
U.S. Army to integrate power cables into a tactical vest - DefenceBlog
https://defence-blog.com/army/u-s-army-to-integrate-power-cables-into-a-tactical-vest.html
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dmcclurg
As a former armor officer, I worry that integrating tech in the warrior kit is
a complacency risk; not a problem, just a risk. For example, tank platoons
rely heavily on communication devices, and when those fail, I believe teams
have not trained hard enough on the analog (hand and arm signals, flagging, IR
signaling, etc.). If you power communication and AR from a cable, does the
soldier now carry battery backups? Does the soldier now train to two levels of
contingency: digital, radio, physical? The soldiers kit is heavy enough and we
barely train to one contingency so the ROI here is really important—and I
don’t mean money.

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mr_overalls
Did the widespread adoption of GPS in the military cause a degradation in
orienteering & map-reading skills?

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mjlee
Absolutely. As a concrete example, the US Navy stopped teaching celestial
navigation and have only recently begun to teach it again.

They now have a skill gap of mid-seniority navigators who have no astro-nav
experience and will struggle under GPS denial.

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moftz
How many people on the boat do you need that know celestial navigation? Sounds
like something you could have someone go to school for to specialize in and
then make sure you've got at least one on every boat rather than make everyone
learn. We've got plenty of ways to defeat jamming, the newest block of GPS
satellites have ways to increase signal power in certain areas and anti-
radiation missiles can blow up a jammer. GPS only comes from space so it's
pretty easy to find someone on the ground messing with it. We also have things
like star trackers that are used on satellites to determine position without
GPS that could easily be implemented on a boat if not already on there. These
systems could be hardened against EMPs and only brought out in case of
absolute emergency. I don't see the need of every navigator having their own
sextant.

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goatinaboat
_How many people on the boat do you need that know celestial navigation?_

Easy. The same number that know how to use a GPS. Your one guy may be the
first casualty.

 _We 've got plenty of ways to defeat jamming, the newest block of GPS
satellites have ways to increase signal power in certain areas and anti-
radiation missiles can blow up a jammer._

What do you do when your enemy dumps a load of sand in orbit?

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ls612
GPS isn’t in low earth orbit it’s in a very high orbit so it shouldn’t be
vulnerable to either asat missiles or space junk clogging up its orbit

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sandworm101
>> IVAS is a Microsoft-designed heads-up display that functions as a fight-
rehearse-train system, among other roles.

So... no invasions on patch tuesday? In all seriousness, I'm in the military
myself and therefore have to use microsoft software products (outlook,
windows, edge etc) every day. When they work they work, but every few weeks
something just gives up the ghost. A patch, a new config .. some thing is
changed an I have to spend an entire morning hammering away in config windows
before I can continue my real job. The concept of a mircosoft-powered weapon
or tactical information system is scary.

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nightski
Similar anecdotes could be made for Linux or just about any technology under
the sun. Have you seen some of the code for embedded Linux drivers? It can get
downright nasty.

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nick_kline
No, it's different with windows. Linux doesn't have constant forced patches
from the mothership that kill your system. It can happen but it's much rarer.
Windows used to be better of course (back when i worked there, even though I
didn't work on that part ;-)). It's staggering how bad windows maintenance is
now.

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intpx
Have you met my friend Ubunto 20.04?

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nick_kline
touche

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UI_at_80x24
Anybody else reminded of the dot-com era popular item (fad?): The SCOTTeVEST

(googling shows they are still around).

Power cables (although i don't think the original actually had cables, it did
have channels for the cables to run through), data cables, multiple pockets. I
wanted one until I saw the price tag.

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rangibaby
To me it looks like it belongs on the “Land Warrior” (remember that?)

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moftz
All that Land Warrior tech is pretty much available now in the form of a small
PAN that includes a radio, android tablet, and headset. Additional sensors
like cameras can hook into the radio to give live video to a command center.
The radio battery can run everything or the soldier can wear a larger battery.
Everything hooks up through what is basically a USB hub combined with an
ethernet switch.

Here is an example of a setup: [https://cdn.glenair.com/star-pan/img/star-pan-
vi-capability-...](https://cdn.glenair.com/star-pan/img/star-pan-vi-
capability-diagram.jpg)

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chriselles
I've run a couple of H4D Lean Start Up based activities on the problem around
the carriage of batteries/power by light infantry dismounted patrols.

As a light infantry guy myself, it's a significant problem for an already
weight burdened dismounted force.

I think it's going to require a fundamental rethink on just-in-time logistics
as well as learning how to think like an insurance actuary.

I wonder if a study has ever been done on what is carried but never/rarely
used on patrols and carried mostly for insurance purposes.

Surely there's room for factual, data driven machine learning here to trump
feelings based load burdening.

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lovetocode
This isn't really anything new. When I was in from 2005-2012, I used a cord
antenna for my MBITR and weaved it into my kit. The biggest thing to make sure
is that you don't interfere with the quick release mechanism.

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GaryNumanVevo
They also mention having a "Conformal Wearable Battery". That sounds pretty
dangerous, considering there's a lot of ways to get punctures out in the
field.

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emilecantin
Soldiers routinely carry things that are designed to explode; getting a round
into a wearable battery sounds dangerous, but still less than getting a round
into one of your grenades.

If it's designed to be worn under some body armor, it shouldn't be too much of
an issue.

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bargle0
Grenades are designed to explode only after the pin is pulled. That's a little
different than getting a nick in your battery and suddenly looking like a
LiveLeak vape fail video writ large. That being said, there's plenty of work
being done on batteries that aren't also incendiary devices waiting for their
moment to shine.

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emilecantin
You're probably right, I think I took a bad example with the grenades.

My point was that your risk tolerance is very different when your job
description literally involves getting shot at.

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foxyv
Dweeb:

"I know, so like, let's put a big chunk of lithium on the outside of the armor
so it lights on fire when hit. Also if we integrate it into the armor it's
harder to take off!"

Soldier:

"Yo FNG, take that out and put it in your ruck if you don't want to become Mr.
Human torch the next time a kid throws a rock at you."

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mkchoi212
In 5-10 years, I feel like every soldier will be a carrying around a lithium
ion battery pack to power their HUDs, ARs, and their communication devices.
Let’s hope those puncture proof lithium ion batteries increase their
reliability.

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zigzaggy
Shouldn't we skip directly to wireless charging?

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dexen
Aside of the excellent points raised by _leetcrew_ in sibling post, there's
also the matter of avoiding spurious EM emissions.

Wireless charging sounds like creating a bright, pulsating "soldiers be hiding
here" beacon for any opposing force.

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musingsole
It also had me imagine a far future scenario where soldiers get too close to
an enemy and accidentally recharge the enemy's depleted railgun.

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dexen
Amusing scenario however don't expect it to be a significant risk - any
wireless system would most probably perform negotiations before beaming out
any significant amount of power. You want that to avoid damaging sensitive
electronics, overheating a random chunk of metal, or plainly wasting energy.

Even the good old Qi wireless charging standard does negotiations, tho those
aren't secured by any means.

