It was a bittersweet moment as I unleashed the BK-27 Mauser cannon
mounted on my Typhoon Eurofighter and remembered that the strategically
important atomic facility was only about 8 kilometres from my father's
house, which would certainly have been destroyed in the blast.
Not
long after this somewhat emotional realisation, I ditched the US$60
million (Dh220.3m) Eurofighter, and the cutting edge heads-up display
helmet that comes with it, into a farmer's field. The auto-ejection
system saved my skin though,Come January 9 and chip card
driving licence would be available at the click of the mouse in Uttar
Pradesh. and I apparently floated down to land somewhere off Morecambe
Bay.
This unusually personal flight of fancy in fact took place
in the middle of a crowded Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre on the
first day of the International Defence Exhibition and Conference 2013
(Idex).
The Eurofighter simulation was a popular attraction and
probably the most technologically advanced piece of kit on display at
the event. It was certainly among the most expensive.
Sitting
in the cockpit wearing a Typhoon Helmet Mounted Symbology System, it was
remarkably easy to get the hang of flying a jet at the speed of sound,
barrelling and rolling around the skies, tracking an enemy jet with
nothing more than a turn of the head and destroying it with the mere
twitch of an index finger.
But there were countless examples of
similarly sophisticated and technologically advanced equipment at
every turn throughout the vast exhibition hall.Where you can create a
custom lanyard from our wide selection of styles and materials.
Most
prominent were the dozens of examples of unmanned vehicle systems.
From tiny propeller-driven airborne drones that look like they could
land in the palm of your hand to big glider-sized aircraft produced by
Abu Dhabi's Adcom Systems,They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet and bracelets. such drones were clearly among the stars of the show.
Abu
Dhabi's Al Tuff Industries also had on display a complete unmanned
navy with waterborne drones capable of patrolling ports and coastlines.
The sleek black naval robots looked as if they had sailed straight off
the set of a Star Wars movie, with Darth Vader at the controls.
Farther
afield, in the Australian defence industries area, another group of
robots lurked. The Marathon Smart Targets - the torso and head of a
tailor's dummy mounted on a four-wheel-drive vehicle - looked less Star
Wars and more Metal Mickey.
Each one wore a sweatshirt, face
mask and baseball cap for authenticity. But for all their clunkiness
and unkempt appearances, the Smart Targets are just as cutting edge as
any drone.Did you know that custom keychain chains can be used for more than just business.
The
target robots react autonomously to noises and other stimuli, giving
soldiers the ability to train shooting at targets that behave like
people without actually having to kill anyone.
Raytheon, the
American defence giant, had a huge array of weapons on display but
perhaps its most interesting piece of technology was a translation
device ripped from the pages of A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the
Douglas Adams novel. Adams imagined a creature called the Babel Fish
that, once inserted in the ear, would simultaneously translate all the
languages it heard allowing free communication throughout the universe.
Raytheon's TransTalk isn't quite that good but it does a
pretty good job. The United States army has been using it at
checkpoints and in villages across Afghanistan with impressive results.
The technology is housed on an Android phone that displays two flags,Online shopping for luggage tag
from a great selection of Clothing. one to represent each language to
be translated. The user simply touches one flag, speaks and the phone
translates.
Not all the technology on display at Idex this year
contains microchips and fibre-optic cabling, however. A German company
called Blücher had on display remarkable underpants that were said to
be "ballistic protective".
"The material matrix of the extreme
lightweight pants meets soldiers' requirements both in highly active
and relaxed situations," the publicity material said.
But it
was the Russians who claimed to have the most reliable weapon in the
whole exhibition. The Kalashnikov rifle - otherwise known as the AK-47 -
has been firing off rounds with regular precision since 1949.
"When
there is no war countries invest a lot of money in these very advanced
weapons systems that we see here," said Andrey Baryshnikov, the
director of international sales for Izhmash, the company that makes the
Kalashnikov.
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