Future Force Warrior

"We're stripping the soldier down to his skin, and building out from there," said Jean-Louis "Dutch" DeGay, an equipment specialist at the Army's Natick Soldier Systems Center, which is supervising the seven-year, $250 million overhaul, dubbed Future Force Warrior, or FFW.

The land warrior equipment was due for an overhaul. The previous design was designed for men only, which is inappropiate for women trying to pee. In addition, many other improvements have been made such as armor that can take five to seven direct hits from a machine gun, gel based sensors for collecting pulse and breating rate, and better etextile cabling (shown below).

Gee, as pacifist, I suddenly really want to join the army.

[Link via Gizmodo
Photos: Noah Shachtman]