The ToughBook That Took A Bullet For Its Country

A bit of an old story is coming to the surface as Panasonic is waving around pictures of a CF-M34 ToughBook which a soldier in the US 82nd Airborne division took with him into Northern Iraq, only to have some inconsiderate... person... put a bullet into it. The good news ? The bullet went through the screen and part of the keyboard, but didn’t come out the other end to do any harm to any piece of US military property on the far side.

Impressive, no ? Well, probably. Pretty much anything dense enough can stop a bullet, if you’re lucky and depending on the calibre, rifle, range, angle it hits and whether or not Murphy is smiling on you or not. Besides which, the soldier would presumably be wearing body armor if he were in action. But this is a very good poster picture for Panasonic, as the ToughBook is a pretty... err, tough, piece of kit, well suited to harsh soldier life (though I’d bet my last schilling it’s not fully soldier proof. There’s always something you can think to do that’d wreck even a ToughBook.)

By the looks of the hole the bullet was all out of power by the time it impacted upon the unfortunate computer. I would find it an interesting experiment to take a working ToughBook or ten down to a range and see what other holes we can put into them. In the meantime the protection of a ToughBook will set you back $2,000+ The good old fashioned Bible in your pocket might be a better option on an infantryman’s pay.