Army R&D delivers 'greatest inventions' (photos)
The latest annual list of 10 new products and practical extensions makes note of grenade launchers, aerial video, IED defense, and a solar recharger.
M320 grenade launcher
We'll start with the 40mm M320 grenade launcher, fielded in June 2009. It's the chunky piece of gear attached below the barrel of what looks to be an M4 carbine (it also attaches to the similar M16 rifle); the 82nd Airborne soldier is holding its pistol grip with his left hand.
M320, detached
"Greatest inventions as used in the context of the AGI program," the Army says, "are practical extensions, applications and/or game-changing new products emerging from the Army's R&D community that improve readiness and positively impact the Warfighter."
40mm pivoting coupling
MK19 grenade launcher
Rucksack Enhanced Portable Power System
REPPS comes out of the Army's Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, or CERDEC. It can charge most common military battery types in five to six hours, and several REPPS systems can be daisy-chained to charge gear with higher energy demands, according to the Army.
VUIT-2 for Apache
The VUIT-2 technology is from the Army's Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center. It was fielded over the course of 2009.
VUIT-2 cockpit panels
RQ-7 Shadow
Burn Fluid Rescuscitation DSS
CREW Duke 3
Duke-equipped Humvee
The Army says that in 2009 it fielded 12,500 Duke V3 units, which came out of the CERDEC group. Through November 2010, more than 40,000 Duke systems had gone operational on Army combat vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Landmine blast field event reconstruction
"It enables analysts to bridge the gap between live-fire testing and actual field events for these complex and highly transient events," the Army says. "It also allows product development teams to consider real-world scenarios that may not be reflected in existing test and evaluation procedures."
Depicted here is the cabin of an MRAP (mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle), a type of heavy-duty vehicle sent to Iraq in large numbers in the latter part of the last decade.
MRAP overhead wire mitigation kit
Objective Weapon Elevation Kit
OWEK ballistic skirt
Wolfhound Handheld Threat Warning System
Wolfhound system, man-packable
"The Wolfhound system was developed in response to Soldiers saying 'We can hear them--we need to be able to locate them,'" said John Lynch, Wolfhound product manager, in a statement. "Soldiers can master the 'buttonology' of Wolfhound in about 20 minutes and can learn use and concept of operation in about 16 hours."