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in the field
Armed Robots Soon Marching To Battle?
By Sgt. Lorie Jewell
Army News Service
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By Sgt. Lorie Jewell |
ORLANDO, Fla. - Soldiers may have armed robots as battle buddies by early next year, according to industry and military officials attending the biennial Army Science Conference.
The Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System, or SWORDS, will be joining Stryker Brigade Soldiers in Iraq when it finishes final testing, said Staff Sgt. Santiago Tordillos, a bomb disposal test and evaluation NCOIC with the EOD Technology Directorate of the ArmyËs Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J.
ŸWeËre hoping to have them there by early 2005,÷ Tordillos said. ŸThe Soldiers IËve talked to want them yesterday.÷
The system consists of a weapons platform mounted on a Talon robot, a product of the engineering and technology development firm Foster-Miller. The Talon began helping with military operations in Bosnia in 2000, deployed to Afghanistan in early 2002 and has been in Iraq since the war started, assisting with improvised explosive device detection and removal. Talon robots have been used in about 20,000 missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Foster-Miller reports.
ARL Responds To ŸBoots On The Ground÷ - Lab Designs and Fabricates Low-Cost, Easy to Install HMMWV Weapons Mount
By Michael Fluharty
U.S. Army Research Laboratory Public Affairs Office
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John Bowersett aligns a HAWM for final milling. When attached to a HMMWV rooftop, the gun mount will enable a second weapon to be installed. |
ADELPHI, Md.--The idea for an auxiliary weapons mount on the ArmyËs humvee came from soldiers in the 173rd Airborne Brigade stationed in Italy while anxiously waiting their deployment into either Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom.
Their needs were simple: give us a low-cost, reliable, easy-to-install roof-top mount for HMMWVs that will be a second location on which any one of several weapons can be quickly added or removed.
Their timeframe was not: yesterday.
partnership
NACËs Soldier Mobility Program Reaches Out To Metroparks
By Steve Kolhoff
National Automotive Center
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Don Youwchang, Congressman McCotterËs office (R-MI 11), Dennis Wend, NAC, and Sgt. John Orskey, Kensington Metropark, with the chariot. |
WARREN, Mich.--The U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering CenterËs National Automotive Center (NAC) presented two American Chariot Personal Transport Vehicles (PTVs) to the Huron-Clinton Metroparks Authority at a ceremony held at the Kensington Metropark in Milford, Mich.
The PTV is a component of the NACËs Soldier Mobility Program, which tests vehicles in military and commercial scenarios before providing them to Soldiers in the field. Representatives from the office of Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI 11); Dennis J. Wend, executive director of the NAC, Sergeant John Orskey from the Kensington Metropark Rangers, and Steve Kolhoff from the NAC were on hand for the ceremony at the Kensington Metropark Golf Course.
ŸThe National Automotive CenterËs Soldier Mobility Program allows the Army to get mission-critical vehicles in the hands of users,÷ said Wend. ŸThe feedback we receive from the Metropark Rangers will be vital in driving the requirements for the Next-Generation Hybrid-Electric Chariot.÷
people
NASA Recognizes Contributions Of ARL Engineer
U.S. Army Research Laboratory
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Dr. Edwin L. Fasanella |
ADELPHI, Md.--Dr. Edwin L. Fasanella, an aerospace engineer for the Army Research Laboratory, has been recognized by NASA for significant contributions to the space program.
Fasanella led a NASA Langley team conducting studies of foam impact into the shuttle orbiter wing as part of NASAËs Return to Flight Program. He was able to predict foam impact damage on various locations of the shuttle wing leading edge and validated the performance of an improved foam, which is a candidate for retrofitting on the orbiter external tank.
For his efforts, Fasanella was presented with a NASA Silver Snoopy award presented by Astronaut Robert Curbeam Jr., a veteran of two space shuttle flights. Silver Snoopys recognize outstanding performance that contributes to flight safety and mission success. Less than one percent of the space program workforce receives the award annually. Each awardee is presented a sterling silver Snoopy lapel pin that has flown on a space shuttle mission, plus a certificate of appreciation and commendation letter, both signed by the presenting astronaut. An astronaut always presents the Silver Snoopy because it is the astronauts' own award for outstanding performance, contributing to flight safety and mission success.
news briefs
Natick Soldier Center Wins Lab of Year
U.S. Army Natick Soldier Center
NATICK, Mass. -- For the third time in the past four years, the Natick Soldier Center (NSC) at the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center here, has won the Department of the Army Research and Development of the Year Award (Small Development Lab Category).
Claude M. Bolton Jr., assistant secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology and Army acquisition executive, presented the 2004 award at the Army Acquisition Ball in Arlington, Va., Oct. 24.
A group of science and technology experts assembled by the Army judged the competition, ranking the results based on a written report and oral presentation delivered by Philip Brandler, NSC director.
"Being recognized as the Army Small Development Lab of the Year for the third time in four years is an outstanding accomplishment for the Natick Soldier Center that reflects upon the high quality of our work force, as well as the significant collaborative relationships we maintain with our corporate and academic partners, and the DoD partners collocated with us at the Soldier Systems Center," Brandler said.