solarz
Brigadier
They will start to if power armor becomes a thing, and then the cost/benefit analysis would shift dramatically.
I still think the most realistic use case for power armor is extraterrestrial combat operations.
Power Armor?
- Thread starter solarz
- Start date
They will start to if power armor becomes a thing, and then the cost/benefit analysis would shift dramatically.
I still think the most realistic use case for power armor is extraterrestrial combat operations.
That's where drones come in. Power armor is not this silver bullet that beats every scenario it encounters. It's best used in conjunction with other tools, just like every other piece of equipment.
solarz
Brigadier
If you're talking about recon, I don't see how drones will help much. It's trivially easy to shut them out of a closed location.
That's when we send in the explosive drones. If that doesn't work. You might as well bomb the place or burn it down.
Other than room clearing I don’t see much practical use at all. And when bipedal robots are mature probably not even that.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
Only if they believe in all that 72 virgin or MAGA equivalent nonsense, as using an RPG to try and hold a room is almost guaranteed to yeet you into the afterlife irrespective of what you do to the enemy. In which case they might as well go full jihad and start clacking off suicide vests to really give power armed guys a hard time.
Bipedal robots are still too unreliable, especially now that battery energy density is so low. For example, Rongyao's bipedal robot is now the best robot, but it still needs to change the battery after running ten kilometres. Not to mention that the current path planning capabilities and intelligence levels are completely unable to meet the requirements. Solving this problem must require several years.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
Ironically, I actually see drones making a stronger case for power armour.
Suicide FPV style, and the more advanced loitering munitions swarm kinds are proving to be a real headache for armour, and no one has as yet demonstrated an effective means of hard countering it. All the gloat and cope by western fanboys about their hard kill systems being able to deal is proving to be just that as the Israelis are finding out the hard way in Lebanon, and Hezbollah are just amateurs starting to dip their toe in compared to the Russians or Ukrainians. Even the PLA is starting to add cope cages to their armour.
If our IFVs are liable to get blown up by drones with large loss of life each time, power armour starts to make more sense as it can vastly reduce your casualties, as troops in fully enclosed armour could potentially shrug off even very close range frag blasts, or at least survive without major injuries.
Sure an FPV with a shape charge can punch through Power Armour, but only if it can score a direct hit, which is actually not that common as most FPV kills against infantry is from close proximity blasts. It’s only when infantry gets pinned down behind cover and are not able to effectively move and disperse that you tend to get more direct hits. And FPVs with shape charges are even less likely to do damage to power armoured troops from near misses.
On top of that, PA could allow troops to carry much more powerful anti-drone jammers or hard kill countermeasures.
The ultimate irony could be that PA isn’t even developed for humans, but as a means of adding armour and strength to vast numbers of non-combat civilian drones to make them more combat effective instead of being dropped en mass by basic anti-infantry firepower and shrapnel.
solarz
Brigadier
I don't see much military use for bipedal robots when robodogs can do the same job but better.
This is my main point as well. People tend to only think of protection, but being able to carry heavier and more advanced gear while potentially lowering the felt weight of it all on a soldier is an incredible game-changer. Even now, the rear units like artillery and logi are using the exoskeletons to great effect. Some of the geniuses in R&D will probably make a true, fully armoured power armor in a few decades. It's only going to get better from here on out.