U.S. in new armor. Follow-up to John Falcons thread about new uniforms
 

http://img7.photobucket.com/albums/v...werrangers.gif


These are the new combat armor they are considering in the future to go along with all of the new equipment. It wouldn't suprise me if we were jumping out of mega-sized robots and have Iraqi's shooting at us with lasers.

Ha! Your RPG can't hurt my level class 5 body armor!

Hehe they look like they jumped out of Halo.

They look rediculous.. but if they work better.. its to the best then

one on the right i presume is for drivers while the one on the left for the infantry correct?

The dude on the left really needs to cover his neck...that's quite a vulnerability.

Is it me...or does the one on the right look positively medieval?

They also need more shoulder protection too... That little vest will leave him with a torso and without a neck and arms..

What a bunch of Master Chief wannabees. Actually that armor looks pretty damn cool.

I have been reading military sci-fi for about 40 years.

I've also done my share of slithering in the bushes in circa 1970 flak jackets and in the newer stuff.

I think that the designers put quite a bit of effort into the design and usability. It's no easy thing to come up with something that'll stop a slug, be durable physically, not degrade rapidly, and not keep you wrapped like spam in a can.

Sure, it looks futuristic. Well, hello? It is the future.

Just because I wore sateen greens and ripstop tiger stripes doesn't mean that it has to stay that way. Hell, I wouldn't care if it made me look like a ballareina as long as it kept my ass in one piece! ;-)

That guy on the right is wearing something that bears an uncanny resemblance to my paintball gear. Of course, I picked mine because it offers a good amount of protection and looks badass. If the US army can protect from real weapons and look badss at the same time, the only thing I'd worry about is scaring the living hell out of Iraqi civilians while on patrol.

The guy on the left looks like he's about to jump into an X-wing and fly the trench on the Death Star, during which he will suffer neck and arm injuries.

If the picture would have been a wider angle, we'd see the Mech parked next to the guy on the right.

Nice.

Looks like fun.

The one on the right looks like an Imperial trooper. Damn I can't remember the name though, but it was one of the monkeys run the DStar laser

That crotchpad is a little too high. They'd snip the tip.

Holy Crap! That dude on the right looks positevely badass. That'd be nuts seeing a bunch of them running my way. The guy on the left though? Ehh. Dont like that helmet either, the huge mouth peice scares me.

I'd join just to wear the black uniform, that has to be a SpecOps version tho. It does look like they decided to play Halo IRL, makes you wonder about the people behind that stuff.

I think they took there fashions from Halo

The visor on blackie is a LITTLE bit too shiny. You'll get your ass shot off right quick wearing it.

I can dig it. Those other uniforms I saw awhile back just looked silly. Those do look pretty badass.
I just hope they offer more protection, and they arnt following the german's logic during the western front. "They they look good, and have nice uniforms, they will fight better" instead of having warm winter uniforms that offered protection. I hope that made sense.

Stormtroopers: Check.

They look badass and very intimidating, but I can't stop imagining what the dude on the right would look like in a trenchcoat.

[EDIT] That's not the Interceptor body armor that's working with the new uniforms. Where is this from? [/EDIT]

the grey american flag is a nice touch o_O

the guy on the right does look kind of neat. it really does look they ripped off starship troopers or something.

Funny first thing I thought of was ROBO-COP.
http://www.robocop-game.com/media/fond.jpg

Is that Daft Punk???

Totally

I read something in Popular Science (I think) about the uniform on the right when it was in even earlier stages of development, maybe three or four years ago. This is what I remember (keep in mind, much of this was speculation and early, early testing, and much of it has likely been changed or thrown out entirely):


The helmet is a highly developed piece of technology, including a HUD (heads up display... similar to those in video games or, say, helicopters) which can be used to view many different things. They were working on technology to include cameras and displays to effectively give the soldier a 180 degree view. They were working on adding a "radar," like those in many video games, to show you the positions of all friendlies equipped with the same uniform, and there was talk of using sound to show possible other enemies (or friendlies). There were also going to be built in communication devices.

The suit itself was a futuristic suit, including lots of neat gizmos. The main part was the myriad sensors inside, to monitor all bodily signals and give feedback to outside crews. They had also talked about the possibility of having the suit automatically deploy morphine for certain wounds, or to function as a tourniquet if need be. The suit would also relay all the data to teams of medics, who could be dispatched to the wounded soldiers, or to doctors, who could provide instructions to soldiers on what to do, in the event no medics could come.

