SAS soldiers are trying out “Star Wars”-style bulletproof helmets in the war against terror. The SAS is the UK’s answer to the Navy SEALs.No, that is not accurate. The SAS has been around since 1941, and thus is not an "answer to" the SEALs because it predates them. Though the SEALs have predecessor units dating to WWII, they're all younger than the SAS. The SEALs themselves came to be during the Vietnam war, twenty years later than the SAS. The basic concept of the SAS isn't even similar, as it is an army-based commando unit conceived around airborne deployments, rather than sea-based naval commandos.
Cool mask, though.
Well if you are getting shot at I would imagine you always want more protection. However looking at it from a winning hearts and minds perspective, the entire looking like a villain from a space opera or some sort of comic book super villain might be an issue.
ReplyDeleteThe article is headlined "Special forces test...". Well, they're' special forces; but they're not like the US "Special Forces." Our USSF often has the job of winning hearts and minds (and forming them into fighting units on our side). For them, direct action is only one of several missions, with unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, and special reconnaissance being additional missions.
ReplyDeleteThe SAS rarely does the winning hearts and mind thing.
The mask may be cool as a costume item, but as a pilot, I hate anything that restricts my field of view. Even were a broader field projected onto those goggle lenses (and it may well be; the technology has been around for a couple of decades), when the electronics fail--and they will--the helmet wearer will be right next to blind. And what's the battery life on those things? Especially with the air conditioner running?
ReplyDeleteI'd also have to know more about the technology underlying its pick[ing] up signals from other people through “friend or foe” vision. Lots of IFF can be spoofed. It's even easier just to jam the system.
Eric Hines