Project Grizzly inventor crafts real-world Halo suit for military use
By Darren Murph 
posted Jan 15th 2007 5:51AM
posted Jan 15th 2007 5:51AM
While it's not likely that you'll encounter the Arbiter on any given day, the slightly off-kilter Project Grizzly inventor has gone out of his way (and possibly his mind) to create what resembles a real-life Halo suit, sporting protection from gunfire and ensuring you an award at Covenant gatherings. Troy Hurtubise created the suit, dubbed Trojan, in hopes of protecting Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan and US soldiers in Iraq, and considering that it has withstood knives, bullets, light explosives, clubs, and even a round from an elephant gun, it sounds like quite the winner. Proclaimed to be the "first ballistic, full exoskeleton body suit of armor," Trojan is crafted from high-impact plastic lined with ceramic bullet protection over ballistic foam, and features nearly endless compartments, morphine / salt containers, knife and gun holsters, emergency lights, a built-in recording device, pepper spray, ingestible transponder for those "last resort" scenarios, and there's even a fresh air system powered by solar panels within the helmet. Mr. Hurtubise claims the 18 kilograms (40 pounds) suit is comfortable enough to make road trips in (yes, he tried it), and if any major military would take him up on it, they could reportedly be produced for "around $2,000 apiece." Now that's a bargain, folks.[Thanks, Alec]
Hey mister, if you don't manage to sell this, you can always pretend you're batman.
I cant believe its not the 1st of April already!
Nice suit, but wheres the sentient AI and shiny helmet?
Would the US military even pay that amount per soldier?
I guess for special units maybe. I cant see these appearing regularly in Iraq though.
Do you know how much an M16 costs??? Or the cost of keeping a military aircraft in the air for an hour??? $2000 is peanuts for something like this, for the army its peanuts altogether!
Given that we currently spend $27,000 per soldier for his personal gear (Up from around $7500 in 2000) this wouldn't be a serious expense. Given that the DoD estimates that each dead soldier costs right around $1,000,000 in death benefits, lost training that must be replaced, etc, an additional $2k wouldn't even show up on their radar, as long as it's actually shown to reduce casualties.
ha! with 500 billion theyd better!
That sounds awesome, but slightly too good to be true. It looks really cool though.
Actually, $2,000 is close to nothing when it comes to military equipment. I'm willing to bet the US military spends about ten times as much to outfit any random soldier in Iraq, for instance. Not counting vehicles, transport, choppers, tanks, etc.
I don't think any military would put their soldiers in such a gigantic bulky suit.
Its also called 'Trojan', .
Send it to http://www.theboxotruth.com they'll let us know if it works or not...
Since noone else has yet....
Here is the scene....
"HORSE NAYS's"
booming voice from the skies...
"TROJAN MAN!!!"
AK-47 is far more powerful than an elephant gun, i doubt the protection will resist.
Actually, the armor penetration for a standard 7.62mm bullet fired from an AK-47 is somewhere around 1cm of steel. Assault rifles are designed to be used effectively against soft targets, not for maximal armor penetration. An elephant gun, on the other hand (although just a generic description), would be far more inclined towards penetrating power, so more than likely the balance of power as far as it matters to armor would be on the "elephant gun"'s favor.
You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.
An AK47 round is relatively low-powered -- approximately 1/2 the energy of the typical rifle round used in WWII. It has to be in order for the AK47 to be controllable on full auto.
The AK47 is chambered in 7.62x39. It typically has a 124 grain bullet with muzzle velocity of about 2300 feet per second. That's about 1500 ft-lbs at the muzzle.
As for an "elephant gun", that's a fairly nebulous term. Probably the smallest caliber recommended would be a .375 H&H Magnum. That's typically a 300 grain bullet with a muzzle velocity of 2400 feet per second, providing 3800 ft-lbs at the muzzle.
And that's a relatively small "elephant gun." Larger calibers, like 470 Nitro Express, have far more energy. 500 grain bullet traveling at 2150 feet per second, for 5000+ ft-lbs at the muzzle.
Assault rifles such as the AK47 have significantly LESS energy than standard .30 rifles used in WWII. For example, the US .30-06 used in WWII was typically a 150 grain bullet traveling at 2900 fps for 2800 ft-lbs at the muzzle.
fredouil, Don't talk out your ass man, Ak-47 uses the old Russian m43 cartridge and is no where NEAR as powerful as an elephant gun. Ballistically it's similar to the old 30-30 lever action cartridge that is the weakest allowed round for hunting deer in most states.
I hate it when fanboys talk about guns.
