Is it a case of life imitating art?
The New York Post reports on what U.S. Army soldiers will likely be wearing in 2030. The model in the Army's own graphic could have stepped right out of Halo or any number of futuristic video games.
It's pretty amazing - from the exoskeleton armor to the data glove to the biometric facial recognition built into the headgear. From the NYP:
It's all part of the Army's starry-eyed vision of grunts 20 years from now, and it's just one aspect of the Pentagon's ambitious thinking about technologies that will transform the way the military fights. There are also plans for advanced robotic aircraft; missiles that travel seven times the speed of sound; and ship- and aircraft-based laser weapons that could blast missiles out of the sky...
Each branch of the military has its own plans, but the Army concept of tomorrow's soldier borrows heavily from nearly every genre of science fiction. Dubbed "Future Soldier 2030," the vision is the brainchild of the Natick Soldier Systems Center in Massachusetts, an Army organization responsible for researching and developing new technologies for the individual fighter.
Via: Kotaku
Comments
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Incedently, I also heard they are making a new space suit that will be tighter fitting. The Extra Vehicular Activity suit (EVA) is designed to allow for better movement and more control of tools when working in space. (Or when destroying Angels at the bidding of the UN's Human Instrumentality Project's NERV arm.)
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Is it a case of life imitating art?
Video Games?! Art?! Blasphemy!!!!!!!!!Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
No. Just no.
I mean, honestly, kneepads and chest plates? The army knows it wants armor with more flexibility, and materials that are strong yet flexible are in development.
Voice activated weapons? Lame and flawed. Plus, they've already got a non-lethal gun in development: it's a hand-held fat green laser that blinds and stuns. No need for a rifle that does both.
The boot will do more than "minimize effort". My mother's working on DARPA proposals for non-GPS positioning systems and power systems charged by footsteps.
"Date glove"? Bull. All control systems will probably be in-helmet and directed by hand movements with no external display or interface.
And finally, one shot to the crotch and that soldier is down and out. You can do better than that, Army.
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
On a positive note, the enemy forces would be laughing too hard to shoot at us!
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Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Can't wait to see the UK version of this.
It will either be a t-shirt and a base ball cap or nano-armer of uber death that only works when it is pissing it down and at least 100 meters away from sand.
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Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Buzz Lightyear's armor is more straight faced than this.
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Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
I would think that the future of combat would mean futher specialization of infantry units, and not having them outfitted all the same tools that maybe won't be used in some cases.
GameSnooper
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Silly Army. Just skip the middleman and get straight to the nanomachines! Snake's getting old!
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
In before conspuiracy theorists state that every child in the US already knows this armor inside and out because Halo is just a training simulator fori t.
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I don’t think the Congress...er US is ready to spend money on the common solider much less 30K or so on equipment ea.….
I mean if we refocused on making each army member trained like marines (or just focused on the marines and dropped the army and up’d the national guard) have each marine with hi tech equipment with a few trained army grunts as drivers/movers/techies each individual person on the field would not need all that hi end equipment but 80% of those on the field would have it.
Then again the conregress can’t even pull their heads out of their asses long enough to be clear, competent and coherent much less change the way they deal with the military in a way we are not a decade behind in hardware and sht……
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Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Sooo your saying Warhammer 40k?
You know Space Marines well armed well trained and the go to for everything and then your Army grunts they have ammo (we think) and they may have armor (if they stole it).
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
No the equipment and armor runs about 20-30 grand, the US government does everything but stuff for the congremen(congress/executive branch,ect) by the lowest bidder why do you think we are such big buddies with china.
I am a criminal because I purchase media,I am a criminal because I use media, I am a criminal because I chose to own media..We shall remain criminals until Corporate stay's outside our bedrooms..
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Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
I stopped reading and agreed with whatever your point was at "Warhammer 40k." I'm working on not spontaneously shutting down, but it takes time... ^^;
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Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
It's interesting speculation, but somehow I doubt they'll be willing to foot the bill for this in twenty years.
Maybe by 2060 it will be economically viable.
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Ah, that's hilarious, I love it when a news paper finds old things and reports that they are new, either that, or the NSSC sent them the wrong thing, but that's the picture that I like to call the "Knock off brand GI Joe action figure" quite silly if you ask me.
As for the talk about the XM8 earlier, the real reason that the project has been put on hold (forever) is that one, it was much more costly to produce, and congress says no, and two, after about a thousand rounds of firing, the plastics that are/were used would melt and the barrel would be come unseated, also there were problems of hot gases causing the ammo clip to become unseated and fall out of the weapon.
And final note, @Austin Lewis you have brilliant commentary until the last point about the custom fit boot, that's actually a big deal, the general issue boots have been causing real problems with soldiers, and the spending plans for better boots to decrease pain in soldiers is usually the first thing that gets cut from budgets when Congress shoots down our cost plan, which is quite short sighted of both parties really, I mean we could cut things, but they could help us to.
