US Military Invests in $320M 'Smart Fabric' Project

The U.S. Department of Defense is investing in a $320 million project to create "smart garments" that can protect soldiers while monitoring their environment -- for example, uniforms that can change color or become invisible to night-vision goggles. Other possibilities include tents which generate electricity, uniforms which detect chemical or nuclear contamination, and parachutes that can detect tearing, according to Phys.org. "Key to the plan is a technical ingredient: embedding a variety of tiny semiconductors and sensors into fabrics that can see, hear, communicate, store energy, warm or cool a person or monitor the wearer's health," reports the New York Times, calling it "a new frontier for the Internet of Things." The Pentagon is joining more than 30 universities, 49 companies (including Intel) and the state governments of Massachusetts and Georgia, and they're hoping the "Advanced Functional Fabrics of America" project establishes two dozen incubators for startups and creates 50,000 jobs over the next 10 years by streamlining the implementation of the smart fabrics in America's textile mills.

Re:

[Iamthecheese]

A computer used to cost millions.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Most technology that we take for granted came from military developments, everything from tinning meat, to refrigeration units, electronic computers, radar and GPS

If it was given the opportunity, civilian businesses would keep selling the same buggy whips for ever, it takes the deep pockets of 'military need' to fund most new development, even the US Space program is primarily a military endeavor

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[Sarten-X]

I strongly suspect that "the last time the military brought in a project with even reasonable success at a reasonable price" was slightly before the politicians realized that government contractors were wasting a small percentage of the contract money as "overhead".

Now, thanks to anti-fraud laws, we pay for materials, people to do the work, accountants to keep track of the people doing work, and accountants to keep track of the accountants. In order to make sure every minute of time is properly billed and e

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[dbIII]

When regulations are relaxed you get things like cheap and nasty "Liberty Ships" breaking apart even in the fitting out dock (let alone at sea with the loss of many lives), all being sold to the taxpayer at more than the usual price of something with decent quality. A current example is the Joint Strike Fighter.
The anti-fraud laws are there due to a lot of fraud.

Parachutes?

[tomhath]

parachutes that can detect tearing

I suppose it might give a few more seconds to cut loose and deploy a backup. But mostly I expect it would be used send a signal where to start digging to find the body.

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[Greyfox]

I reckon it'd allow it to cut loose on its own. That might be the big win there. The couple of times I've had problems with my parachute, it was pretty clear immediately that something was wrong. But we do get the occasional fatality where someone thought they could fix it and ended up fighting it into the ground. Of course, that's all fun jumping. Things are a bit different in the military world.

Not needed

[nospam007]

"and parachutes that can detect tearing,"

My parachute alerts me to tearing by reaching terminal velocity.

Comment

[WallyL]

I can see the story now:

Colonel: Sergeant, where is Johnson?
Sergeant: Sir, Johnson deployed with us to the combat zone, with full suit battery. At approximately 17:00 Zulu his armor rebooted for updates and an enemy combatant targeted his de-camoed pattern. We can only suspect, sir, that Johson forgot to disable OTA updates for his BioWear 1.0.20160821 Electronic Armored Uniform (TM).