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

[optik_nerve]

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!

[The_wall]

Hehe they look like they jumped out of Halo.

[Destrox]

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

[Serpent]

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

[the_marq]

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

[Bill O'Rights]

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

[Serpent]

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

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

[bltzkriegmcanon]

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

[tropple]

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! ;-)

[MSD]

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.

[kutulu]

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

[World's King]

Nice.

Looks like fun.

[RAGEAngel9]

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

[timalkin]

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

[Peryn]

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.

[archer2371]

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.

[scrooloose]

I think they took there fashions from Halo

[Superbelt]

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

[Stare At The Sun]

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.

[DelayedReaction]

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]

[Fremen]

[bermuDa]

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.

[Hard8s]

Funny first thing I thought of was ROBO-COP.

[Asuka{eve}]

Is that Daft Punk???

[kutulu]

Originally posted by RAGEAngel9
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

Totally

[MooseMan3000]

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.

[ChrisJericho]

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

[KWSN]

Originally posted by The_wall
Hehe they look like they jumped out of Halo.

lol, first thing I thought when I saw it.

I personally think the one on the right looks awesome.

[skyscan]

No one thought of paintball??

[GakFace]

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.

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.

[GakFace]

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.

[KWSN]

Originally posted by skyscan
No one thought of paintball??

Originally posted by MrSelfDestruct
That guy on the right is wearing something that bears an uncanny resemblance to my paintball gear.

[splck]

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

[Scorps]

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!

[analog]

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!

[Scorps]

Originally posted by analog
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

[DelayedReaction]

Originally posted by splck
I dunno..the two guys in the middle don't look too well protected.

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.

[MooseMan3000]

Originally posted by GakFace
looks slightly modified from the issue..

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

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.

Originally posted by Pain Train
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

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

[MooseMan3000]

Originally posted by GakFace
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

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.

[Great_White]

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...