The U.S. military has enlisted some unconventional help for a new plan that intends to encase the soldiers of the future in high-tech, powered body armor capable of lifting hundreds of pounds, according to The Wall Street Journal.
This revolutionary military project dubbed the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit – or Talos – is calling on special effects designers to help imagine a viable futuristic suit for soldiers. Special effects designers who have worked on movies such as "Iron Man," "Robocop," "The Terminator" and other films are wracking their brains trying to figure out how soldiers in the real world can be outfitted with hundreds of pounds of body armor without utilizing technologies present in works of fiction.
"Hollywood has definitely made the Iron Man suit impossibly thin, impossibly light, impossibly agile and impossibly energy efficient," Russ Angold, co-founder of Ekso Bionics a company that primarily designs exoskeletons for medical use, told The Wall Street Journal. "So we're really trying to solve the problem and ask the question: What would Iron Man look like if it was real?"
The real world Iron Man
There are a few daunting barriers to creating a suit anything like the exoskeleton in Marvel's blockbuster film. One of the biggest problems is finding a power source that could make it functional. According to an article in The Week, the exoskeleton is intended to protect soldiers from bullets, explosions and bayonet attacks. Extra body armor capable of deflecting such forces would be hundreds of pounds in weight, which means some sort of external power source – 365 additional pounds of batteries, according to Pentagon researchers – would be necessary.
Far from having the fictional "Arc Reactor" that powers Iron Man's suit, the U.S. military does not intend on finding any substitutable breakthroughs any time soon, but the project is continuing to fund research and conduct tests.
A more realistic exoskeleton
The U.S. Special Forces Operations Command intends to design a new body armor within four years. Hollywood 3-D printers have already been commissioned to produce some of the early prototypes that mostly deal with mobility issues. A team of bioengineers, combat veterans, tech experts, prop makers and other researchers have joined forces to break ground in the military exoskeleton project, but U.S. politicians are skeptical about any huge advancements.
According to The Wall Street Journal, lawmakers and the House Armed Services Committee have already asked for a briefing on the project. The U.S. military has already spent close to $10 million funding Talos, and the briefing will inform lawmakers if the project is wasting money.
A video posted by The Wall Street Journal records a soldier drafted for exoskeleton exercises working through a shooting range equipped with mechanical braces, an early prototype for powered movement. Reportedly, the braces made it difficult to run and were troubled by engine failure and other complications.
Ultimately, the U.S. Special Forces Operations Command may have a revolutionary body armor ready within four years, but it is doubtful that a powered exoskeleton will be a military issued piece of hardware within the near future.
For Marines and the Army, studying how to integrate women into ground combat positions without sacrificing certain service standards has been tricky. Ongoing studies and physical tests have shown that possible female ground combat candidates have struggled at times because of size and upper body strength limitations. However, the Marines are pushing forward in studying how women can be fully integrated into more strenuous combat positions in a few different ways, according to a Military Times Group report.
Several new open training options
The Marines are required to make a recommendation to the Secretary of Defense in Jan. 2016 regarding whether all ground combat specialties should be open to women or if particular specialties should be closed for certain reasons. The recommendation comes just as the military intends to wrap up their Women in Service Review.
As part of the research, numerous training options have been opened to female troops over the past week. For example, next week women marines will be able to volunteer to participate in seven new ground combat training schools including specialties such as:
- Machine Gunner
- Mortarman
- Infantry Assaultman
- Anti-Tank Missileman
- M1A1 Tank Crewman
- Assault Amphibious Vehicle Crewmember
- M60A1 Tank Crewman
Additionally, the Marines' Infantry Officer Course experiment has been opened to female company grade officers instead of just entry-level officers. This means female lieutenants and captains will be able to test their ability to complete the course. This change is intended to bring more women to the course to study female effectiveness in ground combat positions. According to the Military Times Group, the Marines intended to have at least 100 women attempt the course within a three-year period. Currently, only 20 women have attempted the course, which has a failure rate of 25 percent for male officers. So far, none of the female volunteers have passed.
Keeping a high standard of physical ability
According to Col. Anne Weinberg, deputy director of the Marine Corps Force Innovation Office, the physical fitness test score is important in recognizing ground combat readiness.
