Does the bulky 'kevlar padding everywhere' style of infantry armor you sometimes see in sci-fi have any validity?
No, but probably the future. The growing idea is that well all be wearing fragsuits in 50 years time, but its just not practical right now. Russian fragsuits are hard to move in an unbearably hot, so they never saw widespread adoption. more recently, the US army frag shirt also received complaints about being unbearably hot, but you only need to compare the bulk of the two to see the difference 15 years of development can make; so I wouldn't be surprised if you see some small rich euro country adopt a full ballistic-rated uniform as their standard combat clothing in the next 20 years.If youre just talking about wearing the full IOTV ensemble with armor panels everywhere, then yeah its got its uses, but like how you rarely would see anybody wearing the deltoids or groin panels in GWOT, it comes down to the threat level vs personal comfort.
I miss Blacklight
Soft armor needs to be able to stop 7.62x39 mild steel core and full body cooling needs to be a thing before this takes off
>>64572405If it's sci-fi then anything goes for something like this which is grounded in reality and just a function of priorities. You can have a fictional decision-maker decide 100% frag coverage is preferred, or that soft armor is simply more cost-effective and bam, that's all the justification that's needed. And that's just in a modern setting not even taking future technological progress or the changing nature of future warfare into account.
>>64572405bounded to vehicle or building. Can't carry much with so much trapped heat and weighted appendages.
>>64572493full body soft armor is for the fucking 100000 drones flying around, if they can make a suit that's comfy and maybe has active cooling you can turn on it'll be like a requirement to be on a "frontline" without being deleted by a single DJI strikealong with any of the other electronic warfare tech we see now, we can probably ID and highlight a drone for an infantrymen and maybe even give it a a "leading pipper" to shoot at. There's also new AR ammo that breaks apart in flight into like 30 pieces of copper, I'd argue that the latter is more important then covering guys in armor.you want to not get shot/blown up first, plates and soft armor to cover your torso and maybe your pelvis area are more important then covering all your extremities.. we need like an IOTV2025 that is just 100% kevlar coverage and plate inserts everywhere
>>64572405Yeah it's similar to the bomb suits you see explosive disposal guys using. Such a thing would also apply to other explosives like grenades going off nearby. The real world tradeoff being bulk, restriction of movement, and overheating under exertion so you don't tend to see it being used actually in combat. In a sci-fi setting it is assumed that they have stuff like powered actuation and a temperature regulation system (similar to a space suit) that would mitigate the downsides.
>>64572799>if they can make a suit that's comfy and maybe has active coolingA fair amount of that technology already exists and can probably be done without the massive backpack if it's meant to be used in-atmosphere.
>>64572405Pic from the Armatard days (2017).They claimed these super soldiers would be in service by now lmao
>>64572405not until powered frames are invented since modern soldiers are already hitting the weight/gear combat effectiveness ceiling for the last decade.but that'll never happen since drones, AI, & robots are a thing now.every badass cool thing you've read or seen in fiction won't be happening because globohomo won irl and we have nothing but gayness aheadit's why one of their favorite slogans is "the future is female"
Sci-fi games and movies always emphasize the fully enclosed helmet, I wonder if cultural expectation will actually lead to that being the norm in the future.
>>64573272Unlikely. I cant imagine any future enclosed helmet being less obtrusive than a modern mandible guard, and nobody wants to wear those if they can help it even with the huge air gaps those have. You might see mass issued HUD visors, but they wont cover the mouth.
>>64572405So for general purpose troops in Frontline combat filling traditional infa try roles? Fuck noFor specialized raid type units such as SWAT/SRT/Special Operators doing Hostage Rescue or HVT hits? Sure. Any scenario where its going to be a quick violent high risk affair with vehicle insert/extract it does. Same reason why you dont see normal military combatants carrying ballistic shields but you do see it on many police units even at the local/county level. Different mission
>>64572831i always thought EOD suits were way older than they are (at least for the common design one would think of with the xbox huge collar). huh.
>>64572984>for the last decadeSurely you meant for the last 4,000 years.>>64572405>all of this hyperautismKevlar is HEAVY. People have limits. You'd sooner see robotics replace people than total armor.