The soldier's weapon was to be incorporated into the suit, attached to the wrist (that might be what's on the guy in the picture, but doesn't look like it. This may have been abandoned.) At the time, it was supposed to be able to fire two calibers of ammunition. One, a small caliber was to be the main weapon, fireable in automatic or burst configurations. The other was to be a larger caliber, with the option to load it with explosive shells.

The armor was just new types of polymer and ceramic, designed to be lighter yet remain as effective as the kevlar/ceramic vests used today.

There was something about the shoes... I think they provided dynamic support for jumping and running and things, though I can't recall exactly.

Oh, and they were going to have a CamelBak built in. Heh.

Also, I can't recall if this was part of the same project or a different one, but http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science...657003,00.html
It talks about chameleon type camouflage, stuff that would make the front of the uniform mimic what was behind it (and the other way around), making the soldier "invisible" to a casual glance.



~~~
So, if ANY of this actually sees final production, I'll be very impressed, and I'll think the uniform is worthy of being called the uniform of the future. The helmet sounded like the most ambitious project to me, but it all sounded very interesting and difficult to do.


I googled, and I couldn't find the article I read it in archived anywhere, nor could I find any other simliar articles. If anyone has any updates on these projects, I would be greatly interested to see where they've gone.

These aren't the droids we're looking for, move along !

lol, first thing I thought when I saw it.

I personally think the one on the right looks awesome.

No one thought of paintball??
http://www.isayeret.com/gear/paintball/paintball-2.jpg

I'll find a back issue of FHM.. they had those exact suits on a page explaining them. Not only do they look badass but they are badass. :D

On a side note. I haven't gotton any FHM for a few months now.. I think someone is stealing them or throwing them away before I get home from work. :(

looks slightly modified from the issue..

For those of you curious, it is
FHM February 2004, Page 24.

I'll go through the 6 bullet points on here (no pun intended)
Weapons
This boom-stick can launch four heat seeking rockets as well as automatic 4.6mm rounds. The targeting system recognizes the enemy's firearms and uniforms to ensure that soldiers can fire only on the bad guys and not civillians
Helmet
Think Terminator The motorcycle-style helmet provides a 3-D display of the soldier's surroundings thanks to infrared and thermal capabilities. It also allows for video transmissions and satellite connection.
Body Armor
The carbon nanotube and ceramic-plate armor can withstand rifle at point-blank range. The SSC is working on chameleon armor technology that adjusts to light conditions to enable a soldier to blend into his surroundings.
Communictions
Built into the helmet, the communcation system provides full contact betwen every soldier and with home base. No need to worry about giving away your position to the enemy -- or CNN-- either: The helmet is soundproof.
Power Source
Today's field batteries are bulky and provide only 48 hours of life in ideal conditions. New, integrated hybrid-fuel cells are lightweight and provide six days of continuous power to all parts of the Future Warrior 2025 system.
Exoskeleton
Hydraulic lifts at the joints mean that soldiers will be able to load a 600-pound missle onto a helicopter without breaking a sweat. Not that the system's body-temperature-controlled cooling unit would permit that.

-- Courtesy of 'KA' of FHM's February 2004 Zine.

I dunno..the two guys in the middle don't look too well protected.

I saw a article in some mag sometime back and the guy had the black suit on but it had way more armor on. and his gun could use normal bullets or Ak47 bullets and a bunch of other electronic shit!

I still say that we should intercut footage from the Terminator movies of all the skeletal robots walking and shooting lasers into any video our military puts out, so people start thinking we have a force of insane-lookign killer robots. Wars will win themselves! ;)

that would be sweet.....then no one will mess with North America....gotta add some Canadian robots in there...well maybe one, thats all we can afford to build:D

They're wearing the "Executive" line of personal protection. It consists of the guys in front of them, and a distance of about 3000 miles between them and the threat.

Well, that's not the article I read (too new), but new information is always nice. It sounds pretty similar to what I read however long ago it was - surprisingly enough. Sounds pretty incredible.

Or you could build a second arm for the space station... :p

Eh, forgot to include this before. So how exactly does this targeting system distinguish "enemies" from "other guys in robes with guns?"

If it only lets you fire at guys with uniforms on, what about that weirdo militia? I dunno, that sounds pretty sketchy to me.

I didnt read it all so hopefully this wasnt covered.

