| The annual meeting of the US Army
Association (AUSA), held during the second week of October 2006
provided an excellent opportunity to assess the trends and opportunities
of modern defense technology. The exhibition and presentations
covered many topics, some are covered in the following briefs.
In general, the highlights of this year's exhibition followed
the show's slogan "boots on the ground". Unlike past
events, this year, exhibitors emphasized the products, services
and technologies required to safeguard, and empower the warfighters
on the ground, today and tomorrow. At the top of the agenda
was force protection, addressing personal
and vehicle armoring, counter IED techniques,
threat location and engagement. These systems included gunshot
detection and rapid counterfire, mortar location systems and
means for precision engagement. Also highlighted were technological
means assisting to overcome cross-cultural barriers, such as
electronic translators, multimedia systems supporting collection,
translation, and archiving of Arabic broadcast media and bi-lingual
speech-to-speech translation supporting
Arabic, Pashtu and English. On the logistical side, improved,
better protected trucks, airborne delivery supply systems and
new power sources, particularly those supporting regenerating
energy were shown, promising to reduce transportation requirements,
thus reducing convoy vulnerability to enemy attacks.
Armor protection received special
emphasis at AUSA 2006, covering passive, lightweight composite
and ceramic based materials utilized for structural or appliqué
armor kits. Heavier protection included the hybrid systems,
combining passive and reactive armor - a typical composition
of such a system was demonstrated by IMI. Various active protection
systems were also addressed, including energetic "hard
kill" as well as "soft kill" mechanisms.
Obviously, longer term developments and R&D were discussed,
focusing on the US army thrust to develop Future Combat Systems,
including manned platforms, robotics,
UAVs and infantry
combat suits. Other programs are underway to support current
forces with improved platforms, weaponry and mobile command
and control. Warfighter Information
Network – Tactical (WIN-T) is one example, demonstrated
here by several companies. Some of the advanced
C4ISR systems, particularly those supporting the creation
of situational picture and providing battlefield identification
services are already being deployed and were highlighted by
several exhibitors.
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