@fredouil - umm no an AK47 is definitely not as powerful as an elephant gun (which, if you hadn't already deduced from the name, is used to drop elephants) It has a higher rate of fire but definitely not as much stopping power per shot.
Other than that this suit looks rather promising. It needs to be streamlined a bit but it's a good start.
I contend that fredouil is correct. The smaller sharper bullets from assault rifles have a great deal of armour penetration. Standard buildings are considered concealment, not cover. The smaller bullet is WHY it will penetrate armour. Oh as a side note, this guy went to my sisters school and they all think he was a screw ball. I saw a discovery channel documentary with him in it. He fancies himself Nanuck of the North and refers to Grizzly bears as old man and talks about all you need in this world is a trusty knife. He made a Grizzly suit once, and it could withstand a grizzly attack, but he never wore it when looking for them becuase it was too impractical. He has a lot of ideas, that are almost good, but his crazy gets in the way.
Dayyyyyaaamn! Squeezee: As if Soldiers aren't already wearing: Underclothes, Camo Coat, Camo Vest, Camo Pants, Belts, External Packs, not to mention specialized units with Radios and Computers. If this thing really is as good as it sounds, as light and cheap as it is...This thing should be picked up in a heartbeat by militaries.
oh yeah: Engadget, you should brush up on your games. The suit looks like a carbon-copy of the one worn by the PAC in Battlefield: 2142
fredouil, you can try to take down an angry elephant with an AK, I'll take the Elephant gun. Let's see who's not stomped into a puddle of goo afterwards.
No mention of mobility though. Comfortable doesn't mean you'll be able to effectively move through a building.
This guy is from the same city as me. Read it in my local paper during school one day. Its good to see my city might actually be famous on the internet for something cool :)
HAMILTON REPRESENT
Prezzie: Hm, let's see: Which game are most people, including most Engadget readers going to recognize? Halo, or Battlefield 2142? Talk about head-up-ass-itus...
Troy Hurtubise has establish a reputation for strident torture testing with his Grizzly suit, so he has a proven track record. I believe his claims, but leave open the possibility that there's some hype here.
this is sick!!!!
And guys 2000$ is not much at all kevlar isnt cheap, hell, the scope o most decent rifles runs in the area of 1500-3000$....
By estimates before the iraq war each soldier is holding around 200,000$ worth of equipment at any given time.
I'd go comparing it to Battlefield 2142 before we start going into technical aspects of the MJOLNIR armor, such as the fact it weighs two tons, contains Covenant shield technology, and other things.. I'm fairly certain this has none of that.
I dunno, my first indication towards "copycat" is the naming convention. Trojan? MJOLNIR?
And does the portable crash cart thing work for people wearing this? i.e. anyone not suffering from a direct hit from a tank can be resuscitated to full effectiveness?
I'm tellin you, they need to stick with the tried and true Stormtrooper armor
This is the ultimate FAN ITEM, ever to be bought by any HALO fan.
Yeah, this made the cover of The Hamilton Spectator a couple days ago. Reading about it over breakfast, I was a little skeptical. Does the inventor have any ballistics or engineering training? And I find it hard to believe that the military hasn't developed something like this already. On the other hand, if it saves the lives of soldiers, I'm in full support.
No one ever said the military hasn't already come out with this(ours anyway.) The fact that a civilian with probuly verylimited funding came out with this exoskeleton is amazing. If you look on the public domain enough, and in the right places, then you would learn to realize that we're more technicaly advanced than most people think. Two things I would suggest looking up is H.A.R.P. and F.R.A.C.T.O. These might make this seem a little, if not a lot, more realistic.
I wonder how long it takes to don this suit? I mean, we had to get into full MOPP4 gear in like 3 minutes from the first time we heard "Gas, gas, gas."
but it was only 15 seconds to get into the mask or your dead.
This is someone who takes video games way too seriously. Where is Snake's invisible (Solid Metal Gear) suit? Or the big laser blasters?
Rick Lyon,
Ummm...if it wasn't for Science Fiction writers our progress in technology would be greatly deminished.
It was those writers that inspired all of the kids that became all the folks that make your life soo much easier. If Video games are another launch point for new inventors so much the better. Just maybe we'll all live long enough to see the results.
$2000? Not after the purchase and aquisition process, more like $20,000, AND it will be completely compromised. How about let's just not start any more unnecessary wars abroad?
Dude, in japan they do have an invisible "cloth." it uses tiny cameras and tiny tvs to display the pic behind you, although it may not be army worthy, it does make you VERY hard to see.
AndrewNeo: You are a fucking dork.
