Armored Exo-Suit

From Beyond the Frontier
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Evolved Assault Combat Armor Suit
(EACAS)
Technical Specifications
Also Known As: Armored Exo-Suit
Intended Purpose: Mobile Heavy Combat Armor
Status: In Use

The Armored Exo-Suit Program, designed to create next-generation powered armor for The Initiative. It comes in four (main) combat versions, and two civilian models.

Design

Helmet

The helmet is designed as a misshapen orb, with an angular front. The face plate is tinted and polarizing to allow the wearer to work in overly-bright environments, or in regular environments, with complete anonymity. Within it carries a variety of filters, both ocular (binoculars, NVG, thermal, et cetera) and environmental (gas mask, respirators, backup air supply).

The helmet carries a single flip-down black plate, which serves as an internal screen, and mounted speakers, to give the wearer full audio (including sound-amplification equipment to allow the wearer to detect hard-to-hear sounds). It carries external speakers, filtered, to remove the wearers gender and identity from the speakers.

Torso & Lower Half

The torso is designed as a modular system, covered with honey-combed armor, designed with cross-bracing to allow for internal storage for sensitive systems. This segment houses. The torso contains layers of various metals, sandwiched to give it layers of protection against various threats (with the outermost layer designed to protect against energy weapons). Beneath all of these is a layer of gel designed to absorb impacts and minimize movement of the wearer, beneath which is a life-support skin-tight bodysuit. The torso and lower-half are joined together.

The lower half is designed with hydraulic-based muscles, to give it excessive strength in the legs, to assist with sprinting and leg-based tasks.

Arms

The arms of the suit are modular, designed to be removed as desired. They contain, however, hydraulic-based muscles, to help lift heavier loads than an unarmored trooper. The arms contain a variety of touch-sensitive/motion-tracking pads, and a holographiclly-projected keypad. However, as the arms can be removed, the gauntlets (and, as a result, keypad & motion-tracking/touch-sensitive) can be worn independently.

Capabilities

Survival

Integral to all models of the AES series is a number of strength-multiplying systems, allowing the wearer to carry greater loads, and run at greater speeds. However, this is the most basic function of the suits.

All of the suits feature an integral communications and sensor suite, ranging from regular radio equipment to wireless computer networking in terms of communications and everything ranging from infrared, low-light vision, and binoculars to sound amplification, in an attempt to maximize the awareness (and therefore chances of survival) of the soldier wearing the suit. To augment this is a camera designed to record every event, and save it for the soldier & headquarters' uses after or during an operation. As part of their sensor suite, they carry a set of medical diagnostic scanners, intended to monitor the wearer's heart rate, breath rate, and other statistics, in addition to applying to basic medical needs when possible, such as pain killers, antibiotics, and other simple drugs, as well as being able to compress against wounds to help slow/stop the bleeding.

In addition to this, every suit carries, within a number of compartmentalized and decentralized compartments, a bio-engineered culture that inhales carbon dioxide, and exhales oxygen, while simultaneously being able to hibernate, allowing for the suit to operate without an external oxygen supply for extended periods of time. Power to the suit is generated by a small antimatter cell as it's backup power source, for when the primaries, namely a pair of high-capacity, long-life batteries coupled to a system utilizing kinetic energy (the energy of motion), created by the wearers every movement to generate power.

As part of the effort to make the suit as self-sustaining as possible, the suit carries a water reclamation system, allowing the suit to capture water from any possible source, and, after extensive filtration, filter it back to the wearer. In addition to simple, yet effective, on-board gear to purify water the operator may come across, to refill the on-board water tanks, which can be augmented by external storage tanks clipped to the backpack.

The suit contains a large number of integral safety systems, ranging from emergency flotation devices, airtight seals, bullet/blast/energy resistant panels & gel, integral gas mask, full body covering (when fully sealed), to a thin layer of anti-radiation and anti-EMP shielding, allowing the suit to be used in almost any environment. Between the body suit and the actual armor is a layer of absorption gel, made from dilatant (offsite link) materials.

Operational

Each suit contains a number of high-capacity hard drives, with a wide variety of connectors, to allow them to download/upload information into and out of the suit, ranging from operational orders, to viruses intended to wipe out enemy computers. As a part of the integral computer systems, the suit carries an on-board voice command system, allowing the soldier to utilize many, if not all, of the systems without the need for an external computer system.

In addition to these systems, the suit carries a number of integral storage capacity, in the form of a number of reinforced panels designed with access points to allow storage within the armor. To add to this, the suit carries a number of hard points for the addition of things ranging from additional oxygen & water tanks, to anything someone might wish to attach to the armor. Integral into the shoulder and chest plates are harness clips to allow for the suit to be lifted or airdropped as needed.

To offset the need for soldiers using magnetic-accelerator weapons to carry additional batteries, the gauntlets are capable of redirecting a portion of their extra energy to power or recharge the weapon they are holding, allowing for lighter combat loads. This inter-connectivity also allows the suit to monitor the status of the weapon, giving a readout to the wearer.

Military Versions

The military versions are illegal for any civilian to own or operate.

Heavy Suit

The Combat/Heavy Suit (C/HS) sacrifices faster movement, for upgraded muscles and armor, designed for heavy weapons and cargo work.

Vehicle Operator Suit

The Vehicle Operator Suit (VOS) is designed for crews of vehicles (from tanks and APCs to fighters and starships). It, officially, is classified as a variant of the C/AS, but lacks many of the offensive capabilities and armor plating. They contain magnetic clamps, as well as other various things designed to extend survival capabilities. They also contain upgraded communications equipment. Additionally, the gauntlets contain connection plates, that when touched to the matching plates in various vehicles allow the wearer access to the vehicle-mounted computer through the suit. Despite many of the suits being able to fit into the cockpits and crew compartments of vessels and equipment the VOS is designed solely for this task, and therefore has a distinctly different outwards appearance to accommodate this objective, designed around allowing maximum mobility in tight compartments.

Civilian Variants

The civilian version of the AES is illegal for use without a license.

General Purpose

The general purpose (GIP) model is designed for a variety of works, generally designed to work in hazardous environments, such as mining, logging, space, et cetera. These models are handicapped with:

  • Lighter Armor
  • Weaker "Muscles"
  • Simpler Communications Gear
  • Simpler Computer Equipment
  • Simpler Sensor Systems

They are subject to checks by government officials, and contain a number of overrides and tracking devices, in case anyone attempts to use them against military or government officials.

General (Upgraded) Purpose

The General (Upgraded) Purpose (GUP) model of the GIP armor is more comparable to the military versions in terms of many its capabilities. It is issued only to Civilian System Patrol vessels, and other civilian groups that serve as military auxiliaries. They are kept careful track of by the military, integrating a number of tracking (and override) devices to prevent their use against the military.