The advanced garment would provide soldiers with augmented strength, built in computers, medical monitoring, wound sealing foam, and “greater ballistic protection”.
While the US military has been developing “proto-Iron Man” components for a while, what caught my eye was the phrase “greater ballistic protection”.
According to an Army statement, MIT researchers are developing liquid body armor that can transform from “liquid to solid in milliseconds when a magnetic field or electrical current is applied”. This particular type of smart fluid is classified as magnetorheological.
The liquid armor doesn’t have to be limited to ballistic protection. Imagine a suit whose hardness could be controlled at the will of its operator. Crashing through doors, resisting crushing forces, and a number of other applications could be just a voice command away from future commandos.
The military says the TALOS suit isn’t a pie in the sky idea. The Army expects the first working prototype sometime next year. U.S Special Operations Command Chief Adm. William McRaven believes the TALOS project can make an immediate impact on Special Forces operations. “I’d like that last operator that we lost to be the last operator we lose in this fight or the fight of the future, and I think we can get there.”
Image and Video Courtesy of Raytheon