Jihad Alliance
02-05-2007, 12:52
Future Warrior
JA defence chiefs hope to have their troops kitted out in the combat gear in around 5 years.
Included in the Future Warrior Concept are a powerful exoskeleton, a self-camouflaging outer layer that adapts to changing environments and a helmet which translates a soldier's voice into any foreign language. The future soldier will also benefit from 'intelligent' armour, which remains light and flexible until it senses an approaching bullet, then tenses to become substansially bulletproof.
Officials are quick to point out that many of these systems are already working in prototype form, or are refinements of proven technologies.
Some of the blueprints will be unworkable without eagerly awaited advances in nanotechnology, but researchers remain confident. And perhaps with good reason.
The sheer scale of JA military research spending and the pace of recent advances in aircraft stealth technology and guided precision bombs are staggering.
A project specialist said: "We're already trialling equipment and technologies that did not exist a few years ago.
"The air force has just debuted its new stun gun and five years after the concept of an exoskeleton was first discussed, we have fully functioning prototypes."
"Five years ago, nobody thought we'd have a portable hydrogen fuel cell, but we've got them now.
"They're functioning, and we're just trying to make them smaller. And if I'm honest, nothing speeds up the development of technology like war."
Next Few Years
DECKED out in full desert combat gear, weighed down with several kilos of webbing, lungs slowly roasting in 50-degree heat and still another couple of hours patrolling to go.
But it was not an infantryman facing the prospect of several months battling the onslaught of Afghanistan’s merciless summer sun.
Instead a human guinea pig, who had volunteered to trial a new piece of kit destined for troops working in extreme heat, was showing signs of irritability after just four hours of being casseroled in simulated desert temperatures.
As reported there is a greater awareness of climate-related injuries and extreme heat seriously impairing judgment and ultimately resulting in death.
Now scientists at the University of Jihad are testing a new high-tech thermal vest that will keep soldiers comfortable, enabling them to perform arduous tasks more effectively and for longer periods in high temperatures.
Equipment used to cool down astronauts and pilots is being modified and adapted to the needs of troops. Creating a microclimate around just the human body, as opposed to air-conditioning a space shuttle or fighter jet, was proved effective in the 1970s. Air, liquid, ice and wax have all been used to draw and absorb heat from the static body of a fighter pilot to lower core temperatures. But developing an individual cooling system, which does not need a power supply and is lightweight, for a single mobile unit such as an infantryman has been more challenging.
Soldiers in battle exercise strenuously and their layers of combat clothing impede the body’s natural cooling process of sweating.
Jihad University researchers realised that assisting the sweating process by creating the cool microclimate next to human skin was the way forward. And the thermal vest is looking like the best fit.
Trials are continuing in climate chambers that recreate Afghan’s temperatures and volunteers don exactly the same kit and loads as a foot soldier, as well as the vest.
These volunteers, selected against a desired fitness and age profile required by the Army, then perform demanding activities such as quick pacing on an inclined treadmill.
A Professor said "little could be revealed about the new garment because a JA-based military contractor owns the patent".
“The tests involve air-cooled vests that increase the amount of evaporative cooling going on in the microclimate.
“The effects of systems that work with the body’s natural processes are felt more quickly but the kit must match the demands of the situation,” he said, adding that other factors must be assessed before the vest can be manufactured for use on desert front lines. “Every piece of equipment has a cost-benefit. For example, how does this vest improve health, comfort and movement against the logistical problems of perhaps needing a power supply?”
Nevertheless, the vests are expected to make it into a soldier’s front-line wardrobe within the next year.
JA defence chiefs hope to have their troops kitted out in the combat gear in around 5 years.
Included in the Future Warrior Concept are a powerful exoskeleton, a self-camouflaging outer layer that adapts to changing environments and a helmet which translates a soldier's voice into any foreign language. The future soldier will also benefit from 'intelligent' armour, which remains light and flexible until it senses an approaching bullet, then tenses to become substansially bulletproof.
Officials are quick to point out that many of these systems are already working in prototype form, or are refinements of proven technologies.
Some of the blueprints will be unworkable without eagerly awaited advances in nanotechnology, but researchers remain confident. And perhaps with good reason.
The sheer scale of JA military research spending and the pace of recent advances in aircraft stealth technology and guided precision bombs are staggering.
A project specialist said: "We're already trialling equipment and technologies that did not exist a few years ago.
"The air force has just debuted its new stun gun and five years after the concept of an exoskeleton was first discussed, we have fully functioning prototypes."
"Five years ago, nobody thought we'd have a portable hydrogen fuel cell, but we've got them now.
"They're functioning, and we're just trying to make them smaller. And if I'm honest, nothing speeds up the development of technology like war."
Next Few Years
DECKED out in full desert combat gear, weighed down with several kilos of webbing, lungs slowly roasting in 50-degree heat and still another couple of hours patrolling to go.
But it was not an infantryman facing the prospect of several months battling the onslaught of Afghanistan’s merciless summer sun.
Instead a human guinea pig, who had volunteered to trial a new piece of kit destined for troops working in extreme heat, was showing signs of irritability after just four hours of being casseroled in simulated desert temperatures.
As reported there is a greater awareness of climate-related injuries and extreme heat seriously impairing judgment and ultimately resulting in death.
Now scientists at the University of Jihad are testing a new high-tech thermal vest that will keep soldiers comfortable, enabling them to perform arduous tasks more effectively and for longer periods in high temperatures.
Equipment used to cool down astronauts and pilots is being modified and adapted to the needs of troops. Creating a microclimate around just the human body, as opposed to air-conditioning a space shuttle or fighter jet, was proved effective in the 1970s. Air, liquid, ice and wax have all been used to draw and absorb heat from the static body of a fighter pilot to lower core temperatures. But developing an individual cooling system, which does not need a power supply and is lightweight, for a single mobile unit such as an infantryman has been more challenging.
Soldiers in battle exercise strenuously and their layers of combat clothing impede the body’s natural cooling process of sweating.
Jihad University researchers realised that assisting the sweating process by creating the cool microclimate next to human skin was the way forward. And the thermal vest is looking like the best fit.
Trials are continuing in climate chambers that recreate Afghan’s temperatures and volunteers don exactly the same kit and loads as a foot soldier, as well as the vest.
These volunteers, selected against a desired fitness and age profile required by the Army, then perform demanding activities such as quick pacing on an inclined treadmill.
A Professor said "little could be revealed about the new garment because a JA-based military contractor owns the patent".
“The tests involve air-cooled vests that increase the amount of evaporative cooling going on in the microclimate.
“The effects of systems that work with the body’s natural processes are felt more quickly but the kit must match the demands of the situation,” he said, adding that other factors must be assessed before the vest can be manufactured for use on desert front lines. “Every piece of equipment has a cost-benefit. For example, how does this vest improve health, comfort and movement against the logistical problems of perhaps needing a power supply?”
Nevertheless, the vests are expected to make it into a soldier’s front-line wardrobe within the next year.