DSEI 2019: Britain's brightest brains design bionic commandos to fight future wars.

Bionic 'invisible' commandos carried into battle on silent 'flying wings' while hologram decoys distract an enemy pounded by rail and laser guns. This is the futuristic vision of the Royal Marines dreamed up by Britain's best and brightest young engineers, told to harness present and future tech to imagine how the Royal Navy's elite troops might go into action in the future.

Some futuristic equipment designed (Picture source: UKNEST)

This is the futuristic vision of the Royal Marines dreamed up by Britain’s best and brightest young engineers, told to harness present and future tech to imagine how the Royal Navy’s elite troops might go into action in the future.

Young engineering graduates from the UK Naval Engineering Science and Technology forum (UKNEST), representing nearly a dozen leading defence, technology and engineering firms, were asked to plan a mid-21st Century assault by Royal Marines on an enemy missile site perched on a clifftop.
They came up with a string of ideas – many previously confined to the realm of science fiction:
• Exo-skeleton suits covered by a chameleon-like skin allowing wearers to perform super-human feats, such as scaling cliffs effortlessly, and blend with the environment
• Ekranoplan ‘flying wings’ replacing landing craft, silently skimming across the waves at hundreds of miles an hour
• ‘Holographic Marines’ to decoy the enemy
• Helmets with displays providing Marines with the latest intelligence, battlefield info and details of a squad’s health and fitness levels
• Small intelligence drones which feed the latest information direct to commandos’ hi-tech helmets
• Larger ‘grunt’ drones armed with laser guns providing fire power or dropping ammunition, supplies and even small vehicles
• Electro-magnetic rail guns on ships firing Marines in special pods to land covertly behind enemy lines
• Boots which harvest energy as the commandos move to power radios and other equipment
• Rucksacks attached using magnets and fitted with energy damping to reduce the burden when marching
• Portable 3D printers producing food in the field
• And sleeping mats which can double up as 80in tactical display screens or solar panels to power hi-tech kit

EQUIPMENT DESCRIPTIONS

Royal Marine Commando – Future Combat Suit

Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC) – An integrated exo-skeleton suit manufactured from composite materials; a lightweight carbon fibre structure embedded with load bearing alloy strands. The HULC provides a weight-bearing frame allowing the Royal Marine Commandos to transport heavy loads of various equipment, for extended operations, greatly increasing their strength and endurance. Nano-fibre pressure sensors woven into the Future Combat suit transfer the Commando’s motion into low power signals to drive motion. The HULC suit is actuated by a nickel hydroxide material, which responds to the low power signals to morph shape, and can exert and withstand forces thousands of times greater than its own weight.

Combat Skin – (see images Combat Skin 1-3) The ‘fabric’ of the Future Combat Suit will be constructed from a synthetic polymer. Kevlar strands woven into the combat skin will provide protection equivalent to modern body armour.
A Nano-LED mesh embedded in the polymer incorporates an adaptive camouflage system in the Combat Skin, allowing Commandos to control their appearance and melt seamlessly into their surroundings. The polymer fabric will also contain controllable micro-pores to regulate the Commandos’ temperature in extreme conditions.

Battlefield Perception Helmet – The future Commandos helmet provides complete battlefield situational awareness to each Royal Marine Commando. A visor display provides a range of information views to the marine, from simply an enhanced and sharpened view of the real world in front, to tactical overlays, squad health displays to monitor exertion rates and identify potential injuries within the team, combat information, low light, thermal and other enhancements and integrated feeds from other Royal Marines assets.

Energy Harvesting Boots – Sturdy and durable, the future Commands boot will contain piezoelectric materials to harvest the Commando’s motion and convert it into useable energy to power the HULC, Combat Skin and other systems, such as radios.

Royal Marine Commando – Other Personal Equipment

The students were also asked to look at the more mundane aspects of a Royal Marine’s life, and how to improve it. One crucial idea was how to make their Bergen rucksacks lighter, more comfortable and how some of their kit could be made dual-use.

Magnetic BergenRucksack– The iconic Royal Marine Bergen rucksack will continue to provide capacity to transport all the equipment Commandos require to survive and fight on operations. The Bergen will be magnetically attached to the Future Combat Suit, the magnetic coupling will be designed to act as an energy damping system, allowing a weighted Bergen to move on the marine’s back, reducing strain and shock when being carried over challenging terrain.

* The image of Royal Marines yomping became one of the iconic images during the Falklands War where they marched at speed for 56 miles in three days carrying in excess of 100lb loads after their helicopter transports were sunk on the Atlantic Conveyor cargo ship.

Multi-role Roll Mat –The Multi-role Roll Mat typifies the design philosophy of the Future Commando Force equipment. The standard issue roll mat will be re-purposed to provide Royal Marine Commandos extra capability from a basic piece of equipment. Variants of the Multi-role Roll Mat will be fitted with; solar panels to power equipment, flexible Organic LEDs (OLED) to act as an 80” display screen for tactical briefings or Radio Frequency (RF) antenna elements to act as a long range communication transmitter.

Portable 3-D Food Printer – Developing on from current fledgling 3-D printing technology, future portable printers will be able to manufacture food on demand. The printer will be able to ingest natural flora and fauna to synthesise ration packs to sustain the Royal Marines, allowing them to survive even if their supply lines are cut.

Gecko Unit (with flight attachment) – An optional system available to Commandos undertaking vertical assault missions, the Gecko unit will integrate with the Future Commando Suit. Webbed, oversized gloves and feet will be electrically charged making them ultra-sticky, enabling Royal Marines to scale any surface. There is also a short range flight attachment on the Marine’s Bergen with micro turbo jets to give Marines the ability to cross minefields, obstacles or scale small cliffs.

