Military Uses 'Bat-Hook' To Tap Power From Lines 282
Zothecula writes "As soldiers are fitted out with more and more electrical sytems to extend their capabilities, they become increasingly dependent on the power needed to run them. Since soldiers in the field don't always have ready access to an electrical outlet when they need to top up the batteries, the US Air Force has developed a device that taps directly into the electricity flowing through overhead power lines ... a kind of bat-hook for real-life superheroes."
DO NOT try this at home folks (Score:4, Insightful)
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Try this at home, and you might just be a superhero:
THE FLASH
(at least briefly).
Seriously: DO NOT TRY THIS!
Even residential lines are many tens of thousands of volts, and will flash-fry you!
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could work, if the cape have strands of some material or other that will go rigid when electrically charged.
Tho it would be more like a hang-glider then actually flying unless one also pack some kind of miniature jet or rocket.
Prior art? (Score:4, Interesting)
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India's economy is so strong that half of its electricity is FREE!
Re:Prior art? (Score:4, Insightful)
What are you smoking? You can't make a claim like that and expect it to be believed without sources. Most (all?) power plants have crews monitoring voltage and frequency output and responding by bringing generators on or offline depending on the needs of the grid.
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Prior art in Mexico as well - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1327515/posts [freerepublic.com] Please don't tell me the US Military actually spent MONEY to DEVELOPE this technology.
New tech but not new idea (Score:2)
The addition of the spike to get through insulated lines is a nice addition, but I don't know that its really needed, some how I imagine the places where this will get used don't bother with such things as insulation. Its a common practice to steal power in 3rd world countries to just toss a cable over the nearest powerline. I've seen pictures of streets in slums where the powerlines just look like spaghetti from all the cables just draped over them.
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the post "Prior art?" has exactly the image I was thinking of
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If you didn't have insulation on these cables, then the live & ground would just short out at the source as they are twisted together.
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My point was that where this device is tapping electricity from, the live conductors are definitely insulated.
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I'd like to see how you get two hots and a neutral out of 2 wires.
Retrieval? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Retrieval? (Score:5, Funny)
Why are you worrying about that?!
The *real* issue is that there's going to be a HOLE in the INSULATION. The extremely-high-pressure electricity is going to SPEW OUT. The whole CITY will be FLOODED with electricity, unless someone turns off the MAIN VALVE.
Conserve energy - prevent electricity leaks.
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I hate it when my copper rusts away like that man.
He formed a thin oxide layer to resist further corrosion, surely?
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It'll be degrading and rusting once that insulator gets compromised! :3
I did not expect it from *them* (Score:2, Interesting)
Army? Yes.
Marines? Sure.
The Air Force? I wasn't expecting that!
How far do the Air Force guys get from airplanes and hangars and runways? It seems like they don't really have the same type of "field" that the land based grunts do.
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Less weird than it sounds (Score:5, Informative)
Most Air Force critters aren't pilots. Plus, Air Force Para-Rescue as well as Forward Air Controllers are specialized grunts who happen to work for the Air Force. The military is full of weird situations like this. For example, the Army operates 119 vessels [defensenews.com] (we're not talking about inflatable rafts here).
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Most Air Force critters aren't pilots. Plus, Air Force Para-Rescue as well as Forward Air Controllers are specialized grunts who happen to work for the Air Force. The military is full of weird situations like this. For example, the Army operates 119 vessels [defensenews.com] (we're not talking about inflatable rafts here).
As I recall, during WWII, the Japanese Army operated its own submarines because they hated the Japanese Navy too much to ask for a loaner when needed.
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Yeah if memory serves, their military was very territorial and did not play well together. I seem to remember reading that they refused to share knowledge between their flight schools, so Army and Navy aviators were completely incapable of sharing their experiences. Their Navy also maintained huge numbers of troops because they didn't trust the Army to fight on land.
Of course, that's nothing compared to the complete separation between their military and diplomatic corps. That was literally two organizati
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That musta been an interesting phone conversation.
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Mostly chopper jockeys, unlike the Marines which operate almost everything short of of B-52 bombers ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_United_States_Marine_Corps_aircraft_squadrons [wikipedia.org] ).
Is this legal? (Score:4, Funny)
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> Will the military have a special contract with the power companies to let them do this?
Probably not a big issue when you have a lot of guns and are invading the country in question.
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Probably not a big issue when you have a lot of guns and are invading the country in question.
One of the first things they did in Iraq was to knock out the power. Currently, it's probably only useful in occupied countries with working electricity. I wonder if such a thing would be prohibited by either the Third or Fourth Amendments even overseas (I guess it depends whether you were "in a time of peace" for the Third Amendment and the seizure was considered "unreasonable" for the Fourth Amendment).
