NationStates Jolt Archive

Scientists working under contract for the military have devloped the St. Ives Lower Extremity Exoskeleton (SILEEX). The contract has been completed with the objective of producing a system that reduces the felt wieght of the combat pack now carried by most troops. A second contract has been given to SIU to complete a full-body exoskeleton, called the St. Ives Full Extremity Exoskeleton (SIFEEX). The military is tentative about the objective of these projects, but the primary speculation is focused on the possibility of a first generation battle armor, although experts caution that if such a system were built it would not be like the master-of-all-trades-human-tank so commonly portrayed in science fiction novels.

http://169.229.204.159/hel/CV/Ryan/R1-BLEEX-Web.jpg
http://www.me.berkeley.edu/hel/CV/Soummya/S1-BLEEX-Web.jpg

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cool looking, but manuverability?

Someone else tried this not too long ago. The problem with that stregnth enhancement system at the present time is that it isn't rugged enough for military service. Not to mention the fact that it would be very difficult to power effectively. It is just unfeasable under a modern tech system. (Not to mention that everyone'll think you're a future nation when you start throwing around powered armor)

Well, it is feasable, but not desirable if you aren't future tech. :wink: Getting up is the problem, as is mobility. Eh, I'll let you work it out on your own. :)

Fully articulate as far as the lower body is concerned, although the full-body exoskeleton will be ten times the challenge. SIU scientists are already working on the new suit, it should be ready in about a year. Rumors insist that a first-gen battle armour is to follow, although that is publically denied by the government.

[I'm going to treat that as the OOC comment it is. I'm near-future tech, which means I'm advanced enough that I can take modern tech and evolve it a couple generations but not so advanced that things like the BA this will evolve into are uber. Going against future-tech BA, this thing will get its ass kicked, and very soundly at that.

The Berkely system has a problem with robustness because it doesn't use military-grade electronics and materials, that problem has already been taken care of. When this is finished, it'll have a couple different kinds of synthetic armour protecting it, so the problem of bullets disabling the system will be greatly reduced. The power problem, which is what really kills the current system for military use, will be solved by hooking everything to a beefed-up power supply based on the new silent one used in computers. The PS will get its voltage from a small radioactive decay battery, larger and similar systems power most spy satellites, so it's just a matter of miniaturization. As for mobility, everything will be articulated and so long as they is power, movement won't be a problem. I've considered adding a small gyroscope to help reduce over-balancing, but don't know if I will yet.

SIFEEX has now been completed. The holdup was largely do to the army and hand system, but that has been solved. Overall body efficiency has been upped to around 60% from the 33% humans are born with. The government has confirmed reports that this will eventually be into a primitive battle armour, tentatively titled SIBA, for St. Ives Battle Armour. This is how the system will work:

First Layer: Full-body fire- and bullet-resistant nomex/synthetic spide silk suit with a hood. It will be treated will a silicon-based fluid that will make sure that chemical weapons will bead and roll down the suit should the first layer be exposed. A hood can be pulled over a standard-issue gas mask to complete the NBC resistance of this layer.

Second Layer: This layer consists of the articulated fram and 3mm of ceramic armour. Color for the armour will be a standard matte "coyote brown" and be capable of stopping small-calibre bullets up to 5.56mm. The armour acts as a shell that conforms to the body as closely as possible and has joints to allow for full articulations. The one stand-out feature of this layer is the "gauntlet" that covers the first layer's attached glove and allow for a better and stronger grip that is assisted by a smaller sub-frame for the hands.

Third Layer: This a slightly thinner nomex/synthetic spider silk that has the standard camo scheme of the military dyed onto it. While it is not thick enough to be significantly fire-resistant, it still acts as a third layer of bullet-stopping power. Slightly modified body-armour similar to the combat now worn by Imperium troops is also applied, this covers all vital areas, sports the same camo pattern, and adds significant anti-ballistic protection.

Electonics: A small gyroscope to improve balance, the frame and power supply, and spectrum-switching goggles powered by the power supply. Electronics are EM hardened to protect against power surges, but EMP from a nuclear weapons will practically kill the system.

NOTES: This system is not fully enclosed nor water proof, so there won't be any swimming nor moving around in extremely hostlie enviroments like space or Chernobyl.

I know how to power it! The backpack holds a giant spool of wire that is plugged into an outlet. You can air-drop power outlets connected to a central power station, so the soldier wearing the suit can walk around and when the wire runs out, he can have his support crew take the wire and plug it into the closest outlet!

:wink:

But really, an electric motor would work for short distances, and it would be quiet and probably light enough, if you used a lot of composites. But once it runs out, you've got this heavy pack that you suddenly have to support. Gas power would work, but it would be noisy and smelly. To have one of those on your back as a soldier would totally negate any stealth.

So, a power suit like what you've got is quite possible. As far as I'm concerned, legitimate to RP with. But it doesn't really do anything for you until you find a good way to power it. If you use lots of APCs and other armored vehicles (like the LRRA), troop capacity would plummet. So its really not an effective piece of gear.

