JIN Stays in the Lamp

JIN: up in smoke?
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DID recently noted DRS and Ionatron’s directed energy weapons agreement, with DRS’ role revolving around vehicle integration technologies. In June 2005, DID covered the Joint IED Neutralizer by Ionatron, which uses a directed energy discharge to zap IED land mines. The vehicles were to be sent to Iraq, where IEDs are one of the top threats to soldiers’ lives.

Now Defense Tech reports that the vehicles performed well but have been turned down by the US Army, which is looking to remount the technology in more standard military vehicles rather than the prototype vehicles Ionatron used. One hopes there are more intelligent and compelling reasons behind this decision than the ones reported by Defense Tech.