Armor, suit and exoskeleton: When Science Fiction leads the way

Whether it's armor to increase the resistance of the body up to modern exoskeletons, or camouflage outfits to exacerbate the stealth and stealth of soldiers, the military has worn protective outfits and appendages for several millennia. .

Today, we are seeing the beginnings of a new generation of systems intended both to protect and to increase the combatant's power and resistance, and sometimes to erase it, from the adversary's detection systems, either in the form of exoskeletons, connected “body-armor”, or adaptive camouflage outfits.

In this field, science fiction has, for many years, paved the way, both in literature, comics and in cinema and television series, sometimes with particularly inspiring approaches for the engineers in charge of this. type of program. In this article, we will present five of the most interesting combat outfits from the Scyfy universe, to study their specificities, and the relevance of the proposed concept.

1- Aliens: The Return: Exo-skeleton for M56 Smart Gun

In 1986, James Cameron made one of his first blockbusters with Aliens – The Return, narrating the adventure of Ellen Ripley accompanied by a squad of Space Marines on a planet in process of terraforming, LV-426, to face there "xenomorphs", the creatures which had struck down the crew of the Nostromo in the first opus of the series.

There are certain aspects that will form the hallmark of Cameron during his long and successful film career, in particular the precision with which he designs the military equipment of the future, including Drake's M56 Smart Gun combat system and Vasquez, two of the most charismatic space marines in the film.

The Smart Gun consists of a heavy machine gun (18 kg) intended for dynamic fire support of infantry squads, as well as a simplified exoskeleton allowing the weight of the weapon and ammunition to be distributed, as well as Absorb fire recoil, without impeding combat team mobility, and without requiring fire support.

In addition, a helmet sighting system completes the range, allowing the Space Marines to have great firepower over time, and in the movement of the action.

The proposed principle is reminiscent of certain experiments around the Gatling M134 machine gun attached to combat armor, without the latter offering the same fluidity in shooting as in moving. James Cameron pushed the level of detail to the point of imagining the specific movements linked to the use of the M56, in a dynamic inspired by martial arts such as Jujitsu or Aikido, giving the movements of the marines a feline plasticity.

On the other hand, if this technology and this tactic seem effective against xenomorphs (and again…), we understand that the shooter finds himself particularly vulnerable to enemy fire, especially since the support arm system does not seem adapted. to taking cover, which is essential in the advance of the infantry.

Still, the physical and logical connection between the weapon, the helmet sighting system, and the combat armor was remarkably visionary in 1986, when we are only now beginning to implement this type of technology.

2- Dune: The Distille

Published in 1965, Dune, by Frank Herbert, is one of the mainstays of classic science fiction, along with the cycle of Foundations and Robots by e' Azimov, and Chasing the Slans by Van Vogt.

If the plot wants to be attached to a universe close to the Space Opera very fashionable at the end of the 60s, Herbert decided to break with many codes of science fiction of that time by eliminating the concept of robotics and artificial intelligence following a war between men and machines (the Buthlerian Jihad), as well as the use of laser weapons made impossible by the enigmatic "Holtzman Effect" which would lead to the destruction of the shooter and the target if a laser was coming to hit a shield.

Above all, Herbert positioned the plot of Dune on the desert planet Arrakis, also called Dune, which is simultaneously home to the universe's most indispensable commodity, Spice (an allegory of oil), and an indigenous people who will constitute the pivot of history, the Fremen. To survive on Dune, the Fremen developed survival and combat gear called "Distille", specifically designed for the planet's extreme and arid climate.

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