Innovations & technologies

US military eyes futuristic 'bionic arm' for troops

Will future Soldiers be kitted up with a futuristic exoskeleton-style arm that will bring even more deadly, more powerful weapons into battle?

The U.S. military has been pioneering lots of advances in exoskeletons – real-life versions of what you see Tony Stark wearing as Iron Man. By merging man with machine, exoskeletons have the potential to massively increase a warfighter’s firepower, strength, speed, endurance and much, much, more.

Special Operations Command (SOCOM)’s Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS) full body exo project has been blazing away and a regular in headlines. Meanwhile, other military teams have been also applying their brains and talent to help our troops by finding other ways to use exoskeleton solutions to give American warriors another advantage in combat.

The Army Research Laboratory has been quietly working away on a futuristic sort of bionic arm – this is not one that a soldier puts his arm inside to operate. Instead, this would provide the soldier with an entire additional arm made out of advanced materials – hence the project being dubbed “The Third Arm.”