On Infantry Armor

I've long wondered:

I understand that normal troops cannot be issued head-to-toe bomb-squad-type armor for reasons of cost, comfort, and mobility.

But what about specialty troops? I'm thinking primarily of shock-troopers -- or stormtroopers, if you will -- tasked with house-to-house fighting.

Obviously, these guys would not be very mobile, but their mobility could be enhanced by having them mainly scoot around in armored infantry carriers where the streets permitted it, and on trikes where the streets were too narrow, carrying heavy weaponry in carts. They'd ride as much as possible, march and run as little as they could manage. They'd have to rest a lot, I'd imagine, but it would pretty demoralizing for an enemy to face a group of shock-troops that were all but invulnerable to handheld weaponry.

I imagine the more confident a soldier is about his chances of surviving a hit with a bullet, the more likely he is to fire like a madman at enemy soldiers.

As the juggernaut corps cleared an area, normally-equipped soldiers would secure the area, let the juggernauts rest (or perhaps swap armor with them, so the fresher troops would then take the next lead, and the tired guys who were just in the armor could armor-down and take the less demanding task of securing the area they just cleared).

This is almost certainly a very naive question. I'm sure the military has discounted this sort of thing for one reason or another. Still, as someone who really doesn't know anything about fighting or armor or fighting in armor, I'm not sure of the actual reasons for not having such equipment and troops trained to fight in very heavy armor for short durations.

Can anyone enlighten? What's wrong with this idea?

The Armor Singularity? Bullington tips that In ten years, the armed forces hopes to have a more effective battlesuit that will weight 50 pounds rather than 120. It involves (GIVE ME THE INSTALANCHE!) nanotech fabrics, apparently.

Okay, maybe, in 10 years. But what about right now? We already have very survivable armor; it's just not suitable for all-purpose use. But what about very specialized uses, like clearing out the toughest parts of a terrorist-rich Fallujah neighborhood?

I understand the problems with heat and exhaustion. But can't these be reduced in intensity by having two teams leap-frogging past each other, then resting? And letting them drive just about everywhere, except when they actually have to enter a house?

Again, this would be a specialty, heavy-armor unit. We have specialty troops for all sorts of purposes. Why not for this one?

posted by Ace at 12:46 PM

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