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Silent enim leges inter arma. [wikipedia.org]
--Cicero, Pro Tito Annio Milone ad iudicem oratio [wikipedia.org]
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Re:Is this legal? (Score:5, Insightful)
Well the article says this is for special ops forces, which basically means that they are in Country X without an invitation, usually to kill people and break things. So recharging their iPhones seems to pale in comparison.
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Well the article says this is for special ops forces, which basically means that they are in Country X without an invitation, usually to kill people and break things.
You do realize that the role most often played by Special Forces is training and advising indigenous military forces, right? Special Forces includes everything from Rangers to Delta and Dev Group. Ever read "Inside Delta Force"? At least half their time is spent training the military forces of other states, or protecting high value targets like embassies or diplomats. Most of the time they are present in another state, they are there with at least the tacit knowledge and acceptance of that government.
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I'd assume they're recharging radios, GPS devices, or even a Predator ground station, not an iPhone ;)
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Um, if you are at war with a country, do you really care if you are stealing electricity or now?
Re:Is this legal? (Score:4, Interesting)
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When you have invaded a nation, stealing a little of their power is not really a legal problem.
If you are protecting your nation that has been invaded, stealing a little power is not really a legal problem.
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It's a good thing... (Score:5, Funny)
It's a good thing that they are just tapping in to get free electricity... rather than tapping into networks to get free music downloads, otherwise the U.S. Military could be liable for trillions of dollars.
Odd, Dangerous, unlikely (Score:4, Insightful)
This seems odd if you ask me. Anytime the US military assaults a populated area the first thing to disappear is the power grid.
Once they hold an area, they could just step into any building and get all the power they need. Who's going to say no?
Seems this is designed to be used for clandestine operations, where they need a fairly substantial amount of power from a power system they know is still operational.
But look at the size of the cable notch and you can see this is to tap into building feed lines (entrance lines), its not big enough for high tension lines, (which generally aren't rubber coated any way). Any line small enough to fit in that notch
Does that mean this is planned for suburban/residential areas or locations where there are building feed lines overhead? Some of the images on the linked page seem to show this (the unshielded cable in the images being for suspension only, and the other two conductors for power).
Yet that kind of entrance is not all that common in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, so one wonders if this isn't for domestic use in disaster relief situations where no one will begrudge them the power.
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"High Tension"
I.e., high-voltage.
You're not going to run your laptop off of 100 kV.
So yes, this is designed for the distal end of the grid.
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Maybe once...
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Anytime the US military assaults a populated area the first thing to disappear is the power grid.
From TFA, this was requested by special operations critters. They and other secret squirrels are in, snooping around, way before the power grid is taken out by air strikes. This thingie is meant for them, not regular troops.
Once they hold an area, they could just step into any building and get all the power they need.
. . . if they hadn't destroyed the power grid as mentioned above. Oops. "Unpack the diesel generator, Scotty."
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The odd thing is, you have to be very close to buildings to grab power off of their feed lines. Likely to be noticed. Unless they take over a rural dwelling, how could they install this without being caught? Any place they might use this is a place that would be very public and hard to get away with.
And just how much power to special opps guys need anyway?
It would be easier to steal power from someones car battery to recharge your stuff.
Does this Device Work on High Voltage Lines? (Score:2)
The article doesn't detail whether this is for tapping power from single phase household drops only, which I assume is the case ... or can it also be used to tap higher voltage lines?
Ron
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nearly useless (Score:2)
This would only work on the low voltage line between the pole mounted transformer and the building it is connected to. Trying to use it on a transmission line, even a small one in the woods would result in high voltage being fed to the device and likely whoever is holding it. In this case why not plug into an outdoor outlet, or just go inside and borrow the use of an outlet., shelter, etc.
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Anyone else... (Score:2)
Anyone else see this and get a flashback for Thicknet Vampire taps?
More useless devices (Score:2)
Your tax dollars at work, because in war time there is always electricity flowing in the power lines everywhere. It's not one of the first, if not THE first, thing to go.../sarcasm
Just One Problem: Power's Out in War Zones (Score:4, Interesting)
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You post this on Veterans day? Pitty I already posted in this thread and can't use my mod points :(
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Blame the one (politicians) wielding the sword, not the sword itself.
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Fine line there chief. I almost joined the Air Force Reserves as a loadmaster, as I wanted to help on peaceful/humanitarian missions moving supplies to where they're needed (I dig logistics quite a bit). Once you're in for X number of years, what happens when the political winds change and some asshole like Bush is in charge? You don't get to opt out all of a sudden just because the "contract" has materially changed.
Oppose the war, support the good the armed forces has the capability to do.
