Space.com profiles U.S. military future tech
posted at 9:59 pm on January 4, 2007 by Allahpundit
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Picture a man staring glassy-eyed at his monitor, muttering “awesome” sotto voce as he scans the screen. That’s me. Right here, right now.
So awesome. Dare I say, dangerously awesome.
Within three years, soldiers could begin testing futuristic devices that make them each “an army of one” by granting them unprecedented capabilities, such as the ability to see through walls thanks to advanced radar scopes and super-protection and super-strength conferred by high-tech armor…
Next-generation helmets for 2010 will … integrate electronics that pick up vibrations from the skull and transmit sound directly into the head instead of using traditional microphones and earpieces. They will improve soldiers’ ability to discern varying sounds. “It doesn’t matter if you’re whispering or yelling, it can still hear you,” DeGay said…
The Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) at MIT is developing sensors integrated into battlesuits to detect chemical and biological weapons, as well as countermeasures against those threats when encountered. They are also working to integrate automated medical care into battlesuits, including splinting bones and CPR, and exploring the possibility of delivering medications such as vasopressin that will help minimize the risk of blood loss and hemorrhagic shock in injured soldiers.
How do ultrasound tourniquets, silicon solar-power panels stitched into fabrics, and real-time biomonitoring systems a la “Aliens” sound, hmm? Sound good?
I believe the word you’re looking for is “awesome.”
Here’s the most awesome part, though. I had to lie down for a minute to absorb the sheer awesomeness of it:
For the longer term, the government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is helping to develop head-to-toe body armor that also enhances the strength, endurance and speed of soldiers using combustion engine-driven hydraulics that behave as artificial muscles. The idea behind these “exoskeletons” is to help a lone armored soldier carry a weapon that would normally take a crew to operate, such as a machine gun. DARPA will deliver prototype exoskeletons to the U.S. Army for tests in 2008.
This is how U.S. soldiers are going to look in ten years or so. If the locals like us now, imagine how much they’ll love us when this rolls off the assembly line and turns up on patrol in Ramadi.
The goal? A zero-casualty war. That’s the only one the country will support anymore, so that’s what it’s going to take.
We may get there yet.
Update: The Koreans are always a step ahead. We’ll get there too.
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We still will need Luke and Hans to get the job done right.
bbz123 on January 4, 2007 at 10:04 PM
Calling Congress – pulling back from Iraq two early!
Entelechy on January 4, 2007 at 10:06 PM
A-W-E-S-O-M-E!
stonemeister on January 4, 2007 at 10:07 PM
I hope it’s air conditioned…
Zorro on January 4, 2007 at 10:07 PM
Awesome stuff.
Imagine the lethal force John Kerry could have been with such a getup?
I just hope the technology isn’t sold for campaign cash before it can be rolled out.
JammieWearingFool on January 4, 2007 at 10:08 PM
As people and as a country we should never aim to be liked.
Respect is so much better!
Entelechy on January 4, 2007 at 10:09 PM
Thats some terminator type sh*t right there! lol
EnochCain on January 4, 2007 at 10:09 PM
I’m geeking out on that article.
Whoa.
Slublog on January 4, 2007 at 10:11 PM
I love it,but still,the only way to be sure is to nuke them from space,really.
bbz123 on January 4, 2007 at 10:15 PM
Test them on the border.
right2bright on January 4, 2007 at 10:17 PM
Awe-yeah–dude–that’ll get enlisting in droves. I’d love to be a “Termanator” I’ll be bach!
auspatriotman on January 4, 2007 at 10:18 PM
I prefer feared.
JammieWearingFool on January 4, 2007 at 10:21 PM
This is the way I like my tax dollars spent.
Zero Casualty our side
Patton said it best: Don’t die for your country, make the other bastard die.
The future can’t get here fast enough.
Kini on January 4, 2007 at 10:21 PM
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
flipflop on January 4, 2007 at 10:27 PM
I LIKE IT and I want one
Kini on January 4, 2007 at 10:28 PM
Where was this stuff when I was a grunt!
Mojave Mark on January 4, 2007 at 10:28 PM
AP: The concept for most of these advances springs from a Hugo-Award-Winning book by Robert A. Heinlein — Starship Troopers, written in the mid-1950s. It is an extremely powerful book (if you haven’t read it), where the protagonists wear armored combat suits that allow the combat trooper to do neary everything (except scratch where it itches; Juan Rico, the hero, states in the book that if he ever finds a suit that lets him scratch an itch, he’ll marry it). Neat stuff.
