DOD Sending New Gadgets to Iraq
By Pamela Hess, UPI Pentagon Correspondent
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The Pentagon's special projects laboratory is sending a handful of new technologies to Iraq to help soldiers defend themselves against snipers and roadside bombs in the next 3 months, said a senior defense official. "People in Iraq can almost do anything they want and get away with it," said Anthony Tether, the director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, on Wednesday. "We're trying to come up with technology that will at least make somebody hesitate."
More than 104 American soldiers have died from bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and sniper attacks in Iraq since the end of major combat operations on May 1. One of the technologies that will be sent within 3 month is a laser "virtual microphone." The ground-based laser would be shone into the air and would detect disturbances from gunfire over "tens of kilometers," Tether said. The virtual microphone was developed to listen for enemy vehicles on the other side of hills. "There's no reason it can't detect a sniper," Tether said. However, it hasn't yet identified a gunshot in testing, Tether acknowledged. "We haven't heard any gunshots" with it, he said.
DARPA is also working on a sensor that can detect cell phone signals. Cell phones have been used in Iraq to detonate roadside improvised explosive devices from a distance, timed for maximum impact on a passing convoy. Because of the prevalence of cell phones in populated areas, the technology would only be useful in desert or rural areas, he said. A large proportion of IEDs are on remote highways frequently traveled by U.S. Army convoys, say military officials.
DARPA is also sponsoring a million-dollar contest in March for inventors who can build a vehicle that can travel on its own across the desert between Barstow, Calif., and Las Vegas in less than 10 hours. There are more than 90 entrants with submissions ranging from robotic Humvees to motorcycles to rolling spheres. The field will be winnowed down to 20. The vehicles will leave Barstow at four-minute intervals and will travel across desert terrain.
By Pamela Hess, UPI Pentagon Correspondent
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The Pentagon's special projects laboratory is sending a handful of new technologies to Iraq to help soldiers defend themselves against snipers and roadside bombs in the next 3 months, said a senior defense official. "People in Iraq can almost do anything they want and get away with it," said Anthony Tether, the director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, on Wednesday. "We're trying to come up with technology that will at least make somebody hesitate."
More than 104 American soldiers have died from bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and sniper attacks in Iraq since the end of major combat operations on May 1. One of the technologies that will be sent within 3 month is a laser "virtual microphone." The ground-based laser would be shone into the air and would detect disturbances from gunfire over "tens of kilometers," Tether said. The virtual microphone was developed to listen for enemy vehicles on the other side of hills. "There's no reason it can't detect a sniper," Tether said. However, it hasn't yet identified a gunshot in testing, Tether acknowledged. "We haven't heard any gunshots" with it, he said.
DARPA is also working on a sensor that can detect cell phone signals. Cell phones have been used in Iraq to detonate roadside improvised explosive devices from a distance, timed for maximum impact on a passing convoy. Because of the prevalence of cell phones in populated areas, the technology would only be useful in desert or rural areas, he said. A large proportion of IEDs are on remote highways frequently traveled by U.S. Army convoys, say military officials.
DARPA is also sponsoring a million-dollar contest in March for inventors who can build a vehicle that can travel on its own across the desert between Barstow, Calif., and Las Vegas in less than 10 hours. There are more than 90 entrants with submissions ranging from robotic Humvees to motorcycles to rolling spheres. The field will be winnowed down to 20. The vehicles will leave Barstow at four-minute intervals and will travel across desert terrain.
Charles Mims
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