Armour-clad and armed to the teeth, this is the soldier of the (near) future
Posted on 04/09/2007 6:15:08 PM PDT by Tatze
U.S. military develops Robocop armour for soldiers
By MATTHEW HICKLEY, Defence Correspondent
22:21pm on 9th April 2007
We may have seen it all before in science-fiction films. But the bionic warrior is in fact a vision of real-life warfare in the 21st century. U.S. defence chiefs hope to have their troops kitted out in the outlandish combat gear as soon as 2020.
Included in the Pentagon's Future Warrior Concept are a powerful exoskeleton, a self-camouflaging outer layer that adapts to changing environments and a helmet which translates a soldier's voice into any foreign language.
Armour-clad and armed to the teeth, this is the soldier of the (near) future
The future soldier will also benefit from 'intelligent' armour, which remains light and flexible until it senses an approaching bullet, then tenses to become bulletproof.
Perhaps worryingly, several of the planned enhancements seem to owe more than a little to Hollywood blockbusters such as Robocop, Aliens and Predator.
But officials are quick to point out that many of these systems are already working in prototype form, or are refinements of proven technologies.
Some of the blueprints will be unworkable without eagerly awaited advances in nanotechnology, but researchers remain confident. And perhaps with good reason.
The sheer scale of U.S. military research spending and the pace of recent advances in aircraft stealth technology and guided precision bombs are staggering.
Project specialist Jean-Louis DeGay, a former captain in 75th Ranger Regiment, said: "We're already trialling equipment and technologies that did not exist a few years ago.
"The air force has just debuted its new stun gun and five years after the concept of an exoskeleton was first discussed, we have fully functioning prototypes."
He told Soldier magazine: "Five years ago, nobody thought we'd have a portable hydrogen fuel cell, but we've got them now.
"They're functioning, and we're just trying to make them smaller. And if I'm honest, nothing speeds up the development of technology like war."
If the U.S. military's vision of the future is even half-right, Britain's armed forces will have their work cut out trying to keep up.
Even comparatively understated attempts to improve our troops' battlefield technology, such as the Bowman digital battlefield radio system, have been blighted by years of delays and embarrassing technical blunders.
I’d like to double the size of our Military. Our Founders could not envisioned the World in which we live, but they gave us the tools to deal with it!
LLS
The reason for this is that the PPK is blowback operated; at the moment of firing the breech block is held in place against the barrel by only the force of a spring. When the cartridge fires, the equal and opposite reaction of the bullet and gasses going forward are opposed only by the lightweight breechblock which moves backwards at a relatively high speed. When it reaches the end of its travel and transfers that energy to the frame, you get a sharp snap to your palm.
A locked breech pistol mechanically links the breech and barrel for part of their rearwards travel, as such the rearwards recoiling mass is higher and its velocity lower. The barrel's rearward motion is arrested by the front of the frame while the breechblock and slide are still in motion, this splits the blow delivered to the frame (and from the frame to your hand) into two lesser parts seperated by some milliseconds.
It's all the same energy going in the same direction, the difference is the speed of delivery.
If the weapon is hanging loosely, what is the servo going to push against?
I corresponded with a guy from the BLEEX exoskeleton lab for a while. He told me the production-model suits would be sealed, airtight, and air-conditioned, this eliminating any ovheating problems as well as sealing the soldier off from chemical, bio, and radioactive materials.
One thing that most people miss is that these exoskeltons will be sat-linked and probably remote controllable. An unconscious casualty wearing an intact suit could be “walked” back to a medical station via remote control, or an empty suit could be walked into battle the same way.
WOW! Is this stuff just something on a drawing board, or can we expect to see actual prototypes a some point?
I believe that some of this is already at the prototype stage.
That's why our guys will leave behind the $2000 radios and opt for cheap, working $25 GMRS radios from Wal-Mart. They work.
Priorities for military hardware:
Oh, it’s going to happen. DARPA’s Exoskeletons for Human Performance Augmentation Program exhibited a prototype BLEEX 1 suit in December 2005; I wouldn’t be surprised if a BLEEX 2 prototype were already in the testing stages. By the time I’m ready to retire (2035 or so) our boys in the field will be wearing the first generation of what will amount to science-fiction powered armor.
DARPA has a lot of fascinating stuff going on: the Underwater Express program (”... will demonstrate stable and controllable high-speed underwater transport through supercavitation”), the Urban Photonic Sandtable Display (”a large holographic display to facilitate rapid and clear communication of intelligence for team-based mission planning and rehearsal”), and the Cormorant Unmanned Air Vehicle ( an unmanned combat aircraft designed to be launched from submarine aircraft carriers). And that’s just the stuff they’ll admit to publicly. Who knows what death rays, giant robots, and ontological bombs may be lurking in the shadows?
Obviously, a stock steadicam harness wouldn't work for a gun mount; that was my point. It would have to be far more rigid, or able to become more rigid. The whole point of a steadicam is to smooth out motion, to avoid any sharp jerks in the camera. With a gun, you want sharp motion -- you want the barrel to point where you want, NOW.
Yikes how scary if they turn on the US citizens!
Yikes how scary if they turn on the US citizens!
Just think folks if Hillary or the Lefty got into power?
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