Gizmodo: special forces

Sam Fisher's Badass Earbuds: Waterproof Silynx C4OPS With Tactical GPS and Noise Cancellation

matt buchanan — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 21:00:00 EDT

These are the most badass earbuds on the planet, worn by the most badass people on the planet. Made by Silynx, the C4OPS are noise-canceling earbuds made for Special Forces that have a built-in GPS receiver which transmits securely through tactical radio and has voice navigation.

The noise-canceling is self-adapting based on the type of battlefield noise (super normal hearing!), and it has dual wireless push to talk. Not only are they waterproof to 20m (!), they're interoperable with the majority of tactical radios and will let soliders control two radios at once. And yes, that's the actual promo video. BAD. ASS. Blam's thinking about getting some for WWDC and CES. [Silynx via Gizmag]

Wearable Antenna for Soldiers Won't Make Them Look Like Ant Warriors

AddyDugdale — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 16:00:00 EDT

Five years in the making, Pharad's wearable antenna is aimed at troops in covert operations, and, I guess, undercover cops and agents. Waterproof and flexible, the wearable antenna, which is made out of dielectric material, supports and is aimed to be integrated into body armor vests and helmets, and there's even a snug-fitting undershirt that wouldn't look out of place on one of Bouncy's backing dancers, which you can see below, alongside more information.

The wearable antenna supports a whole host of communications standards, including EPLRS, 800 MHz radios, cellular/GSM, GPS and WLAN. While the design is currently aimed at the military, there's no saying where Pharad's Flextenna might end up—in the quest for constant connectivity, expect smart clothing companies to sniff around this one. For the moment, though, this will be used to keep track of special op forces who are deep undercover in parts of the world with patchy cellphone coverage—Afghanistan, perhaps. [Pharad via Talk2MyShirt and PR Inside]

Gryphon Single-Man Flying Wing

Charlie White — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 09:35:51 EDT

At first we thought this was a joke—didn't Batman have a pair of wings like this? But no, this Gryphon Single-Man Flying Wing is a parachute system whose 4.9-foot Delta wing has two jet engines on board that can carry a paratrooper 110 miles on a half gallon of jet fuel. The device will be tested in an third quarter of next year, but we'd hate to be the first guy to try it. He'll have to be pretty hefty, too, because the thing weighs 66 pounds.

The mission starts when the brave soul wearing this birdman outfit takes a flying leap out of an airplane at 33,000 feet—hopefully equipped with warm clothes and oxygen—and flies the jet wing wherever he's going until he gets to an altitude of about a mile. At that point, somehow our intrepid hero sheds his wing and opens a parachute, letting that wing dangle below him as he floats to the ground. Better you than me, buddy. Tailwinds. – Charlie White

James Bond-style strap-on jet pack flying wing to extend special forces' reach [Flight]