Arms and the Boy
Hey kids, ever wondered how new technology can help kill and maim people? Well, now’s your chance to find out!
Future soldier – from fiction to the frontline
Holographic quantum technology and acoustic sniper sensors may sound like the stuff of science fiction films – but they are actually new defence technologies which could soon be destined for the battlefield.They were just a few of the gadgets and technologies on show at the Future Soldier event, held today at London’s National Army Museum to coincide with National Science and Engineering Week (7-16 March).
It’s a hearts and minds strategy to make our brave boys out in Iraqistan green with envy!
John Howe CB OBE, Vice Chairman of Thales UK, one of the industry sponsors of the event said:
“This is a marvellous opportunity to show young people how exciting science and technology are. Thales has world class capability in soldier systems, as the examples on display here today demonstrate.”
Soldier systems are marvellous, aren’t they? And exciting. That was exactly the emotion I felt looking at those pictures of that Iraqi kid with no arms. Excited.
Sir Kevin Tebbit, formerly part of the crew that outed Dr David Kelly and now Chairman of Finmeccanica UK, is boastful his company’s ‘vital role in support of the UK’s international security policy’:
We produce high quality equipment, have world beating technology, applied by a talented and dedicated work force…
You could certainly beat the world with a bunch of Finmeccanica’s ammunition or a brace of Target Drones. Or at least leave big parts of it feeling rather sore.
For budding young merchants of death and teenage fans of the old whizz-bang-AARGH! there are even resources for their teachers:
The MoD also provides support to teachers to deliver science and other key curriculum lessons via the free, online Defence Dynamics teaching resource. Covering themes as diverse as mapping, flooding, genetic engineering and survival skills.
All this use of the word ‘defence’ as a euphemism for firing hot and sharp pieces of metal into people’s bodies at high velocity. Not that there’ll be any explicit mention of the end result of ‘Defence Dynamics’ and ‘Soldier systems’. It doesn’t do to dwell on the effects on those on the receiving end, after all.
And co-opting kids into it, as well. Does that sound a bit creepy to you? Worry not.
[L]essons not only apply theory in the real world but also encourage students to debate the moral issues behind the introduction of new technology.
Even it if just kids as part of an indoctrination programme, thank God somebody is debating the moral issues. Maybe the arms dealers have outsourced it to them.
Posted on March 11th, 2008 at 5:26pm under Science and progress
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• 5 Comments |
Having the rather bitter irony of three direct member of my family (two great grandparents / 1 grandparent ) to have been executed by both the NKVD and Nazi party I can assure you you’re talking shit.
You clearly don’t know what you take for granted or what it takes to protect it.
You clearly don’t know what you take for granted or what it takes to protect it.
Yes, I do, thanks. It takes the needless deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, apparently.
Justin, how could you? Surely you know that Our Brave Boys are constantly guarding us against the Nazis, and that if we didn’t maintain a massive level of spending on really cool new weapons systems (delivered or not, it’s the spending that counts) then the Nazis would suddenly jump up from behind the sofa where they’ve been hiding all these years and invade us before you can say “Taliban”. In fact, the Taliban are the Nazis – they’re just wearing false beards. You can tell by the way they’ve got the most technologically sophisticated military machine seen in the world to date. How could we possibly hope to avert imminent Islamic invasion and the destruction of the British Way of Life without holographic quantum technology? Who needs body armour or ammunition when you’ve got holographic quantum technology, huh?
You also overlook the obvious fact that without all this super high-tech deathware, we’ll have absolutely no chance when (not if!) we get invaded by aliens. It’s inevitable, I tell you!
James Lawrence, can you “please” specify the “shit” in Justin’s post?
It seems to have gone totally over the head of James Lawrence that the likes of the NKVD and the Nazi’s would be drooling over this stuff. It’s exactly the type of approach (militarism/glorification of war; arms profitering; corporatism; euphanisms; indoctrination of the young etc.) that is at the core of their idology.
I’d suggest you owe an apology James. No. NOT to the writer of this blog but to everyone else for you being so lacking in gorm.
24299279 former Sig. Hansell DC.