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
@USMC Colonel James Slate:
I think that has more to do with people not knowing how to break in their boots, and people with strange foot shapes. But think about it: Altama boots cost about 60 a pair at the PX, and those are massed produced. Some of them get in the 120 to 200 dollar range. How much more would it cost to custom fit every pair?
Like I said, I think when they're given their boots in basic, they need to wear them constantly until they're broken in just right.
On a related note, Altama boots are fantastic.
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Im pretty sure we have the wearing the boots until they are broken in during basic down. At least I did; of course I also refused to wear my second pair because I got one pair finally the way I wanted.
I can see custom boots being a nice thing; you learn quickly that the most important thing on your body is your feet when you walk everywhere. I would rather them still issue standard boots and have a standard for evaluating if a person does need custom boots. I knew some guys that had no arches and wide feet that frankly normal combat boots just tore up (thats where mole skin because your best friend).
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Sure, and supposedly American soldiers of today were meant to wear full body armour and have better guns.
Classic move by New York Post to try to bolster patriotic, wait strike that, nationalistic feelings for going to war to fight some country that has nothing to do with anything. Not to sound like an evil liberal here, but I seem to recall some sort of improvements to the battlesuit were envisioned 10 years ago and nothing changed.
Plus the proportions on the model look all wrong. Why are the leggings partially covered? Why does it look like the material under the chest plates is made out of shark protective armour? Why is this person's torso almost the exact size of the legs (That one particularly bothered me)?! This sort of thing is a throwback to the 1950's belief that we would be living on other planets by 1990, and it doesn't help with anything. Instead of wasting time "developing" this, how about developing some god damn help for the veterans who come back home.
What we need, is a truckload of JC Dentons. Shut the conspiracy theorists up and the terrorists up at the exact same time.
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Rifle, unlocked by 'voice command or electronic trigger', the weapon will shoot explosive ammunition 1,000 meters. The weapon can be scaled from lethal to nonlethal force - This is the military, not the police. If you want non-lethal weapons, load up with Non-lethal ammo for policing. Basically, this adds an extra step before you can use your firearm, with a moronic 'voice command or electronic trigger' instead of a good old manual safety. That's some great innovation, right there. Fucking Retarded.
Extra step, and it's an extra point of failure. Can you think of any soldier that would think it is a good to have a safety that's susceptible to shorting out?
-Gray17
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Alright, so I'm looking at the picture right now, and this whole thing is retarded.
Headgear with Biometric Facial recognition to identify insurgents - because this won't make the helmet clumsy as sin and double its weight.
Advanced Nanomaterial Body armor, embedded with 'behavior and physiological sensors' - so the body armor will advance vastly in 20 years, apparently, making it lightweight enough for them to put ridiculous shit in it. I'm beginning to think this was a picture for a presentation that was thrown away.
Data glove, used to operate UAVs and robots- Yeah, okay. Because a soldier in the middle of combat should be doing that from an unsecured location. This is stupid as well.
Rifle, unlocked by 'voice command or electronic trigger', the weapon will shoot explosive ammunition 1,000 meters. The weapon can be scaled from lethal to nonlethal force - This is the military, not the police. If you want non-lethal weapons, load up with Non-lethal ammo for policing. Basically, this adds an extra step before you can use your firearm, with a moronic 'voice command or electronic trigger' instead of a good old manual safety. That's some great innovation, right there. Fucking Retarded.
Exoskeleton- the protection of traditional body armor, with added strength for the soldiers' legs- which they'll need, because this looks heavy as fuck.
The custom fit boot- okay, this is just silly.
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
I have to wonder who they're trying to market this idea to.
I mean, is there like a... "Special Olympics" branch of the military?
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Will tea-bagging will be someday posible in real combat?
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Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
I saw this same picture in like 2000 or maybe a year or two later. And I'll say now what I said then: keep dreaming. During a time when soldiers are going to congressional meetings to demand LESS goddamn body armor (USMC 2008), Generals are fighting to keep from changing firearm designs (no one wants bullpup in brass, the biggest 'change' has been to the SCAR for some SF units only) and when we're going back to higher-powered rifles in Iraq (dusting off the lovely M14s), there's little interest in a bulky exoskeleton that will prohibit movement. The whole thing is just a bunch of wishful thinking.
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Exoskeletal suits have already been developed and tested for the workforce market, allowing people to lift around twice their weight. The model is called the HAL 5, and was jointly developed by US and Japanese interests. Pretty cool stuff, but the Army has yet to produce (at least to my knowledge) a practical model that is self-powered and not a bulky tank.
