How to decrease weight for infantry?

[crimsonghost747]

As most of you probably know, the amount of equipment that a regular infantry soldier carries nowadays is absolutely mindblowing. As new gadgets get issued, they will of course become part of the regular loadout... together with their spare batteries.

In the end, it leads to pretty much where we are now. Equipment is starting to be too heavy. It slows the soldiers down in combat and significantly reduces the range they can cover on foot in a certain amount of time. This of course leads to more problems like having to bring vehicles closer to the action, resupplying more often etc.

So what could be done to bring infantry back to being the fast and agile all purpose troop it once was?

 

[orangesunset]

The infantryman has been carrying the same amount of weight for as long as there are infantrymen. The infantryman has always been fast and agile. The vehicle isn't an issue, back in the civil war they used trains to bring infantrymen to the front lines.

Dragoons are technically mounted infantrymen, since they fight dismounted.

 

[tournique]

Well, equipment is really getting lighter and lighter. Don't think you can make it lighter if you carry all that ammo around. They can get lighter material for protective kits, and that's just about it.

 

[DeltaForce103]

Assuming all the other equipment retains its weight, the only solution is a powered exosuit.

The US has already started researching using exosuits for soldiers, even though the fully developed technology may be decades away. DARPA has developed a prototype of a smart suit capable of mimicking the action of a soldier's muscles to reduce fatigue and injuries. An exosuit would offer far more strength and endurance than normally possible.

 

[morgan_titan]

Load weight varies by unit type though - here in Canada, the heaviest loadout usually tends to be whoever has to carry the C6, since they have all that ammo to lug around. Loadout also depends on mission length and objective - and most of the missions have been patrol based, at least in Afghanistan.

I definitely think that the exo-skeleton technology will come into play at some point, although I'm curious to see how reliable it'll be and how well it'll perform in the different environments. You gotta remember that most military hardware contacting goes to the lowest bidder - and seeing as how many soldiers are replacing issued kit with aftermarket, I'd probably be weary of new technology that can mean the difference between being able to survive.