"Based on historical evidence, successful completion and injury mitigation has a stronger correlation with a [high] first-class PFT score," Weinberg said, according to the Military Times Group.
Many proponents of female ground combat integration do not believe in compromising any of the physical standards, which sets a challenging precedent for women. In many training camps potential servicemembers are required to hike with full packs – which weigh roughly 100 pounds – and complete grueling exercises that test upper body strength.
Marine Lt. Col. Michael Samarov – a member of a planning group that will be taking 160 women across the Sierra Nevada mountains, Mojave Desert and Pacific Coast beaches to complete training exercises – believes women can meet standards and improve combat outcomes.
"Male and female, the task has got to be the same. Combat readiness will not be compromised," Samarov said, according to Georgia Public Broadcasting. "If we get this right, combat readiness will improve. We're not going to lower standards."
President Barack Obama will announce his nomination for the next secretary of Veterans Affairs on Monday. Robert A. McDonald is expected to be chosen for the position.
Who is Robert McDonald?
McDonald recently retired as chairman of Procter & Gamble, a Fortune 500 company with which he worked for 33 years. Although some question his ability to work with a government agency after being involved with the private sector for so long, McDonald has a strong military background.
McDonald's father served in World War II with the Army Air Corps. As the son of a veteran, the military was part of his early life. He went on to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and graduated in the top 2 percentile of his class, according to USA Today. After college, he served in the Army for five years and became a captain in the 82nd Airborne Division. When he left the military, he received the Meritorious Service Medal.
In his life after service, McDonald went back to school and got his MBA from the University of Utah in 1978. He then started working at P&G in 1980, serving as a brand manager for several big name companies, including Tide. After making his way up in the company, he later becoming chief operating officer and then chairman of the board.
Issues with the VA
McDonald will be replacing Army general Eric Shinseki, Obama's nomination from 2009, who resigned from the position on May 30.
A recent upheaval has shaken the agency amid allegations that it hasn't been providing veterans with proper medical care. An internal audit identified problems that may have caused delayed care and the falsification of records.
McDonald's experience in the private sector and with business management are being touted as key points for his consideration for the position. His experience with managing a large company is seen as potentially helpful when it comes to managing the thousands of hospitals administered by the VA. The New York Times reported that McDonald managed 120,000 employees between 2009 and 2013 and that his company served over five billion customers.
Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChystal, who served with McDonald in the 82nd Airborne, said the nominee's "business acumen, coupled with his dedication and love of our nation's military and veteran community, make him a truly great choice for the tough challenges we have at VA," the Associated Press reported.
"This is definitely a surprising pick," said Paul Rieckhoff, the chief executive and founder of charity organization Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told the New York Times. "McDonald is not a name that was on anyone's radar over the last few weeks. His branding background may prove helpful because there are few organizations in America with a worse reputation toward customers than the VA right now."
In order to become the official secretary of Veteran Affairs, McDonald's nomination will need support from both the Republican and Democratic parties. He must get congressional approval before being appointed.
When traveling through the treacherous terrain of battlegrounds, such as those in Afghanistan, it can be hard for soldiers to track their fellow service members. However, the military is testing a new blue force tracking system that will aid soldiers during combat and allow greater communication between units, something the army benefits from greatly.
JBC-P
The new system, known as the Joint Battle Command-Platform (JBC-P) was jointly tested with the Marines and army soldiers. The monitor is mounted in military vehicles and gives users a full view of the battlefield and surrounding terrain, similar to a GPS. Soldiers in the vehicle are able to locate friendly forces and their fellow military units. In addition, it allows users to plot the locations of known enemy locations and shares the information with other units in the area. The JBC-P was created to be user-friendly and easy for first time users. Although similar devices have existed, this brings a new level of technology to the field and introduces faster satellite connection and secure data encryption. It even allows the units to chat message each other during exercises and battles.
