China Thinks The US Military Is Fielding Halo Master Chief Suits
Nor is the U.S. military remotely close to fielding such a suit.
Nonetheless, Chinese media has trolled its netizens over the possibility that Washington is ready to unleash an army of robotically suped-up super soldiers.
"The program was New Defence Observations, a military show (read: propaganda), on Channel 7," writes Brian Ashcroft of Kotaku. "On the October 19 episode, which is recently causing a stir in China, a segment talked about the "smart amour."
The CCTV episode of New Defense Observations on Oct. 19, hosted by a well respected, educated military officer, first showed an image from the latest Iron Man movie. Ashcroft notes that the text on the screen clearly says "movie image."
But then, the host goes on to show an image of cosplayers in Halo get-ups, with the caption "U.S. Military Concept Armor."
Ashcroft notes that the netizens were not fooled.
From Kotaku:
One Sina Weibo user wrote, "Master Chief! How did you end up on CCTV? And you also joined the US Army..." Another added, "Watching CCTV doesn't seem to enhance my IQ."
On the other hand, the entire episode is done with an above the shoulder graphic of real concept images of the Army's TALOS - Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit - which hopes to build an "Iron Man"-like suit.
"It's advanced armour. It's communications, antennas. It's cognitive performance. It's sensors, miniature-type circuits. That's all going to fit in here, too," said Lt Col Karl Borjes, a science adviser at the US Army's research, development and engineering command, told the BBC recently. "It's exactly like Iron Man."
The resulting headlines from the Iron Man quotes obviously got China in a stir.
The (emphasis on) concept suit would combine much of the recent testing on battlefield networking (kind of like a Google glass heads up display for trigger pullers), on load-bearing hydraulic robotics, camo, and advanced helmets with heads up displays.
The aim, the BBC reports, is to field these suits in "3 years," though in reality, the Army has been testing and shopping these types of technologies for the past 20.
So, it's safe to say there will be no Iron Man/Halo/Master Chief suit storming China's shores beneath the Stars and Stripes any time in the near future.