In the run up to DSEi there have been a number of interesting technology announcements.
One of which is BAe’s ‘Adaptiv’ system that can be fitted to vehicles, helicopters and ships for example
A few questions…
- How much
- How much power does this use
- How easily is it damaged by both day to day usage and weapon effects
- How maintainable in the field is it
- What are the ambient temperature limits
- How does it work with bar/rod/fabric armour
Any others?
I think the questions we should be asking are “Is it affordable?”, “What sort of power unit can/have we used in the field?” because for efficiencies sake it really has to be adaptable enough for it to work with what we already have.
It’s difficult to ask questions of something so early on, what we should be doing is declaring an interest and laying out the obvious parameters to BAE for them to go away and improve it before we commit to buying (I know, ideal world). That should include a strict upper limit on unit cost, particularly because many individual elements are likely to need replacing.
A good question might be “what other applications could it have?”. Could this be scaled down for use in uniforms and other kit or used on standing structures/FOBs in Afghanistan to make them more difficult to hit. A portable version might have a great deal of use.
Looks impresive, but as you say need to know some answers first. If they intend to use it on ships it must be tough.