This new push appears to have resulted in some new experimentation with exoskeleton technology in recent years. In 2018, Lockheed Martin was was awarded a $6.9 million contract to “enhance” its ONYX outfit for future Army demonstrations (Accetta, a DEVCOM spokesperson, told WIRED that the initiative ended due to “some technical problems” and lack of funding). Likewise, this service has been testing Dephy ExoBoot because at at least in the past few years. In August 2022, Army announced an exoskeleton (without power supply) dubbed the Soldier Support for Resupply Bionic Exosuit (SABER) to reduce back pain and physical strain for service members in the field; according to a 2023 study90% of soldiers using exosuits during field artillery training exercises reported improved ability to perform assigned tasks. And the Army isn’t the only branch exploring exoskeletons: Later in 2022, the Air Force announced that the service is testing its own pneumatic exosuit Developed by ROAM Robotics to help aerial porters load cargo onto cargo aircraft such as the C-17 Globemaster III.
The Fort Sill exoskeleton test is not just the latest installment in a seven-decade effort to combine humans and machines; it also represents service cautious, limited approach to technology. Although U.S. military planners may have long aspired to build an army of so-called auxiliary soldiers to dominate the battlefield of the future, exoskeleton research efforts are currently at seems focused on more modest and attainable applications such as logistics and resupply rather than combat engagement. Slowly but surely, the Pentagon is carefully examining whether support robots will help service members carry more over longer ranges.
But the Pentagon doesn’t seem to have completely given up on the dream of a powered exoskeleton as the basis for an armored fighting suite. The Army’s 2017 RAS strategy, while emphasizing troop reduction, also sets out the long-term goal of building a “warrior outfit” with “integrated displays synthesizing a common operational picture, providing intelligence updates, and integrating indirect and direct fire weapon systems” — capabilities not unlike those imagined by a concept Spaceship fleet mobile infantry or Iron Man suit operators and explore the TALOS initiative. Several years ago, at least one military official was still talking of a suit as a long-term effort that could become a reality sometime in the 2040s.
Today, however, that idea seems to be dormant, if not completely dead. When asked about the “warrior suit” effort, DEVCOM officials poured cold water on the whole concept as “one person’s professional vision” and “not considered (even at the time) ) is an official position of the Army,” although it is explicitly mentioned in the 2017 RAS document.
“The ‘warrior suit’ never existed as such, it was never considered a ‘warrior suit’—at least not by the Army—but as a proof of concept, meaning ‘ Would something like this help with load management when traveling?’ ‘ Accetta said. “The number of concerns about engineering, integration, design, power, ergonomics, etc. is not small.”
“The project was not abandoned, it simply did not work,” he added. “And if it were activated, we highly doubt it would be called a ‘warrior suit’.”
