Future Weapon Technology

STRYKER ARMORED VEHICLE
Manufacturer: General Dynamics [NYSE: GD]
The latest production to roll out en masse from General Dynamic’s war factories is the Stryker Armored Vehicle. Since the Iraq War has evolved into the constant urban battle with the Muslim insurgency, America has since devised some innovations to armored vehicle design to increase the lethality and deployability of urban combat teams. These newer urban combat teams have been built around a doctrine described as the Brigade Combat Team, which aims to incorporate the latest in situational awareness electronics with increased firepower and protection in the urban environment. For example, the Stryker…

Produced by Pinnacle Armor, the newly designed Dragon Skin Body Armor is said to be lighter and more protective than any of its predecessors. The new Dragon Skin body armor is the first personal armor to be capable of stopping rounds delivered from an AK-47 without plate inserts. The dragon skin has silver-dollar sized armor plates composed of silicon carbide ceramic which overlap like fish scales. This allows much more flexibility than other body armor.

---

The tests that the Dragon Skin Body Armor have undergone have been very impressive. This lightweight body armor has been proven…

Imagine having the ability to strike anywhere in the world within one hour. The X-51 is an amazing hypersonic cruise missile that travels 600 miles in just ten minutes (approximately 3600 MPH or Mach 5).

Compared with the Tomahawk Missile which travels at a mere 550 MPH, the X51 gives the US the ability to strike enemies quickly before they can evade. As U.S. Strategic Command’s deputy commander Lt. Gen. C. Robert Kehler puts it, the goal of the X51 is “to strike virtually anywhere on the face of the Earth within 60 minutes.”

The power of this weapon…

British Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank
Manufacturer: BAE Systems Land and Armaments [LSE: BA.L]

Photo Crown Copyright/MOD

The British Challenger 2 Main battle tank has several innovations unique to its design. One of the foremost innovations devised by the Brits is a type of armor known as Chobham armor, which is a layered matrix of steel and ceramics. In fact, incorporating layers of ceramic into steel has been a newer technique of strengthening steel, (the strongest knife blades are now layered steel and ceramics, because the ceramics provide an added measure of flexibility. The Chobham armor is known to perform especially…

Manufacturer: Cornershot Holdings LLC

Innovative weapons designs are typically developed to serve problem areas highlighted during the heat of battle. The Israeli military, through their extensive experience with urban combat and counter terrorism operations, developed an idea to provide the war fighter with an exceptional first-strike capability. Which brings us to a recently revealed design from the Israeli firm whose corporation is the rifles namesake, The Cornershot. With a camera mounted on the nose of a swiveling barrel of an assault pistol, a soldier wielding this rifle can get a first look into a dangerous situation and…

Manufacturer: GIAT Industries

The French, their military history aside, actually are widely known in Europe for their innovative and solid armored vehicle designs. In the mid 1980’s, Britain introduced its Challenger 2 main battle tank, Germany rolled out the impressive Leopard 2, and the US unveiled its M1A1 Abrams tank. The world was being introduced to battle machinery that combined decades of design research and cutting edge electronics systems. Not wanting to be left behind, the French decided to join the party. They had initially planned on simply importing the German Leopard 2 tank, but after some cost forecasting and…

Heckler and Koch MP7 Submachine gun pistol

Manufacturer: Heckler and Koch

Imagine the stopping power and lethality of an M16 assault rifle packed into a personal defense weapon (PDW) the size of a pistol. Introducing the Heckler and Koch MP7 submachine gun. This weapon represents the pinnacle of design surrounding personal defense weapons, a category of guns that aims to put the greatest amount of lethality into the most ergonomically efficient design. The MP7 weighs only 4.4 lbs when loaded with 40 rounds, and each round is a specially designed high velocity low-caliber bullet that can defeat common…

Manufacturer: General Atomics – a subsidiary of General Dynamics [NYSE: GD]

The photo shows the Hunter-Killer UAVReaper which is basically a predator on steroids. Fully loaded, this unmanned air vehicle can take out a small country’s defenses before the rest of the crew move in. The Reaper UAV used to be known as the Predator 2 or Predator B. The armament of the UAV which has a maximum ceiling of 50,000 ft include Hellfire missiles and laser guided bombs. In fact, this beast can carry over 14 Hellfire Missiles compared to 2 on the original

…

Manufacturers: Raytheon [NYSE: RTN] and General Dynamics [NYSE: GD]

The Excalibur is the newest development in Military artillery technology and precision guided munitions. Also known as the M982 ER DPICM (Extended Range Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions) Projectile, the Excallibur is a smart artillery round that has an integrated GPS tracking system along with fins and rockets that give it accuracy and range that has never been attainable with other artillery shells. The artillery round can travel over 25 miles and still hit a target 10 meters wide! The Excalibur artillery shell can deliver a…

A division of the Future Combat Systems, The Future Force Warrior will be deployed on the battlefield in the year 2010. The headgear of the Future Force Warrior alone is a mouthful so I will leave it up to the Future Force Warrior development team who describe it as

the situational awareness hub of the system. It would include integrated tactical processing by providing maps, routes, and data with a 180° emissive visor display, high bandwidth wireless communications, microelectronic/optics combat sensor suite that provides 360° situational awareness, and integrated small arms protection.

On top of the advanced head gear,

…