Anyone heard about this?

 
THURSDAY MAY 31 2001

US Army turns to James Bond

FROM LAURA PEEK IN WASHINGTON

INSPIRED by James Bond films, the US Army has come up with a $1 million armoured car equipped with gadgets such as a spinning laser gun and electric door handles.
The souped-up Ford F350 pick-up truck can squirt out an oil slick, smokescreen or pepper spray and drop hundreds of tacks on the road to repel pursuers. Its electric door handles carry enough voltage to stun an intruder for several minutes.

“The first thing we did was look at all the old James Bond movies,” said Dennis Wend, director of the US Army’s National Automotive Centre, which customised the vehicle, known as the SmarTruck.

The original cost of the vehicle was less than $45,000 (£31,500), but the army is estimated to have spent $1 million (£700,000) customising it. It lacks the sleek curves of, for example, Bond’s favourite Aston Martin DB5, but it is likely to prove harder to wreck. It has a cladding of Kevlar, the material used in bulletproof vests, its windows can withstand a .44 magnum handgun fired at close range and it has a bomb detection system. Its 360-degree revolving night-vision cameras allow it to spot aggressors and it carries a laser mounted on a remote-controlled turret to explode land mines, as well as a grenade launcher.

In filmed tests the black pick-up truck was shown evading militants with shotguns on motorcycles and bazooka-firing mercenaries in a battered Mercedes-Benz. In reality it is more likely to be used to ferry dignitaries such the President travelling in motorcades.



Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd. This service is provided on Times Newspapers' standard terms and conditions. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material from The Times, visit the Syndication website.  

i'm just waiting till this thing hits the surplus market!! I wonder how much insurance costs?

mike


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