Iron Man Suit: Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit
In Greek mythology, TALOS was a giant, bronze automoton–a living statue forged by the divine smith Hephaistos (Hephaestus). According to others he was instead the last of the ancient bronze race of man.
Zeus gave Talos to his lover Europa after delivering her to the island of Krete (Crete). The giant was given the task of patrolling the island and circled it three times a day, driving off pirates with volleys of rocks. He was eventually destroyed by Poeas or the Dioskouroi (Dioscuri) twins with the aid of the magic of the witch Medea as he tried to prevent the Argonauts from the landing on the island.
The Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit, or TALOS, is the vision of Navy Adm. William H. McRaven, SOCOM’s commander. He challenged industry and defense representatives at a SOCOM conference in May 2013 to come up with the concepts and technologies to make the suit a reality. The goal is to offer operators better protection, enhanced performance and improved situational awareness.
JATF- TALOS was chartered to explore and catalyze a revolutionary integration of advanced technologies to provide comprehensive ballistic protection, peerless tactical capabilities and ultimately enhance the strategic effectiveness for the SOF Operator of the future.
The requirement is a comprehensive family of systems in a combat armor suit bringing together an exoskeleton with innovative armor, displays for power monitoring, health monitoring, and integrating a weapon into that — a whole bunch of stuff that RDECOM is playing heavily in,” said Army Lt. Col. Karl Borjes, the command’s science adviser, Donna Miles Army reported in 2014.
The concept sounded good, but the execution is ongoing since 2013. For one, powering the Iron Man suit posed the bigger challenge.
Integrated heaters and coolers will regulate the temperature inside the suit. Embedded sensors will monitor the operator’s core body temperature, skin temperature, heart rate, body position and hydration levels. In the event that the operator is wounded, the suit could feasibly start administering the first life-saving oxygen or hemorrhage controls.
Iron Man Suit Power Supply OBJECTIVE: Investigate and identify a suitable safe, lightweight power supply for the exoskeleton component of the TALOS ensemble.
in 2019, the wait was still on, but progressing, as displayed at the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference and Exhibition (SOFIC)
The power supply for the TALOS ensemble will need to provide sufficient, dependable power to ensure rapid, unencumbered movement of the operator. Desired attributes of the power system also include light weight, low noise, and low to no thermal signature. Power sources should not require introduction of a new logistics fuel to the battlefield. The power source shall produce/store sufficient power to support a non-tethered 12 hour mission at 4-5kW per hour.
The power supply shall be able to scavenge power from sources found on a battlefield (i.e. power lines, car batteries, solar, 110/220VAC power outlets, etc.). The power supply shall be rechargeable and ready for the next mission within 6 hours.
‘Iron Man’-style suit in early stages of development Presented the concept as reports by David Vergun, Army 2013
U.S. Special Operations Command wants its operators to be protected with what it informally calls an Iron Man suit, named after the fictional superhero.
The goal of TALOS is to provide ballistic protection to Special Operations Forces, along with fire-retardant capability, said Michel Fieldson, TALOS lead, SOCOM.
“We sometimes refer to it as the Iron Man suit, frankly to attract the attention, imagination and excitement of industry and academia,” he said.
“We’re hoping to take products we’re developing in several technology areas and integrating them into a consolidated suit to provide more protection for the [Special Operations Forces].”
Other technologies include sensors, communications, energy and material that can store and release energy to prevent injuries and increase performance.
Materials that can store and release energy might be similar to the Intrepid Dynamic Exoskeletal Orthosis, now used by some wounded warriors for lower leg limb injuries. (See “Device gets Soldiers back to work” at http://www.army.mil/article/109400).
So TALOS would be something that wounded warriors might benefit from, he said.
Besides wounded warriors, Fieldson said Homeland Security and firefighters have expressed an interest in this technology. Also, it might eventually become available for other Soldiers.
“Our goal right now is to try to get the word out and bring industry partners together,” he said, since the technologies that will go into its development are varied and it is unlikely one contractor would be able to specialize in the entire ensemble.
Fieldson thinks TALOS will become a reality because “it protects the warfighters and has the backing of SOCOM’s commander, Adm. William H. McRaven.