[news] Army unveils survaillence truck

[Pat S]

I think this relates to the proposed security conference...

Army unveils 'SmarTruck II'
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/01/07/army.truck.reut/index.html

DETROIT, Michigan (Reuters) -- It looks like a contraption that should be 
entered in a monster truck rally -- menacing black with reinforced silver 
bumpers, big tires and floodlights mounted on top of the cab.

But it can track down and zap the enemy in so many ways.

At the Detroit auto show, the U.S. Army Tuesday unveiled a hulky, prototype 
"SmarTruck II" -- designed since the September 11, 2001 attacks with 
President Bush's War on Terrorism definitely in mind.

It will not be rumbling through the desert toward Baghdad any time soon, but 
the military is trying to create an all-purpose vehicle that could make a 
statement if it suddenly appeared over the sand dune.

"Once this vehicle comes on the scene, we want everyone to know that we mean 
business," Germaine Fuller, the director of the project that created it, 
told Reuters at a news conference featuring a marching color guard and a 
military band playing patriotic songs such as "God Bless America."

Last year at the Detroit show, the U.S. Army showcased its first attempt at 
a high-tech truck, which the military brass now acknowledges was 
eye-catching with a pop-up pepper spray dispenser and surveillance cameras, 
but hardly ready for the real world.

"It was more a James Bond vehicle, more 'gee whiz' but not designed for a 
specific mission," Army General N. Ross Thompson III, chief of the command 
that designed the truck, told Reuters.

Presto change-o

SmarTruckII is equipped with all the latest hi-tech bells and whistles too. 
This time, however, the designers have tried to create a military vehicle 
that can be changed in an hour or so to fight a new enemy with new weapons 
in a post-September 11 world.

Built on the modified platform of a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck with a 
350 horsepower, V-8 engine, the watchword of the SmarTruckII is flexibility.

Designers created what they call "nodules," based on a stainless steel box 
that sits on what would normally be the bed of the truck. The boxes are 
swapped on and off the truck depending on the mission.

The idea is for the vehicle to be useful in conventional combat, or be 
transformed quickly to detect chemical and biological weapons, or even help 
in recovery from a disaster.

Fuller said the boxes can be changed in about an hour, depending on the 
situation.

For example, out of the top of one of boxes on the prototype vehicle popped 
SPIKE, which the military described as a "fire and forget" small missile and 
launcher system that can fire two missiles simultaneously.

Others boxes housed equipment useful in communications or surveillance.

Big Brother hovering

In another twist, the vehicle can house an unmanned drone-like small 
aircraft that can hover over a nearby area and send live video back to the 
vehicle.

In the cab of the truck are housed a 3-D mapping system and a communications 
system that Fuller described as "hacker in a box." It includes a computer 
program linked with surveillance equipment to monitor what people in the 
area around the vehicle are saying in e-mail. SmarTruckII could just sit and 
listen, send bogus e-mails to confuse an enemy, or, if it is not amused, 
kill the enemy communications system altogether.

The prototype vehicle cost between $500,000 and $1 million, Fuller said, 
although she said it is tough to estimate precisely because it involved 
partnerships with several firms.

The military said it has no plans to produce the truck any time soon, 
although Bran Ferren, a designer of SmarTruckII, said that if an order came 
through it could be put in production in a year.

"SmarTruckII"
• Modified platform of Chevrolet Silverado pickup
• V-8 engine, 350 horsepower
• Instead of truck bed, stainless steel interchangeable boxes that can 
contain anything from small missile and launcher system or communication and 
surveillance systems.
• Vehicle could also carry unmanned drone-like aircraft.
• Cab houses 3-D mapping system and communication system dubbed 'hacker in a 
box' that could monitor e-mail in area, send e-mail or destroy enemy 
communication system.
• Prototype cost: Between $500,000 and $1 million.

Source: Reuters



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