Royal Marine Commando Weapon Systems

Dual Mode Rifle – The future Royal Marine Commando will combine both conventional rounds and a directed energy (laser) weapon system. The rifle will be linked to the Commando’s visor display, with target motion analysis algorithms providing precision fire solutions straight to the marine for increased accuracy at range.

Royal Marine Commando Vehicles

Ekranoplan Landing Craft – Currently Royal Marines come ashore in landing craft not significantly faster than those used on D-Day.

Future Royal Marine Commandos will deploy into theatre from the Royal Navy’s surface fleet in stealthy ‘Ekranoplans’ – the name Russia gave to the first usable wing-in-ground-effect machines that skim the water’s surface on a bubble of air, thus allowing huge speeds with low drag and minimal power – transforming the way troops are brought ashore.

With a sleek arrow head and low-drag profile the Ekranoplans will be able to deploy from the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers far out at sea, away from hostile forces. Dynamic fan drives are housed in an angular pod top and aft of the main body. Powered by a hybrid drivetrain comprising a compact gas turbine and dual carbon batteries, the fans will boost the Ekranoplan up to speeds of 300 knots (more than 20 times the current speeds). The vehicle can swiftly cover large distances from the carrier strike group, before switching to its batteries and water-jet propulsion system for low speed, silent manoeuvring as it approaches its insertion point to deploy the embarked team of Royal Marine Commandos. An active camouflage system embedded in the Ekranoplan’s hull provides enhanced stealth capabilities to the vehicle.

Royal Marine Commando Drone Systems

Force Protection ‘Escort’ Drones – Force protection is provided to the Ekranoplan landing craft by autonomous Escort Drones. These diamond shaped flyers are controlled via a neural network slaved to an Ekranolplan command system. The Escort drones have a modular payload system and can be fitted out with weaponry, sensors and communication systems to support and protect Royal Marine insertions.

Personnel ‘Ghost’ Drones – A smaller variant of the Escort Drone, Ghost drones accompany Royal Marine Commandos into the field on operations. Their small size and low signature level allow them to remain covert alongside the marines. The drones are equipped with multi-spectral sensors which feed directly into a Commando’s helmet visor display. This provides the commandos with real time ‘eyes and ears’ on the ground, greatly enhancing their situational awareness. The Ghost Drones are equipped with a ‘decoy dog’ system, this holographic projector is capable of projecting three dimensional images (human, canine or otherwise) to distract and disorientate adversaries and provide the Commandos a significant tactical advantage.

Heavy Lift ‘Grunt’ Drones – Grunt drones are the future of mobile autonomous resupply. The modular resupply system design incorporates ion-drive engines, located in 'arms' which extend for in-flight stability and retract for launching out of the Ekranoplan landing craft. Vectoring nozzles provide precise guidance to the on-board AI control systems, which will guide payload equipment and supplies to Royal Marine forces ashore.

Sycamore Stealth Pod – Capable of being fired from an electro-magnetic rail gun mounted on a Royal Navy ship, Sycamore Stealth Pods enter high altitudes at high supersonic speeds giving them ranges of more than 100 miles. These bullet shaped projectiles are not intended as munitions, they can carry supplies and are large enough even to fit a Royal Marine Commando. Two sets of contra-rotating blades open during the pod’s decent, bringing them to earth quietly for covert insertions. The rotating blades power a generator, with the energy generated being stored to act as a power source. This power source also allows the pod to operate in gyro-copter mode for extraction from the combat zone.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said:
“It is tremendous to see the pioneering visions of young British engineers push the boundaries of technology and conventional thought. The Royal Marines have a long history of delivering unmatched capabilities across a wide-range of scenarios and theatres. “As global threats continue to evolve and become more complex, it is vital that we encourage our armed forces and industry to work together to ensure our fighting forces strengthen their operational edge.”

The graduates spent a day at the Commandos’ Training Centre at Lympstone near Exeter to understand what it takes to become a Royal Marine, some of the current equipment used and the challenges faced on real-life operations.

The engineers were then given the raid scenario and thrashed out ideas, looking at what troops would be equipped with, how to get them ashore from ships over the horizon, how the Marines would neutralisea protected target, how they might protect themselves and distract the enemy.

Graduate Chad Swaby, from the MOD’s Defence Equipment and Support organization, came up with the idea of contact lenses with thermal imaging ability and artificial intelligence which can differentiate between civilians, enemy soldiers and hostages – from the way they move.

“We can use that information to let Royal Marines know who they need to target and who they need to save,” he added.
“The whole event has been a great opportunity for us to see what commandos do, what they have to go through. It’s helped me to understand what I need to give the marines to help them succeed on a mission.”

Major General Matt Holmes, Commandant General Royal Marines said: “The Marines form over 40 per cent of Britain’s special forces and are seen as the tip of the spear. Our objective has been to envisage radical capabilities to make us more agile and lethal, while being able to operate in a complex digital and networked future environment.
“We can’t say how much or how quickly the reality of these visions will come to fruition. But what we can say is that if only 20 per cent of these ideas come to reality then we will be at the cutting edge of tomorrow’s technology.”

Major Matt Perks, the Royal Marine behind the brainstorming project, said: “This was one of those inspiring projects that captured peoples’ imagination. The Royal Marines have always prided themselves on thinking differently, but we know we don’t have all the answers when it comes to designing the Future Commando Force, so working with these incredibly talented young engineers was a chance to push the conceptual boundaries of amphibious warfare in ways we hadn’t considered. The results have been spectacularly innovative.”

The ideas and equipment the engineers came up with have been incorporated in a short film depicting how the raid on the missile battery might be carried out.
Some of the tech being tested by today’s Royal Marines as well as other innovations are show at DSEi defence and security show in London.