U.S. Army’s Creepy Sci-Fi Helmets Come With Built-In A/C
May 20th, 2014Via: Bloomberg:
If the U.S. Army greenlights a radical new helmet design, its soldiers may have a harder time winning hearts and minds overseas. Quite simply, the thing is frightening—think motocross storm trooper.
Functionally, however, the helmet unveiled Tuesday marks a major advance. The same features that make it look so fierce—a full face mask and eye shield—filter out chemical attacks and biological pathogens. The screen over the eyes will populate with real-time data, like a sort of G.I. Google Glass.
The real masterstroke is a lightweight fan that cools the head and runs off batteries attached to a soldier’s hip or back. The next version will “sense,” using body sensors, when the fan needs to turn itself on, according to the Army’s Edgewood Chemical Biological Center.
Research Credit: emulsified
Yeah, that’s pretty creepy. And not that far off from the creepy murals Denver International Airport. Those paintings stopped my tracks, it was years ago and I still remember thinking “am I really seeing this at an international airport? At the time I figured it was one bad omen – turns out, it is.