Halo suit inventor facing financial ruin

Remember the Canadian inventor who created the bullet-proof body armor exoskeleton?

Troy Hurtubise spent $15,000 of his own money on the "Halo suit," which he hoped could protect troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unfortunately, he has not received a single order. So, he's selling the suit on eBay.

As of this posting the high bid is $11,000 U.S..  Note the important disclaimer: "Very Important--***DUE TO LIABILITY QUESTIONS---THE TROJAN SUIT, ARMOR AND SHIELD ARE BEING SOLD AS MEMORABILLIA AND COSTUME PARAPHERNALIA ONLY. MR TROY HURTUBISE ACCEPTS NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER FOR INJURIES INCURRED USING THE TROJAN SUIT, SHIELD OR ARMOR FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN A COSTUME SETTING."

[HT: Loren.]

Comments

[John Lucid]

Too bad. It actually looks like it could could work without being more than slightly uncomfortable, which most combat uniforms are to one degree or another. (If nothing else they make you pretty hot, especially in desert heat.)

You'd think with Bush's insatiable lust for eternal war he'd be interested in this suit, but I guess that would also require him to have some sort of conscience regarding the welfare of our soldiers. Yeah, I know: RIGHT!!

[Zed]

I have a vague memory (possibly incorrect) of some legitimate military complaints about this suit which may have precluded its adoption: namely, even although it is made of "lightweight" materials, it's sufficiently heavy to seriously cut into a soldier's ammunition supply.

This isn't saying that it would have been adopted here even if it were perfect, mind you. Our troops haven't been able to get standard body armor, much less high tech stuff.

[John Lucid]

You could be right, Zed. Maybe the prototype suit wouldn't work as is, but that doesn't mean that it couldn't be modified if the Pentagon gave this guy some R&D money to work out the kinks. But then that would mean that the big military contractors would possibly lose a lucrative contract, and we'd hate to piss off big donors to the Republican party, wouldn't we?

[Windypundit]

Some friends of mine are developing a new product for military medical use. Everybody who'd have to use it seems to like it, but because it's different from anything the military currently uses, it's very hard to get it accepted. Hurtubise's armor would face similar challenges.

For one thing, is it really a good thing for soldiers? Sure, it makes them less vulnerable if hit by enemy fire, but to the extent that it impedes their movement, it may make them more likely to get hit. It looks like it also impedes their vision, which may make them less effective in combat, which means they'll have to fight more.

Also, how do they affect the tools and weapons a soldier carries? What will a soldier have to give up carrying to make up for the weight of the suit? Would every soldier have to have these, or maybe just special armored squads?

Like most such things, the trade-offs will be worth the trouble in some cases, but not in others. There's probably some military commanders out there who think even the current armor is ridiculous, and others who look at Hurtubise's suit and know exactly what they'd do with it.

Even if the suit is a great idea, it would still have to be written into combat doctrine. Just armoring the troops is not enough. Once they're armored, you have to figure out how it changes the way they fight. Typically, anything that protects the troops also allows them to be more bold, so there's a good chance that effective full-body armor will result not in fewer casualties for our side, but greater casualties for the enemy.

Soldiers would have to be trained in this new way of fighting, and their commanders would have to be trained how best to use these troops. There are manuals to be written and training exercises to be revised.

As part of that, the DOD will have to take into account the effects the suit has on everything around it. Will soldiers wearing these suits still fit in a Humvee's seats? How many of them will fit in an armored transport? In a truck? How many more transport vehicles will be needed if the soldiers are being transported in full armor? Do the additional drivers make the unit larger, or will existing soldiers be used as drivers?

The suits aren't just armor, they'll have to be part of an armoring system. They'll have to work with existing chem-bio defense gear or have it built in, and they'll have to be easy to decontaminate. They'll have to work well in desert heat and arctic cold and be easy to camouflage.

What tools do armorers need to maintain them? How many of each type of spare part should be kept at each level of the supply chain? Who makes those spare parts and how exotic are the materials? How long do the suits last in storage?

