Instead of the nasty MREs that the military currently serves, this sandwich has meat, cheese, and lettuce inside of bread. It’s a lot like a Hot Pocket. Supposedly, it even tastes good. For food to rot, you need oxygen and water. This two year sandwich uses preservation techniques to keep the H2O in check.

Take jam for instance. It has a high water content and stays fresh because the sugar locks in the moisture and the container is air-tight. They’ve done the same thing here. The two-year sandwich has sugar and a packet of iron fillings in its vacuum-sealed wrapping. The iron draws in excess moisture, converts it into rust, and traps it. So you have a sandwich that stays fresh. This means that we can feed soldiers a better meal in the field, even if it’s been sitting around for years.

[BBC via Popsci via Geek]

So remember when I said that such inventions would soon make their way in real life? Well, ladies and gentlemen, that time is now. The researchers at the Micro-Aviary at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base have been hard at work at fitting walls with super-sensitive motion capture sensors that will be able to track the position of a helicopter or small plane “within about a tenth of an inch.” Talk about precise.

The information from the sensors are then used to create ”very, very small flapping-wing vehicles,” says Greg Parker, who’s a part of the research team.

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There have been no officially released images or photos of the insect drones, although I doubt the military will be making them available anytime soon as they’re bound to be classified stuff.

[via Oh Gizmo!]

There are all sorts of robots in use within the military – some of them can roll around to fight with their own weapons, and others are designed to simply give a look at what is over a wall or around a corner.

The Army has purchased 315 ReconRobitics Recon Scout XT video reconnaissance robots that soldiers can throw up to 120 feet (and operate from as much as 300 feet away outdoors) to give them a look at what’s going on ahead of them. The tiny bots measure just 8 inches long and weigh just 1.3 pounds, and have gnarly looking spiked wheels so they can navigate difficult terrain. It even has an automated infrared mode for seeing in dark environments.

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The Army also bought SearchStick accessories that allow the Recon Scout XT to be put on a stick and lifted up in the air to see over walls. Each of the Recon Scout XT bots can be deployed in just five seconds. It has a rechargeable battery and a single button controller for simplicity.

The U.S. Army has announced that it is set to deploy more than 13,000 new gadgets in the field with soldiers. The gadgets are called the Individual Gunshot Detector or IGT. The thing has three acoustic sensors and an attached LCD screen. The sensors will hear a gunshot and then show what direction it came from on the LCD.

The idea is to allow the solider to quickly and easily determine what direction a gunshot came from, so they can fire back or take cover. The Army will deploy as many as 1,500 of the IGDs in Afghanistan over the next year. The tech will be integrated with Land Warrior and Nett Warrior systems in the future.

The “ruggedized” PS3 is encased in a Pelican Storm case. There’s a built-in 22″ LCD, speakers, a TV tuner, network switcher and even space for storage.

Watch Ben Heck’s online show for more info on how he built the mod. Here’s where it gets interesting though: Engadget says that the couple who commissioned the mod have started their own console modding company, Rugged Outdoor Gaming Units, Etc (R.O.G.U.E.). R.O.G.U.E. will sell PeliStations, which are – guess what – PS3s encased in Pelican cases, much like the mod that they ordered. One hopes that they asked for Ben Heck’s blessing before founding a business based on his creation.

It’s called the A-Box and it’s designed for docking an iPod or mp3 player, which can connect on the outside or the inside of this box. It’s great for listening to music and to protect your iPod from incoming bullets. Each A-Box is made from 1mm steel plate, fortified with 6mm trespa on the inside, and a layer of vibration dampening material to keep it sounding great.

The A-Box comes in two versions. A lighter one with 2 × 25W amps and woven fiberglass speakers, and a heavy version with 2 × 70W amps and woven Kevlar speakers. Both versions include dramatic indicator lights inside the speaker cones. They’re both on special right now with introductory prices of $339 (€250) for the light version and $475 (€350) for the heavy one right here.

[RetroThing via Make:]

Apparently kids these days also look like grown men. But seriously: look at that thing. I almost wept when I realized that the guy was behind the tank, and not on the tank. Where else will you see an RC vehicle that can literally trample a child?

I’m pretty sure that the tank’s gun isn’t functional, but still. Still. Imagine your kid showing up at their school Christmas party on this. He’ll immediately be everyone’s best friend. Or at least every bully’s best friend.

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Of course something this cool and obscenely large also has a humongous price: the King Tiger is worth £6,600 ($9, 713). If that’s too much for you, Mark-1 is also selling a 1/6 scale King Tiger, base price £2900 ($4,267). If that’s still too much for you then you’re a bad parent. Because giant tanks are the key to stronger parent-child relationships.

[Mark-1 via Tech Digest]

The Grenade watch looks like an explosive device, but when you flip the lever, it opens to reveal a clock movement. While they won’t actually withstand an explosion, they should hold up pretty well thanks to their Stainless Steel case construction, durable mineral glass crystal and water-resistance to 3ATM.

They’re available in Army Green or Matte Black finishes and come with either a skinny canvas or wide leather and canvas wristband. I managed to find all four styles over on WatchWear.com starting around $125 each.

Just don’t blame me when you get stopped trying to go through airport security with one of these strapped to your wrist.

From the looks of these photos taken in article over at ZDNet, at least some of the Army’s remote SUGVs (Small Unmanned Ground Vehicles) are controlled by what sure looks like an Xbox 360 controller to me.

The unmanned ground vehicles are part of the Army’s Future Combat Systems initiative, providing individual troops with improved accessibility to dangerous locations.

The fact that the Army would at least prototype these systems using the 360′s controller makes perfect sense to me, given the familiarity of the design to its likely users.

[via Xbox-Scene]