In “The Dark Knight,” Gotham City saw a host of people following the example of Batman.
The United States Air Force appears to hope that some of its solider will do the same thing. No, they won’t don a cape and cowl and become vigilantes. Instead the Air Force wants to train soldiers to be as resourceful as the Caped Crusader.
The program began in 2004 and is called BATMAN. That stands for Battlefield Air Targeting Man-Aided kNowledge. The program aims to modernize the gear that commandos take with them on covert missions with the motto of “lighter, smarter, deadlier.”
“In the earliest stages when we were coming up with a name for the program, we were perceived as having a lot of gadgets,” said Reggie Daniels, BATMAN program engineer at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. “[Batman’s] devices allow him to have an advantage. That is what we’re trying to do.”
Participants in the program carry 160 pounds of equipment during a mission, Daniels said. That’s just the first requirement for the program.
This equipment includes communications gear, helmet displays, a headset and a computer, plus a host of batteries to keep all these electronics juiced in the field.
Special ops missions include setting up runways and landing zones as well as retrieving injured people from aircraft down behind enemy lines. “They have a very dangerous job,” said Daniels.
The program is designed to keep soldiers safe on covert mission.
But BATMAN wouldn’t be complete without a Batcave and the program has one–Wright Patterson Air Force Base. That’s where Daniels and his team devise, test and integrate technologies to boost Special Forces’ effectiveness.
And although Air Force officers don’t have a Batsuit, Daniels says another goal of the program is to find ways to carry all the necessary equipment on the “human chassis.”
A key BATMAN achievement has been reducing the weight of carried batteries by 25 percent. New fuel cells powered by methanol actually get lighter as the methanol is consumed, Daniels said, so instead of toting drained batteries, a soldier’s load decreases over time.
BATMAN has additionally pioneered the use of a small, chest-mounted computer to provide warriors with real-time logistical and tactical information. Speech recognition, or telling one’s equipment what to do โ which is arguably more Inspector Gadget than Batman โ is also in the works.
Michael says
In other news, the Army is about to unveil its SUPERMAN program…
Dave in NY says
What about its new Super Soldier Serum that will produce a Captain America?
Michael Natale says
I can hear the conversation in Air Force Command now…
“BATMAK? What the Hell is Batmak?”
“No, sir, its supposed to be BatmaN. See there – we used the N in Knowledge.”
A frown. “Son, that there is an acronym. You can’t just choose any damn letter you please! Otherwise the whole Goddamn english language could be an acronym.”
“Actually sir, an Initialism chooses letters from any point in the…”
“Don’t lawyer-talk me son. What you got there is Batmak. You want me to sign off on millions of dollars in funding for a program called Batmak?”
Pause.
“But Batman is much cooler sir. See there? We used the *N*.”
Robin says
Well, then clearly they need to hire Angus MacGyver and Eliot Spencer as technical advisers. ๐
cflow says
Harold Allnut could do it all, but he’s dead.
Doesn’t it make more sense to look into alternate solutions to the power issue, like charging them from human motion etc.?