Big Dog!

[Elie]

Meet Bigdog The Most Advanced Quadruped Robot on Earth
BigDog is the alpha male of the Boston Dynamics family of robots. It is a quadruped robot that walks, runs, and climbs on rough terrain and carries heavy loads. BigDog is powered by a gasoline engine that drives a hydraulic actuation system. BigDog's legs are articulated like an animal’s, and have compliant elements that absorb shock and recycle energy from one step to the next. BigDog is the size of a large dog or small mule, measuring 1 meter long, 0.7 meters tall and 75 kg weight.

http://www.bostondynamics.com/content/sec.php?section=BigDog

Totally awesome and freaky!

[KRSESQ]

It needs a muffler. If I were a GI I wouldn't want that noisy thing within a mile of me.

Kevin

[Dr Mordrid]

Those are the developmental motors.

IIRC they are to be replaced by a Volt-like like electric drive system; nano-electrode LiIONs coupled with a well silenced range-extender generator.

Electric drives of one type or another are also going into Army vehicles; trucks and smaller US armor like the Stryker. Some are straight-up hybrids while others will be more like a diesel-electric train: a generator and an electric motor with no battery buffering. The logic is simple: they'll have longer ranges, making logistics simpler. Some day we may see an electric drive high-mobility tank half the size of the Abrams.

A new electric jeep-like vehicle being developed for the Army is Quantum's "Aggressor", which interestingly enough will be powered by JP8 (jet fuel based on kerosene).

[KRSESQ]

I hope they put as much thought into the vehicles armor as they put into its drivetrain.

Kevin

[Dr Mordrid]

The big danger for armor is the HEAT round - those that liquefy a metal core (usually copper) on contact which then burns its way into the vehicle and incinerates everything in it. Most anti-armor weapons use some form of this tech. The remainder are Kinetic Energy penetrators, KE's, which use a high density/high velocity projectile - usually made of depleted uranium or tungsten.

The latest big thing on the armor front is "Electric Reactive Armour", ERA*, which is under development in the US and UK. ERA armor panels use a two-layer skin separated by a high-dielectric insulator and with a high voltage charge differential between them; ground on the inside, charged on the outside - essentially a very powerful capacitor.

ERA takes advantage of the conductivity of the round; it shorts the charge between the skins allowing the high voltage to disrupt (read: vaporize) it.

So far things are looking very promising against both HEAT and KE's. At worst the vehicle itself only suffered surface dents & scratches, and of course the armor panels are being designed to be easily replaceable.

It's also much lighter than current reactive panel armors (basically explosive panels) - a tank would only need 1 ton of ERA vs. 10-20 tons of conventional reactive armor. Smaller vehicles would need proportionately less.

*also known as electromagnetic reactive armor or just electric armor.

[GT98]

A new electric jeep-like vehicle being developed for the Army is Quantum's "Aggressor", which interestingly enough will be powered by JP8 (jet fuel based on kerosene).

[/IMG]

Theres nothing special about that, JP8 replaced DF2 (Diesel Fuel) over 15 years ago in Military applications, not to mention that JP8 runs diesel engines/Gas Turbines and Jet Engines

[Dr Mordrid]

The big thing is that it's electric. Long overdue in military vehicles IMO.