Chrontius said:
Ever seen the BLEEX or HAL-5 exosuits?
My money's on HAL-5 being fit for combat inside of 10 years, and BLEEX following shortly after pending powertrain improvements (chainsaw engines are loud and require two-stroke oil). Hell, maybe five years if the ENV fuel cell motorcycle's 'core' powerplant can be integrated into the suits. 1KW sustained load, 6KW peak. Almost enough to run a light energy weapon on top of the powersuit.
I suspect it will be a long time before you see powered suits in use for the military. SWAT or space use, yes. Military, unlikely.
You're talking adding additional logistics and maintenance functions and personnel to the deployment to keep them operating, as well as transport.
WHEN the suit fails, the soldier MUST BE ABLE to bail out without help, or he'll die.
WHEN the suit fails and he bails out, he must still have enough body armor and weapons to allow him to seek hard cover and await extraction.
Extraction must be available.
The problem is, it's not like a tank that is hard armor even when it fails. It's just another target susceptible to light support fire that will kill the troop inside even if the armor isn't breached. And once out, he's a naked worm in the midst of a firefight.
Besides, apart from carrying a greater load than a man less efectively than a truck, what does it really accomplish? Possibly useful for transport in extreme terrain where vehicles can't go.
Oh, wait. Mules and horses do that already, no development cost needed.
I covered this at length in "The Weapon." I even came up with variations that would let it work. For a while.
And a 6 kW energy weapon isn't worth the time or money to field. We have rifles. They do the same job cheaper and more efficiently.
