ODST armor useful for the military?

My friends and I have been wondering about this question. Do you guys/gals think that ODST armor would be practical/useful for the military? I mean maybe have the armor in different colors (Tan for desert, Green for Jungle etc.....) But do you think it could work? It doesn't seem that far off, a full sealed helmet, ceramic-coated titanium armor. HUD, night-vision.....

So whats your opinions?

Too heavy. IF they can solve weight, cost and mobility, it could work, but the design would have to change.

I think it is very practical... we have the technology to pull it off. Its just the fact that the government turns down everything good that is presented to them. Like the Dragon plat body armor. Highly effective and cost just as much as Kevlar, but stronger then Kevlar. The government doesn't think it is worth the money. So it all comes down to the government, and everything Devious said. haha

you mean like in crysis??

I can see soldiers being deployed with more advanced armor, but it wouldn't look anything like the ODST suit. Bungie made it to look cool not to work. So carbon fiber, nanotubes, advanced ceramics, polymers and alloys could make this possible, we just need to shell out several billion to make it happen.

In all honesty, it's not worth it. 27 layers of kevlar in a ballistic helmet, yet the helmet will not stop or slow a relatively small caliber round to a non-lethal velocity. The helmet alone is typically only for light ballistic shrapnel and other debris flying around the battlefield. There's no point in adding another hundred pounds of nearly pointless armour for a soldier to carry with them while on patrol or in a combat situation when all it will do is make them a larger target with minimal protection from incoming fire. Personally, I'm iffy about hulling the back plate of my tac vest onto the battlefield when I can be spaired the extra weight. I don't know about the guy beside me, but I'm not counting on running away...

Although intimidation on the battlefield is always a great thing to have on your side (And I'm sure an army of ODST's running towards you would be enough to send you running in the opposite direction), I don't think it's worth the mobility and weight issues.

Not to mention the cost. I doubt they'll ever shell out the money for something like this for average grunts

Unfortunately, not to sound too pessimistic, but I don't think it would ever happen (especially on a large scale) if only due to cost. Always remember that in the military (and it just about everything else), the contract goes to the lowest bidder. Which is disappointing and also says something if you consider how expensive all the military equipment costs, yet how well it works for the most part.

These kinds of things tend to be build as proof-of-concepts...pretty much "See? We CAN make it, it's just too expensive/too difficult/not practical." Pick your poison.

Its like how they developed a new helmet that's made of a polymer type plastic that's 5 times stronger than kevlar. Oh, that's nice, too bad none of us will ever see it used.

It is absolutely way too expensive. As much as the military scream that our grunts and marines on the ground have the best equipment in the world, that is far from being true. For God's sake, parents are having to send body armor to their children in Iraq because the military will not provide it. As much as it pains me, the upper echelon of brass in any of the branches have devolved from officers into politicians and money, not the safety of our soldiers, is their top priority.

me and my buddys have been thinking the smae thing
i gusse it all come down to the big "IF" question about waight and acutal protection
-c00lwhip

The weight issue is a big one. I can't see the armor, alone, weighing less than 100 pounds, canon. Ceramic Carbide and Titanium Carbide are heavy and expensive, and there's the second issue. It would cost more than a soldier is worth. Even if it was only provided to, say, SEALs teams that ODSTs so seem to parallel, it would cost more than they were willing to spend.

By using lighter, cheaper materials, you still don't cut the cost down enough to justify against the military budget, and you generally lose protection.

That said, the advanced HUD technologies seen in the ODST helmet do have a chance at being future fare. Monitors for vital information, team status, integrated compass, light polarization, GPS location waypoint marker, even predicted shot impact point are possible, to some extent, with current technologies. The main issue with those, again, is cost, and the problem of power consumption. I doubt it will be seen by the midpoint of this century, but may follow shortly after.

yah i think what everyone else has said about the weight of the armor, but that would be awesome to see
that would be one beast looking marine =D

SchizophrenicMC said:

The weight issue is a big one. I can't see the armor, alone, weighing less than 100 pounds, canon. Ceramic Carbide and Titanium Carbide are heavy and expensive, and there's the second issue. It would cost more than a soldier is worth. Even if it was only provided to, say, SEALs teams that ODSTs so seem to parallel, it would cost more than they were willing to spend.

By using lighter, cheaper materials, you still don't cut the cost down enough to justify against the military budget, and you generally lose protection.

That said, the advanced HUD technologies seen in the ODST helmet do have a chance at being future fare. Monitors for vital information, team status, integrated compass, light polarization, GPS location waypoint marker, even predicted shot impact point are possible, to some extent, with current technologies. The main issue with those, again, is cost, and the problem of power consumption. I doubt it will be seen by the midpoint of this century, but may follow shortly after.

Click to expand...

Schiz, on the issue of the weight, do you think that the Reach ODST armor, as opposed to the Halo 3 ODST armor, would be more realistically feasible? I make the differentiation because, whereas Halo 3 ODSTs wear closed full body suits, Reach ODSTs wear separate armor pieces, i.e. torso armor, thigh pads, forearm guards, etc. I would think that would make the armor much lighter. Also, forget about cannon and use materials that are known to be light and are proven to work. Make a difference? I realize the military would never approve such expensive armor, but I am now interested to find out whether it would be feasible or not.

Yea, I read each and every one of your replies, and I'd like to thank you all for commenting. I agree with all of you. Money is the main factor. The weight MIGHT be manageable, but money isn't one of our best areas. I remember reading on how our current Humvee's don't have the strongest armor plating against RPGs and IEDs. It was shown that we do have stronger armor plating out there, but it costs a lot more. Also, I too remember hearing about the Dragon skin armor and how it was superior to Kevlar plates. I also remember feeling deep sadness hearing that it was rejected due to cost and supposedly "melted." I have to agree with you Roadkill and Xtreme, it would look very awe-inspiring to our enemies as our troops came at them with ODST body armor. I also agree with Sim and Templar, it has a lot to do with our brass and what they decide. As for schizophrenic, I agree with you as well. Maybe it won't happen in our time, but maybe just MAYBE it could happen down the way as we advance even more with technology.

I want to thank all of you for commenting. Its cool to hear your thoughts on this subject, and I agree with all of you 100%. Major factors are money and the how the Brass sees things. Like Spitfire said, to the lowest bidder... Thanks again everyone!

Templar_320 said:

Schiz, on the issue of the weight, do you think that the Reach ODST armor, as opposed to the Halo 3 ODST armor, would be more realistically feasible? I make the differentiation because, whereas Halo 3 ODSTs wear closed full body suits, Reach ODSTs wear separate armor pieces, i.e. torso armor, thigh pads, forearm guards, etc. I would think that would make the armor much lighter. Also, forget about cannon and use materials that are known to be light and are proven to work. Make a difference? I realize the military would never approve such expensive armor, but I am now interested to find out whether it would be feasible or not.

Click to expand...

The Reach ODST BDU doesn't appear to be much lighter than the Halo 3 BDU, and in fact, also seems to lack the vacuum-sealed bodysuit with coolant jackets.

Putting cost aside, and using lighter-weight materials, the armor would be very effective, as it covers all major body areas and arteries (except the femoral artery) in plates of armor, and the entire body is covered in several layers of kevlar, capable of stopping small-arms fire. (according to canon) Against human-developed weaponry, it stands up very well, as the titanium plates are nearly-invulnerable to smaller calibers. Upon closer inspection, it appears the armor plating is actually fairly thin, and probably light enough in weight to be comparable to current battle gear. The biggest material concern is the visor. It has to be made of a transparent material in an optically-flat geometry, but it also has to be able to withstand small-arms fire at various ranges. Further, it has to be able to polarize and suffice as a HUD display. If a sufficient material can be created, that will finish off the technical issues. (again, as well as monitor power supply)

Of course, given the cost of Titanium, (which is probably the ideal material for a hard-armor suit) to manufacture one set of body armor would likely cost more than an entire Humvee, let alone the current-issue body armor. Not to mention, time would have to be spent in R&D for all the involved technologies, and it's not like it's one size fits all. Those plates have to match the wearer's size, or else inhibit movement, which is even less desirable. In the end, it's all possible, and even feasible as a battle armor, but it's not cost-effective.

