UK... with night vision for everyone, decent desert boots and stuff like that.

[fanman @ Feb 22nd 2008 4:04PM]

Challenger II?

On the other hand, I bet this plays doom.

[kal326 @ Feb 22nd 2008 4:36PM]

I wonder if the French standard equipment includes running shoes, white cloth, and sticks?

[Pete @ Feb 23rd 2008 3:49AM]

@cluster
Doesn't sarcasm reach your part of the Interweb? Nevermind.

Anyway British troops are notoriously ill equipped at present. One recent example:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7247747.stm

[jordan @ Feb 22nd 2008 7:17PM]

the british army are nicknamed 'the Borrowers'.

[jordan @ Feb 22nd 2008 7:25PM]

so yea, its pretty bad...a little attention from the MP's and the PM could solve the problem, but they give the cold shoulder.

[Raheem @ Feb 23rd 2008 6:31AM]

Yes the eternal scapegoats. "Damn those MPs for not being able to magic up more money!" Or should it be diverted from the NHS? Please don't start on about their salaries or expenses, you'd want the same if you were one of them.

[sevendegrees @ Feb 24th 2008 3:13PM]

psh, but can it stop US friendly fire? i think not.
those brits still have a way to go if they want to survive on a battlefield