The F-35B is the most expensive model from America's most expensive fighter program in history. Stealthy, full of sensors, and designed so that the Marines flying it can take off and land vertically or in very short distances, each plane is a $134 million bundle of metal and code. What more could the Marine Corps want with its new jet fighter?
North Sea Boats' new X-18 Tank Boat feels like it should be a G.I. Joe toy. The 60-foot long catamaran can travel up rivers, carry a small inflatable boat on its back, and deliver either 20 Marines or Navy SEALs to shore. It also has a tank cannon in a turret on top of the main cabin, and if that isn't enough, it's possible to put an automated heavy machine gun turret on top of the tank turret.
Whatever comes out the back-end of the V-22 Osprey is a guaranteed load of unpleasantness, whether it's a troop of Marines or a Jeep-like Phantom Badger. As a tiltrotor, the V-22 can take-off and land vertically like a helicopter, then switch to flying fast like a plane in mid-air. That versatility makes the V-22 an excellent transport, but now the Marines want it to work as a gunship too--by firing weapons from its rear unloading ramp.
Remember that early ‘90s horror-themed video game, Doom, where you roamed around a Martian landscape, killing everything in sight? Well, now the game isn’t just for shooting demons and zombie Marines anymore. A construction company called DIRTT (which stands for Doing It Right This Time) is using software based on the old Doom engine to blueprint hospital walls and office spaces. They’re hoping the technology will eradicate the two most expensive words in the construction industry.
A new, compact gasification contraption can dramatically compress the things our armed forces leave behind, turning trash into ash. Marines at Camp Smith, Hawaii, are testing the new unit to verify whether it could be used at forward operating bases to cut down on landfill. The Micro Auto Gasification System, or MAGS, can bake 45 kilograms of garbage and compress it into 2.3 kilograms of ash, while creating more energy than it consumes.
