New unmanned truck for Iraq tested in Arizona

[seriousstan]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has sponsored the development of an unmanned military truck for duty in Iraq.

The truck has been presented at the army Tactical Wheeled Vehicle Component Technology Demonstrations in Yuma, Ariz. The truck is to make a test drive with cargo seven miles in the Arizona desert.



The unmanned truck has been developed by Oshkosh Truck Corp. in cooperation with Rockwell Collins and the University of Parma, Italy.
Oshkosh has submitted an unmanned version of its Palletized Load System vehicle for the army demonstration in a desert environment similar to that in the Middle East


Oshkosh has submitted an unmanned version of its Palletized Load System vehicle for the army demonstration in a desert environment similar to that in the Middle East.

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/06/front2453964.027777778.html

[shain from kane]

1. At a billion dollars a truck? n/t

[bluerum]

2. OK - so they blow up unmanned vehicles instead.

What a moronic, dipshit waste of money idea this is.

[skids]

8. Now, now. To be charitable...

This is a step forward in their mentality -- now they are applying advanced technology to something other than a killing machine.

[geomon666]

15. Until they strap machine guns to it.

Sad thing is, this thing will probably have more armor on it than any manned vehicle roaming Iraq right now.

[ConcernedCanuk]

16. It'll have more than machine guns on it - count on it

.
.
.

They wouldn't want the "enemy" to CAPTURE one of these things

Probably have a remote self-destruct capability so it doesn't get into the "wrong" hands

(sigh)

[Xipe Totec]

3. And the bombers will rejoice,

as a new weapon is added to their arsenal.

"No longer will our Mujadein have to sacrifice themselves!", exclaimed veteran terrorist Aryl Ehait Yu.

:eyes:

[unpossibles]

4. seriously

how long would it take to have one stolen by the enemy formerly known as suicide bombers....?

[Xipe Totec]

5. Considering we'll probably train Iraqi soldiers to drive them,

not long, I expect.

worse yet, those trucks will have carte blanche access to our compounds so why steal it, when you can swap the load with a bomb and let it go on its merry way.

[shain from kane]

12. Reverse engineering, remote suicide bombers without the suicider. n/t

[The_Casual_Observer]

6. A monster waste of money.

[sofa king]

7. Wow, we all have the same thought here.

That's just what I was thinking too. Not only can you steal whatever you want off of it Mad Max style, but you can replace it with explosives and touch it off when it reaches its destination.

Or break it wherever you want and set up an ambush for the underprotected repair crews that are sure to show up looking after it.

Bad idea.

[soothsayer]

9. this is to protect halliburton! it's all about supplies

[bluerum]

11. If I want to disrupt supply lines, why would I attack manned vehicles

that have a chance of fighting back?

Unless the military plans to provide support like aircraft, unmanned drones, etc. how is this going to make supply lines safer?

That money would probably be better spent improving vehicle armor and personnel armor.

[damntexdem]

10. Hey, when the insurgents swipe some of these, ...

they can load them with explosives and send them out for unmanned suicide bombings.

But don't worry: the trucks won't actually reach Iraq to be stolen. Halliburton will snag them long before they could get to the troops.

[htuttle]

13. One more piece of Rumsfeld's new Robot Army

[shain from kane]

14. In less than an hour, we have ripped this idea to shreds. What were

they thinking? That no one could conceive that unmanned trucks would ever be used for anything but cargo. That no one could conceive that airplanes would ever be used for anything but to haul passengers or cargo.

[Tesha]

17. Why don't we just bring in the Enforcement Droids?

[Richard Steele]

18. Is this an offshoot of our six-year-old "unmanned Presidency" program?