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Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Here's the video of that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhj3Z9o6t0g
And the robot they're workin on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZj9qKXetwg
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
That first link to Raytheon is actually the one I was referring to when I said "tank." It might be self-powered, but it's still attached to a scaffold.
"HEY! LISTEN!"
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Not sure if that's the same one chap was talking about...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4evlxq34og
The japanese make these things looks nice, can always trust them when it comes to robotics and such
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
There's a fatal flaw with that armor: I don't see a crotch plate!
How the hell are you gonna have a futuristic armor with nanobot technology and such and not have a crotch plate to protect your balls/vagina? I know the top of the thighs are exposed, too, but....think of the huevos!
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Game on, brothers and sisters.
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
They kept digging in during Teabag training ;)
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Looks like our country will be safe thanks to the poor man's version of Master Chief!
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Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Where's the shield generators that recharge by standing still?
Honestly though, this looks pretty cool, but I doubt we're still going to be using actual people by then when arial drones can be so much more effective.
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
I was thinking more of the result of a transporter malfunction involving master-chief, a stormtrooper, and a pip-boy from fallout3 :)
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
This suit is more 'Stormtrooper' than 'Halo' anyway, if it wasn't for that helmet.
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
soldiers might be getting pip boys someday?
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
That's nothing new. The History Channel had a show a few years back about future weapons where they were talking about the now-cancelled Land Warrior system and they talked about how it was supposed to evolve into the ultimate future combat setup. Talking about reactive nanofiber material for active camouflage that also worked as a strength enhancer.And no, I'm not talking about the OctoCamo in MGS4.
They were really projecting the Land Warrior system was going to turn into that. It was basically the picture in the article combined with everything in MGS4, but without the nanomachines and kneepads.
And they already tried the rifle, it was called the XM29 and it got scrapped because it weighed something like 20 pounds and just overall didn't work well. It was supposed to be a 5.56mm assault rifle with a semi-auto 6-shot 20mm airburst grenade launcher on top, as well as an infrared scope. Its now two seperate weapon projects instead of a combined one.
So yea, nothing new to see here. This stuff has been being predicted for 20 years now.
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Not sure about XM29, I know the XM8 was scrapped because of weight issues and didn't perform anybetter then the M4.
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Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
The M8 weighed nearly a half pound less than the M4 Carbine, and jammed far less frequently. It was scrapped because the Generals complained that it felt like a toy, and didn't like the new charging handle design.
EDIT
Oh yeah, the unit cost was also nearly twice that of an M4.
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Yeah but the XM8 was about 4 times more reliable than the M4 and was 5 different weapons in one. The longterm costs of logistics managing the M4, M203, SAW, SPR, and M9 pistols as well as older M16's far out weigh I think the costs of the XM8 being the standardized small arms weapon of the US army that can fill all these roles with one system, with added benifit of it being more reliable and easier to mantain.
And generals always feel like new guns feel like toys thats how the M16 developed an early raw reputation with generals basically sabotaging the gun.
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
A few things
1) The XM8 was never meant to be a pistol. You can't compare something firing 5.56 to something firing 9mm. It's a pistol in the same sense that an Ar-15 with a 10 inch barrel and no stock is a pistol.
2) The SPR has already been replaced by the M110 and the M25/M21 (the M25 is far suprerior to the M110, especially the Smith Enterprise model). Those two rifles are both chambered in .308, which is far superior for the role they fill than the XM8 was. As such, its not a role that needs filling.
3) I think you misunderstand what an M203 is. An M203 is the grenade launcher itself. It can be attached to many different carbines and rifles. However, the XM8 would have required a new grenade launcher, the same that the G36 uses if I recall correctly, which would ahve been quite expensive.
4) Some of the new M16/M4/AR15/CAR15/ whatever you want to call it uppers are very, very efficient. LMT weapons come to mind, as does the new HK416. You can change the upper of a rifle with ease. I have an old XM177 that never jams, and I have an LMT that hasn't jammed yet (1200 rounds fired this week alone).
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
The XM8 can fill in the role of a pistol in terms of replacing it because it shares the same mission goal. The service pistol is intended for troops that do not fight on front lines, the XM8 in PDW format allows men to carry a weapon that has relative range and power of a Carbine yet compact size that any person can carry with ease. And since it chambers .223/5.56 you don't have the logistics issue of having another round such as the 5.7 or 4.6. The M4 can fill in this role too and the army has seen that, but the XM8 in compact PDW is lighter and smaller as well as more reliable.
The M110 and M21 are better for sniping roles as the .308/7.62 has better balistics, but the XM8 in Designated Marksman is more than capable for the role that most squads encounter which would be taking a shot between 300-500 meters away, which a 20 inch XM8 is capable of doing, while still maintaining the 5.56 round as well as the magazine allowing squads to only carry one kind of ammo and one kind of magazine for the whole squad. Just look at it this way, the general american squad has 1 M4/M16 with M203 for the gernader, A M249 SAW gunner, An M21 or M25 for the marksman, and someone carring another M4 or M16. The XM8 can simply replace all these weapons and the squad just has one weapon system, and since they are all the same, you train one guy with it and he can use all the other varients (short of the M320) since they are basically the same.