I've already argued against one power armour suit using BLEEX, but that was only because the guy making it claimed it was modern tech.

Since you're future tech, I'll let you get away with it :wink:

Personally, however, I don't believe power armour will ever be practical, unless it can be made as light as normal clothing. If armour stops small arms fire, then people will simply develop more powerful small arms. Speed and agility are the infantryman's best friend, and you won't get that with an exoskeleton.

The Soviet army tested a pair of boots that used motor boosters on springs inside the boots to let their troops run faster and jump higher. Never put into service, however.

IC, we use it on some models of our battlesuits. They're not some sort of science fiction thing, they are heavily based on something the US Army is planning for 2025. I say go for it SS. If you want some help, look at my storefront. They're some sources listed there with information on what I am talking about, you might want to take some of the ideas into consideration.

The Soviet army tested a pair of boots that used motor boosters on springs inside the boots to let their troops run faster and jump higher. Never put into service, however.

Hee hee. I bet it's because they kept blowing people to bits.

use Grayfox's armor!

Ya know, back when I was reading the Berkley article, I imediatly asked myself, "I wonder how long it will take for someone on NS to copy this?" Now I know.

Personally, however, I don't believe power armour will ever be practical, unless it can be made as light as normal clothing. If armour stops small arms fire, then people will simply develop more powerful small arms. Speed and agility are the infantryman's best friend, and you won't get that with an exoskeleton.

[I'm not "future-tech" as you say, but near-future. That's basically the ability to take modern technology the already exists or can exist but has not been developed for monetary reasons that don't exist here like they do in RL, and develop it. As for agility and speed, the gyroscope helps with that because you can make a head-long charge and stop or turn if you need to, but you definately won't be Barry Sanders. However, the fact that a soldier would wear enough armour to stop anything up to a 10mm rifle bullet and severely reduce the ability of a .50cal to penetrate into the person helps make up for that.]

However, the fact that a soldier would wear enough armour to stop anything up to a 10mm rifle bullet and severely reduce the ability of a .50cal to penetrate into the person helps make up for that.]

Well, only until the inevitable development more powerful small arms and ammunition. Troops won't carry around obsolete weapons for long. I'd forsee exoskeleton-based armour having maybe a year or two of effectiveness, before being rendered obsolete by weapons advances.

[Most large caliber rifles are huge and unsuitable for regular combat use except as anti-material rifles or machine guns, which not every person in a platoon can carry. Also, I have never stated that SIBA is unsupseptable to explosives, so there would be no reason to develop big rifles to combat SIBA. Furthermore, I'm the only nation that I know of that fields anything like this, so what would the point be of developing such a rifle(s) when the average nation will never have the misfortune of pissing me off? Besides, I won't be manufacturing that many and those that I do manufacture will only go to special forces regiments, thus further restricting the justification of producing larger rifles and in fact underscoring the massive cost of equiping an entire military with such expensive weapons.]

Except lots of infatry units are getting weapons to deal with light armour now (or did you forget to notice that the OCSW is getting deployed at a squad level and it can kill most lgiht armour).

And of course there are those delightfully nasty advanced pentrator rounds liek the russian 9mm based on the 7.62x57mm.

Actually with the armour you ahve posted you would have major problems stopping even 5.56mm NATo AP ammo never mind 5.7mm FN or 4.6mm HK

Crookfur does have good points. However, if you used stronger materials (like the ones I mention at my storefront) you would be able to stop small arms (I remember reading it in the article about those things, in some old issue of Popular Science magazine (the exact issue is mentioned in my storefront) that it could.). Not sure about the OCSW though. Probaly. What caliber is it again?

:::Double Post:::

{Tag; For Intelligence Purposes}

[The OSCW would tear my infantry apart because it is a 25mm automatic grenade launcher. All of my armour (layers one, two, and three) is a generation or two more advanced than kevlar, so combined they wouldn't have any problems with any standard rifle bullet below the stated level. Yes, the new AP ammo for the H&K and FN PDWs would probably go through the outer layer and penetrate into the second, but it wouldn't go through the inner layer. Of course, that's assuming that the shot goes where the layer three plates are (i.e. covering vital places), but that would be a golden BB in a combat situation for normal infantry (a sniper would go for a headshot.) Anyway, I'm getting tired of people bitching at this system when there are plenty of weaknesses, so if anyone's got anything else to say, say it through a TG. Otherwise, this thread is closed.]

Feline: the OCSW is a 25mm weapon, using long rod pentrator rounds it is rated at apentration greater than 60mm of RHA, it is alos lighter than an M60 and apparently can be comfortably fired from a bipod, the 25mm round is also going to be used in the XM109 payload rifle (basically a barret M82 with a new barrel and the world's biggest muzzle break).

Scandavian States: you coudl actually proabably get away with much thinker armour, a good 0.5-1" plate would do wonders, and yes we do actually already have armour materials that improve on kevlar but they still need a fair bit of thickness to do the job.

[The shell of the BA is covered by 2" thick plates of composite armour in any area that a bullet wound could prove deadly. It's well protected, but again not a human MBT. And again, thread closed.]