A Real Iron Man???

[djcyclone]

I just saw the movie Iron Man, and I thought it was alright, but that is not what this post is about.

I was listening to the radio yesterday, and the DJ's started talking about a new design of an Exoskeletin body armor that the Military is experimenting on. The talk show mentioned that their is a video clip of a soldier testing this suit. Supposedly the Military plans to have every soldier in one of these within 20 years. It will increase the soldiers strength and agility by 20 times.

I am sure that the military is actually experimenting on this, but what I have trouble with is the concept of every soilder being given one of these. According to the radio, the Video of this test indicates that it takes nearly 3 hours to fully put this suit on, and a person needs help from multiple people to get into one of these things. This highlights the problem I have with this, because a soilder is required to be johnny on the spot almost always. You cannot just tell the enemy to take a timeout while you ge ready for the battle.

If this experiment does work, I can see the military making a special division within the special forces community to use these, but I cannot see the military giving every soilder there own Iron Man costume. It would be far too expensive, and even if they found away around that, you still have the time to get the gear on.

Even in the Navy I remember Battlestations. This is the final test in Boot camp where they allow you to go too sleep, and then 1/2 hour later they wake you up. You then have less then 5 minutes to get all of your gear on and get into formation. You then run all over the base in steal toe boots, and if you stop running at any time you immiedietly fail and are held back by one week too do it all over again with another division. We ran to eight different stations where you have to perform a test, from damage control of a sinking ship, rescue of trapped personel, fire fighting, and my peronal favorite swimming and practicing abandoning ship drills. I like that one the most because you have to run immiedietly after that and you are still soaked.

The Navy is easier now, because they allow people to stop running, and you get to choose if you want to wear shoes or boots, but I was not so lucky. My point is that the Marines and Army have similar test, and are required to pass them. Where is this Iron Man suite going to fit into all of this?

I was just wondering what you people thought about all of this, and if you had heard anything about it.

[Kyle Holgate]

Star Ship Troopers - the book not the movie. Humans had armored exoskeletons with built in weapons and what not. With motors and electronics both getting smaller and smaller + the improvements in power transfer, generation and batteries I'd bet armored squads of some sort are in the future. They may be special forces in the extent that they are trained to use and fight in the armor - but they may not be Seals or Rangers or what not. Nothing like having a one man tank of sorts - or being one that is.

[Kyle Holgate]

http://www.adventureblog.org/images/yves-rossy-7_1822.jpg

And it may not be just armor they're wearing...

[djcyclone]

Star Ship Troopers - the book not the movie. Humans had armored exoskeletons with built in weapons and what not. With motors and electronics both getting smaller and smaller + the improvements in power transfer, generation and batteries I'd bet armored squads of some sort are in the future. They may be special forces in the extent that they are trained to use and fight in the armor - but they may not be Seals or Rangers or what not. Nothing like having a one man tank of sorts - or being one that is.



I have never read the book, but I saw both movies. The suits they had in the movies did not help them out much did they?:D One question I had about the movie is where the hell are the tanks? I mean if we are so advanced that we are building spaceships and going to other planets, are we not smart enough to build armored vehicles to deal with gigantic insects? Did the book have anything with tanks in it? If it did I might just look into reading it, but anyway I have gotten off of the subject.

I find it hard to believe that our future will consist of armored squads. Even if we do come up with things like that, their is always the antidote. Someone will develope a weapon that can still kill with one shot. I personally say just keep war as simple as possible, but that is just me. As hard as it is to see a future like that, I imagine if a person went back to the 18 hundreds and told someone of the things we have today, they would laugh at you. I guess anything is possible.

As they say in the movie STEALTH. (Captain of the Carrier) "it all sounds like science fiction". (Commander of the STEALTH PROGRAM) "Yep, so did everything at one time".

[djcyclone]

http://www.adventureblog.org/images/yves-rossy-7_1822.jpg

And it may not be just armor they're wearing...



I believe the radio show I mentioned above talked about the man in your picture. They talked about how he had to clime a mountain to have enough altitude in order to fly like he did. They mentioned that his design is only the begining, and that maybe he will be able to fly like Iron Man in the movie one day. I still think that is a far way off. From what I have read of the military's attempt to create jet packs, it is not as easy as one would think.

[Kyle Holgate]

I believe the radio show I mentioned above talked about the man in your picture. They talked about how he had to clime a mountain to have enough altitude in order to fly like he did. They mentioned that his design is only the begining, and that maybe he will be able to fly like Iron Man in the movie one day. I still think that is a far way off. From what I have read of the military's attempt to create jet packs, it is not as easy as one would think.


