British defense contractor designs Batmobile for military

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It seems that Hollywood may be on to something after all. According to Hisham Awad, Future Protected Vehicles project leader for British defense contractor BAE Systems, the Raider unmanned skirmisher was inspired by the Batmobile, or, more specifically, the Tumbler from the two most recent Batman flicks starring Christian Bale.

"Well, why not? In all seriousness, we decided that we didn't have a monopoly on inspiration, and if we saw something in a film that we thought might be a good idea, why not take a look at it and see if there's something practical we can develop?"

That's a sound argument. "It turns like a motorbike and it has the same wheel configuration," says Awad, though we also note a somewhat more conspicuous machine gun up top. Apparently, such a Hollywood/military connection isn't all that rare – today's troop carriers are said to be modeled after the armored vehicles from Aliens.

So, what's next? Awad reportedly mentioned the Light Cycles from Tron, but we're leaning more in the direction of The Green Hornet's Black Beauty. Anybody got Kato on speed dial?

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Do they issue the soldiers with utility belts and baterangs??