If a soldier is injured in one of these suits, can another guy in another suit pick him up and carry him to safety, or will it take two guys? Will medical personnel be able to treat a soldier wearing such a suit? Will they need to have armorer's tools and training to remove parts of the suit from an injured soldier? Will a suited soldier fit on a stretcher? Will he fit the space on a medevac helicopter?

Knowing all these things about the suits, are they still worth it? If it ends up costing, say, $3 million to equip a company of soldiers with these suits, are there better things to spend the money on? Better weapons? Better transport? Better communication? Better ways to find IEDs? Better air support? Additional soldiers?

Hey, I like the idea and the guy's heart seems to be in the right place, but these things are just very complicated.

In wartime, the process can be sped up with the understanding that it will probably be good enough for now, but more time and money will be necessary to refine it later. Still, for the most part, these kinds of issues go on and on, they're important, and they have to be done right.

[Mike]

While it's sad to see a thoughtful idea go to waste, I was struck by one of the inventor's on-camera comments: "The brass doesn't understand, and the politicians can't even spell 'war' let alone comprehend what you guys go through."

Here's a tip for you would-be inventors: If you'd like to actually sell your product, try not to insult the people who'll be signing the checks for it. It might help.

[togolosh]

Perhaps Edwards could buy it, since he's apparently a little thin-skinned.

[Grimmstail]

MR TROY HURTUBISE ACCEPTS NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER FOR INJURIES INCURRED ... FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN A COSTUME SETTING.

Wow. I think if I were a broke inventor I wouldn't want to accept liability even for the costume settings.

[Loren]

Is it just me, or does the idea of having an intake fan towards your face and a highly potent aspirated pepper spray seem like a really bad combination?

He can probably sell the cock clock idea to Fossil though.

[Dunc]

What a freaking suprise... When this first surfaced, the first thing that I thought (and wrote) on the subject was that the military isn't prepared to pay for the (much cheaper) armour we have now, so this was never going to fly. However, that assessment got completely lost under a giant wave of "that's teh roxor!"...

Here is the news folks: the brass don't give a damn. Casualties are just statistics - not people, and definitely not important people. They do not care how many soldiers are killed or wounded, provided they can keep it off the news.

[Fitz]

FYI
Maybe you did not know the origins of this guys "invinvibility suit" - I seriously dont think he got past stage one in military seriousness of testing and consideration....

I love this guy, he’s a total fanatic about his suit.

I once saw a cable documentary on this dude and his suit. It was originally started as an “invincible” suit to withstand Grizzly Bear attacks. He used all these hockey pads and body amour and what not. The suit kept getting “better” with a phase 1, phase 2, phase 3, and so on. Their was all this footage of his buddies smacking him with 2 by 4’s and baseball bats, shooting him with shotguns, and him jumping off ladders and so forth.

He would walk around the woods in this ridiculous suit (Some versions looked like a Mickey Mouse suit in Disney Land) Trying to get Grizzly Bears to Attack him!!!!!

Not an easy thing to purposely stage for a camera.
It’s freaking hilarious stuff. He’s obsessed.

[FinFangFoom]

Everyone knows the reason that the military didn't adopt this is because the testers couldn't avoid making "robot" movement noises when they were walking around in it.

[Demosthenes]

Anybody else kind of tempted to get one, hit the streets, and start fighting crime?

(Or, alternately, hold up a bank, if you're more the supervillian type?)

Even if you weren't actively beating up bad guys, having someone suited up like this patrolling the streets would both give the bad guys pause AND make every preteen boy in the neighbourhood no longer want to be a thug anymore. Why be a banger when you can be ROBOCOP?

[Demosthenes]

By the way, the top bid is sitting at $30,000 now, with five days to go. Usually that amount of time left means there will be at least another doubling of the bid amount, if not two or three.

Assuming that the bidders are serious, he could end up making an absolute fortune by auctioning off the things.

[Demosthenes]

(After looking at the auction, it appears he's auctioning off the right to create the "shadow armor" as well. Seems bad, but if he really is that obsessed, he already has a replacement in mind for his own development work.)