Immortality? perhaps not. indestructibility? why not? given the rate at which armies around the world seem to be taking a cue from the world of fiction to develop the ‘super soldier’ – the combatant of the future – don’t be surprised if he looks a little like wolverine!
Quick, if you had to go to battle and you were
allowed to choose one, just one, soldier to fight for you, who would you choose? The Incredible Hulk? Wolverine? Arjuna? Iron Man? It has been a long cherished dream of every army in the world to build the ‘super soldier’, a warrior whose abilities border on the superhuman. With the latest advances in technology, the concept of the super soldier seems poised to leap out of the pages of science fiction, graphic novels and Hollywood screenplays straight into our midst. A soldier who is virtually indestructible or almost immortal would be undoubtedly the ultimate fighting machine. Major Gen. Sheru Thapliyal tells TSI, “To crack the code of being immortal doesn't seem to be a possibility but there is special training that exists, which does not aim at making soldiers immortal, but to train them and incorporate certain skills in them which cannot be performed by an average human being. There are para-troopers in India who are trained to perform special actions and perform them at great speed with huge destructive ability.” Back in May this year, the US Army’s Soldier Research Design and Engineering Centre released a white paper titled ‘Future Soldier 2030 Initiative,’ which outlined the various areas (performance and training, soldier protection, soldier lethality etc.) that the soldier of the future will be enhanced on. Quite a few of the concepts have been inspired by popular fictional characters like the “Hulk” or “Wolverine”. Talk about life imitating art! More specifically, comic book art.
Seeing the Hulk run rampage in the film “The Incredible Hulk”, General Thaddeus Ross says, “As far as I'm concerned, that man's whole body is a property of the US army.” Many army generals would identify with Gen. Ross’s sentiment since the advantage to be had with a virtually indestructible fighter on your side is incomparable. And every country worth its combative salt has programmes running to train superior soldiers. There are established ones like Navy Seals or Green Berets in the United States, the NSG in India or the SAS in Britain. But special training is one thing, and special abilities completely another.
Quick, if you had to go to battle and you were
allowed to choose one, just one, soldier to fight for you, who would you choose? The Incredible Hulk? Wolverine? Arjuna? Iron Man? It has been a long cherished dream of every army in the world to build the ‘super soldier’, a warrior whose abilities border on the superhuman. With the latest advances in technology, the concept of the super soldier seems poised to leap out of the pages of science fiction, graphic novels and Hollywood screenplays straight into our midst. A soldier who is virtually indestructible or almost immortal would be undoubtedly the ultimate fighting machine. Major Gen. Sheru Thapliyal tells TSI, “To crack the code of being immortal doesn't seem to be a possibility but there is special training that exists, which does not aim at making soldiers immortal, but to train them and incorporate certain skills in them which cannot be performed by an average human being. There are para-troopers in India who are trained to perform special actions and perform them at great speed with huge destructive ability.” Back in May this year, the US Army’s Soldier Research Design and Engineering Centre released a white paper titled ‘Future Soldier 2030 Initiative,’ which outlined the various areas (performance and training, soldier protection, soldier lethality etc.) that the soldier of the future will be enhanced on. Quite a few of the concepts have been inspired by popular fictional characters like the “Hulk” or “Wolverine”. Talk about life imitating art! More specifically, comic book art.Seeing the Hulk run rampage in the film “The Incredible Hulk”, General Thaddeus Ross says, “As far as I'm concerned, that man's whole body is a property of the US army.” Many army generals would identify with Gen. Ross’s sentiment since the advantage to be had with a virtually indestructible fighter on your side is incomparable. And every country worth its combative salt has programmes running to train superior soldiers. There are established ones like Navy Seals or Green Berets in the United States, the NSG in India or the SAS in Britain. But special training is one thing, and special abilities completely another.
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