Feature: 5 Future Military Technologies

We have seen the future, and it’s liquid armor? You’ll find that and more high-tech military technologies after the break.

Non-Lethal Ray Gun

According to CNN, the US military has developed a non-lethal ray gun that “makes people feel as if they will catch fire.”

While the sudden, 130-degree Fahrenheit (54.44 Celsius) heat was not painful, it was intense enough to make participants think their clothes were about to ignite. The system uses millimeter waves, which can penetrate only 1/64th of an inch of skin, just enough to cause discomfort. By comparison, common kitchen microwaves penetrate several inches of skin

Unmanned Military Vehicle

This is “first time images of the Corax vehicle have been seen by the public.”

The latest Uninhabited Air Vehicle (UAV) pilotless aircraft can now fly for up to 25 hours without refuelling, react to different conditions and take super high resolution images of areas normal military patrols could not reach without detection

Direct Energy

Direct Energy Weapons “shoot beams of electromagnetic energy, a nearly inexhaustible power source.”

Like Star Trek’s phasers, they can be throttled up or down to a “stun” setting ro a more lethal “kill.” So why are these weapons not being used in the battle in Iraq? Logistical problems have conspired to keep them off the battlefield

Samsung’s $200,000 Machine Gun Sentry Robot

Samsung has partnered with Korea University to develop a machine-gun equipped sentry robot, which consists of “two cameras: one for day-time and one for infrared night vision, zooming capabilities, a speaker for notifying the intruder, sophisticated pattern recognition to detect the difference between humans/trees, and a 5.5mm machine-gun.”

…are expected to sell for $200,00 USD and will be available late in 2007. The South Korean government plans to deploy these friendly reminders on the border between South and North Korea, to further ease relations between the countries

Liquid Armor

Researchers have developed a new “liquid armor” that “flows normally under low-energy conditions, but when agitated or hit with an impact it stiffens and behaves like a solid”.

“We can make thin layers of material for use on the arms and legs that remain flexible under normal motion, but become rigid and absorb energy when impacted by a ballistic threat or a knife,” Wagner says

[Source]