But hey, you're absolutely right. If ever alien shield technology should become available, I'm sure Troy will be the first to implement it. /rolleyes
If we're getting suits that reflect video games, I want Mario's overalls that allows the wearer to fly when a feather is touched, jump extra high, spit fireballs, run extra fast, become temporarily invincible, and to have infinite lives... oh and always win the princess.
Halo, pffft... this guy is thinking way too small.
And exactly how long did he go humping around the desert wearing a full body armor suit? Iraq is hell of a lot warmer than Canada.
wonderboy, mario's hat is clearly his source of power.. gosh haven't you ever played mario 64?
Here's a video interview with the inventor. He's...energetic, to say the least.
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/media_archive/jan-11-2007_a.html
Not sure why the article doesn't link to it, seeing as it's also from the Hamilton Spectator.
The one piece of information everyone has overlooked so far: 40lbs. The weight makes this gear a non-starter for any mobile soldier.
Soldiers are already overloaded today. Adding 40lbs to their kit is absolute lunacy.
Get back to us when it's under 10lbs.
to chris K.
yeah its 40 pounds but you would be shedding some of that un-needed heavy stuff that this thing is designed to replace. Im sure it would be an even or better tradeoff.
40lbs is not too bad considering the average weight of a US army soldier's vest is 35lbs.
Chris K, I imagine that suit would replace at least some of the stuff that your average soldier is wearing, as opposed to just adding weight without any sort of benefits.
It's got all kinds of pockets and what have you, so there has to be something in the damn thing which is making it lighter. I can't really see it just adding 40 pounds with no benefit (besides the obvious bullet-proofiness).
Crap. I can't believe no one caught the funnies line from the article yet. "Dangling between the legs, that would be a clock." That is damn funny. At least the designer has a sence of humor.
Hurtubise is a whackjob. An inventive, gutsy, entertaining whackjob, but still a whackjob. Then again, some of the most famous inventors have been somewhat, er, eccentric.
For $2000, I'd take one. If only to protect myself when America kicks of WWIII.
Elephant Gun..... 45/70.... Much more energy and knock down than an AK.
Lets see, a shrunken 30 cal. cartridge vs. a cartridge that is twice the size and weight alone not to mention the energy.
I still would pick the AK in full auto w/ a 30+ capacity magazine and grove all bullets to dumb dumbs and though as most "elephant guns are single fed ......,......i could at least knock off a leg or two B-4 i got stomped to goo.
Happiness is belt fed though !!!!
cheers
Pricing and availability?
You idiots. He isn't trying to make up stuff he sees on video games, if you look at the link that says "Project Grizzly", you will see that he starte long ago trying to make a suit that will withstand a Grizzly Bear attack.
"Hey, you got protection?"
"yeah, i got trojan."
does it come with 4 plasma grenades?
Cool suit. You could probably do better marketing it to the next generation of XBOX fans. Equip it with a HUD and a couple of wireless game controllers and you may have something. Good luck with the military.
Trojan, because it's the closest he's ever going to get to getting laid wearing that thing...
I met Troy back when he was on Mark 3 of his Griz suit, and while the guy might seem like a kook, he's one sharp dude, a bit odd, but sharp.
His real failing is not being able to see the forest through the trees, he's obsessively single minded, so he'll work on the suit, and work and work, ignoring what could be horrible flaws, but adding an abundance of other features, kind of like what he did with his "angel light", if it exists its dangerous as hell but has some very unique abilities like seeing through flesh and killing goldfish.
This guy is actually very popluar. He built the first suit that would withstand a full on bear attack, man on bear, hand to paw combat, and he's tested it himself more than a few times. And he's created a few generations of it. He also invented some impenetrable armour for the military that looks basically like gymnastics mats that you put on the side of military vehicles and such too. Impenetrable. The reason he has been so heavily involved in such military stuff is because his brother is in the army and he wants him to be as safe as possible. I beleive he also invented some sort of 'x-ray vision' machine that bends light. It's still being tested as many people are skeptical about it. That invention is wrapped up pretty tight, only certain people are in the know of its function etc. Look him up. He's a brilliant guy. Canadians have alot to offer. :)
Cute - but how does this (jet-black) suit do in 140-degree weather? How does it stand up to IEDs? And what happens to "winning hearts and minds" when the local civilians see this walking down the street?
I've posted this to TagNe.ws under Gadgets
http://www.tagne.ws/Gadgets/Real-Halo-Suit-Pictures--Weapon--future/
Actually, now that I think about it, doesn't this bring back memories of the Cyclone armor from Robotech?
