Real-life 'Iron Man' suit commissioned by US military

Now this is pretty cool. I don't care how much money the military wasted on weapons in the past, we need this technology! As soon as it trickles down to the public I'm getting one of these.

Real-life 'Iron Man' suit commissioned by US military

The technology in Iron Man is getting a step closer to reality thanks to the United States military. The Army has commissioned a Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit, which would provide the wearer with superhuman abilities like night vision, enhanced strength, and protection from gunfire.

Each suit would have an on-board computer that would be able to instantly respond to certain situations and provide the user with enhanced situational awareness. According to the press release, the suit may use liquid armor, currently under development at MIT, which has the ability to transform from a "liquid to solid in milliseconds when a magnetic field or electrical current is applied."

The goal is full-body ballistic protection, theoretically allowing the wearer to literally walk through a stream of bullets.

Show of hands here ATS. How many of you want one of these?

Dear America,

Please borrow more money to make these.

Thanks.

(Too frickin' cool. There are times I'm very glad I'm in a country technically on the same side as the USA. I'd hate to be their enemy).

That would be so cool, but with current drone tech I wonder if this would be a stop gap between humanoid drones.

Sounds more like the armor from Crysis than Iron man.




Interesting tech.

Bullying people would come to an IMMEDIATE halt. Haha

Unless it comes with Jarvis, an extremely high powered reactor, and flight...it's just body armour.

Sadly, it has far more in common with Mjolnir then Iron Man.

peck420
Unless it comes with Jarvis, an extremely high powered reactor, and flight...it's just body armour.

Sadly, it has far more in common with Mjolnir then Iron Man.

V1.0.

Think what V5.1 might be like...

(and it's nothing like a hammer)

peck420
Unless it comes with Jarvis, an extremely high powered reactor, and flight...it's just body armour.

Sadly, it has far more in common with Mjolnir then Iron Man.

Yes lets all nerd out over which type of Power Armor the new commissioned military power armor is most like.


ITS G.D. Power armor thats all I care about.

khimbar
V1.0.

Think what V5.1 might be like...

There won't be a version 5.1. There, most likely, won't even be a V1.0. They will require some serious nanotech to even remotely consider this a reality. Technology that makes armouring, a human body, not only obsolete, but also unnecessary.

(and it's nothing like a hammer)

And, it is absolutely nothing like Iron Man.

As a huge Warhammer 40K and Space Marine fan I don't care if it flies or not.

I just want my own suit of power armor.

Besides it falls under the 2nd amendment so we get to have it.

reply to post by Bassago

Besides it falls under the 2nd amendment so we get to have it.

No it doesn't. This is armor not a weapon.

buster2010
reply to post by Bassago

 

Besides it falls under the 2nd amendment so we get to have it.

No it doesn't. This is armor not a weapon.

It's armor. It has two arms.

ETA to clarify - "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Why are people in such favour of this?

With comments like these...

khimbar
Dear America,

Please borrow more money to make these.

Thanks.

(Too frickin' cool. There are times I'm very glad I'm in a country technically on the same side as the USA. I'd hate to be their enemy).

... it goes to show that people's imaginations are getting the better of their judgement.

When they say "special suit", people go wild because it's a huge concept in the world of science fiction, and therefore would have inevitable support.
But let's not get carried away - it's still warfare right? It's still throwing money at the war machine.

All i can see in this thread is sugar coating and glamourising something that doesn't deserve to be.
I will give them credit for choosing something more charismatic than drone warfare though. It seems to have worked. Just take a look at how well thought out the comments are..

"My first thought: Too bad it is not built by Elon Musk."

One sentence replies that demonstrate how much thought people are giving this.

xxdaniel21
Why are people in such favour of this?

With comments like these...

khimbar
Dear America,

Please borrow more money to make these.

Thanks.

(Too frickin' cool. There are times I'm very glad I'm in a country technically on the same side as the USA. I'd hate to be their enemy).

... it goes to show that people's imaginations are getting the better of their judgement.

When they say "special suit", people go wild because it's a huge concept in the world of science fiction, and therefore would have inevitable support.
But let's not get carried away - it's still warfare right? It's still throwing money at the war machine.

All i can see in this thread is sugar coating and glamourising something that doesn't deserve to be.
I will give them credit for choosing something more charismatic than drone warfare though. It seems to have worked. Just take a look at how well thought out the comments are..

"My first thought: Too bad it is not built by Elon Musk."

One sentence replies that demonstrate how much thought people are giving this.

It's really not that big of a deal or an earth shattering topic, just cool tech. I don't think anyone was expecting deep existential discussions on the subject and I just asked the question "Does anyone want one of these suits?"

So do you want one or not? ...I'm thinking you don't.

Bassago
It's really not that big of a deal or an earth shattering topic, just cool tech. I don't think anyone was expecting deep existential discussions on the subject

"just cool tech"

That could be used to obliterate our "enemies".

Are we so short sighted? To give this type of power to the people we already don't trust?

It makes no sense how you could assume this could not warrant that type of discussion?

In the hands of the Americans this is just another toy to be used to get what they want.

This is.... AWESOME!!! Forget the Debt Ceiling... HOLD THE PRESSES!!! This is stellar and scary all rolled into one....

A~ This is beneficial across the board and a game changer for any war...

Yet~

B~ I can see these being used against Americans....

Robocop and Ironman.... Get ready!!!

"grumble, grumble...." double post.....

I never click the reply button 3 times again....

reply to post by sulaw


Whoo hoo triple post! Stars for that dude!

I take it you'd like one of these suits too?

Just think when SHTF it will be Robot gladiators fighting across the face of the land.



reply to post by yourmaker


I take it you don't want one.

reply to post by Bassago


The situational awareness factor and the liquid armor concept is wonderful. But power is an issue here. A soldier needs to be able to sustain operations 24 hours a day. The power source would need to provide power for at least one day worth of combat operations. I simply don't see that happening any time soon.

Battery technology is limited by its use. Constant combat operations would severely limit the use of these suits. Unless I'm missing something here, this power suit is simply not currently practical from a power consumption standpoint.

But what about transportation? Obviously these suits would be heavy. Soldiers would still need to carry provisions with them, ammo, water, food. The weight alone would limit the capabilities of air assault units to put soldiers where they need to go. Which means new helicopters with more powerful lift capabilities. Which is good news for me, but bad news for the budget we're working with.