MARK I: ‘Iron Man’ Suit On Track, But Hurdles Remain.

The highly anticipated tactical assault light operator suit (TALOS), which has been in development since 2013, is intended to protect the first special operator coming through a door during a raid. It should have enough armor to thwart small arms fire or bomb blasts. It would also provide support for physically exhausting activities such as climbing multiple flights of stairs or carrying heavy loads.

Army Col. Jim Miller, director of the suit’s joint acquisition task force, said the program is continuing to develop a prototype of the often-dubbed “Iron Man” suit. The current suit is called the Mark 5 because it has gone through at least five iterations since the effort first began.

“There have been some design changes to it every month since I arrived last July,” he said at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Special Operations Forces Industry Conference. Nevertheless, the task force has made progress narrowing down requirements and capabilities, he added.

The TALOS effort is “relatively on schedule,” Miller said. “I say relatively because this is [research and development],” he added, noting that it is critical to develop a product that works as advertised. Once a prototype is developed, the effort will become a program of record, most likely run by program executive office SOF warrior, he said.

The suit comprises a base layer that hosts a variety of physiological and biological sensors, actuators that serve as the muscles to power the suit, processors and computers, and a durable exoskeleton that offers support to the operator.

Currently the exoskeleton is made out of titanium, but the task force may consider alternative materials such as composites in the future, Miller said.

How much longer before we have a suit for special operators which operates without the operator?