MIT's New Iron Man Suit to Give US Soldiers Super Strength, Night Vision and Liquid Armour

The US Army has commissioned a real-life Iron Man suit called the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (Talos), inspired by Tony Stark's legendary nano suit used in the Iron Man movie series.

Talos will provide its wearer with powers straight out of a Marvel comic - including night vision, enhanced strength for lifting heavy objects and armoured protection from bullets and combat injuries.

According to The Verge, the suit will be based on nanotechnology and embed an onboard computation chip, that can instantly respond to ambient conditions such as external temperature and adjust to the wearer's core body and skin temperature, besides monitoring the heart rate and hydration levels.

The armour suit, currently under development at MIT, is designed to offer full-body ballistic protection, enabling the wearer to emerge unscathed even through a barrage of bullets.

The design incorporates a special liquid armour, capable of turning solid in "milliseconds" when subjected to electric or magnetic fields, as well as basic life-support mechanisms such as heat, air and oxygen.

MIT professor Gareth McKinley has reportedly been working on the liquid armour project since 2002. His work is inspired by a US Special Operations Command (Ussocom) challenge to create a suit that combines the power of nanotechnology with the endurance of Kevlar metal in the making of the ultimate body armour.

According to DVICE, the request for superior body armour was presented at a recent US military press conference, owing to a trooper who was shot dead by the Taliban during a hostage rescue mission.The soldier was apparently shot from the other side of the door, while he was barging in for a breach.

Ussocom has reportedly already asked several agencies from academia, science and commerce to assess and implement the Talos technology in real-life.

The nano suit development is still in its nascent stages and it may take more than a year for Ussocom to complete the project.

Check out the demo video for the US Army's Talos in the making, courtesy of NPR: