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.
Grey power ranger.
Big deal... Anubis has hundreds of these.
It is pretty neat though. The average soldier will never get this because it’ll cost a mint.
Something more realistic would be advisable
As the author basically says, if we can manage just a few of these things, it will be a good thing, and putus even farther ahead of anyone else.
LISTER is in the bottom bunk, CAT in the top one. KRYTEN and RIMMER are slumped over the table. All are asleep.
With a bleep, KRYTEN bumps the remote control and switches the message playback on. Jim REAPER's face appears on the screen.
REAPER: Lease-holder addendum: Do not despair, Kryten's replacement is on his way.
REAPER's image disappears, and is replaced by that of an android -- much like KRYTEN, but wearing a black helmet.
REAPER: Hudzen 10 is the new state-of-the-art in android technology! Ten times faster than any android on the market!
HUDZEN demonstrates, by using heat-vision to roast a chicken in 2 seconds flat.
REAPER: Ten times smarter than it's nearest rival!
HUDZEN pulls up a blackboard and scribbles some very complex-looking sums on it.
REAPER: And ten times stronger.
HUDZEN produces a brick. He places it between his thighs out of shot and gives a single pelvic thrust. He then holds up the two halves of the brick.
REAPER: Hudzen 10 -- there's never been anything tougher! _The_ ultimate machine!
The recording switches off as KRYTEN stirs and, with some effort, raises his head from the table.
Great... How does it fare against VBIEDs, Frags, and RPGs?
They'll restrict it to just the BATF
How fast can you take that off when the tube of ham and lima beans rations kick in?
I read an interesting article recently...with the advent of of technology (related to OLED’s) that may make it possible to display images on fabric, a uniform could be fashioned to scan the terrain/background behind a soldier, and electronically generate camoflage to be displayed on the front of the soldier, making them nearly invisible (Simultaneously doing the same for the back by scanning the front.
Shades of Predator! I know it sounds outlandish, but think of all the things we have now that would have been considered outlandish just 50 years ago.
Somehow....the ODST(Orbital-Drop Shock Troopers) from HALO 2 spring to mind (the resemblence is unmistakable).
Kinda like the videogame Halo?
None of this crap matters if gutless politicians desperate for UN/Eurocrats to like them won’t allow our soldiers to fight back.
Imperial storm troopers come to mind (somehow).
“Jean-Louis DeGay”
This poor guy had to catch crap by the bucketload over his name!
Yeah. It IS all future stuff, but one thing is certain:
In a world where our country blanches at the concept of a single casualty, outfitting elite troops in this kind of equipment for special missions is not out of the question.
Also, with built in load carrying enhancements, and a suit that can detect an injury and isolate, treat and transmit health status would be very, very valuable.
I want any battles our troops are in to be as one sided as possible, to the point of being ridiculous. If even 1/100th of what they talk about comes to pass...it would be a good thing.
Once we make our military invencable who will protect us from our tyranical government?
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