Natick Labs photo
The Natick Soldier Systems Center has developed a self-contained, electric kitchen that can be set up by two soldiers in half an hour without any special equipment. Natick Labs integrated off-the-shelf components for the kitchen, which can feed 300 soldiers three meals a day. Eighty-eight of the kitchens are being used in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Natick Labs.
The kitchens seem like a considerable upgrade from the previous method soldiers had been looking to cook — charcoal on wooden pallets. The soldiers had some recommendations after initial field tests, which Natick Labs says were implemented: the designers added a convection oven, black-out curtains and — just like grandma’s kitchen, storage space for weapons.
The restructuring eliminates the manned vehicle portion of the program, which didn’t fit with Defense’s focus on fighting counterinsurgencies in close quarters. Ground robotics, unmanned aerial drones, sensors and other modernization technologies will be handled by separate brigades, according to Defense.
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