So I was dreaming of this stuff since I was a teenager. It is pretty cool seeing the concepts come to life.
rmgraha on January 4, 2007 at 10:28 PM
That exoskeleton sounds Alien to me. I crack myself up.
infidel on January 4, 2007 at 10:29 PM
How is it when this stuff comes out, it all ends up on the open market? We invent this and every other country ends up with it, they dupicate it in China and we see it on sale at some dot com. The enemy meanwhile will be working on weapons to use against all this. Guess it is all good for “now”.
StuLongIsland on January 4, 2007 at 10:29 PM
Now if we can only have Phasers, like on Star Trek.
After all, my cell phone looks a lot like those communicators!
Beam me up Scotty!
Kini on January 4, 2007 at 10:32 PM
That is sweet!!!
However something tells me the author has been playing to much Unreal/Quake on his wearable computer.
F15Mech on January 4, 2007 at 10:35 PM
And if you think that the uniform looks cool and dangerous right now, just wait until Michelle models one for you (or KP, or MKH, or Bethany….). Wait. Stop. Can’t. Continue.
CyberCipher on January 4, 2007 at 10:40 PM
Stone-cold badass.
Absolutely. Amen.
hillbillyjim on January 4, 2007 at 10:40 PM
Revenge of the Heinlein.
spmat on January 4, 2007 at 10:44 PM
I have been reading of these kind of “battle suits” in science fiction for years now. It looks like science fact is catching up.
Never underestimate the influence of shows like Star Trek.
TwinkietheKid on January 4, 2007 at 10:49 PM
The guys on Star Trek were wussies.
EnochCain on January 4, 2007 at 10:50 PM
Regardless, always put your weapons where you can find them in the dark.
bbz123 on January 4, 2007 at 10:52 PM
Dude, I had a action figure in the 80s like this; of course at that time they were red and we called them the Crimson Guard.
- The Cat
MirCat on January 4, 2007 at 10:53 PM
I picture him saying, “Tell me the location of the rebel base,” as he holds a jihadi by the neck a foot off the ground.
Bill C on January 4, 2007 at 10:56 PM
Starship Troopers is on the reading lists of both the US Army and Marine Corps, and at four of the five military academies. There’s a very good chance that the generals making procurement decisions have read it.
The Monster on January 4, 2007 at 10:56 PM
Man I knew I retired too soon! I had to suffer through BDUs with the well-known (at least to other former army personnel as) “Elvis” collars. They sucked! BDUs in general sucked. Talk about a uniform that was NEVER meant for the field! The ACU was an improvement. Best uniform ever worn? Easy – the old OD green jungle fatigue with slanted pockets. Oh those were so comfortable and lightweight – even better the ACU.
armyvet on January 4, 2007 at 10:57 PM
As a woman I am not getting the same reaction as the guys..I am looking at that thinking…well..something else…as in..that is strangely attractive *LOL* I scare me sometimes!
labwrs on January 4, 2007 at 10:59 PM
I am not in favor of this sci fi gear. What we need in Iraq is less politics and a better plan like killing off these militias and death squads……
If the Ethiopian military could defeat the the jihadis in 2 weeks why can’t we defeat the secterian crazies??? Because the Ethiopians do not care what the un, msm, liberals etc. think.
These “suits” would have to be air conditioned as Rimadi in the summer gets up to 125 degrees.
robo on January 4, 2007 at 11:06 PM
The show, Future Weapons, is about to start a new season. Within a week or so they’ll start showing these things and more. They’re awesome, amazing, I want one or two, etc… you should see the new oxygen depleting cave bomb. Goes in the opening, and everything within like 2 MILES inside the cave dies. COOL. Guns that shoot around corners or go 6 feet past a window then explode…no more hiding.
shooter on January 4, 2007 at 11:07 PM
Oh yeah, these exo suits…you can run 25 to 30 MPH for miles.
shooter on January 4, 2007 at 11:08 PM
My Awesome-meter just broke into a dozen pieces. Then the pieces melted into a sort of soup. The soup then committed hara kari.
Sincerely,
The Independent Secular Conservative Military Member or ISCMM for short.
DeathtotheSwiss on January 4, 2007 at 11:11 PM
Bart – “Boys, girls, set your faces to stunned.”
Now just add chameleon light-bending nanotech to that suit & you’ve got a win-win situation.
