June 30, 2004

Solar to Keep Army on the Go Wired News

Posted by tourdemars to Technology at June 30, 2004 11:01 AM

During a battle, the ability to move troops swiftly and without detection can mean the difference between victory and defeat. The U.S. Army is developing tents and uniforms made from flexible solar panels to make it more difficult to track soldiers. Jean Hampel, project engineer in the Fabric Structures Group at the Army's Natick Soldier Systems Center, said the need to reduce the Army's logistics footprint spurred interest in developing lightweight solar panels. "We want to cut back on the things that soldiers have to bring with them," including generators and personal battery packs, Hampel said. In modern warfare, portable power for communications technology is every bit as important as firepower and manpower.
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Comments

A very usefull way of reducing waste products on the front line. Not that war is a good thing but lets protect the troops that do go.

Posted by: Harold LaValley at June 30, 2004 12:05 PM

These same concepts can be applied to many other applications that are battery powered. So long as there is sufficient surface area versus the power requirements for the capability of the cell energy delivering. As noted portable anything but more over it could recharge the batteries in a solar car or other such applications.

Posted by: Harold LaValley at July 1, 2004 08:56 AM

The military needs a hybrid power generation system for Wind, Solar and Hydro. Not every theater of operation is the same. It should be reduced in weight and should be standardized in their power connections, including power connections with different theaters of operation.
Maybe Systems with a Personal, Unit, and Company type power generation systems.

Posted by: William Patterson at July 5, 2004 11:20 AM