"When I'm in the middle of a fight, and I'm trying to move my platoon and talk to my platoon, instead of calling them up, right away I can pop the icon up and type a quick message and it's already on there and my TOC (tactical operations center) is tracking," said First Lt. Adam E. Martin, according to a U.S. Army press release. "The maps are a lot more detailed and it's more intuitive. You can color code your platoons or your trucks, so when you have 100 dots on a map, you can easily pick out who's who."
The system was tested in May at Fort Bliss, Texas by 900 Marines and the Army's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division during one of the Army's semi-annual field exercises, called NIE 14.1. These field exercises are known as Network Integration Evaluation (NIE) events and are meant to keep military practices modern and effective. They are the most efficient way to identify gaps in current practices, giving leaders a chance to improve their battlefield plans. Feedback from the exercise will help to further improve the JBC-P technology, but the overall response from soldiers has been positive.
"This allows us to know where the enemies are, so I can make sure our guys aren't going too far into a danger zone," said Lance Cpl. John Allen Sergeant with the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment. "Everyone should have this."
JBC-P was designed by the Army's Program Executive Office Command, Control and Communications. Before its testing at Fort Bliss, it underwent previous testing focusing on JBC-P's ability to reduce the amount of risk involved in military operations.
Soldiers on the ground
Defense Systems reported that the JBC-P also connects to a handheld Nett Warrior system, which is used for military members traveling on foot rather than in vehicles. Soldiers are able to use specialized Android phones that allow them to get a good overview of their surroundings and connect to their fellow soldiers. Such technology can be invaluable during battle. The Marines are currently looking into creating their own handheld technology system, similar to the Nett Warrior.
Corporal Jeff DeYoung was reunited with his black Labrador retriever named Cena on Thursday, June 5th, after being apart for four years. Cena had been DeYoung's bomb-sniffing dog and partner in Afghanistan in 2009.
According to the New York Daily News, Cena is a skilled canine that can sniff out 300 different kinds of explosives and 1000 different scents.
Talented dogs like Cena play an important role in the safety of our soldiers, both physically and mentally. Soldiers often build a special bond with their dogs, relying on them not just to find bombs and for physical protection, but also for comfort and companionship as in everyday life.
"My main goal was to protect him," DeYoung told ABC news. "I remember we would get into firefights and having to cover myself on top of him so he wouldn't get harm[ed]. It was all about him."
When DeYoung left the military in 2010, Cena stayed behind to continue serving the country. DeYoung went on to get married and start a family but throughout his life after service, he always had Cena in the back of his mind. After four long years, he went through Mission K9 Rescue to adopt his friend. The heroic canine had served six years in the military and had a hip problem that prevented continued service.
Canines that serve next to their soldiers find a special place, not only in their soldier's heart, but also with the hearts of the soldier's family.
Salvador and Sandra Diaz lost their son Staff Sgt. Christopher Diaz in September of 2011, but have recently been approved to adopt his Belgian malinois, Dino.
Initially, their request to adopt the dog was denied, because he was a young dog that could still work for the Marines. However, a special law allows grieving families in unique situations to adopt a working military dog. Under this law, Dino was allowed to become part of the Diaz family.
Salvador Diaz was the one who put in the request to adopt Dino and had planned on adding him to the family. While adopting Dino does not fill the void that Diaz's death has left in the lives of his family, it will provide a connection to him.
"We know that he's not going to replace Christopher but what he'll do is give us a little something that Christopher loved, and that was the Marine Corps and that was Dino," he told KGTV-TV.
On June 14th, the United States will celebrate the Army's 239th birthday. The Army announced that the theme of this year's celebrations will be "America's Army: Our Profession." With the anniversary come many celebrations to honor the Army's troops and veterans.
Events started Friday, June 8th with ceremonies across the United States.
In Washington D.C. at Fort Lesley J. McNair, Under Secretary of the Army, Brad Carson, gave a keynote speech honoring today's troops and comparing them with the "greatest generation," those who served during WWII. In his speech, Carson reflected on the past 239 years of the Army and its effect on the globe.
"Our beginnings in 1775 may have been humble, but even then and certainly ever since, our Army has influenced the nation and the world," he said.