Coronagold on January 4, 2007 at 11:17 PM
on another thought…
All this is good but the real question is (just what we always asked on the playground when we saw someone with new shoes), “Will they make you run faster and jump higher?”
armyvet on January 4, 2007 at 11:28 PM
As long as the future female war fighters look like this I am cool
liberrocky on January 4, 2007 at 11:32 PM
Saline, silicone or polyethylelne?
fogw on January 5, 2007 at 12:19 AM
Oh,biogenetics all the way fogw!
bbz123 on January 5, 2007 at 12:24 AM
If you build it,they….oh nevermind……
bbz123 on January 5, 2007 at 12:25 AM
What? No lightsaber? How many millions did we spend? I feel gipped….
Tim Burton on January 5, 2007 at 12:28 AM
All the high-tech in the world is no match for RoE and “Just War”.
Lazarus on January 5, 2007 at 12:37 AM
These go nicely with the theme!
redshirt on January 5, 2007 at 12:54 AM
Awesome, yes. But how long until someone sells the blueprints to China? Probably has already happened : (
gmoonster on January 5, 2007 at 12:58 AM
My first thought was… Well, Jammie beat me to it.
And my second thought was what Lazarus said.
LegendHasIt on January 5, 2007 at 1:06 AM
I know what you mean JWF. Howerver, I do fear China, Iran and North Korea, but I don’t respect them.
Maybe respect from fear?
Entelechy on January 5, 2007 at 1:22 AM
I can imagine a perfect world where our new exo-soldiers hunt down annoying robot-activists who look something like this, but with Mother Sheehan’s and Michael Moore’s heads on them.
Now that would be a fun thing to watch.
wordwarp on January 5, 2007 at 1:26 AM
Now, we need rocket thrusters and nuclear grenades (a la Starship Troopers), and full-spectrum radiated energy detection and sight-targeted, shoulder-mounted micro-pulse energy blaster (a la Predator) in the helmet. We’re almost there…
urbancenturion on January 5, 2007 at 1:39 AM
You guys are overlooking the fact that the Democrats are in charge now. The only military technology they’ll be interested in funding will be ways to surrender faster.
ReubenJCogburn on January 5, 2007 at 1:55 AM
What’s the point? If our leadership is unwilling to use our military effectively and insists on trying to be the nice guy while fighting a war, it doesn’t matter if we invent invisibility rings or attack frogs or whatthehellever.
Someone should re-invent the backbone.
hillbillyjim on January 5, 2007 at 1:59 AM
Better tech, designed to increase our soldiers’ survivability in the field, is always good. Likewise for improved tech that minimizes the chances of collateral damage. That said, the equipment, technology and tactics we already have are orders of magnitude superior to that required to accomplish our goals against any enemy available.
Now if politics would only step back and let them do what they are able to do.
For those who fear that publicizing these new toys will put the tech in the hands of our enemies, don’t worry. First, folks like those at DARPA do think that way, and keep the real candy stuff away from the public. This is always a valid question: If they’re showing us this, what else have they got that they aren’t telling us? I’d tell you but, well, you know…
Freelancer on January 5, 2007 at 3:15 AM
I predict our army will be all robots and will be run by our wimpy congress…….which will be our demise…sadly.
Highrise on January 5, 2007 at 4:15 AM
I must have this!
Viper1 on January 5, 2007 at 5:54 AM
Careful what you wish for, the Cylons have a plan..
Viper1 on January 5, 2007 at 5:55 AM
I hope it can detect another person’s heart rate, sweat glands and nervous system. Our Soldiers and Marines have to fight an enemy that doesn’t wear a uniform, they shoot at us from one house, drop their weapons and then walk around outside in plain view of our guys. No weapon? He must be a “civilian”. Move along, nothing to see here. Then he walks into another house, picks a prepositioned weapon and fires at our Troops. We need some way of sorting jihadi from innocent civilian. Maybe that should be allah’s job.
Anyway, the coolness factor is off the charts! Reminds me of Kurt Russell in the movie “Soldier”.
Labwrs, yeah, I guess us males are seeing somthing totally different than the females here! HA! We’re all either geeked out about it or we’re wishing we could wear that thing and kill some jihadis. You’re thinkin’ “Well HELLO there, Soldierboy … How YOU doin’?” haha
Tony737 on January 5, 2007 at 7:13 AM
lol….I watched that movie last night.
quax1 on January 5, 2007 at 7:36 AM
The idea behind these “exoskeletons” is to help a lone armored soldier carry a weapon that would normally take a crew to operate, such as a machine gun.
Um, since when don’t we carry machine guns?
I predict utter failure for this stuff. Nothing the military gave me ever operated flawlessly. I remember the computer in the ruck sack plan they had at one point, that was genius. Also loved any radios that required a new battery roughly every 7 seconds.
