Forget Halliburton, the US Military is now turning to Stark Industries for military weapons.
Though Stark Industries doesn’t really exist, the people behind the Iron Man suit and gadgets in the popular movies are flesh and blood, and more than a few of them are being hired to take part in military operations to build real-life Iron Man weaponry.
The Wall Street Journal reported recently that Legacy Effects, the Academy Award-winning studio that designed suits for RoboCop, X-Men: Days of Future Past and the Iron Man franchise— is one of several companies working with the US military on Project TALOS. TALOS stands for Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit. Yup. Iron Man. Well, actually, War Machine if we’re being technical.
High-tech power armor has been a goal of the military for decades, leading to millions of dollars worth of failed prototypes. The motivation for this latest project, according to WSJ, came in December 2012 when members of the SEAL Team Six converged on a compound in eastern Afghanistan to free a Colorado doctor held hostage by militants:
As commandos stormed the compound, and freed the doctor, one SEAL was shot and killed. Afterward, Adm. William McRaven, the head of U.S. Special Operations Command who oversaw the SEAL Team Six raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, decided his forces needed better protection.
“It was one of those incidents where we stepped back and asked, ‘What’s our long-term vision?’ ” said James “Hondo” Geurts, the Pentagon official who oversees acquisition programs ….”We’ve done about all we can with our current approach. Is it time to take a bold leap ahead?”
The goal of the TALOS program is to develop an “independently operational combat suit prototype” by July 2018. Just in time for summer movie season.
[via i09]