Northrop Grumman lands contract to develop threat-sensing binoculars

DARPA has been talking up the idea of threat-sensing binoculars for some time now, but it looks like it’s now putting up a good chunk of cash to make ‘em a reality, with Northrop Grumman today announcing that it’s snagged a $6.7 million contract to further develop its Human-aided Optical Recognition/Notification of Elusive Threats (or HORNET) system. That’ll use electro-encephalogram electrodes placed on a soldier’s scalp to monitor their neural responses to the presence or absence of potential threats, which helps to train the system’s algorithms and ultimately alert them to threats before their mind is actually able to process the information (in theory, at least). Of course, there’s no indication as to when such a system might actually be put to use, and DARPA itself is still leaving itself a bit of wiggle room, with it only committing to the first 12-month phase of the project at the moment.

[Via Danger Room]