The US troops on the ground would not need to depend on various layers of bureaucratic channels and maze of maps and broken radio messages for accurate and real time information about their support aircraft. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the United States Department of Defense has found a solution and it lies in a pair of holographic sunglasses.
The goggles, which would give soldiers direct link to the aircraft, would give the wearer a direct data link to the aircraft concerned. Besides helping the soldiers with real-time information and avoiding situations where military sometimes remain stranded in firefights sans any air support, it should also help in cutting down the number of otherwise frequent friendly-fire accidents.
“The head tracker knows where the user is looking, so the information the user is seeing changes as he moves or turns his head. Theoretically you could look up in the sky and a little green triangle would appear telling you, you have an F-16 30 miles out at 21,000 feet. It could also tell you what type of ordnance the plane was carrying, so you could make a quick decision if that plane would be appropriate for the mission,” an official was quoted as saying on a website.
Besides the traditional defense-tech names Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, much to everyone’s surprise, DARPA, has roped in consumer video does this to Vuzix, a New York-based eyewear company for the sunglasses. If all turns out as is planned on paper, the goggles should not be more than 3mm in thickness and once turned off, they should pass as any slick sunglasses! Now let us just hope that these goggles don’t get in wrong hands or blind some evil eyes!!
Via: Wired