A Technology Surge in Afghanistan

(Dec.7) -- The 30,000 new troops slated for deployment in Afghanistan are supposed to enable a new approach to pushing back the Taliban and stabilizing the country. But it's not just the doctrine that's new; some new technologies have also either recently debuted in Afghanistan, are scheduled soon to go to war, or are being considered for use with American troops. Here are a few of them:

1) Unmanned helicopters. Under contract to the Pentagon, Boeing has developed an unmanned helicopter called the A160 Hummingbird that the company says can fly faster, quieter and higher than manned helicopters. Though U.S. Special Operations has already bought some of the drone helicopters for reconnaissance missions, the Pentagon is also thinking of using the aircraft for precision re-supply of troops in Afghanistan. "Anticipating this time-sensitive requirement, we are taking action to reconfigure and evaluate prototype systems already owned by the Department of Defense," a Pentagon official tells Sphere. "With funding approved, a system could be sent forward as an operational demonstration within six to nine months."

2) Laser blaster. In September, a Boeing-built laser mounted atop a combat vehicle zapped 50 improvised explosive devices in Pentagon-sponsored tests. Called the Avenger, the solid-state laser could be ready to send to Afghanistan within a year, a Boeing spokesman recently told UPI. As of now, however, there are no definitive plans to send the laser blaster to battle roadside bombs in Afghanistan.

3) Military all-terrain vehicles. When the thin-skinned Humvee proved vulnerable to roadside bombs in Iraq, the military opted for the mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, or MRAPs. But in Afghanistan, the bulky vehicles proved too cumbersome, and the military started an extensive search for a vehicle that could protect soldiers against IEDs and also handle Afghanistan's mountainous terrain. The Pentagon in June awarded a contract worth more than $1 billion to Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Corp. to build over 2,000 of the nimble M-ATVs, which have already started arriving in Afghanistan.

4) The stealth drone. The Air Force last week confirmed to Aviation Week & Space Technology that recent reports of a mystery drone in Kandahar were, in fact, correct. The unmanned aerial vehicle, called the RQ-170 Sentinel, is built by Lockheed Martin's secretive Skunk Works division. It's still unclear how many of the stealthy drones may be operating in Afghanistan or what precisely they are doing. "With its low-observable design, the aircraft could be useful for flying the borders of Iran and peering into China, India and Pakistan for useful data about missile tests and telemetry, as well as gathering signals and multi-spectral intelligence," Aviation Week reports.

5) Mini-robots. Thousands of iRobot's PackBot robots are already in Iraq and Afghanistan helping to defuse bombs. But now Boeing and iRobot have teamed up to build the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle, or SUGV, which is expected to make its way soon to Afghanistan to serve as a reconnaissance scout that can alert troops to possible dangers ahead.