Future warrior: Robot with a soul but armed with technology

Here’s what a soldier of the future will look like -- a nano-technology based Kevlar robot with super computer capabilities, high motor-assisted agility, lethal firepower, long distance multi spectrum vision, high NBC (nuclear, biological chemical) protection, terrestrial connectivity, automated data bases to decide friend or foe, thought control, orders through display devices, drugged to keep awake and have reduced fatigue. And with all that, a heart that sends red roses on Valentine’s day.  It sounds like science fiction, but is already becoming reality. 

High lethality, precision of modern weapons and the availability of new technologies have compelled armies to develop futuristic combat uniforms and kits to make the soldier a self-contained fighting machine. 

The US Army’s Land Warrior programme has the soldier wearing a fighting-load vest for carrying items and interfacing with sensors and the computer. The load distribution from shoulders to hips can be adjusted on the move. The lighter two kilogramme helmet provides ballistic protection. The navigation system comprises a GPS and a pedometer dead reckoning system that tracks the soldier's position. Light disposable batteries and a Windows based computer are installed on the body. A multi-band radio allows voice communications. The display system shows videos in visual and infra-red spectrum as seen by the weapon sight. It also shows satellite and topographical maps with friendly positions, updated every 30 seconds. A SIM (subscriber identity module) identifies each soldier and controls access. Soldiers are digitally connected directly with each other and with vehicle/aircraft without needing to exchange the information. Computer aided commands have replaced hand signal and word-of-mouth orders.

The future soldier will possess superhuman capabilities that will make James Bond look like a novice. Cameras on the helmet will compare faces in the crowded place and tell foe-from-friend. Projection of information will be on the contact lenses instead of visors. Cursers on the visor will be able to aim, cue the weapon and tell when to shoot. Voice commands will perform multiple functions. Weapons could be ordered either to stun or kill. To cater for multi-nation forces, automatic translation will be on call. 

A lot of information from the soldier’s sensors could be automatically accessed by others in the operation. Smart drugs will prepare the soldier for increased endurance and stamina, greater physical strength, and higher alertness levels. The exoskeleton, motorised hinged external frame, will wrap around his limbs to support easier motion and greater weight carriage. He will be able to run at record breaking speeds. His physical and mental state will be monitored by sensors to check overload, injury, physiological stress and the same transmitted to commanders and doctors to take appropriate calls. Like astronauts, he will eat hybrid food supplement tablets. Tablets will regulate sleep and waking hours; in fact, he can be kept awake for days. 

The Pentagon is also studying proposals for gene modification that can trigger cells of an injured soldier so his limbs can be rebuilt on their own. Modified genes will convert fat into energy so as to last few days without food. This will further reduce the weight of the backpack. A drug tested on US Army helicopter pilots enabled them to stay up longer than 40 hours, with their levels of concentration actually improving after nearly two days without rest. 

US research agency DARPA is reportedly experimenting with turning fat into energy, and is also known to be funding research into contact lens-mounted displays that can focus information from drones and satellites directly into soldiers' eyeballs, and helmets that can enable troops to communicate telepathically.

Soldiers will have unprecedented capabilities, such as the ability to see through walls thanks to advanced radar scopes. Next-generation helmets will integrate electronics that pick up vibrations from the skull and transmit sound directly into the head replacing traditional microphones and earpieces. A micro turbine integrated into the battle suit provides power for an effective micro-air-conditioning system that maintains his body temperature at a safe level. A trans-dermal nutrient delivery system provides just enough nourishment to keep his body going. The researchers are also working on developing a way for medically untrained soldiers to use sound waves to stop internal bleeding in combat zones. 

The body-suit will have low power consuming flexible displays on easy to bend synthetic fabric embedded with touch screens. 

Soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq were carrying more than 55 kilogrammes external weight. This will now reduce to just 22 kilogrammes. The future warrior’s devices and systems will be scaled-down to 100 nanometers or less. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter. When a round is shot into the uniform, it will sense the strike and become rigid. A few nano-seconds later it will become soft again, thus being able to absorb unlimited numbers of machine-gun rounds. 

The fabric could also change on its own the camouflage pattern matching the background. The uniform from the waist down will have a robotic-powered system that will use pistons to actually replicate the lower body, giving the soldier over 300 percent greater lifting and load-carriage capability. Lightweight silicon solar power cells laminated onto fabric will recharge batteries. Russia, Germany, Britain, Spain, Sweden and France also have such programess. 

The emerging shape of the future soldier is already raising some questions. Like the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), will the soldier one day be replaced by a robot? While exoskeleton is a no controversy welcome development, ‘gene’ modification continues to draw opposition. 

India’s initiatives
In India, too, the army is targeting similar technologies to equip its soldiers with the very best. 

The Indian Army had conceived of the Futuristic Infantry Soldier As a System (F-INSAS). The integrated future soldier was to be part of the C4I2 (command, control, communications, computers, information and intelligence) and the integrated Battlefield Management System. But the programme, envisaging features such as vests with sensors to monitor  body parameters and shoes as mine detection devices, was closed in January 2015 in favour of two projects -- one arming the soldier with a modern assault rifle, helmet and bulletproof vests and the second the Battlefield Management System.

Air Marshal (retd) Anil Chopra is a member of the Armed Forces Tribunal