October 29, 2009

US Military May Deploy Vader in Afghanistan

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This seems not very well thought-out:

For years, the U.S. military employed Ground Moving Target Indicator technology to track potentially hostile vehicles on the ground. Now, the U.S. military is working on a new sensor — customized for service in Afghanistan — that can spot individuals at a distance and track them on a digital map.

Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, the head of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, said the new sensor package, called Vader (”Vehicle and Dismount Exploitation Radar“), was particularly well suited for the war in Afghanistan. The bombs are relatively crude there, and the bomb-planters place the explosives far from the roads.

Wired‘s Nathan Hodge has more, but the point here is obvious: let’s not associate the US military with hordes of stormtroopers. We’re supposed to be the good guys, right? Unless, of course, the military is taking the Weekly Standard‘s interpretation of Star Wars as gospel. Then I guess we can go ahead and say “Osama bin Laden: BRING HIM TO ME.” Of course, in a world where there are actually fleets of robot assassins patrolling the skies, anything’s possible:

Thanks, xkcd.

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