There are more stresses to be concerned about than just normal leaping around...for example, a glancing blow from a heavy projectile against the helmet (or even totally bollixing your landing and coming down head-first) would likely result in an acceleration/deceleration brain injury, spinal damage, or worse, even if the armor took the impact without deforming or cracking. The human inside the suit is a definite weak link in this system. I wonder what progress has been made on autonomous systems?
The suit is just as vulnerable to antitank weapons (moreso, in fact). A GI with a knapsack full of LAWS tubes is a bunch cheaper than one of those suits. The waste heat alone one would make you a sitting duck for an IR seeker, if the enemy wanted to be fancy.
Couple of points. First, I'd be interested in seeing how much extra mass would be needed to EMP-harden a suit like that. I'd hate to be trapped on a battlefield inside a suit of suddenly-unpowered power armor. Second, a strategic consideration: a reduced force of mechanically-enhanced soldiers would be approximately the equivalent of an equal number of tanks...this is great for blowing things up, but while you can take territory with armor, you can't hold onto it very well.
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There are more stresses to be concerned about than just normal leaping around...for example, a glancing blow from a heavy projectile against the helmet (or even totally bollixing your landing and coming down head-first) would likely result in an acceleration/deceleration brain injury, spinal damage, or worse, even if the armor took the impact without deforming or cracking. The human inside the suit is a definite weak link in this system. I wonder what progress has been made on autonomous systems?
The suit is just as vulnerable to antitank weapons (moreso, in fact). A GI with a knapsack full of LAWS tubes is a bunch cheaper than one of those suits. The waste heat alone one would make you a sitting duck for an IR seeker, if the enemy wanted to be fancy.
That was Larry Niven, not Poul Anderson, but ya beat me to it, anyway ;-) Would that replace the "Size does matter" slogan with, "Dynes do matter"?
Couple of points. First, I'd be interested in seeing how much extra mass would be needed to EMP-harden a suit like that. I'd hate to be trapped on a battlefield inside a suit of suddenly-unpowered power armor. Second, a strategic consideration: a reduced force of mechanically-enhanced soldiers would be approximately the equivalent of an equal number of tanks...this is great for blowing things up, but while you can take territory with armor, you can't hold onto it very well.
A sudden stop in one of those would be a spectator event, methinks. 30 - 0 in 500 decibels.