First there was Star Wars, no not the movie but the Strategic Defense Initiative, that was supposed to zap cold war nuclear missiles when some accident-prone private pressed the big red button by mistake. Once again, the world’s biggest defender of the peace- and largest arms dealer- has been inspired by the greatest research and development initiative in human history, the Hollywood blockbuster… the real life iron man suit.
The real life iron man suit (Source: Giphy)
So what has Hollywood inspired this time you might ask? It’s called T.A.L.O.S., which stands for Tactical, Assault, Light, Operator, Suit. That’s Military speak for Iron Man, or more specifically the Iron Man suit. It will offer it’s wearer ballistic and shock protection so good, it features integrated communications with head up display, and night vision, that will give the wearer real time battle information graphics. Presumably as getting shot at will no longer provide any real world feedback.
The real life iron man suit (Source: CNN)
But that is not all, for the feebler modern warrior it will feature an exoskeleton to improve strength and speed, though regrettably super human powers like the ability to fly or fire missiles have been omitted from this version. I suppose that is the domain of rather tried and tested Air force hardware.
The real life iron man suit (Source: Giphy)
In February 2015 President Obama made the announcement after meeting with top Pentagon people and engineers. Three prototypes were scheduled for delivery this June for testing, with Admiral William Mc Raven – chief of US operational command- confirming the June prototypes as being the first step for an August 2018 deployment. With 56 corporations, 16 government agencies and 13 universities on the case, I should think this would be an easy task. Though I wonder why they would not just not go that extra mile and make it fly and shoot missiles. Then again, that is another technology that still has to be innovated.