The extent of the Army celebrations stretch across the U.S. and it's territories. According to Kuam news, Governor Eddie Calvo of Guam gave a special speech honoring the island's servicemen and servicewomen, acknowledging the Army's history on the island and in the Pacific. In a time-honored tradition, the island will host its own Army Birthday Ball on June 14th, along with Army bases across the country.
Even in the nation's capital, celebrations will cumulate on June 21st with the Army Birthday Ball in National Harbor, Maryland.
Battelle, the world's largest nonprofit research and development organization, is partnering with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory of Massachusetts, and Aegis Technologies of Virginia to develop an "Iron Man" military suit, a Battelle spokesperson recently confirmed. The concept for this Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit, or TALOS, has been in the works for a few months. In September 2013, the U.S. Special Operations Command issued a special notice inviting related professionals to submit low Technology Readiness Level (TRL) demonstrations of their research. Those encouraged to participate may be involved with industry labs, academia, a part of a government lab or individuals pursuing related sciences in their life after service.
The USSOC had a few suggestions in mind for technological developers, including full-body ballistic armor protection, Situational Awareness (SA) technology, and a powered exoskeleton that would improve agility. The USSOC invited select respondents to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, in October.
The 2014 Special Operations Forces Industry Conference and exhibition held May 20-22 in Tampa showcased the new technologies Battelle has been developing for TALOS. Live Science news met with the vice president for the special operations market group at Battelle, John Folkerts.
"How do you protect against direct action engagement?" he asked. "To protect troops in combat, soldiers must have access to better armor, better protection and better communication."
Though the exact specifics of the suit are set to be released between 2016 and 2018 according to the source, there are some hints of brewing technological advances. NPR spoke with professors Norman Wagner from the University of Delaware and Gareth McKinley from MIT when the technology was in its first stages.
"We're starting with the material that's almost a liquid ceramic that transitions when you hit it hard," said Wagner. "These particles organize themselves quickly, locally in a way that they can't flow anymore and they become like a solid."
This means that the suit would provide better protection after being hit by a bullet, but McKinley wants to go further. NPR noted that he believes the suit could include attachable arm and leg frames that use hydraulics to improve soldiers' speed and agility. The USSOC also envisions that the suit would include a computer similar to Google Glass to enhance battlefield vision, updating soldiers on enemy whereabouts or even chemical presence. A comparable system for Google Glass called Tactical Augmented Reality software is already in the works by Battelle.
Following Russia's buildup of troops near its border with the the Ukraine, the U.S. is considering deploying Army forces to Poland. According to The Associated Press, a Western official said the U.S. could send approximately 150 servicemembers for military exercises to take place in Poland and Estonia over the next few weeks. Poland and the U.S. are expected to announce the deployment of an American Army company next week.
U.S. intends to increase presence in Europe
The official – who requested anonymity – estimated that the ground exercises in Poland and Estonia will last about two weeks. He also suggested that these activities will occur on a rotating basis and that the U.S. will consider deploying troops to other regions of Eastern Europe.
Additionally, John Kirby, the Pentagon's press secretary, stated Friday that the U.S. is planning initiatives for improving air, ground and maritime readiness in Europe.
"Some of those activities will be pursued bilaterally with individual NATO nations. Some will be pursued through the alliance itself," Kirby said, as quoted by the AP.
Defense leaders meet to discuss military cooperation
Poland's defense minister, Tamasz Siemoniak, stated that military planners are currently working out the details of a deployment strategy, The Washington Post reported. He met with U.S. defense secretary Chuck Hagel Thursday to discuss methods of bolstering military-to-military collaboration, which would include increased cooperation in special forces, air defense and cyberdefense. Siemoniak noted that the ultimate goal is to enable a long-term improvement in the defense postures of Europe and the U.S.
"The idea until recently was that there were no more threats in Europe and no need for a U.S. presence in Europe any more," Siemoniak told The Washington Post. "Events show that what is needed is a re-pivot, and that Europe was safe and secure because America was in Europe."
While some European countries have previously cut back on defense spending, Siemoniak insisted that defense ministers from these nations expressed support for reversing this trend during a recent meeting. However, the decision to increase defense spending is contingent upon the agreement of their national leaders.