Blacks not that usefull camoflauge wise. Ive never understood why they use an an unatural color like that for anything. Even in urban enviornments pure black doesnt occour. Even on the darkest night, you stick someone out there in all black and they'll stick out a ton. When i look outside the darkest thing i see is leaves on a tree, and thats no where near black. Imagine somone walking down a dirt trail with that on...

True shadows are far darker than black can ever get. The reason people use black is because of the "impressive badass" look it provides, and because it doesn't stand out when used with other equipment. From what I understand the most effective nighttime camo pattern (granted this was just from a Tom Clancy novel) is a dark green grid pattern, with some of the grid squares filled in. Something like this:

http://www.myvega.co.kr/images/jktnd.gif

Then again I could easily be wrong.

That's freakin hilarious. :lol:

The black looks more like riot gear, in which case the reflec visor would fit right in.

There's probably so much technology packed in there it needs to stick out like that. Notice the camera on the side of his head?

I figure it ALLOWS you to fire at other people who may be a threat, but makes it so you can easily distinguish between a sure enemy and a possible one.

Yeah I dunno, but the idea that you cannot fire on your own Team would be pretty cool. But hopefully its like what KWSN said, as otherwise... they would kill people and steal the suit.. and fight with it... of course if they didn't use the gun.. it would stand out and let us fire on them.. if they used the gun, they'd have to punch us.... Guess we should carry a sword, ;)

The guy on the left has only one shoulder pad on. Is this to show versatility, or is one used to ram open doors? Also, it looks like a camera on the side of the head. Reminds me of Aliens, the marines.

Is that a cosplay convention? What game are those characters from?

New armor is just around the corner as we have less soldiers they will nedd to be better protected. I no longer have the link but I saved the article about a spray on polymer that upgrades everything from normal clothing to Hummers.

Services test spray-on vehicle armor
Polymer-coated steel cheaper, lighter than ‘up-armoring’ with plates

By William Matthews
Special to the Times

While the Army urges Humvee makers to speed up production lines and turn out more up-armored versions, to send to Iraq, the Navy has discovered that it might be possible to protect existing vehicles with a spray-on polymer armor that’s lighter, cheaper, and — maybe — as tough as steel.

The Office of Naval Research has achieved promising results with spray-on armor applied to Marine Corps Humvees, Rear Adm. Jay Cohen, the chief of naval research, told a House subcommittee in March.

Using photos of Humvees hit by mine blasts, and a section of polymer-coated steel, Cohen demonstrated how the armor, sprayed on the bottom of the vehicles, could protect troops riding inside against explosions and shrapnel.

The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab is testing the polymer armor to determine whether to start spraying it on Humvees headed for Iraq and possibly on Humvees already there.

If a spray-on, plasticlike coating seems an unlikely substance to protect troops against mines, roadside bombs and small-arms fire, it struck Navy engineers that way too, at first. “We don’t understand 100 percent how it works,” admitted said Roshdy Barsoum, a program officer in the ship, hull, mechanical and electrical systems science and technology division of the Office of Naval Research

“We have a panel trying to understand how it works.”

Traditional steel armor and newer ceramic armor “both have very high strength and toughness,” he said, so it is easy to understand how they repel bullets, shrapnel and the shock of explosions.

But with the polymer, “we’re talking about something more like rubber,” Barsoum said. Under ordinary circumstances, “people would have ignored it because it did not seem likely that it would be any good.”

The concept was actually born in the aftermath of the 1996 truck bombing at Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. That’s when the Air Force began searching for novel ways to harden buildings against bomb blasts.

In late 1999 the Air Force began experimenting with “an elastomeric polymer” that is commonly used in the commercial world as a spray-on truck bed liner. Air Force Research Lab scientists reported that the truck bed polymer is “flexible, ductile and has modest strength.” But when sprayed on an unreinforced concrete block wall, the lowly liner proved to be remarkably effective at keeping the blocks from shattering when exposed to a bomb blast.

The Air Force’s goal was to find a way to keep chunks of concrete, brick and other construction material from fragmenting and killing people inside buildings. The spray-on coating is being applied to walls in the Pentagon, a defense official said.

The Air Force’s success with spray-on polymers caught the Navy’s attention in 2000 after a bomb on a small boat in the Yemeni port of Aden blew a 40-foot hole in the hull of the destroyer Cole, killing 17 sailors.

