By the year 2010 U.S. soldiers in combat will be networked together via computer like one of Star Trek's Borg villains, they will be super-strong in exo-skeleton protective armor, and have 'x-ray' laser vision making it hard for the enemy to hide.
Helmets will be equipped with vibration-sensors rather than microphones for communication, and earpieces will improve soldiers' abilities to hear sound; even far-away whispers can be picked up.
Soldier's suits will detect biological or chemical threats using nanotechnology. Used in conjunction with robot-planes delivering field data, they will be able to train their super-sized weapons that they are carrying on the enemy.
It is unlikely The Borg will have assimilated anyone by then except a few high paid testers and even then their equipment is unlikely to be so sophisticated.
But It might take about 13 years... Remember how the leaps are going, especially in nano technology. I would be excited about it if they would apply it to something other than warfare... But at the same time, if it keeps our boys safer then Im all for it. JUST make sure we get it AFTER the Bush ADMINISTRATION is gone... Keyword, ADMINISTRATION. It takes a lot more than one to mingle.
3 years seems highly unlikely. Plus the cost for each soldier to wear all this seems extremely expensive when we cant even get enough money for the soldiers to have the correct armor and shields nowadays. I still see guerilla warfare beating technology.
The description made me think of the movie Universal Soldier, although not quite the same, but the soldiers were of a much stronger, faster, and more intelligent breed. I would sure hate to be a civilian in ANY country where invading soldiers are equipped like this. You could be shot for sneezing 100 yards away! sheesh
This technology will be great for a war in the future, preferably one that we SHOULD be fighting. Hey, maybe now we can go after the REAL men behind 9/11!
did they make cuts to the land warrior program? With actual deployments in war zones, the military actually needs to spend on troops and battle tested equipment. This future tech stuff is neat and all but at the end of the day you still need trained troops on the ground.
Technology is faster paced than you think. After all, we already have gel based padding that can take bulletts and revert to its natural form...there is more tech out there than people even know about...
That surely needs to happen is that we will have to train the soldiers MUCH harder than they do now if we expect them to correctly use this technology. It also may mean that we can't just enlist "everyone" because in order to use intelligent equipment, you would have to be intelligent! :)
There is a big difference between having the technology, and actually applying it.
Assuming ex-skeleton, x-ray vision helmets etc are all perfected in 3 years (highly unlikely), you will still have the issue of manufacturing, distribution, cost vs benefit, maintenance, logistic, technical support, necessary army training, record keeping, quality assurance, infrastucture etc etc.
So while in 3 years one might see some research playing with an imperfect ex-skeleton, it would be decades before this stuff is actually used by your average GI, or even specialized GIs.
They are not just a new model of guns or some fancy small gadget like Ipod. We are talking about large, highly complex (and expensive) systems that never existed before. It is like going from horse carriage to cars.
is not long at all at the pace of current technology.
@Swordfish: Dont count on that "Our boys" America may not be the pioneer of this tech, hence just like the night goggles, during the 1st desert storm were like a wow factor, only to be sold at Radioshack...
All of this technology is possible in 3 years. An uncle of mine works on this type of gear in the Navy, in fact he designs and tests them. Of the conversations I've had with him, though vague due to high classification reasons, he describes technology that sounds much like those described in the article. I even asked him about those infamous mechs you see in games and he laughed and said we could have had those years ago but the they would not be practical in a battlefield situation. He also laughed at the subject of body armor, like the gel mentioned above, and said force fields is where it's at. He's developing them now.
I think most of us agree that the majority if not all of the technology will be there in 3 years, but the actual safety tests, mass production, FUNDING (this sh*t isn't free), and training of the troops who will wear it sounds to be outside of the realm of the next three years.
There are a lot of very advanced technologies being worked on right now, however it will be a long while before the public ever sees them.
The source article quotes one of the developers of the computer system as being 'Borg Effect', so it's not HALO. ;)
A lot of people don't know what HALO is, but Star Trek is pretty darn near universal. Pun intended.
Hey! Who changed this subcategory from High Tech/Periphreals to High Tech/Hardware/Networked Computers. Periphreals was the only category close to what the article was about! *sigh*
Considering the Bush administration is having trouble giving simple body armor to our troops right now (many troops had to purchase their OWN body armor), I really don’t think we’ll be seeing this used on our troops en masse for at least two decades.
Troops in Iraq did not even have proper body armor. They were stealing armor off Iraqi tanks to protect their vehicles. They were also using sand bags on vehicles to protect themselves from explosives and bullets.
Many of them rely on the charity of friends and family to supply them with personal body armor, CB radios, and silly string.
To believe that in 2010 this kind of incredible technology will be standard issue is just nonsense. Exactly the kind of crap I would expect from Fox News.
The only similarity I see with the Borg is that young poor people are assimilated into the Collective with promises of 'free' education and special sign up bonuses most of them never see. They are then turned into drones, forced to go to war and sacrifice themselves for no good reason in the administration's futile quest for perfection. Just like the Borg, it is almost impossible to leave when you want to.
"Within three years, soldiers could begin testing futuristic devices" --source.
Yea, by what ya'll are saying, they'd have a year and 1/2 to test and fully develope the equipment, and another year and a half to actually distribute it.
I believe in miracles and everything, but not even God could help the military pull off such a feat.
Yeah and according to Terminator, Skynet was supposed to become self aware on August 29th, 1997, and annihilate most of the human race with nuclear missiles.
It's 2007, and I don't see any self aware computers.
If you can't get steel from your government to protect you in HMMMV and have to get it from a local Iraqi scrap yard... Perhaps being Borg isn't your main concern right now.
future of us soldiers is lack of and therefor this is bs. Bush can dream all he likes.
What usa soldiers actually need is some combat skills, as we all know they are utter shite in the battle field, hence why they lost every war since their help in ww2. Even in ww2 they had to be trained in scotland for real comabat.
Relaying on tech with no skills is set for a downfall. What if the "enemy" makes an EMP? :)
with dayly security updates and the need to reboot after installation. "your version of helmet will not protect you agianst this new type of bullets. We appologize for the inconvenience. An anonimous report has been created and will be sent to the Pentagon where we will not use your private data (you will remain MIA). Press this button to agree, of press cancel to die on the spot.
Aye, so the Yanks could learn t'fight in kilts against the Axis! Aye, laddie!
Secret training to simulate D-Day invasions were in England; Dorset, for some reason, is a name in my head- but I don't remember the actual towns that were abandoned for the drills, really. Out yonder!
I was in the Marine Corps; the reality is, by the time civvies hear about something being "tested in a few years", chances are it probably already exists, and is probably already in use. While I'll be the first to admit that Fox has it's nose buried in Bush's browneye, it does seem pretty plausible to me. After all, I've been hearing about the exo suit for years; used to be known as the Scorpion suit (or skorpion, something like that). And as far as this technology being used to "kill more people", I disagree... the point is to save the lives of our troops; it's not their fault that our administration has it's head up it's @$$. They're just doing their jobs.