I don't know of a
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I have a lot of respect for anyone willing to risk their life to try to make our country safer, and whether or not they actually make us safer is irreleva
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In real life, it's actions that matter, not words. The tons of propaganda we get dumped on us daily about how the military is "protecting us" doesn't change the fact that they are not, in fact, protecting us, but rather enforcing our control over foreigners we ha
Re:Yeah right. (Score:5, Interesting)
What I blame is the Military Industrial Complex, the politicians that pander to it, the ex-pentagon/military officers that retire to cushy jobs lobbying for the Industrial Giants that have raped and pillaged our government (and the tax payer in particular), and the self serving representatives who have played at war for no other reason than to justify pumping the vast majority of America's resources into this immoral, objectionable, enterprise.
Soldiers are men and women (most from poor economic situations) who have chosen for the most part to sacrifice themselves for the greater good of defending our nation in war, and healing our nation in times of disaster. For these people I have nothing but the greatest of respect. The sad fact is that in the most recent conflicts we've fought, the largest single cause of death or injury is not from the enemy, but all the problems and mishaps that come from moving large numbers of young people around with weapons, and having them live in constant state of near terror. Our leaders have done a piss poor job of protecting and honoring our soldiers. While publicly honoring our fighting men and women, the last administration cut funding for critical medical care to returning soldiers, and failed to make absolutely certain that those soldiers were being properly taken care of. Every expert on the subject has proclaimed the need for providing our soldiers with psychiatric counseling and care to alleviate PTSD and ease them back into civilian life. To this day, such service is being virtually ignored. The one thing in our military most neglected by our representatives, has consistently been our soldiers. Its an insult to their sacrifice.
Our country spends more on it's weapons of mass destruction, than the next top 27 military countries on the planet combines. Simply said, it's killing us. The sane answer would be to create a small highly mobile team of experts with insanely advanced cutting edge military technology, so at the first hint of trouble, they could make powerful tactical strikes. We live in a time when the greatest threat to America, is not hostile nations, but rogue international organizations (usually religious or politically based.) Our current military is almost useless in the face of that kind of enemy. We could keep a relatively small arsenal of ICBMs, for larger global threats. Dismantle the rest, reduce our army/navy/marines/air force to 10% of it's current size, and then outfit that 10% with space age technology. We build a robotic, fly by wire fighting force, so the number of soldiers in the field are reduced by another 90%. Finally we make certain we have a huge National Guard (in particular, we could cycle huge numbers of non-violent men and women out of prisons) to ensure our safety in case of a catastrophic event either natural or man-made.
In doing this, we still have the strongest militarily on the planet, but it costs us 80% less, its orders of magnitude more mobile, easier to scale and apply to specific situations, and for Americans, less likely to be the source of needless casualties on the field (ours or theirs.)
Of course it would demand that we change our focus from making a buck, to doing the right thing, serving our nation, promoting the common defense, and ensuring domestic tranquility. It saddens me to see that our greed centric society has made suffering, moral degradation, and religious fanaticism the gross national product.
Re:Yeah right. (Score:4, Insightful)
And yet, they still do a (mostly) thankless job, at great personal risk, which you or I would be unwilling to do. Much of what they do is good, some of what they do are for reasons which we might disagree with... they're still courageous.
Re:Yeah right. (Score:4, Insightful)
Military is the only profession where part of your job description is to give your life for others if necessary. Not to mention that it's a very hard job and for not that much money. I think they deserve a bit of credit, considering that they protect your interests as determined by the politicians that you elect, who are actually the ones who control what our military does and who they invade or not invade. If you disagree with a particular war, fine, blame the politicians who started it. By calling the soldiers murderers, you are no better than the ignorant hippie pieces of shit who spat on the crippled Vietnam veterans and called them baby killers.
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It makes me sad that you were modded as flamebait.
You're totally right. Hate on the politicians and leadership, but the individuals who actually pick up a rifle and go off to war deserve nothing but respect. It's a high stress job, we ask them to do things that no person should ever have to do. Some of those guys snap, make mistakes and do things that we wished they hadn't. The vast majority handle that burden with honor and class.
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Military is the only profession where part of your job description is to give your life for others if necessary
I think there are policemen and fire fighters who would disagree with you.
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You're entitled to you opinion. But only because of that military.
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Blaming the military when it's the politicians is not a way to role-model rational behavior.
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Both Bush and Obama said the following "I'll go with what the commander on the ground says is best" Fucking google it.
Both Bush and Obama promised tax relief and all kinds of other bullshit they had no intention of delivering, like pretty much all of their predecessors. When you have a point, make it.
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You're making the assumption that a strong military invokes blood lust.
something about having a hammer and only seeing a lot of nails maybe?
Parity tends to produce cooperation, overwhelming superiority tends to produce arrogance towards those you are superior too.
Do you seriously thing we would have invaded Iraq if we didn't know our military could kick the crap out of them? (note this is different than actually planning for the consequences of *after* kicking the crack out of them which we didn't do either).