The XM8 uses the M320 gernade launcher which is compatable with M4 and M16, and it is superior to the 203 in almost all catagories except weight. Because of its compatability we can simply just buy these instead and phase out the old M203, and any of the XM320 we cannot attach to XM8's we can just put them on M4's in the meantime. Anyways, were going to have to replace those M203's eventually.
That's one thing I will agree on the AR platform system is that it is highly modular in its upper recivers. Being able to take a 5.56 M16 and turn it into a .50 cal Beowulf is nothing short of awesome. That's probebly the one reason why I think replacing the M4/16 is not a good idea because lots of guns lack that kind of flexability. But there are guns that do have that flexability and generally costs the same such as the ACR or XCR and are also more reliable.
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
A pistol and a PDW are two very different firearms. A pistol is something along the lines of, say, a Colt 1911, an M92FS, or maybe a Sig of some sort. A PDW is something the size of a P90 or an MP5 or MP7. The difference? PDWs have stocks. Pistols do not.
As for designated marksmen, their preferred rifle is the M21. Why? The more powerful round. Ever since it was first fielded, there have been complaints with the 5.56 round as a combat round. After Operation Gothic Serpent, there arose claims from SF units that took part in the battle of Mogadishu that they had shot the same individual 3 to 5 times, to turn around and see them limp away. The .308 is the preferred round for sharpshooting of any kind. Hundreds of M14s were refielded after being reworked into M21s or M25s at Smith Enterprises (http://www.smithenterprise.com/). A soldier with a designated marksman rifle should be more than capable of taking a human down with 2 rounds, so needing ammo from friends shouldn't be a big problem, especially considering the widespread use of the M240B in place of the M249. As for replacing the M249 with the XM8, the XM8 was prone to melting, which is a big draw when creating a SAW.
Yeah, weight doesn't seem like a big deal now, but when you have to carry a rifle, 9 to 12 mags, water, body armor, a rucksack, and other gear depending on your role in the squad, all the sudden that heavier grenade launcher becomes a pain in the ass. The M203 works just fine, why buy something new? In the 80's people said we needed to replace the M79, and that still ain't happening for a reason; they still work very well.
Instead of blowing money on the XCR, we could buy more LMT uppers, or more piston uppers. Both would be more cost-effective, and perform about as well. Like I said, LMT rifles very rarely jam; their marketing slogan has become 'she ain't pretty, but she performs' or some such because of what operators on the ground had to say about their rifles.
Through this whole discussion, you've forgotten (and I did too, until our Marine Col. friend reminded me) one of the fundamental problems with the XM8; it melts. Sure, people talk shit about M4 and M16 designs all the time, but you don't see them melting very often.
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
They scrapped the OICW, but are incorporating the same ideas into the new MG project, whose name escapes me. It's been on the Military Channel repeatedly. Basically, air-burst GLs with LASE capabilites.
Even better ideas: mix SOFLAM capabilities with a red-dot/ACOG scope, put it on a rifle.
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Looks like 'The Stig...'
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
...that's pretty much what I was going to say. Although I was going to do a contrived "Some say..." bit.
/b
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Some say that when he stands still, break lights come on in his buttocks...
Some say that he knows 2 facts about Ducks, and they're both wrong...
All we know, is that he's called The Stig.
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Cue whingy protestor types complaining they are going for this look on purpose to attract more children.
Just hope the 'data glove' work better than the Power Glove it seems to resemble!
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Who knows, after obamanomics has run its course I doubt we'd be avaiable to afford it. Inflation Jimmy Carter style but times what? Who knows...
Seeing the United States is about to lose its Triple A rating in credit and inflation is on the rise and we are printing money to the point where its losing all value forcing Gas Prices to go up simply because the U.S Dollar has lost it’s value I highly doubt we will be able to afford this armor of this technology unless the next President is like a Ronald Reagan godsend who pretty much stabilized the economy after Jimmy Carter almost destroyed it.
I think I need to start learning Chinese
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
Cool story bro.
Re: Soldier of 2030 Has a Video Game Look
....That's it. Shoulda said it before, but didn't want to get into trouble. All right, troll....
You stupid fucking jackass! Do you have any idea how utterly idiotic you sound?! The conservatives were the ones who got us into this mess, and right now, the liberals will be the ones to get us out. Get your head out of Rush Limbaugh's giant, gorilla-sized ass and smell the goddamned Folgers!
.....God, I feel sooo much better...
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Game on, brothers and sisters.