Infantry: The Eyeball Grenade Sees All

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February 26, 2009:  Israel tested several new devices during their recent war with Hamas in Gaza. One of them, called "Bull Island", looks like a small hand grenade (it's about the size of a tennis ball). But it’s not an explosive, it's a wireless video camera, with multiple image sensors. Thus no matter which way the Bull Island grenade lands, the nearby soldiers can use a PDA type device to receive a usable image of what's inside the building, cave, around the corner or whatever. This sort of device is particularly useful when looking for booby traps, or to see if there's a guy with a gun in the room, or some petrified civilians. The Bull Island is built rugged, and can be reused many times.

A British firm is developing a similar device, that can also be fired from a grenade launcher. Apparently the Israeli device is just for throwing around.