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We invaded Iraq because W and his co-conspirators planned to invade Iraq all along. Nothing to do with glory and the military; everything to do with their personal ambitions and finding a way to put a trillion dollars in Halliburton's hands.
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Grenada and Panama: What did I say about Republicans?
Dominican: We were there to prevent the place from imploding. We didn't invade just to show off our boys in uniform.
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Call of Duty games glorify violence and murder. Movies glorify violence and murder. Politicians glorify violence and murder. To my experience, the people in the military themselves are just people doing a job and hoping to stay alive.
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I'll agree with you on your second set of statements, but just because they're doing their job doesn't excuse them. They are invading a country where they aren't wanted and are murdering people.
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Until they're preventing the same happening to you, or others. Then you'd be happy for them.
Re:Yeah right. (Score:5, Insightful)
They are invading a country where they aren't wanted and are murdering people.
And we are responsible for sending them there.
Own up to the fact that we have let our political leadership run wild with our recent wars. The military answers to Civilian authority. Soldiers very literally have no ability to refuse their orders. This is ingrained in them from the moment they enter basic training. Civilian authorities like that because it means we can send these guys to do our bidding while publicly denouncing the horrendous necessity of their existence.
They are doing exactly what our political leadership is asking them to do. Our political leadership is elected by people like you and me. You can't put those atrocities on them without accepting equal responsibility for allowing it to happen.
But if it makes you feel good about yourself to shit on these guys on Veterans day, go right ahead.
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I'm sure that's exactly what those prisoners at Auschwitz thought when Allied soldiers showed up. That's certain one particular example, but nearly every war in history has been fought for far more complex reasons than simply because a bunch of guys were bloodthirsty.
Unfortunately you have a simplistic and unrealistic impression of how the world works.
Soldiers don't do any of the things you suggest. The entertainme
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You're looking at it wrong. Criminals just glorify violence and illegalized murder.
Re:Yeah right. (Score:4, Insightful)
I never said they weren't necessary, but we shouldn't revel in their actions. And yes, like you say, sometimes they are doing what they do for the greater good. Many times it is just needless interventionism though.
Re:Yeah right. (Score:4, Insightful)
If you're not going to give them a parade, then you need to pay them more.
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"I never said they weren't necessary, but we shouldn't revel in their actions."
That depends on the specific action. It is good that violence is effectively and usefully applied to some people.
Effective application of violence is selected for by evolution, both biological and social. Our taboos against specific sorts of violence are useful for the maintenance of social order, but lets not pretend those taboos are more important than the evolutionary imperative of dominance and the survival imperative of kill
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No I'm not - but by choosing to join the military you are supporting 'preemptive murder'. You are going over there and killing people who (I assume) you strongly suspect are a threat to you. Unfortunately that threat is subjective - the only time I'd say you are justified in killing someone is self defense. Unfortunately, YOU ARE THE INVADER and they are defending themselves from you, not the other way around. By attacking them you are only inciting more hate toward your country and inspiring the populous t
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Re:Now.. (Score:4, Informative)
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People have done it here too... we call it... stealing power.
Yes, you can steal power from lines, you can even do it via induction.
Also... inverter? You only use an inverter to go from DC to AC. It was probably a small power transformer.
-Steve
Why use a wire? (Score:4, Interesting)
Just grab through the air from overhead power lines.
http://www.bris.ac.uk/news/2004/360 [bris.ac.uk]
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Don't confuse those who serve (Score:3, Interesting)
with those who give the orders. Soldiers do. The vast majority (five nines thank you) are the best we have to offer. Why? Because they are willing to do what has to be done regardless of personal costs. I am a bit bias, I did four years back in the eighties, but honestly, these people are special in many ways. Most would never brag, most have core sets of values they really do live up to. They do far more than message board bitchers will ever do.
Look, they aren't perfect, but I respect the least of
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but honestly, these people are special in many ways.
With the decline in recruitment and the subsequent reduction of requirements to where the army lets in high school dropouts and convicted felons, I wouldn't be surprised if they've also got a few of the special ed kids.
Why not? (Score:2)
Each of those three AC wires still has potential relative to ground. They only need to tap into one and use an appropriate transformer.
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Special ops, not Mission Impossible.
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Sure, but any one of the phase wires will do. The device has a small spike on it to puncture the insulation.
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Residential electricity (typically) doesn't use all three phases, they just tap one of the phases then lower the voltage via a transformer. The same can be done with this hook. All you need is one connection to one wire, with ground, and you're good.
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TFA even says the insulation piercing probe is one side of the circuit, and the metal body makes contact with the un-insulated messenger cable, which is typically ground/neutral.
All of this changes in countries that don't use the north american power standard, though.