An armoured vehicle with enough gadgets to fill a James Bond car has been unveiled by US military researchers.
When fully completed, the SmarTruck will come equipped with a spinning laser gun, electrified door handles and a close range pepper spray. Its crew will be able to evade pursuers with a smokescreen and an oil slick 鈥� or by dropping hundreds of tacks from the truck鈥檚 tail.
The vehicle is also only a prototype, but researchers at the US Army鈥檚 National Automotive Centre (NAC) in Warren, Michigan believe it will be ready for military use within two to five years. Eventually, it will be used to protect VIPs in motorcades and to aid soldiers in urban combat situations, says Mitch Kozera, leader of the centre鈥檚 vehicle intelligence team.
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鈥淚t will have the ability to get people out of a difficult situation quickly,鈥� Kozera told New 杏吧原创. 鈥淲hat is being created is the ability to defend and be compact.鈥�
Kozera鈥檚 team has spent about 拢700,000 customising a Ford F350 truck, which itself costs 拢31,000.
It is not surprising that the truck sounds like something from the latest Bond movie. Dennis Wend, director of the NAC, says the designers took inspiration from the classic spy films.
As a result, the SmarTruck comes with all the gadgets any secret agent could want. These include a global positioning navigation system, night vision cameras and an on-board computer, which uses fingerprint identification technology.
Strengthened bullet-proof glass and Kevlar body armour mean the truck will be able to withstand a .44 magnum handgun fired at close range, say its creators.
The SmarTruck prototype was developed with commercial partners including International Armouring, Delphi Automotive Systems, and Integrated Concepts and Research Corporation (ICRC).