E5infantry on January 5, 2007 at 7:42 AM
I agree with E5. When I see an infantry private use it for 1 day straight without breaking it, I will believe it. I too remember Cingars fondly, when it worked. I asked for my PRC-77 back.
jcon96 on January 5, 2007 at 7:56 AM
HaHaHaHa, that’s great.
right2bright on January 5, 2007 at 9:01 AM
Okay, I’ve now changed my opinion on both the draft and the deployment of women in the infantry…
Though I also predict that there will not be a need to draft of male soldiers if the female troopers look like this.
Bob Owens on January 5, 2007 at 9:26 AM
WRT to the Koreans, just wanted to point out that not-so-dumb medical dummies have been in use in medical schools for many years, giving med students practice on everything from surgury to pelvic exams to listening to heart/breath sounds.
And who needs a machine gun, give them the phasors already!
taznar on January 5, 2007 at 9:45 AM
Many, many uses for this new technology.
Attila (Pillage Idiot) on January 5, 2007 at 9:47 AM
Better than what I watched last night. But what I watched might be more on-topic -anyone remember Robot Jox? War has been outlawed, so instead one person from each side straps themselves into a giant robot and they battle is out to see who wins the war.
taznar on January 5, 2007 at 9:56 AM
Regarding my prior post, I should have also pointed out the last paragraph of the linked article:
taznar on January 5, 2007 at 10:05 AM
We didn’t have these in Jimmah Carters army…! Heinlein, David Drake (Hammers Slammers), Gordon R. Dickson…you guys got it right. I think they need to be tested on the Marine Corps first, for survivability. You know, give a Marine two ball bearings and seal him in an empty room and he’ll lose one and break the other!
serenity on January 5, 2007 at 10:07 AM
Just like all of our “other” cool killing gadgets which we already have now, I ask why build it if we will never use it.
We should be dropping daisy cutters and slinging sidewinders off of global hawks instead of having our Marines walk around as human target of opportunity in the tin can, black water alleys of third world slums.
We can’t even muster up enough testicular fortitude to use conventional small arms to stave off armed invaders on our OWN borders, who really believes we’ll ever project overwhelming force on an enemy overseas and risk the tounge lashing of the UN and Dhimmi lovers for unproportional retaliation.
We don’t need silly gizmo costumes damnit, what we need are leaders like William Tecumseh Sherman, Chesty Puller and George Patton, men with clear visions, true conviction and the nads to make it happen.
Alden Pyle on January 5, 2007 at 10:37 AM
Sorry Pyle, they’re all gone. We only have beret sporters these days….
ScottG on January 5, 2007 at 10:58 AM
As with the “future weapons” series on Discovery. No point in having it; if you don’t have the will to use it. We don’t have the will.
lorien1973 on January 5, 2007 at 11:27 AM
Appropriate coming 100 years after Heinleins birth and just about 50 years after writing Starship Troopers. First the terrorists, then the bugs.
However, as cool as this is …
… is right.
We need more than gadgets, we need real leaders and we need the will to do what’s necessary. Cool as these proposed suits are (and they are cool to be sure), they won’t mean a thing without the stuff of which Alden writes.
thirteen28 on January 5, 2007 at 11:42 AM
E5 and jcon96, these will not be given to cannon fodder; they will be given to elite groups, such as Delta Force/Rangers/SEALS etc. That’s my guess.
archon2001 on January 5, 2007 at 11:43 AM
archon2001, these are for the regular GI Joes.
jdpaz on January 5, 2007 at 12:23 PM
labwrs, this is a serious thread, about a lethal topic, something about futuristic military equipment…I lost my train of thought :)
Entelechy on January 5, 2007 at 12:39 PM
jdpaz, I hope so. But this stuff seems expensive, and it will be several years before the grunts get the stuff. Again, I predict that special forces will be the initial recipients.
archon2001 on January 5, 2007 at 12:56 PM
Only “several” years, archon2001? Look at how long it takes the military to adopt anything. It will be at least ten years before even the Spec Ops troops get this equipment, and of course that assumes that Congress changes hands again-and that the Republicans are willing to put the money into it. Look what happened to the F-22 project, and how Congress has underfunded acquisition of the best fighter plane on the planet.
There are a lot of hurdles that this gear will need to overcome. First, the military has to get the funding for it, then the troops need to be taught how to use and maintain it. It will significantly increase a soldier’s capabilities (visions of a grunt hand-carrying a M2 .50 caliber machine gun or a Mark 19 full-auto grenade launcher dancing in my head), but when it breaks down-and that’s “when” not “if,” he will be worse than useless. And spare parts are all too often in short supply, in a war zone or not.