>>64572405Always imagine these sci-fi monstrosities versus an anti-materiel rifle or a simple IED. Or a landmine blows his leg off and now he's a fat turtle on his back. Real world militaries opt for gear to protect the vitals, and then ship you to medical evac.Enahnced legs could have them hold stronger plates, but those would be ceramic.
>>64572405Only with some sort of frame to help you support it all. Preferably a powered frame but as long as it takes some of the load off the soldier and you're not fucked if you fall over that's the important bits. The key thing is the wearer has to actually be able to move it WITHOUT power too meaning it actually has to be well designed, not "LOLOLOL I HAZ XBOX HUGE ELECTRIC MOTORS AND A 1,000 POUND BATTERY!" trash useless as soon power runs out that everyone on this board always assumes that sort of thing absolutely positively MUST be.Won't be too terribly long before we see lightweight exoskeleton frames that are mostly meant to reduce fatigue while also allowing a soldier to carry more but can also have a bit of extra armor slapped on. I would expect what you posted to basically be outright power armor. If there's not even a frame of some sort those guys are going to be unable to move well at all and will absolutely die.
>>64572984
>>64573985Revision did this way back in the mid 2010s. A passive legs+spine with lithium ions power-assisting the legs.
>>64574190Huh, I hadn't seen that one before, only the other one the artist did of a Combine suit cutaway.
>>64573272It's dehumanizing.
>>64572799The only way to effectively stop those threats are active defense system or killing the operator. Not even tanks are well protected against drones, what makes you think infantry could reasonably be armored against them? Frag protection would see some merit against single grenades deleting entire fireteams but if everyone is wearing frag armor the conclusion is just to attach every FPV drone with a RPG7 warhead that nosedives into Dimas asshole in 4K
Once again it is time to post it.I do believe this is the 4th time in just as many years.Cupola Protective Ensemble for M1151 gunners1/2
>>64575692Cupola Protective Ensemble for M1151 gunnerslayout2/2This may have developed from, or informed, the USMC QuadGard IV project over a decade ago.https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/84248-quadgard-iv/
Man I remember back in the early to mid 10's where every sci-fi art had soldiers with this same stupid helmet design.
>>64575912soul.exe
>>64573933People always say "well you could just blow them up with this larger, harder to carry or use and more expensive weapon" but necessitating the use of more inconvenient weapons is also a good thing. One of the least ridiculous questions asked in a scifi videogame might be "what if heavy armor was just slightly more convenient and now everyone had to lug around anti-armor weapons to kill each other?">>64575623See also. Having to take out infantry one at a time with RPGs compared to lazily fragging them all in bunches is a dream. It's just not convenient to do so.
>>64575692The power supply looking thing behind him powers the Air Conditioning unit built into the suit right?Right?
>>64577101Presumably. There was an undershirt for apache pilots that pumped cold water around under the torso which plugged right into the aircraft, that's probably similar.
>>64577239
>>64576762Its a question of tradeoffs, consider the turtle tank as a more extreme example of thisThe modifications take the number of drones required to kill the thing up from a handful to dozens, but that comes at the cost of pretty much everything else that makes a tank useful in a fight
>>64575692>>64577191Clearly we need more furry technological infusions.
>>64573284when suits are air conditioned it will be more comfortable to have your full face helmet on than off
>>64577239>>64577250Crazy that Russia has all these dedicated assualt engineering units with their own vehicles and gear and we never saw them
>>64577325That's literally the US MIC aerospace industry>slutty skunkworks.jpeg
>>64577325It's happened before and it will happen againperverts of all stripes serve a vital evolutionary function by driving innovation in unusual directions
>>64577360we have though, pic related is from the last month.
>>64577250Squiggly lines eminds me of nevec soldier from lost planet
>>64572405>Does the bulky 'kevlar padding everywhere' style of infantry armor you sometimes see in sci-fi have any validity?yes
>>64577404Any different source than ria novosti?
>validitywon't be any humans acting on battlefield soon
>>64577360>>64577404They basically are treated as EOD units that only ever use those suits way behind friendly lines for demining purposes.These frag suits are never deployed to the front.
>>64577101That *is* the air conditioning unit.
>>64577574Them tits look unprotected 0w0
>>64572448Just get Linus Tech Tipper to watercool the suits.
>>64577420Sovl, 1 and 2 were great