In reality, if this can do what it says, then I can imagine that many militaries would be glad to buy this. The interceptor vest, what most of our troops (US) with only partial protection of the torso and upper arms comes close to 30-35 pounds. If this system could be combined with the dragon skin vest, and used with soldiers who don't need to do a lot of running saying manning a machine gun on a AFV or Humvee, then why not. Current systems offer no protection for the rest of the body and systems in development are bulky and often very heavy.
DrewDrew: Actualy, if you listened to the interview, popular culture seems to be his only reference.
Come ON. This is utter bullshit. It has police lights on the tits! A clock in its groin! Mace, the ultimate weapon, in its arm! This guy just cobbled together a suit out of crap. I don't see any balistic testing at all. The suit is a joke, the guy is a nutter.
But is it machine washable? And can I put it my spin drier?
this dude makes a crazy suit that will save lives... and all some of you people do is rip on him and talk about what video game it looks liek the most?? who cares what video game it looks like its from... it look cool to me haha
whos the real fucking nerd here.. the guy who did something to help pepole or you fucks who are sitting there making fun of his idea that will save lives...
and i bet all of you that made fun of it are over 300 lbs and dont do anything but play video games.. i hope yoru obese asses die and they put it on the news when they have to knock down a wall to get you out of your parents house
This thing is jawsome. I'd buy one. It'd be fun to get in bar fights with :).
I used to live in the same town as this guy, North Bay, Ontario, Canada. I worked at the local The Source by Circuit City, and he would come in like once a month and buy a few thousand worth of stuff for his inventions....haha hes a fun guy to talk to. Check out his God Light, Angel Light, fire paste, its all really cool stuff.
Scabies: MJOLNIR is Icelandic for "Thor's Hammer". How share anything in common at all with it? They don't look similar (no, they don't) and they mean totally different things.
You guys remember this suit the US miltary got for soldiers in Iraq? it protected them from bullets and such.
They refused to wear it because it was "too goofy".
i doubt this suit will have that problem.
I'm surprised that his previous invention, the 1313 paste hasn't been snapped up by the US Military yet, even despite their usual reluctance to use any technology that isn't made in-house. (See: Dragon Skin)
I'm not going to say anything about his other inventions regarding visible-spectrum radiation, because there's not documented evidence of it working.
I dont know what to think of this man, his fire paste demonstration where he took a blowtorch to his face to no effect was impressive to say the least, then when he modified it withkevlar and pressurization to make a cheap substance he calls 1313 paste, which was tested (under military supervision) to block numerous sniper shots in the same point,, a shotgun slug, and even an explosive greater than that of an rpg... but then you hear of two other "inventions" of his, then angel and god light machines... the ones that can see through walls and such, cure blindness and so on... yah, tell me another one haha... but the protection ones have all been openly demonstrated, the light ones only secretly to military... Anyways if this works, and the gov't buys it, hurrah for safety!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Hurtubise
at $2000 i dont doubt that cos play fanatics will want to pick one of these up and airbrush in diffrent colors xD
Ballistic Foam? Try Ballistic Gel. Give it to Mythbusters and see if it can actually stop bullets.
i think the inventor overlooked one major test of its indistructability...
Will it blend?
Hmm... suicide bombers + exosuit that protects from light explosives = bombs strapped to you that will make everyone but you go boom. might have a nice markets share in the black market
Ok, $2000.00!!! Cheap until the Government bids on them. They then will insist paying $10,000 for each one.
its like the new batman with his but not as much money and its cooler then batman cuz its masterchif
Actually what would really make this thing sell would be a personal AC...the army already has a few that they're testing, but if he put like liquid cooling in the torso section it would be great....and yes the Army wold pay $2,000 if its as good as its made out to be. It cost the Army more than $2,000 for one flak vest with AP(Armor Piercing) plates. The only thing I can see wrong with it is it looks like the wearer would have limited mobility.
IF this armor does exist AND it performs as well as stated - the "armor" they wear today is paper compared to this. Plus either the military will steal a key to the patent office or Halo will come crashing down on infringement or something.
But if this armor exists and performs as such you can bet this is not the last we will hear of it.
They don't need a key, the pentagon can take any patent they like in the name of national security.
I was reading an article a couple of years ago on some body armor that was in development. There's something about this suit that makes me wonder... all of the body panels are curved. It's my understanding that flat surfaces are much better at deflecting bullets, hence the slab-sided armor on tanks. It might not look cool, but unless a bullet/rocket/whatever strikes it dead on, it will be coming, and going, at an angle. Curved surfaces offer much more chances for an incoming projectile to strike at just the right angle to damage the armor and/or penetrate it.
