US military: 'Help us build the ROBO-WARFIGHTER OF THE FUTURE'

The US military has issued a formal solicitation for ideas about technologies that could help create a futuristic fighting suit for its special forces. TALOS-wearing US serviceman You can only hope that when this guy is suited up, he's on your side The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), headquartered at …

[Chris G]

Skin

The English sci-fi author Peter Hamilton's Skin is the answer.

But not quite yet.

The average weight of one of these troopers is going to be about 200Kg... 100Kg of trooper and armour plus 100Kg of batteries half of which will be needed to power the motors to carry the batteries.

[Matt Bryant]

Re: Chris G Re: Skin

".....plus 100Kg of batteries half of which will be needed to power the motors to carry the batteries." Actually it's more likely to be some form of small combustion engine cum generator and probably hydrogen cells. Batteries are simply too heavy and don't provide enough power for long enough. A small stock of batteries for silent operation, but the rest of the time cruising on hydrogen.

[NomNomNom]

There won't be a future for humans on the battlefield. Just as there is no role for horses anymore. The future of war is miniaturization. Humans are too big.

A swarm of thousands of hornet sized drones would be able to scour an any area, killing any humans they (or their remote controllers) deemed combatants.

[Ken Hagan]

The know-how already exists to deploy countless zillions of "drones" that can kill humans whilst leaving physical assets intact. The only trouble is, it crosses a "red line" so the military are having to dream up an alternative. Like the little spat over non-lethal weapons last year, this exercise is actually about making war acceptable to the TV audience back home. Making it look like Robocop or similar sci-fi entertainment is part of the strategy. The best defence for the rest of us is probably to make sure that those TV audiences have ample access to the real-life pictures of the dead enemies and their families.

[John Smith 19]

One of my favorite lines from "The Warriors Aprentice"

"TBH I'm not sold on that feature. I once walked a suit back thinking it's telemetry was out and it turned out someone had blown his head off."

I laughed.

Time to be gone.