Looking at the ODST armor more closely it’s definitely not titanium. It is true that titanium is considerably stronger and lighter than steel but because steel is considerably denser and equally strong piece of titanium would be almost twice as thick. An AK-47 round has no trouble at all going through half an inch of titanium. The aircraft armament uses between 1 1/2 to 2 inch titanium to stop between 20 mm and 30 mm rounds this is what the A-10 carries. Looking at there the armor of the ODST it appears to be somewhere between an 1/8 and 1/2 inch, it’s definitely not titanium. Variations of the RPG round can easily penetrate the Abrams battle tank. It’s pretty safe to say their armor is made of materials that don’t exist yet. Not to mention the sizing problems each suit would have to be made to the individual. Just read through this website and you’ll see how many people have trouble sizing their own armor. That aside if a material did exist that required custom fitting like the knights of the Middle Ages. The military would add a month for armor fit up to an individual soldier after basic.
Parts of the ODST armor that I think is closer to reality would be a helmet with a heads-up display and looking in your left corner to see where your team is all the little blue dots, would reduce considerable confusion and improve awareness during firefights. It would also make it easier if you had a 30 to 90 m heads up of any humans in the area regardless of buildings. In a possible practical application sooner would be if you could incorporate the drone aircraft circling above the team. If they were to come under fire the drone could use all of its imaging thermal infrared in conjunction with the team sensors with some considerable upgrades to identify the direction of fire then the enemy would be assigned red dots. Civilians are white dots?? that this would be the closest we would come to the ODST
　
If anyone has actually worked in weapons development for United States you would know that generals and admirals in charge of the programs put tremendous amounts of pressure to develop better armor, weapons, communication, etc. If it was left to the generals decide what was put into production, they would pick what was best for the troops and have little to no concern for the material expense to the cost of human life.
It’s our politicians that decide how much money is spent and there is a considerable amount of politics behind the scenes that slows the process down. Remember the United States defense budget- everything from Homeland security to the CIA and all branches of the armed services make up almost 20% of our total budget. Politicians are the true monsters to blame on why things don’t make it into production faster!!! Because possibly one state has more military contracts than the next and the contracts are used bartering favors between politicians and negotiations on the House and Senate floors. Then they have the gall to get up complain about how the troops are not getting the right equipment after their long flight on a $20 million Learjet and being treated to a $600 dinner on our tax dollars. That’s what I’ve seen firsthand and has been my personal experience

Although the materials in question do not exist yet (or maybe the do!) I could see the ODST armor becoming standard. Granted, it won't be exactly like it is in game, but troops are already fitted for combat armor after basic anyway, you can make ODST armor quite adjustable just like a flak vest or Kevlar! You won't be able to make a one-size-fits-all, but neither is today's stuff.

Xtreme TACTICS 101 said:

In all honesty, it's not worth it. 27 layers of kevlar in a ballistic helmet, yet the helmet will not stop or slow a relatively small caliber round to a non-lethal velocity. The helmet alone is typically only for light ballistic shrapnel and other debris flying around the battlefield. There's no point in adding another hundred pounds of nearly pointless armour for a soldier to carry with them while on patrol or in a combat situation when all it will do is make them a larger target with minimal protection from incoming fire. Personally, I'm iffy about hulling the back plate of my tac vest onto the battlefield when I can be spaired the extra weight. I don't know about the guy beside me, but I'm not counting on running away...

Although intimidation on the battlefield is always a great thing to have on your side (And I'm sure an army of ODST's running towards you would be enough to send you running in the opposite direction), I don't think it's worth the mobility and weight issues.

Click to expand...

Ok there Blackhawk Down.