What will they think of next?...

[Daeval]

I'm all for less-than-lethal weaponry (like FN's 303, though it wasn't always orange.. FN 303 ), so in a way this is kind of cool. On the other hand, it could be TOO big a hit on morale, and not enough of a hit on actual combat effectiveness. As someone pointed out earlier, severe psychological damage and even suicide could be an issue. Those odds would probably still be better than the "life, death, or missing limbs" of an explosive though.

 

At any rate, it sounds like this was one of many concepts that they didn't follow up on. U.S. military research also put out a call for powered combat suits/exoskeletons (Warhammer, anyone?) at one time. They were supposed to enable the wearer to go longer without fatigue (presumably by doing some of the work for them), move faster, and carry more, among other things. I think I still have the request that was on the DARPA site somewhere.

Edited January 19, 2005 by Daeval