Cohen said he received an e-mail message from “a young man named Jake,” who suggested coating the interior of hulls with the blast-mitigating polymer to prevent bombs from rupturing steel hulls.

Navy researchers tried it and discovered that when the steel plating of a ship is protected by the coating, a hull struck by a bomb blast “might have gross deformation, but no penetration — and the kids on board, the sailors, would remain alive,” Cohen said.

The explosive-resistant coating came to mind again last fall when the Marine Corps was searching for a way to protect Humvees and trucks from the roadside explosives widely used in Iraq.

Tests at the Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland showed that the spray-on armor is effective, Cohen said. But the Marine Corps has not yet decided whether to use the armor on vehicles bound for Iraq, Barsoum said.

The polymer is made up of long chains of cross-linked molecules, he said. Although judged by the Air Force to be of “modest strength,” it works as armor because it makes steel behave very differently, Barsoum explained.

“Most materials break under very high loading rates.” That’s what happens to steel when exposed to the blast of an explosion. But the polymer coating “makes it not do that.” Essentially, the polymer armor spreads out the shock of the explosion and limits the damage, Barsoum said.

The polymer armor is made of polyurethane, polyurea or a mixture of the two, according to Air Force researchers. It can be sprayed on, brushed on, poured on, or fashioned into sheets and attached like steel armor, Barsoum said.

It can be applied to the inside or outside of Humvees and other vehicles to limit damage from bombs and prevent metal fragments from being blasted free and wounding or killing vehicle occupants, he said.

Compared with steel armor, the polymer armor is lightweight and cheap. It weighs about 5 pounds per square foot, Barsoum said — about an eighth the weight of steel. At a cost of about $20 to $30 a square foot, a Humvee could be armored for less than $10,000, he said. Current steel armor kits for Humvees cost much more, he said.

If sprayed or painted on, the polymer armor easily can be applied to existing vehicles. Troops in the field could do it with relative ease.

“These are not dangerous chemicals,” although a face mask and protective clothing would be required during spraying, Barsoum said.

The armor’s light weight fits the military’s requirement to remain light and agile, he said.

One potential drawback, however, is that spraying armor on Humvees and trucks could increase the temperature in the passenger compartment.

“We have to worry about the folks inside — if they can still operate,” a spokeswoman for the Office of Naval Research said.

William Matthews is a staff writer for Defense News.

:

2 unarmoured Range Rovers had identical charges detonated under the left front wheel. One Range Rover was unmodified while the other had the spray on armour applied.

The unmodified vehicle had a blast hole through the floor AND the roof with the front seat vapourised. The protected vehicle did not have penetration even of the floor with only minimal deformation.

Yeah, one of my friends is working on that form of protection. They honestly have no clue how it works.

I wonder why it's so expensive though? $20 per square foot is ridiculous.

$20 a square foot ridiculous?

Well, I guess that depends on whether you're pitching or catching...

If you're on the receiving end, it's a bargain ;-)

Do a price check on some Level IV armor (with side panels and chest shock plate. I think your jaw will drop....

Can someone repost the armor picture? The link isn't working anymore and I really want to see these. lol

I can't find the original picture, but here:

http://www.rednova.com/news/images/3...n-ensemble.jpg

That's one of the two uniforms that was pictured.

If you want to read a little more about it, check here:
http://www.rednova.com/news/stories/.../story001.html

does remind me of several movies- first, of course, aliens,
"dont worry ripley, me and my state of the art badasses will protect you"

and that line from two towers, where legolas says to the other elf "their armor is weak at the neck"

neat look- and if it saves even one guys life, then I am all for it.

When I say $20 per square foot is ridiculous, I'm talking about the expense of the material itself. A square foot is not a large portion of area when you're spraying, and I'm wondering what goes into this stuff to make it so expensive. Given that a truck bed is about 72 square feet (assuming a 4x8 bed with 2 foot walls), it would cost nearly $1500 to apply it. The material is supposedly identical to truck tarp liners made by companies such as Rhino. Given that the Rhino website says the cost of application is $500, I'm wondering what the difference in price is. Did they add something, increase the thickness of the material, or what?

By all means we should use this stuff to save our troops, particularly since it costs less than armor plating. But if they are the same material, why is it so much more expensive than the commercial version?