Why not make Moble Suits?

In Battletech, they use a system that reads the pilots brainwaves. he wears a helmet and uses his balance to keep it upright. But that's for the 10 meter Mechs. Anyone interested in this might want to read the books or look into the game. It's a lot of fun.

I think before they went to mechs it would be more likely they'd go to small battle suits that fit right around the person (halo style) With built in medkits, different sensors, strength increase, etc. It'd just be smarter.

Hehe, yeah, that about cover's the control systems.
I didn't say I didn't have thoughts on it, I was just outta time.
Fortunatly, today is a dead slow day at work.

The "Starship Troopers" style control interface (aka, manual bio-manipulation) can be enhanced with a neural-feedback interface. The ol "control with your mind" technology has actually made several leaps forward lately.
news.bbc.co.uk...
edition.cnn.com...
www.wired.com...

This technology (like the electro-strictive polymers) has a way to go yet, but it is viable.

BTW, I forgot to mention before that, no, huge hulking mecha are completely impractical. Smaller "battle suits" are much more feasible.

That's the way it happened in the Battletech timeline. They started with small suits of battle armor, and as the technology for them advanced, they started making larger ones, and then they made some mechs for non-combat use, harvesting trees, etc, and eventually combat mechs. I know that a full sizzed mech is out of the question now, but if we develop a suit, then sone rof later a mech will become feasable and probably a reality.

Here is something that I found that is intresting to read about.

Future Army Suits of America. Click here

to



in one hit, and that tank has 400mm of solid steel armor.

Your mech will be smacked in the teeth at 2km and turned into a pile of rubble, and they dont even have to use the kinetic round, a HE or HEAT will do against something so slow and so lighty armored.

Also, its a EXCELLENT target for anything, so tall and slow, you cant miss.

The idea of a combat mech is absurd. It is slower than modern tanks, has no armor, can mount no large guns due to recoil, has no way to store fuel or an engine, cannot carry troops or anything else, cannot cross water, cannot move in urban areas, costs more than a battalion of tanks, and finally, has no range.

If I failed to mention anything else wrong with them, my error.

Find me a mech that will survive getting hit by this going 4000 FPS:

The Valuk’s armour can withstand 7.62 mm armour piercing rounds through 360 degrees, and 12.7 mm armour piercing rounds over a 30 degree frontal arc. An add-on ceramic armour kit provides 12.7 mm AP round protection over the full 360 degrees.


This is your proof that you wanted on the armor percing round.
This bad boy will eat it and still keep going.

NEXT!

Like most have said here. A huge Mech would do no good at all. And just think... the only power source for such a huge machine would have to be nuclear. And if the mech should happen to been destroyed ... you've got a broken down nuclear reactor giving off radiation in the battlefield.

I think the best way to go is by developing some kind of exo skeleton.

Any one seen Appleseed?




[edit on 9/26/2005 by noise]

The round i had a photo of is a APFSDS round, which is about 20mm and is fired out of a 120mm shell, and is usually made of tungsten or DU, meaning it will go through about 1200mm(!!) of steel armor. No modern tank has such armor, let alone a walking mech.

Best they can do is use spaced armor with DU or ceramic or laminent armor to either deflect or absorb its kinetic energy.

No mech could survive such a projectile.

A real mech would be awesome, i'm somewhat of a mecha freak. But the posters pointing out that it would be picked apart in no time on a modern battlefield are right i fear...

here's one i designed
Click for fullsize render

I know what you mean and they do have them already for the marines. just type in exoskeleton and look at the images for the marines.


On the armor percing round if you would have read the link that I provided there is a tank in exsistance that can withstand that round and a bio and nuclear attack.



[edit on 26-9-2005 by texmiller]

[edit on 26-9-2005 by texmiller]

This is the full look of the exoskeleton used by marines.

Or how about this one.

This is someone in the suit. CARRYING 300lbs. Thats alot of ammo.

That guy in the photo looks cross-eyed.

Depending on how far the Exo-skeleton work at DARPA goes I could envision a smaller ''Mech'' someday. Like the size of a man maybe alittle taller 7ft perhaps.

If a soldier could put a suit on that would allowed him to
-carry more armour (say head to toe small arms protection)
-carry more powerful weapons (50 cal automatic with plenty of ammo)
-increase both strength and speed

I could see something like that having a tactical advantage in urban combat. Sort of like a shock trooper or something. Being small as a man and faster it would be a hard target a anti-tank round or missile. You would still be able to make good use of cover at that size.

But say if there is a bunch of guys armed with AKs held up in a building then you send in these guys. I think that in the future might be a real possiblity but it depends on how alot of tech pans out Exoskeletons, powersources , new armours like carbon nanotubes etc...

Ok, lets say we can make a mech, and its useful.

How are we going to protect it, while not giving up agility?

Moreover, how can we place the weapons?

I know I keep bringing up Battletech, but it's highly relevant to this. I would assume that any kind of Mech would be similar to their designs. For power it used a lightweight Fusion engine, with the original designs beingarmored, with a fairly strong armor. I can't remember what they called it though. Later on they developed a lighter and stronger armor, and skeletal structure. Weapons were mounted in the torsos and arms, however you wanted them. The total weight of the entire mech had to eaqual the weight class. A 65 ton mech had to have everything, engine, weapons, armor all weigh 65 tons. no more than that.

Originally posted by noise

I think the best way to go is by developing some kind of exo skeleton.

Any one seen Appleseed?

yep i love that movie. awesome graphics. yeah the way to go in starting our first mech of some kind would be the exo skeleton. then to move on to giant mobile suits. i would prefer small ones though like wanzers from front mission 4 game (they are about 20 ft tall, i dont want 50 or 100 ft tall giant monsters that can be hit easily in Mechwarriors). or armored core.

Okay, so lets take the guy up there that is standing with the leg supports.
If we add the following to it and compormise the weight distribution then we might have something.

1> Complete coverage of head with helmet: Slides up and over to fit onto head.
a. radar b. GPS c. com to HQ d. laser range finder for GMissles. e. Input for bio matrix online system. ( like ghost in the shell hook ups to network systems back of the neck) This helps in the effectiveness of reaction to robotic arm, torso, legs supports.

2> Leg armor and support on the feet with a bigger foot pad and back "toe" for better stability.
a. chest armor is locked into place.IE like a rollercoaster that you have pulled over you're head.
b. Flex in the joint areas and arm support with attached robotic support.

3> Min. Gatlin gun with auto feed. ( placed under arm for easy firing and stability)
a. armor percing rounds b. normal rounds

4> Backpack or system support. Your basic GPS, computer guidness systems, med and repair monitoring, power source.


What do you guys think? This could be possible in the near future. This concept should be possible in a 20ft to 15ft skematic.