Starship Troopers, here we come!

**Coldstreamer** · 06-08-2009

Wait to you actually procure it. Then we'll have to as well in order to maintain 'interoperability'. Only in order to preserve UK jobs, we won't just buy your model. Oh no. We'll build the declassified parts under licence in different small potting sheds in obscure parts of the British Isles, in key electoral constituencies. Then bring in a (US) contractor to work out why they don't work when they're all put together. This will cost 3 times as much as the single unit cost of buying the original. So we'll only be able to buy single figure quantities. We'll get rid of 10 infantry battalions to pay for them, thereby 'doing more with less', in the words of one of our greatest living former madmen. Then, being scarce and precious, they will only be commited to operations in benign environments.
The funding being apportioned, and organisational streamlining actioned, the actual fielding will be delayed indefinitely as part of the next defence review (due to take place any time between dinner time today and 2012). However, maintaining the new production lines and stock will be actioned by selling an improved (halal) variant to various middle eastern regimes, reducing our overall balance of payments. So all in all, another great success.

Perhaps I should swap the coffee for camomile, as the wife suggests...

**Red Rat** · 06-08-2009

Hmm. As Coldstreamer points out, a UK version will be expensive, built under licence and almost certainly not fit for purpose - sounds like the Air Force will end up with it!

**Van** · 06-08-2009

coming up with the acronym "Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC)"?

And it gets better - "built under an exclusive licensing agreement with Berkeley Bionics"...

Would you trust the lives of your soldiers to ANYTHING related to Berkeley?

**J Wolfsberger** · 06-08-2009

Combat suits don't use doors. They create doors of the appropriate size as needed. Anyway, the technologies described in Starship Troopers are all years away from deployment.

Except for the 30 second bomb. We could do that today and it would be way cool.

**Ken White** · 06-08-2009

to the point that it doesn't work (in our never ending effort to make it 'joint' and able to also do the laundry and translate Hittite or other languages to English and vice versa...) and hideously expensive but it does come in Desert Tan, Coyote Red, Forest, Sage, Dark Olive, Navy Blue, Marine Red and Gold, Black and of course, Purple. Obsolete NiCad Battery Pack included. An optional and highly desirable Lithium Ion Battery Pack is available. The Fully Mission Capable version in titanium and magnesium * as opposed to the standard polymer construction is also available. All options priced at 3x the original.

* Susceptible to flame and heat damage.

**Billy Ruffian** · 06-08-2009

Not exactly 'powerarmour' now innit?

**carl** · 06-08-2009

Since this thing will be controlled by a computer, if the enemy hacked into it, would they be able to make the soldiers wearing it do funky chicken dances?