Military Shows Off 'Iron Man' Armor

Raytheon unveiled a revolutionary new military technology yesterday—at an event celebrating the Iron Man 2 DVD release. It’s a fairly apt product tie-in. The company was demonstrating its second-generation Exoskeleton, or XOS 2, a hydraulic suit that can allow a soldier to easily and repeatedly lift 200 pounds, or punch through three inches of solid wood, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

Raytheon boasts that one soldier equipped with the suit can do the work of two or three. The suit is stronger, lighter, and drastically more energy-efficient than the company’s original proof-of-concept prototype. “Getting exoskeletons deployed is inevitable in my view,” said one Raytheon VP. “They are desperately needed.” He predicted soldiers will be doing their best Tony Stark impressions within five years. (More security technology stories.)