The men in the room all generally agreed that this was a stupendous step forward, and that the project should continue to be advanced.
General Branson changed the topic. “What about the cybernetics and this new Raptor Combat suit I’ve heard about?”
Rickenbacker seemed a bit alarmed that General Branson knew anything about the cybernetics or Raptor suit. Those were closely guarded secrets. “I was going to mention those next, but since you have brought them up… the Raptor combat suit is similar to the exoskeleton combat suit our Special Forces and the Chinese and Russians are currently using. The difference between the Raptor and the current models the Reds are using is that our version also incorporates a suite of cybernetic implants. These grafts give the user a host of new capabilities the exoskeleton suits never could hope to achieve.”
“Let’s start with the suit itself. The ensemble encases the operator in an environmental and bullet proof shell. Each suit is fitted to their operator, so it is nice and snug like a diver’s suit. It has its own filtration system that allows the operator to regulate their body temperature, in case they are operating in the heat of the Middle East, or in the tundra and mountains of Alaska. It can also operate in a chemical or WMD environment. It has radiation shielding, which will also make the suit perfect for space operations down the road. In the meantime, one could wear the suit and move through a radiation hot zone and survive just fine.”
“If for some reason, the armor is penetrated and the person inside is shot, or shrapnel rips a hole in it and the operator is injured, the suit will self-seal up to an inch-wide hole. It will also fill the person’s wound with an antibiotic gel that will both stop the bleeding until the injury can be properly addressed, and numb the area so the operator can continue to focus on the job at hand without getting distracted by the pain. The suit also has several self-injections it can apply. One is adrenaline — it has up to five adrenaline shots that can be applied and refilled. It also has up to two morphine shots — one to relieve the pain, and a second one is available in case help is a long way off or if the operator is too injured and wants to self-terminate.” The Professor showed some videos of the suit in action.
“The suit provides the person inside with the ability to lift up to 5x their body weight, run up to 35mph, and jump as high as 30 feet. The suit weighs 250 lbs., and uses a variety of new polymers and nanofiber technology, which gives it flexibility, speed and makes it lightweight. The power for the suit is geothermal, so the body heat and movement of the operator actually regenerates the power for the suit.” Professor Rickenbacker was almost giddy with excitement. “This new type of geothermal energy is going to have a host of new civilian applications once the war is over.”
Not wanting to miss something, General Branson asked, “Where do the cybernetics come into play?”
“Ah yes. Well, there are two versions of the suit. The standard issue, which uses no cybernetics, and then the advanced version, which incorporates them. The standard issue can do everything we just talked about and all of the other functions that you see on the display. The enhanced suit that incorporates the cybernetics enables the operator to integrate their mind into the operating system of the suit and the targeting system. Essentially it allows an operator to see and engage targets faster than someone could without a cybernetic implant. The implant connects at the base of the skull and interfaces with the neurons in the brain that allow a person to process images and threats.”
“The implant also allows the operator to push the limits of the suit to the max. Instead of being able to run 35mph, someone using the implants could easily hit 50 or 60 mph. They can do this because their body becomes completely fused with the suit for the duration that they are connected. We’ve tested it, and the results are amazing. However, not everyone is able to integrate with the cybernetic implant. Some people’s bodies reject it, others are simply not able to control it. So in this regard, the cybernetic implants are still a little while off from full implementation.”
Eric Clarke, the Secretary of Defense, saw the Raptor suit as a means of being able to even the odds for the American forces, particularly in regards to the troops in Alaska, who would soon be facing an Army of nearly five million, and who knew how many of them would be equipped with the Chinese and Russian exoskeleton suits.
“How soon can we get the standard Raptor suit into production and begin training our troops on them?” asked the Secretary of Defense, eager to get a new technology operational quickly.
Rickenbacker handed a tablet to Eric with the full specs needed to build the Raptor and a training program for how to use it. “This should help; it’s fully ready to be fielded now. We’ve actually been working on this project in one form or another for nearly three decades. The exoskeleton the Special Forces have been using was second generation. This is now the fifth generation of that same technology. Where the first two generations were not a fully enclosed system, this is, and that is why this system is going to be so much farther advanced compared to anything the Chinese or Russians have.”
“You can begin building them immediately, but they will take time. You can construct most of it using 3D printers, but training a soldier on how to use it is going to be the challenge. There is no way around that particular problem,” Rickenbacker explained.
Knowing they had been in the meeting for nearly five hours, the President indicated to the group that their session was coming to an end. “Professor Rickenbacker, you have given us a lot of food for thought, and certainly provided us with some new technologies to look at. When we get back to the White House, I am going to start bringing others into the loop on the Raptor combat suit, the EmDrive propulsion system and the F41. We need to get these three pieces of technology into the war immediately. I want you to be available when the time comes to answer questions by some of the engineers from the major producers in the country if they have questions,” the President directed.
Rickenbacker agreed and then the men parted company.
Saving Samson
The Russian offensive had finally been stopped, just south of the city of Haifa at the Carmel Mountain National Park and stretching to just north of Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee. The fighting was nearly constant and intense up until that point; all sides had lost tens of thousands of soldiers a day during the fighting. The Israelis were beginning to consider more drastic measures to defeat the Russians. The Israelis had made the decision that if the Russians broke through their last line of defense and reached Megiddo National Park, they would activate their Samson protocol, the use of nuclear weapons. Just as the Biblical character for which this protocol was named had garnered his last bit of super-human might to push out the columns of a Philistine building and collapse it upon all inside, this maneuver of last resort would destroy the enemy, but possibly also themselves in the process.
The Israelis knew that with modern day laser defense systems, ballistic missiles would have no chance of hitting their targets. So instead of conventional mines, the IDF had buried dozens of cobalt-laden nuclear devices along the Israeli border and several key points inside of Israel. If it appeared that the country was lost, then they could detonate these devices and forever eradiate the land. They also had their Jericho bombs, which were smaller nuclear devices in the 1 kiloton to 10 kiloton range. These bombs were buried all across Israel and could be detonated on enemy forces as the IDF continued to fall back.