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From: phil@brahms.AMD.COM (Phil Ngai)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Power Armor
Message-ID: <1991Jun18.074541.15334@amd.com>
Date: 15 Jun 91 01:34:11 GMT
References: <1991May24.030024.8386@amd.com> <1991Jun6.063339.5887@amd.com> <1991Jun12.012726.25617@amd.com> <1991Jun14.080221.20535@amd.com>
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From: phil@brahms.AMD.COM (Phil Ngai)


ke4zv!gary@gatech.edu (Gary Coffman) writes:
>Whether PA is really militarily useful is another question. With the
>occupant buttoned up for NBC protection, with a sensor system capable
>of working in low light, low sound level, low olifactory level, radar,
>lidar, and god knows what else, with protection against most light
>weapons, with fairly heavy offensive weapons, and the agility of an
>unencumbered man to walk, run, crawl, crouch, or fight, PA would be
>a formidable tool on the urban battlefield. Slipping through the
>jungle with the enhanced senses provided by PA, it would be a formidable
>jungle fighting tool.

Hm, I wonder how much this thing would weigh and how big its feet would
be. Could it swim? Cross a rice paddy? What if you spent the money
instead on rifles and cheap drafted soldiers? I'm not sure how this
thing could really be economic.

Or even more effective, a squad of soldiers with radios calling in
air dropped smart weapons. This idea of armor seems of limited value.
A dozen soldiers with machine guns ought to be able to hose up the
PA's sensors pretty well. The only value I see to PA is the ability
to carry more than a human can. Well, airplanes can do that too.