Real Life Mjolnir Battle Armor Revealed
By: César A. Berardini - "Cesar"
Jan. 16th, 2007 10:55 am
Troy Hurtubise, the inventor of the famous bear-protection suit, has announced a lighter version he hopes to sell to the army. Promoted as "the first ballistic, full exoskeleton body suit of armor," the armor is the result of a 15-plus year effort undertaken by Hurtubise to develop protection suit technology.
Back in 1984, Hurtubise survived a grizzly bear attack after which he decided to develop a suit that would allow a person to observe grizzly bears from a close distance. He got inspiration from the movie Robocop to design such an ambitious suit. As the Project Grizzly documentary showed, he succeeded.
Since then, Hurtubise has spent more than two years and $15,000 to design and build a lightweight and affordable version that can stave off bullets, explosives, knives and clubs.
He has finally unveiled the armor, which resembles the MJOLNIR battle armor of the Halo series.
The pictures on the right, which were obtained by The Hamilton Spectator, show the current model of the suit.
The newspaper reported that the whole suit has a total weight of 18 kilograms (40 lbs). Hurtubise told The Hamilton Spectator that the suit covers everything but the fingertips and the major joints, and could be mass-produced for about $2,000.
The following are some highlights from the article:
The whole suit -- which draws design inspiration from Star Wars, RoboCop, Batman and video games -- is made from high-impact plastic lined with ceramic bullet protection over ballistic foam.
Its many features include compartments for emergency morphine and salt, a knife and emergency light. Built into the forearms are a small recording device, a pepper-spray gun and a detachable transponder that can be swallowed in case of trouble.
In the helmet, there's a solar-powered fresh-air system and a drinking tube attached to a canteen in the small of the back. A laser pointer mounted in the middle of the forehead is ready to point to snipers, while LED lights frame the face.
The whole suit -- which draws design inspiration from Star Wars, RoboCop, Batman and video games -- is made from high-impact plastic lined with ceramic bullet protection over ballistic foam.
You can watch a video of the suit in action right here:
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/med...11-2007_a.html
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