US Military want Starship Troopers, but for real this time !

Do you remember that scene from Aliens when Sigourney Weaver climbs into the power loader and takes on the Alien Queen, giving the acid-spitting nasty the kicking of her life?

Hey, who get forget it? It was a seminal moment of cinematic science fiction. One crowd who have never forgotten it - apparently - are the egg heads over at DARPA, the USA's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Why? Because the is US military are now soliciting 'innovative research proposals' for EHPA - their Exoskeletons for Human Performance Augmentation program.

Exoskeletons have a long and noble tradition in science fiction. In the original Heinlein novel, Starship Troopers, the power-armoured soldiers were more than a match for the bio-engineered monstrosities of the book, amplifying human strength hundreds of time, and carrying nuclear-missile launching backpacks.

This was of course, dumped for the more recent movie based on Heinlein's work … due to the SFX-time (and bucks) that would have been sucked up by the special effects wizards. Later works which extended this concept include Joe Haldeman's Forever War (and his more recent novel, Forever Peace), where the idea of power armour was given a gritty, violent post-Vietnam makeover.

More recently, our screen have been invaded by anime while manga has proliferated across our comic-shops, many featuring power-armour augmented humans fighting each other, aliens, monster and even Godzilla (Appleseed is the best of breed of this genre, by the way, with its artist/creator being influenced by Syd 'Bladerunner' Mead's visuals).

Anyway, not content with launching the 'Son of StarWars' missile shield, the US armed forces are now driving the military towards ever more sci-fi themed weapon system.

According to the tender document on DARPA's web site:

"The technological challenges that must be addressed are energy sources, power by generation, haptic interfaces, control algorithm development, as well as integration of actuation systems and all previously mentioned subsystems into a machine with an anthropomorphic architecture."

For the less technical among you, a haptic interface would be you reaching out, and your powered armour following your actions (rather than you pushing a joystick to get the same effect).

The goal of their project is to "develop devices and machines that will increase the speed, strength, and endurance of soldiers in combat environments."

DARPA continues: "Inclusion of exoskeleton technology into land based operations will extend the mission payload and/or mission range of the soldier. Exoskeletons will also increase the lethality and survivability of ground troops for short range and special operations. The enhanced mobility and load carrying capability provided by the exoskeleton will allow soldiers to carry more ballistic protection and heavy weaponry."

The base of what the US wants to achieve with their exo-armour project is:

1. assist pack-loaded locomotion,
2. prolong locomotive endurance
3. increase locomotive speed
4. augment human strength
5. leap extraordinary heights and/or distances.

We asked research leader Rebecca Marsh, based at the UK's Fort Halstead (the Brit version of DARPA) what she thought of the US's chances for developing an exo-armour prototype by their target date of 2005.

"If it was anyone but the Americans, I'd write this off as science fiction . It's not at the same level of technical challenge as the original failed 'Star Wars' program, though." Marsh commented. "Most of the basic systems to produce something like this already exist.Getting them down to infantry deployment size and making them battlefield robust would be the real challenge. You might end up with something closer to the house-tall fighting mechs of games like Battletech, though, rather than the Aliens' power loader scale. I doubt if they can do it for the $50 million they've got to spend, though."

Marsh went on about the current trends in weapons development. "This may be a bit of a PR smokescreen to cover some of the US's forward development plans for robot weapons, which are well advanced and currently far more realistic. Automated surveillance aircraft will be supplanted by attack craft this decade.

"You will also see robot sentries along the lines of the ED machines in Robocop - although they will be tracked and wheeled, rather than walkers. In autopilot mode, they'll recognise friends and foes by transponder codes, and have telecontrol for remote human 'piloting' via satellite.

"Our ability to sustain heavy battlefield casualties in the world of CNN & global news-hungry media has pushed modern nations into almost pacifist foreign policies. It's going to be much more acceptable to have your soldiers fighting a tele-war from the safety of the US, while machines do the dying in hotspots like Iraq."

For more details of the US's sci-fi weapons, surf on over to www.darpa.mil

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Samuel Globber. 01/02/2001
The US military kicks butt. It won't be long before we're landing dropships on nasty little dictatorships and blowing their ass away with pulse rifles.

Pipper Cheung. 01/02/2001
The US would be far better spending this money on real dangers such as global warming and food aid. Do we really need million-dollar battlesuits, laser missile shields and the like?

Joel Letomann. 01/02/2001
Walk softly and carry a big stick. The freedom today that allows the USA to supply aid to the third world has been preserved by our armed forces, not good intentions. Try holding a peace rally for democracy in China, Iraq, Iran or Zimbabwe ... then watch you & your family get 'disappeared'. The road to history forgot leads to the concentration camp and re-education center.

Therri M. 02/02/2001
It all sounds so contrived and dreamy. But until they address other practical problems like a better payscale and ground support like shielded troop carriers, I think the idea of a smartsuit is a long way off. Look, there are diplomatic problems with us looking too big and nasty to the smaller countries already. An exoskeleton and pulse rifles would cause World War III, and our own people are just not ready for that. As it is, the threat of a nuclear confrontation is more real to me. Better to try and talk your way out of war than adopt a Roman stance on the whole thing.

starpony 02/02/2001
I don't think the reality of the world necessitates this kind of technology. Are we fighting giant bugs from Starship Troopers? Or the borg? Or even any major war? No. What did we learn from Russia? If you spend all your money on the military, people don't end up happy. We would be better off finding ways of sharing our wealth instead of spending it on useless toys. Peace does not happen if you're stuck in a cycle of revenge.

Chris Taylor 02/02/2001
While it would be very interesting to have cutting edge exoskeleton technology producing gear like we see in sci fi movies like Storm Troopers and Aliens, I don't really see a real need for it on a large scale. To build a few prototypes for DARPA to fool around with could not hurt, however. Perhaps they can learn through experimentation and adaptation even cheaper ways to build more later if they do turn out to be truly needed. As far as Pipper Cheung's comments saying "The US would be far better spending this money on real dangers such as global warming and food aid. I have to say that issues like these don't exactly fall into DARPA's area of responsibility. Thats like asking the military infrastrusture to be concerned about non military objectives...like natural disasters. We simply have to budget some money towards research. Its one of the main reasons we stay on top. Our military only has two major things on their minds. All other thoughts fall under these two thoughts. One: Defend the country and her foreign policys. Two: to be prepared to spank butt when necessary.

Christian 'limp wrist' Miller 14/02/2001
Left-wing, nice me says: Argh! Appaling waste of tax-payers funds! It won't be robots dying on the "Iraqui" side, but conscripts, you can bet your granny! And, how much time do the US military brass spend watching SF movies anyway? 10-year old me: I want a 40-tonne mechanoid battlesuit for Christmas.... PS: Is Samuel Globber a real name?