Sunday, February 27, 2011

MK4 Law Enforcement Version?...

 

Mmm.. no not really.  I got excited at the idea of an alternate LE version.. but as I sat down to think about how this would work and what tools and weapons it would need, it became clear to me that a police version would not be too practical. 

At first I thought it could be deployed instead of SWAT, but the suit is  not designed for close quarters combat.  Its larger size and width would make it difficult to walk through doors and turn around in confined spaces.  OH and do i need to remind you what happened to ED 209 in the stair well... yeh. not good.  

So then I thought about it being used in a crowd control scenario. Outdoors would be its ideal playground,  but you wouldn't use a Gatling gun to quail a bunch of protesters.  (or would you?! hmmm.. JUST KIDDING) At first I replaced the heavy gun with tear gas launchers/ tazer's, emergency tools etc.   But  as I developed my idea I realised that it would still need to carry a lethal weapon as a last line of defense.  So I brought the large gun back.

And that was the problem I couldn't solve.  Because the rules of engagement are different between police and military,  a 20 mm cannon deployed in a civilian environment  would deal too much unwanted collateral damage.  Even a 7.62 fully automatic machine gun would cause more harm than good in these areas.  And as the weapon of choice got smaller and smaller it became a bit ridiculous to see this large machine hold such a small weapon.

So I've put the LE version on hold for now.  Im not saying that  I couldn't design the H.ARM Suit to be able to do these things, rather that in its current state,  the suit has its limitations.  However, there is definitely an idea there worth pursuing, because  I can easily see the benefit of its ability to carry heavy cargo.   And after I have completed the rest of the suits in this series, will prolly go back to figure out the logistics of an LE version.  

6 comments:

  1. Tear gas, rubber bullets, nets launcher (to catch most aggresive ones), flash bangs and less lethal (tm) gun (http://www.fnherstal.com/index.php?id=368&backPID=255&productID=90&pid_product=254&pidList=255&categorySelector=3&detail=&cHash=27ecec5828), maybe e-shockers...

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  2. How about a firefighter version, with a large water tank on the back and jaws-of-life?

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  3. Hey guys. you all have some good thoughts

    Roman: i agree with your load out choices, in fact i was planning on using alot of those myself. I hadn't thought about a net launcher though. ( do police really use those?) but that could be pretty bad ass depending on how it was implemented. Normally the idea of someone getting tangled in a net and wailing around always seemed silly and made me laugh. That said, I think the coolest net implementation I've seen has been in a Predator movie where the net tightens upon impact of the alien. Something like that on the H.ARM suit would be cool... but I'm still on the fence about it.

    Tyler:
    glad u r diggin it. hopefully one day it will be fully realised

    Tom. you are absolutely right. I had my heart set on a police type suit because I liked the iconic look of red white and blue. But a fire truck is also iconic and would work as well. However, I am sure they would need to be some rework to the H.ARM suit, since there are too many exposed operator areas and the suit would need to feel insulated and fire proofed, etc. right now, its a tin box death trap. lol.

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  4. Would a LE harm suit not simply replace the horse in riot situations? Able to lead a charge to impact and disperse a crowd due to it's physical presence more than anything else. I also like the idea of water cannons for riot control not just fire fighting.

    The other bit of this version could be the shield and club/tazer combo. Whilst perhaps too bulky for close quarters fighting the bulk would certainly work favourably for carrying a big shield. Planted horizontally for area denial and as a mobile "safe area" for regular LE or carried vertically for dispersal charges on the move.

    Ultimately this suit would a very specialised piece of kit for LE and as an asset would perhaps only be deployed in very small numbers to support regular LE operations.

    Anyway I am loving your work it's a joy to see

    Craig

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  5. Hey, man, I don't think you should scrap this, at all, just rethink your loadout.

    Full-on crowd control. One arm is a flexible shield, hinged in the center (or in other places), so it can alternate between a capture shield and a regular shield / battering ram. The other arm would carry a pain-field generator / active denial system. Do a google search on either of those and you should get some information on sonic and microwave weapons. These are big weapons that a man couldn't carry and are usually mounted on a vehicle.

    Ditch all the entry tool, pincher stuff, this guys not breaking down doors doing suspect apprehension. Shift those ideas into a disaster recovery/rescue version, like an after earthquake/tsunami deployment unit.

    Dude could have a sidearm for necessity, so I wouldn't fret over the lethal load-out scenario.

    Always love your work!

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