My take is that it is really neat stuff, but I am not looking for our soldiers to be wearing powered exoskeletons into battle in my lifetime. I could be wrong, though.
Lancer on January 5, 2007 at 1:31 PM
“What’s the point? If our leadership is unwilling to use our military effectively and insists on trying to be the nice guy while fighting a war, it doesn’t matter if we invent invisibility rings or attack frogs or whatthehellever.
Someone should re-invent the backbone.”
hillbillyjim on January 5, 2007 at 1:59 AM
Spurius Ligustinus on January 5, 2007 at 1:43 PM
I’ll be honest with you this sort of thing scares me. The fact that the equipment is getting so good that no civilian force could possibly with stand it is frightening. Granted we’ve been headed this way for a while, AND it’s necessary. I just hate that it IS necessary because when the wrong people get in control of our government (watches Pelosi take the gavel) and they decided to turn stuff like this on “dangerous groups who are so delusional that they worship a fictitious God who drives their every move and takes their loyalty more than the government itself” people like me … will die by the millions.
We’re not there yet, but consider the public atmosphere towards Christians at this moment and how many people are ok with being public about their hatred for such a non violent group that (even if annoying at times with their hard core beliefs) is almost entirely law abiding. In fact being law abiding is bred into our doctrine.
I fear for the day when the socialists shrill becomes more than a congressional majority and becomes a totalitarian rule wielding the mightiest military the world has ever seen.
…
nuff said.
One Angry Christian on January 5, 2007 at 4:07 PM
One Angry Christian, I think that if it becomes time to rebel against the government, large portions of the military will revolt as well.
Eric12470210 on January 5, 2007 at 4:40 PM
OAC and Eric, you might want to check out the novel A State of Disobedience by Tom Kratman. (Published by Baen Books.) It’s set in the near future, and is about what the next American Revolution might look like. Many of the problems and players will look awfully familiar.
FYI, Baen Books has built quite the stable of military science fiction authors, for those of you who are military geeks like me. I read everything I can get my hands on from guys like David Drake and John Ringo. And Ringo in particular is on the right side of things historically and politically, not to mention being a veteran and damn entertaining author.
ReubenJCogburn on January 5, 2007 at 5:35 PM
Your orders, Lord Vader?
THeDRiFTeR on January 5, 2007 at 5:39 PM
I think you’re wrong about that. The public consensus on religious movements is becoming more and more negative. Granted right now we’re overwhelmingly “Christian”, but eventually the media hype that turns out stuff like Peter Jennings “Special” on Paul and Christ that basically paints Christianity to be a farce and anyone who believes in Christs deity as an idiot or insanely delusional, and tons of movies that paint Christians as evil conspirators trying to oppress everyone.
Ever see Ultra Violet? Ever notice that the “bad guys” fortress is a … giant cross? That movie sucked. I loved the movie V for vendetta, but did you notice that the badges the bad guys were carrying were two crosses and that the “evil rulers” were ultra religious? Did you ever notice that any religious character put in a film not made by a Christian production company or by … Mel Gibson is a closet pedophile, or has some other serious mental issue?
Hollywood is to Christians from my perspective as Iran’s media is to the Jewish religion.
Eventually this constant barrage of hype will take a toll on those who hear it, and it’s already showing in most of the larger cities. Give it time … Give it time.
What they sew in the media we will eventually reap.
thanks. I’ll take a look at it. I spend so much time following news on here I don’t get much time to read fiction, but … I do enjoy it.
One Angry Christian on January 5, 2007 at 7:49 PM
Ah yes, they were indeed ‘teh r0×0r’. As Cobra Commander himself once said, “They just don’t make terrorists like they used to”. That being said, the black-clad figure actually seems like nearly an excact copy of the soldiers you encounter in FEAR
Nevertheless, I’m not even a soldier and I’d rather see the gov/dod spend less time squandering huge sums of cash on toys to show off to the media and instead spend it on actually helping our guys out. This course of action didn’t work for Germany (never seen Godwin’s law applied like that before), so unless the DoD is actually given an increase of cash (can anyone really see that happening now), this doesn’t really seem like the best way to be spending the tax dollars.
This type of concept super-soldier is hardly new; I even remember very similar ideas being showcased in a 1996 episode of Brute Force – again, only a ‘few years away’ from being implemented. Ho ho ho.
And let’s not knock the current crop of officers too much; at the end of the day they’re limited to what they can do by those certain suited people on capitol hill..
Reaps on January 5, 2007 at 10:41 PM
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