Portable armored wall system replaces sandbags.

• Position: TECHWIRE

Marines in Afghanistan might soon scrap the sandbags. Instead, they're snapping together armored walls that connect tike Legos.

The Marines Corps in December spent $797,400 on 14 kits of McCurdy's Armor, a patent-pending portable wall system. The service has already tested 25 kits.

The 6.5-foot-tall units can be assembled into bulletproof walls and forts--a process that can take less than an hour. This could save days' worth of work digging trenches, laying sandbags and constructing outposts, according to the manufacturer, New Jersey-based Dynamic Defense Materials. "We've seen them used on everything from a podium to a guard tower to a long wall," says Joe Dimond, a product specialist for the company.

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The product offers protection from mortars, grenades, rockets and improvised explosive devices. It has aluminum frames that connect using steel pins, and the units...