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Dow Corning helps Army develop high-tech battle suit
AP ^ | 8/25/2003

Posted on 08/25/2003 11:19:53 AM PDT by presidio9

Edited on 04/13/2004 1:41:05 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

Call it Superman meets the Terminator meets Predator meets Universal Soldier. A futuristic battle suit being designed by Dow Corning, the U.S. Army and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology would, among other advantages, give soldiers the ability to leap tall walls with a single bound, blend in to various backgrounds with the push of a button and repel bullets.


(Excerpt) Read more at usatoday.com ...


TOPICS: Announcements; Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: dowcorning; futurewarrior; miltech; mit; nanotech; utah
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To: Liberal Classic
THAT was fascinating book, very philisophical as well as science fiction.
41 posted on 08/25/2003 5:19:16 PM PDT by Aric2000 (If the history of science shows us anything, it is that we get nowhere by labeling our ignorance god)
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To: The Black Knight
Too busy hiding in the bunker.
Damn deathclaws :D
42 posted on 08/25/2003 5:29:33 PM PDT by Saturnalia (My name is Matt Foley and I live in a VAN down by the RIVER.)
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To: presidio9

That's all I have to say about it...

MD

43 posted on 08/25/2003 5:53:13 PM PDT by MikeD (He lives! He walks! He conquers!)
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To: montag813
The big question: WHAT WILL POWER IT???



Methanol-power fuel cells would have the highest power to weight ratio.
44 posted on 08/25/2003 6:48:47 PM PDT by WOSG
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To: Saturnalia
Deathclaws? Come on, a Vindicator or Avenger would do the job, but I always liked the Power Armor with the Turbo Plasma Rifle. When the army gets stuff like that, i may reconsider that as a walk of life. Maybe I'll get into the Brotherhood after the Bomb.

:D
45 posted on 08/25/2003 7:03:41 PM PDT by The Black Knight
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To: Aric2000
Definately one of my all time favorites. A lot of people didn't like the Jack Crow chapters, but I don't think it would be the same book without them. It's interesting to compare Armor and Starship Troopers. Despite the obvious similarities in setting they are polar opposites on many different levels. I may have to write a book report to myself. :)
46 posted on 08/25/2003 7:18:28 PM PDT by Liberal Classic (Quemadmoeum gladis nemeinum occidit, occidentis telum est.)
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To: The Black Knight
I was trying to find an image of the "Big Metal Unit" from Baldur's Gate II, but I can't locate it yet.
47 posted on 08/25/2003 7:21:09 PM PDT by Maigrey (Proud member of Logan's Legion (Have you had your Logan Fix today?))
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To: Liberal Classic
LOL, indeed, Armour was fascinating, and it would be missing something without the Jim Crow chapters in it.

I will have to read it again, I just reread Starship troopers for the thousandth time it seems last week.

I will have to search my bookshelf for Armour, I know it's there, because I saw it the other day.

I like Starship Troopers better, but I am a HUGE Heinlein fan, have 95% of his books, missing a few of the older less in print ones, but I will find them...
48 posted on 08/25/2003 8:11:23 PM PDT by Aric2000 (If the history of science shows us anything, it is that we get nowhere by labeling our ignorance god)
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To: The Black Knight
Bah, give me a spinfusor any day of the week.
Tribes=ROCK
49 posted on 08/26/2003 3:24:22 AM PDT by Saturnalia (My name is Matt Foley and I live in a VAN down by the RIVER.)
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To: presidio9
Show me a bulletproof suit, and I'll pop that balloon. Better living through superior ballistics.
50 posted on 08/26/2003 10:22:47 AM PDT by TexasRepublic (Liberal = Socialist = Communist)
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To: montag813
The big question: WHAT WILL POWER IT???


51 posted on 08/27/2003 11:32:40 AM PDT by archy (Keep in mind that the milk of human kindness comes from a beast that is both cannibal and a vampire.)
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To: Gunslingr3
Saw them playing with one on Ermey's Mail Call. They were showing off how the laser range finder lets the trooper put a 20mm explosive round through a window and put holes in the guys hiding inside. Works the same way 'around' corners and walls. Bad ass.

