[IDontLikeToPayTaxes]

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.

WOW! Is this stuff just something on a drawing board, or can we expect to see actual prototypes a some point?

[Centurion2000]

I believe that some of this is already at the prototype stage.

[B-Chan]

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?