War is a truly horrendous thing, but it also seems an inevitable part of the world we inhabit. As long as humans exist on this planet there will likely be wars to be fought – be it between nations, religions, or over political ideology. With that sort of future mapped out, it’s no wonder the people in charge are looking at how technology will affect the art of war.

War and the methods used in conducting it have changed massively over the centuries. From horses and swords to tanks and guns to planes and missiles, the pace of change in this field is relentless. This is obviously because the side with the most advanced weapons is much more likely to win the battle.

With technology so crucial to warfare, especially in this day and age, the people charged with kitting out soldiers and armies have to be constantly preparing to evolve. Which is why the U.S. Army has taken a stab at predicting what soldiers and their machines of war will look like in 2030.

According to The New York Post, ‘Future Soldier 2030′ is “the brainchild of the Natick Soldier Systems Center in Massachusetts, an Army organization responsible for researching and developing new technologies for the individual fighter.” The ‘Future Soldier 2030′ vision spells out a future where individual soldiers will be kitted out like a mismatch of warmongers from the world of sci-fi and video games. As can be seen in the picture below.

Highlights of the kit are: helmet sensors which can pick out a known insurgent from a crowd; voice activated weapons; a lightweight suit of armor which covers most of the solder’s body; prosthetics and smart drugs which give the soldier near super-human abilities; an exoskeleton which makes a soldier resemble one of Darth Vader’s minions.

There are also visions in weapons technology such as intelligent, unmanned aircraft, a faster-than-the-speed-of-light missile, and a ballistic missile-shooting plane laser.

In a video game or sci-fi movie these are all intoxicating ideas but the idea of them being commonplace in the real world is a little scarier. Thankfully there is one thing holding back these visions from becoming reality – money. We already give far too much of our money to the military and these technologies are going to cost a fortune.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 at 12:16 am under Amusing, Opinion, Technology.

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