Army to Speed High-Tech Gear Into Combat

The US Army has moved up the timetable for its high-tech weapons program, hoping to get new devices into the field by late 2010, 5 years ahead of its original schedule, Popular Mechanics reports. It’s also shifting focus away from conventional warfare tech like tanks and artillery and toward the communications and unmanned vehicles, including robots, infantry in Iraq and Afghanistan covet.

“We’re listening to our soldiers and commanders in the field, and we are giving them the capabilities they need—as fast as we can so that they can win in the current fight,” said the army chief of staff. (More Future Combat Systems stories.)