I think the concept would be more useful for law enforcement units that have to storm buildings or face a complex tight environments or responding to terrorism.
That supermarket terrorist attack in africa would be one situation where such armour may be useful.
Basically used for: 1) small squad force, not convenient to equip large number of people
2) Relatively low probability of use, the everyday wear and tear would drive up maintenance complexity.
3) Relatively short usage time. We're talking about something maybe less than say 48 hrs.
4) Be used for operations with goals well defined. i.e. not just patroling or idling.
If you made the armour heavy, then you may have to consider then environments the wearer have to operating in (wet, muddy, lose ground, whether building structure can bear the weight etc.)
Base defense will be another usage. They could sleep in their suits near stand by. And what will motivate more to protect the base which provides the ammo, parts, and power for your suit.
okay this seems more about a powered exoskeleton. Now lets go though the reason why a regular soldier would be suited to such, and by the way there are already such units in testing and development.
1) squads and units are not generally assembles in corps anymore. The days when maneuvering forces we counted in the hundreds of thousands went out of fashion after the first world war.
2) wear in a military with the proper logistical structure is not as big a issue as you think. If made modularly then worn parts can just be swapped regular wear is likely. but one thing to remember is the more built the lower the price.
3) power pack life spans are getting longer. modern infantry though are not totally reliant on base power though. Solar blankets, vehicle power generators power adapters are more and more available and more and more common as other electronic equipment has been added.
4) for a military powered exoskeleton. Infantry and support people lift ungodly weight for hours on end maneuvering and placing heavy shock on knees, shins, hips, spines, shoulders and spines, they wear 80+ pound combat loads and then additional personal protection. Artillery shells are heavy as hell and aviation maintenance people are loading 200 pound sidewinder missiles on jets all day.
they are always in training or maintaining of equipment.
Well that's what happened in the last thread I mentioned. People started blurring the lines between robots and mechs. Two totally different things. If your aim is solely the safety of the operator, yeah a robot is more practical. But everything else...
exactly. Which is why I prefer the term powered exoskeleton its not a suit of armor or a vehicle driven in its a mechanical harness designed to augment physical performance by reducing physical stress on limbs joints and muscle groups as well as adding additional physical strength allowing for enhanced combat performance.
Why is a terminator that does not quite cut the human out of the loop, but simply place the human part of the loop offsite at a remote location, be less achievable than a spartan?
well the critical issue is bandwidth. Remote operations need bandwidth. And in a modern military bandwidth is at a premium. Cyber security and info warfare are also critical factors that need to be addressed before we can get Arnie in the army.
Well there are these guys who beat you to the idea by 50 years!
That aside, the thrust of this thread sounds to me like people who want to enjoy a good war but are too cissy to want to get shot, maimed or even killed. In which case a small tractor drone is probably your best solution, so it can do all the dirty work while you sit safe warm and secure in a nice bunker, sipping bear and whistling misty.
Exterminate! Exterminate!
got to love a Dalek
I don't know about wanting a war, but frankly I don't think any sane person would want to have to face life and limb if there was a alternative. Our brave people in uniform, chose to do so. That's special and they deserve out gratitude. The best way we can show that is by making sure we have used every opportunity we can to keep them alive.
