THE IRON MAN SUIT.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: SOCOM'S TOP 10

There perhaps has been no higher profile Special Operations Command technology development program over the past few years than the tactical assault light operator suit, or TALOS.

The idea sprung from former SOCOM Commander Adm. William McRaven in 2013. He wanted more protection for the first special operator to go through a door during raids. The suit would protect against bullets and blasts and have enough power for it to operate untethered. He set August 2018 as the deadline for the first working prototype and received $80 million for the first four years of development.

Meanwhile, the mainstream press picked up on the story after comparisons were made to the Iron Man superhero. Early SOCOM illustrations of the concept and a video it created with a fully-armored operator bursting through a door with bullets ricocheting off the armor certainly influenced the nickname, although officials have since downplayed the moniker.

Army Col. James Miller, director of joint acquisition task force (JATF) TALOS, told National Defense that there will not be a working prototype of the suit this year as hoped.

"TALOS is a unique engineering challenge that seeks to accelerate the development of emerging technologies across multiple domains simultaneously and integrate these disparate technologies into a fully functioning system that is intended to provide decisive advantage to future [special operations forces] in close combat," he said in an email.

Leadership remains committed to the program even though McRaven retired several years ago. Current SOCOM Commander Army Gen. Raymond A. Thomas III has declared TALOS the command's top research-and-development priority, as did Army Gen. Joseph Votel before him, Miller said.

The concept for the suit has remained more or less the same, he said.

"TALOS has maintained a consistent focus on achieving the commander's vision for the first article prototype combat operator suit. We have not made any major changes in direction over the last three years, although some design accommodations related to size, weight and power across all the subsystems have been made to reduce risk where necessary. I expect some determinations will be made as we near the end of development and subsequent demonstration of the prototype," Miller said.

In 2019, the command will demonstrate a functional TALOS prototype of the exoskeleton subsystem it calls the Mark-5, he said.

Other subsystems, such as the encompassing base layer, visual...