U.S. Military's TALOS Project Tapped Hollywood Designer

It is not unusual for Hollywood to refer to the US Military personnel for realistic movie plot, but this time it is the other way around. Legacy Effects, the company known for designing props for movies such as Iron Man and RoboCop has been hired by the U.S. Military to design a war suit to protect soldiers in the field.

There will be three armor suit prototypes that the U.S. Special Operations Command will likely to select from. Protective suits like this could weight as much as 400 pounds and it is impossible for a soldier to be agile with it; hence a mobile exoskeleton is required to assist the suit, however none of the exoskeleton in the industry is capable of moving that much weight.

Power consumption is another hurdle this project has to overcome, as bigger power requirement will require larger battery or power source – which usually tend to add more weight and bulk to the suit.

The Talos project has spent about $10 million and is classified as a non-official project, which has made the development of the suit without a set budget. Many lawmakers have been unhappy with this approach and the House Armed services Committee is keeping a close eye on it to ensure that the project will not be a financial burden with no result.

Iron Man like suits – will we ever see one in our lifetime? I would pay good money to see one in action.

via WSJ