convore.json/groups/socal-martial-law-alerts/socom-wants-invisible-commandos/messages.json

[{"user_id": 11626, "stars": [], "topic_id": 21578, "date_created": 1303886882.9680171, "message": "http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/04/socom-wants-invisible-commandos/?utm_source=co2hog\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nSOCOM Wants \u2018Invisible\u2019 Commandos\r\nMadhumita Venkataramanan\r\n\r\nWired\r\n\r\nApril 26, 2011\r\n\r\n\r\nYou don\u2019t need to be invisible to carry out clandestine military missions in hostile terrain. But something like it sure helps. That\u2019s why U.S. Special Operations Command is focusing its research and development efforts this year on things like keeping humans\u2019 presence cloaked, of the presence of humans, enhancing night-time feelers, and maintaining an acute sensitivity to information-gathering sensors in the battlefield.\r\n\r\nLisa Sanders, the Deputy Director of Science and Technology at SOCOM lists Special Operation Forces\u2019 top priorities in the months to come as technologies that enhanced commando invisibility on special missions. \u201cInvisible doesn\u2019t mean the Klingon cloaking device,\u201d she tells National Defense magazine, \u201cWe operate in environments where we just don\u2019t want to stand out.\u201d\r\n\r\nSo in the pipeline is equipment designed to conceal human heat signatures and visual signals from enemy sensors. To preserve Special Operations\u2019 nocturnal monopoly, their aims also include development of technologies that will enhance night-time operations. Digital technology to sharpen human predatory vision in the dark is a top priority, said Sanders.\r\n\r\n\r\nAnother priority is understanding unfamiliar battle terrain. To make special ops commanders more aware of their environment, SOCOM R&D will focus on creating better sensors, jammers and radar technologies. The algorithms that underlie intelligence sensors will be fine-tuned to increase sensitivity and data-gathering capabilities. In forest settings, a new solution is required to visually penetrate dense plant undergrowth at the ground level, said Sanders.\r\n\r\nSwerving slightly from technologies that streamline stealth and stalking capabilities, another of SOCOM\u2019s short-term research goals is \u201cextended duration incapacitation.\u201d Translation: Sub-lethal injuries that last just long enough to disarm the enemy. An appeal for applied research into this field was extended by the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate in 2007 and since then a host of less-lethals\u2014including tasers, puke rays and bright lights\u2014have entered the military marketplace.\r\n\r\nSOCOM\u2019s main concern is that their missions often take place among \u201cmixed populations\u201d of civilians and fighters. Something that looks like a baby could turn out to be a gun and vice versa, Sanders tells National Defense. So the commandos are developing a taser-like weapon that would be a little less harmful to the kid.\r\n\r\nStill: Tasing a baby? Maybe they should stick to invisibility, instead.", "group_id": 3920, "id": 822686}]