weapons

Italian troops to button up against IEDs

The Italian Army has ordered 81 Hitrole Light remote controlled weapon stations for its Iveco Lince vehicles in response to increased IED attacks in Afghanistan, according to the Italian Ministry of Defense.

Italy has struggled to live up to its NATO commitments in the face of wide spread domestic opposition to the war in Afghanistan, and has gone to great lengths to keep casualties to an absolute minimum. One way to do that is to stay buttoned-up.

The Hitrole is one-man, electrically powered machine gun turret, manned by a gunner ensconced safely below. The gunner aims and fires using a … Read more

Remote-control gun turrets, made for Italy

The Italian army has ordered 81 Hitrole Light remote-controlled weapon stations for its Iveco Lince vehicles in response to increased attacks in Afghanistan employing improvised explosive devices, according to a statement last month from Italian Ministero della Difesa, or ministry of defense.

Italy has struggled to live up to its NATO commitments in the face of widespread domestic opposition to the war in Afghanistan, and it has gone to great lengths to keep casualties to an absolute minimum. One way to do that is to stay buttoned-up.

The Hitrole is an electrically powered machine gun turret, operated by a single … Read more

Ninja Kunai flash drive sure to be hit at airport security

I don't know if this $125 Ninja Kunai 2GB flash memory drive is made of metal or not. They don't say in the product page description. What they say in the warning has me a bit worried, though:

Please note that this product is not a "real" Kunai, and cannot be used as such; also we would like to remind you that this product may be dangerous due to its sharp edge and MUST be handled with care.

GeekStuff4U.com cannot be responsible if you misused this product and hurt yourself or others with it.

So … Read more

Cluster bomb's 'humanitarian' alternative

As with landmines and napalm, cluster munitions are decidedly politically incorrect, and there is a concerted international effort to ban them. Problem is, they're highly effective, and countries that actually fight wars, like the U.S. and Russia, are loath to give them up.

However, a "humanitarian" version of the "cluster bomb" may head-off some objections to their continued production, or at least provide cover for those who want to keep them in the inventory. Billed as safer alternative to cluster munitions, Sensor fuzed weapons (SFW) contain independent self-destruct features based on altitude, time elapsed, … Read more

Hello Kitty taser an elegant weapon for a less civilized age

This Hello Kitty Taser Gun was brought to my attention by Hello Kitty Hell, a blog with the tagline, "One Man's Life With Cute Overload." This poor man's online existence has been reduced to his hatred of a tiny cartoon cat, and who could blame him? The existence of this Hello Kitty taser gun makes me want to open it up and point it at my head.

You have to question the intentions of these designers...is the gun supposed to make little girls less fearful about attacking their in-store competition? Maybe it's meant to … Read more

Defending against chemical, biological weapons

DUGWAY, Utah--In a world where American soldiers in Afghanistan or Iraq might find themselves under attack from chemical or biological weapons, who's looking out for their safety?

The answer lies deep in the western Utah desert, at a U.S. Army facility called the Dugway Proving Ground where, among other things, groups of scientists are researching how to defend against a wide variety of potentially lethal, or at least dangerous, "agents."

"Dugway's primary mission is testing United States and Allied chemical and biological (CB) defense systems and also performing nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) contamination … Read more

2D zombies are still scary

Zombieville USA is a 2D, side-scrolling arcade game in which you use a variety of firearms to kill an endless supply of zombies across a series of increasingly treacherous levels. The running, zombie-killing part of gameplay is very straightforward: you tap on arrows on the right and left side of the screen to move, and you tap the bottom of the screen to shoot, occasionally ducking into houses to avoid zombies and collect money and ammo. Even with its cool, cartoony graphics (including some whimsical gore, of the flying-eyeball and bits-of-brain variety), Zombieville USA can get a little repetitive--especially playing … Read more

DIY 'e-bombs' a threat to airliners

Box cutters, high flying geese and now this: a DIY electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon that can bring down a plane with a single microwave radio pulse blasted from the ground or even from the next seat over, according to experts.

The world's major military powers have tinkered with EMP warheads that broadcast radio-frequency shockwaves of hundreds of thousands of volts per meter. But now, any crackpot can build one of these "e-bombs" with low-cost equipment purchased online.

In analyzing electromagnetic weapons currently in development, the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya, Israel, discovered that there is plenty … Read more

Deadly 'subcompacts' on hold

Crews hoping for more personal fire power when scrambling from a tank hatch or other confined conveyance will be disappointed to learn that the U.S. Army is putting the search for a "subcompact" carbine on hold, according to industry reports.

While searching for a possible alternative to the M4 carbine, the Army had also been looking at a new "personal defense weapon" to give drivers and crews a little more punch than the currently issued Beretta M9 9mm pistol. But that plan has followed the economy, and the military budget, down the drain, according to … Read more