There is a movie on the web (if I were less lazy I'd find it and put the link here ;)). If I remember right he jumps from a plane and turns on his gizmo. I do know he flies around with it on for several minutes. The difference is he's got wings for lift and only needs jets for forward thrust while jet packs have to provide all the lift & don't get any assist from wings. I believe the longest a jet pack has worked is around a minute or two at most while the winged pack runs for longer.
Yeah, starship troopers movie. It was amusing to me - there they are in the future with faster than light travel and they don't have good air support or tanks or even rifle grenades? Our own Marines or army would have taken the bugs apart!

[Campy]

I have never read the book, but I saw both movies. The suits they had in the movies did not help them out much did they?:D One question I had about the movie is where the hell are the tanks? I mean if we are so advanced that we are building spaceships and going to other planets, are we not smart enough to build armored vehicles to deal with gigantic insects? Did the book have anything with tanks in it? If it did I might just look into reading it, but anyway I have gotten off of the subject.


Definately read the book. The movie bears little relation to Heinlein's work. I think the idea was that moving heavy armor is not cost effective in interstellar warfare. Easier to move armored infantry. Besides, having an enemy that can pop out of the ground behind you might be difficult for traditional armored formations to deal with. Armored infantry would be more maneuverable.

Frank

[djcyclone]

There is a movie on the web (if I were less lazy I'd find it and put the link here ;)). If I remember right he jumps from a plane and turns on his gizmo. I do know he flies around with it on for several minutes. The difference is he's got wings for lift and only needs jets for forward thrust while jet packs have to provide all the lift & don't get any assist from wings. I believe the longest a jet pack has worked is around a minute or two at most while the winged pack runs for longer.
Yeah, starship troopers movie. It was amusing to me - there they are in the future with faster than light travel and they don't have good air support or tanks or even rifle grenades? Our own Marines or army would have taken the bugs apart!



Yea I remember watching a document about the jet packs on the History Channel. The military wanted to create a special forces unit that had jet packs and could bounce in and out of battle at will (kind of like the bounty hunter in Star Wars). Anyway it was a complete failure because they could not put enough fuel in the packs for sustained flight, and it was nearly imposible to control. No where near combat worthy. Maybe this new suit of armor, and the new flight ideas can be joined together making a real Iron Man. Hard to believe, but as I said above, anything is possible.

As for the movie, I think it would have been a lot more successful if they had put more realistic charicteristics in it. I mean an Abrams today is an absolute killer in all aspects. What kind of tank could be produced in the time frame that the movie portrays? Just traditional Hollywood stupididty.

[djcyclone]

Definately read the book. The movie bears little relation to Heinlein's work. I think the idea was that moving heavy armor is not cost effective in interstellar warfare. Easier to move armored infantry. Besides, having an enemy that can pop out of the ground behind you might be difficult for traditional armored formations to deal with. Armored infantry would be more maneuverable.

Frank



If you have a solid armored tank, then who cares where the bug pops up at. It cannot hurt you by piecing that ugly leg through you. It can pick and pry all it wants, but you would have plenty of time to turn the turret around and give it a good dose of insect repellant (or High Explosive Anti Tank Armor Piecing Rounds):D. "Chew on this" "BOOM"

[Ed Rotondaro]

If you have a solid armored tank, then who cares where the bug pops up at. It cannot hurt you by piecing that ugly leg through you. It can pick and pry all it wants, but you would have plenty of time to turn the turret around and give it a good dose of insect repellant (or High Explosive Anti Tank Armor Piecing Rounds):D. "Chew on this" "BOOM"

DJ:

Heinlein was working off of the concept of the Mobile Infantry being a combination of paratrooper and armored cavalryman. A tough fast moving hard target who could dish out the damage that a company of coventional troops could do. The bugs were just lots of targets in his book. The movie made the troopers beefcake heroes in ordinary body armor. And it was a crappy adaptation of a not very good book. Read Haldeman's "The Forever War" for a smarter read on the future. Just my opinion here.

[john964]

As they say in the movie STEALTH. (Captain of the Carrier) "it all sounds like science fiction". (Commander of the STEALTH PROGRAM) "Yep, so did everything at one time".

More like yesterdays Science Fiction is today's Technology and today's Science Fiction is tomorrow Technology.