The civilian ordnance technician killed when the OICW round detonated as soon as it exited the muzzle of the weapon he was test demonstrating would undoubtedly agree with you that they can be *bad-ass*, indeed. But you will need a Ouija board to contact him.

52 posted on 08/27/2003 11:36:44 AM PDT by archy (Keep in mind that the milk of human kindness comes from a beast that is both cannibal and a vampire.)
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To: .cnI redruM
Not quite starship troopers yet. The suit is too light on the armor because it lacks 'waldoes' to enhance human limb power, but it will internalize all the electronics from hand-held and weapon mounted equipment by weaving them into the uniform itself and help aclimatize soldiers to a wider range of environmental conditions.

We're working on the *waldoes* and exoskeletal features, too. These are in the baby steps stage right now, but we're getting there.


53 posted on 08/27/2003 11:40:37 AM PDT by archy (Keep in mind that the milk of human kindness comes from a beast that is both cannibal and a vampire.)
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To: dts32041
Cause someone is going to have to put muddy boots on the ground with their pink bod.

Classwork assignment, Warbots series Author HG Stine.

Carry on

For extra credit: Aviation thriller writer Dale Brown's stray into advanced ground combat Tin Man:


54 posted on 08/27/2003 11:45:26 AM PDT by archy (Keep in mind that the milk of human kindness comes from a beast that is both cannibal and a vampire.)
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To: archy
The civilian ordnance technician killed when the OICW round detonated as soon as it exited the muzzle of the weapon he was test demonstrating would undoubtedly agree with you that they can be *bad-ass*, indeed. But you will need a Ouija board to contact him.

Bummer. I guess that's the first time something like that has ever happened? Imagine hundreds of years of developing firearms, and now an accident. Back to chucking spears...

55 posted on 08/27/2003 11:47:46 AM PDT by Gunslingr3
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To: montag813
Remember what happened to the soldiers in Starship Troopers when the suit ran out of power? They became frozen in place like a statue.

Which is what will happen within an hour or two unless we use nuclear. But enviro wackos will not allow it.

You are invited to note that research into the field of man-portable power augmentation is underway at the Tennessee Oak Ridge Laboratories facilities. They have some small past interest in nuclear power research, as well as other promising technologies.


56 posted on 08/27/2003 11:49:21 AM PDT by archy (Keep in mind that the milk of human kindness comes from a beast that is both cannibal and a vampire.)
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To: The Black Knight
Oh, you mean the video games?

BWAAHHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, Yeah!
57 posted on 08/27/2003 11:49:57 AM PDT by .cnI redruM (Nothing Is More Vile Than A Blowhard With Halitosis! - redruM)
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To: LJPenney
So--why even use men at all??? Let's just create an army of robots! (Kinda Star Wars like.)

Swell idea.


58 posted on 08/27/2003 11:53:22 AM PDT by archy (Keep in mind that the milk of human kindness comes from a beast that is both cannibal and a vampire.)
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To: Gunslingr3
Bummer. I guess that's the first time something like that has ever happened? Imagine hundreds of years of developing firearms, and now an accident. Back to chucking spears...

Naw. The point is that when something like that happens, as it particularly often will if the preparatrory phases of such development are inadequate or slipshod, the resulting problems should be siezed upon and resolved, both preventing similar future incidents and ensuring that the lives of those lost in causing progress to occur were not in vain.

Instead, the OICW program's material was rewritten to indicate that no incidents of the sort involving military personnel had occured. And civilian tech engineerss are easily enough replaced anyway, I guess; the damn things breed like rabbits.

-archy-/-

59 posted on 08/27/2003 11:59:13 AM PDT by archy (Keep in mind that the milk of human kindness comes from a beast that is both cannibal and a vampire.)
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To: archy
Without knowing anything about the accident, it sounds like the round blew at 1m instead of whatever if was set at (hopefully it can't be set at something that short). You remember a trooper in Afghanistan had to replace batteries in his GPS, when it reinitialized it had the present (local) coordinates. He transmitted those by mistake and got a bomb dropped on himself and his comrades. These kinds of accidents suck, but we learn from them, correct them if possible, and press on.
60 posted on 08/27/2003 12:06:51 PM PDT by Gunslingr3
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