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Giant tablet lets commanders control war with the swipe of a finger
America's armed forces have added some major tech to their arsenal lately, from smartphones for soldiers to giant surveillance blimps. And now, AAI has unveiled a new tool for battlefield commanders in the form of giant touchscreen tablet. Its screen is three feet by two feet and employs surveillance information to give those in charge an overhead view of a war zone that shows the position of both good guys and bad. Icons represent troops, air support, and spy drones, which are then deployed by tapping and dragging them on the touchscreen. Such input doesn't actually control battlefield assets, but it does send orders to the appropriate personnel so they can be executed, and soldiers confirm receipt of the order via instant message. The company's still trying to sell the system to the Army, but we'd imagine that such drag and drop warfare will appeal to Uncle Sam. Who knows, perhaps all those hours spent honing your Starcraft skills can soon be put to good use defending the country. [Image credit: Spencer Ackerman]
Flying Humvee a step closer to reality, still seems like a really bad idea
It looks like AAI Corp has, indeed, landed the contract for feasibility studies of the Transformer flying Humvee project, which as far as we can tell takes a lightly armored (if armored at all) four man vehicle and puts it in the air, practically begging to be hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. And if that doesn't sound sketchy enough, keep in mind that among the design considerations are gas tanks in the craft's wings which, as Spencer Ackerman at Wired points out, would make really obvious targets. The testing should last about a year, and cost DARPA a cool $3 million. If all goes well, AAI could have a partial prototype in 2013.
DARPA's Transformer TX 'flying Humvee' project gets off the ground
Sometimes it feels like the Military-Industrial Complex only exists to keep us entertained with tales of laser weapons and robots that eat enemy combatants -- not that we'd complain if it did! And for today's fantastical wargadget, we have nothing less than a flying Humvee. The Transformer TX project calls for four-man vehicle that drives like a jeep and then takes off to avoid roadside bombs (or impress the ladies). While DARPA has yet to say who will be awarded with the contract for the conceptual design stage of the project, Popular Mechanics has done some digging and it looks like Lockheed Martin and AAI Corp are both on the short list. While the former has declined to talk about its offering, AAI's incorporates something called "slowed-rotor / compound," where a rotor provides lift on takeoff, and when it achieves a certain speed wings take over. We'll be waiting for our review unit, but in the meantime you can get a closer look after the break.
