By Brett Daniel Shehadey

Special Contributor for In Homeland Security

DARPA funding at Arizona State University is sponsoring testing of a jetpack to increase a soldier’s speed and boost a PT record to that of a four minute a mile. Professor Thomas Sugar and designer Jason Kerestes are behind what they call iProject: 4MM (4 Minute Mile). The project may someday see future soldiers breaking the current world record of three minutes and forty-three seconds with ease. That mile-time record was set by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj, in 1974.

Jason Kerestes previously worked on robotic limbs for veteran amputees until DARPA sought him out to augment ready and able soldier capabilities. It is such a basic principle that it is amazing that it has not been done before. Increasing thrust to push the runner near the hips and lower back. Even with the added weight of 11 pounds, the trial runner has still been able to decrease his time and set new personal bests. Also critical is energy efficiency: a soldier will be able to run faster with less effort or faster and farther with the same effort.

So far they have not achieved the four minute mile objective but they have cut some twenty seconds off of the test runner’s time so they still have another minute to hack. It seems a simple solution, just add more thrust. The trick is not getting any lift or injury to the trial runner and it would seem the project will see incremental achievements, overall looking promising over the short term.

Meanwhile, other attempts to enhance soldier capabilities are concurrent in other projects like TALOS (Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit). TALOS involves a real-time heads-up-display system like that of an Air Force pilot, next generation armor, self-healing, exoskeletal assist, active camouflage; use of nanotechnology, metamaterials, etc.

All of these very real projected futures only mean that the America soldier will increasingly become the techno-soldier—a process that cannot be stopped and one in which the U.S. cannot afford to fall below the curve in technological military superiority.

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