Siemoniak expects that the strongest incentives for European nations to boost their defense budgets will be Russian President Vladimir Putin's dishonesty regarding Russian actions in Crimea and his explanation of a new doctrine that would allow his nation to intervene in any country home to Russian-speaking populations.
During a recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Sgt. Maj. of the Marine Corps Micheal Barrett gave a testimony that was met with vehement criticism from many Marines and their family members. According to Military.com., Barrett told Congress that Marines would accept a relatively low pay raise as long as they were offered better equipment and training.
Sgt. Maj. Barrett's testimony creates controversy
"Marines don't run around [asking] about compensation, benefits, retirement modernization. That's not on their minds," Barrett said at the hearing, as quoted by Military.com. "As I walk around to talk to the thousands [in] audiences, they want to know into whose neck do we put a boot next. They want to know about what new equipment are we getting."
Perhaps the most controversial of Barrett's stances was that reduced pay would foster better spending habits and, thus, "raise discipline."
Barrett's comments were made in light of the Pentagon's fiscal 2015 budget proposal, which stipulates a 1 percent pay raise for Marines. Given the rate of inflation, this raise would actually equate to a cut.
Barrett wrote an open letter to all Marines to clarify statements made during his testimony, as he felt that his message had been misconstrued by members of the press. He insisted that if the growth of compensation and benefit entitlements is not slowed down, the Marine Corps will not have enough capital to invest in combat capabilities and family care programs, both of which Barrett identified as highly important.
A mixed range of reactions
Responses to Barrett's testimony have varied from reproachful to supportive. Military.com noted that some individuals asserted the conviction that Pentagon leaders should receive a pay cut before reducing servicemembers' compensation.
Meanwhile, Duncan Hunter, a Republican congressman from California, penned a letter to Barrett to assure the sergeant that his remarks were not construed to mean that the Marine Corps will require less funding. Joe Kasper, a spokesman for Hunter, explained that the congressman interpreted Barrett's words as an explanation of Marines' capability to respond to incidents with versatility and levelheadedness.
"What we heard, what Rep. Hunter heard [Barrett say], is that Marines are some of the best at adapting and performing to the situation. They'll do it with discipline and precision," Kasper said, according to Military.com.
Kasper also posited the belief that Barrett was pressured to speak in approval of the 1 percent pay raise, and some of the sergeant's comments did not accurately convey his intended message.
Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 went missing in the early hours of Saturday, March 8, and other than satellite images of debris floating in the Indian Ocean, officials are still at a loss for what could have caused the airplane to disappear. For some, the hope now rests with locating the plane's black box, the indestructible object kept in cockpits that records hundreds of data parameters and flight conditions.
According to ABC News, however, black boxes only have enough battery life to transmit locator signals for about a month, which means that if MH370 did crash into the Indian Ocean several hundred miles off the western coast of Australia, only about two weeks remain before it loses the energy to ping its location. Malaysian authorities believe they have narrowed their efforts to a new area of open water, but the U.S. Navy is now stepping in to provide technical expertise in the search for the missing plane's black box.
A ping and a prayer
Cmdr. William Marks, spokesman for the 7th Fleet, said in a statement that one of Navy's Towed Pinger Locator machines was scheduled to arrive in the search area on March 26, Stars and Stripes reported. Along with another unmanned underwater vehicle, these two pieces of equipment may provide the best chance of finding the MH370 in the narrowed search area yet.
The Towed Pinger Locator 25 is dropped into the water behind a moving ship and listens for any underwater activity from submerged black boxes. The TPL can effectively pick up a signal of a black box at more than 20,000 feet.
The bla will also be joined by a Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle that features technology to map out the ocean floor. The Bluefin-21 AUV can travel at a maximum speed of 4.5 knots and can dive as low as 14,700 feet for 25 hours.
New search area
In tandem, these two pieces of equipment promise to find any answers that may be hidden in the multinational search effort's new area of focus 1,700 miles west of Perth, Australia, NBC News reported.
Thai satellite images may have found evidence of man-made debris floating on the water's surface, but analysts were unable to determine the objects' origin. Though no official word has come from Malaysian officials or any other country involved in the search efforts, this debris field is only 125 miles southwest of the predicted crash site.