No, I don't think this armor would be used for patrols or field soldiers... but I can see it being used for urban assaults. Since most of the trip there is made in an APC or HMMV anyway, once there you just hop out, kick in some doors, shoot some people...
As for AK-47's vs. elephant guns: the one elephant gun I've ever seen was a double-barrel 8-gauge shotgun. Ammo came in both large shot or solid slug. What about light explosives?
You're busting into a house where known militants live. You come across a small explosive device, before you can move or sound a warning to your squad, it goes off. Which would you rather be wearing. This or a standard kevlar vest?
I think as materials get strong and lighter over time we'll start seeing more and better body armor suits for assault troops. At least this guy, insane or not, is TRYING to do something.
You can scoff all you want, but until you get off your mental/physical ass and start contributing towards forwarding technology on some level other than that of Statler & Waldorf, give some people credit for trying.
FYI: go to the gym, get one of those letter belts, loop it through 4 10lb plates, drape it over your shoulders so that two plates are on chest, two are on your back. Now, imagine you're actually not horribly out of shape, and walk around the gym. I know, not very accurate, since the 40lbs is actually distributed more in the suit, but still... you'll see that if you were in any decent level of shape, that + firearm and assorted assault accouterments, wouldn't be much of a hassle for short term fighting. There's also road checkpoints. I'd rather be in an armored suit like this when walking up to suspicious cars. Is it 100%? No, but if it meant just a 5% lower chance of dying or losing a limb from a car bomb... I'd take it.
My apologies if that last post seemed to have lots of unfinished sentences/thoughts and even some incongruities, it's a busy day at work and I keep getting interrupted. :) But at least I'm doing my part to contribute to.... to... um... ah, who am I kidding, I'm one of the biggest Statler's around.
I still think it looks neat. If I were rich, I'd order up one for the occasional cosplay or costume party. :) Hell, if I were rich I'd have him me make one that really did look just like Halo armor, surely it could be customized. :-D With a built-in camelbak for my Full Throttle!
It might actually be useful for things like house raids, SWAT operations and the like, where you can prepare a little in advance, and is likey to be short in duration. I can't really see these things being practical out in the desert for general use. Theres the whole maintainance aspect too, would it still be working after 6 months of operations in say, Afganistan? It does look very cool though.Another step toward the star wars stormtrooper - order mine in white!
P.S I read an article about the IED disposal guys in Iraq. They wear something very similar.
It seems too good to be true. I want to know if it will be on the world wide market though. I think its worth buying, I mean its for the soldiers and it will ave lives! Well keep up the good work!
Taking that the standard issue clothing our soldiers are given nowadays provides little to no protection against most weapon types, a 2K suit that comes with all these handy items and gizmos, isn't such a bad idea. Hell I'd buy one for the hell of it haha.
All of us have our own opinion. This guy DOES sound like a nutbag. But...if this suit actually works and can defend lives then why are all of us complaining. The military has gotten around 1/3 of its weapons, armor,etc. from videogames. so why dont all of u shut the hell up and thank tht idiot for making something that might help end a war.
Wow this sounds cool.....(not) next the army will have lightsabers and if i join the army i realy want a jedi robe also i think a rpg (a big explosive gun) can rip through this armor like a piece of cake and wait theres more next the U.S millitary will have bond gadgets and jetpacks
im in the infantry in the army the gear we wear now weighs 60 lbs and thats not even even full combat load with ammo mopp suit and weapon plus it isnt that easy to move around in. in full compat load our gear now weighs 100+ lbs plus u over heat big time in it when ur in weather that is 80-90 degrees when u get into weather that is 130+ u start sucking really bad i love the sound of this body armor. lpus with the recorder on it if the wrong person was killed or injured the truth would easyly be told about it
I'd like to see that suit survive a sniper round and a roadside bomb, which are the two killers of soldiers.
You do realize that so far, every soldier has to buy their own extra equipment. The army gives their soldiers shit not cuz it's fun, but cuz they don't have the budget......... so what makes you think that theyll pay 2000$ a soldier?
wow that is one amazing piecre of armory,halo is sweet,but this suit could mean a lot for the United States Military eventually and they should test it out...
i want one i dont even care...whats the guys email i dont even care if it doesnt stop bullets or if it does...HALOween here i come
Am i the only person who thinks this guy kind of looks like an action figure. Don't you think if it was real that they would show a bigger picture of him.....but never kno, might be real, might not.... still looks cool tho